Log with Ianto: Date Night

[parked]

It was strange, really, how much effort Sulu had put into preparing for this date with Ianto. His usual modus operandi was to comb back his hair a bit, throw on a tee-shirt and jeans and just, well, show up. No flowers, no chocolates, no presents, just a casual sort of attitude that usually worked wonders to make the whole situation less stressful for both parties.

But. Ianto was not part of his usual style and Sulu found himself taking twice as long getting ready as he did for anyone else. Hell, he'd even went shopping for clothes he'd never normally wear (with Gwen, who he was pretty sure enjoyed putting him through the wringer when it came to Ianto), put effort into how his hair looked, took three double-glances in the mirror - Jesus. It was only a date.

With Ianto. The guy who had this uncanny ability to make him feel like his awkward fifteen-year-old self just by grabbing his hand.

At least he had an excuse for the gift - he'd told Ianto that he'd bring him a plant, and it was Ianto's birthday present, anyway, so it wasn't like this was specifically date-related. He could still pretend to be at least a little casual about these kinds of things. You know, despite the fact that his stomach twisted into knots as soon as he called Ianto to make sure that no last-minute Torchwood business had come up.

World hopping, luckily, did nothing to mess up his hair (not that you could really mess up the generic look it always fell into when he tried to style it), nor did it cause the plant he had in hand to wither, wilt, or otherwise be destroyed. He'd gone out of his way to find a nice pot for it, something a little more futuristic than traditional terracotta, since Ianto would appreciate that more than tradition. Hopefully.

After all, this whole date was pretty traditional. Sulu even went for the front-door approach, which he hadn't done since his girlfriend in senior year of high school. He shook himself out a bit for a second, minding the plant, so he could get rid of some of the jitters he was feeling, and then rolled his eyes at his own idiocy and just went for knocking on the door, before he could get himself even more worked up than he already was.

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[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto, for what it was worth, had been ready for Sulu to show up over half an hour ago. As soon as Sulu had called and the two of them had confirmed that they were actually doing this, it wasn't just a plan but it was actually going to happen, Ianto had fretted about just about every single detail there was to fret about, from where they were going to how they were getting there to how he should present Sulu with the portkey to what sort of an outfit he'd choose to wear. He finally decided on something a bit more casual, knowing that Sulu appreciated how he looked in jeans. He wasn't going to wear the jeans, because he wasn't sure that he'd be able to get anywhere without blushing madly about the fact that he was wearing clothes that Sulu'd picked out for him, but.

And so Ianto had sat at his kitchen table in what his university friends would have called his pulling outfit, complete with a necklace that he'd probably debated for a good five minutes whether he should wear or not, for a good long while before the doorbell jerked him out of his thoughts and up out of his chair. Christ, he... He was really going to need a drink tonight, just to calm down a bit.

Checking his look in the mirror in the hallway on the way out, Ianto took a big breath in and tried hard not to look as nervous as he felt about this as he opened the door to greet Sulu. And nearly did a double take at the clothes the other was wearing. They were...great. Sulu looked amazing. Ianto blushed. "...hey," he said, knowing that just standing there smiling at Sulu and looking like an idiot, while charming, was not the most suave thing he could do in that moment.

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Sulu had figured that, when Ianto opened the door, he'd just hold out the plant in hand like a housewarming gift and not be bothered much by whatever Ianto was wearing; after all, he'd seen the guy in jeans, now, so he could probably not look like an idiot if that's what Ianto decided to wear.

Of course, when he caught sight of Ianto and saw what he was wearing, right down to the jewelry (which was, Sulu imagined, a deviously planned attempt to make him want to see Ianto's collar-covered neck, and his shoulders, and -), he felt his carefully crafted casual air hit a very sudden roadblock. "--Hey," he repeated, very much aware that that's exactly what he was doing, before blinking, raising his eyes to Ianto's because, whoops, he'd sort of been staring at the rest of him. "You - look great."

A gentle shift in the wind brought his attention back to the plant he was holding, as the wind caused the pale blue lily-pad shaped leaves to shift, making a very faint sort of chiming noise. "Oh. Right, uh -" He nodded down to the plant in his hand, grinning bashfully. "I got this for you."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto kept up the blushing, aware that Sulu had given him a rather prolonged once-over before he'd settled on looking at his face again, as well as flattered by the compliment. "Thanks," he said, in response to it. "You... You do too. I..." He bit his lip, smiling sheepishly. "I like the blazer..." And the waistcoat. And the belt. And well. Ianto had to keep his eyes locked on Sulu's himself, lest his mind start wandering like it was starting to be prone to doing.

