torchwoodteaboy | [RL WITH SULU]

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[RL WITH SULU]

Ianto lay in his bed upstairs, a book laying face down on his chest. He had been trying to read for the better part of an hour, but had found himself drifting more often than not, and on the third read-through of the same page he'd given up and just put it down. And he'd been drifting since then as well, not really awake enough to be doing anything other than just lying there, not really tired enough to really go to sleep. More and more each day, while no one else was around, he found himself in this sort of a state, a sort of standby mode that was disturbing in the fact that it didn't really bother him. That nothing really bothered him anymore, because he really couldn't dredge up enough energy to be bothered about it.

He brought a hand up to his face, running it across his eyes. He...he couldn't keep lying to himself like this. At first he thought it had simply been his imagination, that things were just progressing slowly, that was all. For all that he had worried that things wouldn't get better, he had hoped that they would, Sulu continuously helping him be optimistic in that fact, and so the fact that he was going backwards, now, getting worse, it... It was crushing. And he had no idea what he was going to do about it. No idea. The even worse fact of the matter was that he was slowly convincing himself that there was nothing to do about it. That he'd never get better. That it was too late, and he couldn't do anything about it now even if he tried. Which was the mindset he kept spiraling down and dragging himself out of as it approached that time when Sulu would be making his appearance for the night.

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The fact that Jack was making a point to include him in his thoughts was more than reassuring for Sulu. It made him smile a little, because even if he'd been asked, he'd have gone willingly, but it was nice to not have to worry about it. He liked Jack, he really did. And his feelings for Ianto... He wouldn't mind spending time with both of them, even if it was just the beginning of the end for it all.

He had to stop thinking like that. He needed to focus on helping Ianto get better, and he needed to be at the top of his game for both Jack and Ianto. So, he smiled wider and tilted his head towards the kitchen. "I brought down some of that feel good tea I've got. I thought it might help Ianto feel a little better, and it seemed to work." He lifted a hand to rest it on Jack's shoulder. "It might work for us too. If you want some, I mean - I know how opposed you are to tea."

Jack smiled at Sulu, and lifted his own hand to rest on the side of Sulu's neck. It was slightly more of an intimate gesture than putting his hand on Sulu's shoulder, but then Jack was just more of an intimate sort of person. The gesture was intimate, without being sexual, only something that someone as comfortable with himself as Jack could pull off, after all.

"I think this time around, I might be able to make an exception. Especially if that tea works as well as I remember it working," he said, with a smile. He kept his hand there for a moment longer, before bringing it down to his side again. "Alright, then," he said, taking in a breath. "Let's...let's go back in there and face the music then, I guess," he said. He couldn't say that he was exactly ready to be facing Ianto again, not really, but it was like Sulu had emphasized. They weren't sure how much time they did have left, and so what use was it wasting it being angry at him, when they could at least be helping out in some way.

Even if all the help they could provide was tea and company. It'd be better than nothing, Sulu supposed, and once they were settled for the night, he could send McCoy a message. It was funny how he just assumed Jack would be staying the night, and funnier still that he didn't think twice about it, but there it was. He'd become sort of used to depending on Jack's presence during these kinds of things in the past month; used to having him around when things seemed like they would fall apart around him.

"He'll just be glad we're not going to deal with it right now," Sulu said quietly, moving away from Jack and towards the kitchen again. "And honestly, I'll be glad that we aren't. I'm going to need a very good vacation after this whole thing is over." And it was true; Sulu felt like he was going to need some time to recuperate, to get back that level of optimism that he'd had before everything had gone to hell.

When he entered the kitchen, he noticed that Ianto was resting with his head on his arms, eyes closed. For one terrible split second, Sulu almost wondered - but no, he could see Ianto's body moving slightly with his breath. He smiled a little sadly and looked back at Jack. "Looks like he's not going to be very active tonight," he said, as though the both of them hadn't already known that. "Here, if you wake him up, I can make sure the tea's still hot enough to drink."

Much like Sulu, when Jack saw Ianto sitting there, so still like that, he too wondered for a split second if he'd just ruined his last chance, but no. Ianto was still breathing, he was just asleep. And while the fact that he'd fallen asleep after such a stressful situation and in a matter of mere minutes was still sort of disturbing on some levels, Jack was willing to look past that. Because now he knew the truth about Ianto's health, and there wasn't any hiding of it anymore.

