Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/162833.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      The_OC
  Relationship:
      Ryan_Atwood/Seth_Cohen
  Stats:
      Published: 2011-02-15 Words: 6363
****** Rent ******
by misspamela
Seth Cohen, Man About Town, Seth thought to himself as he stepped out of
SuperCon 2005. Oh, yes. He was free as a bird, with a pocketful of cash and a
bag containing both – who is the man? – Wolverine #1 and Power Man and Iron
Fist #66 in mintcondition. He looked around at the dark street and wished his
dad's car wasn't in the shop. His parents had driven up to some fundraising
shindig in San Francisco, and, okay, they thought he was going to the con in a
Town Car, but seriously! Who went to a comic convention in a limo? Please! Seth
was living on the wild side tonight. It was straight taxis all the way.
He stepped over to the side of the Expo Center and pulled out his phone to call
the cab.
"Yo, sunshine!" a voice shouted from the alley behind him. Seth looked back to
see a bald-headed kid walk out of the shadows. He had a mustache, tattoos all
over his skull and had a length of bicycle chain wrapped around one fist. Just
behind him were two hulking dudes with seriously unfriendly looks. Before Seth
had a chance to stutter "M-me?" one of the goons grabbed his phone and the
other one hauled him into the alley.
Oh, God. He was going to die out here. He was going to like, get caught in some
gang war or sold into white slavery or something. Or maybe Tattoo Guy was just
going to cap him, yo. Right in the face. Seth had never been all that fond of
his face, but he was kind of attached to it at the moment, so this was just
really, really all very bad.
Tattoo Guy stepped closer, up into Seth's face. Seth whimpered. "I think we're
gonna take your wallet now, princess." Tattoo guy sneered. One of the goons
jammed a meaty arm into Seth's windpipe and the other one grabbed his wallet
out of his pants, which Seth barely noticed, because he was thinking things
like pain and help and ow.
"Leave him alone."
The goon backed off and Seth sucked in a big lungful of air. White spots swam
in front of his eyes. He looked up, and as his vision cleared, he finally
spotted his rescuer. The guy was young, maybe a little older than Seth, with
sandy-blond hair, a tight white tank top, and even tighter jeans.
"Oh, hey," Seth wheezed. "A guy with a conscience. Weird, and I thought this
was a conscience-free alley."
The bad guys ignored him. They circled around the newcomer, grinning. Seth
revisited the gang war idea and started to back away.
Tattoo Guy made a kissing face. "Hey, baybeeee," he singsonged, "how's
business?"
The new guy just shrugged, darting Seth a look but not changing his expression.
"You'll never know."
"You too good for me, Ryan? Is that it, babycakes?" Tattoo Guy shoved the new
guy – Ryan, Seth guessed – and laughed.
Ryan gave a soft laugh and a smile, hanging his head down. Suddenly he sprang
up, and Wham! He punched Tattoo Guy right in the face. Seth's mouth dropped
open in shock, but he got it together after a second and shoved the nearest
goon into a trashcan. Whoa! It worked! And he didn't get his ass kicked! Ryan
reached for him, grabbed his hand, and hauled him down the alley. They
scrambled over several piles of stinky something that Seth didn't really want
to think about, then dashed up a fire escape. Seth wasn't really thinking, just
feeling the adrenaline rush, oh yeah, this was almost better than sailing, and
it was definitely better than sitting alone in the back of a Town Car.
They shimmied into an apartment through an open window. Seth couldn't see that
well in the dark, but he could tell that the place wasn't that clean. There was
a dingy mattress and a black backpack over on one side, and a rusty sink on the
other.
"Is this your place?" Seth gasped, hoping the answer was no. He wiped his face
with the edge of his sleeve.
"Kind of. I sleep here, sometimes."
"So, you're my uh, knight in shining wifebeater, huh? Who are you, anyway?"
Ryan smiled and dropped his head, looking up at Seth with a look that could
only be described as sultry. Sultry and possibly seductive and other things
that boys usually weren't. "Whoever you want me to be."
