FIC: Hurt me

[starfirefic]

Title: Hurt me
Author: starfirefic
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Jack/Ten
Word Count: ~1,700 words
Genre: Yet more angst, angst baby
Rating: PG13 for one teeny swear from Jack, and some general nastiness around concepts

Author's Notes:Inspired by the accompanying icon (ganked from sushi_kitten), and my apparent current need for people to cry in Jack's arms (although

Comments

[unfeathered]

I love this. I love this so much. It's painful and gorgeous and angsty and yet there's comfort by the end.

And the twist of how Jack gets round it is just brilliant.

*Goes to rec*

[starfirefic]

*squee* - I've already told you how much I appreciate the help you've given me with this piece, so I won't repeat myself... (although I'm having to fight the temptation not to)

So instead I'll point to your icon and squee more, and say that, had it not been for the fact that sushi's "hurt me" icon had visually inspired this piece, yours would be the *perfect* accompaniment for it...

Thanks again (oops!)

starfire

[unfeathered]

It's a great icon, isn't it? It just seems to encapsulate their relationship.

And yet it's from a tiny, tiny moment just before a scene-change in Utopia that you'd probably never notice if someone hadn't capped it and made an icon from it!

...and it was my pleasure. It's a great fic.

[csg1]

I really love this. It's so sad and painful and hopeful. You've really captured the atmosphere after the Year. Love it.

[starfirefic]

Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm glad it rings true for you, and yeah, it's pretty much how I imagine both of them are feeling in those moments (days?) after it all happens.

I'm not quite sure where Martha is during this (possibly she's managed to get to sleep somewhere offstage), but it was the interaction between the two of them that really jumped out in my mind, so that's what I've written.

Thanks again for commenting

[csg1]

Martha's probably being comforted by/comforting her family. It makes more sense for this interaction to be between the Doctor and Jack, since they've only got each other. Which makes this fic all the more believable. Well done :)

[becky_h]

A part of Jack envies the Time Lord those tears. And wonders, deep down, if he’ll ever have anyone to hold him the way he’s holding the Doctor now

I really like the whole story, but I REALLY like that bit. That is just so, very, very JACK.

[starfirefic]

*squees loudly and without any dignity whatsoever*

Ummmm, yes.

*reigns in squee response to less embarrassing levels*

Thank you for the feedback, and for letting me know you liked it. I'm really glad this Jack seems in character for you - because that, coming from you with the quality of your characterisation, is about the highest praise I can imagine getting.

Back when the fic idea first hit (after seeing the icon that sushi_kitten used to comment on a previous fic), it was actually going to be based around a more physical hurting between the two. Not kinkfic, exactly, but *something* physically cathartic. Right up until the moment I got inside Jack's head in the second sentence and realised that no way in hell was he going to be up to anything like the control that would need - and Jack being Jack, he knew that if he tried going in without it, there could be no other possible outcome other than regret

[becky_h]

Right up until the moment I got inside Jack's head in the second sentence and realised that no way in hell was he going to be up to anything like the control that would need - and Jack being Jack, he knew that if he tried going in without it, there could be no other possible outcome other than regret.

Yep, EXACTLY and that makes total sense for Jack and just WORKS. and you're so totally welcome.

[adaliazandra]

This is heartbreaking and perfect. Thank you for writing and sharing!

[starfirefic]

You're absolutely welcome - thank you so much for the feedback and for letting me know it worked for you.

I honestly wasn't sure if the idea that of the words "I forgive you" being the thing that hurts the doctor and creates the catharsis (OK, apparently, my word of the day is 'catharsis') he needs would work anywhere outside of my brain, but I get the impression from people's responses that yeah, it actually does. I can't tell you how relieved I am to discover this!

Thanks again for commenting

starfire

[adaliazandra]

It definitely worked, and I think it was inspired. I read your explanation above about how you had originally intended something else until getting inside Jack's head showed you how it really needed to be. The reason I love this fic so much is that I could tell you were really in Jack's head without having read that comment. It feels like Jack, it sounds like Jack.

It's powerfully written and, as I said, I think it's perfect. :-)

[starfirefic]

Thank you! I think I've mentioned elsewhere in these comments that getting the feel and the sound of a character right is a big deal for me, so it's really wonderful to hear that I managed it :-)

[janetlin]

Eee, Jack/Ten! I wondered how long it would take you to write a fic based on that icon, heh.

Also, teeny little typo: "He used to be better a far better liar than this." Feels like it needs some punctuation in the middle or something.

[starfirefic]

Oh, wonderfully spotted, thank you! It should have read 'he used to be a far better liar than this'... I have no idea when that second better crept in there!

Fixed now... and yeah, the icon totaly begged to have something written around it! Especially if you're a starfire, and prone to such ways of thinking anyway...

At some point, I'm going to have to write something around your icon above... because there's no way in hell *that* could be made angsty without dissolving into total crackfic. And no, starfire_brain... that's not a challenge...

[janetlin]

"I have no idea when that second better crept in there!"

'Cause Jack is just better than better!