The chime on the wind brought Ianto's eyes down to the plant in Sulu's hands, though, and Ianto blinked at it. It was unlike anything that he'd ever seen before, but moreover. "...is that plant chiming?" he asked, fascinated by it. He reached out a hand, wanting to touch the leaves, to see if there was any sort of an explanation as to why something that looked like that could be making, well, such a pleasant sound, as far as Ianto was concerned. "Can... Is it alright to touch?" he asked, not wanting to go sticking his hands where they might get poisoned, or turn blue, or well, who really knew, with a blue singing plant and all.

[parked]

It was hard for Sulu not to feel pretty self-satisfied at Ianto's compliment, though he knew that the only reason he'd even gone for this style was because Ianto had said it looked good on the pageant thread, and the only reason it really fit was because Gwen helped him figure out the different sizes (things changed a lot in over 200 years, after all). Then again, he did sort of like the casual-dress sort of thing that was going on with it, antiquated as it might have been.

At Ianto's question, Sulu beamed, moving from bashful cool guy to nerdy plant guy without missing a beat. "Yeah, it chimes - it's fine to touch, too. I wouldn't want to give you anything toxic. It's a subspecies of the Talosian singing plant; it's a dwarfed version, actually, just a little interbreeding with the right kinds of Earth plants and..." He bit his lip, still grinning a bit, clearly embarrassed by his little slip.

"I thought you might like it. The leaves - on Talos IV, the wind's always blowing, and the plant vibrates with it, making that chiming noise. Otherwise, it's quiet, so... It won't keep you up, or anything." He paused, then added, "This subspecies is neat because it gets more vibrantly colored, the warmer it is. That's why it's nothing spectacular right now."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto raised an eyebrow, grinning at Sulu's excessive knowledge about the plant, finding it vaguely charming in its own way, as he reached out a hand and touched the leaves. Well, it certainly felt like a real plant, even if it did sound unlike any other plant he'd ever heard before. He realized a little too late that the two of them were standing in his doorway, and that maybe he should do something about that, so he stepped back and opened the door wider, motioning Sulu in. "C'mon, let's... Let's find somewhere to put that in here, yeah? Besides, I have something for you to hold on to as well, remember?"

He stepped into the entryway, waiting for Sulu to follow after him, before looking back at the plant. "Is... Does it need to be in the sun, or something?" he asked, obviously not knowing anything about this plant, not really knowing much about plants in general even, as it were. "And also. What about watering it? I. I don't want you to come back and find it's dead because I just couldn't figure out how to take care of it properly, after all," Ianto said. If he killed this thing, he wasn't sure he'd ever let himself live it down. He wanted to make sure that he got proper instructions on it. And besides, focusing on the plant gave him an excuse not to be focused on the fact that he was acutely aware that the two hadn't touched at all, not even a simple brush of hands, since Sulu'd appeared there at his door.

[parked]

As Ianto touched the leaves, the delicate chiming died down a bit, only to stop completely when Sulu gratefully stepped into Ianto's flat. Almost immediately, the leaves grew a little brighter, though it was only barely noticeable. It'd take them an hour to get as bright as they could at room temperature. Sulu hoped they'd be gone before then - it'd be a nice thing for Ianto to come back to. (For them to come back to? Would Ianto invite him in after all this? Would he shove his foot in his mouth before they even got wherever Ianto was going to be taking them? Sulu wasn't used to questioning himself this much.)

"That's right, your birthday gift that's somehow my gift now too." Sulu smiled and added, "Don't worry. Once or twice a week, give it maybe a cup of water and it should be fine. It only needs partial sunlight, so anywhere that gets a little sun will be fine. They're really pretty sturdy, and besides, if what you were saying about this world-hopping thing is right, I can always drop in to check on it, if you're worried."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto nodded at the information about the plant that Sulu told him. He led the other man into the living room, clearing a space on the shelf in front of the window before turning and gently taking the plant from the other man, taking a moment to admire the pot itself, before setting it down in the sunlight. He hoped what little sun he'd get through that window would be enough for the little plant. "Maybe it's better if you did come by and check in on it," Ianto said, grinning sheepishly at him. "People are always giving me plants and telling me that it's easy to keep an eye on them, but they always end up dying on me, and I suppose I must just have a horrible hand in plants or something like that."

