hackthis_archive ([personal profile] hackthis_archive) wrote2004-04-07 12:08 pm
Entry tags:

By popular demand

Okay 86 O.C. fen. This one is for you.

The O.C.
I Wanna Be Sedated or Seth Cohen and the Art of Zen




People underestimate the importance of being calm. Calm is good. Calm is Zen. And Seth is both Zen and calm. After all, calm people do not freak out when their best friends wander through their own bedrooms in damp towels, water running in rivulets down their very nicely developed and tanned chests, with -- hey, is that a birthmark on Ryan’s back, right above the towel?

No.

No, calm people do not sweat or have nervous tics because they are Zen. These Zen people, Buddhists, right, the Buddhists, they don’t get excited. They probably don’t get hard-ons. Buddhists probably don’t get damp palms and really tight jeans, because hey, they wear, like, togas, and – that’s pretty smart.

Seth should invest in a toga.

Seth should just go and find himself a temporary Pratesi sheet right now, because he is so not Zen. He’s excited. He’s really fucking excited, and jittery, and he can’t think clearly.

Ryan in a towel has reduced Seth’s mental capacity to that of nonexistent, and this is how accidents happen. If Seth were driving and Ryan were in a towel, okay, if Seth were driving and Ryan crossed the street wearing this towel, there would be an accident. A huge, messy, life-altering accident, much like the one about to occur in Seth’s pants, and people who are excited and horny are not calm. They are not Zen.

Seth is not Zen.

Seth is not calm.

Seth has never been Zen a day in his life. Or if he has been or ever had been, it was way before Ryan arrived. Ryan has ended Seth’s Zen. Ryan put the kibosh on Seth’s calm – and this is not a new revelation. This is so not a new thing, and that’s why Ryan won’t think anything of it if Seth just goes tearing out of the guesthouse right now.

Seth does not remember the pool being this close to the guesthouse.

Seth had not planned on going for a swim – but he can go with this.

Maybe his Zen likes to swim.


*



Some people are born to lead. Some people are born to follow. And then there are people like Seth, who prefer to dance to an entirely different rhythm altogether while they’re digging for a new box of Cap’n Crunch in the back of the pantry.

These people who dance to their own rhythm don’t really care what other people think, because they are Zen and cool and calm, and it doesn’t’ matter if they’re caught singing along to an mp3 of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World.’ After all, Ryan loaded the stupid song onto Seth’s iPod in the first place. It’s his fault that Seth’s singing the stupid song anyway. If he’d come into the kitchen a few seconds earlier, he might’ve caught Seth singing ‘Oh Cherie’ though, and that would’ve been very embarrassing. Or less embarrassing. Not that Seth’s embarrassed about getting caught singing bad 80s songs – he’s much too busy being embarrassed that he shrieked like a girl when Ryan poked him in the ribs with something Seth hopes was his elbow. Whatever it was that Ryan poked Seth with, Seth is not going to dwell on that, because that’s what his imagination is for and with Ryan living in the guesthouse, it’s already too overtaxed.

The best thing for Seth to do is to clean up the boxes he’s spilled on the floor and go watch some ninja flicks, or maybe some Kurosawa, or just anything Japanese that might have some Buddhists in it.

Maybe Seth can borrow their Zen.


*



When they’re stressed, Buddhists meditate.

When their forests are threatened, tree people commune.

When Ryan gets too close, Seth just freaks out.

To each their own.


*



Buddhists have nirvana and reincarnation, and Jews don’t believe in hell, so when Ryan corners Seth in the guest bathroom and Seth begins reciting the Hail Mary’s he’s learned from watching The Sopranos, he really hopes somebody is listening. Seth really doesn’t want to die at the hands of the water polo team because Ryan abandoned him after realizing that Seth’s got a monstrous crush on him. Plus, Seth was just getting the hang of the whole Zen While Around Ryan thing. Or not. Actually, Seth was just making plans to work on his whole chanting and clanging the brass bowl thing. At the very least he was going to light some candles and pull out his ouija board. Except that the end of Seth’s life doesn’t come with a bang or a whimper or a white light that Galadriel gave him the last time he was in Lothlorien, because a) that would be too poetic and b) that would be too easy.

Instead, the end of Seth’s life comes with Ryan’s body crowding him against the edge of the sink and Ryan’s tongue flitting along Seth’s bottom lip before slipping between his lips, because Ryan would only kiss Seth if Seth were dead.

