[RL WITH SULU]

[torchwoodteaboy]

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.

Comments

[parked]

Sulu, admittedly, wasn't as comfortable with the bridge crew he was working with temporarily as he was with his own crew, but it really was worth it. At least this way, he could come spend time with Ianto during the night, actually sleep with him and have a good night's rest, and leave in the morning when Ianto wasn't as likely to feel trapped in his flat.

Ianto, for the most part, seemed to be at least somewhat stable when it came to his health; he didn't always seem to be doing better than the days previous, but he rarely seemed worse. Sulu had that nagging feeling that Ianto was sometimes hiding how bad he really felt some days, but he figured that if Ianto was seriously having trouble, he would tell Sulu as much. After all, he was getting better at asking for help doing more mundane tasks, so...

Once his shift was over, Sulu made his way back to his cabin, taking the time to change into something more casual than his uniform. It was easier to sit around when he was in jeans, rather than his full uniform, and it made the whole situation a little more comfortable. He'd contemplated bringing something for Ianto - tea, or pre-replicated food so that neither of them had to deal with the kitchen - but like usual he decided against it, for silly reasons he didn't like to think about.

Once he was done changing for Ianto's, he didn't waffle about when he should head down. This had been happening often enough that he didn't hesitate, picking up the portkey and appearing with barely an awkward step in Ianto's flat. Pocketing the watch, he looked around, then called out Ianto's name, more to let the other know he was here than to find him. He had a feeling he was in his bedroom, anyway.