30 Day OTP Challenge: Day 3
Title: Day 3: Dancing (#20)
Author: mashfanficchick
Fandom: Torchwood
Wordcount: 225
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Captain Jack Harkness, Captain Jack Harkness
Pairing(s): Captain Jack Harkness/Captain Jack Harkness
Genre: Character Study, Sad, Challenge
Warning(s): (highlight to reveal) Spoilers of a sort for (highlight to read) Torchwood 1x12, "Captain Jack Harkness". Also, unbetaed.
Beta(s): None (sorry)
Prompt(s): "Dancing" (Prompt #20 from the 30 Day OTP Challenge)
Notes, pt. 1: From the "30 Day OTP Challenge": #20, "Dancing", as decided by the Roll Dice Online random number generator
Notes, pt. 2: As far as I can recall, my first Torchwood fic. Please, please, please let me know of any mistakes/inaccuracies you find herein. Also, how does one normally differentiate between the two Captain Jack Harknesses (Captains Jack Harkness)?
Feedback: Always welcome, either on LJ (at the post or by PM) or at CartoonB@aol.com
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: He could have missed the pain, but he'd have had to miss the dance.
"Dancing"
After a lifetime like the one he’s lived--and that’s only so far, he reminds himself--Jack Harkness figures that anyone would have regrets. And regrets he has. Chances taken and not taken, lovers...well, taken and not taken. Often, the good times outweigh the bad; occasionally, the bad outweigh the good. The propensity for that, of course, goes up with the level of involvement; simple shags are great, but love...it’s too easy sometimes to fall in love, to forget for the moment or moments that any serious affair is sure to end in heartbreak. Which isn’t to say that even a short-term romance can’t end badly; many had, and, Jack is sure, many more will. More regrets.
But, of all the love affairs Jack Harkness has ever had, the one he will never, ever regret is the night he spent--and not even in the usual way--with the man whose name he would take. Though many songs remind him of that night--all bluesy, jazzy tunes--the one that leaves him dancing alone, a phantom lover in his arms, is a ballad by a man named Garth Brooks. The words are all wrong-he knew everything, of course he did-but the last line of the chorus speaks to him anyway, as he steps around the room.
I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance.
End