parked | Log with Ianto & Jack: Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

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Log with Ianto & Jack: Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

There were three things Sulu always expected when he woke up: some kind of alarm, his regulation sized bed and his regulation sheets. In his line of work, those were the only safe assumptions; for all anyone knew, they could be waking up to their timer alarms or the red alert alarms, or they could wake up on the floor after an attack - but they would always wake up near it.

Being that he was not really a morning person, it took Sulu a groggy minute of groaning and half-hearted stretching to realize that his three safety blankets? They weren't there. Instead, his bed felt - bigger, really, and... manlier. Really manly. Which felt weirder than the softer sheets, the metal bracelet around his wrist and the fact that he had hair in his eyes.

...Hair in his eyes.

Oh, Jesus. He knew what that meant -

Sulu snapped to attention and sat up, only to realize that he was now straddling someone, he was a girl, and he was in his boxers. And that was it. Part of him realized he was on top of Ianto, but the rest of him then followed suit and noticed that his free hand was on Jack's chest, and this was way out of his comfort zone.

Being that he was terrible at this whole "suddenly a girl thing," Sulu could only do one thing in that moment: he shrieked and tried to fling himself off the bed, despite the fact that he was handcuffed to Ianto. "SHIT!"

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Ianto's attempts to hide his nausea went over fairly well at first. Sulu was too busy trying to figure out what to do when it came to showing up at Ianto's place. He wanted that - to be able to see Ianto away from everything else first, so they weren't having an awkward public meeting. He realized suddenly that this was going to be a little awkward at first, despite the fact that... that they'd practically been on dates before. Never official, and always as friends, but the situation was always roughly the same. They'd talk about whatever came up, they'd joke and they'd just enjoy each other's company. Which was what they were going to do this time, too - only this time, there wouldn't be any doubt about what they were doing.

Ianto's pause made Sulu look at him much more clearly than he had when he had been thinking. He frowned, giving his hands a squeeze. "Hey, are you... the virus is acting up, isn't it?" He wished that it wouldn't, but it didn't seem like they had much of a say in the matter.

Ianto's forehead creased in disappointment for the fact that Sulu had noticed he was starting to lag, and in the fact that he was lagging in the first place. His eyes saddened, dropping down before turning them to look back up at Sulu. "If...if I told you that I was fine, you wouldn't believe me anyway, now would you?" he asked, with such a look of defeat across his face.

Ianto was perfectly prepared to keep on pretending for as long as he could, but the fact that Sulu had noticed kind of defeated that point, and as another wave of general sickness swept over him, stronger than before, he shut his eyes and breathed deep, sighing. "Yeah," he said, "it's the virus. I... I wish it weren't. God, I wish it weren't, but. We're...we're probably going to have to go track Jack down." He'd already pushed it further than he should have, should have gone to try and find Jack as soon as the feeling had started, but. He couldn't regret that at all. Not when even though his stomach was starting to twist itself into one big, horrible cramp, he still felt like smiling.

Sulu sighed and nodded. He tilted his head to rest it against Ianto's shoulder briefly before moving away, still holding his hands. "You're right, I wouldn't. But - it's okay. We'll go find Jack." He smiled as encouragingly as he could, considering their moment was passing at warp speed and there was nothing he could do to salvage it at this point. They would get it back, though. Sulu would do what he could to get this back.

"I bet he's probably gotten in to trouble, anyway. And... I'm sure there'll be other chances for us to talk during this." After all, Jack seemed prone to disappearing on them. They'd be able to sit back and discuss this date idea more thoroughly, he was sure of it.

"He probably has," Ianto said, trying to keep up with the conversation. "I mean, knowing Jack, he might be...stashing the uniform somewhere to see if he can somehow keep it for later use, or something like that. Put it into a special container used only for the dangerous archives, or. Y'know."

"But, yeah. I'm... I'm sure we'll get some more time. I mean. The... The day isn't close to being over yet, or. Or anything." Ianto tried to convince himself that there would be another chance for them to talk. For all he knew, they could even send Jack away, or volunteer themselves to check on things in the archives, or the cells or. Unfortunately, the disappointment of the moment ending and the fact that he was progressively feeling worse and worse was doing nothing to aid his optimism.