"Wow," Seth said, momentarily speechless. He bet that line worked on the ladies
like crazy. "Listen, I have to get home. They took my wallet. If you can give
me a ride, I can pay you." He walked over and stuck his hand out. "Seth Cohen,
by the way."
The guy nodded at him and shook his hand. "Ryan. And I don't have a car."
"Oh. Um, crap. This is bad. This is really, really bad." Seth paced around the
dingy apartment. "I can't call my parents! They're in San Francisco! And, as
ruggedly athletic as I may look, I'm not exactly in the shape to be walking
back to Newport!" Seth collapsed against the wall. "That's it. I'm dead. I'm a
dead man standing in front of you; living fast, dying young, and this right
here is my good-looking corpse."
Ryan just watched him with slightly raised eyebrows. "Give me a minute. Let me
see what I can do."
……..
'What he could do' turned out to be hassling some guy who worked at a
convenience store named Carl to give them a ride in his rattling old hatchback.
Seth just kept his mouth shut (well, mostly) for the ride home, because he was
trying not to smell the car. Or Carl.
As they drove into Newport Beach, Seth took careful notice of Ryan's face. His
eyes widened slightly and he pushed a little further down in his seat. Seth
suddenly felt the need to explain how he didn't fit in here either; how it
wasn't actually money that bought you into a place like Newport, but his throat
kind of closed up. And then he got another whiff of Carl, so they rode in
silence up to Seth's house.
Seth ran into the kitchen and grabbed a few hundred out of his mom's emergency
stash hidden in the extra sugar bowl. He handed it to Carl. "Thank you so much,
man. You have no idea." Carl just grunted and waved at him.
He turned to Ryan. "Can you stay? For supper? I owe you, really."
"Nah, I should get back."
Carl yelled from the driveway, "I don't have all night, Atwood."
"Listen, I have to go back and get some sleep before I have to work again."
"Oh, yeah? That's cool. I guess. Except for the part where you have to sleep on
the floor. Which is kind of not-cool." Seth winced. "What do you do for work?"
Ryan just raised his eyebrows and looked at him pointedly. "Well…" he said,
slowly -- and Seth really got the feeling he was missing something here – "…you
kind of saw me at my office."
His office? Where? The apartment? The alley? Was he a drug dealer? Seth had a
momentary, soul-chilling image of his mother's face if she knew he brought a
smack junkie into their house. Then, the pieces started to fall into place. The
tank top in October. The jeans. Tattoo Guy's comments. The "whoever you want me
to be."
"You're a…working boy"
Ryan winced and looked away. "Yeah."
"Wow," Seth said. "Something tells me that's not quite as good a job as one
might think."
"No, not really." For just a second, Ryan looked thirty instead of sixteen. And
if that was true, then Ryan would look like,fifty by the time he was twenty-
five, and he's probably be dead before he was thirty…Seth's chest tightened.
There was noway he was letting Ryan go back to that kind of life. He was a good
guy. He deserved to have some fun, live a little, par-tay. Not that Seth knew
much about that, but they could learn together, right?
Seth could see Ryan glance toward Carl and start edging his way toward the
door. "Well, you're just not going." Seth blurted out. "You're staying here."
"Here?" Ryan flicked his eyes around the room. "No."
"Well, not here here, because my mom would…oh wow, she would flip, but maybe
somewhere else. I don't know. I'm not letting you go back. You saved my ass and
now I'm saving yours." He stumbled to a stop. "So to speak."
He called out to Carl, "Here's staying!" Carl nodded and got in the car.
Ryan just shook his head. "You're giving me a ride now. And I don't take
charity."
"It's not charity, I told you—"
"I said no." Ryan shouldered his bag and walked away, out toward the pool area.
He stopped at the edge of the house, staring at the ocean.
"Dude, come on, please! I don't have a lot of friends and you're like, hands-
down the coolest person I ever met, and—"
"I said," Ryan turned around and stepped up to him. "I don't take charity."
Okay, now Seth was pissed. Did this guy actually want to go back to Chino?
Newport Beachsucked, but at least it was clean and, incidentally, prostitution-
free. Unless, of course, you counted the Harbor Prep cheerleading squad, which
he so did.
