OC Fic : The Sad, Sad Tale of Two White-Knights (1/3)
Title : The Sad, Sad Tale of Two White-Knights
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG
Summary : Title says it all…
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Written for brandywine421's hiatus challenge. My prompts were : bullet, haze, pink.
Many, many thanks to joey51, who beta'd this and to brandy for organizing the challenge :)
The Sad, Sad Tale of Two White-Knights
Helen C.
Part One
The night started innocently enough.
The finals were slowly approaching and Seth wanted to spend an evening on the town. "Just the two of us, man," he told Ryan. "Like, you know…"
"Kavalier and Clay, yeah," Ryan replied. The comparison had gotten old over two years ago, but Seth still seemed to like it. "Whatever."
Seth bounced on his feet, unabashed by Ryan's lack of enthusiasm.
Just because their outings often ended up badly didn't mean that it would be the case tonight.
Certainly not.
Once she learned about the plan, Summer decided that the boys needed a chaperone. "You'll get in trouble if I'm not here," she said, her tone firm. "You need someone to make sure no one will end up in jail, or god knows where else."
Because he valued his manhood, Seth didn't point out that Summer had been present the last time cops had been involved in their lives.
Then, Marissa asked if she could tag along, things with Julie having reached an all-time low. Ryan, being Ryan, was unable to turn her down. "She looked about to cry," he said apologetically. "What was I to do?"
Seth had a good thousand smart replies in mind to that, but he knew Ryan, and he knew Marissa, and he knew Ryan-and-Marissa. He didn't know if this thing between them was a natural disaster waiting to happen or a miracle in the making, but either way, Seth tended to view it as a force of nature, and he sure wasn't going to stand in the way.
And so it was that all four of them ended up in a seedy, smoky bar on the outskirts of town.
"I didn't even know the town had any outskirts," Seth marveled
Ryan spotted the pool table as soon as he stepped in the bar, and promptly claimed possession of it. Summer agreed to play a game against him, then came back ten minutes later to the table where Seth and Marissa were painfully making small talk.
"I don't know when he finds time to practice," she complained. "He's even better than last time I played him."
Seth knew then that they wouldn't see Ryan all evening. He was going to manfully defeat every regular here while his friends talked and drank and they'd get thrown out by an angry mob eventually.
It wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but seeing Ryan so intent on the game, catching him smiling from time to time, kind of made up for it.
*
Three hours and countless pool games later, they made their way back to the car, teasing Ryan about his return to his Chino roots.
"People play pool in Newport, too," he pointed out, sounding more relaxed than he had in weeks.
"Not that kind of cut-throat game," Summer objected.
"Well, it was kind of nice anyway," Marissa said, looking around with a smile. "The four of us spending time together, I mean. We don't do that often enough."
Summer took Seth's arm and leaned on him slightly, Ryan put an arm over Marissa's shoulder, and they fell silent.
They didn't pay much attention to the raised voices behind them, a little further up the street. This wasn't a nice, quiet neighborhood by any stretch of the imagination. Some yelling was to be expected.
The gunshots, however, took them by surprise.
Five of them, in quick succession.
When the silence came back, Seth was lying on top of Summer.
Ryan was lying on top of Marissa.
Two typical white-knights.
Minus the armor.
Which might explain why they were both bleeding.
*
"When the hell are they going to tell us something?" Summer fumed, pacing the short length of the waiting room.
Marissa was huddled on a chair, staring at the ground. "It happened so fast."
It was probably the twentieth time she had said so since the cops had first asked her for a statement, and while she wasn't wrong, Summer wished she'd start saying something else.
She wanted someone to share her frustration with, someone to listen to her call the doctors lots of dirty names-and Marissa, who had dated her share of bad boys (and Alex), was bound to know lots of dirty names.
"Yeah, Coop. But seriously, it's been, like, hours-"
"It's been half an hour, actually." Summer spun around to face the tired-looking, dirty man who had spoken. Under normal circumstances, Summer would have felt kind of bad disturbing him. Maybe. But here and now, the man was annoying Summer just by being around.
Everyone was annoying her.
Everyone would annoy her until she could make sure that Cohen was all right.
And Ryan, too-she had grown used to the stupid punk, she even liked him, and she hoped this round of Saving Marissa wouldn't be the one to do him in.
"Whatever," she snapped. Ryan had been bleeding a lot.