Ianto realized he was rambling, and stopped, standing there awkwardly in front of Sulu for a moment, before realizing about the portkey, that yes, he had something to give to Sulu as well. "Wait," he said, turning to the coffee table where he'd left the box he'd received from Jack the other day. "Here it is," Ianto said, smiling sheepishly, picking up the box and handing it over to Sulu. He knew inside there was a watch, probably one of Jack's old ones. Jack had given him the object exactly as it was packaged right now, so it only seemed fair to hand it over to Sulu in it as well. "Don't touch it, when you open it, though, unless you'd rather be sent back to your cabin by it."

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Sulu watched Ianto move around the room with a fond smile on his face, enjoying how quick he was to find a place for the plant, and how worried for its well-being he was. It was a good thing for a botanist to see, really. "I'd be glad to, but you already seem to know the basics, since that's a perfect place for it."

He paused when Ianto did, watching him easily while he gathered up the small box from the coffee table and brought it over. He raised a brow as he took it, nodding at Ianto's warning - after all this effort, he really didn't want to just end up in his cabin again. Who knew what the cool off period was - or how it even really worked. Whatever it was, it fit in a simple, small box, which was much smaller than he was expecting. Opening it, he blinked wide at the (to him) antique pocket watch inside. He glanced up at Ianto. "This?" He realized that might've sounded like he didn't think it was one of the most fantastic things ever, so he added with a grin, "I didn't know hopping devices came in styles."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto wasn't sure what to make of Sulu's reaction to the watch, to be honest. "Well...from what I understand, Jack picked what it was going to look like," he said, with a shrug. "He knows that I like watches and antiques and the likes, so he must've picked it with that in mind." He figured he should explain it, rather than stand there and fret over whether it was a good idea to be giving it over to Sulu or not, especially with the reaction that he'd gotten from the other, so he stepped forward to do just that.

"It's called a Portkey, apparently," Ianto said, looking down at the watch in question so he wouldn't have to look at Sulu himself. "It's designed to travel between two different places--my entryway and your hub. It's activated by touch, but only to bare skin. Apparently, you only touch it once, and then so long as you've got it in your hand, it's not going to work again until you let go completely and move to touch it again. So, y'know. You could hop with it, put it in your pocket and carry it around until it was time to go back, and then do exactly that. From what I can understand," Ianto continued, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the watch, "you don't need to be in either of the places it's connected to for it to work, but it'll always hop you to the opposite place from where you left. At least, that's what I got from Jack and Dumbledore. I...obviously haven't tried it out for myself yet."

[parked]

Sulu smiled and leaned in a bit to look at the hands, pretty much oblivious to the fact that his enthusiasm wasn't very noticable. "Jack has good taste." Not that Sulu hadn't already noticed that, but it bore repeating. "I wonder if it still keeps the right time, even when it's a Portkey. That's a pretty good name, tells you exactly what you need to know."

He wanted to touch it, to fiddle with it, but he knew better. Instead, he looked up at Ianto. "Are you sure you want me to hold on to this? I mean, Jack picked it out for you, didn't he? I don't want to be stealing his presents to you. I'm already monopolizing his archivist's evening, after all."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto hummed under his breath, shrugging not really sure whether the watch still kept time or not. He hadn't really looked at it too much--as soon as he'd gotten it from Jack, he knew that he wasn't the one that should really be holding on to this sort of thing. "It's worth a try to see if you can wind it up, when you get back to the ship. Maybe if you set it to the time here, we can figure out just what the time difference is between the Enterprise and Cardiff is, anyway."

Ianto slowly brought his eyes up to look at Sulu at the question about keeping the watch, though. "Yeah," he said, almost immediately. "I am sure. I mean, sure, Jack picked it out for me, but. I have a feeling that he knew that I'd hand it over anyway. And, I mean. Like I said, you have a more reliable schedule than I do. Chances are that you'll have a lot more opportunity to make the hop down here than I will to the Enterprise. And besides, I probably stick out there like a sore thumb, anyway. And anyway. You... You get to see more of the planet, this way. Y'know, the rain and such. So you don't have to miss it as much. Even. Even if Cardiff isn't exactly home for you, or anything. It's better than nothing, yeah?"

