Title: Why Ryan Hates Surprises
Author: symphonyflute
Fandom: The OC
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the OC.
Summary: The Atwoods aren't known for their good luck, and this holds true for surprises. No good can possibly come from Kirsten announcing she has a surprise. And no, she is not a werewolf. Or pregnant.
Bunny: #1

Ryan did not like surprises. In his world, surprises usually came in the form of his mother being fired from yet another job, an exciting new boyfriend, or Trey disappearing for months at a time to do whatever it was he did but never told Ryan. So while he knew the Cohens were nothing like his family and he was safer in Newport than he had ever been in Chino, he still felt a little nervous when Kirsten announced at breakfast one morning that she had a surprise for them.

Sandy and Seth loved surprises, but it seemed their favorite part was discussing at great length every possibilty it could be. Every single possibility. Seth was fairly certain she was pregnant. Sandy thought she was getting a new haircut.

"A new haircut?" Seth had asked incredulously.

"Oh yeah." Seth's expression lead Ryan to guess it had not been a pleasant experience.

After an entire day at school, Ryan was torn between not wanting to know what the surprise was in case the Atwood luck with surprises kicked in again, and wanting to know so relentless Seth would stop trying to guess ("We're moving out of Newport," "She got us all tickets to the next ComicCon," "She's really a werewolf," "Summer told her she likes me." "Oh no, Summer told her she likes you! And you call yourself my friend.")

When Sandy's call of "Dinner, everyone in the kitchen" brought him away from his calculus homework and into the kitchen where he then sat through the most awkward dinner known to man, Ryan was no longer torn. He wanted to know just to get it over with.

Seth was never one to beat around the bush. "So what's our surprise?" he asked as soon as his Kirsten was done eating.

She smiled at them in a way Ryan had never seen her do before, like Theresa did when she had finally dumped Eddie, very proud. She rose from the table, told them to wait for her, and walked away.

Seth and Sandy had apparently run out of ideas, or maybe they were so excited they just wanted to know, but Ryan was just happy they were done guessing. Guessing wouldn't have done them any good anyway. The surprise was something no one could have guessed.

"You got a dog?!" Seth jumped up, nearly dumping his chair to the ground, and hurried to kneal next to the large cocker spaniel tethered to his mother by a leash. "I thought you said we could never get one because they're messy and drool on people."

"I know, but I started thinking that since Ryan joined the family we should do something big. And then I saw this animal adoption thing when I was up in Berkley for a conference, so I adopted him."

"That was two days ago," Sandy pointed out as he joined his son on the floor.

"He stayed with Jimmy. Ryan, don't you want to come say hello to Charlie?"

No he did not. "Yeah, sure." He got up and walked slowly over to the Cohen family all clustered around this surprise. The Atwood luck had held true again.

He bent down and scratched Charlie ("Can we change his name?" "No Seth, he's had this name for four years, we can't change it now. He'll get all confused.") and immediately felt vaguely sneezy. This was going to be a problem.

"Isn't he precious?" Kirsten cooed as he meandered over to Ryan and rolled over onto his back on Ryan's feet. "And look, he likes you. I think he wants you to rub his belly."

"Gee mom, what gave you that idea?" Seth smirked.

"Hush you." She pretended to smack Seth in the back of the head, but it was no more than a tap.

With the cover of their banter, Ryan was able to stifle a couple sneezes, but he could feel more begging for release. Worst surprise ever.

"I have a huge test tomorrow," he lied. "I'd better go study so it doesn't kick my butt."

He barely heard their good-byes as he walked as fast as he could out the door without arousing any suspicion. Back in the pool house, he releshed in being able to sneeze to his heart's content. "Hetchoo! Heaatchoo! HETCHH! Damnit!" He blew his nose on some toilet paper, making a mental note to buy a box of kleenex as well as some allergy medicine, and splashed water on his face. His eyes were already starting to itch. He took off his dander-laden socks and threw them in his clothes hamper before thinking about it and throwing them in the sink first to wash off the dander so it didn't just sit in his room. Hunched over the sink, he looked up at his reflection in the mirror. His nose was red, his eyes were red, and his hair was disheaveled from the constant bobbing motion of relentless sneezing. As far as surprises went, that dog was nothing compared to what the Cohens were going to be in for when they saw his face.

"God bless you." Ryan's sneeze was violent enough to make Sandy look up from his shmearing and Kirsten from her blueprints. "Quite a sneeze you've got there."

"Figured I'd help everyone wake up," he choked out through his scratchy throat. He felt like absolute crap. Seth, who had uncharacteristically woken up early to play with Charlie, had decided it would be a good idea to shut off Ryan's alarm clock and let the dog wake him up by slobbering in his face and barking. A shower had helped a little, but he had still been feeling sneezy all morning and stifling was beginning to hurt.

"Ready to go?" Marissa, their ride to school ("Can I please have a car?" "After what happened last time you stole my car, I'm thinking that's a no."), popped her head in the door.

"You don't knock anymore," Seth noted. Marissa glared at him. "And I'm okay with that."

"Do you want something to eat Marissa?" Sandy offered.

"Of course she doesn't," Ryan butted in, so desperate to get out of that house he didn't care that he'd be in trouble with her later. "Look at her. She's as tiny as a fairy, she doesn't eat. Let's go." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and grabbed Seth's arm with one hand and Seth's bag with the other, pulling them both to the door. "We don't want to be late."

"Thank you for offering Mr. Cohen, but I guess we're in a hurry."

