The Five Holidays To Show You Care [The OC; Ryan/Kirsten]
TITLE: The Five Holidays To Show You Care
PART 2/5: Christmas
FANDOM: The OC
PAIRING: Ryan/Kirsten
SPOILERS: Season three and four
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
02. Another Chrismukkuh had passed; another year of Seth practically bouncing off the walls with barely-contained glee. Another year of drama with Marissa, that Ryan had finally had enough of. Like every year, Marissa had a 'stray puppy' she was trying to rescue. The first year they were together it had been Oliver. Then, Trey. Now it was Johnny. Ryan had finally decided that, as much as he cared about Marissa, they didn't have enough of a connection to survive all the drama. So he'd broken things off for good, and surprisingly, they were both okay with it.
A few days before Christmas Eve, Ryan had been out shopping, having been dragged along by Summer when Seth refused to go. "Don't get me wrong I mean I love Cohen and all but come one! No Christmas? That's just retarded," she'd spouted off at a million miles an hour while Ryan trailed helplessly behind her. "I mean doesn't he get how important Christmas is to, like, normal people? He's so fucking weird."
"And yet you've been dating him for two years," Ryan sighed, glancing around the jewelry they were passing in the large department store. He stopped when he spotted something unique. It was a gold locket, in the shape of a heart. It wasn't big by any means, and Ryan wouldn't have been able to tell it was a locket had it not been labeled as such.
"Atwood!"
He looked up at Summer, who was staring at him expectantly, hands planted on her hips several yards away. She threw up her hands. "Are you coming or what? I wanna get some new Jimmy Choos for Coop!"
Ryan waved her away. "You go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a bit."
Summer didn't need to be told twice before she tore off for the shoe department, and Ryan chuckled at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the jewelry. To the clerk he asked, "Is there a way to get that engraved?" while pointing at the locket.
He remembered just before Chrismukkuh he'd gone into the living room to greet Kirsten and found her watching an old French film, hugging a throw pillow to her chest and clutching a kleenex while tears streamed down her cheeks. He had sat down beside her, wondering what was wrong, and she'd leaned into him, sighing, "I love this movie."
Ryan had chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, hugging her to his side and craning his neck down to look at her, still holding the kleenex to her face. "You're crying," he had astutely observed.
Kirsten had chuckled tearfully and told him, "Well it's a sad movie."
"I didn't know you were into French films. I didn't even know you spoke French."
"I don't," she chuckled. "I took Spanish. The only things I know how to say in French are 'I love you' and 'please pass the butter.'"
Ryan had laughed and spontaneously kissed the top of her head; because they were alone, and because he was kind of helpless not to. She was rather cute. Then she had gotten quiet, still leaning against him, and softly admitted, "I miss having a real Christmas."
Sandy and Seth greatly enjoyed their combo holiday that Seth had come up with, but Kirsten had been used to a regular Christmas her entire life, as had Ryan. Granted, his hadn't exactly been as Norman Rockwell as hers. She even made mention of a snow machine her father owned -- in her words it had been his most ridiculous purchase in his entire life, but he liked to make snow for her and her sister every year. Kirsten loved having the giant Christmas tree decorated with the tiny colored lights, she loved the fake snow, and she loved the general 'Christmas' ambiance that had been taken away from her for the past eighteen years.
So as Ryan stood in the department store, watching the clerk take out the chosen locket for engraving, and as he wrote down what he wanted engraved on it, he made the decision to give her a normal Christmas this year. Snow machine and all.
On Christmas Eve, things continued as normal in the Cohen household. Sandy and Seth had already had their fill of the holidays -- Seth was knee-deep in an ongoing spat with Summer currently, and Sandy was knee-deep in his hospital plans. Kirsten, without much to do with her dating service business over the holidays, had taken to moping around the house, which was quite unlike her. So late in the evening on Christmas Eve, while Sandy and Seth were out, Ryan snuck up behind her in the living room while she was staring at the tree.
"Merry Christmas," he murmured, and startled her nearly out of her skin.
