Sulu knew that Ianto was upset by the meeting; the way he'd talked about the party before had been enough for him to know that it wasn't something he necessarily wanted to do. That it was uncomfortable, and he couldn't imagine how hard it was for Ianto to deal with Owen in person.

"I don't know him," Sulu said slowly, "So I can't say anything about him. But..." He hesitated, then put the glasses down and brought a hand up to Ianto's cheek. "I know you, and. I want you to know you can talk to me about this. I don't care what day it is, you know." He just knew that Ianto was oversimplifying it, trying to play it off, and if that's what he wanted to do, he'd let the other do it - but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to get him to open up about it more, first.