Title: Across A Thousand Blades
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Giacomo Casanova
Fandom: Doctor Who/Casanova (Masterpiece Theater)
Rating: PG-13
Table: Cadenza challenge, 5_prompts
Prompt: First verse -- I caught his eyes
Author's Note: The character of Giacomo Casanova is based on the BBC version of Casanova starring David Tennant.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Giacomo Casanova. Please do not sue.

***

"Do you remember the first time we saw each other?" the Doctor asked Giac, reclining in bed with his lover, his head resting on the other man's chest. "I caught your eyes across a ballroom full of people, and I couldn't look away from you."

"Ah, perhaps it was I who couldn't look away from you, caro mio," Giac told him, his voice soft and husky. "I found myself looking into the eyes of a man who was more beautiful than any sunrise or sunset, more lovely than any sight I've ever beheld."

The Doctor couldn't stop a blush from spreading across his face; when Giac said things like that, he had no idea of what to reply. His feelings for the other man were beautifully poetic, but actually putting them into words was something he wasn't good at.

"You don't have to say pretty words, my love," Giac told him softly, bowing his head to brush a gentle kiss across the Doctor's forehead. "I know what you're thinking -- and I know how you feel. I can feel it in your hearts. It doesn't need to be spoken."

The Doctor couldn't help but marvel at how well Giac knew him; this man seemed able to reach into his hearts and soul and divine exactly what he was thinking, without needing any words to be spoken aloud. No one else had ever been able to do that.

But then, no one else had ever known him this well -- not even Jack. He had loved the immortal, but he hadn't been a part of the Doctor's soul the way that Giac was. No one else had ever had this kind of a connection with him -- and no one else ever would.

"I wanted to make my way across that ballroom and kiss you then and there, in front of everyone who was watching," Giac continued, reminiscing about the first night they'd met. "All I could think of was having you in my arms, regardless of any consequences."

"All I could see was your eyes," the Doctor replied, his voice dreamy. He was sinking back into the fond memory of that first meeting, the first time he'd looked into those impossibly blue eyes and felt that he was falling into a deep sea that was enveloping him completely.

"I could have drowned in those eyes, and been perfectly happy to never come up for air," he continued, his voice faraway. He was caught in the memory; it was unfolding before his eyes again as though he was back in that time and place.

The present faded away from him; he was standing in a ballroom full of people, but none of those faces around him registered. There was only one face, one compelling pair of eyes that had made him freeze in his tracks, eyes that drew him ever nearer.

He could feel the stares of others as their two pairs of eyes met across the ballroom; if he'd been overly conscious of those stares, they would have cut into him like rapier blades. Those eyes were jealous, burning with hatred that he was the one who had caught this man's attention.

But he hardly noticed them; he was frozen in place, mesmerized, held in thrall by those enticing eyes. He couldn't have looked away from that steady blue gaze if he'd tried; it seemed like an eternity that the two of them were caught fast, drawn together by desire.

Then he'd broken free of the spell; the normal sounds of the ballroom had resumed around him, and he'd been able to turn away, rather than making his way across the room and introducing himself to the man who had so thoroughly captured his hearts with one glance.

If he had chosen to walk across that room at the time, it would have felt as though he was making his way across a thousand blades, all raised to dig deeply into his flesh, to stop him from being close to this man. He hadn't had the courage to face that.

But Giac had. He had slipped out of the ballroom and followed the Doctor when he had left; he'd had the courage to go into the Tardis, to take in all that was around him, even though it was unfamiliar and perhaps even frightening, and find the Doctor.

What would he have done if Giac hadn't come after him? he mused, turning his head to press a kiss to the other man's bare shoulder. He would have dreamed about Giac, certainly; and he would have spent his life regretting that he hadn't followed the dictates of his hearts.

Giac had solved that problem for him. He'd been shocked when he had looked up and the other man had been standing in the doorway of his bedroom, but somehow, he hadn't felt that it was wrong. Giac had somehow seemed to belong there.

"The first time I saw you, I knew that you were something strange and rare -- and that I had lost my heart to you," Giac murmured, raising a hand to gently wind the Doctor's left nipple between his forefinger and thumb. "I knew that I had to have you."

"And you did, in the end," the Doctor told him, with a satisfied smile. "It wouldn't have seemed possible to me if it hadn't actually happened -- me, being the lover of the renowned Casanova. I'd never have thought that I could be in such exalted company."

"Ah, you are far more exceptional than I could ever be, caro," Giac murmured, pressing another kiss to the Doctor's smooth cheek. "And you are not only my lover -- you are the one person who holds the key to my heart, and who always will."

"I beg to differ," the Doctor said with a laugh, shaking his head. "You're the one who's in the history books, love, not me. I think you're by far the more exceptional of the two of us -- but this isn't the time to get into that discussion."

"Indeed not," Giac agreed with a smile. "But I will say that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, when I first caught your eyes across that crowded room, that you were an incredible man. Something deep within me knew that you were special."

"And even though I didn't know who you were at the time, I knew that you would be someone special in my life," the Doctor murmured, touched that Giac had thought so highly of him before they'd met. "I should have come to you then, instead of making you come after me."

He should have braved crossed that room, should have stepped across those thousand raised blades to get to this man. He should have had the outer courage to match what he felt inside, rather than turning away and telling himself that he shouldn't become involved.

"But it all worked out in the end, did it not?" Giac whispered in his ear, his breath hot against the Doctor's skin. His voice had turned sultry again; his hands were moving down the front of the Time Lord's body, nimble fingers working their magic on his senses.

"It most definitely did," the Doctor breathed, only seconds before Giac's mouth claimed his. Even if he hadn't braved those blades to move across the room and find his destiny, that destiny had found him -- a destiny more satisfying than he'd ever thought it could possibly be.

***