She smiled when she spun around and whacked him playfully, but Ryan noticed there were tear tracks on her face.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's just..." She shook her head and waved away his concern, not noticing yet that he had his hands behind his back. "Just a bout of the holiday blues, no big deal."
Ryan frowned sympathetically. "You miss a real Christmas."
"Yeah," she smiled tearfully. "It'll pass, though. Chrismukkuh really makes Seth and Sandy happy."
"But someone should be making sure that you're happy too. Someone should give you a real Christmas."
"Fat chance," she chuckled. "Chrismukkuh's pretty popular around here."
"Well..." He pulled his hands out from behind his back and held out a slim velvet jewelry case to her. "Here. Merry real Christmas."
Kirsten gasped and looked up at him with wide, teary eyes, then gingerly took the box from his hands. "For me?"
Ryan couldn't help the chuckle. "Of course, who else would it be for?"
Kirsten grinned and cracked open the box, lips parting when she saw what was inside. "Oh Ryan, it's beautiful!"
She pulled up the gold locket, a few tears scudding down her cheeks (what Ryan hoped were tears of happiness), as she turned it over in her hand. "I love it."
"It's a locket," he told her, gingerly taking it from her and cracking it open. "See?"
That made her grin even wider. "Wow, you can't even tell!" She squinted to take a look at what was inside, and Ryan hoped she liked the picture he chose. When she giggled, he smiled. "Ryan, that's adorable."
He'd chosen a picture of the two of them from one of last year's charity events. Kirsten was in one of her simple-but-stunning black dresses and Ryan in a suit. They were laughing together, obviously unaware their picture was being snapped, and Kirsten's hand was on his shoulder.
"Here, will you help me put it on?" she asked with a demure smile, holding it up to him.
"Sure." He unclasped the necklace as she turned around and moved her hair to the side, and he slid it around her neck, clicking it into place. "I had it engraved, too," he told her when she turned around again.
Kirsten held up the locket in her palm and flipped it over, smiling at what he'd had engraved. "You remembered the French thing."
"Yeah," he smiled.
"Je t'aime," she recited, smiling a mile wide. Another tear of happiness slid down her cheek as she met his eyes again and murmured, "I love you too." Then she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. "So much, Sweetie. So much."
"You don't have to cry about it," Ryan teased gently, slightly nervous that she fit so well in his arms.
Kirsten chuckled tearfully and cupped the back of his head in her hand, running her fingers through his hair as she pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. Then she dropped another one to his cheek, awfully close to the corner of his mouth before pulling away.
For a moment it looked like she was going to kiss his lips, before she seemed to stop herself, looking up at him with slightly wide eyes. Her hands were still on his shoulders and his were on her waist, tension crackling between them.
Ryan swallowed hard and broke the tension, pulling completely away and taking her hand. "I've got one more thing I want to show you."
Kirsten raised her eyebrows and swiped the remaining tears off her cheeks, following mutely after him. Ryan slid open the patio door and brought her outside, grinning in anticipation. Sure enough, as soon as Kirsten stepped out, she gasped loudly and tightly gripped his hand. "Oh my God!"
He'd set up the snow machine just behind the pool house, arcing it just enough so that snow fell all around the back yard and into the pool. Kirsten glanced around at the snow with childlike, lit-up eyes, her smile threatening to melt his bones. "You found my dad's snow machine?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. "I talked to Julie and she helped me get it from storage. I felt bad that you haven't had a real Christmas in forever, so..." He trailed off with a shrug.
"Ryan, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." She briefly touched her locket between her thumb and index finger before throwing her arms around him again, almost knocking him back with the force of her hug.
Ryan smiled against her shoulder and held her tight, smile widening when she kissed his cheek again. When they pulled back this time, Kirsten fingered the locket again and turned her eyes upward, smirking. When Ryan followed her gaze, he chuckled as he spotted the sprig of mistletoe. "Uhh... wasn't Seth supposed to take that down after Chrismukkuh?"
"Yes. Yes, he was. But knowing Seth..."
"It slipped his mind," he finished. "Lots of stuff does."
Kirsten giggled and threw another glance upward. "I think we're kinda stuck here, Ryan. I mean... it's tradition."