"Okay, fine." Seth crossed his arms and put on his most hardcore Steven Seagal
stare. "What if I hire you?"
Ryan sucked in a breath and looked away. He looked hurt. Seth could see him
shutting down right before his eyes. Fine, whatever. He didn't care if Ryan was
hurt as long as he was safe, and that didn't really make a lot of sense, but
Seth was just going to go with it.
"Hire me," Ryan said slowly, "like…?"
"Like other people hire you. Except not with the, you know," Seth made what he
hoped were some smooth-and-stylin', yet suggestive hand gestures. "I'll pay you
whatever you make for a week." Hoo boy, that was probably going to be a lot of
sailing lessons.
Ryan just stood there, his eyes screaming "kicked puppy" and his body language
screaming "get the fuck away".
"It'll be like a paid vacation," Seth offered.
That god him another good long stare. Trust me, Seth thought. C'mon, you had to
have trusted worse people than me, right?
"I've never had a paid vacation. Or any other kind of vacation." Ryan said
eventually, with a sad smile.
"See? It'll be fun. I'll take you sailing, I'll kick your ass at Grand Theft
Auto, we can hang out at the boardwalk…" he trailed off as Ryan shook his head.
"Why?" Ryan asked. "Why would you do this for me?"
"Like I said, I don't exactly have the Newport Beach social scene eating out of
my hand." Seth paused. "Which would be really nasty, if you think about it."
Ryan tilted his head to the side and smiled a little. "I can't imagine why." He
even sounded like he meant it.
"Most of those clones can't handle my avant-garde taste in both clothes and
music, but you, my friend, are a man of taste." He slung his arm around Ryan's
shoulders.
Wonder of wonders, Ryan was even almost laughing a little. "Is that a fact?"
"Yes. Taste and, might I add, excellent timing. I'd have been toast out there."
"Okay."
"Okay what?"
"Okay," Ryan shifted his backpack on his shoulder and darted Seth a look. "I'll
stay."
Seth made victory arms and jumped up and down. "Yes!" he cheered, doing a
little celebratory dance. "And I know exactly where you can stay."
……..
"So what do you think? Perfect, right?"
"What is this place?"
"It's a model home. My mom and my grandfather build houses and stuff. This
one's going to be empty for at least a month."
"Nice." Ryan looked around and seemed to relax a little.
"Anyways, it's got space, privacy, and all the comforts of home." Seth put the
camping supplies down with a flourish.
"Just a week," Ryan said flatly.
"Just a week, until we get everything figured out."
Ryan nodded, still looking around. He probably didn't believe Seth, but that
was just because he hadn't experienced the ol' Cohen magic just yet. Seth
checked his watch. "Crap, I wanted to help you set up, but my parents are
coming home soon."
Ryan shrugged. "I don't mind doing it myself."
"Cool, excellent. So, hey," Seth held out his hand. "See you tomorrow?"
Ryan took his hand and held it. He was giving Seth that same weird looks that
he'd given him back in the apartment. He pulled Seth closer. Seth's heart
started pounding in his throat and his mouth went dry.
"So," Ryan said leaning closer, "are you saying you don't want to get what you
paid for?"
"Uhhh," Seth said, which was pretty much all he was capable of saying at the
moment. But that was okay, because he didn't have to say anything, considering
that Ryan's tongue was suddenly in his mouth and his hands were on either side
of Seth's face. Somewhere along the line here, Seth had gotten kind of gay,
because he took one shocked breath and then yes, right there, went for it,
pushing Ryan slightly back in his enthusiasm.
Seth's dick was apparently totally thrilled to be gay, because he was in
serious danger of coming from being kissed. And wouldn't that be embarrassing.
Seth shivered as Ryan slowly dragged his thumbs down either side of Seth's
face, the rough edges of the calluses sparking friction on his skin. Seth
moaned and opened his mouth wider.
Then he remembered.
"Can't," he gasped, and for a second, he felt like the stupidest guy on Earth.
"I can't. Not like this." He eased himself away from Ryan. "This isn't why I
brought you here."
Ryan was breathing heavily too, and Seth let himself think for a second that
Ryan was really into it. "I know. I just figured, I don't know. You already
paid."
