Sulu's words cut through Ianto's heart like a knife, his eyebrows furrowing as he clenched his eyes shut against tears he didn't even know were there until a moment ago. He knew that the other man hadn't meant to be so flippant, hadn't meant to dismiss what he had to say before he'd even gotten a chance to say it, but the fact of the matter was that he had, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. It had taken so much effort just for him to place this call, it had gotten bad enough that he'd actually allowed himself to try and reach out for help, and to be told without even having said a word that it was a 'really bad time'...

"Right," Ianto said, his voice sounding strained even to his own ears. He felt so stupid, in that moment. To have all of his hopes riding on being able to ask Sulu to come down and just spend some time with him. Of course he had more important things to be doing, now that he was back on duty and everything. Sulu had told him that there would be times when he'd be busy, that there would be times when there would be no way for the two of them to get together. Ianto just really hadn't thought that it would end up being the time that he really needed the other man around the most. "Of course. I... Never mind. I'm sorry to bother you. F-forget I even called..."