torchwoodteaboy | [RL WITH SULU]

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[RL WITH SULU]

It'd been a week. A week since that first day that he'd come back from the hospital, and Sulu had had to help him around his flat. A week, most of which he'd spent in a sort of semi-conscious, fatigued and weary state, shuffling about trying to get the necessary things done, but only just succeeding. As Ianto sat on the edge of his bed, just having gotten up from what had been his second nap of the day, and not feeling any better after having taken it, the world spinning around him from having sat up too fast, even though he'd paced himself and been extra careful not to, Ianto had the sinking feeling that in that whole week, he hadn't gotten better at all. Sulu had stuck around until his leave had been up, like he said he would, and then once he'd left, Jack had popped in a few times during the day to help out with chores (he was surprisingly good at doing the dishes and the laundry) and then at night to lie with him (even if Jack didn't sleep and Ianto felt like he was wasting the other man's time). And yet. In that whole week, nothing had changed. Nothing had gotten better. And Ianto was getting sick and tired of being sick and tired, and Jack was great to have around, but. He didn't really understand what it was like to be ill, and sometimes that wore on Ianto even more than not having him around at all.

And now, as the sun was setting, and Jack was off on a sudden call to London, Gwen doing god knows what with Rhys, Ianto wasn't about to disturb their peace, it was all starting to get at Ianto. The darkness was creeping in, and he was beginning to think that maybe he wasn't getting better at all. That maybe he'd never get better. Maybe this was how things would be, from now on. Maybe the darkness really would come for him, because it didn't seem like it would ever really let him go again, and Ianto swallowed against the swell of panic rising in his stomach. He... He couldn't do this. He knew that he didn't want to bother Sulu. That he had specifically refrained from calling him out of the blue for anything since he'd left to go back to his ship, instead waiting for Sulu himself to make the first contact, but. He. He really needed someone there with him. Someone real. Someone who understood and could chase the demons away like he promised he would. And so Ianto did the only thing that he could think of to help, and pulled out his phone to dial the number to Sulu's comm.

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Ianto ran his thumb over the back of Sulu's hand clutched in his own, recognizing that Sulu really did mean what he said. And the strange thing was that Ianto trusted him in his words as well. They weren't just words, after all. Sulu had told him that he would do anything for him, and then he had, bringing him back from the dead, so. He couldn't get much more proof than that.

At the use of his full name, though, Ianto paused, biting his lip as he remembered a conversation that he'd had with Merlin what must have been only earlier that day, even though it seemed like it was ages ago. He lowered his head, tucking his chin to his chest as he contemplated exactly how to breach the subject, but then the words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could really formulate them into anything smoother. "...do you mind that I don't call you Hikaru?" he blurted, wincing at how out of the blue the question seemed to be, but there was no taking it back now that it was out in the open.

Sulu blinked at Ianto's question, surprised at it. "I... never really thought about it," he said honestly, sounding as surprised as he probably looked by the idea. Sulu wasn't sure, though, now that he thought about it. Did he mind? He had some reservations about people in general calling him by his first name, really; he never explored the reasoning for it, he just knew that sometimes it made him uncomfortable when people used his first name. His own crewmates generally refrained from it.

Recently, of course, it had become more common for the bridge to call him Hikaru - probably because of Chekov, really, or the fact that only Uhura really got the last name rights - but still. Claire, he realized, called him Hikaru, but she was a teenage girl and honestly, they didn't talk enough for it to be an issue. And Merlin called him Hikaru, but what was he supposed to do, tell him not to?

After a short pause, Sulu shook his head and then shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. Most of the time, I go by Sulu, so honestly it's a little strange when people call me Hikaru. Why?"

Ianto chewed his lip, a bit embarrassed that he'd asked in the first place, but at the same time...he really wanted to know what the answer was, anyway. At Sulu's question as to why he asked, it was Ianto's turn to shrug, although he did go on to explain himself. "It's just... I mean. I was talking to Merlin, earlier today, and. He calls you Hikaru. He asked me why I didn't, when I'm obviously pretty close to you and all, and...I didn't know what to say. I. You've never told me to refer to anything other than Sulu, so I just assumed. But then, he calls you it. And well. I saw Jim and Dr. McCoy using it a few times on their posts, so. I..."

