OTA

[logan_echolls]

His knuckles connected with skin, and for the first time in days, Logan felt alive.

He honestly couldn't remember what the fight had started over, but it had begun in a bar and spilled out onto the street in a matter of moments. He wasn't winning, Logan was sure of that, but he honestly didn't care. Even as he crashed to the pavement and the other man's boot made contact with his gut, Logan only laughed through the pain.

His lip was bleeding, and his cheek was already bruised- Still, the fight wasn't slowing down at all, and likely wouldn't end until someone stepped in- Or one of them stopped breathing.

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[im_torchwood]

Jack shook his head, denying that, and he struggled to grasp anything else. All he could think of was the man before him in black neoprene, open to his waist. Tanned. Hair mussed and dried crisp with salt. He could see it and then just as quickly the vision passed and he was lost.

"No," he said. "I don't surf."

[logan_echolls]

Logan wilted slightly at that, then forced a smile and a shrug.

"You should. There's nothing better than sunrise and that first wave," he said, handing Jack the bottle, then sitting back down.

[im_torchwood]

"It must be hell for you living here. You can't exactly surf the Thames," Jack noted.

[logan_echolls]

"It's not great," Logan admitted. "And I don't get to the shore very often. ...I don't go anywhere that often any more."

[im_torchwood]

"Because of school?" he asked.

[logan_echolls]

Logan shook his head no, then shrugged.

"I might drop out anyway though. It's not really working out."

[im_torchwood]

"What would you do if you weren't going to school? Going to buy a rail pass and bum around Europe for a year?" he asked.

[logan_echolls]

"Honestly? I'll either wind up back in Neptune, or the Navy," Logan shrugged. "You know, if I don't end up dead first."

[im_torchwood]

"Well if tonight's fight is any indication..." Jack said, but let it trail off.

He paused, buying time with a sip of beer.

"Why the Navy?"

[logan_echolls]

"It just makes more sense to me than the army, I guess," Logan shrugged. " but, whatever, we've been talking about me all night. ...What's your deal? You got a family or whatever? Wife and kids?"

[im_torchwood]

"No. I've got a job. I just broke up with my boyfriend before I moved. It...made sense," he said. "I've got no idea how long my company wants me in London and I couldn't ask him to wait for me."

[logan_echolls]

"Oh," Logan replied, clearly a little surprised to hear the other man was gay. "Right, cool."

[im_torchwood]

Jack smiled.

"Thank you for not saying you're sorry. I hate when people do that," he said, smiling softly.

[logan_echolls]

Logan offered a soft laugh, finishing his beer and shaking his head.

"I know all about how 'sorry' is usually the last thing you want to hear, man."

[im_torchwood]

Jack nodded and took another long drink of his beer.

And then he found he...didn't know what to say. He wanted to say a dozen things, but nothing coalesced into anything that made sense.

So he looked at his bottle.

[logan_echolls]

Logan found himself struggling as well, but after a moment he wet his lips and spoke up.

"It doesn't feel like a dream," he said. "I feel like I know things about you. Things I shouldn't. ...How do you even explain that? You think google knows?" he asked, forcing a laugh.

[im_torchwood]

"What do you think you know about me, Logan?" he asked. And even as he asked he had the clearest, loudest thought that he shouldn't touch the young man's back. Where the hell would that have even come from?

[logan_echolls]

"That you're old. ...Older than you look," Logan said quietly. "Older than you could possibly be."

[im_torchwood]

That was not the sort of thing just anyone knew. Gwen had put it together, but Jack was remarkably careful about the truth of himself.

"I'm only thirty eight," he lied.

[logan_echolls]

"Not in my dreams you're not," Logan replied. "In my dreams- You're old, and you're tired... But you never age a day. It's all hazy, but- We were in this box once. This box that was bigger, somehow, on the inside... It's crazy, right? I know it's just nonsense, but... It's just they feel real sometimes."

[im_torchwood]

Jack usually had a good poker face but Logan spoke of the TARDIS and his eyes flew open wide. That's when he realized what this was. Some sort of...alternate timeline. It was bleeding through. Whatever this was- beaches and surfing and the TARDIS, it couldn't be good in any way.

Jack put his beer down.

"I need to go," he said abruptly.

[logan_echolls]

Assuming he'd managed to finally sound crazy enough to scare the other man off, Logan looked away and shrugged.

"Yeah, right, um- That's fine. ...Thanks for wrapping my hand and whatever," he said quietly.

[im_torchwood]

Jack meant to walk out, thinking he should return and take care of this whole problem with a little pill, but Logan stood right there and as Jack got close he felt a pull. A physical pull.

His gaze softened and he reached out to touch Logan's face.

"I'll see you again," he said. "Count on it."

[logan_echolls]

Logan leaned into the touch before he could stop himself- Only to snap out of it a beat later and pull away.

"Whatever, man," he said quietly. "Who knows if I'll even be here, alright?"

Though for all he'd been considering leaving- With Jack standing right there, real and tangible... It was hard to think about vanishing off back to the states.

[im_torchwood]

"We'll see what the future holds," he said softly, then started for the door.

He had a thought and turned back.

"For what it's worth, you're not crazy. I've dreamed of you, too," he admitted.

He wondered if anything in the hub or Torchwood One's archives might help him figure this out. And alternate timeline or another dimension...how would he even detect that when it was...god, it would have to be years ago. When he left the space station, probably. That was over a century ago.