OC Fic : The Care and Feeding of Ryan Atwood for Dummies (3/4)
Title : The Care and Feeding of Ryan Atwood for Dummies (3/4)
Author : Helen C.
Rating : G
Summary : Four cool things Seth did for Ryan.
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. Some of it is just venting, some of it is because Seth can be nice and attentive too. Yes, he can.
Many thanks to joey51, who beta'd this.
Part Three
Kirsten : "Ryan, I forgot to ask. Do you have any request for your birthday on Sunday?"
Seth : "Sunday's your birthday?"
Ryan : "Thanks, buddy."
The Journey
"You're an idiot," Sadie told Seth.
She didn't even look angry at him, or annoyed, or anything but sure of what she said.
"Huh?" was all Seth could answer. Because, well, huh?
Not exactly the kind of warm welcome he had expected from his kind-of-brother's new kind-of-girlfriend when he had asked her if she'd enjoyed the birthday party.
Her lips twisted in a slight grimace. "Yeah, Seth, it was a nice party. I loved how you all told Ryan he didn't have any friends, I loved how you invited people he didn't even know to his own party-people who couldn't even bother to be polite with him-and I loved how you couldn't even hire a band to play something more to his taste."
"He enjoyed himself," Seth tried to defend himself. "Well, as much as usually does when there are people around."
"He was being polite," she retorted. Her tone was definitely growing cold. "Which is a lot more than you deserved after deliberately going against his wishes and embarrassing him at every turn. I've known him for only a few weeks and even I know he hated it and just pretended for your sake. He may be too nice to tell you so, but I'm not." She threw him a disdainful look-the kind of look that made him want to be swallowed by a hole-and snapped, "Buy a clue," walking away and leaving him standing there, stunned.
***
Ryan was sitting on his bed, reading a letter, when Seth came in.
He looked a little sad and more than a little tired, leading Seth to wonder whether he had gotten any sleep at all. Ryan sure didn't look like someone who had just celebrated his birthday in style.
"Hey," Seth said.
"Hey," Ryan replied, tearing his eyes away from the letter.
"Nice party last night, huh?" Seth said.
"Yeah." Ryan threw him a quick smile. His thanks-for-the-lunch-money smile.
His thanks-for-the-car-keys smile.
Not his thanks-for-caring smile.
Then he looked down at the letter again.
Seth swallowed back a grimace.
Okay.
He was big enough to admit it.
He had blown it.
It had seemed funny to tease Ryan about his lack of friends and about his lack of social skills, because frankly, Ryan had always cultivated this aura of not caring about things like having a large group of friends. Now, it didn't seem nearly as amusing anymore.
Ryan hadn't had that many requests.
A quiet meal with his family and maybe a movie or two.
And no Newpsie party.
Seth left the pool house unnoticed, feeling worse than he had in a while.
Maybe telling Ryan that he had invited two homeless guys to fill the room with bodies because he didn't have any friends had been tasteless.
Actually, scratch the "maybe."
He needed to make amends.
He needed a grand gesture to lift Ryan's spirit.
***
"This is Ryan we're talking about," Summer pointed out when Seth talked to her later that day. "Wouldn't something not 'grand' be more appropriate?"
Summer was very smart.
She had the SATs to prove it.
She had even saved Chrismukkah.
So, Seth listened to her.
***
It wasn't so hard to convince his parents to clear a date on their schedules.
His mother always liked family time and parties (even small ones).
His father didn't like big, crowded parties any more than Ryan did, so he was more than ready to offer him some family time as well.
"Good boy," Summer said when Seth invited her to the party.
Sadie didn't call him an idiot when Seth invited her, so he took it as a good sign.
***
The six of them had a quiet meal (Thai food, since Ryan had grown addicted to it during his early days in Newport, followed by a cake, because there hadn't been any at the big party).
Then, they watched that shark movie they should have gone to, more than two years earlier-they didn't say anything aloud, but Seth caught Ryan's smile when he put the disk in the DVD player.
When Ryan thanked them before driving Sadie home, he definitely had his, "Thanks for caring" smile.
***
"See, sometimes, less is more, Cohen," Summer said before leaving.
He wasn't about to argue with his smart girlfriend.