"Alright," he said, agreeing to Sulu's deal about waking Ianto up while he checked on the tea. Standing over Ianto, Jack sighed for a moment, before crouching beside his chair and putting a hand on his arm, his other on his shoulder and shaking him gently. "Ianto..." he said, softly.

Ianto's blinked his eyes open blearily, blinking at Jack, momentarily confused before he realized what got him in this position, what had just happened. The fact that Jack was still there... Well. It was a relief, to say the least. He was definitely going to have to thank Sulu for whatever it was that he'd had to deal with from Jack after the pair of them stepped out of the room, that was for sure. "...you're still here," he said, softly.

Jack reached out a hand, running it through Ianto's hair and sighing at him. He was still a bit angry at the other man, but. It wasn't anything that he couldn't push aside and deal with later, he decided. "Yeah," Jack answered. "I... I guess I am."

The tea wasn't as hot as Sulu might've liked it, but it was definitely still drinkable, and so he poured out another mug for Jack before checking on the two left on the table. Finding them suitable enough, he sat down to one and smiled a little at the two of them. He didn't really know what to say, though, so he stuck to drinking his tea for the moment, relishing in the warm feeling it gave him. It was all going to be okay, he knew that. They would make it okay.

"I'm going to get a hold of McCoy once I know he's awake," he told Ianto, hearing his voice reflect the effects of the tea on his mood. "We're going to get this fixed." He wasn't going to bring up what had happened before; he thought it best to let that dog lie for now, and deal with it once everything else was in the right order.

Jack moved his hand back to Ianto's shoulder, giving it a squeeze before he stood up and went to fetch his mug of tea, sitting down at the table with the other two. Ianto...felt more than a little awkward about the fact that he'd fallen asleep after quite so intense a moment, but he figured that they'd forgive him for it. If they could forgive him for keeping things from them, or at least if they could let it slide for now, they'd definitely be able to let him falling asleep waiting for him slide as well.

Jack and Ianto both took respective sips of their own tea, and each felt the substance taking its own version of its effects on them. Both of their moods improved, but for Jack it was more of an aid in helping him come down off of his tirade, helping him push aside emotions that weren't going to help them in the situation, while for Ianto it was more about bringing the positive emotions up and out of the pit of fear that had settled in his stomach when he'd thought for a moment that...Jack was going to walk out on him, and well. There was a chance that he might never see him again, if he did.

Ianto nodded at Sulu's words, being reassured as much as Jack was that they had a plan, as simple and straightforward as it was. "Yeah, alright," he said, quietly. "I... I hope that he'll agree to it, like you said he will. I mean. I trust that he will, since you believe in him, I just. He really doesn't have to, or anything. I'm not a crew member."

Jack shrugged. "But you are a patient. And he's a doctor. Trust me when I say that doctors really do like fixing problems and making people feel better. Even if they aren't obligated to be doing so." He turned to Sulu, looking for a response. "I trust that this Doctor McCoy is the same, right?"

Sulu nodded at Jack's question, giving Ianto a reassuring smile. "It doesn't matter if you're not part of the crew. He'll want to help you because you need help, and it's not like you need to pay him for it or anything. There hasn't been a crisis lately that would make it hard for him to see you, either."

He shrugged and sipped at his tea before adding, "And it wouldn't matter anyway. Your health affects my health, and as an officer, it's important that I'm not distracted from my duties. Even if he wasn't the best doctor you could ask for, he'd still help on that fact alone." But McCoy was the best doctor Starfleet had to offer, as far as Sulu was concerned. His entire crew was the best. "I know that he'll be able to help, and willing to as well." He had to, there was no other way this would work. If McCoy didn't know what to do... who else would?

Ianto blinked as Sulu said those words, 'your health affects my health'. He hadn't ever thought about that before, but now that it was out there...he knew it was true. Sure, he knew that Sulu was affected by everything that was going on with him. He hadn't been there when...during the time he'd died, but from the way Sulu had reacted since he'd come back, he was willing to bet that things had gotten pretty bad for him during that time. That...that this whole thing with Ianto's health was making Sulu emotionally compromised, and that couldn't happen. Not when Sulu had a job like the one he did.

He nodded, slowly. "Yeah, alright. I'll... We'll go to Doctor McCoy, then. As soon as he'll have me, after you talk to him. Anything... Anything I can do to make things better, I. I will. I." He swallowed, and took a fortifying sip of his tea before he said, "I haven't given up on you. Not now. Especially not now. If. If there's something for McCoy to fix, then. We'll try to have him fix it." This can't be the way things end, it can't. Not when there was so much more to do. Ianto wasn't quitting on either of them. Not by a long shot.