Ianto trailed off, even more embarrassed than before. "I mean. It is your first name. I... I think it's pretty safe to say that we're close enough to each other for me to call you it, and yet. I... I don't. I... I don't even really think of you as, y'know, as 'Hikaru'. But. Merlin started asking those questions, and well. I...I started wondering if maybe I should. I don't know." He ducked his head further against his chest, so that hopefully Sulu wouldn't be able to catch the magnificent blush that was spreading across his face quite so easily, though honestly, it was probably a lost cause.

Edited 2010-11-19 10:08 (UTC)

Sulu smiled and nodded a bit, because really, he did understand why Ianto might want to call him Hikaru over Sulu. He also knew why he hesitated to do it. Truthfully, Sulu barely even thought of himself by his first name; he introduced himself by his full name only because it was what he was used to doing, not because he honestly expected people to use his first name. He wasn't really comfortable with strangers calling him Hikaru, but it wasn't something worth worrying about.

Ianto, however, seemed to be worrying about it. Which, really, was sort of what Ianto did best sometimes, so Sulu didn't mind it. "You're right," he said, "We're close enough for you to call me by my first name. But my name is 'Hikaru Sulu,' not one or the other." He did like how his first name sounded when Ianto said it, but that wasn't a reason to keep using it. "Do you want to switch to using my first name? I'm used to you calling me Sulu, but if you want to start using Hikaru instead, I don't have a problem with it. You can use whatever name you like."

"I..." Ianto said, trailing off, trying to find some way to organize his thoughts and explain himself. "I feel like I should be calling you Hikaru. I'm just. I'm not sure that I could switch over. It's...it's weird. I... To think of me talking to you and being like 'So, Hikaru, would you like some coffee prepared correctly this time, now that we've got milk,' I. It's just weird. I mean, you're used to me calling you Sulu, and I'm used to it too, but..."

He trailed off again, turning to look down at Sulu again. "You're really alright with the fact that I'm referring to you by your surname even though you...you've brought me back from the dead. You're offering to switch around your work schedule to spend time with me while...while I'm like this. I. I just want to make sure that, y'know. That this is alright, I guess is what I mean to say. That we're alright..." Not just about the name, but in all ways. As much as they could be, of course, considering.

Sulu leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ianto's jaw, knowing exactly what Ianto meant when he asked if everything was all right. He knew that he wasn't just asking about the name; he was asking about the work, the anxiety and the fear that seemed to punctuate their interactions lately, the fact that things weren't getting better as quickly as either of them had hoped. And, to him? It was all fine. Everything would be okay.

"Yeah, we're all right," he echoed. "And I really don't mind you calling me by my surname. I get called Sulu enough in my life to not really think of it as my last name, anyway." He shrugged; that was probably what he got for working in the military. "And you know that which name you use isn't what made me bring you back, or made me decide to switch around my schedule. Right?" He raised an eyebrow, questioning but really just plain amused, hoping to maybe get at least a bit of a smile out of Ianto.

Ianto snorted softly at Sulu's question and shifted to pull back and look at Sulu squarely, raising an eyebrow of his own at the other man. "No, I don't suppose that it was," he said dryly. He shifted one of his hands so that his fingers slid up Sulu's sleeve to rest on his arm right above his wrist. True, his hands were warmer than they had been, but they were still far from being warm. "I don't suppose my cold hands had really anything to do with that, either, he said, with a small smirk, knowing that his fingers were cold enough to make Sulu jump again.

It was odd, how low he felt and yet at the same time how nice it was to spend time with Sulu like this. How guilty he felt hiding how he felt from him and yet how much easier Sulu made it, with his urging smiles out of him even now, when things had been awkward and almost a bit shaky between them until recently.

Ianto's fingers did make him jump a little, and he laughed, leaning in to kiss Ianto again, this time pressing his lips to Ianto's. It wasn't a particularly intense kiss, but it was firm and maybe a little needy, though Sulu tried his hardest to keep that part to himself. It was just so nice to see Ianto joking and smiling, and he couldn't help but want it to last for as long as it could.