"I paid you because you were being a stubborn idiot, not because I wanted you.
Even though, ah, yeah, do I ever." Seth stepped a few feet away and took some
deep breaths, raising and lowering his hands.
Ryan ducked his head and smiled. He looked actually happy for real. "Well, the
offer still stands. And for what it's worth," He looked up and stared Seth in
the eyes. "I wouldn't mind either."
Seth stumbled on his way out of the door. "Yeah, that's going to fuel my
masturbation fantasies for months, okay?"
Ryan just waved to him. God, this was going to be a fun week.
………
It was the best week ever. If Seth had his way, this week would be written in
the annals of the history books with fanfare and shiny gold monk illustrations
with an oversized first letter, saying something like, "And lo, the skies
poured Captain Crunch, many enemies were defeated and verily, there was much
sailing."
Seth thought he'd maybe leave out the part where he was jerking off every night
until he was almost sore.
The first day, Seth couldn't sneak out of his house until late afternoon, but
there was still plenty of sun and wind, so he took Ryan sailing.
"This is pretty cool," Ryan said, looking around.
Coming from anyone else, Seth would have stood up (okay, maybe not so much with
the standing on the little boat), pointed at the jewel-bright ocean and the
gorgeous sun and the spray and the beautifulness of being free, and yelled
"Pretty cool? This is perfection!" But he had known Ryan just long enough to
know that "pretty cool" was as good as it got in his vocabulary.
It was awesome to share his little world with someone, especially someone as
cool as Ryan. Ryan never laughed at him or ignored him; he was just really
quiet and sincere and real in a way that Seth hadn't seen before. Except maybe
in his dad.
When Seth dropped Ryan off that night, he just babbled a quick good-bye and
backed away immediately. As much as he wanted another kiss, he was just human,
and he wasn't sure if he could say no a second time.
The next day, Seth's parents were out at work all day, so Seth had Ryan over to
splash around in the pool (bad idea, as Seth couldn't really stop staring at
Ryan's wet arms. He was really taking this whole gay thing to the next level)
and play video games (good idea, because Ryan sucked and Seth got to lean over
him to teach him how to play.)
Ryan even laughed a few times, splashing Seth in the pool and getting his ass
utterly kicked at Pro Skater. It was nice to see him so chill.
This was why Seth wasn't really sure what made him open his mouth and say, "So
how did you end up, you know, doing what you do?" Because then Ryan just kind
of drooped down and looked all sad and Seth was just going to go kick his own
ass in the corner for an hour or two, okay?
Ryan just sighed and said "My brother and I got caught stealing a car. He was
over eighteen, had a gun and drugs on him, so he's still locked up. I served
sixty days in juvie, and when I got back, my mom and her asshole boyfriend had
packed up and moved on. I didn't…" he looked away, "I didn't have anywhere to
go."
"Well, at least you're hot," Seth said, earnestly, just trying to get Ryan out
of whatever weird headspace he was in, "if I had to sell myself to eat, I'd
starve."
Rolling his eyes, Ryan just whacked him gently in the shoulder. "Funny."
This time, when they got back to the model home, Ryan grabbed his arm.
"Listen," he said, "I just want you to know…I didn't stay for the money."
"Oh?" Seth tried for 'nonchalant' and missed it completely.
"I stayed because…because you're funny. And nice. And I've never had a
vacation. So, um. You're still really funny. And even nicer than I thought,
and," Ryan paused, quite possibly overwhelmed with talking that much in one
shot, "you definitely wouldn't starve. On the street. " He looked down, and
Seth realized with a shock that he was embarrassed. Maybe he was embarrassed
from all the talking.
"Right," Ryan said, letting him go and turning away. He waved at Seth. "Good
night."
And then he walked into the house.
Okay, so, wow. Wait. Ryan liked him? Like, liked him liked him? Whoa. This
changed everything. Except not. Because there was money involved here, and Seth
wasn't really well versed in sex etiquette, but he did know enough about money
etiquette that it was a bad idea to involve emotions or nudity there. In fact,
this whole thing had been a stupid idea, except for the part where Ryan was off
the streets. It's worth it, Seth told himself.
