Title: Nostalgia
By: Shotsy
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Summary: One kiss and suddenly he's there. One taste and it all comes back.

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He tastes like blood and sweat and that bittersweet taste that's left after a temporal displacement. He tastes like laughter and lies and lust and sex. He tastes like the past. A past filled with ever changing stars above his head and ground beneath his feet. A past of exotic places and people and things and experiences that still make his head spin to think about. A past shrouded in smoke and vodka and the smell of his latest fuck. He closes his eyes and for a second, just a second, he's there. On a moon where the dogs own humans, a spaceport where clothes are less than optional, an army base full of people who know they will die but decide not to care. Different times, different planets, different lives. Everything changes because it has to. Staying behind is never an option. Time never ends and the past is just as easily reached as the future. No commitment, no loss, no responsibility. All he is, all he will ever be, is a smiling face and that strap on his wrist. And that's all he ever wants, all he ever needs. One last kiss, one last desperate try to get him back and suddenly he is. He can feel it, taste it, smell it, almost reach out and grab it. The life he once had. The past he spent so long avoiding. All it takes is one kiss, one taste of the man that exemplified everything he was, everything he wanted.

And then it's gone. The loss of contact jerks him back to reality, to the present. He opens his eyes and sees the pavement of the car park beneath his feet, glances up and sees the same predictable stars above his head, inhales and almost chokes on the same familiar smell of Cardiff. He looks around at his team and then it's gone.

***