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Anyone who'd been in love with the Doctor could tell you confidently that nothing would come of it.
Well, not nothing.
"Do you, Doctor Smith, take Captain Harkness to be your unlawfully wedded spouse?"
Not nothing, because no matter what, they would always be there for the people who loved them. That was their promise.
With time, hundreds of years, to practice, Jack had learned to recognize his spouse. Sometimes he was uncertain, or they didn't know him, but that was just how it was, being married to a Time Lord.
"Their husband," Jack would introduce himself, when someone asked who he was. Usually, they weren't surprised.
The Doctor, though, frequently was.
Jack married River Song, and they talked a little about them. She seemed to think the Doctor would love her the way she loved him with a little encouragement.
Jack didn't tell her she was wrong.
The Doctor was always stuck in place. They might travel everywhere and everywhen, but they were always trapped in relationships.
Jack almost wished he hadn't kissed them.
He was almost glad he did.
—
Jack asked them, once, if it was better that he didn’t mention the marriage. If they’d rather not be married to him. The Doctor was an old, old woman that meeting, but her voice was strong when she told him she’d rather be married to him than anyone else.
That didn’t answer his question, Jack told her. She just smiled.
—
The Doctor’s current companions in their timeline, which was just after Jack’s second Doctor, were flirty and almost as friendly as him. The first time he saw them was in Cardiff, of course, going out to a bar while they waited on the Doctor. Jack sat next to them and leaned in close to the redhead, who giggled and pulled him closer.
“Doc charging the TARDIS?” he murmured into her ear. She jumped back and shot her partner a horrified look.
“You aren’t supposed to know that,” she told him, her voice wavering only a moment.
“Needs some work. You don’t sound confident.” He winked and added, “I could help with that.”
The bar door slammed open. “Stop that!”
“My favorite spouse!” Jack called out. He’d know that tone anywhere.
“We’re married?” the Doctor asked. His companions echoed the sentiment.
“Eventually,” Jack complied. “Few more centuries.”
The Doctor just sighed. “Amy, Rory, this is Jack.”
“Captain Harkness,” Jack corrected. “Lovely to meet you both.” He made sure to use his best smile, the one the Doctor hated.
“Stop it!” he exclaimed again, predictably.
“Love the bowtie.”
“Really? I think it’s cool.”
“I think it’s sexy.”
“Not—Jack!”
“I used to travel with him,” Jack told Amy and Rory. “Don’t let him think he’s cool. The Doctor is never cool.”
“You thought I was cool when you married me!” the Doctor protested.
“You haven’t even done it yet!”
It took two years for Jack to remember that he’s seen Rory before, on the battlefield, in war after war.
—
The Doctor was always so, so tired. Sometimes, all they could do was fall into Jack's arms and let him hold them tight.
—
The Doctor wore an ugly pink monstrosity of a dress to their wedding. Jack remembers it well, seared into his brain like the feathers that shed on his suit.
People like to say the day of their marriage was the happiest day of their life. Jack thinks his was late at night with Ianto, back before everything went wrong. The Doctor—Jack doesn't want to wonder what their happiest day was like. He doesn't want to see the look in their eyes when they remember it's gone.
The Doctor and Jack's wedding was not their happiest day, but it was a bit memorable. There are many guns and a few tentacles end up in Jack's trousers. Not in that way, though he would have enjoyed it. There's blood and guts and the stench of vomit. It would be a normal day if it weren't for the marriage.
—
Rose was in love with the Doctor (everyone was, everyone is) and Jack thought he was, too. He knew it was devotion, knew it stretched across time, and if it weren’t for Ianto, he'd have thought that's what romantic love was.
It was almost the same, but there was something about the Doctor, some way they were tied that made it different from romance. Jack knew they could feel it, tugging at the air around them, warping their timelines and memories until it was just about the two of them. Over and over, renewed every time.
—
The Doctor met Jack before he ever met them. He's seen so many faces, known so many lives, but it's only after they meet that they know him every time. He used to worry over that, encourage the Doctor to try to forget him, but it seemed the universe would do it for them. Jack learned not to think about it. He knew not to look too closely, to trust that the Doctor would always get it right. They did, every time.
Every kiss, because there were a few, in moments that hurt too much or felt too good, was familiar to Jack. The Doctor always kissed with the same feeling, deep or fast or dying, something wired into the two of them. He could know them by lips alone.
—
There's something in the way that so many companions fall head over heels, stupidly in love. The Doctor is wonderful and terrible and they never know until they're breaking a heart.
—
At the end of the world, there was one human alive, whole and well. He watched stars die, planets burn, and, one last time, he saw the Doctor's face.