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Entry tags:
[ FINISHED/CLOSED ]
Who: John Sheppard & Ianto Jones
What: I Held My Tongue For Like 30 Minutes What More Do You Want?
When: Backdated to the, 24th/25th of May?
Where: Leaving main Wyver for Khalo
Warning(s): Weird Tension, fyrra use
John's best lead for the whole thing is going to be Khalo, but they can at least meander through the main hub first so Ianto can get a drink before he collapses on the floor. He can explain it once Ianto is a little more alert. John is benevolent enough to suggest this without letting on it's mostly for Ianto's sake, even though they both know it is. It's fine, though, he knows the theoretical timeline they're working on -- and since the the whole altar thing was a bust (probably he should mention that, too) this is more firefighting than anything.
He waves off another kid trying to get suspiciously close to him and his bag, mouths scram as he waits for Ianto to get his drink (which, no doubt, he won't enjoy as much as his own fancy coffee) and skims his phone again. It's heating up enough that his jacket is stowed in his bag, and he eyes Ianto idly wondering if he's put on any sunblock. His own arms are getting browner every minute, and he probably has tan lines.
"So," he says, stowing his phone and squinting up at the sky thoughtfully. Clear so far, it's only going to get hotter then. "Your boyfriend seemed in a good mood."
Ultra smooth. Nailed it.
What: I Held My Tongue For Like 30 Minutes What More Do You Want?
When: Backdated to the, 24th/25th of May?
Where: Leaving main Wyver for Khalo
Warning(s): Weird Tension, fyrra use
John's best lead for the whole thing is going to be Khalo, but they can at least meander through the main hub first so Ianto can get a drink before he collapses on the floor. He can explain it once Ianto is a little more alert. John is benevolent enough to suggest this without letting on it's mostly for Ianto's sake, even though they both know it is. It's fine, though, he knows the theoretical timeline they're working on -- and since the the whole altar thing was a bust (probably he should mention that, too) this is more firefighting than anything.
He waves off another kid trying to get suspiciously close to him and his bag, mouths scram as he waits for Ianto to get his drink (which, no doubt, he won't enjoy as much as his own fancy coffee) and skims his phone again. It's heating up enough that his jacket is stowed in his bag, and he eyes Ianto idly wondering if he's put on any sunblock. His own arms are getting browner every minute, and he probably has tan lines.
"So," he says, stowing his phone and squinting up at the sky thoughtfully. Clear so far, it's only going to get hotter then. "Your boyfriend seemed in a good mood."
Ultra smooth. Nailed it.
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He wonders whether it would be a breech of the other man's privacy to remove his sunglasses, for how much he wishes he could look him in the eyes just now. He supposes he might stop talking to him if he did. John seems to know how little he can hide from him after all.
"We're going to find a way to make this right," he says, with a certainty he isn't sure whether he feels, but he knows that John needs to hear it. God knows he'll repeat himself as many times as he has to until something sticks. Until that wretched note clears from the other man's voice and he stops looking like he might try and face down the dragon bare-handed if it came to that. "You and me together, yeah? That was the deal."
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"Right," he says finally, then after a long moment of hesitation lifts a hand to cover Ianto's on his arm. "I've been up to the altar. Someone's already spilled a lot of blood there recently and burnt something."
So, you know, just in case Ianto thought that might be the right avenue to go down... probably not. This may also explain why John looks like he hasn't got a lot of sleep, he's been busy.
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Does he really hold it against Ianto himself that he'd had a rest while he'd been so busy himself? Should he not have tried harder? No, that's a ludicrous thought. He'd been hit on the head, he'd needed his rest, and anyway he'd managed to uncover some useful information besides. And John really is going to get himself killed at this rate, if he doesn't ease off on himself a little.
"What pointed you in the direction of Khalo, then?" he asks, though what he wants to know is whether the other man really did sleep at all. Whether he's had anything to eat between when Ianto saw him last besides that piece of bread.
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He turns so they're facing the same way, steps into Ianto's space and holds out the screen toward him as he (manually, this time) scrolls a little through a private text thread.
"Says he was on the other escort team heading into Olympia."
John scrolls it up slowly, stops around the point it gets to I'm the stupid plans guy, you know? and lifts his frown to fix on Ianto instead.
