This is a story I started a month or so ago in the first person. I decided I didn't like it, so it's a bit rewritten and in third person now. Kind of a songfic (ish - not really) to Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner.

Warnings: Will eventually be slash (Seth/Ryan).

Disclaimer:I own neither The OC nor Tom's Diner, so no sueing, please.

xxxxx

I am sitting at the window in the diner on the corner. I am waiting at the counter for the man to pour the coffee. And he fills it only halfway and before I even argue he is looking out the window at somebody coming in.

There's this great diner on the corner of Beech and Main where Seth goes sometimes when he doesn't want to have to face anyone he knows.

Now is one of those times. He's hiding out in the time between school and six, when he and Ryan plan to study together. Why is he hiding, and from whom?

Seth realizes he's probably the opposite of popular, and sometimes he needs to get away from the bullying and from everyone who doesn't care that he exists. Hence the not wanting to stay at school. Usually, he'd go home with Ryan, who's also very good at beating up his tormentors, but today Kirsten has asked Ryan to go shopping with her for some new clothing, since the clothes he arrived in are getting a bit ratty. If Seth gets home before they leave, he'll get roped into going with. And, shopping? Yeah, not really his thing.

He thought about seeing what Summer's doing, but considering that they've never had a conversation in which she gets his name right, he figures she'd laugh in his face. Or worse. Better not to risk it. You know, it hasn't always been this bad. Oh, wait, yes it has. What is he talking about?

Seth never got picked on in elementary school. It was when everyone hit puberty that the bullying began. At first it was verbal, which, of course, he minded, but he's more equipped to deal with that kind of thing. It was when he started getting beaten up that the trouble began.

Seth is kind of what one might call, well, weak, to be perfectly honest. So when Luke and his lame-ass friends began to have it in for him, there was nothing he could do but suffer through it. Before Ryan, Seth had never really had a friend. He can make snarky comments all he wants, and the water-polo players can still kick his ass any day. And it's always been that way.

He can't wait for college. It'll be nice to start over, where he doesn't have a reputation already. In elementary school, Seth thought he was miserable being invisible. But invisibility is so much better than getting beaten up every day. At least now he's got Ryan here to take care of the people who try anything. But it'll always haunt him. Hopefully, when he goes to college, he'll be invisible again. Seth thinks that's the most he can hope for: to blend in. To not be noticed.