Ianto had been sitting at his desk in the tourist office, doing next to nothing. He had actual work that he could be doing down in the archives, but then he'd have to make it all the way up from there to the tourist office and then out onto the Plass, and really he couldn't be bothered with making that much smalltalk with the man, considering he'd never even spoken in person to him yet
( ... )
Ianto shook his head, smiling at the coffee pot question. "No, not really. I mean, I'll use one if I have to, but. With something like this, there's a lot more you can adjust and get absolutely right, and not just have to sit back and let the machine's settings do all the work for." God, he was geeking out over the coffee machine again, wasn't he? He was going to have to learn to stop doing that, some day. Catching himself in the act was pretty embarrassing.
He took two mugs from beside the machine (both clean, Ianto certainly wouldn't leave dirty mugs lying about, especially when he had company over), and placed them out on the counter. "Right, so. I'm pretty much good at making anything, with this. Had a lot of practice, and all. So, what'll it be?" he asked, with a smile. Obviously, he didn't have any fancy flavor shots or soy milk or whatever those fancy barista types had about, but. What he didn't have in garnish, he made up for in actual quality of the coffee, or so he'd like to think.
"Right," John said, obviously amused at that little rant, raising a brow at Ianto. "Can't say I see anything wrong with that. After all, ah. If you really love your coffee, of course you want to have more of a hand in it." He was actually proud of himself for being able to accept the geekery - and a little surprised to find that he could sort of understand it. It was just one of those things, he supposed. "There are worse things to be obsessed with, anyway." He grinned, "Violins, for one."
John frowned at the question, mulling it over briefly. He wasn't much of a coffee man, not really. He usually bought the cheapest thing he could find in the market, slapped it in a coffee maker and let the machine do all the work. Really, though. Tea was more his thing.
Clasping his hands together, he shrugged. "I've been told I'm sort of the quintessential Englishman, being that I'm a bit more of a tea drinker. What would you recommend?"
Ianto smiled and nodded, stepping up to the machine and switching it on to get it started up. "A tea drinker, yeah? I think I can work with that," he said, with a smirk. There'd been quite a few tea drinkers who were less than enthusiastic about coffee that he'd given a cuppa to and helped them see the error of their ways, as it was.
"How do you take your tea, then?" Ianto asked. "Not that that's how I'm going to serve you coffee, but. Just as an idea of what sort of flavor you might like in this. I mean, I could always guess completely, but. I wouldn't want to make any assumptions and guess wrong in this," he said, knowing full well that he wouldn't guess wrong. He never did, not where coffee was concerned. A talent, not really useful in anything else, but a talent nonetheless.
It wasn't that John didn't like coffee. Lately, it had become a staple in his diet, thanks to his late nights. But, he didn't exactly frequent Starbucks.
"Milk, some sugar. I don't like it particularly sweet," he said after a pause. Ianto seemed pretty cocky about this coffee thing, and it admittedly made John want to know just how good he was at it. He was starting to wonder if the younger man was setting his sights too high with this "guess the flavor" thing - but then he glanced at the machine and knew, no, most likely he was not. "Though, thanks to a barren kitchen-" The one with eyeballs in the fridge - "I'm mostly taking it plain, nowadays."
Ianto laughed at the barren kitchen comment. He knew what that was like. Coffee ingredients, he kept a close eye on stocking. Everything else, though. Well, he lived on takeout and canned foods more often than he'd really like to admit aloud to anyone who didn't already know that fact
( ... )
John watched Ianto work the machine, halfway attempting to figure out what he was doing, but mostly just watching out of sheer interest. People who just knew what they were doing always interested John; it was just plain neat to see someone doing something complicated as though it were the easiest thing in the world.
He knew a bid for casual conversation when he saw one, and gladly went along with it, smiling wryly at the question. "Well," he said, clearing his throat slightly, "I'm a doctor, yes. I served overseas for a while, before coming back to London. And, my flatmate happens to be the world's only consulting detective, and he likes having me around when mysteries come up." He shrugged, "Seems like word got out. Plenty of people on the community seemed to know me before I even introduced myself, and, apparently, I'm the first one to come to when you're missing a shoe."
Ianto raised an eyebrow at John's words. "So you help him out on these consulting detective duties of his, then?" he asked. "Sounds rather exciting, that. No idea what that entails, exactly, but it does sound exciting nonetheless."
Hm. The milk wasn't frothing quite right. Ianto upped the temperature a little bit. Much better. He held it under the tap for a moment longer. "I take it when you say 'served', you mean in some sort of military capacity, then?" he asked. He wasn't sure how else that might be, but you could never be too sure, especially with somewhere as strange as the community. John seemed to be from somewhere that was relatively the same as Ianto's own universe, though, so. That did make things a little easier to understand, as it were.
