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.

Comments

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Well, I'm glad for that, then," Ianto said, continuing to run his hand through Sulu's hair and chuckling along with him. "One captain is enough for me, thanks. And about the rest of it..." Ianto took a breath. "I... I can't promise that I'll make the right decisions all the time, because well. This is new to me too. I don't really know how to handle it. And like. I worry that you might think that because Jack came first, and because Jack's more demanding, that I like him better or something like that, but." Ianto sighed. "It's hard to explain. You're different, you and Jack. And I...the way I feel about both of you is different too. Not... Not stronger for one or the other. Just. Just different."

Ianto rolled his eyes at Sulu's comment about Jack. "He probably is. And has been for a long time. Sometimes I wonder if he was ahead of the curve even before, when he was in his own time, but. I don't know if I really want to know, other times. I mean. The only other person I've met from that time period is John, and well." Ianto suppressed a shudder. "He... He isn't the best example of humanity, really."

[parked]

Sulu found himself relaxing a bit more of his weight into Ianto, feeling more comfortable as Ianto continued to run his hand through his hair - he knew he should probably stop Ianto, because... well, because, but it felt so nice...

"I won't think that," he said, even though he'd already considered it, had even sort of prepared himself for it. "Besides. We've only been on one date - it would be unfair of me to expect anything special out of you so soon." And though Sulu had no idea who John was, he felt like he'd talked to him at least once, and the way Ianto said his name pretty much told him exactly what he needed to know. "Don't worry," he said, "I doubt you'd be so close to Jack if he weren't just the right amount of 'ahead.'"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto didn't really notice Sulu getting any heavier, more like he noticed him losing some of the leftover stiffness about their positioning that he might have had earlier, lying a lot more relaxed on top of him. Ianto supposed he should stop his hand as well, and yet. It was nice. Soothing for him, the continuous motion. He knew that Sulu enjoyed the feeling, but. More than that, he should have felt awkward about it, and yet. He didn't. Which was new, and more than a little refreshing to him.

"We've only been on one date so far," Ianto repeated, adding the last two words onto Sulu's statement. "I... I was kind of under the impression that there would be more to come, though," Ianto said, with a soft, timid smile up at Sulu. "Seeing as how this first one seemed to go pretty well for us, and all." He couldn't find a single thing that he remembered really stuck out as being bad about it. It hadn't been perfect, but perfect dates were impossible, and what they'd had... Well, it made Ianto happy. Happy to spend time with the other man. Wasn't that what a date was all about, anyway? Enjoying your time together?

[parked]

"So far," Sulu echoed, nodding slightly. "But - yeah. Yeah, we'll definitely have more. I'd like to, at least." He laughed a little sourly, "I mean, assuming I don't have to deal with any more away missions gone awry, or viruses where I'm turned into a woman, or something. But..."

He remembered what Ianto had said as he'd been falling asleep against him, what they'd talked about even before that, when Ianto had come to his cabin because he'd wanted to make sure he was alive and well. "It's all going to work out," he said slowly. "Come hell or high water, I'm not about to let anything get in our way."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto didn't fail to notice that almost immediately after Sulu'd allowed himself to be even the slightest bit cynical, he'd reined it in and was back to being positive again. He wasn't sure if that was for his sake, or whether that was just something that Sulu did all the time, but he was grateful for it. Really, there were a lot of things that could go wrong for either of them, and viruses were the least of their worries. At least viruses reverted themselves eventually, right? Space bears or Weevils, on the other hand... His hand stilled in Sulu's hair.

"Come hell or high water, huh?" Ianto repeated, mulling it over. Ianto just simply wasn't as optimistic as Sulu, and so he couldn't say for certain that they would be able to stop everything that got in between the two of them, everything that kept one from another, but. He was more than willing to try. "Well. I'm not sure that there's much I can do, but. I'm try to keep up my end of the deal as well. Come hell or high water, as you say," he said, with a small smile.

[parked]

Sulu had only let himself get cynical because that was the way the conversation had been heading on his behalf, but he couldn't allow himself to stay that way. He couldn't allow himself to look at this negatively, because if he started that way, who knew how far he'd go.

He smiled at Ianto and reached a hand up to grab his, the one he had left in Sulu's hair, and held it. "As long as we both want it to work out, it will. External circumstances be damned." After all, he had to keep that kind of attitude, if he wanted this to succeed. And, damn it, he wanted nothing more.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shifted his hand in Sulu's grip to clutch Sulu's hand back, raising an eyebrow and quirking a half smile at Sulu's words. "You're sure of that, then?" he asked, because however much he might want to just blindly trust that everything was going to be alright, he was too much of a realist to manage it. "That so long as we want it to work out, it will and all. You... You really believe that?" he asked.

