Title: Piece of My Heart
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Giacomo Casanova
Fandom: Doctor Who/Casanova (Masterpiece Theater)
Rating: R
Table: 100moods
Prompt: 94, Thankful
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.

***

The Doctor opened his eyes, squinting a bit and raising a hand to rub the sleep from them. It was unusual for him to wake up in a bed that wasn't his own in the Tardis; it took him a few moments to remember where he was.

As he looked around him, a smile came to his face; it was more than obvious where he was, and the night before came flooding back to him. He was in Giac's current residence, and he'd spent the night with the great lover.

This visit hadn't been planned, not really. He hadn't been in any kind of low mood where he'd felt that he needed Giac's quiet presence by his side to restore his equilibrium and his belief that life could be good; he'd just wanted to see the other man.

Giac had laughingly told him that they had to stop meeting like this -- though immediately after, he'd enveloped the Doctor in a hug that he'd wanted to sink into.

If only he could take this man with him out into the stars, make Giac his companion .... but no, that was impossible. Giac had a life ahead of him that didn't include the Doctor; he was a figure from history, one that he couldn't interfere with.

But that didn't stop him from coming back to see his lover as much as he could. Though he usually made sure to come back within no more than a few weeks of the last time he'd seen Giac, this time, it was nearly six months later.

The time didn't seem to show; Giac was still as youthful and handsome and full of life as he'd been the first time that the Doctor had seen him in the flesh, in that ballroom that he'd made his way to the first time he'd decided to come to this time.

And Giac was still just as fascinating as that first time they'd met, too -- and still just as wonderful a lover, if not more so.

He lay back against the pillows, glancing over at the man still sleeping soundly beside him. Giac didn't have the unfortunate tendency to snore as some men in his life had done; that made him all the more desirable a bed partner.

The Doctor closed his eyes, letting his thoughts drift. If only he could stay here, or if Giac could come with him for a little while. It was too heartbreaking to meet like this, to snatch a few stolen hours, or even days, and then have to go away again.

There was no guarantee that he would ever come back. Yet something drew him here, to this man who had become such an important part of his life -- and of his hearts. As long as he knew that Giac was here, he'd never be able to stay away for good.

He was just lucky that no one had yet managed to supersede him in Giac's heart -- though he had the sinking feeling that someday, it would happen.

If he admitted the truth to himself, he was even a bit jealous of all the people who shared Giac's bed when he wasn't around. There was no need to be jealous, not really; Giac didn't love any of them in the same way that he loved the Doctor.

But yet, he shared his body with them --and that was, in a way, sharing his heart. Because Giac wasn't the kind of person who loved and forgot -- no, he had a genuine fondness, maybe even a love, for everyone he was intimate with.

Still, he came first in the young Italian's heart. He knew that. Giac had always assured him that it was was true; and though he knew that this man probably uttered those same words to others, it was different with the two of them.

He was thankful that he had Giac in his life; and even if this was the last time they were together -- which he sincerely hoped it wouldn't be -- he'd at least had that love for a little while.

A small smile curved his lips as he reached over to smooth a recalcitrant lock of hair that had fallen over Giac's brow. No, not just for a little while -- their feelings for each other were the sort that lasted forever. He would always be a part of this man's soul.

Just as Giac would always be a part of his. How many people could say that they had captured the heart of someone like Giacomo Casanova? Not many, he was certain of that. He might have been intimate with a lot of people, but only a precious few held his emotions.

He was lucky to be one of those few. Oh, he didn't fool himself into thinking that he was the only one. For someone like Giacomo to be faithful for the rest of his life, that would be a complete impossibility. He didn't expect that.

He didn't even expect Giacomo not to eventually give his heart to someone else. That was inevitable, as they couldn't spend their lives together.

What kind of a person would he be if he begrudged the love of his life a chance to be with someone he loved? They couldn't be together all the time, and he wasn't going to condemn the man he loved to a lonely, celibate life.

Just because he himself had to lead that kind of life, he wouldn't make Giac do it. That wouldn't be fair -- espeically when he knew that Giac would meet other people and love them. It was his destiny -- a destiny that loving him had no right to interfere in.

And their love was special, he told himself, with another small smile. He'd always have a piece of this man's heart that no one else would ever touch. He could be thankful for that, if for nothing else. He'd always have a place, even if he couldn't claim it.

And Giac would always have a piece of his heart. The other man had assured him that they would each have that part of each other; he'd made the Doctor believe those words completely.

Coming from anyone else, those words would sound flat and dull -- they'd only be words, only a line that someone was using to assure him of feelings that were false. But this wasn't just anyone who said these words to him.

Those words came from Giacomo Casanova, the world's greatest lover. The man who was renowned through time not only for his prowess at the art of love, but for the fact that he gave his heart and not just his body. He was not only a lover, but a man who epitomized love.

How lucky was he to have taken first place in the affections of a man like that? The Doctor smiled again, closing his eyes and swallowing hard. If only he could actually be with that man, spend the rest of his life here, loving him, holding him, making a life together ....

No. That was an impossible dream. Giac had a life, a place in the history books, that he could never be a part of. He had to let his love be free to live that life.

And he'd always be thankful for the time they had together -- and still would. He would keep coming back to see Giac, for as long as he could. They might only have stolen moments of each other's lives, but at least they had something.

Sighing, he rolled over onto his side, cupping Giac's cheek in his hand and leaning forward to kiss his love. Somehow, he knew that Giac would feel the love directed at him through that kiss, even in his sleep -- and that he would certainly enjoy waking up to it.

***