"I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I. If I could. If I could hold on for longer I would, I really would. But." He swallowed, leaning forward involuntarily, his stomach starting to roll as well as just cramp up. "I. I'm really not feeling so great anymore. We. We better find Jack now. I. I really don't want to make things any worse by vomiting on you..."

Sulu put his free hand on Ianto's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Don't worry. I don't want you vomiting on me either," he joked sympathetically. "It's okay. Don't apologize for something you can't control."

As lightly as he was treating it, Sulu was honestly pained to see Ianto feeling so sick. He wished he could do something for him, to make it less painful, but he wasn't the one who was supposed to be connected to Ianto; that was Jack. It was disheartening, sure, but right now, all he wanted was to help Ianto find the other man, and keep him close until Ianto felt one-hundred percent again. Sulu put all thoughts of the viruses as allegories and instead just nudged Ianto towards the door of the car. "Let's go find Jack. I'll be right here for you to lean on, if you need it, all right?"

"Right," Ianto said, letting go of Sulu's with his free hand to help himself shift along the car seat towards the open door, pulling Sulu's hand out with him, and hoping that Sulu would follow along with it. Standing up, he stood aside to allow Sulu to climb out after him, leaning against the car, closing his eyes as he was hit with a large wave of vertigo from standing up too quickly. After taking a moment, breathing deeply, he felt the world straighten itself out and he opened his eyes to look down at Sulu.

"D'you really think you can support me?" he asked, smiling sheepishly down at Sulu. If they took too much time, there was a distinct possibility that Sulu might end up carrying him, after all. "I mean. There's a real chance that I might have to take you up on that offer, and well. I'm suddenly a lot bigger than you. And. I trust that the normal you could drag me along with no problem, but. If I pass out on you... We might be stuck there." While it was an amusing image, it probably wouldn't be so amusing in that moment. Especially since there was no way of calling Jack, and Sulu would really be stuck dragging Ianto the rest of the way, if he even could in this form.

"N-not that I plan on doing that, of course!" Ianto said quickly. "S' just that... It could happen." He thought about it some more, before the stomach roll and another small wave of vertigo hit him, and he was suddenly very afraid of that possibility. "Y'know, maybe. Maybe we should really get a move on," he said, paling.

Sulu eased himself out of the car, following Ianto as he moved, and went so far as to close the door once they were settled. It hurt him a little to see Ianto so disoriented and sick, especially since there wasn't anything he could do to help him. The question, too, put him for a loop, because he hadn't thought about the physical difference between his usual body and his new, female one. Could he support Ianto?

He wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. He nodded as reassuringly as he could. "Yeah, I think I can. I'd rather try. But - let's try to find Jack before we have to resort to me holding you up. Come on." He held Ianto's hand and gently pulled him, just so he knew that Sulu was ready to help him anywhere.

"Yeah, alright," Ianto said, gripping Sulu's hand and allowing himself to be tugged along behind the other, not really being too present or having the desire to argue otherwise. He wanted their moment to continue, to happen again, and therefore he had to keep himself upright and conscious in order to ensure the possibility, at least.

He tried to keep his mood up as he passed through various states of being fine, feeling horribly ill, and being somewhere in the middle as he followed along behind the other. He felt bad, he felt so bad for being this burdensome on the other, so he was still trying to pretend he felt better than he did. So far, so good, but yeah. They should really find Jack. "Do you remember the way back down to the Hub from last time, then?" he asked, really wondering. Sulu'd only been there that one time, and may not have been paying attention to how they traveled. Ianto might have to step up and help navigate, if he couldn't remember, after all.

Sulu kept pressed as close to Ianto as he could, without making either of them uncomfortable or make him unsteady. He wasn't sure where the Hub was, exactly, from the garage, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to make Ianto tell him. After all, Ianto seemed out of it enough... But if he had something to concentrate on, maybe he'd be able to stay focused on that, instead of his vertigo.

"I'm not sure. I know we go down the stairs, but..." He glanced up at Ianto, frowning in worry. "I'm not sure after that. Try to keep yourself focused on where we're going, so I don't get lost. All right?"

