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[coffee_sir]

It was somewhat disheartening for the winter climate to fade away and for the island to return to its normal conditions. While Ianto enjoyed the warmth and, ultimately, preferred it for long periods of time, there was something cozy and reassuring about the cabin-version of the hut. There was also something appealing to snuggling under warm

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[theunascended]

Daniel was even less awake than Ianto, although the arm and the movement woke him up enough to roll and catch Ianto's lips in a sleepy kiss. "Morning," he murmured, although it was clear he was still mostly asleep.

In fact, when he stopped moving, he started to drift back to sleep, nuzzling his face in Ianto's neck, more than happy for the warmth, even if they didn't need it anymore.

[coffee_sir]

"No," Ianto replied, words garbled by his sluggishness in refusing to wake up. Sighing contentedly at the feel of Daniel near him, Ianto nearly let himself doze a little longer...

...when the sound of something scratching caught his attention. He tried to ignore it, as the sound stopped for a few seconds, but it came back again, and was followed by the thud of something moderately heavy falling to the ground. Like a book. He blinked and opened his eyes, looking over his shoulder to the wall where the noise was coming from.

[theunascended]

The thud was what woke him up, especially since he still had arms wrapped around him. Arms that were clearly Ianto's.

"If that's Jack," Daniel murmured sleepily, "I swear to god I'm going to kill him." Because honestly, he couldn't think of anyone that would actually come in without knocking, first. He figured Jack would respect their privacy, but might go into the main part of the hut for...something.

[coffee_sir]

"It came from the spare room," Ianto answered, a mixture of confused and sleepy in tone. "All that's in there is a bed. That didn't sound like a man falling onto a bed." Or a bed falling onto a man, if it came to that. Ignoring the fact that if Jack were looking for a bed, he would have just come into their room.

And then the barking started. Short little yips interspersed with seconds of quiet and furious scratching.

[theunascended]

"That sounds like..." Of course it sounded like barking because it was barking, but last time he'd checked, Ianto hadn't brought a dog into the hut and he certainly hadn't. He groaned. "It's too early for this."

Of course, that didn't stop him from slipping out of bed and hunting around for where he'd left his boxers.

He was almost perversely happy that it wasn't winter anymore, purely for the fact that he'd have been in an even worse mood if he'd had to get out of a warm bed into a colder hut.

[coffee_sir]

"That sounds like a dog," Ianto said, completing the sentence for Daniel, though really he just needed to say it aloud himself. Sometimes that helped to make a situation more believable. Or, at least, brought a sense of reality to it.

He followed Daniel out of bed, grabbing the pajama bottoms he'd left in plain sight and tugging them on quickly. It was something of a fluid movement, from bed to dressed to door to other door, and he only stopped when he saw what was in the other room.

"...Island," he threw out, just in case Daniel was curious as to the cause of the noise. Well, ultimate cause, as Ianto was quite certain no one could turned an empty room into a library, complete with a sofa, in the middle of the night without waking them up. Letting a puppy in was more feasible, but Ianto preferred to think that no one they knew on the island actually would do that.

[theunascended]

"Island?" Daniel asked, close on Ianto's heels. He looked at the room in wonder for a moment, from the wall-to-wall bookshelves to the very comfortable-looking sofa. Then he drew his gaze to the dog. He couldn't name the breed, but it was small and it was chewing on a book. A book he knew very well.

He laughed, a decidedly loud and pleased sound. "He has good taste," Daniel murmured. "An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary. Budge." If he'd have picked any book for the dog to eat, it would have been that one.

[coffee_sir]

It took a few more seconds for the words to process for Ianto, what with sleepiness and shock. Mornings held a paucity of good moments for him. But when the name clicked, he laughed softly with Daniel.

"Hopefully that's the only book he has a taste for," Ianto said before taking a step forward into the room. The puppy had been gnawing on the book but watching them the whole time and seemed to decide that humans were immensely more interesting than chewing. It abandoned the book and scuttered forward on short legs, eager in expression. Ianto was sure a tail would have been wagging if there were a tail to wag.

