Shifting Sands challenge offering 1/3 - Straight and Narrow
I've three offerings (two old, one new) and - assuming I get the hang of scheduling - they should appear over the next few days. This is one of the oldies.
Title: Straight and Narrow
Author: mylodon
Word Count: 617
Pairing: Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy
Notes: Hornblower/Torchwood/Dr Who/Shifting Sands crossover
"Jack bloody Harkness." Horatio beat his fists on the stonework of
the bridge. "Bloody Jack bloody Harkness. And sodding William sodding Doctor sodding Bush."
"He's still technically your commanding officer."
"I beg to differ, but technically he can't be. You seem to be aged about..." Horatio turned Archie's face, as if to get a better view, "nineteen, and so do I if the mirror isn't lying, so we're still midshipmen. Which means Mr ‘Send-you-back-through-time-and whoops-may-have-made-a-mistake-with-your-appearance-en-route’ doesn't even know us yet."
"I'm not sure it was a mistake. I suspect he had to change our looks or else we'd have stuck out like a dirty jacket among the Indy's topsails. I mean, we're a bit long in the tooth for students, aren't we? Or," Archie added, mindful of how beautifully young Horatio looked, "weren't we? Before you acquired those spectacles."
Horatio shuddered. "That was a great shock, looking in the glass. And these clothes," he picked at the baggy jumper and the equally shapeless trousers with distaste, "how anyone can feel a gentleman in these?"
"This sheepskin coat's no better, look at it." Archie twirled around.
"I've not stopped looking at you since we arrived. It's strange enough to see you so young again, so...untouched by sorrow." Horatio's words dripped with tenderness, moved beyond measure by the glowing radiance of Archie's face, his innocent beauty.
Archie, afraid of mawkishness in broad daylight, even in this enlightened place and time, turned the subject. "Those spectacles make you look ravishing. If you'd had them back on the Indy I'd never have concentrated on anything, Horatio. No, I must remember to address you correctly. Danny."
Horatio blushed and bridled, as he always did when secretly delighted but a bit self conscious. "Danny. What sort of a name is that?"
"Better than I've got. Bean. Bean? I know they go by all sorts of daft names these days - Kylies and Waynes and who knows what - but I think that's the worst. Even if it is a nickname. We should call William `Turnip' and see how he likes it."
"So where," Horatio held up a street map, "is this Peterhouse college, of which the bursar is said to be," he consulted a piece of paper, "an alien from the planet Griffidickonus, bent on world domination?" He grimaced. "As if they're ever bent on anything else."
"Very true, that. You really would have thought there must be creatures on other planets who are kind and pleasant and fond of a game of cricket, or whatever the equivalent is wherever they come from. But alas, all they want to do is take over the world. I wonder if Napoleon came from Mars or some other planet far across the Milky Way?"
Horatio rolled his eyes, theatrically as usual. "It wouldn't surprise me at all. Still, this should be easier than fighting one of old Bones Apart's ships of the line. Slip a powder in this chap's tea, tie him up and wait for William and the TARDIS."
"Easy enough, but not until this evening - he's at a meeting until then. I wonder what an alien with world domination on his mind thinks of University finance?"
"He probably wants to use it to take over the world."
"And what are we to do till then? I have these names," Archie consulted his own piece of paper, "Fitzbillies and Chelsea buns recommended to me, as well as wandering up the river to see the rowing. Perhaps a piano recital or a trip to the market. Anything to keep out of mischief until P hour."
"Keep out of mischief? You? Even an alien set on world domination couldn't keep you on the straight and narrow."
Title: Straight and Narrow
Author: mylodon
Word Count: 617
Pairing: Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy
Notes: Hornblower/Torchwood/Dr Who/Shifting Sands crossover
"Jack bloody Harkness." Horatio beat his fists on the stonework of
the bridge. "Bloody Jack bloody Harkness. And sodding William sodding Doctor sodding Bush."
"He's still technically your commanding officer."
"I beg to differ, but technically he can't be. You seem to be aged about..." Horatio turned Archie's face, as if to get a better view, "nineteen, and so do I if the mirror isn't lying, so we're still midshipmen. Which means Mr ‘Send-you-back-through-time-and whoops-may-have-made-a-mistake-with-your-appearance-en-route’ doesn't even know us yet."
"I'm not sure it was a mistake. I suspect he had to change our looks or else we'd have stuck out like a dirty jacket among the Indy's topsails. I mean, we're a bit long in the tooth for students, aren't we? Or," Archie added, mindful of how beautifully young Horatio looked, "weren't we? Before you acquired those spectacles."
Horatio shuddered. "That was a great shock, looking in the glass. And these clothes," he picked at the baggy jumper and the equally shapeless trousers with distaste, "how anyone can feel a gentleman in these?"
"This sheepskin coat's no better, look at it." Archie twirled around.
"I've not stopped looking at you since we arrived. It's strange enough to see you so young again, so...untouched by sorrow." Horatio's words dripped with tenderness, moved beyond measure by the glowing radiance of Archie's face, his innocent beauty.
Archie, afraid of mawkishness in broad daylight, even in this enlightened place and time, turned the subject. "Those spectacles make you look ravishing. If you'd had them back on the Indy I'd never have concentrated on anything, Horatio. No, I must remember to address you correctly. Danny."
Horatio blushed and bridled, as he always did when secretly delighted but a bit self conscious. "Danny. What sort of a name is that?"
"Better than I've got. Bean. Bean? I know they go by all sorts of daft names these days - Kylies and Waynes and who knows what - but I think that's the worst. Even if it is a nickname. We should call William `Turnip' and see how he likes it."
"So where," Horatio held up a street map, "is this Peterhouse college, of which the bursar is said to be," he consulted a piece of paper, "an alien from the planet Griffidickonus, bent on world domination?" He grimaced. "As if they're ever bent on anything else."
"Very true, that. You really would have thought there must be creatures on other planets who are kind and pleasant and fond of a game of cricket, or whatever the equivalent is wherever they come from. But alas, all they want to do is take over the world. I wonder if Napoleon came from Mars or some other planet far across the Milky Way?"
Horatio rolled his eyes, theatrically as usual. "It wouldn't surprise me at all. Still, this should be easier than fighting one of old Bones Apart's ships of the line. Slip a powder in this chap's tea, tie him up and wait for William and the TARDIS."
"Easy enough, but not until this evening - he's at a meeting until then. I wonder what an alien with world domination on his mind thinks of University finance?"
"He probably wants to use it to take over the world."
"And what are we to do till then? I have these names," Archie consulted his own piece of paper, "Fitzbillies and Chelsea buns recommended to me, as well as wandering up the river to see the rowing. Perhaps a piano recital or a trip to the market. Anything to keep out of mischief until P hour."
"Keep out of mischief? You? Even an alien set on world domination couldn't keep you on the straight and narrow."