Ianto was feeling horrible enough to not notice the fact that Sulu was trying to get him to focus on navigating the Hub, rather than his steadily declining health. "Right," he said, tagging along behind Sulu until they came to the door at the top of the stairs, when he stepped forward to key the door open. Since it was one of the only entrances to the Hub, one being their cover-up and the other being nearly impossible to trace, this one not only had the code to get into the garage, but the fingerprint scan to unlock the door to the passageway. Ianto let go of Sulu's hand long enough to do the scan, since it was the hand required for the scanning. The door clicked unlocked, and Ianto dropped his arm down, opening it for the two of them.

He stepped forward, fully intending to continue as if nothing was out of the ordinary, when another wave of vertigo hit him and he swayed on his feet at the top of the stairs. Shit, he thought, and automatically reached out to fumble for Sulu's hand, feeling a lot more comfortable with the situation after he'd grabbed a hold on it. Thank god the stairwell had railings, otherwise Ianto'd be completely mortified with the prospect of having to make it down them. He shut his eyes for a moment, mentally preparing himself. "Why does the bloody Hub have to be so hard to get to?" he asked aloud, trying to cover the fact that he definitely didn't really have his sea legs on him anymore.

Sulu knew from the moment Ianto stepped through the door that this was going to end badly. When Ianto reeled at the top of the stairs, Sulu immediately reached for the hand already groping for his, grabbing hold and then adding the force from his other hand to keep Ianto upright. Stepping close, Sulu braced Ianto with his free hand to his chest, his cuffed hand holding on to Ianto's hand as though he were afraid the other would evaporate if he let go for a moment.

"Shit," Sulu gasped, out of breath with worry, his overactive mind already imagining the terrible fall they could have had down the stairs, and how Ianto could have been hurt, how they didn't have any way to get a hold of anyone -

"Damn it, Ianto, you should have told me you were feeling this bad!" Sulu didn't mean to snap, but his panic made him raise his voice at the other, "We could have gone to find Jack sooner!"

Ianto understood that Sulu was yelling at him because he was afraid for him, but it still hurt that he'd snapped at him like that. Enough so that Ianto, frustrated with himself, sicker by the minute, and equally as afraid for their situation, snapped back. "I didn't want to find Jack sooner! I thought I could handle it--I hadn't tested the boundaries of this virus the last time it happened, I didn't know that it would start to get this bad. I knew that we'd have to start moving if I told you about this, that's why I kept it to myself! Because I wanted to spend more time with you!"

Ianto swayed again, this time more violently, as his emotions were getting to him as well as the sickness. Maybe all of that yelling wasn't such a good idea after all, he thought, ill enough not to realize that Sulu's hand, cool against his almost feverish skin, felt pretty wonderful. Feeling himself tip forward towards the stairs a little more with every rocking of the boat, he moved to grip Sulu's hand harder, his other hand flailing out to find the railing on the other side, grateful that they were standing close enough to it for him to grab onto something solid that wouldn't come tumbling down the stairs with him if he needed to put his full weight into hanging on.

He took a deep breath, letting it out shakily because damn it, yes, he wasn't doing much better than Sulu in the panicking department, and all of this swaying and vertigo made him want to throw up right then and there, Sulu calling him out on what he already was angry at himself for wasn't helping anything. "Look, I'm sorry, alright! I really am. I... I didn't mean for it to get this bad. But any more yelling at me should really be done after we tackle these stairs, because I don't know how much longer I can stand at the top of them without falling and taking you with me."

Sulu found himself always regretting snapping at Ianto, because he always felt miserable for doing it. Immediately adopting a more soothing, though no less worried tone, he said, "I know - I know. I just don't want to be the reason you're sick. You're burning up." He did his best to hold Ianto up, thankful in that moment for the railing that was helping him support Ianto's heavier frame. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to yell at you any more. Let's just get you down..."

He eyed the stairs warily, trying to remember how he'd gotten down a similar flight when he was blind drunk back in the Academy, but he wasn't sure if that was going to do much good here. "Just hold tight to the railing, we'll take each step at a time. I'm right here and I'm not going to let you fall without a fight."