John watched Ianto change the temperature with a slightly raised brow, before shrugging. "Ah, yes. I was stationed in Afghanistan, but." He'd gotten shot, and had nightmares, and... "I'm back, now. And, the consulting detective bit - he helps the police with crimes, mysteries, you know. The usual," he said with a laugh.
Suddenly, he remembered the thought he'd had when he'd first arrived in Cardiff, and he frowned. "Er. Question - might be a strange one, actually, but. Do you know if... this is my world, and all?" He scuffed his shoe against the floor briefly, crossing his arms. "I mean. Are you and I from the same Earth? If I took the train home, would I be in my London, or...?" It sounded insane, saying it aloud, but he knew that it was a possibility now. Anything was a possibility. How weird.
Ianto shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea. I mean, we seem to be from similar places. You've got the war on over there, so do we. Cardiff apparently looks the same. There are even the same train stops and places in London between here and where you're from. I'm not sure exactly how we might be able to..." Oh. Well. He could try asking about something that happened over here. But how to ask about all of that without sounding like a madman? 'Hi, do you remember when there were ghosts in everyone's living rooms, and how the government told everyone that that was alright? No? Oh, well. Alright then.'
He took the frothed milk out from underneath the spout, wiping the mechanism down with a wet cloth before putting the mug under the spout for the coffee, before pausing for a second, seriously thinking on what to say. Oh. Well, there was that. "Has there ever been something weird with the sky, where you are? You know, like. Not being normal, like it should?" All the stars disappearing and other, unknown planets being impossibly close
( ... )
"Not... that I can recall," John said slowly, brow furrowing as he eyed Ianto. What exactly did the other man mean? Weird things? It was London. There were always weird things happening there - well, not that anyone ever noticed it, really, but. "Nothing weird enough to bear remembering, at least. What do you mean, weird, though?"
Ianto shook his head. "Well, either you just weren't paying attention at the time, then, or we really are from separate universes. Because... The sun disappeared, for a little while. And the stars. It was just sort of dark. Kind...kind of like an eclipse, only for the whole sky." And there were the planets, but if John didn't remember that, Ianto didn't really want to get into it.
He pulled the newly replaced lever, and out came the espresso that he had been brewing while they talked. It mixed with the milk, and after a few moments, Ianto had a perfectly good cappuccino for the other man. He quickly stuck his own mug under the lever, pulling it to simply fill it with straight coffee, before handing the other mug to John. "Here you are, then. A cappuccino. And a very good one, at that, if I may say so myself. It shouldn't be too hot to drink, if you wanted to give it a try..."
All... right then. This wasn't John's world. Earlier on in his time on the community and he would have thought Ianto was insane for even saying things like that, but he'd had his share of moments now that proved that anything was really possible. The sun and stars disappearing? Sure. Why not.
So, instead of being skeptical or dismissive or even suspicious, John just nodded. "All right, then, no train home after this, then." He took the proffered mug with both hands, grinning at Ianto's self-assurance. "Do you say so, now?" he asked, amused, honestly expecting something about as good as a Starbucks barrista could make. Taking a sip, he paused.
"That's... fantastic," he said, almost disbelieving.
Ianto smiled, taking a sip of his own coffee, before nodding. "I try to stay a man of my word, whenever possible. I've spent enough time learning how to make coffee and serving it to people that it would honestly be pretty hard not to be good at it," Ianto said, allowing himself to be proud of that fact. It was one of the only things he was really proud of about himself, and so why not indulge a little?
"I hope that it makes up for, well. Any sort of inconvenience or annoyance that I might have caused you. I... I really am sorry for that. It's... It's the community, the viruses and all. I never would've done anything like that, otherwise," he said, earnestly. "Honestly, sometimes it's almost more trouble than it's worth." Almost. "I'm just glad that it ended up being you and not, I don't know, someone that that might've gotten me into more trouble with, really..."
Honestly, the coffee more than made up for it, being that it was probably the best he'd ever had, but John saw that pride Ianto was sporting and, well. He didn't want to boost the other man's ego too much. Especially since he'd started an argument over rugby, of all things. "I think it'll do," he said in a fairly noncommittal tone, "As far as apologies go, this isn't half bad."
He quirked an eyebrow at the idea of someone else getting Ianto into more trouble. "Who'd you think that'd be?" He grinned, "No offense meant but if you've noticed, I don't think half of the people on the community would even know what rugby is, much less want to get into an argument over it."
