torchwoodteaboy | [RL WITH SULU]

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[RL WITH SULU]

The past few days had been exciting ones, and definitely not in the way that Ianto would have predicted them to be when he'd first set foot on the boat. They should have known that there would be something wrong with this, but how were they to know that Sulu saying that nothing could go wrong after what they'd accomplished on the first night would come back to quite literally haunt them, as it were? Because there really was no denying it anymore. There'd been enough talk about what else had going on in other people's cabins enough to know that it wasn't just their suite. The whole ship was buzzing about it, and though everyone was reporting different things happening, there was really no doubt about it. Regardless of whatever was causing it, the place was haunted.

Ianto'd tried ignoring it. He'd tried rationalizing it, and any other number of things to keep from admitting that what they had were ghosts on their hands. There was really just no denying it anymore. What had started out as objects moving every once and a while, and strange sounds in the night had turned a lot more active over the next few nights, the hot water switching itself off as Ianto was showering, their suitcases emptied out all over the suite while they slept. Ianto'd made sure that the door had been locked each time, and had even taken to sleeping with the key in his shorts pocket, but it wasn't any use. The door hadn't been opening to let anyone in--whatever was happening in the suite, it wasn't coming from the outside.

What had started out as them trying to make the best of their vacation had ended up with, well, at least Ianto being very wary of his surroundings, and of what could possibly go wrong with them. As much as he'd like to initiate something more with Sulu, the idea that they would be watched while they did was...more than a little bit of a turn-off. He hoped that Sulu understood, as it was.

Sulu, for his part, seemed to be taking this whole ghost thing pretty hard. Because paranormal things were sort of right up Ianto's alley, considering that he worked for Torchwood and all, he was trying his hardest to be a good Torchwood officer, keep a level head for the other man, and not freak out at anything that might have otherwise given him pause. Sulu hadn't admitted to being frightened of these ghosts, but. Ianto could tell that he was definitely a lot less comfortable with the thought of them being around than even Ianto himself was. It was almost nice, to be able to be there for Sulu like he had to be because of these hauntings. Almost.

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Ianto couldn't take it. He couldn't take Sulu being this hurt, and being so nonchalant about it. A few inches down and over, and Sulu could've lost an eye. If it'd been thrown with any more force, than Sulu could be unconscious, he could have internal bleeding. Any more abuse, and without a question, bad things would happen. And Ianto wasn't about to just let something like that happen.

He threw the towel that he was using to wipe the blood off down on the floor, having enough in him to still keep his hand on the towel on Sulu's head, before he let all of his worrying and panicking about the situation and anger that Sulu really had no idea what they were up against out all at once.

"For fuck's sake," Ianto burst out, his voice suddenly very loud and very angry, "I don't care if the ghost starts hitting on me again, I really don't, so long as you stay out of its way! You are not Jack and you will die if that thing hits you that hard again! You will die and you will not come back from it, so you'd better not even think of doing anything stupid to make that ghost angry at you, Hikaru Sulu, or so help me god...!!" He cut himself off, breathing hard, bringing a very shaky hand up to his face to keep himself from crying or screaming or who knows what else.

There was no way for Sulu to have prepared for Ianto's shouting - Ianto was the one who never raised his voice, who might get cutting and irritated but never loud and never truly angry, and definitely not at Sulu. He fell silent at Ianto's words, focused on them because it was hard not to, and Ianto was right - Sulu wasn't Jack (and some part of him hurt to hear that, but he knew Ianto didn't mean it that way, so he let it go), and this wasn't something that could be solved by him getting beat up and then patched together in the medbay with a few sedatives and some time with a dermal repairer.

Sulu paused for a long moment, trying to figure out what he was going to do, and then reached up his hand, covering the one Ianto had against the wound on his head. He still didn't look at Ianto, even though his head was ringing from the yelling and his eyes were still stinging from the bright lighting and the last thing he needed to do was stare at reflective white tile.

"...I don't think I've ever heard you call me by my full name before."

