Title: Not A Good Color
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Michael Cutter
Fandom: Doctor Who/Law & Order
Rating: PG-13
Table: 100_tales
Prompt: 16, Green
Warning: ongoing story, past non-con
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 Michael Cutter, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

"Did you see the look on that woman's face when she saw the two of us together?" The Doctor couldn't help chuckling as he and Mike walked down the steps of the courthouse. "She was positively green with envy. Did she honestly think that she stood a chance with you at some point?"

Michael nodded, a wry smile crossing his features. "Yeah, she did. I have no idea why -- I told her over and over that I liked working with her, but that I didn't sleep with colleagues. And she knew that I'm gay, but she still wouldn't stop trying."

"Green definitely isn't a good colour for her," the Doctor said, wanting to smile at the memory of that woman's face when she'd seen him holding Michael's hand. He almost wanted to have a camera, to get a picture of the murderous expression that she'd worn.

"I think seeing me with you finally brought it home to her that she doesn't have a chance -- and that she never will," Mike said, breathing a sigh. "And at least I don't have to be around her every day in the office now, avoiding her every time she tries to corner me."

"Some people just can't take no for an answer," the Doctor told him, shaking his head. "I've known a few like that -- though I have to admit that I did give in to one of them and had a relationship with them," he added, thinking of Jack.

Mike glanced over at him with raised brows, a question in his eyes. "Did they end it, or did you?" he asked, sounding hesitant. The Doctor smiled and moved closer to his lover, taking Michael's hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"He did. He walked out on me -- but I realised after a while that he wasn't the man I would have wanted to spend my life with," he said softly. "This isn't the time to go into specifics, but rest assured that there are no unresolved issues there, for either of us."

"He was a fool to give you up," Michael told him, returning the squeeze. "I can't imagine anybody doing that willingly, but maybe he had his reasons. Whatever they were, they couldn't have been good enough -- but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

"We could always go to visit him," the Doctor said, shrugging. "We're still friends, even though there isn't anything romantic between us any more. He has someone else in his life now -- probably several someones, if I know Jack at all."

"Sounds like he's a pretty irresistible guy," Michael muttered, dropping the Doctor's hand as they walked along. "Or else he's just the kind of person who doesn't believe in relationship and wants to get around as much as he possibly can."

"He's certainly that." The Doctor laughed, shaking his head. "I mean the kind of person who gets around. That was one thing that I had a hard time dealing with. When I'm involved with someone, I'm faithful. But he doesn't believe in fidelity. That came between us."

"I guess it must have been hard for you to let him go," Mike said, his words more a question than a statement. "He sounds like somebody who's hard to resist -- and probably easy to fall in love with." He kicked a stone that was in his way, making it skitter ahead of them.

The Doctor glanced over at his lover, a slight frown creasing his brow. Mike was looking down at the pavement, his lower lip thrust out slightly. Was it possible that his boyfriend was .... jealous? He hadn't intended for his remark about Jack to get that kind of a reaction.

"It was easy to fall for him," he admitted, wanting to be truthful in all that he told Michael. "But that love wasn't the kind that 'looks on tempests and is never shaken.' It didn't take me long to realise that he and I weren't suited for the long run."

Mike nodded, not looking at him and not speaking. The Doctor stopped in his tracks, determined to ease his boyfriend's mind before things escalated. The last thing he wanted was for Michael to feel that he had anything to be jealous about.

"I'm not with him any more, Mike," he said softly, his voice cracking slightly on the other man's name. "I'm here. I'm with you. What Jack and I had ended a long time ago. There's no reason for you to be jealous, or to think that he could ever come between us. He couldn't."

The other man sighed heavily, shaking his head. He raised a hand, pointing in the direction of a nearby park. "Let's go in there and sit down. I think we need to talk this over before I let my imagination run away with me and imagine things that were never there."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, taking Mike's hand again and leading his lover into the park. They walked silently for a few moments before the Time Lord stepped off the path to head for the sparkling waters of the lake in the middle of the park, sitting down on the green grass in front of it.

