SHIFT

Chapter 13--Thursday Noon 2

By: Calcium Yeah

Summary: Slash. Luke/Seth. Ryan/Seth. Ch.12: Time for something completely consensual.

A/N: I tried to wait til it came to me this time, but after several months, a new season & realizing that I'd started this story way over a year and a half ago, I realized it was time to get on with it. Reviews have been very helpful. Remember, this is after episode 1x04.

Ryan hadn't lied about being uncomfortable with the public display. And, as much as you call a driveway private property, it's pretty much visible from several different angles. He urged Seth toward the pool house, tumbling over the legs that were attempting to wrap around his own.

The pool house wasn't as private as Ryan would have liked but he didn't really feel right sleeping with Seth in the Cohen home. Okay, technically the pool house was part of that home, but it didn't feel as weird as being in the actual house.

"Your shirt. Why are you so attached to that shirt?" Well, that's what Ryan thought Seth was saying, it was hard to understand the words muffled against his hair. What the hell was Seth doing in his hair? There wasn't any moisture so he didn't think Seth was licking it or anything, but there was something going on up there that was making his scalp tingle.

Meanwhile, Seth's hands were tugging at aforementioned shirt, but he was pulling down rather than up so he wasn't making much progress.

Ryan had been moving backwards and he was made aware that they'd reached the pool house when his back bumped against the doorframe. Seth surprised him by pulling away and bouncing around him to open the door and rush inside, leaving Ryan stunned for a moment at the sudden absence of another body hanging off of his own.

Ryan followed, closing the door behind him, and found Seth jumping on the bed, having apparently slipped off his shoes without unlacing them. The shoes had been tossed in front of the door, giving Ryan an unwelcome wave of thoughts about Seth's messiness that edged a little too close to parental for his taste.

"I'll just be jumping on this bed until you decide to keep your little promise." Seth waggled his finger in the general direction of Ryan's shirt. Ryan raised an eyebrow at him and leaned back against the wall to watch the other boy leap into the air.

"Okay, that is so the wrong choice." Seth attempted to leap off the bed, but his left foot caught in the sheet bunched up at the side of the mattress and he was sent tumbling over the side. Ryan sauntered over, remaining silent because he hadn't been around Seth long enough to pick up a talent for sarcastic commentary. As he neared, Seth's hand shot up & pulled him down into a roll that ended with Seth resting on top of him & smirking several inches from his face. "My plan, you see, is flawless."

Ryan had to admit, the plan seemed to be working very well. The sight of Seth smiling inspired him, he leaned forward to kiss him, but Seth pulled back and began eying the shirt. He had obviously given up on Ryan removing it and started pawing at it randomly, eventually getting the shirt over Ryan's head. Ryan was amused by the effort and chose to remain a passive observer until Seth had thrown the ball of fabric over his shoulder.

While Seth's head was turned, Ryan lifted himself up and circled his arms around Seth's waist. Seth turned back around and found himself staring into seductively lidded eyes that were soon fully closed as Ryan applied a gentle pressure to Seth's back, edging the smaller boy closer and putting their lips millimeters apart. They paused there in mid-air for just a moment, savoring the anticipation.

Seth broke first. He closed the space between them, placing his lips on Ryan's, opening & closing them slowly. Ryan slipped into a bit of a daze, almost forgetting to respond until he felt Seth's tongue traveling along his mouth. He opened his mouth a little too quickly, unintentionally deepening the kiss and inducing Seth to respond by lacing his left hand through Ryan's hair and grazing his teeth along Ryan's lower lip.

Ryan tried to pull away from the biting as casually as possible—he was still uncomfortable with Seth doing things like that. He gripped Seth's shirt as he slid his hands up his back, acting as if he had moved in an effort to take the shirt off. Seth's hands whipped down to Ryan's and stopped their upward momentum. They didn't discuss it; Ryan just placed his hands on Seth's hips and left them there. Well, for the moment….

(A/N: if it's not obvious, this is where I was stuck so screw it: Insert pron here.)

Ryan's eyes struggled to open. He couldn't tell how much time had passed since falling asleep with Seth's head resting on his stomach, but he didn't feel him there anymore. He felt worn out and had to stretch for a few minutes before getting the energy to open his eyes. He nearly burst out laughing when he saw Seth hanging over the edge of the bed, almost falling on the floor.

He finally registered that sun was beaming through the windows. Damn, we never did close those curtains. Ryan sat for a moment before wondering whether it was still Thursday afternoon or if it was Friday morning.

