Title: Kisses of Fire
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Giacomo Casanova
Fandom: Doctor Who/Casanova (Masterpiece Theater)
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 30_forbidden
Prompt: 26, Taste
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 sighed softly as he felt the familiar displacement of time and space when the Tardis shimmered into the timestream, leaning against the console and closing his eyes. He always hated leaving Venice, leaving his beloved Giac behind.

Usually, he could time his trips to Giac's world to within a few weeks of each other, sometimes even a few days. But this time, he'd been away for over six months, and Giac had clung to him when he'd left in a way that he hadn't foreseen.

Of course, it was usually him clinging to his lover, and not the other way around. Still, it felt strange for Giac to be like that; the other man was always so confident that he would be back, that they would meet again, and that their love would go on forever.

He was right in that, the Doctor told himself, a small smile curving his lips as he remembered Giac's words. He could even hear the tone of voice that those words had been spoken in, still hear the soft, fluid syllables rolling from his lover's tongue.

And he could still taste Giac's last kiss on his lips. Slowly, he raised his fingers to his mouth, touching his lips almost as though he was afraid that the fiery kiss would somehow fade away, that he wouldn't be able to remember it.

Nonsense, he told himself sharply. He would always remember each and every kiss from Giac, and most especially their parting kisses. They always lingered on his lips long after he was gone from that time period, their sweetness fresh in his mind.

Those kisses would live in his memory forever, long after he had regenerated into another body and continued on with his life span. The taste of them would always be on his lips, no matter who else there might be in his life who kissed him.

No one, no matter what their place in his future life, could ever be what Giac was to him. The kind of love that they shared happened once in a lifetime -- or, in his case, only once in several lifetimes. He was a lucky man to have been able to find that love.

How many kisses had the two of them shared over the time that they'd known each other? The Doctor didn't know the exact number; there had been far too many for him to be able to count them. But he would always treasure each and every one.

Not only their kisses, but their glances, their smiles, their caresses. Even when he wasn't looking directly at Giac, he knew that the other man's thoughts were with him; he knew that he was loved and cherished, in a way that he had never been loved before.

It would be so hard to give that up once he regenerated, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to go to Giac in another body. Their love was unique to who he was now; he wouldn't be able to recreate as a different man with a different personality.

He'd explained that to Giac, and his lover had told him gently but firmly that even when that happened, they would still have each other. He'd laid his hand on the Doctor's chest, and told him that their love would always live within their hearts for all of eternity.

When Giac had said those words, the Doctor hadn't been able to hold back his tears. He believed them, of course; there was no denying that Giac meant those words with all of his heart and soul, and the Doctor 's hearts took comfort in what he'd said.

But the fact remained that they couldn't be together forever, or even be together on a permanent basis. Giac had a place in history, a place that the Doctor couldn't interfere with; their love would have to be a secret, something that they alone could share.

Sometimes it drove him mad, the fact that he couldn't talk about how the famous Giacomo Casnaova was the love of his life. Yes, he could tell people -- but that didn't mean that he would be believed. No one seemed to think that it could possibly be true.

His words about Giac inthe past had all too often brought about incredulous looks, accompanied by much eye-rolling and an attitude that what the other person was hearing was nothing more than a fairy tale, a fantasy woven from the Doctor's vivid imagination.

He'd given up trying to tell anyone about Giac, and about their feelings for each other; somehow, it didn't seem right to bring those feelings out into the light of day, to let them be seen and scrutinized. The love he shared with Giac was theirs alone; it wasn't for public consumption.

Besides, Giac had so much of his life made public, both in his own lifetime and in the history books, the Time Lord thought, smiling slightly. It was good that he had one pure love, someone in his life that wasn't somehow tainted by any prying eyes.

Well, maybe not tainted, he amended. The idea of having people know about his relationship with Giac wasn't horrid, but it was something he'd rather avoid. He didn't mind those close to him to knowing, but the whole world? Of course not.

Giac had his place in the history books; he was known as a great lover of women, and even of men. But history would never know of the one man he had truly loved, the person who had owned his heart -- just as Giac would now and forever own that man's dual set of hearts.

The Doctor's hand strayed back to his lips, thinking of the last kiss he and Giac had shared before his lover had turned and walked into the mists of the late-night Venice streets, looking just as jaunty and deil-may-care as he had the first time they'd met.

He had fallen in love with Giacomo Casanova from that first glance, when their eyes had met across a crowded ballroom. He hadn't known who the beautiful man watching him was then, but when he'd found out, he hadn't been surprised, really.

After all, he should have realized that the famous Casanova would be a man who took his breath away. But he hadn't been prepared for the rush of desire, that dizzying feeling that had taken him over and made him feel that all he wanted to do was melt into the other man's arms.

The ferocity of their passion had taken him by surprise, but it certainly hadn't been unwelcome. And he'd let himself sink into the knowledge of Giac's love like a warm feather bed, a safe place where the two of them could share their love throughout eternity.

He would still be able to taste those kisses years from now, he told himself, letting his memory range back over the last few days. He and Giac had spent most of their time in bed, sating themselves with each other in a way that most people would probably call decadent.

They didn't care what anyone else might have thought of them. All they had wanted to do was be with each other, knowing that their time together would be all too brief. They always savored every moment of their time together, in a way that most wouldn't understand.

Others had the luxury of more time than they did. Every moment that they had was stolen; they had to enjoy what they had when they could, to stockpile those feelings until they could see each other again. It wasn't a perfect life, but it was what they'd been given.

He would always be able to taste those kisses of fire on his lips, the Doctor told himself, swallowing hard as tears welled up behind his closed eyes, and in his throat. He would never forget Giac's touch, his scent, his taste, the pleasure of being with him.

And he would never forget the emotions that the two of them shared. No matter how many other lovers he might have, in this life or in any other, Giac would always be the man who owned his hearts. There would never be anyone else who could capture them so completely.

The taste of Giac's kisses would always linger on his lips, until the next time he could see the man he loved. The Doctor smiled at the thought, touching his fingers to his lips one final time as he looked down at the console, setting the coordinates for a time and place far into the future.

***