Michael didn't say anything as he sat down beside the Doctor, still holding his hand. The Time Lord could feel the other man's grip tightening, as though Mike was clinging to him. Finally, he looked over at his boyfriend to see Michael contemplating the water of the lake.

"I'm acting like her, aren't I?" Mikee asked, his voice soft, a tinge of regret in his tone. "I'm sorry, John. I know whatever was between you and your ex was over long ago. I don't have any doubts about the two of us. I know you love me. I just .... know that at one time you loved him."

"I've had many loves in my past, Mike," the Doctor murmured, moving closer to his boyfriend. "But you have to realise that I'm not with any of them now. I'm with you. And you're the man I've chosen to give my hearts to. No one else. You."

"I didn't think jealousy was something I'm prone to," Michael told him, that wry smile crossing his face again. "I've never been jealous of anyone else. Not even people I thought I was in love with. I always felt that if I had to be jealous, I simply shouldn't be with them."

"Everyone can go a bit green with jealousy at some point," the Doctor said, cautiously sliding an arm around Michael's waist. "I've felt it often enough myself. But there's no reason for it this time. Yes, I loved Jack at one time, but there's only friendship between us now."

"Jealousy is such an ugly emotion," Mike whispered, swallowing hard before he continued to speak. "I hate feeling this way. It makes me feel that there's some part of me that doesn't trust you, and I don't want to feel like that. I don't want to think that I don't trust you completely."

"Do you?" the Time Lord asked, his hearts thumping in his chest. If Mike didn't trust him, then they had a definite problem. "You can't love where you don't trust, Mike. If there's a trust issue with us, I want to get it out into the open now, rather than later."

"I do trust you," Michael told him, turning his head to look into the Time Lord's eyes. He raised both hands to cup the Doctor's face, stroking his thumbs along the soft skin of the other man's cheeks, gazing at him as though he was drinking in the Doctor's features.

"I trust you completely," he whispered, his gaze holding the Doctor's. "I don't know why I feel so jealous of him. I guess it's because he had your hearts at one time -- and I feel like I have to compete with that. It's silly, I know. You're not with him. You're with me now."

"Don't ever feel jealous of Jack, sweetheart," the Doctor told him, raising a hand to stroke his fingers through his lover's hair. "He's not half the man you are. Not even close. And I never loved him in the way I love you. I could never love anyone else this much."

"I've never loved anyone the way I love you," Michael murmured, resting his head against the Time Lord's shoulder and closing his eyes. "I think that's why I'm so afraid of losing you. I'm afraid of losing that kind of love and never finding it again."

"You won't ever lose me, Mike," the Doctor whispered, his voice soft, but strong and firm. "I'm here for the rest of your life, love. Through everything that might be thrown at us, I'll always be right by your side. That's a promise I'll make to you, because I know that I can keep it."

"You'll even stand up to former colleagues who are green with envy over you being with me?" Michael asked with a soft laugh. The Doctor was relieved to hear that there was a teasing note in his voice; the crisis seemed to have passed.

"I don't think I'll have a problem standing up to that," he said, his tone mock-serious. "I can even stand up to your own shade of green over a former boyfriend of mine. Even if I take you to meet him and you two feel that you have to square off. Verbally, of course."

Mike shook his head, his arm sliding around the Doctor's waist. "I don't think you'll have to do that. I'm over my little bout of jealousy, okay? I don't need to meet Jack -- if I did, I'd just feel sorry for him, and that wouldn't be gentlemanly, now would it?"

"Sorry for him?" The Time Lord raised his brows, looking at Mike with a questioning expression. "Why would you feel like that? There's nothing to be sorry for him about. Jack has a life that he enjoys, and I'm sure he's happy with whoever he's with at the moment."

"I feel sorry for him because he doesn't have you," Michael said softly, his arm tightening around the Doctor's slender waist and pulling him closer. "And I think he's the one who would end up being green with envy if he saw you with me."

"I think you just might be right about that," the Doctor laughed, leaning his head against his boyfriend's shoulder and looking out at the shimmering water of the lake. He almost wanted to see Jack turn green with envy -- but it was a sight that he wanted to put off witnessing for a very long time.

***