A Night Out at the Pub

[torchwoodteaboy]

Surprisingly, Jack had insisted on a specific pub they rent out, and Ianto had stepped back and let him do so. Jack knew the owner, had been going there for years (and years and years), and so he could get the place cheap and quickly and still have the quality service that they wanted. And for an occasion like this one, quality was a must

Comments

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty hadn't been planning on attending the party. It wasn't that he didn't want to get out and socialize. It was just... Well. It was one thing to get off shift and to go hang out in the rec room and be social on the Enterprise, and quite another altogether to leave the ship entirely, to head to different world. Granted, he'd agreed to visit Jack every now and then to help out with brewing some hypervodka, but he'd made it clear that it would only be when he had enough downtime.

But Jim had insisted, and while Scotty was reasonably certain Jim would stop short of directly ordering him to go, he didn't want to push it. So there he was, because everyone else on the Enterprise who was part of the community had been invited too, and because he'd agreed after some prodding that he could do with a bit of time to relax and unwind.

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack grinned widely as Scotty entered the pub, raising his glass to him from across the way. "Hey there, soldier," he said, using the nickname he'd taken to calling the other man, whenever he was teasing him. "Care for a drink? Don't have Saurian brandy, but I'm sure we can come up with something you'd like, here."

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Oh, and that had been another reason Scotty had been a bit reluctant about going. Jack. It wasn't that he didn't like Jack. The man was fun to hang out with, and fun to talk to, and well... Just all-around fun, really. But after that photo Jack had sent him, Scotty wasn't certain he'd be able to look Jack in the eye without turning bright red or possibly stumbling over his words and making himself look like a complete tosser.

Nevertheless, it'd be horribly rude of him to just ignore Jack, so he made his over to the bar, not quite looking at the other man. "Ah. Guinness, if you've got it."

[capt_greatcoat]

The bartender nodded and set about filling up a glass from the tap as Jack shook his head, grinning. "Scotty," he said, chuckling. "It's the 21st century, and you're in Wales. Of course they've got Guinness. Probably the nicest, most true to the original version of it that you'll ever get, without going any further back in time, that is," he said with a smile.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty smiled a bit sheepishly down at the counter, running a hand through his hair. Alright, so Jack made a valid point. "Fair enough," he replied, giving the bartender a nod in thanks as the man slid his drink over to him. "Nice place, by the way." He'd always liked pubs.

And, well. He couldn't deny that it was good to be able to get out of his uniform, for once. He hadn't known whether he was supposed to get dressed up or wear something casual, so he'd gone for something sort of in the middle, a nice button-down shirt and the kilt he didn't get to wear as often as he would have liked.

[capt_greatcoat]

A kilt that Jack was wasting no time to admire. It'd been a while since he'd been to Scotland, since he'd had anyone around that'd been a Scotsman. Not since Archie, he didn't think, and even then... It'd been a real struggle to get him into that kilt. Jack didn't see what the big deal was. He looked good in it, why worry what other people thought of it?

"Nice duds," Jack said, with an appreciative smile, taking a sip of his drink. "Different, to see you out of your uniform and not covered in grease, or anything like that."

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty knew he looked good in his kilt, but the real reason for wearing it was that it was pretty much the only thing he owned that wasn't a uniform that was acceptable for wearing to a party. He couldn't help but laugh a little, at Jack's comment. "Shockin', isn't it?"

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack chuckled a little. "I don't know if 'shocking' would be quite the word I'd use. I like it. It's a good look for you. The uniform's a good look for you too, but. It's nice to have a little change every now and again, yeah?" Not that Jack was really one to talk. Especially since he still had his usual blue shirt and braces on, like he always did, his greatcoat hung up safely behind the bar.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

He glanced sidelong at Jack, not quite having had enough alcohol to actually come out and say what he was thinking, which was something along the lines that really Jack thought he'd look good in anything. Or nothing, as the case may be, a treacherous little voice whispered in the back of his mind. He ignored it, and concentrated on his drink. "Aye, it's good tae remind myself once in a while that my wardrobe's not limited tae red an' black."

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack was starting to realize that Scotty wasn't looking him in the eye, that he was even making it a point not to look at him at all. "Yeah, it's nice to break out of the box a little bit, every once and a while. And come down to Cardiff for some drinks, as the case may be."

He raised his glass to the other man. "So, how're you finding Cardiff so far, then?"

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

"It's a bit weird, I have tae admit," Scotty answered, still not quite looking at Jack. Because God knew the minute he did he was going to think about that picture with the towel - Hell, he was already thinking about the picture with the towel - and he wanted to at least have a bit of alcohol first so he could maybe get away with blaming the reddish tinge on his cheeks on the alcohol. "I mean. Walk outside an' it's all humans, everywhere you look. Just bloody weird."

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, well. You get used to that, after a while. I mean, there've got to be places where you guys've landed that have all been one sort of homogeneous gene pool of some species or another. It's not like Earth is the only place to have something like that. Unless you mean that it's weird in the sense that you're not used to blending in as well as you do, in a place like this."

YOU SAW NOTHING

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

"No, we've been tae places with a homogeneous gene pool. It's just humans everywhere that's weird. Because I know I'm on Earth, I mean. Earth is sort o'... Federation headquarters, back home. You get all sorts wanderin' out an' about." So it's not really the blending in that's weird so much as it is the distinct lack of anything other than Homo Sapiens.

SURE I DIDN'T

[capt_greatcoat]

"Earth being Federation headquarters?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. "There isn't anything like that in this universe. I mean, there are places that are the Federation headquarters, but they're in space. In neutral territory." He shrugged. "See, Earth's first contact happens in the 21st century but. Other planets out there have been in contact with others for millennia longer than Earth has, so. Headquarters never saw reason to move to a little back-planet like this one."

BLAME CROWLEY IT'S ALL HIS FAULT

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty kept forgetting how little Jack knew about the way things worked in the Starfleet universe. Then again, he hardly knew anything about the ways worked in Jack's universe. "Well, there wasn't exactly a Federation before the Vulcans made first contact with Earth," he explained, actually sort of looking at Jack now. "It wasn't until the twenty-second century that our Federation was formed. It was founded between Earth, the Vulcans, the Tellarites, an' the Andorians." He grinned a bit, then. "Not quite such a little back-planet, where we're from."

SURE IT IS :| /looking at you, scotty

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack shook his head. "I'm not sure about the whole details of it all, but over here, there are other alien races, ancient ones, going back millennia, who've been keeping an eye on not only how the different races interact with each other, but also over time itself. We humans aren't anything special, and we certainly aren't up with the times here and now in the 21st century."

What Scotty didn't know was that Jack was trying to lull him into a sense of security, so that he could start in on the flirting again. Now that he was in the proper mood to do so, that was.