"I like your hands, cold or not," he said as he pulled back, keeping the kiss short out of a need to make sure Ianto knew he wasn't expecting anything. "Though if you're trying to use them against me, I might end up with a grudge against them."

Ianto smiled in response to that, shifting a bit to rest his head on Sulu's shoulder, tucking himself against the other man's side like he had before the phone call from John had interrupted them, his legs folded up on the couch beside him so that he could keep them under the blanket as well.

"I'll try to keep them from bothering you too much. I warn you that they do tend to have a mind of their own though." He shifted his hand so that he was once again holding Sulu's, trying desperately to warm them up even though he was pretty sure by now that it was a lost cause. "It's nice to know that you don't mind them being so cold, though. Y'know, in case they..." He trailed off, cutting that thought off before he got much further into the sentence, kicking himself for bringing up the idea that anything would stay the way that it was then, even if it was only his cold hands that he'd been talking about in that moment.

Sulu frowned at the unfinished statement, his hands curling around Ianto's as he felt just how cool they were. He knew what Ianto was thinking; it was hard not to, when parts of him had been thinking the same thing this whole time. Still, that didn't make him believe it any more than usual. "They won't," he said firmly, clasping Ianto's hands tight, "It'll get better."

It had to. Sulu wasn't going to let it stay this way, for Ianto to stay sickly and tired and so cold. He knew that if Ianto did stay like this, he would eventually come to resent Sulu for it. And it would be his fault, too; there would be no denying it. He hadn't thought this through enough to make sure he had all variables accounted for, he had brought Ianto back broken and if he couldn't fix it, it would be his fault. He hated the idea that Ianto would hate him for it, but he knew it would happen. He could only hope that, as it got better, so did Ianto's circulation.

"Besides," he said softly, "You always had cold hands. It's not like I'm afraid of them." Or you. Or anything.

Sulu's hands tightened around his own, and Ianto felt so guilty about ruining the light, bantering mood they had had going on a moment ago with one ill-placed comment that forced them to be reminded of what the situation was exactly. He turned his head to press a kiss against Sulu's shoulder, not feeling like he could really word an apology that would cover how sorry he was for being such a downer, nor that Sulu would really respond well to him apologizing, so that action would just have to do.

"...you shouldn't be afraid of them," Ianto said, softly. "They're. They're just hands. And yeah, they've always been cold, and maybe they're even colder now, but. They're still the same hands that I've always had." Ianto realized he was speaking a bit in code. Talking about his hands when really, he was talking about himself. He was the same person that he'd always been. And yes, he was cold, and sick, and tired, but. It was still him. All the qualities he'd had before, they were all true now. Maybe he'd get worse. Maybe...the darkness would take him away again. But at least he was there now. At least they could enjoy what they had now, because. Who knew what was coming next? Ianto certainly didn't.

Sulu smiled faintly and nodded, because Ianto was right. There wasn't anything fundamentally different about any of this; Ianto was just feeling under the weather and when that changed - and it would - things would go back to relative normalcy. As normal as their lives ever were, at least. "Don't worry," he said finally, "I'm not going to think any less of them for being cold."

Realizing that he might be putting too much stock into the conversation - and not realizing that he wasn't - Sulu laughed a little and lifted a hand, reaching out to run his fingers through Ianto's hair. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try warming them up. Do you have central heating in here? I can turn it up for you, if you want."

Ianto leaned into Sulu's hand in his hair, enjoying the feeling of the other man's touch, but then Sulu had to go and question whether his flat had central heating or not, and it set Ianto off laughing. "Central heating? In a flat like this in Grangetown?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at the other man and chuckling, shaking his head. "I'm lucky I've even got radiators that even produce any heat whatsoever, really." He laughed again, and then smiled at Sulu, realizing that Sulu probably had no idea about radiators. He didn't now if they existed in Sulu's time, but he was willing to bet that they didn't, or if they did, then they probably worked the way that they were supposed to. "Radiators, they... They don't really distribute the heat all that much further than a couple feet away."

"No, it's alright," he said. "Unless we want it sweltering in here, there's really not much to do about the heating. Besides, it's my own personal heating system that needs to be turned up, not the flat. John suggested that maybe a hot bath might help, but..." He trailed off, shrugging.