So had Seth.
Neither of them had even complained.
Stupid, macho guys.
She was so going to kick their asses once they were better.
In the meantime, she'd settle for ranting. "It's been a long time, and I wish someone could tell me-"
A familiar voice interrupted her before she could get truly started. "They're going to be fine."
Sandy Cohen, standing at the door, grinning like mad, was probably the most glorious sight Summer had ever seen, and that was saying something.
"They are?" she and Marissa asked in unison.
"Seth will be released tomorrow. Flesh wound. He actually…" Sandy hesitated for a moment, sobering up. "He was hit in the, er, backside, but the bullet didn't do too much damage."
"Oh God," Summer whispered, horrified to realize she was about to burst into laughter.
She hadn't really taken time to check where all the blood was coming from, and it had been dark and once the medics had arrived, they had asked the girls to step away.
Only Seth could save a girl's life and end up shot in the ass.
"He's okay?" she asked, needing to make sure.
"He is, I promise," Sandy said, smiling.
Summer allowed herself to breathe again, savoring the words "flesh wound."
"What about Ryan?" Marissa asked then.
"They took him to surgery to remove the bullet, but they say things look good." He looked at the girl seriously. "He'll have to take it easy on his arm for a while."
Meaning no more punching annoying guys to protect Marissa's honor, Summer translated, and she made a mental note to make sure Marissa got the message. Later.
"How are you two holding up?" Sandy asked-because despite his flaws, the guy was decent, caring, and always ready to offer some parenting on the spot, even when his two sons were being worked on by an army of doctors.
"We're fine," Summer said. She smiled bravely. "My dad's on the way to pick us up."
Sandy hesitated, obviously reluctant to leave them there, and Summer insisted, "We'll be fine. Can you… They won't let me see him tonight, will they?"
Sandy grimaced. "I'm not sure, I didn't think to ask. Do you-"
"It's okay," she cut off. "Just, when you see Seth, can you tell him…"
She trailed off, her voice breaking.
She was going to kick his ass for scaring her like that.
Well, as soon as that ass had recovered, of course.
Sandy smiled. "I will." He approached her and gently patted her shoulder. "He'll probably be home tomorrow. How about I call you when he's settled?"
She nodded, not trusting her voice, and impulsively hugged him.
"He'll be fine," Sandy said. It sounded very much like he was trying to placate Summer. She didn't mind.
*
Seth never really lost consciousness.
Consciousness sucked.
The doctors and the nurses were gentle and professional, but he felt like a monumental idiot lying there on his stomach while they cleaned the wound. If it hadn't been for the painkillers making him feel slightly disconnected, and the occasional shot of pain, he would have been dying of embarrassment.
In fact, he had to fight a strong urge to hide under the bed.
Counterproductive perhaps, but he thought he was entitled to complain, given that he had been shot in the butt and was now lying bare ass on his bed while more people than he felt comfortable with were looming over him.
Fuck that.
He knew the others were fine-the girls intact, Ryan on his way to a routine surgery (and damn it all, Ryan would get to sleep through most of the embarrassing parts. Nakedness sucked.)-and he knew he was going to be fine, so there was nothing to interfere with his terminal embarrassment.
And to make matters worse, his parents were bound to arrive any time soon.
And if he wasn't safely tucked under the covers by then, he was a) going to sue the hospital for emotional distress and b) going to have a very good story to tell his therapist one day.
Just as the doctors said, "There, all done," interrupting his thoughts, Seth heard a familiar voice from the doorway.
"Seth?"
God.
Kill him now.
The only small mercy was that at least it wasn't his mother who'd entered the room.
"Hey, Dad."
His father was bad enough.
*
Ryan woke up in a haze of painkillers, nauseous and confused.
He managed to open his eyes to see an ocean of white surrounding him, and closed them again after a few seconds, his energy already waning.
"What?" he croaked.
Something cold was slipped between his lips. "Ice chips, sweetie."
He sucked on them dutifully.
His brain sluggishly added the white to the ice chips and provided him with an explanation.
Hospital.
Great.
"What happened?" he asked once his throat felt less like sandpaper.
"You got shot. You're going to be okay."
It all came back to him then-the noise, the ducking, the sharp pain.
"The others?"
"Everyone's just fine."
He opened his eyes again then, recognized Kirsten leaning over him.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I promise."
