It hurts to hear John blame himself. Hurts because he can hear he believes himself, and it’s easy for him to say otherwise to the other man, but a lot more difficult for him to prove it to be true. He watches him struggle to take a deep breath before moving to lean on a nearby tree, and he feels wretched because John looks for a moment as though he’s about to be sick and it’s all because of his stupid sense of responsibility.

He wants to hold him and tell him that it will be okay but he settles for stepping forward to tentatively place a warm hand on the other man’s back, in quiet support. His voice is soft and low when he speaks.

“Well I don’t blame you. I think you were up against insurmountable odds, and you saved my skin out there more than once. More than twice. You’re not a superhero, but that’s why we’re supposed to keep an eye out for each other, yeah?” Though apparently Ianto's done a pretty poor job of it so far.