"Oh, hello!"
Haha, I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided on this, but here is my response to the Crack-Off! Challenge.
Title: It’s a Dangerous…Coffee Break?
Pairing: Ben/Riley, uhh, duh.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Er, some language, some characters placed in the wrong fandom…and century. General CRACK.
Summary: Riley is concerned about Ben’s new friend…Jekyll and Hyde/NT crossover
When Riley arrived home later than usual one night, he was rather surprised to find that Ben was not the only one in the house. The historian was sitting at the kitchen table across from a man Riley had never seen before, having a cup of coffee. The other man was young and attractive and what was he doing in their kitchen?
“Who’s that?” Riley said abruptly, interrupting their conversation. Both looked up in confusion; neither of them had even heard him come in.
“Hey, Ri.” Ben said cheerfully, standing up to get another cup of coffee.
“Who’s that?” the techie repeated insistently. Ben heard the strange tone to his voice and glanced up from the coffeepot. He noticed the jealous expression on the younger man’s face and grinned.
“This is Henry Jekyll, a colleague of mine.” Ben explained, handing Riley a mug and steering him to the table. “He works in the science department at the university.”
“Oh.” Riley plopped down in the chair next to the treasure hunter, looking a little more satisfied. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jekyll.” He extended a hand across the table.
“The pleasure is all mine.” the man said amicably. “Riley Poole, is it? Ben talks about you all the time.”
Riley grinned, the remainder of his jealousy fading away. Ben elbowed him.
“Don’t get a big head.” he teased. “And, it’s actually Doctor Jekyll.” Ben added and Riley glanced at him, expecting it to be a joke. The historian made no indication that it was. Before the younger man could pursue that line of thinking, an odd shudder went through the doctor, distracting him and he looked up.
Jekyll was wearing a peculiar expression, his face contorting in pain. He clenched and unclenched his hands, trembling violently.
Ben had, it seemed, not noticed a thing, and was currently rambling on about some random historical event.
“Before you got here, Ri, we were talking about the colony at Roanoke, the one that vanished…”
Riley glanced between his lover and the shaking doctor, unsure what to do. Next to him, Ben plowed onward, completely unaware of anything odd.
“It was a very strange thing, because, while every single man, woman and child that was part of that colony, had vanished without a trace--their animals too…”
The techie glanced back at the doctor. Jekyll caught his eye and gave a low snarl, his eyes glowing red. It was then that Riley finally came to the conclusion that staying here would be a bad idea. He jumped up, grabbing Ben’s arm.
“All that was left was--Riley, what are you doing?”
“I--I need to talk to you privately for a moment.” Riley made up an excuse, still trying to get Ben to stand up.
“What about?” the historian asked, bewildered. Behind him, Jekyll seemed to becoming more violent.
“Uh…food!” Riley exclaimed, the first thing that came to his mind. Ben raised an eyebrow.
“You need to talk to me privately…about…food.”
Finally, the computer geek lost his patience. “Shit, Ben! I’m pretty sure your friend over there is about to turn into a murderous monster and I don’t want to be in here when he does!”
Ben glanced over his shoulder at Jekyll, who gave a snarl and leapt over the table at them. The treasure hunter dove out of the way, dragging Riley with him. They had barely made it to the laundry room door when Hyde lunged again.
“Oh hell!” Riley slammed the door in his face, turning the lock with a single movement. Ben sank to the floor as Hyde howled and scratched at the door. He thought that his heart might have just stopped completely.
“Why would you not listen to me?!” Riley snapped.
“What just happened?”
“He turned into a homicidal madman, just like I told you!”
“How did you know?”
Riley looked at him disbelievingly. “Jesus, Ben, did you never read The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a teenager?” Ben shook his head. “Did you read anything other than history books?” Another shake of the head. Riley rolled his eyes and dropped down onto the floor to join him. “Well, because of your lack of knowledge of classical literature, we are now doomed to sit on the floor of the laundry room until he either gets tired or turns back to Jekyll.”
“Fantastic.” Ben quipped. “’What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
Riley smirked, raising an eyebrow suggestively. “Oh, I have a few ideas…”
Yeah, so, there you have it. Um. Happy Crack!