A/N: I know, I don't own The O.C. Don't remind me. In other news, who's the bestest beta in the whole wide world? Who is? Who is? Yes, that's right. Sarah. Yes, she is.

You can be mad in the morning
Or the afternoon instead
But don't leave me
98 and 6 degrees of separation from you, baby
Come back to bed

--"Come Back to Bed," John Mayer

"So, how was Prom?"

Kirsten was removing lids from take-out containers while Seth and Ryan set the table. It was the first time the boys had really gotten to talk to Sandy and Kirsten since The Kiss (Seth decided it deserved capital letters, and for once Ryan agreed) and it was a lot less awkward than Seth had been dreading.

Surprisingly, Ryan spoke first. "Prom was…interesting. We didn't really stay that long, actually."

"Was it as awful as you were expecting?" Sandy asked, grinning as he spooned salad onto his plate.

"It wasn't so bad," Ryan shrugged.

"The decorations were a major let-down." Seth shook his head in mock disappointment.

Ryan smiled slightly at the way Seth's curls bounced as he shook his head from side to side. Ever since The Kiss, Ryan started to notice little things about Seth that had somehow escaped him before. Like Seth's bouncy, crazy curls. And how long his eyelashes were. And how there were gold flecks in the brown of his eyes…

"Ryan?" Kirsten leaned over and touched his arm, stirring him from his observations. He turned and looked at her.

"Hmm?"

Kirsten smiled. "I said, did you have a good time?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not at Prom, no." He paused for a moment and took a drink of his Coke. "Marissa got a little drunk, and so we left and went to Holly's. She passed out, so we took her and Summer home and came back here."

Sandy frowned, and Kirsten got that look, the "worried about Ryan" look. Sandy tried to smile.

"So, to sum up, Prom and the after-party sucked. Sounds like all the Cohen traditions are firmly in place."

Seth gave Ryan a smile with his eyes. "The whole party didn't suck. Just the Drunken-Marissa-Passing-Out part."

Sandy shrugged. "You always did have to buck tradition, didn't you, son?" He laughed as Seth rolled his eyes.

Kirsten leaned over to Ryan. "I'm sorry about Marissa," she almost-whispered, her voice tinged with concern.

"It's okay." And, honestly, it was. "We, uh, we actually broke up." He cleared his throat. "I, uh, I broke up with her."

"Good for you, Ryan."

"Sandy," Kirsten said, warningly. Sandy looked at her.

"No, Kirsten, I mean it. Ryan was in an unhealthy relationship, and he got himself out of it." He looked back at Ryan. "That's very mature, Ryan. I'm proud of you."

Ryan just nodded, but in his heart, he knew that Sandy was proud. And that still felt good.

"So, Dad," Seth spoke up. "If you're handing out parental validation for ended relationships, you'll be interested to know that Summer and I have amicably dissolved our relationship, as well."

Sandy stared at Seth, fork raised. Kirsten blinked a few times.

"What?" Seth looked around the table.

"Nothing. We're just surprised, that's all," Kirsten replied, and Sandy finished his bite.

Seth shrugged, too. "It's okay. I mean, we're still friends, but in a few months we'll be on opposite ends of the continent, so it made better sense to end it now, as opposed to after she moved and we grew apart, and all that coming-of-age college transition stuff happened."

"Huh," Sandy said, still looking at Seth.

"What?" Seth exclaimed. "Ryan makes mature, adult decisions, and you're proud of him. I do the same, and all I get is shock and mild dismay?"

Sandy smirked. "I'm sorry, Seth. You also made a very mature life decision. I am also proud of you."

"Too little, too late. I'm going to have to note this in my 'Why Seth Will Eventually Need Therapy' file."

Ryan stood up, plate in hand. "Seth, why don't you and your parental issues help me clean up?"

Seth mouthed "ha" as he grimaced at Ryan, but he stood up and stacked his plate on top of Sandy's.

"Thanks, guys," Kirsten smiled. "We're going to watch a movie. Want us to wait on you?"

"We could make popcorn," Sandy offered.

"Ah, I think I'll pass tonight. Thanks, though." Seth replied.

"Ryan?"

"No, thank you, but I should probably study."

"By which, of course, he means getting his ass kicked at Playstation." Seth grinned.

"Seth, don't say ass," Kirsten said as she refilled her glass.

"So," Sandy began as they finished clearing the table. "That must have been some prom. Now you'll be two young, single guys at college, huh?"

Kirsten smiled. "Aren't the girls in Berkeley lucky?"

Ryan choked as he tried to finish his Coke, and Seth patted him on the back as he made his way to the sink. "Yes, I'm sure we'll be quite the force to be reckoned with." He smiled at Ryan as he stood beside him at the sink.

Sandy patted Ryan on the back. "Well, at least you still have each other."

Ryan shot Seth an amused sideways glance as Seth stifled a laugh. "Yes, Dad, still a very wise observation."

