It's easier for John this way, too. Easier for John to feel comfortable with guiding Ianto when he isn't conscious that the man might be able to read his every little feeling. John Sheppard is a man with a hundred invisible lines in the sand, some easier to feel out than others, and as much as he may trust Ianto right now things are still too delicate.

So he talks Ianto calmly through cleaning his wound, reassuring him that it's good that it starts bleeding more -- that it needs to flush itself clean and bleeding will do that as much as the water will. He talks him through applying a dressing properly, with feeling his arm to see if he can tell if it's a fracture or a true break.

John feels a wave of pain and nausea as Ianto does this, and closes his eyes for a second against it but tells Ianto to carry on -- he can handle it but he just needs a minute.

He does handle it, but he drinks an entire glass of cold water afterwards and spends a few seconds breathing slowly.

They splint it as best they can, and John picks at the rest of his bread before retreating to lay down on the bed. He feels overheated, and sore, and exhausted and still a little dizzy.

"Did they say how long this stuff lasts?" he mumbles. Then, realising Ianto may be unable to read minds: "the painkillers."

Will he wake up in pain? If so, he wants to be ready for that.