She might have added something, but he was already drifting back to sleep.
On to Part Two
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG
Summary : Title says it all…
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN. Written for brandywine421's hiatus challenge. My prompts were : bullet, haze, pink.
Many, many thanks to joey51, who beta'd this and to brandy for organizing the challenge :)
The Sad, Sad Tale of Two White-Knights
Helen C.
Part One
The night started innocently enough.
The finals were slowly approaching and Seth wanted to spend an evening on the town. "Just the two of us, man," he told Ryan. "Like, you know…"
"Kavalier and Clay, yeah," Ryan replied. The comparison had gotten old over two years ago, but Seth still seemed to like it. "Whatever."
Seth bounced on his feet, unabashed by Ryan's lack of enthusiasm.
Just because their outings often ended up badly didn't mean that it would be the case tonight.
Certainly not.
Once she learned about the plan, Summer decided that the boys needed a chaperone. "You'll get in trouble if I'm not here," she said, her tone firm. "You need someone to make sure no one will end up in jail, or god knows where else."
Because he valued his manhood, Seth didn't point out that Summer had been present the last time cops had been involved in their lives.
Then, Marissa asked if she could tag along, things with Julie having reached an all-time low. Ryan, being Ryan, was unable to turn her down. "She looked about to cry," he said apologetically. "What was I to do?"
Seth had a good thousand smart replies in mind to that, but he knew Ryan, and he knew Marissa, and he knew Ryan-and-Marissa. He didn't know if this thing between them was a natural disaster waiting to happen or a miracle in the making, but either way, Seth tended to view it as a force of nature, and he sure wasn't going to stand in the way.
And so it was that all four of them ended up in a seedy, smoky bar on the outskirts of town.
"I didn't even know the town had any outskirts," Seth marveled
Ryan spotted the pool table as soon as he stepped in the bar, and promptly claimed possession of it. Summer agreed to play a game against him, then came back ten minutes later to the table where Seth and Marissa were painfully making small talk.
"I don't know when he finds time to practice," she complained. "He's even better than last time I played him."
Seth knew then that they wouldn't see Ryan all evening. He was going to manfully defeat every regular here while his friends talked and drank and they'd get thrown out by an angry mob eventually.
It wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but seeing Ryan so intent on the game, catching him smiling from time to time, kind of made up for it.
*
Three hours and countless pool games later, they made their way back to the car, teasing Ryan about his return to his Chino roots.
"People play pool in Newport, too," he pointed out, sounding more relaxed than he had in weeks.
"Not that kind of cut-throat game," Summer objected.
"Well, it was kind of nice anyway," Marissa said, looking around with a smile. "The four of us spending time together, I mean. We don't do that often enough."
Summer took Seth's arm and leaned on him slightly, Ryan put an arm over Marissa's shoulder, and they fell silent.
They didn't pay much attention to the raised voices behind them, a little further up the street. This wasn't a nice, quiet neighborhood by any stretch of the imagination. Some yelling was to be expected.
The gunshots, however, took them by surprise.
Five of them, in quick succession.
When the silence came back, Seth was lying on top of Summer.
Ryan was lying on top of Marissa.
Two typical white-knights.
Minus the armor.
Which might explain why they were both bleeding.
*
"When the hell are they going to tell us something?" Summer fumed, pacing the short length of the waiting room.
Marissa was huddled on a chair, staring at the ground. "It happened so fast."
It was probably the twentieth time she had said so since the cops had first asked her for a statement, and while she wasn't wrong, Summer wished she'd start saying something else.
She wanted someone to share her frustration with, someone to listen to her call the doctors lots of dirty names-and Marissa, who had dated her share of bad boys (and Alex), was bound to know lots of dirty names.
"Yeah, Coop. But seriously, it's been, like, hours-"
"It's been half an hour, actually." Summer spun around to face the tired-looking, dirty man who had spoken. Under normal circumstances, Summer would have felt kind of bad disturbing him. Maybe. But here and now, the man was annoying Summer just by being around.
Everyone was annoying her.
Everyone would annoy her until she could make sure that Cohen was all right.
And Ryan, too-she had grown used to the stupid punk, she even liked him, and she hoped this round of Saving Marissa wouldn't be the one to do him in.
"Whatever," she snapped. Ryan had been bleeding a lot.
So had Seth.
Neither of them had even complained.