-----------------------------------------

"So, seriously, you're studying tonight?" Seth started the dishwasher as Ryan dried his hands.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, man, I've got an AP Calculus exam tomorrow that is going to kill me."

"I could help you," Seth tentatively offered.

Ryan frowned at Seth. "By help, do you mean help? Or do you mean annoy and distract me until I completely give up all hope of ever passing?"

Seth sighed. "I mean, help. I have an A in AP Calculus, thankyouverymuch. I'm quite gifted, really."

Ryan paused to consider Seth's offer. He could use some help studying, but 9 out of ten study sessions with Seth ended in Playstation. No, make that ten. But, if Seth was serious about helping…

"Okay. I could use the help."

Seth grinned. "Awesome!" He and Ryan headed toward the poolhouse, and something about the mischievous glint in Seth's eye gave Ryan the impression he was doomed.

Once in the poolhouse, Seth grabbed Ryan's book and settled on the couch. He tossed a notebook and a pencil at Ryan, who sat on his bed resting against the headboard.

"Okay," Seth said, flipping through Ryan's book. "Where do we need to start?"

Ryan checked his notes. "Um, let's try..." He was staring at his notes, trying to ignore the fact that Seth's shirt was just a little bit too short, and the way Seth was crouched in the seat with the book in his lap, there was a thin line of pale skin visible at his hips. This was not an ideal learning environment. "Velocity," he squeaked.

Seth found the appropriate page, and began to read a question aloud. "Okay, the velocity of an object moving along the x- axis is given by v(t) = 38 .1t cubed minus the square root of t. At time t = 0, the object is at x = 100. Where is it at time t = 9?"

Ryan scribbled furiously, copying the question as Seth read aloud, but somewhere about .1t he accidentally looked up again, and Seth was laying on the couch, one arm behind his head, one propping the book up on his chest, and his pelvic bone was perfectly visible, and Ryan swallowed hard and quickly looked back down at his notes. He had maybe half the problem.

"Uh, Seth?" Ryan didn't dare look up again.

"Yeah?"

"Can you repeat the problem? I only got half of it." Ryan looked up, and he thought he saw Seth's eyes flicker, but Seth just began to repeat the problem. Only this time, Ryan was looking at Seth's mouth when Seth began to speak, and had he always done that thing with his lips? That curling, slightly lisping thing? And did his voice always sound like that? And had the skin underneath his arm always been so white and soft-looking? Ryan closed his eyes and tried to find his concentration. He was fairly certain he had left it in the kitchen.

"Hey, Ry?"

Ryan opened his eyes and Seth was sitting down beside him on the bed. Ryan swallowed. His mouth was dry. "Hmm?" he said, trying for nonchalant but landing somewhere around seriously distracted.

"Are you paying attention to the question?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I just…"

Seth moved closer to Ryan. "Cause I don't think you were paying attention to the question, Ry." Seth took the pencil from Ryan's hand. "I don't think you were paying one tiny iota of attention to the question." Ryan looked up, and Seth was grinning. "I saw you watching me at dinner."

"What are you talking about? I was not."

Seth's grin expanded. "You so were, Ryan. You were totally checking me out at dinner."

"I was not," Ryan protested feebly.

Seth took the notebook from Ryan and set it to the side, moving his hand to Ryan's hip. "Mm-hmm." Seth leaned over and kissed Ryan's temple. Ryan jumped, and moved away quickly. "Seth! Your parents!"

"Are watching a boring movie. In the house. Which is not the poolhouse. Where we are." Seth moved closer to Ryan and punctuated his sentence fragments with tiny kisses along the side of Ryan's neck. Ryan shuddered slightly, but tried in vain to remain strong.

"Calculus," he whispered.

"Is totally boring. And useless. Math is for nerds, Ryan." Another kiss, lingering longer, in the curve of Ryan's collarbone.

"I thought you had an A in calculus?" Ryan smiled.

Seth kissed the soft skin behind Ryan's ear. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Are we arguing over whether I'm a nerd, or are we making out?"

Ryan sighed and leaned into Seth. College, schmollege. He wrapped his arms around Seth, but…

Waitaminute.

"Seth." Ryan pushed Seth's shoulders back and looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"You never intended to help me study, did you?" Ryan eyed him suspiciously.

Seth sighed. "I happen to know, for a fact, that you have an A in Calculus. I grade all the tests, remember? You could walk in and pee on this test and you would still pass Calculus." Ryan curled his lips at the image. "However, I did intend to help you. Just not with Calculus." Seth grinned goofily as he leaned to kiss Ryan's neck again.

Ryan really wanted to be mad, really he did, but Seth's mouth was so warm against his neck, and Seth's chest felt so good pressed against his, and he figured he could be mad tomorrow, when there wasn't such a perfect opportunity to slide his hands up the back of Seth's shirt and make Seth gasp like that.

He'd be mad tomorrow.