Edited 2010-10-12 05:44 (UTC)

Ianto let out a sound that was somewhere in between a laugh and a sob at Sulu's words. Sulu's hand on his was helping a lot in calming him down and grounding him, but what he wanted to do was just magically make things better, make Sulu better and have them out of there, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so Ianto didn't delude himself.

"...just because I don't use it doesn't mean that I don't know what it is," Ianto said quietly, trying to pull himself together again. He wondered if it was odd that, even though they were dating each other and sleeping together now, Ianto was still calling the other man by his surname, but. He couldn't really see that changing, unless Sulu asked him to.

"Look, I..." He reached out with his free hand, and put it on Sulu's cheek, opposite the side he was holding the towel to. He didn't know whether forcing him to move his head was a good idea, for while Ianto wanted him to see that he was serious, he also didn't want to nauseate him again, so instead he just rested it there. "I'm sorry. That... That was out of line. But I'm not going to take it back. I mean it. We're going to have to think of a way out of here that doesn't involve you going head-to-head with that ghost again, because...I don't want anything worse to happen to you. Especially not when it could be avoided. Alright?"

The hand on Sulu's cheek made him turn his head, finally, slowly, making sure not to disrupt the pressure they had on the wound or nauseate him again. He was able to see the look on Ianto's face for the first time since he'd been hit upside the head and... and that's what made him nauseated, more than any vertigo or motion sickness, because Ianto was just as freaked out as he was, and he didn't get the mind-numbing concussion to block it out.

"No," he said quietly, "It... wasn't out of line. I'm not - I can't do much like this." That admission made him want to punch something, but he refrained for the sake of not busting his hand open on the tiles. "I'm just. I can't think of anything else, anything that doesn't involve something heavy being thrown at that door." It was the only thing that made sense, really. But Sulu knew that Ianto wasn't going to have it, and if he was honest with himself, really honest, he wasn't either. He couldn't stand straight right now. They needed to think - something both of them were very good at, he figured. Not him, so much, because all he could think about was that he could die, and that meant Jack would be better served in this position, and hell, he would be anyways since he knew how to handle things like this, and Sulu -

"What else can we do?" he asked, determined, because he wasn't going to let that train of thought get very far.

Ianto looked at Sulu and sighed. At least he had the other man's attention now, but it also meant that he could see just how out of it he was, just how much his head must've been killing him in that moment, and even more, beyond all of that, beyond the look of determination, there was something almost... But no. Ianto really couldn't define that part. He stroked his hand on Sulu's cheek for a second, apologetically, because he really hadn't meant to yell or swear at the other man, it'd just happened, before he picked up the towel again and started methodically working on at least getting most of the blood off of the other man. That way, they could get him dressed, and they could get out of there.

How, though? What else could they do? He thought about it as he worked, his brow furrowed in serious thought. He really couldn't see himself ramming a sofa into the door enough to break it down, and Sulu, despite all of his good intentions, wouldn't be able to help out in that either, so. That was down. And they couldn't get it unlocked. And they wouldn't convince the ghost to unlock it. But maybe...

"What..." he said, after a moment's thought. "What if we somehow get the ghost to break the door down? We... We know it's capable of throwing things around. What... What if we got it to do the heavy lifting for us?" The only question that followed was, well. How the hell were they going to manage that?

Sulu took the silence between them as a chance to, well, reboot himself in a way. He let everything go - the situation, the ghost, the plans they had to make, the safety they had to escape to, Ianto's anger and worry and his own fear - and let himself drift in a numbing haze of pain. Okay. Everything hurt, but at least Ianto was nearby; at least Ianto was taking care of him. He needed to just... work this out in his head.

He heard Ianto speak and then parsed what he'd said. The ghost could do all the work, and it would, unknowingly, because they'd make it. How? How could they make it? It was already pissed off. It was probably sulking, like a kid in the throes of a tantrum. Okay.

He knew Ianto wouldn't like what he was going to say, but he allowed himself a moment to think it through before suggesting, quietly, "Well, we know it doesn't like me. My reaction time might be down a bit but - I'm really good at... you know. Making ghosts want to hurl furniture at me."