Ianto smiled, recognizing that John was being that way on purpose, recognizing that he really was enjoying the cappuccino. Ianto was glad. He genuinely liked to serve people, to get these things right. Not for the first time, he contemplated having been a butler or a dresser in an earlier life, for all he got a feeling of accomplishment after seeing to it that things got done in the way they should, and that everyone was happy and the better for it
( ... )
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He took two mugs from beside the machine (both clean, Ianto certainly wouldn't leave dirty mugs lying about, especially when he had company over), and placed them out on the counter. "Right, so. I'm pretty much good at making anything, with this. Had a lot of practice, and all. So, what'll it be?" he asked, with a smile. Obviously, he didn't have any fancy flavor shots or soy milk or whatever those fancy barista types had about, but. What he didn't have in garnish, he made up for in actual quality of the coffee, or so he'd like to think.
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John frowned at the question, mulling it over briefly. He wasn't much of a coffee man, not really. He usually bought the cheapest thing he could find in the market, slapped it in a coffee maker and let the machine do all the work. Really, though. Tea was more his thing.
Clasping his hands together, he shrugged. "I've been told I'm sort of the quintessential Englishman, being that I'm a bit more of a tea drinker. What would you recommend?"
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"How do you take your tea, then?" Ianto asked. "Not that that's how I'm going to serve you coffee, but. Just as an idea of what sort of flavor you might like in this. I mean, I could always guess completely, but. I wouldn't want to make any assumptions and guess wrong in this," he said, knowing full well that he wouldn't guess wrong. He never did, not where coffee was concerned. A talent, not really useful in anything else, but a talent nonetheless.
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"Milk, some sugar. I don't like it particularly sweet," he said after a pause. Ianto seemed pretty cocky about this coffee thing, and it admittedly made John want to know just how good he was at it. He was starting to wonder if the younger man was setting his sights too high with this "guess the flavor" thing - but then he glanced at the machine and knew, no, most likely he was not. "Though, thanks to a barren kitchen-" The one with eyeballs in the fridge - "I'm mostly taking it plain, nowadays."
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He knew a bid for casual conversation when he saw one, and gladly went along with it, smiling wryly at the question. "Well," he said, clearing his throat slightly, "I'm a doctor, yes. I served overseas for a while, before coming back to London. And, my flatmate happens to be the world's only consulting detective, and he likes having me around when mysteries come up." He shrugged, "Seems like word got out. Plenty of people on the community seemed to know me before I even introduced myself, and, apparently, I'm the first one to come to when you're missing a shoe."
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Hm. The milk wasn't frothing quite right. Ianto upped the temperature a little bit. Much better. He held it under the tap for a moment longer. "I take it when you say 'served', you mean in some sort of military capacity, then?" he asked. He wasn't sure how else that might be, but you could never be too sure, especially with somewhere as strange as the community. John seemed to be from somewhere that was relatively the same as Ianto's own universe, though, so. That did make things a little easier to understand, as it were.
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Suddenly, he remembered the thought he'd had when he'd first arrived in Cardiff, and he frowned. "Er. Question - might be a strange one, actually, but. Do you know if... this is my world, and all?" He scuffed his shoe against the floor briefly, crossing his arms. "I mean. Are you and I from the same Earth? If I took the train home, would I be in my London, or...?" It sounded insane, saying it aloud, but he knew that it was a possibility now. Anything was a possibility. How weird.
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He took the frothed milk out from underneath the spout, wiping the mechanism down with a wet cloth before putting the mug under the spout for the coffee, before pausing for a second, seriously thinking on what to say. Oh. Well, there was that. "Has there ever been something weird with the sky, where you are? You know, like. Not being normal, like it should?" All the stars disappearing and other, unknown planets being impossibly close ( ... )
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He pulled the newly replaced lever, and out came the espresso that he had been brewing while they talked. It mixed with the milk, and after a few moments, Ianto had a perfectly good cappuccino for the other man. He quickly stuck his own mug under the lever, pulling it to simply fill it with straight coffee, before handing the other mug to John. "Here you are, then. A cappuccino. And a very good one, at that, if I may say so myself. It shouldn't be too hot to drink, if you wanted to give it a try..."
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So, instead of being skeptical or dismissive or even suspicious, John just nodded. "All right, then, no train home after this, then." He took the proffered mug with both hands, grinning at Ianto's self-assurance. "Do you say so, now?" he asked, amused, honestly expecting something about as good as a Starbucks barrista could make. Taking a sip, he paused.
"That's... fantastic," he said, almost disbelieving.
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"I hope that it makes up for, well. Any sort of inconvenience or annoyance that I might have caused you. I... I really am sorry for that. It's... It's the community, the viruses and all. I never would've done anything like that, otherwise," he said, earnestly. "Honestly, sometimes it's almost more trouble than it's worth." Almost. "I'm just glad that it ended up being you and not, I don't know, someone that that might've gotten me into more trouble with, really..."
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He quirked an eyebrow at the idea of someone else getting Ianto into more trouble. "Who'd you think that'd be?" He grinned, "No offense meant but if you've noticed, I don't think half of the people on the community would even know what rugby is, much less want to get into an argument over it."
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