The determination that Ianto was showing to Sulu and Jack made Sulu want to kiss him. It was just so nice to see it, to see and hear Ianto trying his hardest to keep an optimistic outlook, and he couldn't begin to put it into words. It made the whole thing just a little sunnier, a little brighter for him, and it helped fortify his own determination.

He couldn't reach from where he was sitting to kiss Ianto, though, so he settled for reaching out and putting a hand over his, smiling honestly and happily at Ianto. "Good," he said, "Because we haven't given up on you, either." Sulu couldn't do that, anyway. Even if there was no hope left, he wouldn't be able to give up. He hadn't when Ianto had died, after all, so what could make him give up when it was something they could fix before Ianto died again?

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.

Squeezing Ianto's hand briefly before letting go, Sulu picked up his own mug and took another sip. He couldn't tell Ianto that they would wait, that it wouldn't be so bad and that Ianto didn't have to be worried, because honestly he probably would anyway. And it wasn't going to be easy or nice, but at least they could actually talk. Sulu had known that Ianto wasn't exactly stellar at communication, but this was going to be the point where he'd have to draw the line. Sulu didn't need to know everything about Ianto's life, but he did need to know if he could help.

But, that was the future, and right now all they really had was this moment right here, with tea and each other. Sulu couldn't bring himself to think about it much more than that; he'd get in touch with McCoy once they were settled in, arrange for a time tomorrow to see him, and then... And then it was up to McCoy. Thankfully, he was the one man Sulu could trust with this above all others. "It's all going to be fine," he said finally, before shrugging helplessly at the two of them, wearing an embarrassed smile. "In the meantime, though, do we need something to eat, or," he looked to Ianto, "Do you just want to get some sleep?"

Ianto shrugged, taking his hand back to wrap around his mug. "I'm not exactly hungry," he said softly, deciding that it'd be best to be honest with them from this point on. Jack shot him a look, but it was unnecessary, because he was already opening his mouth to continue, "but...I should eat. And you should too," he said, looking at the two of them. Ianto knew better than to tell them to put him to bed and then eat without him, especially now that...well. He'd prefer to have them there with him too, just in case, so.

Jack took a large swallow of tea, before moving to stand up. Ianto thought for a second that he was leaving again, but then he was heading to the cupboards, and his heart rate slowed down again. "Let me handle this, kids," he said, lightly. "I think I can probably do something with what we've got here."

Ianto nodded, grateful, before turning back to Sulu. "Jack's...surprisingly good at cooking," he said, smiling at Sulu. "Just. Don't pay too much attention to what sorts of combination are going into whatever he's doing. It's best not to know."

Sulu raised an eyebrow at that, though he wasn't particularly surprised. Jack seemed like the kind of guy who was simply able to do these sorts of things, cooking and the like. Considering the warning, though, Sulu had a feeling Jack didn't particularly subscribe to typical Earth customs when it came to what went with what.

Grinning at Ianto, he shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I don't think I'll mind much," he told him, "After all, I'm used to Tellar delivery, and some of the combinations they have there are a little weird by traditional standards." Still, it was delicious. He thought for a moment about how he'd get to take Ianto to some of the alien cuisine restaurants in San Francisco, when things were fixed, and it made him grin a little wider and a little more sincerely. It'd be fun. Of course, he still had to figure out if he could do it at all... but one thing at a time.

Jack went to the cupboard, grabbing a pot and sticking it in the sink, filling it up to just the right amount of water, before sticking it on the burner. When all else failed, there was always pasta of some sort, and everyone liked pasta, didn't they? At least, Jack figured as much. Never mind the fact that he'd make a sauce that wasn't exactly what anyone would call normal, it was still just pasta in the end, right? Jack went about setting things up, leaving Ianto to do the talking, finding something calming in just going through the motions of doing something normal like that.

Ianto sat forward in his chair, propping his arm on the table, and his head on his hand, cocking his head at Sulu. "'Tellar delivery'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that, then?" He shook his head, smiling slightly. "And here I was thinking that ordering Indian cuisine was adventurous..."