Ianto let out a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob, wanting to put his head in his hands but not having either hand free so settling on putting his chin to his chest, stilling the hand that was trying to work on getting Sulu cleaner. He really didn't like it, he didn't want that to be what it came to, but... What other choice did they have? They knew it was angry at Sulu, they knew it wasn't afraid to throw things, and so long as he upset it enough, they knew that this was going to work. The only problem was there wasn't any guarantee that it would throw any hard big enough on the first try, and well. There was the fact that it would be throwing something at Sulu, which he really wasn't comfortable with at all.

"...I don't like it," Ianto said quietly. "I really don't. I... I just don't see how there's any other way." He bit his lip, looking up at Sulu. "Are you really sure that you can handle something like that? I mean. I'll be there to help you out, but. It's not me that it'll be tossing things at, and I want you to tell me honestly whether you'll be alright with that or not. Because if not, we will find something else. This isn't the only option." He hoped not, at least. He just really couldn't think of anything else.

"I..." Could he handle it? He wasn't necessarily immobilized, but he needed to be on top of things, he needed to be able to see what was being thrown and see where to move. He'd have to get it throwing things at him quick, so as he moved towards the door, it would run out of smaller things and need to throw the heavier things, like the sofa. And then - what if it threw something, but all it did was bar the door?

"...I can do it," he said after a moment. "But we need to think it through. I. Uh, we need to figure out... how to get it to throw things." He bit his lip, "It could just decide to bite me again. Could decide to... I don't know. Possess me or something." Could it possess someone? Ugh. The idea was repulsive.

Shit. Possession? Ianto hadn't even thought of that. He'd never encountered a ghost or anything that had been capable of possessing someone, he didn't think, but then again, he didn't think he'd ever encountered a ghost that could touch people like it was a solid thing, and this one had done exactly that, so. God, who even knew what this thing was capable of...?

"It won't possess you," Ianto said, moving his hand again to start cleaning more blood away. Even if it could, Ianto wasn't about to let it do anything like that. He'd done enough freaking out in front of Sulu, it was time to be strong for him again. "First thing's first, we get you dressed. Then..."

He thought about it. "Well. What did you do to make it throw things at you rather than bite you? Can you remember?" Ianto's mind was a blur about exactly what had been going on in that moment. He was pretty sure that there was some sort of tussle with the ghost, but. Was it really only the raising his voice to Ianto that had set the ghost off at Sulu?

"I know it won't, but. If it can." Then yeah, it probably would. Sulu closed his eyes. This was going to be a real test of his patience and ability to work under pressure. He wasn't sure he was ready for it - but he didn't have a choice.

He nodded his head, just a fraction, at the idea of getting clothes on. Any other time, sure, he wouldn't mind being all but naked with Ianto, but right now it was pretty much the opposite of what he wanted or needed. They'd get him some pants at the very least, and then they'd... well, no. Then he would go out there and piss the poltergeist off.

"I... yelled at you," he said, trying to remember through the fog. "I think... yelling at it got it to throw things too. And trying to push it away, even though I can't..." He realized he was still holding Ianto's hand over his wound, but didn't let go. "I don't think I can yell at you again."

Ianto bit his lip at Sulu's words. "That's alright, I'm not going to force you to do anything of the sort," he said. It's just that... What other option was there?

Ianto took the wet cloth from Sulu's other hand, and spent a minute or two just working on getting him cleaned up a little, using the time to think. The only times the ghost had done something violent, along the lines of what they needed it to do, had been when it Sulu'd raised his voice, either to it, or to Ianto himself.

Ianto put down the towel, deeming the blood to be as cleaned up as he could get it, and sighed. "We just... We need to figure out a way to get it riled up enough to do something like what we need it to. Need to come up with some way of upsetting it. And really, the only time it did anything like that was out of some sort of perverse desire to protect me from you. How...? How else could we get it that angry, either than you yelling at me?" If yelling was out, taking a swing at him was probably a definite no as well. What other ways were there to make something that was sort of obsessive over him angry? ...unless.