Honestly, Ianto would be lying if he didn't want Sulu to keep it just so that he could have something physical to tie the two of them together as well, but he wasn't quite sure that he was ready to tell Sulu something like that, especially before they'd even gone on their first date yet.

[parked]

Sulu nodded at Ianto's explanation; he'd understood the reasoning before now, but there was something about Ianto explaining to him face-to-face that he wanted Sulu to have the watch... It made him feel warm from the inside out. "All right, then. I - even though it's your present, thank you, Ianto. I should leave it in the box for now, since I don't really want to put it in my coat and then accidentally touch it later, but. I'm glad you want this kind of link."

Because even if Ianto wasn't going to bring it up, Sulu fully understood the implication of them having the Portkey between their homes. He paused for a second before replacing the box back on the coffee table; after that, he reached out for one of Ianto's hands. "Seriously, thank you."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto ducked his head and his eyes, flushing as Sulu took his hand in his own, his breath speeding up embarrassingly at the simple contact of skin on skin. Ianto told himself it was just because they hadn't seen each other since that last time in Sulu's cabin, when they'd had to stop themselves from going further than they really should have, because it had just been so easy, it would have been just so easy to let go right then and jump head-first into the situation without thinking about it, but. They didn't, and Ianto was proud of the both of them for it, even if he was a bit embarrassed at the implications that the two of them both wanted to take it slow. At the implications of the fact that Sulu obviously understood what Ianto had in mind besides just the jumping of the Portkey when he gave it over to him.

"It's not a big deal," Ianto said, flushing as he kept his eyes lowered. "I. I want it to be like this, so. I'm giving it to you. And. I hope you don't mind that I do want that. I mean, you obviously don't have to take it or anything. I just. I thought that maybe..." He bit his lip, turning his eyes to the side but still not looking at Sulu. "Maybe we could have this, y'know? Or. I don't know, maybe that's silly. I... I really don't know that I'm capable of thinking straight, at the moment." God, did he really just want something, anything to calm his nerves in that moment. It was even worse than usual.

[parked]

Sulu couldn't deny that he liked the noticeable effect he seemed to have on Ianto, from the blushing to the change in breathing to how he stammered and looked to the side as he spoke. It felt so nice to cause those kinds of things in someone like Ianto, to treat this like a real relationship, which was something Sulu hadn't had in a while. Though, God. Him looking away only made Sulu want to draw his attention back in some very-not-slow sorts of ways.

"Of course I'm going to take it." He stepped closer to Ianto, reaching up with his free hand to put a hand on the other man's face, to try and draw his gaze back to Sulu. "Really, Ianto. I'm honored that you want me to have it, and that you said yes to this whole date thing, and that you humored me and my... really terrible plant nerdiness just a few minutes ago." He smiled encouragingly, "I'm glad, I really am."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto chanced to look back at Sulu then, both with the hand on his face and the fact that he knew that that was what Sulu had wanted him to do, but putting his hand there in the first place. He smiled slightly back at Sulu's smile, finding that he couldn't help but be encouraged to do so with the combination of both the smile and the words behind it.

"Don't make me sound so noble," Ianto said, quietly, "you probably would have done the same thing if I had gotten the nerve up to ask you in the first place, or if I had started to go on about archiving and what have you." He smiled. God, he really wanted to kiss the other man right then, but he was afraid that once they started, he wouldn't be able to stop, and anyway, he was really looking forward to this date. As it was, he swallowed, trying hard not to pay attention to the fact that Sulu's hand was on his face, and Ianto was really starting to develop some sort of complex for the man's hands.

"We... I've picked a place for us to go out to," Ianto said, changing the topic of conversation, perhaps not as smoothly as he would have liked to, but changing it nonetheless.

[parked]

Kissing Ianto would be a great idea, and Sulu knew it - but he also knew that they'd had trouble pulling away the last time, and... If he was being honest, he was sort of hungry, anyway. Besides, they both seemed too worried and anxious about this whole date thing to make any kind of kiss worth it. He could wait.