As much as he was cynical, and a pessimist, Ianto still wanted things to work out for the better, and if Sulu was so sure of it, sure enough to reinforce his words and answer Ianto truthfully in this, then. Maybe Ianto would feel more inclined to believe him. Sulu really was his strength, when it came to optimism. He hadn't realized how down he used to be on a lot of things until Sulu had come along and started changing a lot of that for the better.

[parked]

Sulu looked at Ianto and focused on him for a moment, taking in his face, his expression, his mood - and he realized that it had been honestly a while since he'd heard Ianto say anything pessimistic. Well, not like he used to, that was for sure. Sulu had mentioned future plans, plenty of them, and instead of hesitating, instead of not believing him, Ianto had agreed, had even expressed hope and interest for them, and...

"I do," he said, "I really do. I want you to believe it too, I want you to be as sure of this as I am." Because, despite how much he wanted to worry about this relationship, despite how easy it would be to focus on all the terrible things that could happen, Sulu didn't even bother. All he wanted was this.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto could tell just by looking at Sulu that the other man was telling the truth about what he thought, he really was. Ianto's expression softened, and he smiled up at the other man, gripping the hand that had found his back, and just feeling so...at peace with everything, in that moment.

"Well," he said fondly. "You keep saying things like that, and really meaning them, and well. I... I just might find myself believing you more and more." He blushed. "I'm not sure if you're really aware of the effect that your optimism has had on me, but. I'll have you know that things are pretty drastically different from what they used to be like, for me. And well, the only thing that's come about to change my thinking in any of this is you, so. I guess you must be doing something right, there."

He chuckled. "Keep at it, and you might just get what you want, you know. I seem to be relatively easily persuaded on these things. When you're the one doing the persuading, that is."

[parked]

Sulu grinned and kissed Ianto, a bit more intensely than they'd been enjoying these last few times, but still not exactly passionately. He didn't want to give Ianto the wrong impression, after all.

"I'll try to keep myself honest for you, that I can promise." He nuzzled his cheek, feeling like a silly kid; a kid who didn't quite realize how serious things for them might get, but wasn't going to back down when the reality hit him.

How late was it? He frowned slightly. "I... I should leave soon, though. We both need sleep, and..." And if he stayed, he wasn't sure what might happen.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled into the kiss, kissing Sulu back briefly before they broke it off again. "Trying is all I can ask you to try and do," he said. At Sulu's statement of the time though, Ianto sighed. He brought both of his hands to rest on either side of Sulu's head, just resting them there, holding him in place so that he could get a good look at the other man.

Honestly, he didn't want Sulu to leave, he didn't want to have to spend the night alone in his empty flat after having spent such a wonderful time together like they had, but. He didn't want to rush things, and asking Sulu to stay over on the first date... That was definitely rushing things. He bit his lip, nodding. "Yeah, I... We both do need to get some sleep..." he said, in response.

He ran his thumbs over Sulu's cheek bones, shooting the other man a small smile. "You can try out the portkey to get back. See if it works like Jack says it will, and all," he said. It'd be nice if it did, because well. That mean that Sulu could come over whenever he wanted to, or the pair of them could visit the Enterprise, without so much as having to lift a finger.

[parked]

Sulu looked in Ianto's eyes and allowed himself the thought of staying the night, just to imagine being able to wake up next to Ianto, have coffee with him, breakfast - the mundane things that he usually didn't fantasize about, because they were so easily doable. But, that was before Starfleet, before a five year mission in space - a mission he was constantly forgetting every time he came down to a Cardiff over 200 years in the past, to spend time with a man whose job was just as demanding and ten times more sporadic than his own. Mundane scenarios were probably the things Sulu was going to fantasize more about than anything, in this relationship.

He was okay with that.

"Yeah," he said, imagining that he could stay, "Hopefully it'll work like Jack said. Otherwise, I could end up being put... Well, just about anywhere." He really hoped that magic required less accuracy than science - otherwise, he doubted anyone had accounted for the fact that the ship was moving through space.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto winced, thinking of the possibilities of what could happen, should something go wrong with the device. And yet... "I don't know. Jack said that Dumbledore made him this, and well. Everyone on the community seems to trust him to be a good wizard, fully capable of these sorts of things, so. I... I trust it. Jack trusts it enough to give it over to us, so. I. I think that there shouldn't be a problem with it, or anything. I mean. I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't trust that it should work, so."