"It's not like..." Sulu groaned a bit and pressed harder on their hands over his wound. Everything else was starting to come into focus, his sight and hearing, but that just made it impossible to ignore the painful throbbing. He needed a sedative and a nap in the medbay, that was for sure. It was also for sure that he wasn't going to get that, so he just sighed and continued on. "If it really worked, I... could yell at you, I guess, but. It'd be fake. I'm not angry at you. I've never been angry at you." Which wasn't strictly true, but it wasn't a lie either. "I'm too fuzzy to be really angry at anything right now, even it."

He laughed, weakly, but still attempting to try and keep them both from sinking into more despair and fear than they already had. "And I'm too zen to stay mad for long, even if we tried to rile me up. It's a curse."

Ianto bit his lip at Sulu's groan. He wanted to give him something, do something, anything to make Sulu feel even the littlest bit better at that moment. What's more is that he was going to have to ask the man to get up and help him upset a ghost enough to break them out of there. He recognized Sulu's attempts to keep the mood up, and appreciated them too, but. Really, he wouldn't be happy until the two of them were safely out of there and he'd gotten Sulu to some sort of medical attention.

It seemed like it'd been enough time for the bleeding to stop, on Sulu's head, but Ianto wasn't going to move and take any chances quite just yet, keeping his hand firmly pressed there underneath Sulu's own. "...do you think that you might be able to insult it, though? Like. If we were to do something to upset it, do you think you'd be able to say something that would really piss it off?" he asked, cocking his head at Sulu. They kind of really needed a plan, and that was as good as Ianto had, at that moment.

Sulu didn't have to give that a second thought; he laughed and nodded, again just letting his head tilt slightly. "Yeah," he grinned, though it looked a little wrong considering how unsteady he was, "I think I can insult it. I think I would love to insult it. I hate it and it needs to leave us alone." Sulu had no problem with the idea of insulting it. He wanted nothing more than to show it that he was in command. He was terrified of the idea of it possessing him, or managing to kill him, or hurting Ianto, but he was more determined to get them out before anything like that could happen to focus on his fear.

"I have no problem with any of that."

Ianto looked at Sulu, and he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about everything in that moment, but what choice did he have? Absolutely none whatsoever. He could only hope that Sulu knew what he was doing, and that he would be enough help to get the other man out of the way of any more danger fast enough. Not that he didn't trust Sulu's reflexes normally, but. He'd missed the decanter normally, who knows what horrible things could happen now. They hadn't even figured out if Sulu could walk straight, or well, at all without getting nauseous for that matter. This was such a terrible idea, he decided, but they didn't have anything better, so.

He pressed the towel to Sulu's head for a little bit longer. Had it been enough time yet? He didn't want to take away the pressure too quickly, but at the same time, he just really wanted to get Sulu dressed and then get them the hell out of there. "...how are you feeling?" he asked. "Do you think you're going to be up for running like hell away from it, when the time comes?" Ianto asked, seriously meaning it. There was only so much he could do to help help Sulu dodge things without at least some help from Sulu himself.

Sulu took a moment to go over his internal checklist, trying to gauge how good he actually was. The answer was... he wasn't prepared for any of this. But, there was one thing he did know; he was capable of doing amazing things while injured, if only he had the motivation for it.

Gently pulling Ianto's hand away from his head, he felt no bloodflow, and he turned his head to look at Ianto. He definitely had motivation for this.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. I can do this. Let's just..." He did feel woozy, still, and he wanted a nice long nap and some water, but. "Let's just do this." He tilted his head carefully towards the suitcase, "Grab me some jeans. I'm not really going to care about a shirt right now." Or underwear, even. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

Ianto checked the wound after Sulu pulled the towel away from it. It...looked pretty nasty, but it didn't seem to be actively bleeding anymore. They must've been sitting there in the bathroom for longer than Ianto'd thought. He bit his lip, nodding at Sulu's request, and moving over to the suitcase to grab a pair of jeans for him, having the presence of mind to stick his comm into the pocket before turning to Sulu. He paused then, though. Not really knowing how good the other man was on his feet yet, he wasn't sure he should just hand him over a potential hazard and let him just roll with it...