Part Four
And in case you were wondering, no, I'm never letting that birthday thing go.
Author : Helen C.
Rating : G
Summary : Four cool things Seth did for Ryan.
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. Some of it is just venting, some of it is because Seth can be nice and attentive too. Yes, he can.
Many thanks to joey51, who beta'd this.
Part Three
Kirsten : "Ryan, I forgot to ask. Do you have any request for your birthday on Sunday?"
Seth : "Sunday's your birthday?"
Ryan : "Thanks, buddy."
The Journey
"You're an idiot," Sadie told Seth.
She didn't even look angry at him, or annoyed, or anything but sure of what she said.
"Huh?" was all Seth could answer. Because, well, huh?
Not exactly the kind of warm welcome he had expected from his kind-of-brother's new kind-of-girlfriend when he had asked her if she'd enjoyed the birthday party.
Her lips twisted in a slight grimace. "Yeah, Seth, it was a nice party. I loved how you all told Ryan he didn't have any friends, I loved how you invited people he didn't even know to his own party-people who couldn't even bother to be polite with him-and I loved how you couldn't even hire a band to play something more to his taste."
"He enjoyed himself," Seth tried to defend himself. "Well, as much as usually does when there are people around."
"He was being polite," she retorted. Her tone was definitely growing cold. "Which is a lot more than you deserved after deliberately going against his wishes and embarrassing him at every turn. I've known him for only a few weeks and even I know he hated it and just pretended for your sake. He may be too nice to tell you so, but I'm not." She threw him a disdainful look-the kind of look that made him want to be swallowed by a hole-and snapped, "Buy a clue," walking away and leaving him standing there, stunned.
***
Ryan was sitting on his bed, reading a letter, when Seth came in.
He looked a little sad and more than a little tired, leading Seth to wonder whether he had gotten any sleep at all. Ryan sure didn't look like someone who had just celebrated his birthday in style.
"Hey," Seth said.
"Hey," Ryan replied, tearing his eyes away from the letter.
"Nice party last night, huh?" Seth said.
"Yeah." Ryan threw him a quick smile. His thanks-for-the-lunch-money smile.
His thanks-for-the-car-keys smile.
Not his thanks-for-caring smile.
Then he looked down at the letter again.
Seth swallowed back a grimace.
Okay.
He was big enough to admit it.
He had blown it.
It had seemed funny to tease Ryan about his lack of friends and about his lack of social skills, because frankly, Ryan had always cultivated this aura of not caring about things like having a large group of friends. Now, it didn't seem nearly as amusing anymore.
Ryan hadn't had that many requests.
A quiet meal with his family and maybe a movie or two.
And no Newpsie party.
Seth left the pool house unnoticed, feeling worse than he had in a while.
Maybe telling Ryan that he had invited two homeless guys to fill the room with bodies because he didn't have any friends had been tasteless.
Actually, scratch the "maybe."
He needed to make amends.
He needed a grand gesture to lift Ryan's spirit.
***
"This is Ryan we're talking about," Summer pointed out when Seth talked to her later that day. "Wouldn't something not 'grand' be more appropriate?"
Summer was very smart.
She had the SATs to prove it.
She had even saved Chrismukkah.
So, Seth listened to her.
***
It wasn't so hard to convince his parents to clear a date on their schedules.
His mother always liked family time and parties (even small ones).
His father didn't like big, crowded parties any more than Ryan did, so he was more than ready to offer him some family time as well.
"Good boy," Summer said when Seth invited her to the party.
Sadie didn't call him an idiot when Seth invited her, so he took it as a good sign.
***
The six of them had a quiet meal (Thai food, since Ryan had grown addicted to it during his early days in Newport, followed by a cake, because there hadn't been any at the big party).
Then, they watched that shark movie they should have gone to, more than two years earlier-they didn't say anything aloud, but Seth caught Ryan's smile when he put the disk in the DVD player.
When Ryan thanked them before driving Sadie home, he definitely had his, "Thanks for caring" smile.
***
"See, sometimes, less is more, Cohen," Summer said before leaving.
He wasn't about to argue with his smart girlfriend.
Part Four
And in case you were wondering, no, I'm never letting that birthday thing go.