Ianto swallowed, looking up into Sulu's eyes and smiling slightly. "I'm going to take a page out of your book, here, and trust that things will work the way they should. Although I am going to ask you to call and tell me that it you've arrived safely and all," he added with a blush. "So I don't spend the rest of the night worrying whether you've made it or whether you're...magicked away to god knows where, or something."

[parked]

"It's weird to think that you can believe people to be wizards on the community," Sulu said with a laugh, shaking his head. "But, good. We'll both trust that it'll work, and if it doesn't... well. Jack will have some explaining to do, won't he?"

He gave Ianto another kiss, longer than before, before rising up onto his knees and then sliding off of Ianto and the couch. "And I promise, I'll call. It won't take long, probably." Worldhopping never did. Still, he wasn't making much of a move for the portkey, now was he?

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto kissed Sulu back. As much as he said that he had faith in the portkey, he still had some doubts about it, and well. He hadn't been kidding that one night when he'd come to Sulu's cabin and cried to him about not even being able to say goodbye. If... If this was the last time the two of them ever saw each other (it wasn't going to be, but just in case), then he didn't want to have regrets like that weighing on his conscience.

Ianto sat up on the couch after Sulu got off of him, running his fingers through his hair to straighten it out a little bit again. "Okay. I'll... I'll be waiting for your call, then," he said, moving to stand next to Sulu. He smiled at the other man, before going in to take take a kiss of his own, shorter than the one Sulu'd started, but just as nice. "You'd better call, you know," he said, pulling back. "I don't want to try this optimism thing only to have it go horribly wrong, yeah?" he said, with a small smile.

[parked]

"I'll call, I promise, I promise." Sulu laughed and, unable to resist, ran both his hands through Ianto's hair as he gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to get back in one piece. I don't want you to lose the optimism - it looks too good on you."

Sulu moved to grab the box that the portkey was in, pausing briefly to blow at the singing plant he'd brought earlier so that it chimed a bit. "And, at the very least, I'll be stopping by sometime to check on this one here," he said, winking at Ianto, "Making sure you're keeping care of it." After all, he was a botanist; he wasn't about to let Ianto get away with killing one of his plants.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto nodded, smiling. "Please do. I... Well, I wouldn't say that I necessarily have a bad track record with plants, but. It could be better. It definitely wouldn't hurt for you to come buy and check up on it, when you can. Now that you have the ability to do so whenever you like, and all," Ianto said, with a smile, nodding to the box in Sulu's hands.

"You... You can do that, you know. Come by whenever you like. Even if it's just to sleep in the same bed together. I... I'd like that, really. I mean. I like having you around, as it is. We don't have to have plans to get together. In fact...we'll probably find impromptu things a lot easier to carry through than actual plans, as it were. Even if it's just an hour two or the night or what have you. That is, only if and when you'd like to," Ianto finished with a blush, realizing he'd been rambling.

[parked]

Sulu allowed himself a chance to imagine that - being able to stop by just to crawl into bed with Ianto and pass out after a long shift (or, more likely, pass out until Ianto came back, as their time schedules seemed a bit different). He knew it wouldn't be that easy. There'd be times he'd want to come down where Ianto was dealing with Torchwood, there'd be times Ianto'd want him down where he was dealing with Starfleet - there'd be times that Jack would be there.

Which, honestly, probably wouldn't be a big deal. Ianto'd probably end up the most frustrated, but, hey.

"They'd be a lot easier, you're right," Sulu said, nodding. "And - I'd like them. I'll make sure to call ahead, though." Didn't want to interrupt anything, after all. "You know - the same stands for you. Any time you want me down, or... well, admittedly, almost any time you want to come up? Let me know, and I'll be there if I can."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto blushed, feeling a little silly that he'd even suggested it, but pleased that he had because of the warmth spreading through him that Sulu had agreed to the offer and turned it back to apply to him as well. "Yeah," he said, trying to keep his voice from sounding as if he was relieved that Sulu'd agreed. "Yeah, I'll... I'll call, and we'll... We'll work it out."

"I know it won't work every time, and well. That there'll probably be some times when I really do want you here, or you'd want me to be there, and it just can't happen, but. I mean, those potential few times this might not work shouldn't stop us from leaving the offer out in the open, yeah?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets, smiling bashfully at Sulu and resisting the urge to shuffle his feet. He felt awkward in that moment, but. Well, it was a good kind of awkward. An awkward brought on by excitement of things to come. "Well... There's that. I... I still think that tonight it's probably better if we. Y'know. Didn't. But in the future. Really, I'm looking forward to it."

