parked | IC CONTACT POST

You were trying to have a real discussion. I told him to try and listen, but I guess that didn't really help...

Like I said. I'm not the only one who can be stubborn. I guess it didn't help that he was tired. I probably should have noticed that a long time before you texted me to let me know. [It turns out that Ianto isn't the only one that's tired. Not that Jack would ever admit to that fact...]

You were both working for... what, fourteen hours, right? [It occurs to him that Jack might be tired too, but he's not going to mention it quite yet.]

Well. I called him in fourteen hours ago... [Which is Jack's way of avoiding the question. Avoiding mentioning that he'd been on the job for the entire night before he'd called Ianto in]

[Sulu catches on to that pretty quickly.] And how long before that had you been working?

[Jack shrugs. It may seem that he's trying to play it cool but the reality is that he can't remember when he last slept. Sometime earlier that week. It might have been a day ago. Possibly two or three]

... [Sulu gives Jack a Look.] You should probably get some sleep

I don't need sleep. I'll be fine. [LIES]

[Jack Harkness you go to bed right now.]

Either you're not telling me how long you were working because you know I'll be irritated by it or because you don't know how long it's been. Either way, you need to get at least a few hours. [Pause.] You can sleep in my cabin.

You don't have to do this. I can leave. You have better things to do than babysit me in your time off.

I'm not babysitting you. [Sulu offers a wry grin.] I'm not getting paid for it, for one. And for two, I'm offering because I know if you don't stay here, you'll go back to the Hub and keep working, which won't help matters. Sleep sort of acts as a fuse; the longer you go without it, the shorter your fuse gets.

[Jack sits back in the chair that he's taken up residence in and looks at Sulu for a moment, weighing his options. It sounds tempting, it really does, but he doesn't want to be a burden on Sulu. He's already made him beam him up to talk about his relationship mishaps, now he's making him put him to bed? And yet]

...you know, you're awfully good at this.

[Sulu just smiles in self-satisfaction, quirking a brow.] Is that you accepting my offer?

[Jack leans back, shutting his eyes and sighing defeatedly] I think it's more you using enough logic on me to push me into accepting your offer, but...yes. Yes, it is.

Close proximity to Vulcan culture's made me pretty good at this logic thing, I guess. [He taps a few things on a readout, then turns to Jack.] I'll walk you up there so nobody stops you. I'm not going to stick around, anyway, I've got some stuff I have to work out here first. [He smiles,] When I need my bed, you're out. [He says it mostly to make sure Jack knows he's not being put out by offering his cabin to the other man.]

[Jack quirks an eyebrow and a bit of a mischievous twinkle appears in his eyes] We could share. We've done it before, after all.

We have, but this situation is a little different. [He grins a bit,] And Murphy's law dictates that if I crash in the same bed as you, Scotty is bound to walk in and get an entirely wrong idea of the situation.

Well. I don't know about you Lieutenant, but I was planning to actually keep my clothes on and sleep. If I wanted anything more, it's like you said. I could just wander down to a certain other Starfleet officer's quarters for that... [He's joking around, but there's an odd note to the jokes. He really is tired, and not feeling quite as punchy as he's making it appear that he is]

[Sulu just rolls his eyes, taps out a command on his PADD and moves to the door.] C'mon, Captain, let's get you some rest. But, just for the record? I'm not planning on taking my clothes off around you any more than absolutely necessary. [His own tone is light and joking.]

[Jack raises his hands up in defeat, following along after him] Alright, alright. I'll leave that privilege to Ianto, then... [He says it with a smirk] I'm sure he'd be appreciative if I didn't tread on his toes there, anyway. [Joking, of course. Sulu is a comrade of his, and Jack has so few of those. He's not going to go around sleeping with him; they're much better as friends, even Jack can see that]

I'm pretty sure he would be. [Then again, he'd never really forgotten Ianto's drunken text that one time. But, it's most definitely not something to bring up now. He leads Jack to the lift.] Either that, or completely baffled, which, admittedly, is something he does really well, but still. He's not the priority right now.

[Well... Ianto is Sulu's priority, always, but Jack's the one who has to help make things right, so in a way, Jack is what'll make Ianto happy and Sulu has to help Jack do that. Which involves sleeping. ...It's a complicated situation.]

[Jack follows along compliantly, which says how exhausted he really is] He is pretty adorable when he's flustered, there's no denying that. I'm not sure it'd make the right impression, considering...well. The situation that I find myself in at the moment.

[He runs a hand through his hair as they set off in the lift] How do I dig myself out of this one, then? I mean. He threw me out...

I don't know. [Sulu's serious - if it were him in the situation, he probably would have kept skulking around Ianto's place until he felt like he could get back in to make amends. Or he'd bring him flowers - and that isn't Jack's style.] I guess give yourselves some time to rest and get your heads on straight, then try to apologize?

[Jack raises his eyebrows at the idea of apologizing for something that he really has no clue this time what he did wrong in the first place, but he nods. It sounds like a good idea, at any rate]

Yeah, alright. I'll... I'll try. Tomorrow, though. When both of us have gotten enough sleep that we might actually be more willing to listen to each other. And...not slam doors in each other's faces, for that matter.

[You don't need to know what you're apologizing for, after all. You just need to sound incredibly sincere.]

Pretty much that exactly. [The lift brings them smoothly to Sulu's floor and he half-leads the way towards his cabin; Jack's been there enough to know how to get there, but still.]

IC CONTACT POST

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]