Ianto turned his hand in Sulu's, palm up to curl his fingers around Sulu's hand and grip back, quirking his own smile back at the other man. Jack sat back, watching the pair of them quietly, his mug clutched in his hands, cradling it in them as he thought, sipping the tea as he thought. They were just kids, sitting there in front of him, and yet. They had such hope, that...it was hard not to latch onto it. Not to want to latch onto it, not to want to protect it, because however fragile it was, however many cracks he could see in it, little breaks in their smiles, they...they were still there.

"Well," Jack said, finally breaking the silence. "That's settled, then. We're going to do this. But..." He sighed. "We are going to talk about this later. You're going to talk to us, Ianto. Separately or together or however it works out." He gave Ianto a pointed look. "This can't happen again, Ianto."

Ianto's smile faltered a little, but Jack's expression wasn't angry, it was softer than that, so he nodded. Because after all, even though Jack was still fixating on the fact that he'd kept the truth from him, he was thinking about a next time, which...meant that that tea was doing its job, Ianto supposed, but he'd take what he could get at that moment. "Yes, sir," he said, quietly.