And if Seth’s wrong and he’s really not dead, then he’s really going to need to be calm and Zen and enjoy this, because when he breaks up with Summer so he can go be gay with Ryan, she’s definitely going to kill him.


-end-

Beta by [livejournal.com profile] serialkarma

[identity profile] fallingxout.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 12:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I love you! I love the whole Zen idea. I'm just in love with your style of writing. Everything seems to flow together and there's no akwardness that's not supposed to be there.

[identity profile] algernon-mouse.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm..this is lovely. I hope that you get 86 people screaming "More" after this one. Thank you!

[identity profile] callmesandy.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 12:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, it's loverly! Such lovely lovely Seth voice. And amazingly funny last line - just perfect. Thank you so much for writing this!
soul_cake_duck: (Default)

[personal profile] soul_cake_duck 2004-04-07 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
That was so great. The whole Zen thing was funny, and so Seth. And the last line, was just perfect.

[identity profile] sundaysunday.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I love it when you write the OC.

[identity profile] smonsterbite.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I came for the OC, and stayed for, well, just about everything else. I've resisted Due South so far, though.

Your Seth free-association actually associates, which is nice. It seems very natural. Like this:
Except that the end of Seth’s life doesn’t come with a bang or a whimper or a white light that Galadriel gave him the last time he was in Lothlorien, because a) that would be too poetic and b) that would be too easy.
zeenell: (Default)

[personal profile] zeenell 2004-04-07 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
....*snickers* *snickers again* *glomps seth* he's so damn funny and sweet and perfect and I want a sequel
aimeelicious: (Default)

[personal profile] aimeelicious 2004-04-07 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
SethandRyan. RyanandSeth. It's a beautiful thang. This was a great piece too, full of funny and almost philosophical musings. Loved it!

[identity profile] rose-the-bear.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! This is why I should avoid even glancing at LJ while at work because I cannot resist your OC fic (or any of it, although I have never gotten into due south, so who knows) but the constant alt-tabbing is bad on my nerves and almost ruins the story.

It doesn't of course, because you rule and your Seth voice is just perfect, and yeah, Summer will proabably kill him when he dumps her to be gay with Ryan (I love that line) so he should enjoy the kissage while he can.

Thanks!

[identity profile] 142978.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Woo!

*does an O.C. dance*

Very Seth, as always.

[identity profile] serialkarma.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Seth is so, like, totally zen.

Totally.

what?

[identity profile] elfiepike.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)
ahahahahahaahh. i love the whole thing, but especially the line about borrowing the zen, and then that last line--he should be prepared for summer's rage blackouts. <3

[identity profile] monkey-pie.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)
when i have days when my opinion of fanfiction is sinking, stories like this remind me about what i love. your seth is the best. i would like to go off and be gay with him and ryan too.

[identity profile] random-flores.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude! That is entirely cute! You rock a lot. I love your Seth. :-D
ext_1770: @ _jems_ (The OC Ryan)

[identity profile] oxoniensis.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe his Zen likes to swim.

Hee!

I'm so in love with your Seth-voice. And your whole writing style. I feel a crush coming on....

[identity profile] gliniel.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude, I love you.
Heh, seriously though, your Seth/Ryan stories are the best. Love the Zen theme, and your Seth voice is absolutely brilliant.
ext_32173: (gambling!seth and summer)

[identity profile] katienyc.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee! Seth trying to be zen! I loved it. And you got Seth's voice *spot on*. Just wonderful.

[identity profile] diva-mary.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"And if Seth’s wrong and he’s really not dead, then he’s really going to need to be calm and Zen and enjoy this, because when he breaks up with Summer so he can go be gay with Ryan, she’s definitely going to kill him."
Heeee! I love that ending! And I prefer the second title, but anyway, I love your fic! I like how an takes control because that is just hot and in character, too. Judos!

[identity profile] kitarou.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
when he breaks up with Summer so he can go be gay with Ryan, she’s definitely going to kill him.

<3 <3

... and I think that's the first time I've used that <3 abomination ;)

[identity profile] mydorkside.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I had a very funny visual of Adam Brody's Seth traipsing around his kitchen in a fushia toga clinging bowls in that hilarious half-true, half-putting-a-show way he (Seth or Adam) has of acting.


I did miss your OC. On the other hand, I was absolutely not complaining about the abundance of Dom and Billy. So many good things!

