Title: High Art
Author: Lieuwe Caritas
Summary: Jekyll is Griffin’s new hobby.
Pairing: Griffin/Jekyll and Nemo/Jekyll (vaguely on both)
Rating: R (!). It’s all in the implication. This story contains several dark elements such as frequent references to rape. If you’re under age sixteen, and/or feel you can’t handle this, please don’t click the link. This is said largely to cover myself. I believe in writing responsibly, so please respect me by reading responsibly, mmkay? Thank you.
Disclaimer: H. G. Wells made Dr. Griffin. Alan Moore gave him a first name and made him suffer a fascinating sea-change. I’m just playing in this new and wonderful playground. I mean no disrespect and money is not being made.
Archive: Once again, all lxg_slash members with sites have permission to archive if they include the previous age disclaimer. All others please contact me at [email protected] before doing so. Thank you and enjoy the story.

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Henry Jekyll had no idea how closely he was being followed. How could he have known, considering the fact his pursuer was invisible? Still, Jekyll’s agitation was beginning to make Griffin nervous. Granted, the doctor was an anxious man under normal circumstances but this stopping and glancing about every ten seconds was really unnerving. Had he forgotten to remove some article of clothing, perhaps? A quick check revealed that he had not, and Griffin relaxed slightly. Jekyll was probably just more than usually upset after his little run-in with the captain this morning. And why shouldn’t he have been? Nemo was an intimidating fellow under normal circumstances, triply so when barking at you to “control yourself, sir! I will not have that creature running amuck on my ship!” Griffin gritted his teeth at the memory. Damn that wog. Why couldn’t he keep his ugly nose in his own business? He’d had enough problems with Hyde lately without Nemo doing his best to stir things up. Griffin scowled, deciding he did not have time to stew over the matter. They were at Jekyll’s quarters now and the doctor half inside them already. Quickly Griffin slipped past Jekyll before the doctor could shut and lock the door, as was his wont. After making certain he was indeed alone and secure (really, how many locks did the man need?!), Jekyll removed his scarf and placed it neatly over the back of a nearby chair. Griffin smirked and set about making himself comfortable. This was definitely his favorite show of all.

Jekyll had a way of pealing off his clothes, rather like a snake shedding a second skin. It both amused and fascinated Griffin; how could such a shy and awkward thing be so beautiful and hypnotic when nobody was watching. Perhaps he performed for Hyde... aheh. There was a nasty thought if ever he’d had one! Jekyll and Hyde…but which one truly manhandled the other?

Quite the disgusting, dirty little whore, aren’t you? Griffin smiled cruelly. Let me see more, Henry…let me see everything…As Jekyll shed the last of his clothes and made his way into the bathroom, Griffin wondered what was it that idiot American philosopher had said? Something about being a transparent eyeball. Ahehe. Somehow he didn’t think Emerson had had Hawley Griffin in mind when making that particular statement. Though Emerson himself would likely have loved to get an eyeful of Jekyll bending over the bathtub, transparent or not. As it stood, Griffin made sure he took in enough eyefuls for an entire congregation of Emersons. Being careful not to misstep on the tiled floors and thereby betray his presence the invisible man stealthily moved about the room studying his subject from every possible angle. Jekyll had the most fascinating legs, rather like a woman’s, really. So elegant and fragile…just like the last of his virgins. What had her name been again? Becky…Polly…Patricia? Oh, what did it matter when they all looked the same in the end? When they were nothing more than pretty but empty holes quite ready and willing to be entered and exited without a second thought? But Jekyll…Jekyll was different. Unlike them, Jekyll was fascinating, Jekyll was beautiful. Jekyll was sinking into the water like a frog with swan’s wings. The sight was beautiful and strange to behold and Griffin had to bite his lip to keep from gasping. And yet, as lovely as he was, Jekyll, alone of all other people, was entirely unobtainable. Anyone else he could have, and quite easily, too should he want them. Quatermain, Miss Murray, Nemo…the entire crew was fair game, for that matter. They feared him because they could not see him, and fear, Griffin had learned, was the easiest way to get what one wanted from somebody. He bit his lip again, this time in frustration. If he believed in god at all, Griffin decided, he would have long since come to the conclusion that Jekyll was a punishment for all his so-called sins. For though he hated to admit it, Griffin alone in the world, feared Henry Jekyll. No…not the man himself, but the thing that lurked inside the man. The creature who even in his absence protected Jekyll from Griffin’s hands like some monstrous guardian angel. And one armed with more than a flaming sword, for that matter.

Edward Hyde. Aheh. To say Griffin hated the thing was an understatement. Indeed, Griffin preferred to think of his feelings towards Hyde as similar to those Lucifer would have felt towards Adam, had either of them actually existed. Above all, he did not like the way Hyde looked at him. Yes, at him. Griffin wasn’t stupid and he knew when somebody could see him…provided he could see that somebody.

Damn you, Hyde, Griffin clenched his teeth. He couldn’t help it. He was still human in at least one sense. I fear that which I cannot see. And I can’t make you pay for it either, you bastard. Was Hyde looking at him even now? Was that even possible when Jekyll so clearly sat in the tub before him running a pumice stone over his too-pale arms? A sudden fear seized him and Griffin decided to leave the bathroom. He’d had enough fun for one day after all, and there was no sense in taking unnecessary chances. Jekyll’s voice, however, had other ideas. Before Griffin could set a toe outside the bathroom, it stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Please…you already know…you already know I …it’s Nemo. It’s Nemo. Now will you let me be?!”

Nemo? Aheh. How interesting. Griffin turned around slowly to find Jekyll leaning against the back of the tub, dark eyes wide with fear. He seemed to be looking at something in the water before him. Interesting…Griffin did not know if he wanted to run or watch. In the end he decided to stay and listen as Jekyll gasped and shook his head.

“It’s wrong…it’s wrong. No! I won’t do it, Edward! Not again. That’s the reason it all happened in the first place.” Even the gray seemed to drain from Jekyll’s face as he listened to the thing in the water. “No…I can’t. It’s wrong…it’s wrong….” And yet, Jekyll’s hand wriggled like a fish beneath the water and the doctor’s eyes closed in what seemed to Griffin like regretful ecstasy. Whatever it was, the doctor struggling and gasping was a thing of beauty. Like an exquisite piano concerto or a bloody mouth. Griffin was thankful the doctor could not see him or his excitement. Otherwise there would have been diminishment.

“I don’t want this, Edward…I don’t – I don’t!!” and yet Jekyll arched backwards before collapsing in his steaming water. Crying now, the doctor hugged himself tightly and huddled against the back of the tub. If he’d only been bleeding just a little bit, Griffin mused, he might have very well cried out himself. As it was, he remained silent and savored each of Jekyll’s agonized moans. If only he could have climbed into the water himself then. He could have kissed those trembling lips into full redness…among other things.

Ahehehe. Such a shame some of it has to go to waste. Ah, well. The show was over now, anyway. Maybe he could hide some of Nemo’s things before bed time.

Or better yet, maybe he could tell him…no, the mere thought of telling the hatchet-faced captain everything the doctor had said just now caused Griffin more pleasure than he thought possible. Better, then, to savor the possibility and bide his time. As he crept out of the bathroom, Jekyll emitted a blood-curdling scream filled with dread, guilt and abject despair. Seconds later, something that sounded very much like glass shattered loudly.

Griffin smiled to himself as he unlocked the front door. It was moments like these that reminded him why he’d wanted to become invisible in the first place.