"Right. But um..." He wanted to ask about Sandy, wondered where that relationship stood. Because he knew that if they kissed, no matter how innocent it would start out, would quickly spiral into something unstoppable. "Nevermind." He shook his head and pointed to his cheek. "Go ahead and knock me a little kiss."
But Kirsten smiled enigmatically, almost playfully, and laid her palms over his cheeks, drawing him in and pressing a light, lingering kiss on his lips. Ryan's hands touched her waist as his eyes instinctively snapped shut; when Kirsten took a step into him, he panicked and broke the kiss gently.
Their eyes met and Kirsten smiled up at him softly, her eyes drifting up toward the mistletoe again. "Y'know," she murmured, her tone almost seductive, "if we keep standing under this mistletoe, we're going to have to kiss again."
Ryan followed her gaze, murmuring a thoughtful, "Huh."
But neither of them moved. In fact, Kirsten took a step closer and clutched his shirt in her hands, balling them into fists. Ryan reached out to touch the curve of her hair, his heart beating double-time in his chest as he suggested, "Maybe we should step out from under it."
"Yeah, maybe."
And to their credit, they did... but not until after their lips had collided a second time. Ryan, with eyes closed, cupped the back of her head in one hand and gripped her waist with the other, dragging her out from under the awning with him as they kissed. He felt Kirsten smiling against his lips, holding tighter to him as the fake snow started to sprinkle down on them.
Already this was the best Christmas Ryan had ever had. He was experiencing snow for the first time, Kirsten loved his present, and he was holding her in his arms -- kissing her, even. It didn't get much better than that.
Just as he felt her tongue start to flirt with his lips, however, her cell phone started ringing from her pocket. They jerked apart hazy-eyed and Kirsten grabbed the phone, muttering, "Sandy," with her tone full of exasperation before she picked it up. "Hello?"
Ryan just barely caught her apologetic look before she went inside. And even as he reached up and yanked the mistletoe down, stared at it accusingly... it was still his best Christmas ever.
TBC IN PART 3/5: New Year's
{x-posted to rystenlove}
PART 2/5: Christmas
FANDOM: The OC
PAIRING: Ryan/Kirsten
SPOILERS: Season three and four
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
02. Another Chrismukkuh had passed; another year of Seth practically bouncing off the walls with barely-contained glee. Another year of drama with Marissa, that Ryan had finally had enough of. Like every year, Marissa had a 'stray puppy' she was trying to rescue. The first year they were together it had been Oliver. Then, Trey. Now it was Johnny. Ryan had finally decided that, as much as he cared about Marissa, they didn't have enough of a connection to survive all the drama. So he'd broken things off for good, and surprisingly, they were both okay with it.
A few days before Christmas Eve, Ryan had been out shopping, having been dragged along by Summer when Seth refused to go. "Don't get me wrong I mean I love Cohen and all but come one! No Christmas? That's just retarded," she'd spouted off at a million miles an hour while Ryan trailed helplessly behind her. "I mean doesn't he get how important Christmas is to, like, normal people? He's so fucking weird."
"And yet you've been dating him for two years," Ryan sighed, glancing around the jewelry they were passing in the large department store. He stopped when he spotted something unique. It was a gold locket, in the shape of a heart. It wasn't big by any means, and Ryan wouldn't have been able to tell it was a locket had it not been labeled as such.
"Atwood!"
He looked up at Summer, who was staring at him expectantly, hands planted on her hips several yards away. She threw up her hands. "Are you coming or what? I wanna get some new Jimmy Choos for Coop!"
Ryan waved her away. "You go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a bit."
Summer didn't need to be told twice before she tore off for the shoe department, and Ryan chuckled at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the jewelry. To the clerk he asked, "Is there a way to get that engraved?" while pointing at the locket.
He remembered just before Chrismukkuh he'd gone into the living room to greet Kirsten and found her watching an old French film, hugging a throw pillow to her chest and clutching a kleenex while tears streamed down her cheeks. He had sat down beside her, wondering what was wrong, and she'd leaned into him, sighing, "I love this movie."