Edited 2010-11-20 02:22 (UTC)

Sulu made a face as Ianto laughed at his question, though he was taking it in good humor. "Hey, I don't know what you have, that's why I asked." He simply hadn't realized that central heating wasn't universally installed in this era, and he felt a little stupid for having assumed it, considering the state of the flat and the neighborhood in general.

Really, though, sweltering wouldn't be so bad, he imagined. After all, he could deal with heat; it was Ianto's comfort he was worried about. He blinked at the suggestion John had offered, considering it for a few moments. That was a decent idea, really. Ianto seemed a little hesitant about the idea, or maybe he just didn't think it would do any good. "But what?" he asked, prompting Ianto to continue.

Ianto turned his head, partially hiding his face against Sulu's shoulder as he started to blush again, cursing the fact that even when he was ill, he could still blush as readily as any other time. "I... I mean, well. I wouldn't want to leave you waiting around the flat by yourself while I took a bath, I guess. And well. I suppose you could come and sit with me in the bathroom if you wanted to. Unless..."

An idea flashed in Ianto's mind, that maybe they could both go in the tub as well, but. He didn't even have the slightest idea how he would suggest such a thing. It wasn't really like he was going asking the other man to be intimate with him, not in any sort of sex kind of way. He wasn't up for anything even remotely close to sex at that point in time. But. The physical comfort and presence...it would be nice. He couldn't even imagine how he'd go about asking Sulu what his thoughts on the matter were, though.

Sulu could feel the heat of Ianto's blush radiate through his shirt, a sharp contrast from the cold he was starting to get uneasily used to. He didn't always understand Ianto's embarrassment, considering all they'd done already, but his mind was so far away from anything remotely intimate that any idea other than sitting there in the room with him seemed distant and silly.

Still, at Ianto's trailing sentence, the idea came rushing to him himself; he wasn't sure if it was what Ianto wanted to suggest, and he didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but... It had been a while since they'd done anything that even resembled being close. He knew that Ianto wasn't well enough for anything, not really, and he honestly couldn't find the drive himself after the last few weeks of being on an emotional roller coaster, but still.

He smiled in curiosity, deciding to see where Ianto was going before he put his own two cents in, and repeated, "Unless...?"

Ianto knew that Sulu knew he was blushing, he could hear it in the other man's tone of voice, and yet he did nothing to pick his head up from where he was hiding his face against Sulu's shoulder. Just because the other man knew that he was blushing didn't mean that it was suddenly an less embarrassing to be blushing in the first place. And of course Sulu was asking him to elaborate on his statement there. True, he had trailed off rather abruptly, but. That's generally what people did when they were trying to say something that they really couldn't get themselves to say out loud, they trailed off.

"Unless," he continued, only a few steps above stuttering at the other man. "I mean. Unless. You... You wouldn't have to just. Y'know. Keep me company. You could--you could...keep me company, or." He pressed his face more firmly against Sulu's shoulder, blushing harder. "Never mind. It. It was just a thought. Forget. Forget I even started saying anything, there..."

Sulu hid the laughter he felt at Ianto's stammering explanation, and then felt just a bit guilty for making Ianto so flustered to begin with. He couldn't help it, though; Ianto was adorable when he stammered, and Sulu really couldn't help but enjoy the fact that he was returning to that sort of habit. It was nice. Nice, and also reassuring that Sulu had actually thought up the same thing Ianto was now hesitating to say.

He almost continued to play stupid, just to get a little more out of Ianto, but really. He liked the idea, and Ianto seemed to like the idea - he was suggesting it, after all - and he couldn't imagine being that mean to the other man right now. So, he smoothed back Ianto's hair and nodded. "I'd like that," he said, smiling at Ianto's face buried in his shoulder. "To keep you company, I mean."

Ianto sighed heavily into the fabric of Sulu's shirt. He had a sneaking suspicion that maybe Sulu had figured it out before he'd prompted him to go on, just by the fact that his tone didn't sound surprised that that was what Ianto'd been getting at, but. He gave him the benefit of the doubt, there.