"You're not the reason that I'm sick," Ianto said, petulantly because really was burning up, he could tell that much. "I'm the reason that I'm sick. Or well. It's the community's fault, if you get right down to it. But..." He stared down the steps, normally quite manageable but in his current state rather daunting. "Yeah. It's alright. I... It'll be fine. I'm not going to let go of this railing anytime soon, and you're there, and it'll be fine. See?" As if to prove his point, Ianto started down the stairs. Or rather, he stepped down one step with one foot, and then managed the other. "Look. It's... It'll be fine. C'mon." And he started down another, then another.

He was not going to let Sulu know that the reason that he wanted to get down the stairs had as much to do with the rolling of his stomach as it did with the spinning of his head, now. He was pretty sure that if he had to go back and clean up after himself, he'd rather have one spot to have to clean, rather than several stairs. Because he was starting to get that tell-tale feeling in the back of his throat that meant nothing good would come of this, and he swallowed hard against it, hoping he didn't look as green as he felt.

And he didn't, probably. He was burning up, he could tell that, he probably looked bright red. Unless... Ianto sent a prayer up to any gods that were listening that he wasn't splotchy like he used to get when he was sick as a child. Having no shirt, there would be no way to hide the fact, and any more embarrassment and he might think harder about throwing himself down the stairs right then and there. Not actually seriously, because that would involve taking Sulu with him, but really. He swallowed again. Blotchy was just not on.

Sulu held tight to Ianto, keeping a hand on his chest as firmly as possible as they made their way slowly down the steps. "It's the community, but I'm the reason you waited this long. But we're going to be fine." And it was true, hopefully. Though he was definitely wary of how Ianto looked, he refused to say anything about it. He would simply pretend Ianto was fine, that they were both fine, that they'd make it to Jack before Ianto passed out or, worse yet, puked and stayed conscious enough to know he did it.

"Moving walkways," he said suddenly, "In the future, you're going to get moving walkways." It was a passing fad of the 22nd century, really, because the exercise you got from walking far outweighed the necessity of sidewalks that did the job for you, but Ianto could probably use one of those right now in the Hub.

About halfway down the stairs by that point, Sulu started mentioning moving walkways and Ianto picked up the speed down the stairs. Ianto had always been one of the types to walk as normally as he usually did on a moving walkway, enjoying the feeling of moving exactly as he would on the ground but getting there faster on the walkway. He normally loved that slightly uneasy feeling where your mind was telling you your body didn't usually move that fast when doing something as simple as walking. Now, however. Upon the mention of moving walkways, it inevitably triggered his vertigo more than before, which due to the nausea was really not anything good.

He realized he should say something in response. That's what he normally did, respond to things, and he wanted to keep pretending that he was alright, that everything was fine, that he didn't feel as horrible as he felt in that moment. He also realized that if he opened his mouth and started talking and wasn't able to swallow at regular intervals, he wasn't going to make his goal of getting down the stairs before what was now practically inevitable was going to happen. So instead he said, "Hm." And swallowed. "Must be nice." And promptly kept his mouth shut.

Sulu was noticing the fact that Ianto was not really feeling the mention of moving walkways, and so he winced, going quiet except for a murmured, "yeah," and a glance at Ianto's face in between steps. He slid his hand up a bit, keeping it well away from Ianto's stomach - after all, pressure there would be incredibly disastrous for the both of them. "When we get to the bottom of the stairs, we'll sit down." His tone clearly indicated that he knew what Ianto was going to need to do. For a moment, he wished that Jack hadn't left them, but then he realized that he and Ianto wouldn't be set for a date if he hadn't. Hopefully, throwing up wasn't going to make Ianto regret that whole conversation.

Ianto, a little disappointed that he'd been found out and Sulu'd figured out the inevitable, but also relieved because it was hard enough to keep his stomach at bay, keeping up appearances was becoming next to impossible at this rate, could only nod in response. He clutched at the railing, his knuckles white with the effort of moving and keeping himself upright and holding out to the bottom of the stairs, making the last few steps the most torturous of all.