Ianto put the jeans down on the edge of the tub, and reached a hand down to Sulu, bracing his feet to help pull him up. "Here," he said. "You're going to need to stand up for this," he said. Based on how good Sulu was when he was upright, Ianto was going to make an executive decision about the jeans. He had a feeling, though, judging by the pain-glazed look in Sulu's eyes, that he was going to have to help more than Sulu probably really wanted him to.

At first, Sulu hesitated to even take Ianto's hand, not quite willing to be so weak and useless even now. But, he finally sighed and allowed Ianto to help him up, keeping a hold of the towel out of some desire for modesty, or maybe just pride.

Everything reeled just a bit as he stood, and he instinctively grabbed Ianto's shoulder to steady himself. All right, okay. He knew the ground wasn't going anywhere, and that he was only sensing the slight rocking of the ship because of his vertigo, but it was still a little uneasy. Still, he smiled determinedly at Ianto and held out a hand. "Jeans, please," he said, though he didn't move his hand from Ianto's shoulder. He was going to need Ianto to hold him up. Shit. "...I'm. I'm probably going to need..." You know, Ianto. Help. He didn't want to say it - he really didn't want to say it. But there they were. "I'll need some help."

Ianto nodded, taking Sulu's statement in stride. As silly as it was, he was proud of him for actually asking for help, for overcoming his own pride and recognizing that he needed Ianto's aid. On one hand, it made Ianto concerned for just how Sulu was doing exactly, but on the other hand, it helped Ianto reassure himself that Sulu knew his limitations, and wasn't going to make this any more unsafe than it already was, ghosts and concussions and all. "Yeah, sure," Ianto said. He put a hand on Sulu's lower back to steady him, needing to bend over to pick up the jeans off the edge of the tub.

"Here," Ianto said, moving to kneel in front of the other man, Sulu's hand still braced on his shoulder, arranging the jeans on the ground in just the right way, "just step into them. Hold on to me if you need to. I'm not going anywhere, and I'd really rather you did anyway, instead of trying to play the hero, alright?" He realized that this wasn't the best of situations, and that yes, Sulu was embarrassed about it, but if they both just got over how awkward it was to be dressing Sulu like this, they'd get it done much faster.

If Sulu had to be in an embarrassing situation, then he was going to try and play it off as best as possible. It was his least favorite thing in the world, but these kinds of situations were exactly why he'd developed a pretty strong sense of humor. It made the embarrassment of having to be helped into his pants a little less mortifying.

Stepping into the scrunched up legs, Sulu sighed made a face, putting a hand on Ianto's shoulder once more as he bent forward just a bit. Yeah, he wasn't going to be pulling those up. As long as he stayed level, he wouldn't feel like he was going to topple over, so. "This was supposed to be a vacation," he groused. "A vacation where this was supposed to happen in reverse. I didn't even want to factor pants into it."

Ianto smiled as Sulu talked. "Well. There was the one night, at least," Ianto said, guiding the pant legs in the right direction for Sulu. "Before all of this started." Some cynical part of Ianto couldn't help wondering if all of this was going wrong because they'd had that one moment of hope and relaxation, but he quickly brushed that aside.

Recognizing that Sulu couldn't very well bend over to pull the jeans up himself, Ianto bit his lip, and as nonchalantly as he could, pulled them up to Sulu's waist, tossing the towel aside and deftly (and carefully) fastening and zipping them closed so Sulu wouldn't have to let go of his shoulder and do so with nothing to hold onto. He stepped forward, looking at the the head wound once more. Well, it didn't seem to be any worse than it had when they'd taken the towel off of it, so. Small miracles.

Ianto leaned forward, and gave Sulu a chaste kiss in support. "We'll have a vacation. Sometime. Without a ghost to worry about. You and me. Even if I have to take off from work to make it happen," he promised. In the meantime though. He looked Sulu in the eye. "Are you ready for this? Do you need another moment?" Once they set foot outside the bathroom door, as it was, there was probably no turning back.