[parked]

"Exactly," Sulu said with a smile. He picked up the box with the portkey in it and moved back to Ianto, reaching to pull one of his hands out of his pocket, holding on to it. "And, I know what you mean. We jumped the gun a bit last time, but. It was called for. Regular first dates are supposed to end around this time, before we both decide we'd rather say 'screw it.' Right?" In all honesty, Sulu hadn't been on a "regular" date in a while. And, he was also almost at the point of saying "screw it." He kept that part to himself.

"I'll take off now, before we get ahead of ourselves and give you a call once we're sure this thing works, and then - well, we'll... figure out something later on. Probably shouldn't marathon through a few dates in a week, you know?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto let Sulu take his hand, cocking his head to the side and smiling at him as he did. "Yeah, I suppose that regular dates are supposed to end around this time, like this. We should at least humor the tradition and try it a couple times, before we throw the tradition to the wind and all." No matter how much he'd like to throw the tradition to the wind, they really should try it at least once. Who knows. Maybe the next time they got together, they might not be able to part so easily, with time left to spare, after all.

"Yeah, I know," he said, in response to Sulu's comment about them marathoning dates. "Giving us time in between them won't get us to start expecting more of that every week, after all. I mean. Look how long it took us to set up this first one. Two in one week would be...overwhelming, really," he said, smirking at Sulu. "We'll... We both know that there's going to be another date soon, so. We can leave it at that for now, alright?" He squeezed Sulu's hand. "I'll talk to you on the phone, then, yeah? Briefly, at least."

[parked]

Though Sulu wasn't too much for tradition, this one seemed like a fair enough one to follow. He nodded at Ianto's words, giving him one last kiss for good luck before stepping back a bit, opening the box and taking out the watch. Before he could do so much as look up at Ianto, he was sent spinning, and the next moment he was in his cabin - well. On the floor of his cabin. Wow. All right, then.

Sulu groaned as he pushed himself up, dusting himself off and giving everything a once-over. Everything seemed to be in one piece - including him. And just then, he realized that he now had a direct (if slightly disorienting) line to Ianto's flat, that he could use any time he wanted. Which meant he could see Ianto whenever he wanted, which meant everything they'd said tonight, despite him having believed it at the time, was not at all impossible. They could go on as many dates as they damned well wanted to, Sulu could see Ianto whenever he wanted to, and they... really, really could make this work.

He resisted the temptation to jump back to Ianto's flat, to prove that it worked and that it could go both ways, and instead set the watch in his top desk drawer, taking his communicator out of his pocket and calling up Ianto. His grin was audible in his voice, even to him. "It works perfectly," he said once Ianto responded, "One hell of a trip, though."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto breathed a sigh of relief at Sulu's words. Honestly, it'd been more than a little bit jarring to watch. Sulu'd simply picked the watch up out of the box, and suddenly he'd just...winked out of existence. In the couple of seconds between when he'd disappeared and when he'd called, Ianto's mind had run through all sorts of horrible possible scenarios of that portkey thing going wrong, before his phone had rung. Scrambling to get it out of his jacket pocket, he'd been relieved to hear Sulu's voice, and even more relieved to hear the good news.

"I'm glad," Ianto said, resisting the urge to say something like how he was more relieved to know that he hadn't just spliced the other man across space and time than he could even fully express. "What do you mean, though, 'one hell of a trip'? Is it... It isn't too bad, is it?" Great help this watch thing would be, if it got them between the places but was too horrible to use, after all. It would also be just his luck, but that was besides the point.

[parked]

"It's just going to take a little bit to get used to," Sulu said with a laugh, falling into his bed and staring up at his ceiling. "Like... spinning through a turbine, or something. I nearly broke my nose when I got here." Okay, so he was exaggerating a little - but, maybe it was just because he liked being worried over.

He could imagine Ianto's face pretty clearly as he said it, though - either concerned and worried, or just exasperated - so he was quick to add, "Not really, but it's definitely going to take a few tries before I stop being disoriented."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto's eyebrows shot up at Sulu's comment about nearly breaking his nose thanks to the watch, or portkey, or whatever it was. He was halfway to opening his mouth and demanding if he was okay or not, when Sulu amended his statement, instead shutting his mouth and making a worried face.

"Is... Is it alright, though? I mean. Just because it's convenient, doesn't mean that you should force yourself to keep using it, if it really is that disorienting or dangerous or whatever. I mean... I don't want you ending up hurting yourself, just for my sake, or anything silly like that," Ianto said, moving to sit down on the sofa, cradling the phone to his head. "I'm asking you to be honest with me, here. Like, really honest. I will take it back, if I find out that you're lying..."