A/N My take on how Jack and Ianto's first date went :) The next chapter of three's a crowd is coming soon, I swear.

Enjoy! x

"Well, this is very..." Ianto turned to Jack and raised an eyebrow. "You..."

Jack frowned at his tone. "You don't like it?"

"Now I didn't say that did I?"

Jack smiled and allowed himself a moment to take in their surroundings. The lights of Cardiff shone bright around them and a few stars poked out through the cloudy winter sky. Perfect for date night, Jack decided.

"I think it's romantic," said Jack, turning back to Ianto and flashing him the Harkness grin. Ianto gave a slight shrug, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"It's certainly that"

"It's...old school," Jack continued, not sure who he was trying to convince. Himself or Ianto.

Ianto smirked. He did like this new Jack. It was amusing to see Jack getting flustered over his words instead of himself. And he had to admit; secretly a small part of him found it a huge turn on...

"Shall we then?" said Ianto, gesturing to the bag of fish and chips in his hand. "It'll go cold"

Jack nodded, seemingly reassured by that and spread his coat out on the floor for them. Ianto went to sit down but Jack stopped him.

"Wait a sec, one more thing," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small candle and a box of matches. He placed the candle on a rock, sheltered from the wind and swiped the match. It took three tries before it finally lit and Jack laughed nervously. "Guess it would've been more practical to get one of those flameless candles..."

Ianto smiled and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "This is fine, Jack"

Jack smiled back and plonked himself down on the coat, patting the space next to him for Ianto. They quickly dug into the chips, partly to avoid conversation and partly because they were starving. About seven minutes passed before Jack finally spoke.

"We should've done this ages ago"

Ianto turned to face him, mouth half full of chips as he attempted to reply. Jack smirked and Ianto glared as he swallowed the last of it, grateful it was dark so that Jack couldn't see his cheeks turning pink. He finally composed himself and looked down at his hands as he spoke.

"I don't think it would've been very fitting for us back then..."

Jack smiled softly. "No, I guess not..." he paused and edged slowly closer to the younger man. "And is it now?"

Ianto considered him for a moment. "Do you want it to be?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

Jack grinned. "For which I am eternally grateful"

Ianto popped another chip in his mouth and turned towards Jack. "An eternity is a long time..."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe for you"

Ianto was unsure how to reply to that so he just allowed a slightly uncomfortable silence to wash over them. Jack watched him out the corner of his eye and sighed.

"I'm sorry," he spoke quietly. "I'm not very good at this; it's been a while since I've been on a date"

Ianto's lips quirked into a smile. "I'm hardly an expert, I can count the number of dates I've had on one hand..."

Jack chuckled and leaned back on his elbows, grabbing a handful of chips as he went. "First date?"

Ianto chewed his lip in thought. "Her name was Alison, we were both 13 and I managed to get us into the cinema to see 'Scream'"

There was a short silence before Jack burst into laughter, followed closely by Ianto.

"She left halfway through the film in tears," he grinned and took a moment to just watch Jack, memorising his smile in his head. "Didn't even say goodbye"

Jack's laughter died down as he caught Ianto's eye. He sighed and sat up, breaking eye contact to stare out over Cardiff. Ianto could tell there was something he wanted to say so he stayed quiet, allowing Jack the time he needed to open up.

"I guess that's something me and her have in common isn't it? Running off without saying goodbye"

Ianto blinked, wondering how they'd gotten from his disastrous first date to this. Before he had a chance to reply Jack spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Ianto"

Ianto dropped his gaze to Jack's hands and considered reaching out to take one, though he wasn't sure how welcome it would be. He settled instead for placing a hand on Jack's arm, squeezing gently. "It's okay, you had to go..."

Jack smiled and turned his head towards him. "Yeah, I did"

"So let's put it behind us shall we?"

Jack nodded. "Definitely"

"Good," Ianto smiled contentedly as he finished off the last of the chips and chucked the rolled up wrapper at Jack. "And since you invited me on this date, I believe I was promised a movie?"

Jack grinned and stood up, sticking a hand out for Ianto to take. "That you were, Mr Jones"

"No horror though?"

Jack smirked. "No horror"

"Good," he leaned closer to Jack so their lips were almost touching. "I think it could be a little distracting, since we both know we're not going to the cinema to actually watch a film"

Jack slipped his arms around Ianto's waist and pulled him closer.

"I couldn't agree more..."