Stupid, macho guys.
She was so going to kick their asses once they were better.
In the meantime, she'd settle for ranting. "It's been a long time, and I wish someone could tell me-"
A familiar voice interrupted her before she could get truly started. "They're going to be fine."
Sandy Cohen, standing at the door, grinning like mad, was probably the most glorious sight Summer had ever seen, and that was saying something.
"They are?" she and Marissa asked in unison.
"Seth will be released tomorrow. Flesh wound. He actually…" Sandy hesitated for a moment, sobering up. "He was hit in the, er, backside, but the bullet didn't do too much damage."
"Oh God," Summer whispered, horrified to realize she was about to burst into laughter.
She hadn't really taken time to check where all the blood was coming from, and it had been dark and once the medics had arrived, they had asked the girls to step away.
Only Seth could save a girl's life and end up shot in the ass.
"He's okay?" she asked, needing to make sure.
"He is, I promise," Sandy said, smiling.
Summer allowed herself to breathe again, savoring the words "flesh wound."
"What about Ryan?" Marissa asked then.
"They took him to surgery to remove the bullet, but they say things look good." He looked at the girl seriously. "He'll have to take it easy on his arm for a while."
Meaning no more punching annoying guys to protect Marissa's honor, Summer translated, and she made a mental note to make sure Marissa got the message. Later.
"How are you two holding up?" Sandy asked-because despite his flaws, the guy was decent, caring, and always ready to offer some parenting on the spot, even when his two sons were being worked on by an army of doctors.
"We're fine," Summer said. She smiled bravely. "My dad's on the way to pick us up."
Sandy hesitated, obviously reluctant to leave them there, and Summer insisted, "We'll be fine. Can you… They won't let me see him tonight, will they?"
Sandy grimaced. "I'm not sure, I didn't think to ask. Do you-"
"It's okay," she cut off. "Just, when you see Seth, can you tell him…"
She trailed off, her voice breaking.
She was going to kick his ass for scaring her like that.
Well, as soon as that ass had recovered, of course.
Sandy smiled. "I will." He approached her and gently patted her shoulder. "He'll probably be home tomorrow. How about I call you when he's settled?"
She nodded, not trusting her voice, and impulsively hugged him.
"He'll be fine," Sandy said. It sounded very much like he was trying to placate Summer. She didn't mind.
*
Seth never really lost consciousness.
Consciousness sucked.
The doctors and the nurses were gentle and professional, but he felt like a monumental idiot lying there on his stomach while they cleaned the wound. If it hadn't been for the painkillers making him feel slightly disconnected, and the occasional shot of pain, he would have been dying of embarrassment.
In fact, he had to fight a strong urge to hide under the bed.
Counterproductive perhaps, but he thought he was entitled to complain, given that he had been shot in the butt and was now lying bare ass on his bed while more people than he felt comfortable with were looming over him.
Fuck that.
He knew the others were fine-the girls intact, Ryan on his way to a routine surgery (and damn it all, Ryan would get to sleep through most of the embarrassing parts. Nakedness sucked.)-and he knew he was going to be fine, so there was nothing to interfere with his terminal embarrassment.
And to make matters worse, his parents were bound to arrive any time soon.
And if he wasn't safely tucked under the covers by then, he was a) going to sue the hospital for emotional distress and b) going to have a very good story to tell his therapist one day.
Just as the doctors said, "There, all done," interrupting his thoughts, Seth heard a familiar voice from the doorway.
"Seth?"
God.
Kill him now.
The only small mercy was that at least it wasn't his mother who'd entered the room.
"Hey, Dad."
His father was bad enough.
*
Ryan woke up in a haze of painkillers, nauseous and confused.
He managed to open his eyes to see an ocean of white surrounding him, and closed them again after a few seconds, his energy already waning.
"What?" he croaked.
Something cold was slipped between his lips. "Ice chips, sweetie."
He sucked on them dutifully.
His brain sluggishly added the white to the ice chips and provided him with an explanation.
Hospital.
Great.
"What happened?" he asked once his throat felt less like sandpaper.
"You got shot. You're going to be okay."
It all came back to him then-the noise, the ducking, the sharp pain.
"The others?"
"Everyone's just fine."
He opened his eyes again then, recognized Kirsten leaning over him.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I promise."
She might have added something, but he was already drifting back to sleep.
On to Part Two