"Okay. Good. That's... I'd like that too." Obviously. Since he'd been the one to suggest it. He made a little noise of frustration, not moving to pick his head up from hiding it. "You know. It's stupid that I'm more embarrassed of asking you to do that than the idea of just doing it in the first place. I mean. I shouldn't be embarrassed in the first place, I'm 27 years old, and I should be able to handle a simple question, but. There it is. Honestly," he sighed, "I don't know how you put up with me, sometimes."

Sulu shifted a bit, twisting to move his shoulder away from Ianto, hand moving to cup his cheek and guide his face up. "It's easy to put up with you," he said honestly, before adding with a smile, "Besides, I like how flustered you get over things like this. I missed it." And he didn't just mean while Ianto had been gone - he meant even now, it was so hard for them to have moments like this, and he was just glad that they weren't gone completely.

"C'mon," he said, realizing that he might be getting too serious about what should probably stay upbeat, "Let's see if we can't warm you up and get you feeling a bit better. Okay?"

Ianto let out a breath that could possibly be classified as another sigh if it were a bit louder, and gave Sulu the faintest of smiles, his cheeks still flushed bright red. This was nice. This was...this was normal. Sulu making him flustered, him being flustered. If he ignored the fact that he was freezing and that just the thought of climbing up the stairs made him feel exhausted, it was just the same as what used to be.

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "You just want me out of my clothes," he said, deciding that if things really were going to be normal, he'd try his hand at joking around again. He hoped that Sulu'd appreciate the effort. Not that he minded the more serious moments they were having lately, but. He'd take awkward joking over awkward silence any day.

"I always want you out of your clothes," Sulu said with deceptive ease. Granted, it wasn't a lie, but still. Sulu and Ianto both knew that this was going to be one of the most platonic baths any two people could ever take together. At least, that was what Sulu knew. "But this was your idea. If anything, it means you want me out of my uniform." ...Which probably wasn't a bad idea. He was going to need to get a change of clothes here, somewhere along the way.

Still, they could take things one step at a time. For now, they could worry about getting upstairs to the bathroom, and how, exactly, they were going to settle into the tub. "Are you feeling up to trying that out now?" he asked, casually but sincerely, because he knew that Ianto sometimes had trouble with the stairs. "Or do you want to sit for a while longer?"

"Well...you are pretty fit," Ianto said in response, the tiny smile on his face morphing into a tiny smirk, before he shook his head, smiling again. It was pretty obvious to both of them that there wouldn't be anything even remotely along the lines as the usual things that two consenting adults got up to when all of their clothes came off. It really was just going to be an attempt to get Ianto warmer. Sulu was just going to be getting warmer in the process as well. It was cold enough outside for a warm bath to sound good to just about anyone, really.

Ianto lowered his eyes at Sulu's questioning, though, recognizing that the other man was being sincere with him there, and figuring that it wouldn't be too horrible if he allowed himself to be open back to him, just for a little while. "Honestly," he said, "the longer we wait, the more likely I'm going to end up falling asleep on you, so... Sooner rather than later would probably be the better option, here."

Sulu found himself blushing just a little at Ianto's compliment, even if it wasn't an option at the moment to take that sort of compliment further. It was still nice to have Ianto flirting with him again, even if it was just slightly.

He also understood what Ianto was saying about how tired he really was, and honestly, it just made him more sure of their new plan. He'd much rather be there with Ianto, in case he ended up falling asleep in the the tub. That'd probably be one of the worst things that could happen at this point. "All right, yeah," he said, smiling at Ianto, "Then we'll head up now. Then," he laughed, "We can tackle how we're going to actually fit both of us in your tub."

Ianto's blush, which had started to dissipate a little by then, came back. Probably not as full force as it had before, but he definitely colored at Sulu's mention of trying to fit them both into the tub. "It's...it's possible," he said. "I mean, Jack and I have fit in there before, and we..." They hadn't just had a nice relaxing soak like Sulu and Ianto had planned at that moment, but instead more of a... Well. It had been a night full of excitement, that was for sure. Ianto'd almost knocked himself out on the tap three times, but it's been worth it in the end.

He shook his head to clear his mind of any and all thoughts even remotely along the lines of that night with him and Jack. "Yeah. We... We both could fit together in there, so. It's possible. I mean. Neither of us is going to be able to stretch out or anything like that, but... Yeah," he finished, lamely.

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