Of course, he had to wait until they weren't somewhere public. Once they left the flat, any public displays of affection would have to be initiated by Ianto. He was the one who understood the cultural issues surrounding guys going out together, after all. But, Sulu could be patient if he needed to be, so he just smiled and nodded at Ianto's not-so-subtle topic change. "Yeah? What'd you pick out? Not another chip shop, right?" he asked, laughing - despite the fact that, didn't that sort of imply that they went on a date as teenagers? ...No, dates didn't end with broken noses. Sulu was pretty sure about that.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto snorted, rolling his eyes at that question. "No," he said, resisting the urge to punch Sulu in the shoulder for a comment like that, "not another chip shop, thanks. Though we could go back there some day, just for kicks. I'm...not sure I'm ready to take you out to the park again quite just yet, though," he said, raising a cocky eyebrow of his own. He was emotionally unstable enough at that moment to make jokes like that, that he might have questioned making otherwise.

"No," Ianto said, shaking his head, gently bringing his hand up to take Sulu's and remove it from his face, because it was really distracting, especially when he thought about the last time Sulu had cupped his face in his hands. "It's a pub, and it's a little bit away from here, so we're going to have to take my car. You should like it, though. I mean. It's a nice venue, and there's food there too. It's not just a bar, or anything." And it was not too private that they would feel self-conscious, being on a date together, nor was it too small, so that they wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, being two males out to a pub together and looking more intimate than mates would. Ianto'd really put a lot of thought into planning this, after all. He'd had the time, why not try and get things right?

[parked]

Sulu smirked at that comment, giving Ianto more free room now that he wasn't trying to get him to look at him. "I promise, you can take me anywhere and I'll behave. Fifteen-year-old-me, I don't know about, but twenty-one-year-old me is perfectly sociable." For the most part, really. There was no guarantee that Sulu wouldn't mess up somehow, or that he would want to be good. But - that was another conversation altogether.

"But, yeah." He laughed, "That sounds fine. Driving, food, all that good stuff." It'd be too corny to say something about how Ianto was the part Sulu really cared about, so he refrained. He had his image to uphold; he'd been losing points all over the place for being nerdy or unsmooth, and he really needed to work on that. Of course, he probably wouldn't have worried so much about it if he'd known how much effort and concern Ianto was putting into the venue itself. "Did you want to go, then?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto raised an eyebrow at Sulu's comment about being 21. Honestly, he couldn't remember if he knew that that was how old the other was. After all, he certainly acted pretty mature, for the most part, although that could be the military training and discipline through fencing and whatever else he had taken lessons in that was just making him seem older than he actually was. Ianto'd think about it later, though. Right now, he was standing with Sulu's hand around his, and he didn't much care how much older either of them was than the other, just that they would actually be doing this soon.

"Yeah," Ianto said, "we could go. I mean, if you don't mind. We don't really need reservations, or anything, it's not that kind of a place, but. I'm sure it'll fill up more the longer we wait, y'know? I wouldn't want to have to wait in a line for this, or anything. I mean. If you're ready to go now, that is..." He couldn't imagine why the other wouldn't be ready to go, but he felt that it was only fair to ask, anyway.

[parked]

Laughing a little at Ianto's apparent eagerness, Sulu nodded and went so far as to take a step towards the door, tugging lightly on Ianto's hand as he did so. "Of course I am. After being stuck as a woman, dealing with space bears and McCoy's bedside manner, having to file through paperwork and you having UNIT to deal with, I am completely ready to go out with you right now."

And that was the truth. Sulu had dealt with way too much crap this past month, and now he was more than ready to spend time with Ianto and forget all about the things he had to deal with. Like, say, talking to McCoy and getting him to lay off him for having connections to the 21st century. It wasn't like they were the same universe, after all. All he wanted now was Ianto. That was a worrisome statement, he knew, but it was the truth, so he'd have to accept it.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto laughed, allowing himself to be pulled along that step toward the door, having no complaint about heading out to the car and on toward their date. Ianto had specifically planned it so that they wouldn't have to travel too far to get to their destination, either. True, they had to travel out of Grangetown, but really, there weren't any good places for this event in Grangetown anyway, and there was too much of a chance that he'd be recognized there than where he'd been planning it all.

He walked toward the door, pausing to grab his wallet and his keys from the table in the hall, slipping his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. He hesitated, but picked his phone up as well, slipping it into his jacket. Jack knew that they were going out that night, and he also knew that Ianto was abundantly clear that should he interrupt unnecessarily, there were going to be some pretty dire consequences from Ianto, so. Hopefully Torchwood would be off their backs for now.