The next day, they hung out on the boardwalk, eating lobster and ice cream and
just goofing around. They didn't talk about what Ryan had said, or the kiss,
but it was there, hanging over their heads the whole time.
Seth spent most of the day hard and trying to hide it. He spent the rest of the
day trying not to stand too close or too far away from Ryan, and trying to find
the balance between touching him too much and not enough. This seemed important
for some reason.
They were down on the beach, just hanging out, when Seth saw Luke and a bunch
of the water polo Neanderthals walking their way.
"Hey, I think I know that guy," Ryan said.
"Luke?"
"Um…yeah. He's uh…a customer."
Seth did a dramatic drop-and-roll in the sand, clutching his stomach.
"Seriously? Luke? Oh my God, that's beautiful," Seth chortled, wiping tears
from his eyes.
"Well, beautiful or no, we'd better get out of here." Ryan put his hood up.
"You got it," Seth said. "Say no more."
It was pretty early by the time they got back to the model home, but that was
okay, as Seth's parents had been hassling him about where he'd been. He told
Ryan, "I should jet, man, but I'll come back later tonight. We'll go down to
the beach again."
Ryan smiled. "That would be nice."
Nice. Right. And not like a date at all. Not like there were any naked sex-type
possibilities at all, no, sir.
By the time Seth got home, he was so wrapped up in thinking about the sex he
was definitely not going to be having tonight that he needed a minute before he
could face his mom, who was putting groceries away in the kitchen.
"Hey, Mom." Seth walked over and kissed her cheek.
"Well, hello, stranger." She eyed him. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, you know, the beach. Around."
"You've been gone a lot lately." She reached out and put her hand on his arm, a
concerned look on her face. "Is there anything I should know about?"
"Nope, just, um, busy." Seth backed away. "I live a full life, Mom. Are you
accusing me of not living life to the fullest? Because I seize the day. The day
is seized," he said, retreating to the hall, "and I am so tired from seizing
the day that I'm going to take a nap. Goodnight!"
Seth ran to his room. Actually, a nap sounded like a pretty good idea. Being
sneaky was exhausting.
He woke up a few hours later, to a note on his door that said:
Dinner at the Coopers'. Food in the fridge. Call if you need anything.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Sweet. No explanations needed. Now he just had to take a shower and run on over
to Ryan's place.
He showered in record time, paying special attention to lulling his hair into a
false sense of security. (This mostly involved judicious use of something
called "grooming clay for men" and pointing to his head in the mirror and
intoning "Sleeeeep!" at his hair.) Okay, the "Gardeners do it with Hoes" t-
shirt, his favorite jeans, and – hmmm. Underwear. Should he wear the plain blue
boxers just in case he had sex with Ryan? No, because then he would have to
have sex with him. It would be too tempting. No, no, better to wear the most
embarrassing underwear he had just so he wouldn't have sex with Ryan. Yes. No.
But what if…? No. Okay. They weren't having sex and that was final.
Seth got to the model home just around ten, whistling happily as he sauntered -
- and oh yes, he was sauntering -- up the walk. "Knock-knock," he yelled.
"Hey." Ryan appeared from behind one of the tarps hanging in the doorways.
Seth clapped his hands. "So, beach? Boardwalk?"
Ryan tilted his head at him thoughtfully. "No."
"No?"
Ryan walked up to Seth, closer, and closer, until he was pretty much pushing
Seth against the wall. "No."
"Okay," Seth said, and somehow his mouth just kind of moved forward on its own
and kissed Ryan, totally against his will. Seth's hands went up to grip Ryan's
face like Ryan had done to him. God, it was better than he remembered, with the
skin and stubble, and the little needy noises Ryan was making. He didn't know
anythingcould be that hot, not even porn. Porn didn't grab his ass.
But…shit, shit shit. There was a reason. Something. Something that said they
shouldn't be doing this. Seth pulled away just enough to whisper into Ryan's
mouth. "But, what about…"
Ryan nipped his lower lip. "Goddammit, Cohen. I like you, okay? I. Like. You.