"Could be a trap," he admits, "but also the only lead we have with the altar already done and dusted. There's another guy who said he'd meet me there, too, also off the other team. He's been up to the altar too."
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"Anything they told us has to be taken with a grain of salt, as he says," Ianto allows, glancing up at the other man as he does. "But any information is more than we had before. And if local rumor backs it up -- there's nothing wrong in following the lead." If what the man had said is right, they have some time before the three weeks has passed, after all.
Of course, because he is who he is, he can't let this conversation go by without asking, "You went all the way up to the altar last night? On your own?" Speaking of traps.
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"No, somebody was showing me the way."
So he didn't go up alone, Ianto, and you can stop giving him that look. It... well, it probably wasn't safe but he wasn't alone anyway.
"You up for going then? I hear it's been closed off for a while, they're not normally into outsiders. Could be a sister-wives kind of place."
Which means it could well be dangerous, hostile. It could also be interesting, though. Presumably Kirk thought it was a good spot for a date, after all -- which John suddenly remembers. He hesitates before shrugging, trying for as neutral as he can manage.
"Can probably meet Kirk there too if you want, whenever he's done with what he needs to do in Olympia."
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Ianto's brow furrows as John keeps talking, though. When he mentions Jim again. He isn't sure why it bothers him, but it does, and it has him shaking his head at the other man as he speaks up to say, "John, stop bringing him up. I mean it. He's got business in Olympia and at the station and you and I have got business of our own with this dragon, and if this date happens then it happens and if it doesn't then maybe we'll plan something else and maybe we won't, and that's okay, alright?" Jim is a good man but Ianto knows himself and he doesn't know what Jim wants and until he has that spelled out for him he'd prefer not to think about it that hard.
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"I only mentioned it because you said he offered to take you there and now we're going anyway. Might be on fire in a few weeks so figure we should all enjoy it while we can."
He moves out of Ianto's space again, taking a steadying breath against the wave of low level irritation.
"Just put some sunblock on if we're moving."
Otherwise they're going to stand around arguing until the end of time at this rate, and the whole thing while be over before they can even get there.
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"Look, it's just. Extra incentive to make sure that we get this right, yeah?" he adds, attempting to soften his words. He knows that mentioning the sunblock was probably John's attempt to steer away from the conversation, but he had to get that out. And now that it was...
Ianto bends to unzip his bag, where he's stowed away all the things from the leather shop. Digging for a moment before producing the bottle of his sunscreen and the leather canteens. "Here," he says, holding one of them out to the other man. "For you. I figure we should probably get these filled somehow as well, yeah? It wouldn't hurt to have more water on hand." He sets his own on the ground next to his bag and begins liberally applying the sunblock to his arms and neck, starting out where he can at least see to get to.
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"Not sure if the running water is safe here," he says after a moment, since it's tropical and doesn't... look like they necessarily have complex sanitation systems here. His eyes rove over the other man a long moment as he applies sunblock, then he drops his back off his shoulders again and begins to put the canteen away -- checks through the rest of the contents and idly pushes up the short sleeves of his t-shirt to check if he's getting bad tan lines.
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He keeps on applying his sunblock the best he can but without being able to see what he’s doing, it is difficult. He does his best to get his face without getting anything in his eyes and he hopes he hasn’t missed anything. The back of his neck is another story and he glances at the other man as he pauses in his struggles.
“Do you need any of this?” he asks, watching as the other man examines his own tan lines. A little jealous of the fact that he doesn’t seem to have to worry about the sun much at all.
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"Put some on this morning," he says, then squints and begins to gesture vaguely. "You've got... streaks."
This is why he offered to put it on for you, Ianto. So you didn't get it everywhere.
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"C'mon then," he says. "If we go at this back and forth of you telling me where and me trying to get it, it's going to take all day, and one coffee only does so much for my patience. You offered to help before, didn't you? Or have I scared you off."
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"Give it here, then."
The sunblock, that is. He begins smoothing out the streaks, carefully trying to make sure he's reasonably covered along his face at least then getting more on his fingers to rub along Ianto's neck and under his hair. Ianto probably goes zero to red pretty quickly, he's not exactly tan to begin with.
"Just so you're aware, t-shirts don't automatically block UV rays. It's better to put this stuff on properly before you get dressed. Especially if you're pale. Also, if your clothing moves or shifts and you haven't applied properly under it you'll get patches."