"Let's go, then," Ianto said, all but dragging Sulu out the door. "We both get to sit in the front, this time," he said, smiling as he remembered fondly the last time the two of them had sat in the car together (remembered the sitting in the car fondly, not the part that came after that, that was). "I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my cautious driving, again, as well." Ianto wasn't prone to reckless driving, not to the same extent that Jack was, but in any case, he was already on enough of a roller coaster of emotions, without having to add automobile excitement to the thick of it as well.

He headed out to the car, locking the door behind him, all the while still keeping a firm grip on Sulu's hand. To hell with the neighbors, they really weren't going to get to do this in the restaurant, better milk it for all that it was worth then, Ianto thought.

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Sulu laughed, allowing Ianto to drag him - well, no, he was keeping up of his own volition, squeezing the hand in his as they headed outside. He remembered Ianto's talk of how strange it was for men to date in this year, how holding hands was one of those no-go situations, so he was suitably impressed by Ianto's boldness. They were definitely on the right track, here, weren't they? (Sulu admittedly had no real way to gauge things in 2010, but he tried his best with what he had.)

"I'm perfectly fine with your driving. It's fine, I'd rather not risk us getting pulled over or something tonight. You know, since things are generally supposed to go smoothly on the first date." He grinned, "Though, I gotta admit, your back seat is nice. Most cars I've been in aren't so roomy."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto snorted, unlocking the car doors and reluctantly letting go of Sulu's hand to cross to the driver's side door to climb in. He wondered when this had suddenly turned into a conversation about his car, of all things. "I don't know that I'd call it 'roomy', exactly. I mean... It's a sedan," Ianto said, shrugging. He never was all that concerned about the interior, so long as it was clean and there weren't any stains that needed to be taken out of the upholstery. He shut the door and put the keys into the ignition, waiting for Sulu to join him in the car before buckling and turning it on.

"I mean. Generally, I don't even really have any sort of use for the back seat, other than carting things around. It's usually just me in here anyway, or me and one other passenger, like yourself. It's... It's pretty rare to have all of Torchwood somewhere without the SUV, and well. We just don't have that many members, y'know. The back's greatest uses up until this point have probably been carting around takeout. Or, well..." Ianto stopped himself from saying that aloud, blushing at the fact that he'd even brought it up. He was pretty sure there was some sort of faux pas around mentioning any sorts of physical acts between you and your when partner when you were off on a date with your other. He thought there might be, anyway. He wasn't so sure on the rules of these things, it wasn't like he had any sorts of guidelines to follow on the matter.

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Sulu got in the passenger's side, taking his time buckling up before looking over at Ianto. "We don't have sedans like this. You guys get a bit more legroom in this sort of thing." Then again, not many people drove conventional cars, really. Sulu figured it wasn't important, though; cars and vehicles in general weren't exactly date material, were they?

Ianto's blush, as well as his reference to the back seat, really didn't go unnoticed. Sulu knew that the situation they were in was awkward for Ianto; after all, while Sulu had never personally been in this kind of position, he knew friends who were and it never seemed like a big deal. The 21st century, though - there was still a stigma against the idea of being in a relationship with more than one person.

There wasn't really a good way to ease Ianto's mind about it, and there wasn't any sort of method to handle the situation in general, so he just laughed and nodded, deciding to treat the situation like he would normally. "That's sort of the point of a back seat, I thought."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto, who had been pulling out of his parking spot and onto the road, had to focus pretty hard on his driving not to blush or think too hard about Sulu's backseat comment. "Well... I suppose that it is," he said, trying to play off his reaction as being normal and smooth, but really knowing that he was about as far from smooth as he could be at that moment. The question that ran through his mind at that moment, though, was whether to react as he normally would, or to go one step further and play it off. They, well. They were on a date, after all. Sulu seemed to have no sort of problem playing things off like that, so maybe... Maybe he should too? Taking a breath, he thought he'd give it a try.

"I. Since you aren't familiar with sedans like this, I will tell you that backseats, regardless of how roomy they might seem, really aren't roomy enough for those things when you get right down to it," Ianto said, blushing. "I mean. Certainly... Certainly not for someone as tall as. Well...me." He kept his eyes firmly planted on the road. There was no taking back a statement like that, so he had to just hope that it came across as...well, not smooth, because it wasn't. But as showing that he wasn't freaking out too much about everything. Because he wasn't. Sure, his heart rate was up, but that was mostly with anticipation for it all than anything else.

He almost immediately started second guessing himself on that comment, though, and fought for something else to say. "It's, ehm...it's only about 5, 10 minutes from here. The place we're headed to, that is."