And at this point, if that's what it took, I would pay you to have sex with
me."
"A man can only be so strong," Seth said, and wrapped his arms around Ryan,
leaning in for another kiss. Ryan kissed slow and sure and strong in a way that
was making Seth's knees melt. He tugged at the waist of Ryan's jeans. "I've
never…I've never done this. I don't know…"
"Ssssh. I've got it," Ryan said, as he slid his rough hands up Seth's shirt.
Seth bit his lip and closed his eyes and why did nobody tell him that the skin
on his stomach was magically connected to the skin on his cock because suddenly
he had to grab himself to keep from coming.
"Isn't that my job?" Ryan smirked. He undid Seth's pants and dropped to his
knees. Seth groaned as he felt Ryan's hot hands on the front of his boxers,
moving up and down, and…stopping.
"Seth?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah?"
Ryan pulled the waistband of Seth's boxers. "Justice League?"
"Oh, man. I should have worn the blue ones. Not even the power of the Justice
League could make me not have sex with you—oh!" He gasped as Ryan's mouth
closed around his cock. Seth squeezed his eyes shut and smacked his head
against the wall. Spots started to swim against his eyelids. Oh. My. God. He
couldn't stop his hips from moving, just a little, and Ryan took him in easily,
oh God, deeper.
Seth looked down and, in a weird way, as hot as Ryan kneeling in front of him
was, he sort of missed him way down there. Seth threaded his fingers in Ryan's
hair and tugged. Ryan stood up and kissed him again quickly. "What's up?" he
asked.
"You're not naked," Seth blurted out.
Ryan just nodded and pulled off his t-shirt with one hand. He pressed himself
against Seth again and, oh, oh, Seth forgot how naked he was because now his
cock was pushing against Ryan's bare stomach. He blurted out, "You don't have
to be the one to a do the, um, doing." He gestured toward where Ryan had just
been kneeling.
Pressing closer, Ryan gently bumped his nose against Seth's, then sort of
curved around to whisper in his ear, "But…what if I wanted to suck you?"
Seth gasped and jerked and oh, yeah, that was it, game over. His thighs tensed
and he gripped Ryan's neck as he came so hard he was seeing stars. "Sorry,
sorry," he choked into Ryan's ear.
Ryan didn't answer, he just pulled Seth's shirt off. Seth got the clue and
stumbled out of his pants, using his boxers to wipe up the mess he made.Sorry,
Justice League, he thought. He pounced on Ryan, and they fell together on
Ryan's sleeping bag, which had been laid out in front of one of the windows.
They kissed for a few minutes, deeply and slowly. Seth loved being able to just
feel all that skin under his hands. He'd always known he was very much missing
out on the whole not-dating thing, but now that he knew what he was
missing…there was suddenly a lump in his throat and he wrapped his arms around
Ryan. "What do you want?" he asked. "I'll do anything."
Ryan locked his eyes to Seth's. "Your mouth," he whispered hoarsely, dragging
his thumb across Seth's lips. "I love your mouth."
Whoa. Seth leaned in and kissed him, quickly. Okay. He could do this. Patience,
Grasshopper. Feel the Force. Be one with the Ryan. Yes. Seth reached down and
felt for Ryan's, okay, there was a dick that wasn't his, but it was cool, at
least he knew what to do with one of those. Oh yes, Seth Cohen was a
masturbation champion, no matter whose dick you were talking about. As he
stroked Ryan, he wiggled down and kissed Ryan's neck, chest, hips, stomach.
And, okay, yes. There we were. Moment of truth. His mouth watered and he leaned
in and licked up and down and tried to think of all the things that he liked,
and that was such a hot thought, knowingexactly what this was doing to Ryan.
Every stroke, every lick, every suck, Seth could imagine being done to him, and
damn if he wasn't really close to coming again.
Ryan must have guessed this because he tapped Seth's shoulder and pulled him
up, face-to-face, like they had been before. Except this time it was better,
with all the skin and the touching and oh, God, he really was going to come
again, wasn't he? Especially with Ryan reaching down to take both of their
cocks in his hand and yeah, that was pretty much it, the feel of hot skin
against his and Seth was shuddering coming, curling around Ryan.
