treasure_geeks | Two Oneshots!! (Reply)

A million frillion (read=almost 3) years ago,

koshi700offered up a fic-writing challenge. Here's my response.

Challenge Number One: Ben/Riley involving Patrick Gates' comment "What do you have? Him?"

Title: What Do You Have?
Rating: PG
Paring: Ben/Riley
Warnings: Very light slash and mild AU occurances.
Disclaimer: I know, I know, I don't own them. Please don't make me say it again.

Patrick Henry Gates was ranting again. He had ranted last time Ben had visited him (Riley knew--he'd been there) and he would probably rant the next time his son showed up. Riley had figured out very quickly that the best way to deal with this was to ignore it. So he plopped down on the couch and opened up the pizza box on the table with interest.

On this particular visit, Mr. Gates was ranting about Ben's treasure hunting. That he was obsessed. Okay, maybe Riley had to agree with that part. But there was something about Ben's obsessiveness that was incredibly facinating to the younger man, so he had no problem with that.

Patrick's next gripe was that this treasure hunt was a wild goose chase. The computer whiz really hoped Mr. Gates was wrong there. Because, dude, he had no job or anything to go back to.

"At least I had your mother, for however brief a time." the older Gates was saying now. "At least I had you."

"Yeah, Dad, but--"

"What do you have? Him?" his father pressed, glancing pointedly at Riley.

Riley looked up from his cold pizza, completely at loss for something to say. The accusation in Patrick Gates' voice caused a dull flush to spead across Riley's face. The young man had never spoken to anyone about his feelings for Ben--not even the treasure hunter himself knew--so how could it be so blatantly obvious to his father?

There was a long, awkward silence. Riley stared at his battered Converse sneakers, avoiding Ben's glance just as carefully as he avoided Patrick's. So he didn't notice when Ben strode purposely over to pull him to his feet. Until the older man actually did pull him to his feet.

"Yeah, Dad, I do have him." Ben answered clearly. "And that's all that matters." With that, he leaned close and kissed the surprised techie firmly on the lips. Riley found himself kissing back eagerly, until, finally, they had to break apart for air. There was another brief stretch of silence and then Ben grinned at Riley.

"Okay." he said, a little breathlessly, "Let's go see about that map."

Challenge Number Two: Ben/Riley involving Ben "getting the girl" in the end.

Title: Spoils
Rating: PG-13 (but I'm probably paranoid.)
Paring: Ben/Riley
Warnings: Mild slash, could either be AU to Book of Secrets or not. You decide.
Disclaimer: Don't own.

"What do you care?" even after several near-death experiences and finding the treasure of a lifetime, Riley Poole's snark was still alive and well. "You got the girl." He thought he did a fairly good job of hiding his bitterness, though he perhaps glared at Abigail longer than necessary.

"That's true." Ben laughed, leaning in to kiss pretty, blonde, not-really-American Abigail Chaise. Riley wanted to scream, or cry, he wasn't sure which.

"Yeah, yeah, enjoy your spoils." he muttered, turning away to head to his car. Oops, the bitterness that time was definately obvious. The computer geek thought, for a split-second, that he saw a flicker of concern in Ben's eyes, but then it was gone.

Riley hurried to get away after that, not wanting to deal with the sickeningly happy couple for any longer. He hopped into his shiny new Ferrari and drove away at top speed. But even driving down the highway in the perfect sunshine couldn't drive away his dreary mood.

Riley Poole was a smart man. A genius, even. So it hadn't taken him long to realize it when he started falling for Benjamin Franklin Gates. But his intellegence failed him when it came to application. Did he tell Ben and face the danger of rejection? Or did he keep it to himself and wait for it to go away?

But now it was too late. Ben, his Ben, was engaged to a hot, dizty blonde (okay, she wasn't ditzy, but she was still blonde.) with a fancy accent! There was no way Riley, the scrawny little computer nerd, with a bad haircut and unnaturally pale features could ever compare. Not even taking into account the fact that he was male. Ben was not gay. But, hell, Riley would have never considered himself gay until now!

At any rate, he had been too late. And, of course, it had only been after his best-friend-turned-crush had gotten engaged that Riley had figured out that being quiet and waiting was not going to make this go away. It had blossomed into something far more than a crush.

Riley was pretty sure he was in love with Ben.

With an annoyed sigh, Riley pulled his car into his parking spot in front of the fancy apartment complex that he lived in. He grabbed his laptop and headed up the stairs, fumbling with his keys and cursing Abigail-freaking-Chaise all the way.

He unlocked the door and pushed his way into the apartment. It was in just as much disarray as it had been when he had left. The young man sat his computer bag on the table and made his way to the refridgerator. He grabbed a can of Pepsi and dug around for food. There wasn't much in the way of substance, so he settled for a piece of cheesecake that had brought home from one of the many "congradualtions on finding the treasure of the century!" parties.

Riley booted up his computer while he ate his cheesecake. He opened his email, almost robotically, his thoughts still on one particular person. He took a swallow of Pepsi to wash down the cake and almost choked when he saw the name on the most recent email in his inbox.