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"Yes, well," he says, tracking John's movements before glancing away. "I. Was hardly functional this morning, was I?" John had heard Jim's comment about offering him toothpicks to keep his eyes open, that had hardly been an exaggeration, all things considered.
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He turns Ianto's head with a light touch to his jaw, rubbing in some sunblock that's caught in his hair and frowning in concentration.
"If you're going to come fight a dragon with me we can't have you starting the fight burned up already."
That's just too much of a disadvantage when they already have plenty. Be sensible, Ianto. Nobody wants sunburn and nobody wants to have to look after someone with sunburn.
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His eyes dart uncertainly down the little side-street they've found themselves on and then back towards John. Is this entirely appropriate? Well, he supposes it isn't not. It's just sunscreen and it's hot and it's not like there's anyone else about anyway.
"No..." he answers, carefully. "I'd prefer to keep my pain levels to a minimum where I can, it's true..." He's just self-conscious about his body and the thought about undressing even this much in front of anyone else, especially to have them help him on with sunblock no doubt, has him feeling even more so. But John's right, after all. The last thing he needs is sun poisoning because he made too much of a fuss otherwise.
He moves to shrug off his overshirt, glancing aside at the other man, a slight flush coloring his cheeks despite himself because honestly, it's a bit embarrassing. "You can't blame me if we go through all of this and it happens anyway."
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"I won't," he says, "you can blame me for missing a bit. Come on."
T-shirt too, the quicker this gets done the quicker you can put it back on and they can get walking. It's not, by all accounts, a short walk after all.
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Submitting himself to the fact that this is happening, Ianto reaches for the hem of his tshirt and tugs it off and over his head in one go, bunching it nervously in one hand once that's done. From this close up, John will probably notice a pretty nasty burn scar on his upper arm, just inside his right elbow. Healed now but it's been less than two years. There are flecks here and there on his back that may or may not be other scorch marks as well. Torchwood Tower had been burning after all, when Ianto'd managed to make his escape. And he hadn't been able to just run. Not dragging Lisa.
"Oh, I plan to," he gripes, because maybe if he keeps complaining it will keep his mind off of the fact that he's doing this in the first place.
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He takes Ianto's t-shirt off him and slings it over his shoulder on top of the other one, squirts some of the sunscreen into his hand and hands off the bottle to Ianto before beginning to quickly work it over his shoulders.
"Trust me as the person who's been to more hot countries, alright? I'm not doing this just to try and make you uncomfortable."
Since he can tell Ianto is uncomfortable, which isn't terribly surprising. He never came across particularly confident in his own body. John can try and move quickly so it isn't lengthy torture.
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He can feel an uncomfortable silence building between them, and the longer he tries not to be awkward about this the more this one grows. Doing his best not to fidget too much he can't help but turn to glance at the other man over his shoulder. Studying his face as he works. He is standing very close.
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"You want me to do this all myself?" he prompts, and there's a ghost of a smile pulling at his lips he can't quite suppress.
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"Well, you've seen what a job I did on my own before," he replies, as lightly as he can. "Isn't that why you've taken over for me in the first place? You know, so I could blame you for any mistakes that were to happen and we could both feel better about it."
He shifts to toss the quirk of a cheeky smile over his shoulder at the other man in turn.
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He squeezes Ianto's shoulders gently, moves back in front of him to take back the sunblock and gets a little more onto his hands again before passing it back.
"But, you should still do some of this yourself before I'm reported for sexually harassing a fellow council worker with sunscreen. C'mon, before we take so long you burn anyway."
Stepping back behind him he rubs the rest of what he has into Ianto's back, trying to keep it reasonably even and his hands from lingering too long in any one place.
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Ianto is aware of every press of the other man's fingers against his skin and the fact that he really doesn't mind it so much at all, when it comes down to that. He clears his throat awkwardly and puts more on his hands as well, making sure that his chest will be covered in case the collar of his shirt shifts before he caps the bottle and tosses it back towards his bag. Trying not to think about the fact that he's going to need to put more on a few hours later.
"Right, well," he says, obviously feeling a bit awkward -- there's no way of hiding it, why bother. Please give him his clothes back, John. "That's... Done for now, I suppose. Though I'm coming to think that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to invest in a parasol, if we should happen by one." No need to worry about his dignity, look what he's done to it already.
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