When they finally made it to the bottom, Ianto had every intention of doing this in the most dignified manner as he could, before taking a breather and then starting the trek up again. His body, though, had other plans. Letting go of Sulu's hand and bending over to take a seat on the steps, his stomach made a lurch that he just couldn't keep down, and it was all he could do to turn away from Sulu and towards the wall, leaning over before his stomach tried to expel everything that it possibly could in as quick a manner as was possible. Lord, he was never going to live this one down, he thought miserably. He put a hand to the wall to hold himself up, really not wanting to lean or go anywhere near Sulu when his stomach was rebelling this bad.

After a long and very humiliating few moments of being very sick, his stomach, having finally run out of things to get rid of, settled a little. Ianto stood up slightly, moving to put his head against the wall, and groaned. "I... I am so, so sorry," he said, miserably.

Edited 2010-08-12 21:05 (UTC)

Sulu knew pretty much from the moment Ianto let his hand go that everything was going rapidly downhill from here. He took as much of a step back as he could when Ianto started retching because, well. As manly as he was, he wasn't wearing shoes. Still, he kept as behind Ianto as he could with their hands cuffed together, crouching down and using his free hand to rub at Ianto's back. There really was nothing else to do in the situation, especially just there in the hall.

When Ianto seemed to have emptied his stomach and was moving to stand, Sulu rose with him, keeping a hand on his back. He knew how godawful it could be, throwing up in front of someone - much less somewhere that wasn't a toilet or a sink or something - so he accepted the apology silently. "Don't worry about it," he said, "Just take a minute to breathe. We'll keep going when you're ready."

Ianto did as he was told, concentrating on the hand on his back and not on the fact that he had just thrown up in front of the person who had asked him on a date, and he was probably the least attractive he would ever be in this moment, and how could Sulu want to date him after he'd seen him like this? He stood there and breathed, not too deeply and not too shallowly either, as he waited for his stomach to settle a little more, not sure if it really would, considering it was the fact that he wasn't touching Jack that was making him feel this bad, and not anything to do with his actual physical condition. Ianto was used to dealing with situations that might otherwise cause weaker-stomached people to throw up, so he knew all the tricks in the book to quell the urge to start the retching all over again, and he used them all in that moment.

It was probably a minute or two after he'd stood up that he raised himself from against the wall. The vertigo had done nothing to get better, and in fact may have gotten a little worse, he was pretty sure he was starting to see stars on the edges of his vision, but at least his stomach was behaving itself again. "Alright. I'm... I'm not sure that I'm exactly ready, but I really don't want to be here anymore..." He didn't want to have to say he wasn't sure how much longer he had until he passed out, but it could be any moment then, and he'd really prefer to be much closer to where Jack was than here, at the bottom of the stairs to the car park. He didn't want to have to say that, but he was pretty sure the look he was giving Sulu in that moment said enough.

"If... If you want me to be any help to you, we need to get moving and fast. And... Preferably not stop," he sighed. "I. The way to get to the Hub is pretty much just following the tunnels, but in section 5, the one with the table in the hallway, you take a left and follow that through until you're in the main Hub itself. I. I hope that it doesn't come to this, but. If for some reason I..." he trailed off. "There are intercoms as we get closer to the Hub. My personal code is 220589. It should patch through to the main intercom in the Hub and well. If. If Jack's got any sense whatsoever, he'll be ready to come and find us..."

Sulu kept a firm hand on Ianto, realizing just how bad the other's vertigo was as he saw how he stood, how he spoke. While Ianto was worried about why Sulu would want to still go out with him after this, all Sulu was worried about was making sure Ianto was safe and secure. He knew they had to get to Jack, and that just a touch from Jack would help him - and that's all that mattered.

"It's okay. It's fine." He pushed Ianto into action, moving with him as quickly as they could go, with Ianto feeling like he did. "Section 5, table, left. I can remember that. 220589. Got it." He repeated every important bit as Ianto said it, putting it into his memory like he did with so many other things. It wasn't hard for him, thankfully; his memory was good and his determination was too strong to let him forget anything Ianto said. "Give me some warning, lean against the wall, anything. I'll be able to carry you."