"Hello," he greeted softly, amused as he knelt down and offered a hand. The dog immediately returned the greeting with frantic licks, squirming around energetically when Ianto tried to pet it.

[theunascended]

Daniel took the book carefully, still chuckling, and put it on one of the higher bookshelves. "I'll just have to make sure that there aren't any books on the lower shelves until he learns."

He knelt down next to Ianto, one hand on Ianto's back and the other held out for the puppy. He - no she - was a bundle of activity and it brought a soft smile to his face.

"Reminds me of the first time that Cassie got a dog," he remarked, though he wasn't entirely certain whether he'd told Ianto about Cassie. "Small thing, though not quite this small. Jack said that every kid had to have one."

[coffee_sir]

Ianto grinned at the comment, using the opportunity presented with the dog being momentarily distracted by Daniel's hand to grab at the little tag attached to her collar. Unsurprisingly, at least to Ianto, it had his name on it.

"Corgi," Ianto said, sitting down. The movement got the puppy's attention again, and she scampered over Ianto's legs like he was a jungle gym. "Welsh," he added with a knowing smirk. "This is just like what the island pulled last year. Only the Doctor was the one with the puppy."

[theunascended]

"Welsh Corgi, huh?" Daniel asked, grinning and sitting down next to Ianto so that the puppy could walk over them both. "So we're training her in Welsh, then? And what are we going to name her?"

It was kind of nice, having something to share with Ianto other than just the house.

He hissed a little as one of her licks turned more into a gnawing of his hand.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto chuckled softly. "Might be proper, though I think she could handle English if we wanted to. Or any other language we throw at her, as long as we're consistent."

Another small chuckle escaped him when the puppy nipped at Daniel's hand. "And I have no idea what to name her. I've only just met her, haven't I?"

[theunascended]

"If we train her in Welsh, it prevents her from trying to follow dozens of different commands. People would have to actually know the words and I don't think there are too many people around here that speak conversational Welsh."

Daniel leaned against Ianto, smiling. "Well, we have to think of something. We can't just call her 'dog', can we?"

Although, come to think of it, that's what Cassie had called her dog.

[coffee_sir]

"There's Gwen," Ianto pointed out, although it was an idle point as most of his attention was focused on the puppy, who seemingly eagerly would jump into his arms only to squirm away frantically seconds later, and then come back. "And the Doctor. Although I think trying to find a language that the Doctor doesn't know at least a few words of it more or less hopeless."

She simply refused to be held for longer than two seconds, but wanted attention, and tripped over Ianto's legs to get to Daniel. "Ci," Ianto threw out, trying the direct translation of 'dog'. Daniel was right; it didn't really fit. "Or bach." 'Small' fit almost too well.

[theunascended]

"Yes," Daniel said, laughing brightly and trying to hold the dog in his arms. It didn't really work and he was tempted to bring the Budge back down, to give her something to occupy herself with. "But think about it this way. Most people on the island speak English as their primary language. How often would she hear Welsh, other than if it was being spoken to her?"

He knew very little about how dogs actually were trained - he'd have to talk to Jack, maybe - but he tried ignoring her, seeing if that would calm her down. It didn't, really. She just starting gnawing at his boxers.

"And I'll have you know that I did stump the Doctor. But I cheated. I don't think he has that language in his reality."

[coffee_sir]

Ianto gave Daniel a sideways glance. "That's rather blatant cheating," he said, though it wasn't as if he was really bothered by Daniel pulling that. It was more like teasing.

He choked back a laugh when he saw the puppy chewing at Daniel's boxers, but grabbed her under the arms quickly. "Bachgennes," he chided, or at least said in a chiding tone of voice. "My job. Not yours."

The puppy squirmed for a second, but Ianto held her so her bottom half dangled. With a disgruntled noise, she stilled. "I hope you came with an instruction manual," he said. "Or at least some chew toys."