Ryan had chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, hugging her to his side and craning his neck down to look at her, still holding the kleenex to her face. "You're crying," he had astutely observed.
Kirsten had chuckled tearfully and told him, "Well it's a sad movie."
"I didn't know you were into French films. I didn't even know you spoke French."
"I don't," she chuckled. "I took Spanish. The only things I know how to say in French are 'I love you' and 'please pass the butter.'"
Ryan had laughed and spontaneously kissed the top of her head; because they were alone, and because he was kind of helpless not to. She was rather cute. Then she had gotten quiet, still leaning against him, and softly admitted, "I miss having a real Christmas."
Sandy and Seth greatly enjoyed their combo holiday that Seth had come up with, but Kirsten had been used to a regular Christmas her entire life, as had Ryan. Granted, his hadn't exactly been as Norman Rockwell as hers. She even made mention of a snow machine her father owned -- in her words it had been his most ridiculous purchase in his entire life, but he liked to make snow for her and her sister every year. Kirsten loved having the giant Christmas tree decorated with the tiny colored lights, she loved the fake snow, and she loved the general 'Christmas' ambiance that had been taken away from her for the past eighteen years.
So as Ryan stood in the department store, watching the clerk take out the chosen locket for engraving, and as he wrote down what he wanted engraved on it, he made the decision to give her a normal Christmas this year. Snow machine and all.
On Christmas Eve, things continued as normal in the Cohen household. Sandy and Seth had already had their fill of the holidays -- Seth was knee-deep in an ongoing spat with Summer currently, and Sandy was knee-deep in his hospital plans. Kirsten, without much to do with her dating service business over the holidays, had taken to moping around the house, which was quite unlike her. So late in the evening on Christmas Eve, while Sandy and Seth were out, Ryan snuck up behind her in the living room while she was staring at the tree.
"Merry Christmas," he murmured, and startled her nearly out of her skin.
She smiled when she spun around and whacked him playfully, but Ryan noticed there were tear tracks on her face.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's just..." She shook her head and waved away his concern, not noticing yet that he had his hands behind his back. "Just a bout of the holiday blues, no big deal."
Ryan frowned sympathetically. "You miss a real Christmas."
"Yeah," she smiled tearfully. "It'll pass, though. Chrismukkuh really makes Seth and Sandy happy."
"But someone should be making sure that you're happy too. Someone should give you a real Christmas."
"Fat chance," she chuckled. "Chrismukkuh's pretty popular around here."
"Well..." He pulled his hands out from behind his back and held out a slim velvet jewelry case to her. "Here. Merry real Christmas."
Kirsten gasped and looked up at him with wide, teary eyes, then gingerly took the box from his hands. "For me?"
Ryan couldn't help the chuckle. "Of course, who else would it be for?"
Kirsten grinned and cracked open the box, lips parting when she saw what was inside. "Oh Ryan, it's beautiful!"
She pulled up the gold locket, a few tears scudding down her cheeks (what Ryan hoped were tears of happiness), as she turned it over in her hand. "I love it."
"It's a locket," he told her, gingerly taking it from her and cracking it open. "See?"
That made her grin even wider. "Wow, you can't even tell!" She squinted to take a look at what was inside, and Ryan hoped she liked the picture he chose. When she giggled, he smiled. "Ryan, that's adorable."
He'd chosen a picture of the two of them from one of last year's charity events. Kirsten was in one of her simple-but-stunning black dresses and Ryan in a suit. They were laughing together, obviously unaware their picture was being snapped, and Kirsten's hand was on his shoulder.
"Here, will you help me put it on?" she asked with a demure smile, holding it up to him.
"Sure." He unclasped the necklace as she turned around and moved her hair to the side, and he slid it around her neck, clicking it into place. "I had it engraved, too," he told her when she turned around again.
Kirsten held up the locket in her palm and flipped it over, smiling at what he'd had engraved. "You remembered the French thing."
"Yeah," he smiled.
"Je t'aime," she recited, smiling a mile wide. Another tear of happiness slid down her cheek as she met his eyes again and murmured, "I love you too." Then she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. "So much, Sweetie. So much."