A glance at the digital clock on his dresser told him it was 5pm. He suddenly realized how glad he was that he hadn't slept through the night—it was bad enough that they'd slept so late since there was no telling when Kirsten or Sandy would be home…or if one of them was home already.

He was reluctant to wake Seth—whose drool was currently moistening the side of Ryan's bed—but knew he was not mentally prepared to explain his current state of undress while Seth was looking bruised and unconscious in his bed.

Ryan rolled himself over to Seth's side and debated how to wake him up. He never got the chance to decide as Seth's eyes snapped open inches from his own. Ryan cracked a smile at Seth's initial shock.

"Your mother told me to come back in here and wake you." Ryan didn't think it was possible, but Seth looked even more shocked than he had already been. He registered pretty quickly though, by Ryan's smug expression, that Ryan had been joking.

"So not funny." Seth dropped his head back down and sighed before attempting to get up. He looked like he was feeling the effects of sleeping awkwardly as he lifted himself to sit cross-legged where he'd previously been lying. "Argh," Seth rubbed his face, "I thought siestas were supposed to be refreshing."

Ryan, who had followed Seth to a sitting position, laughed. Not so much at Seth's words, but at the effects of their midday nap. After a few moments appreciating the sight of Seth's disheveled hair and puffy face, Ryan started to wonder what he looked like and became self-conscious, hoping he didn't look too gross. Anyway, if he did, Seth was too tired to notice. It had been a hectic couple of days.

Ryan was suddenly struck by the reality of the situation, and how much had changed in such a short amount of time. He looked over the boy sitting across from him until Seth seemed to slip out of his daze and become aware of Ryan's stare.

Not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable, Ryan thought he should say something, but his mind went blank so he just reached his right hand out to grab Seth's left. He didn't realize until it was too late that it would be kind of awkward to just sit there holding hands. He began to nervously stroke his thumb along Seth's hand, keeping his eyes trained on what he was doing.

He glanced up to see Seth had a goofy smile on his face, giving Ryan an immediate rush of joy that made him smile back at the other boy, who had apparently been watching his face the entire time.

"I could go for a gallon of water right now." Seth spoke, but made no move to get up. "Or a pint of Gatorade…or 2.5 ounces of chocolate milk—."

Ryan took the blatant 'hint' and let go of Seth's hand before searching for his discarded shirt. He couldn't find it, so he put on the worn in wife-beater he spotted draped over his duffle bag beside the bed. Seth was still without shoes, but he didn't seek them out. He just watched lazily as Ryan dressed, and seemed taken aback as Ryan reached his arms out once he was fully clothed.

"What?"

"I'm gonna carry you."

"Yeah, okay." Seth laughed sarcastically as he started to push himself off the bed, but Ryan kept his arms extended. "You are not carrying me in there."

"You don't have any shoes on."

"I'll be sure to steer clear of any broken bottles or used needles scattered between here and the kitchen."

Ryan stepped closer and thought about just picking Seth up and carrying him into the main house, but decided against it and instead put one arm around him to guide him out the door. Seth smirked at him, but said nothing and let Ryan take the lead.

Ryan stood behind Seth who was slightly bent over, looking for something adequate to quench his thirst. He made sure to remain far enough back he didn't feel he was being obscene. Still, he unconsciously kept his left hand perched on Seth's hip as he looked over the other boy's shoulder.

"I thought you were about to die of thirst."

"Death means nothing to the picky—Does this look old?" Seth handed Ryan an almost empty jug of orange juice that looked about as old or new as any other juice Ryan had ever seen. He looked at the expiration date, which was up 2 weeks ago. How bad could orange juice get in 2 weeks? It was refrigerated. And it was just oranges. Without thinking, Ryan popped off the lid and finished the juice himself.

Seth glanced back and Ryan couldn't tell if Seth's surprise was because he had wanted the juice himself or because he thought the juice had gone bad. Before he could speak, something apparently caught his eye because he whipped his head back into the fridge, emerging with a can of iced tea.

Seth turned to face Ryan, whose hand shifted so it was now on Seth's waist. He waggled the can at Ryan, obviously pleased with the find and snapped the tab off, spraying himself with tea in the process.

"Ignore that." Seth wiped a few droplets from his face before downing at least half of the 24-ounce can. Ryan, half amused, half simply comfortable in their closeness, watched him drink, his hand now moving along Seth's side. He squeezed softly, enjoying the feel of Seth's body and still amazed that he was able to stand here doing this and it was okay—well, in some respects, it was okay.

