hackthis_archive | Buy one, get two free! - The O.C.

serialkarma, myself and

lyra_sena have all finally seen the three minute preview for the season premiere of The O.C. Our collective response went something like OMGWTFAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!1111111!!!!!

Yeah. How many days now? Coming ~~soon~~ today to an LJ near you, speculation/spoilery season 2 fic.

The O.C.
Welcome to the Fallout

1. Welcome to the planet/ Welcome to existence/ Everyone's here/ Everyone's watching you now/ Everybody waits for you now/ What happens next?

Ryan comes to Portland on a Saturday, while Seth and Luke are completing Seth's Saturday morning ritual. Some people play golf, Seth buys comic books.

It doesn’t matter what city Seth’s in or how badly his world is crumbling, there are some things that will never interfere with his routine – he always buys his comics on Saturday. On this day, in Portland, he picks up the latest Legion, JSA and Superman/Batman, even though he's still really depressed about Christopher Reeve. Even Luke can't think of anything stupid and dorky to say to that, so instead he tells Seth about the time he was six and jumped off the top of one of his dad's cars at his dealership with a red towel tied around his neck. His dad wasn't impressed when Luke landed wrong on his foot and twisted his ankle, but the woman his dad was trying to sell the car to bought it hook, line and sinker.

She bought the car, too.

It's the kind of story that Seth knows Luke would never have told him if they were still back in Newport, but they're not so it really doesn't matter.

It’s early afternoon when they get back to Luke’s dad’s place, which is also Luke’s place, which is also where Luke’s gay dad lives with his life partner – not that Seth is hung up on details.

When they open the front door, Ryan’s there. Not in the living room with the nice green chenille sofa, but there in the hallway, just hanging around like he doesn’t know what to do with himself, and Seth knows the feeling.

He's been so lonely with Ryan gone.

So, Seth does what any sane, normal seventeen year-old boy would do.

He drops his comic books all over the tiled floor, runs over to Ryan and kisses him on the mouth like he’s the only thing he’s ever cared about in his entire life. Because he is.

And yeah, it could have gone like that.

But it didn’t.

2. I dare you to move/ I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor/ I dare you to move/ Like today never happened/ Today never happened before

It’s a rainy Tuesday when Ryan comes to collect Seth from the Wards. How this rainy Tuesday is different from any other rainy Tuesday is totally Seth’s guess, because it’s rained every Tuesday since he’s been in Portland -- all five weeks, three days and eight hours.

That’s not important though.

What’s important is that Seth and Luke are lying on the floor of the living room playing Madden 2004, which – not a big surprise - Luke is better at than Seth.

Luke’s two gay dads – Luke’s words, not Seth’s – are out at some gallery opening or art shopping or something to do with being arty and gay (again, Luke’s words not Seth’s), and Luke and Seth are left alone, doing what they normally do when they’re alone.

No, not that.

The other thing: playing video games and waiting on the pizza delivery guy.

When the buzzer on the door goes off, Seth tosses his controller on the ground and grabs up the money from the coffee table. It’s not such a big thing for him to answer the door since he’s already getting ‘his ass handed to him’ at the game, and his stomach rumbles as he pads down the hall to the front door.

He fumbles the money as he unfastens the locks and the door swings wide open while Seth is on his hands and knees. He sees the scuffed black boots before he sees anything else.

The money falls out of Seth's hands again as he comes face to face with Ryan, and the uncertain look on Ryan’s face makes Seth’s heart stop dead in his chest.

Ryan’s “Hey” falls on deaf ears when Seth slams the door in his face.

He has no idea how long it is until Luke finds him curled up against the front door.

When Luke asks him about the pizza, Seth just shakes his head.

“It was a bunch of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” he says. “I’m waiting until they’re gone.”

Except... that's not what happened either

3. Welcome to the fallout/ Welcome to resistance/ The tension is here/ Between who you are and who you could be/ Between how it is and how it should be

Ryan never comes to get him, so Seth never leaves. He moves into the guest room permanently and Luke’s gay dad becomes his guardian, much to the dismay of his parents. He goes to Woodhouse Prep for his senior year and Luke becomes the kind of brother that Ryan never really could be because of all that sexual tension that neither one of them was willing to admit was there from day one.

Seth’s mom sends him the announcement of the birth of Ryan’s daughter, and Seth pretends to throw it out, but he fishes it out of the garbage and keeps it under his mattress.

He reads in the paper about his grandfather going to jail. He hears from Luke that Marissa is in rehab. Luke’s gay dad tells him that that his mom is going to Betty Ford, and his dad comes up and visits every six weeks. He hears through the grapevine that Summer’s dating some hotshot athlete and going to USC in the fall.

His entire life goes on without him in it.

It’s no kind of life at all.

Thank Jesus and Moses, it didn’t happen like that either.

But it did happen like this...

4. Maybe redemption has stories to tell/ maybe forgiveness is right where you fell/ Where can you run to escape from yourself?/ Where you gonna go?/ Where you gonna go?/ Salvation is here

Seth’s dad comes to get him on a Monday, but Seth refuses to leave. Seth’s mom comes to get him on a Tuesday, but he refuses to leave with her either.

The day that Luke’s dad says Summer Roberts is calling for him, Seth goes and hides in the bathroom for three hours. When he comes out, Luke’s gay dad #2, David, laughs at Seth’s lack of manliness for eight minutes straight.

Luke just shakes his head. He says he doesn’t blame Seth at all because Summer can be really scary for someone who’s not even 5’2 barefoot.

After everyone’s done laughing at Seth, they go out for dinner at a greasy hamburger joint, which Luke says is the best thing about living with two gay men who aren’t Newport health-conscious.

There’s a white car parked in front of the Ward’s house when they get home, and Seth’s palms begin to sweat while he fumbles with his seatbelt because the car could only belong to a handful of people, and only one wouldn’t demand something less rental-car looking.

They all file out of garage together - Luke’s Gay Dads, Luke and Seth - and when the driver’s side door opens and a shaggy head of brown hair emerges, it’s all Seth can do not to let out a girlish shriek of excitement, because his day is finally here.

He doesn’t care how Ryan got to Portland, or why he’s walking up the Ward’s driveway looking as though he’s been through the ringer and back. Seth doesn’t care that Ryan’s clothing is rumpled or that his hair is just a little too long and unkempt and what that might mean for his state of mind.

He likes the stubble.

More importantly, Seth doesn’t care about being manly or what anybody else might think, and when Seth hugs Ryan, he doesn’t care that he’s holding on too tight, because it doesn’t matter to him what happens next.

What’s important is that Ryan’s finally come back to him, for him, and Seth will go wherever Ryan wants to be.

Whatever else happens to them, at least they'll have each other.

-end-

Notes: Dude, is it November 4th yet? Lyrics provided by Switchfoot 'Dare You To Move', which is the song played for the season two promo.

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: Embrace 'Drawn from Memory'