When he got his vision back, Seth realized that Ryan was still hard, and, okay,
trained professional here, but how much did Seth suck in bed that he couldn't
give a sixteen-year-old guy an orgasm? But then Ryan kissed him, hard and fast,
and rolled on top of him, even faster. Ryan moved against him, his cock rubbing
into Seth's hip, into the mess he'd made, nipping kisses up and down Seth's
neck, until his hips stuttered and stopped and he gave a low moan and jerked
all over Seth's stomach.
They lay there for a few seconds, and then Ryan rolled over to grab Seth's
poor, abused boxers. After the two of them cleaned up, Seth held up his arms
and said, "Can I just say, 'wow!'"
Ryan smiled. "Yeah, wow," he said, softly, stroking Seth's face.
"That was quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to me in my entire
life," Seth said earnestly.
"Well, these last few days have been…incredible," Ryan said. "This place is
like a dream."
"It's not a dream. And we're going to work out a way for you to stay here. And
this has nothing to do with the fact that we're sleeping together, please,
please, understand that, okay?" Seth grabbed Ryan's hand. They were sleeping
together, right? Because Seth was really hoping to do this again. Often. In
many locations.
"No, I get it. That's cool." Ryan squeezed Seth's hand.
"Except that I do, you know, want to sleep with you. Just like, separately from
the helping thing. Are you my boyfriend now? Because that would be fucking
awesome."
Ryan laughed. "Sure." Seth let out big sigh of relief. They were definitely
doing this again.
"I hate to do this…" Seth said.
"…but you have to go home, I know," Ryan finished and kissed him.
"I'm going to talk to my dad tonight. He'll help us out."
"Are you going to tell him everything?" Ryan looked wary, and Seth could see
him withdraw.
"I'll figure that out. Just – don't worry, my dad's a good guy." Seth kissed
him. "It'll all work out."
…..
When Seth got home, his dad was pouring himself a glass of wine in the kitchen.
"Seth! Where have you been?"
"Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Seth, I need to know what's going on here."
"Not here." Seth looked around nervously. "The pool house."
"Okay, now I'm worried. Are you in trouble?" He put his hand on Seth's
shoulder.
"Just come on, okay?" Seth begged.
They went to the pool house and Seth closed the door. After he did a quick
reconnaissance to make sure Rosa wasn't around, he turned to his dad. He took a
deep breath. "If you had a friend who was, theoretically in trouble, like, a
theoretical fictional friend who did not in any way resemble a real person,
living or dead–"
"Seth." Uh-oh. Dad's warning tone. He had approximately 7.5 seconds before his
mom was called.
He leapt right in with "So say you have this friend who like, needs a job and a
place and stuff, but he doesn't have an address, um, how does that work anyway?
That you need an address to get an apartment?"
"Well, it's a catch-22 that lands a lot of good families in shelters," his dad
said seriously, "but you need to come clean, Seth. Now."
"I have this friend—"
"The fictional friend?"
"A real friend that was living on the street. He saved my ass, dad. I got
jumped by these guys—"
"You got jumped? Are you okay?" His dad grabbed his face and looked him over
for bruises.
"Dad,please. Let me finish." Seth shook him away. "I'm fine. It's just that,
this guy, he saved me and gave me a ride back home and he was so cool—"
"Iknewyou wouldn't take the Town Car. I told your mother."
"You're wise beyond your years, Dad. Can I finish now? Thanks. Anyways, this
guy was living in this horrible place and doing really bad things to get money
and he has no family and nobody to help him and –he's my age, Dad! I couldn't
let him stay."
His dad sighed. "You know, you're a more lot like your old man than you'd like
to think. So where is this kid now?"
"See, that's the thing. He didn't want to take charity, so I had to hire him,
because that's uh, what he does—"
"Seth!"
