Title: Missed Opportunity
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: Connect 3, Graph 2, in 5_prompts
Prompt: 2, Back off
Author's Note: Continuation of Smile Empty Soul.
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 Jack Harkness. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor frowned at Jack's back, wishing that he could catch his lover's eye. This was ridiculous, he told himself, his hands clenching in the pockets of his coat. He shouldn't be sitting here making himself utterly miserable, letting himself be pushed into the background.

What was he doing? What was he thinking? He was a Time Lord. He was the Oncoming Storm, the entity that the monsters of legend were afraid of. His wrath was terrible, his anger feared throughout the universe. It was time to tell that bastard to back off.

It wasn't fair of Jack to treat him like this, he fumed, turning on the barstool to level a glare at the other man's back. If looks could have killed, Jack would have been much more than six feet under. He would have been buried at the very core of the world.

The Doctor signaled the bartender to make him another drink, taking the glass when it was set down in front of him and downing the liquor in three quick gulps. It wouldn't do much good as far as getting him drunk, but at least he would feel the warmth of it coursing through his veins.

The warmth of the liquor was nowhere near the heat of the anger he felt as he saw Jack bend his head to brush a lingering kiss across that young man's cheek. And the other man was looking up at him, his smile almost a smirk -- a knowing, intimate look.

No one was going to look at Jack like that. Not while the Oncoming Storm was around and was more than capable of taking out his wrath on his unsuspecting target. Oh, that young man would be sorry that Jack Harkness had ever looked at him ....

With the stealth of a cat, the Doctor slid off the barstool and slowly approached the corner where Jack and the young man were standing, his scowl growing more formidable with each step. By the time he reached them, his anger was unmistakable.

With a sound that was almost like a growl, the Doctor pushed between his lover and the young man he'd been talking to, turning to glare at Jack with an expression that made the immortal's eyes widen in surprise, though he didn't say anything.

After leveling that killing stare at his lover, the Time Lord turned to the man who Jack had been talking to. He had the grace to look uncomfortable, but he wasn't slinking off into the shadows, as the Doctor had half-expected him to do.

"Steady on, there," the man protested, shaking his head. "I was just talking to this fellow -- you've no call to come barging in on us. Find your own man for the night. He's already spoken for." His chin jutted out as he spoke, his brow creasing in a frown.

"You've got it wrong," the Doctor hissed, his voice low and menacing. "The man you're talking to just happens to be my lover. He was spoken for long before you saw him. Back off. He's taken, and not by you."

"You should keep a leash on him, then," the man muttered, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. "I had no idea that he had dragged a jealous boyfriend with him, judging from the way he was acting. He bears watching. Glad you're the one who'll have to do it."

So saying, he put the bottle he'd been drinking from on the table and walked away, heading for the door without so much as a second look at Jack. The Doctor's gaze narrowed, wondering if he would have to watch his back when he and Jack left the bar.

No, the man didn't seem like a threat. He had just thought that he was going to have a night of physical fulfillment, and though he might be disappointed that it wouldn't happen, he didn't seem angry enough about to try and harm the Doctor because of a missed opportunity.

The Time Lord turned to glare at Jack again, annoyed to see that his boyfriend had ordered a fresh drink and was lounging against the bar as though nothing was wrong. He didn't seem to care that his lover was obviously ragingly angry with him.

"That was pretty sexy, Doc," the immortal drawled, raising one eyebrow and holding up his drink in a toast. "If that's how you're going to react every time I flirt with somebody, I think I should try it more often. Seriously, seeing you like that gets me all hot and bothered."

"Oh, I'm hot, all right -- but in a different way than you seem to be thinking," the Doctor muttered, taking Jack's drink from him and slamming it down on the bar. "Come on. We're going back to the Tardis. I've had enough of your drinking and whoring."

"Whoring?" Jack raised a quizzical eyebrow again, looking surprised. "You didn't really think I'd take him to bed, did you?" He bent his head to whisper into the Doctor's ear. "I have the sexiest boyfriend in the universe. No way would I waste my time with anybody else."

For a moment -- just a moment -- the Doctor's will to stay angry at Jack for his actions wavered. He had a sudden mad urge to fling his arms around his lover's neck and lead him out of the bar, back to the Tardis, and let Jack have his way with him for the rest of the night.

But he caught himself in time, merely taking the immortal's wrist in an iron grip and marching him to the door. He'd show Jack just how he felt when they got back to the ship -- and he intended to let his lover see what the full force of his anger could be like.

***

Next story in series - Trust Takes Time.