Sulu laughed at that, knowing full well that Indian food was probably less safe to eat than Tellar delivery but unwilling to say so. It wouldn't do to ruin the mystique of alien cuisine, would it? "It's what Chinese delivery is to actual Chinese cuisine, really. Except instead of the Chinese, it's the Tellarites. It's mostly vegetarian. Usually, Tellar cuisine is served raw, but like all good fast-food type things, they tend to at least char or bake the dishes a little."

He grinned. "If you get meat in a dish, though, it's usually some kind of canine." He knew that would throw Ianto for a loop, and that's why he made sure to point it out. Sure, it would have been fun to keep it from Ianto, but he really didn't want to make the other man eat something without knowing what it was. "It's the service that's really the most difficult part. Tellarites are big on arguing and debating, so you can get into a bit of a fight before you get to place an order at all." He shrugged, smiling, "The food's good, though, so most people put up with it."

Ianto made a face at Sulu, trying to decide what made him question it more, the part about eating dogs, (or anything related to dogs for that matter), or the part about having to fight with them before you could get a meal of vegetables and dog. "...maybe I'll just stick to Chinese and Indian," Ianto said, quirking a little smile at the other man. He wasn't that sure about eating canines, and he could have vegetables any time. "Leave all of that sort of thing to you, and all."

"Dog isn't half bad," Jack piped up, from the stove.

Ianto shot a look over his shoulder at Jack. "I am never going to trust you to cook meat for me ever again, if you say things like that," he said. Jack shrugged, throwing a, "Not like I could find something like that at the market, anyway," over his shoulder, before turning back to his work. Ianto just shook his head. He supposed...if it tasted good, he wouldn't mind too much. He'd just prefer not to know what he was eating, if it came down to that, though.

"It really isn't that bad," Sulu said, smiling sympathetically at Ianto, "But I still prefer their vegetarian dishes. I don't like that the place I usually get food from doesn't always tell you what kind of canine you're eating." Still, if Ianto didn't want to eat it, there wasn't much Sulu could do to convince him otherwise. Ianto was pretty stubborn, after all.

Still. It'd be fun to have him come around and try some of the things the 23rd century had to offer. He'd just have to figure out if it was possible. Really, anything was possible at this point, though - once Ianto was better (and he would get better, he had to keep reminding himself that), Sulu could find out about warping all the way home. Or world-hopping, which was far more likely.

"Either way, like I was saying, whatever he could come up with probably won't be any sketchier than Tellar delivery."

Ianto shook his head, making a face. "You know, nothing you're saying here is making anything about that sound any more appealing at all, really," he said. He smiled at Sulu bringing it back to Jack's cooking, though, as the main topic of conversation. "Yeah," he said, "I... Jack's made some pretty interesting dishes, but I wouldn't call any of them sketchy, or anything. I mean. He's making them with ingredients that I have around the flat, so I know that there's nothing I wouldn't eat going in there, or anything."

"There isn't going to be anything too surprising about this, either," Jack said. "It's just pasta." Which they did have, when Jack grew up. Some things never got old, after all.

Ianto gave Sulu a pointed look. "Just pasta, he says," Ianto pointed out, making it obvious that 'just pasta' isn't going to be what Jack will eventually serve at all.

Sulu responded with a face of his own, pouting a bit over-dramatically at Ianto. "I thought the fact that it was alien cuisine would be enough to outweigh all the weird parts," he said, before laughing a bit and shaking his head and looking over at Jack. Sulu knew just as well as Ianto did that pasta made by a man who was used to 51st century cuisine was not going to be just pasta. Unless marinara sauce was truly the end-all-be-all of red sauces.

"I've had plenty of pasta dishes that I was really not allowed to ask what was in them, thank you," he said with a bit of a smirk, "So while I seriously doubt what you're making is just pasta, I'll have to agree that it's not going to be anything that bad."

"C'mon," Jack said, messing about with something in a frying pan that started to smell really good. Spicy, but not in a hot kind of way. "Back me up here, Ianto. Have I ever made you anything bad? Anything that was too horrible to even finish?"

Ianto...had to say that no, he really hadn't. So he shook his head. "No, actually, he... He's telling the truth. I don't know why you're going off on me about this, though. I believe you, Jack. And I'm not saying that you're going to make us anything horrible, I've even complimented your skills. I just... I know that you never make 'just' anything." That he never did or was 'just' anything. Jack was too big and too loud and to alive to ever have 'just' anything even apply to him, after all.