"No, not like that! It wasn't like, hiring for the – please don't make me say
'sex' in front of you, okay?—well, Idid hire him, but it was the only way to
get him to stay. And it's not like we –well, we kind of, okay, again, not so
much a conversation I want to be having with you. So. Um. Ryan's been living in
one of Mom's developments since Saturday. In your tent." Seth shut his mouth
quickly and then opened it again, casting around desperately for something,
anything—"I think I'm gay." Nice, Cohen. Not exactly helping here
He could see his dad seizing on this like a drowning man grabbing a rope. "Son,
you know your mother and I love you very much, no matter what—"
"Yes, you're joining PFLAG on Monday, I know." Seth waved him on.
"In my tent." His dad put his head in his hands. "This is a lot to take in at
once, you know."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just…I got in over my head. I can't fix it."
His dad stood up. "Well, let's go meet this friend of yours and we'll go from
there."
"You won't regret this, I promise. Dad, thank you so much!" Seth did a victory
dance.
"Don't thank me yet. We're taking this one step at a time, Seth." He slung one
arm around Seth's shoulders. "And damned straight I'm joining PFLAG on Monday."
"Wow, the opportunities for further humiliation here are pretty much endless."
Seth gave him two thumbs-up. "Awesome."
His dad grinned. "Let's get out of here before we have to explain things to
your mother."
….
Seth walked up to the door of the model home nervously. God, he really hoped
Ryan wasn't still naked. Or that the place smelled like sex. His dad trailed
behind him, muttering, "The development. Kirsten is going to love this."
"Ryan?" Seth called. "I brought my dad."
They walked in and, phew, Ryan was fully dressed and the place was clean. Ryan
was standing by the window, looking outside. He turned to look at them. Seth
could tell he was terrified. Ryan wiped his palms on his jeans and held out his
hand. "H-hi, Mr. Cohen. I'm Ryan Atwood."
"Hello, Ryan." They shook hands. "Seth, can you step outside for a moment? I
need to talk with Mr. Atwood."
Seth could tell that Ryan was freaked out; that he didn't understand that was
his dad's lawyer-voice and not the get-away-from-my-son's-Justice League-boxers
voice. "Sure, Dad. Anything. Whatever you say." He went outside, carefully
positioned by the window where he could peek in.
They were standing over by the tent, his dad gesturing wildly. Ryan just kept
his head down and talked quietly, one hand jittering against his leg.
And then – aha! – Seth saw it the minute his dad broke, his face softening in
sympathy, one hand reaching out to clasp a slightly taken-aback Ryan on the
shoulder. Seth pumped his fists. Yes! He leaned against the house and basked in
his victory.
It took them about fifteen more minutes to wrap up, and then they came outside,
Ryan with his backpack slung over his shoulder and his dad carrying the camping
supplies.
"Your dad's going to help me." Ryan said with the smallest, brightest smile
that Seth had ever seen.
"It looks like we have a good case for Ryan to get legally emancipated. He can
use our address to get a job, and…" he gave Seth the Patented Dad Glare, "he
can stay in the pool house.Temporarily. Just until the job thing gets settled.
And if I catch any funny business fromeither of you—"
"No!" Ryan and Seth said, at the same time. "No funny business. Nothing funny
about it," Seth added.
"—then the deal is off." His dad sighed. "And now we just have to convince your
mother."
"Ah, she's a pushover." Seth dismissed him with a hand-wave.
"Really?" Ryan asked.
"No," Seth and his dad said together.
"But she'll love you, I promise." Seth did a little boogie-dance toward the
car. "Can we go home now? Because I haven't slept a lot in the past few days."
His dad laughed. "Sure. Come on, Ryan. Let's go home."
"Home," Ryan said, slowly. "Sounds good." He leaned over and whispered into
Seth's ear, "Did you tell him about—"
"The details? Kind of. I think he's choosing to ignore some of it. Selective
memory. It's one of the best things about him." Seth grinned. "Did I tell you
to trust me, or what?"
Ryan smiled. "We'll see."
"You're a cynic. I kind of like that about you. I like a lot of things about
you, actually."
Ryan just nodded thoughtfully. "Hey," he said.
"Yeah?"
Ryan smiled, a real smile, a big, gorgeous, sun-coming-up-over-the-water smile.
"Thanks."
Seth grinned back, knowing he looked like an idiot. "Don't mention it."
Best. Week. Ever.
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