[identity profile] like-a-movie.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
i love your writing style, its so different and refreshing. *hee* at seth falling int he pool. and at summer's "rage blackouts". lol.

bestest sethisms

[identity profile] fashes.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I *adore* your Seth. You write the best inner Seth dialog. It's such a pleasure to get lost in his head! All the little Sethisms...

Seth should invest in a toga.


When Ryan gets too close, Seth just freaks out.

To each their own.

[identity profile] alannaofdoom.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh! God this is just too brilliant.

Maybe his Zen likes to swim.

I got some strange looks from everyone else in the room when I laughed a bit too loudly at that line.

[identity profile] illama.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Your writing the OC made my day.

[identity profile] blueandomlettes.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
in the words of gay men on film

LOVED IT!! THREE SNAPS IN Z FORMATION!

sorry having a gay day will try to control it for you.
really enjoyed this btw love the way you write seth, its just soo true to the character.

p.s.
i dare you to write another long story like telegraph!

[identity profile] jersey-tomato.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
lines like that last one are why I love you.... well one of the reasons anyway. thanks

[identity profile] flashback766.livejournal.com 2004-04-07 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, you’re back. Writing the OC. Life is good.

<laughing hysterically>

[identity profile] burninginhell20.livejournal.com 2004-04-08 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
This, this is the best! It's so perfectly Seth! Perfect lines, perfect mental train, and this line: "he’s much too busy being embarrassed that he shrieked like a girl when Ryan poked him in the ribs with something Seth hopes was his elbow." I love it!

[identity profile] ex-spiffyda.livejournal.com 2004-04-08 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
When they’re stressed, Buddhists meditate.
When their forests are threatened, tree people commune.
When Ryan gets too close, Seth just freaks out.
To each their own.


Is it wrong that I enjoyed that a little too much. Argh! I'm so weird sometimes :)

I was going to say something witty, but I'm not, so well... You rock!

[identity profile] the-larch.livejournal.com 2004-04-08 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude, Zen Master Icon!!!

'Cause Seth is so not Zen.

This was so sweet and brilliantly done. I love it when you write Seth -- it just makes my whole day happy. Thanks so much. You are my hero.

[identity profile] tiamet.livejournal.com 2004-04-09 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
Great inner-seth voice.
Loved all of it and really loved this... And if Seth’s wrong and he’s really not dead, then he’s really going to need to be calm and Zen and enjoy this, because when he breaks up with Summer so he can go be gay with Ryan, she’s definitely going to kill him. Made me giggle.

perfection...*sigh*

[identity profile] mardia.livejournal.com 2004-04-09 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
This was absolutely perfect. I cannot think of a single thing that could have made it any better, because it was just so damn good. Seth's voice is unbelievably-in-character, so much so that I'm actually expecting this to happen on the show, his voice is so real. Love it. Love, love, love.

[identity profile] twoskeletons.livejournal.com 2004-04-11 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
and Seth begins reciting the Hail Mary’s he’s learned from watching The Sopranos
DUDE. I... I love that. As someone who used to get all her news of current events from Conan O'Brien's opening monologue, I heartily love that.

be gay with Ryan
I just love how that's put. 'be gay with Ryan'. Teehee.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/__mintyfresh/ 2004-04-11 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Seth and Zen. That's a prefect match.
I tried not to laugh out loud to prevent funny looks from people near me. But biting my lip can only help me so much and when I read things like the last line, I burst. So now I have people staring at me but it is for a good cause. I love your OC stuff. Especially this. It was so cute.

[identity profile] smallq.livejournal.com 2004-04-13 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Want my soul? Want my firstborn? Want anything from me?
You're amasing, hope you know that.

[identity profile] prurient-badger.livejournal.com 2004-04-17 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I've only just read this, and now I hate myself. No, correction, I hate everybody. HOW COULD NO-ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?! Bastards. ::ahem::

What I'm trying to say, in a very roundabout, incoherent way is: I love this. I love you. I love Seth and his bumbling adorableness.

::runs off to friend you immediately, before the world, in all its karmic indifference, decides to make me lose the link::

[identity profile] dark-eyed-amy.livejournal.com 2004-04-25 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Seth should invest in a toga.

He should.

Ah, my god, I really really love your writing style.

Because when he breaks up with Summer so he can go be gay with Ryan, she’s definitely going to kill him.

Favourite line. *melts*