Ben Gates.

The techie hesitated for a moment. Ben rarely emailed him, usually perfering a call to what he called 'the impersonality of the Internet.' So why was he emailing now? Finally, curiosity got the best of Riley and he clicked the message.

Riley,

Is something the matter? You seemed really down earlier today. Anything I can do?

- Ben

Riley smiled grimly at the message. Ben always was too perceptive. His fingers flew across the keys, composing a reply that would look normal.

Ben,

You know, I'm just mourning the fact that we won't be being chased all over the country anymore or having guns pointed at us. I think I must miss Ian.

- Riley

There. That looked like the typically-sarcastic type of thing Riley would say. He clicked 'send' and exited out of the program. He suddenly didn't want to be on the computer anymore.

He was still hungry. But, with no food in the house, he would have to call take out. On second thought, maybe a little lo mein would distract him from Benjamin-freaking-Gates.

The Chinese food was there within twenty minutes. Instead of taking it to his computer, like he usually would, Riley detoured into the living room and dropped onto to sofa. He never really watched television, so maybe he should do it more often. That theory fell flat after about three minutes of channel surfing.

"What is wrong with these people?" he wondered aloud, staring in a sick facination at a woman who was having her face replaced with Angelina Jolie's.

The doorbell rang and Riley jumped about a mile high, spilling rice on the cushions. He started to scoop it up, but the bell rang again, so he rushed to get it, hoping that the soy sauce wasn't ruining his couch. In fact, he was so distracted, he didn't even realize who his visitor was until he had stared at him for at least fifteen seconds.

It was Ben.

"Uh, hey Ben!" he said, trying to control the sudden hysteria that threatened to overpower him. "What'cha doing here?"

"Can I come in?" Ben's eyes were oddly cautious and it didn't escape Riley's notice that he had failed to answer the question.

"Um, yeah, come on in." Riley opened the door wider, to allow his friend entry. Ben stepped into the apartment, his shoulder brushing Riley's as he slipped past. A shiver went all the way down the younger man's spine, to the tip of his toes, but he was determined not to show it. "I was eating in the living room." he explained, closing the door and heading back to the offending room. Ben followed, close behind, and Riley closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath through his nose.

"That's weird." Ben commented, trying to sound offhanded. "I thought you usually checked email while you ate."

"Yeah, most of the time." the techie tried to match the older man's tone and failed miserably. "I decided I didn't want to tonight." They sat down on opposite ends of the couch, on either side of the rice and veggie spill.

"So you decided to watch people get celebrity makeovers instead?" Ben raised an eyebrow, glancing at the screen. Riley dove for the remote and shut it off.

"Just channel surfing."

A few long seconds passed and Riley starting picking rice out of the sofa. Keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the upholstery, he asked, in his most casual voice, "So, what's up, Ben?"

"I want to know what's really wrong with you." always the honest one, Ben cut straight to the point. "And since you weren't going to tell me in an email, I thought I'd come and get it out of you personally."

"I told you, Ben, there's nothing wrong with me." Riley tried for a normal voice, but it came out sounding rather desperate. "Why don't you just go home to your fiancee and not worry about me?"

"So this is about Abigail?" Ben asked intuitively. Riley's head snapped up and he met Ben's eyes.

"No, no, not at all!" he exclaimed. "It's about nothing, in fact."

"Riley." Ben said in the tone he used when he was trying to convince someone of someting. "You know just as well as I do that that is not true."

"I--"

"I'm not even asking you to tell me." Ben's voice was plantitive now, and that made it oh-so much worse, "I just want to know what I can do to help."

"I--" Riley tried, and failed, several times to find his voice. "I'm just..." he floundered for an answer that would sound plausible and came up short. "Lonely." Hell, had he just said that?"

"Lonely?" Ben repeated, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean?"

"It's just..." as he struggled to explain as honestly as he could, without giving himself away, Riley's words curved neatly into a half-truth. "You're getting married to Abigail and your obligations will be with her now."

A half-smile crossed Ben's face. "Is that all that's bothering you?" he asked.

Riley squirmed uncomfortably. "Um...yes?"

"Well, you don't need to worry about that." Ben murmured. Had he been sitting this close the whole time?

Riley swallowed, telling himself to breathe. "Why is that?"

"Because," Ben answered, leaning even closer, "Abigail and I aren't getting married."

Riley wasn't even sure which one of them moved first. All he knew was that the was suddenly crushed against Ben's chest, pressing his lips to the older man's like his life depended on it. He gripped the front of Ben's jacket, pulling him even closer, his mouth opening slightly, deepening the kiss.

They stayed this way for a long time, but, finally, the need for oxygen overrode everything else and they broke apart, panting for breath. Riley put his head on the older man's shoulder.

"I--I love you." he whispered. Ben smiled tenderly.

"I know, I love you too."

"But...what exactly does this mean?"

Ben shrugged, pulling Riley's face up to meet his again. "Enjoy your spoils."