"You don't have to cry about it," Ryan teased gently, slightly nervous that she fit so well in his arms.
Kirsten chuckled tearfully and cupped the back of his head in her hand, running her fingers through his hair as she pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. Then she dropped another one to his cheek, awfully close to the corner of his mouth before pulling away.
For a moment it looked like she was going to kiss his lips, before she seemed to stop herself, looking up at him with slightly wide eyes. Her hands were still on his shoulders and his were on her waist, tension crackling between them.
Ryan swallowed hard and broke the tension, pulling completely away and taking her hand. "I've got one more thing I want to show you."
Kirsten raised her eyebrows and swiped the remaining tears off her cheeks, following mutely after him. Ryan slid open the patio door and brought her outside, grinning in anticipation. Sure enough, as soon as Kirsten stepped out, she gasped loudly and tightly gripped his hand. "Oh my God!"
He'd set up the snow machine just behind the pool house, arcing it just enough so that snow fell all around the back yard and into the pool. Kirsten glanced around at the snow with childlike, lit-up eyes, her smile threatening to melt his bones. "You found my dad's snow machine?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. "I talked to Julie and she helped me get it from storage. I felt bad that you haven't had a real Christmas in forever, so..." He trailed off with a shrug.
"Ryan, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." She briefly touched her locket between her thumb and index finger before throwing her arms around him again, almost knocking him back with the force of her hug.
Ryan smiled against her shoulder and held her tight, smile widening when she kissed his cheek again. When they pulled back this time, Kirsten fingered the locket again and turned her eyes upward, smirking. When Ryan followed her gaze, he chuckled as he spotted the sprig of mistletoe. "Uhh... wasn't Seth supposed to take that down after Chrismukkuh?"
"Yes. Yes, he was. But knowing Seth..."
"It slipped his mind," he finished. "Lots of stuff does."
Kirsten giggled and threw another glance upward. "I think we're kinda stuck here, Ryan. I mean... it's tradition."
"Right. But um..." He wanted to ask about Sandy, wondered where that relationship stood. Because he knew that if they kissed, no matter how innocent it would start out, would quickly spiral into something unstoppable. "Nevermind." He shook his head and pointed to his cheek. "Go ahead and knock me a little kiss."
But Kirsten smiled enigmatically, almost playfully, and laid her palms over his cheeks, drawing him in and pressing a light, lingering kiss on his lips. Ryan's hands touched her waist as his eyes instinctively snapped shut; when Kirsten took a step into him, he panicked and broke the kiss gently.
Their eyes met and Kirsten smiled up at him softly, her eyes drifting up toward the mistletoe again. "Y'know," she murmured, her tone almost seductive, "if we keep standing under this mistletoe, we're going to have to kiss again."
Ryan followed her gaze, murmuring a thoughtful, "Huh."
But neither of them moved. In fact, Kirsten took a step closer and clutched his shirt in her hands, balling them into fists. Ryan reached out to touch the curve of her hair, his heart beating double-time in his chest as he suggested, "Maybe we should step out from under it."
"Yeah, maybe."
And to their credit, they did... but not until after their lips had collided a second time. Ryan, with eyes closed, cupped the back of her head in one hand and gripped her waist with the other, dragging her out from under the awning with him as they kissed. He felt Kirsten smiling against his lips, holding tighter to him as the fake snow started to sprinkle down on them.
Already this was the best Christmas Ryan had ever had. He was experiencing snow for the first time, Kirsten loved his present, and he was holding her in his arms -- kissing her, even. It didn't get much better than that.
Just as he felt her tongue start to flirt with his lips, however, her cell phone started ringing from her pocket. They jerked apart hazy-eyed and Kirsten grabbed the phone, muttering, "Sandy," with her tone full of exasperation before she picked it up. "Hello?"
Ryan just barely caught her apologetic look before she went inside. And even as he reached up and yanked the mistletoe down, stared at it accusingly... it was still his best Christmas ever.
TBC IN PART 3/5: New Year's
{x-posted to rystenlove}