Jack shrugged. "You'll like this," he said, to the pair of them. "I've made it for you before, so it's not like I'm just throwing something new at you, here. I'll..." he said, pausing as he dug through Ianto's spice cabinet, "I'll have to improvise a little, because you don't have the same things you did then, but. It should be just as good."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Just so you clean up after yourself, I don't suppose I really care." Which was...odd. Ianto usually did the cleaning up, if Jack cooked. And yet. Well. He really didn't have the option, anymore. He swallowed, instinctively going for another sip of tea to save him from spiraling down that train of thought.

Sulu held up his hands. "I'm not saying it won't be good, don't worry. I'm just saying that it'd have to be really weird for it to throw me off." And it was true, really. He didn't doubt Jack's ability to cook, not really. The fact that he could improvise was sign enough of his talents; Sulu wouldn't dare stray from a recipe, unless he was absolutely sure what he was doing was also some version of the same recipe.

Really, it was almost surprising how non-adventurous he was when it came to more mundane things than flying or fighting. Outside of Starfleet, he realized, he was kind of boring. Oh well; at least Ianto wouldn't care too much about that, right? "Don't worry," he added to Jack, "I'll help you clean up so it actually gets done." They needed to let Ianto rest, after all... and in truth, he couldn't clean if he tried, anyway.

Ianto knew that Sulu was offering to help Jack because he couldn't, and he appreciated it. It wouldn't be fair to make Jack cook and clean all by himself. And honestly if he could help Jack clean up, he would, but the simple matter of it was that he couldn't so. He was going to have to leave it to the two of them, and try not to feel too guilty about the fact.

He smiled slightly at Sulu, a little sadly, because he just couldn't hide the fact that he knew that he wasn't in his best form, there, couldn't hide the fact that he did feel more than a little useless, with the pair of them having to wait on him as they did. Hell, he was going to have to get one of them to carry him back up the stairs to bed, when the time came, to...to take him to the bathroom to get ready... He didn't like being like this. Yet another reason why he needed to get better.

"...I thought you said that you didn't do dishes," Ianto said, smirking a little as he teased Sulu, to try and lighten his own mood a little. Sulu had told him something like that, after all, once he'd first come home. Just because he was sick didn't mean that his memory was going too.

Sulu smiled helplessly at Ianto and held up his hands. "I'm a military man, Ianto, I can't let a captain do all the cleaning. That wouldn't be right." Which wasn't really true, because everyone knew Jim did his own share of cleaning up proverbial messes, but still. The fact was that he didn't want to leave the entire thing to Jack. And if Jack had some help cleaning - well, then Jack could take Ianto up the stairs and save Ianto the embarrassment of knowing someone was watching him be carried.

He was proud enough to know what kinds of things would annoy or embarrass another proud man, and he knew that that would be one of them. So, he'd do the dishes just this once, and let Jack have some time alone with Ianto while he did so. It seemed like a pretty good plan, so long as Jack didn't end up getting angry at Ianto again.

Ianto smiled softly, nodding at Sulu. "I know," he said. And he did know. Not only did he know that Sulu was covering for the real reason that he was going to help cleanup, but he knew why he was doing it, and he was grateful for it. Not that he minded Sulu taking care of him, it was just. He felt like he'd let the other man down, and he wanted to give him a break from taking care of him, really. At least for a minute or two. Let Jack shoulder some of it, let the two of them share, between them. Not for the first time, he was glad that they had each other, and that he wasn't just leaving either one of them on their own to have to deal with this.

"I guess I should have asked this before," Jack said, from the stove, as he went to strain the pasta in the sink, "but you don't have any food allergies, right? I'd hate to accidentally end up putting you in the hospital as well," he said, with a pointed look over his shoulder. That would really be all he needed, the pair of them ill and with only him to be able to do anything about either of them. No, Jack didn't think he could handle any more sorts of medical emergencies any time soon.

Sulu honestly didn't mind taking care of Ianto, not when he was this sick. Really, even when perfectly healthy, Sulu wouldn't mind doing these sorts of things for the other man. He wasn't prone to doting on people, so when he met someone he really did want to do things for, it sometimes was a little strange. Still, he threw himself into it from the beginning of this whole debacle, and he would continue to dote relentlessly until Ianto really didn't need it any more.

"No," he said in response to Jack's question, grinning. "As far as I've ever known, I've got no allergies whatsoever. You're good to go, captain." At least, hopefully Sulu didn't end up having some kind of allergic reaction to something Jack was using. That really would be just great.

Edited 2010-12-08 07:37 (UTC)

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