Marissa hurried after the boys, smirking as Seth tripped along, unable to keep up with Ryan's quick pace while attempting to what sideways. "You can let go of me now," he informed his foster brother.

Ryan released his arm. "Sorry."

"So why are we in such a rush this morning? Speical someone waiting for you?" Seth teased as they got in the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"Yeah, my advanced physics teacher." Ryan opened his window all the way and pretended not to hear Marissa's protests. ("The wind will ruin my hair!")

"Oh yeah, Mr. Burns is a hottie." Ryan and Seth both gave Marissa strange looks. "What, I'm not allowed to joke?"

"No you're not." Seth rolled his eyes, sticking his head in between the front seats. "Girls joking. What's next, girls going to college?"

"Speaking of not being allowed to joke..." Ryan pushed Seth back into the backseat.

School went by fairly well. Ryan spent the better part of the morning stifling sneezes into napkins he'd pilfered from the cafeteria, but they had gone away by lunch. He then spent the better part of the afternoon dreading going home.

"Are you ready to hit the road?" Marissa leaned against Ryan's locker.

"Actually, I need to go to the drug store. So I can just walk."

"That's great. I need to pick up some notecards. Come on."

She held his hand and started walking toward her car. Apparently he would not be getting any medicine today. But that's life when you have the Atwood luck.

"Hetschoo! Haaetchoo! AtCHOO! HETSCHOO! Ugh..." Ryan blew his nose for what felt like the millionth time and flopped back on his bed, exhausted. Sneezing nonstop took a lot out of you.

He sat up suddenly as the wind carried voices over through his open window. "Yeah, he's been sneezing all day. I don't know what's up."

Seth. Damn, Ryan hadn't realized that Seth had noticed his sneezing in class. He'd been sure no one had. He shot up from bed, completely forgetting his exhaustion, and started splahing water on his face in the bathroom before he was completely done running there. He shut the water off when he heard a knock on the door.

"Ryan? It's Kirsten, can I talk to you for a second?" The door opened and closed. Apparently Kirsten didn't quite grasp the concept of knocking. You're supposed to wait until someone says you can come in.

"I'm nt drehh." Damn, the itch flared up to monsterous porportions and he had to pinch his nose against it. He barely had time to wonder if Charlie's fur had rubbed off on Kirsten's clothes that much when he heard a loud bark. Great, the dog was in his room.

"Are you alright?" Her voice was louder as though she'd moved closer to the bathroom door.

"Fihh...HehhhETCHH! ATSCHH!" He grabbed some toilet paper and blew his nose one handed while propping open the bathroom window with the other.

Kirsten, now in full mothering mode, opened the door. Ryan was going to have to have a serious talk with her about knocking. But that could wait until a time he wasn't fighting the urge to cut off his own nose while feeling more embarrassed than he ever had as his foster family looked at him in this condition.

"Honey, why didn't you tell us you were sick?" She reached out to put her hand on his forehead, but he jerked away before she could.

"I'b dot sick," he told them, rubbing his nose roughly. "Seriously, I'm fide" Seth snorted in laughter at Ryan's now extremely congested speak. "Shut up Seth."

"Whatever sneezy." Feeling mischevious, or possibly suicidal, Seth reached out quickly and tapped Ryan on the side of the nose. He reacted immediately, pulling the collar of his shirt up to cover his face.

"Hetchoo! Hetschhh! Hehh...hehh..HET..ugh. Um, excuse me."

Sandy was looking at him with a contemplative expression. "Have you ever had a dog kid?"

Ryan nodded. "We had a poodle for a week."

"A week?"

Ryan flushed a shad of red so deep he matched his nose. "Yeah, we had to get rid of it because I was allergic. Plus, you know, we couldn't afford dog food. And my mom once poored vodka in her water bowl accidently."

It took them a moment to decipher his stuffy speech, but then Kirsten made a horrified face. "Don't worry, I fixed it before she drank any," he assured her.

"Let me get this straight," Sandy said. "You were allergic to pretty much the most hypoallergenic dog you can have, and you didn't think to tell us you'd be allergic to this one?"

"You didn't ask," he offered weakly, into his sleeve. "Hetchoo!"

"I'll go get you some tissues," Kirsten said, pulling Charlie's leash gently until he happily trotted after her to the house.

"You gonna live?" Seth asked.

"Yeah." Ryan nodded. "But you're not if you hit me in the nose again."

"Fair enough." Seth plopped down on Ryan's bed. "So can we keep Charlie?"

"Seth!"

"No, it's fine. I just need some drugs."

"I don't believe for a second that any amount of medcine can stop that sneezing."

"I'll still sneeze, just not enough to bother me." Ryan, never one to enjoy talking about himself, was not enjoying this conversation. His face had yet to fade from it's bright shade of red.

"Why didn't you take anything with your poodle?" Seth, oblivious to Ryan's embarrassment, wanted to know.

"Couldn't afford it," he mumbled. "HETCHOOoo!"

"Umm..." Now Seth was embarrassed.

"Tell you what. I'll go call Dr. Edwards and make an appointment for you to get a perscription. In the meantime, Charlie will spend the night at Jimmy's."

"Sounds good to me," Seth chimed in quickly, trying to show that he wasn't always as inconsiderate as he had been a moment ago.

Sandy went to go call the doctor, and Seth announced he was going to bring the Nintendo into the pool house, thus leaving Ryan momentarily alone. The Atwood luck may strike when he got surprises, but at least it didn't strike when he got a family.