One night wasn't enough for Sulu, who had actually really liked the whole cruise ship thing. He could have even tolerated the footsteps. They still would have gotten the early part of the evenings to be alone. But no. Sometimes, he had to wonder if just being in Starfleet led to all these simple things going horribly wrong.

Sulu allowed himself to be indignant about the whole thing for a brief moment as Ianto dressed him, but then felt nothing but grateful. After all, he wasn't sure he could do it himself, and he needed all his wits for this next part. But when Ianto kissed him, he really just wanted to stay in the bathroom. It wasn't so bad. They could sleep on the floor.

"Jack'll love that," Sulu said sourly, before leaning to rest his forehead against Ianto's shoulder, taking a minute to run through all the various ways he would love to use to piss that damned ghost off. "I'm going to take you to an alien planet to make up for this," he said finally, leaning back and, surprisingly, staying steady on his feet. "Yeah, I'm ready. We should do it before I black out, or something."

As Sulu leaned his head against Ianto's shoulder, Ianto brought a hand up to gently rest on the back of his neck. His fingers were cool, both because the room was and always had been on the chilly side, and also because they got like that, when he was tense. He hoped it felt good, for that moment at least. "Yeah, well. Jack can stuff it. If he doesn't think that I need a vacation after continuously being put through things like these, he can just fire me," Ianto said, knowing full well that Jack would never do such a thing. He straightened as Sulu did too, watching him for any signs of swaying. None? So far, so good.

Ianto frowned at his words, though. Maybe Sulu only meant them in jest, maybe he didn't, Ianto really didn't know how Sulu felt, whether that might be a possibility or not. If it was, though...best not take their chances, and do as Sulu asked instead. Ianto led them carefully to the door, opening it and peering out. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Nothing flew at them as Ianto led them a cautious step out into the bedroom. Well, so far so good. Now what? He turned and looked at Sulu, his eyes searching. If he really didn't feel up to this, they could turn right around and just hide out in the bathroom for the rest of the night, it was safe enough. But he had to say the word now, or otherwise... The sooner they started this whole thing, the sooner they'd (hopefully) get out of there.

Sulu himself had no idea whether or not he was going to pass out, but instead of worrying about it, he pushed the thought from his mind and followed Ianto's tentative steps into the room. Everything seemed fine. Nothing lashed out, and for a moment, Sulu wondered if the thing was even still in there.

But, then again, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight, and that wasn't from the cold room. Taking a breath, he grabbed Ianto's hand - for show and for support - and moved them both forward another step. "Are you still in here?" he called, and when he heard a soft thud, like something being set down on the carpet, he said, "What, are you scared now? Realized that you're out of your league with Ianto here?" He managed, somehow, to fit disdain into his tone - an emotion he'd never so much as felt before. Luckily, he'd heard it enough around the Academy to know how to imitate it. Hopefully that would be enough.

It apparently was, as a lamp on top of the dresser shuddered, like it was about to lash out at them. Sulu hoped he could dodge it.

Contrary to the movement of the lamp, though, it was actually Ianto's shaving kit, right next to it, that the ghost chose to toss at them next. Although not as damaging as a decanter, the thing would pack a pretty good punch. Ianto hurriedly tugged Sulu away from the trajectory of the thing, pulling him closer to himself as he watched the bag crash into the wall, spilling its contents onto the floor beside them.

"He's right," Ianto said, deciding to help with the goading. The goal was to keep it angry at just Sulu, so that at least one of them would be relatively safe from it, but he could still egg it on. "I've already got people that I care for. People...people much more alive than you."

That's when the lamp was sent crashing in their direction, Ianto barely having enough time to propel them far enough away from the the trajectory of both the lamp base and the electric chord attached to it that whipped out in their direction obviously not of its own accord. The drawers to the dresser rattled ominously, shifting a little in their tracks. Well. Apparently this insulting thing was working, at least?

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