Seth eyed him from behind the can. That was probably the third time he'd caught him staring in the past half hour.

"I knew you were gonna be thirsty when you woke up." Ryan hadn't meant for his voice to come out so husky.

"You did?" Seth's smirk indicated he thought Ryan's comment held a suggestive meaning that Ryan hadn't intended.

"Yeah. Judging by that puddle of drool you left by my bed—."

The sound of the front door slamming startled them both, as there hadn't been much of a warning by way of keys jingling beforehand. Ryan became suddenly aware of how he'd been hovering over Seth and became overwhelmed by guilt at the image as someone else may see it—him taking advantage of the smaller boy.

Ryan backed up and felt like an idiot after he went to take a drink out of the already-empty jug. He was lowering the jug as Sandy entered the kitchen. Sandy's tie was loosened, but he didn't look too worn out. He'd obviously had a good day. Of course, that meant he was bright and alert and all to likely to pick up on Ryan's nervousness.

Ryan wondered if Sandy had heard what he'd just said, and if he did, what he would assume it meant. If he'd heard anything, Sandy didn't see fit to mention it. In fact, he didn't even look at Ryan—who was avidly fidgeting with the plastic juice container.

Sandy's eyes went directly toward Seth who had moved to stand directly behind the kitchen counter. Ryan suddenly realized what Seth was probably hiding back there and felt like an idiot for being so reckless and practically groping the boy in his parents' kitchen.

"I thought you had a lesson." Sandy didn't seem to notice anything odd about the situation.

"Lesson. Right. What time was that again?" Seth sounded as flustered as Ryan felt.

"6:30. Seth, you've really got to keep better track of these things. What if I hadn't been here to remind you?"

"I believe that the world would have ended as we know it." Seth's remark elicited an eye-roll from his father.

"That kid would have been out there waiting for you and you never would have shown up. It's irresponsible. Come on, I'll give you a ride. You might be able to make it on time. Ryan, you want to come along?"

"Um, no. I'll just—." Ryan pointed back in the general direction of the pool house, unable to come up with an adequate excuse for avoiding the trip that would leave him traveling back in the car alone with Sandy. Sandy nodded, probably thinking Ryan was still getting used to his surroundings, or whatever he assumed Ryan was going through.

"Okay." Sandy nodded, obviously formulating some plan to ease Ryan into taking drives or something. "Seth." Sandy headed towards the door, not checking to make sure Seth was behind him.

"I need to get shoes." Seth shouted at his father's back, waiting until shortly after he'd been out of sight to move back over to Ryan, close enough to whisper in his ear. "I was drooling?"

Seth feigned mortification, but Ryan just smiled. Seth looked as if he was thinking something over, then he placed his hands gently on Ryan's arms. "Tonight—do you want me to come make another of my stealthy escapes?"

Seth's face turned hopeful, but Ryan couldn't shake the presence that Sandy had left behind. He felt like he was being watched. Then again, could he really turn down the offer? He slid himself away from Seth's touch and attempted to back away smoothly, not wanting to express a real preference either way, but not wanting to seem like he was actually turning Seth down. He tried to put on a noncommittal smile, but wasn't sure how it came across.

Seth didn't look confused; he had the same hopeful look he'd had on when he asked the question. It left Ryan wondering whether or not he should be expecting a visitor tonight.

Ryan contemplated this on the way back to the pool house and realized he was already deciding to take another shower and to forgo the wife-beater when he went to bed. As he approached the pool house, he saw there was something sticking out from behind a semi-large stone near the entryway. At first, it looked like a book, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a videotape. He thought maybe Seth had dropped it while traveling between there and the house…or something like that.

However, after picking the tape up and flipping it in his hands, he realized the top of the cassette had his name written on it. He looked around, somewhat paranoid now, wondering if someone had just recently left it there. Then he came to the conclusion it was probably something Seth wanted him to see. Either he'd left it there by accident or it was something he was too nervous to show Ryan himself—like porn or something.

He didn't have a VCR in the pool house so he'd have to watch it in the living room or one of the guest rooms in the house that had one. It probably wasn't a good idea to go popping in unmarked tapes in a house full of people, so he'd wait til he was alone.

Ryan looked over the tape one more time then shrugged off his curiosity and shoved the tape in his duffle bag to view later.

A/N: You guys know what it is. Feel free to comment on how you think Ryan should react…whenever he does so. I may not go the way you suggest, but I'll definitely consider it.