Though, honestly, he wasn't sure if he could - he'd never done physical labor in this body before, and he knew that he wasn't built to be as strong like this as he was in his normal body. But he'd try. And if he didn't make it - well. He'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

Ianto jolted a little, stumbling for a second as Sulu burst into action. He knew that the other was just concerned for him, knew that he was taking his direction and getting them moving quickly, and he trusted Sulu to do what had to be done to get him as far down along the tunnels towards the Hub as the other could force him to go. He reached out a hand, catching himself against the wall, not stopping, but just adding the extra support, as he listened to Sulu rattle off everything he'd said exactly as he'd said it, impressed by it all, really.

He wanted to ask if Sulu was really sure if he could carry him like this. He wanted to know beyond a doubt that he could. But he knew that Sulu really didn't have any sort of idea what this body was capable of, and although he wanted to ask, he wisely kept his mouth shut. As they passed through the end of the first set of tunnels, though, knowing they had seven left to go, Ianto started to panic a little bit. He knew he didn't have any reason to, and he knew that if he passed out all they had to do was find Jack and things would be back to normal, but his field of vision was narrowing by the minute, and the blood was starting to rush in his ears, and damned if he wasn't scared that him passing out on Sulu would be too much for the man--not exactly a man at that moment, his what, his friend? his...future date? what did you even call that sort of a person?--the other to deal with.

"I..." he said finally, needing to fill the silence with something other than his breathing. "I know that you don't have that much of a choice in being here, but. Thank you, anyway. I mean... There's a pretty good chance I'm going to pass out on you, before much longer. It. It really doesn't look good. I'll try to push myself as far as I can, but. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate today, and am well aware that I am going to owe you a lot, when all of this is over..."

Sulu smiled tightly at Ianto, nodding once. "It'll be fine. You don't owe me anything. Honestly, if the community had to give me a virus, I'm just glad it was with you and not with someone else. I'll drag your unconscious ass as far as I need to," he added with a slightly uneasy laugh, "So don't worry about it."

He calculated in his head the sort of upper body strength he might have like this, reminding himself that Uhura was, while taller and more used to being a woman than him, around his size, and she could haul a stunned ensign two kilometers in a skirt and go-go boots if she needed to. He knew how to place the weight of an unconscious body, knew where to put his hands - well, at least theoretically he did, but right now one hand was sort of useless - and even if he couldn't get him entirely too far, Sulu was certain he could get Ianto at least to the point where he could safely call for Jack. Who was an idiot and should have already been looking for them by this point. Sulu was really tempted to give that man a piece of his goddamned mind, despite the fact that his absence had been a pretty good thing until now.

Ianto didn't know how to interpret Sulu's statement. 'Not with someone else'. Did that mean 'not with anyone else', or... Was he thinking too far into this. He swallowed, starting to feel really, really very lightheaded. He couldn't be sure of it, but he was pretty sure that he was slowing down as well, not really having a very good control of where he put his feet anymore, his hand on the wall possibly being his only grounding in this situation.

"I... I'll try not to worry about it," he continued, because he was trying to reassure Sulu here, trying not to freak him out too much, not that he really thought that passing out would freak the other, but who knew. "That's what I do, though. I worry. I'm a worrier. It's in the job description. Or, well. It should be. Under picking up empty takeout containers, and...knowing how to dodge an angry pterodactyl..." Ianto trailed off, and just like that, his vision was all but gone. He was pretty sure that he could still hear Sulu, but he was losing his grip on basically everything else, including motor function and well, the wall. Shit, Ianto thought. Despite whatever Sulu said, he really was going to have to try and make up for this later.

Sulu slowed his own pace with Ianto's stumbling steps, holding on to him and trying to keep him upright. Ianto's rambling about his job had slightly the opposite effect on Sulu than Ianto probably thought it would have, making him worry and check their position in the hallway. He really didn't want either of them slamming into a wall or into the floor, and Ianto was clearly losing it.

"Don't forget being generally amazing," he added as Ianto trailed off, knowing full well that the other probably wouldn't catch it. Luckily, Sulu was able to grab Ianto under the arm when he lost his grip on the wall, which had clearly been Sulu's friend when it came to keeping the man upright. Man, he thought wryly, a little blindsided by the whole situation all at once, He's really heavy.

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