cmk418: (Adebisi)
cmk418 ([personal profile] cmk418) wrote2006-11-07 10:22 pm
Entry tags:

Double Negatives - The Cat in the Hat

This first one wound up being a bit of a surprise, just in how it turned out.

Title: The Cat in the Hat
Pairing: Ryan O'Reily/Simon Adebisi
Warnings: A bit of language; nudity (no overt sex this time around)
Word Count: 540

To view the prologue, click here



The Cat in the Hat

The first thing that Ryan O’Reily noticed was that the dude wasn’t wearing his hat. That should have made sense since they were in the shower, but some days Ryan thought nothing short of a tornado would have gotten that thing off Adebisi’s head.

The second thing that Ryan noticed made his mouth go dry and his mind go momentarily blank. Generally, there was a certain plane of vision that his eyes wouldn’t dip beyond. He showered with guys before – he did not check them out. But a dick that impressive begged to be looked at. It was like that moment in sixth grade, the first time he saw Angie Jensen’s tits. His eyes were just magnetized to that spot.

Luckily for Ryan, Adebisi was going on about conditions in Africa and not about anything that would have been potentially dangerous for him to miss or agree to. Concentration was damn near impossible at this moment. It took all his willpower to cover his reaction. Willpower and a turn of the cold water tap as far as it would go. Ryan gritted his teeth as the icy water rained down on him, but he could not walk out of the shower room until Adebisi was long gone.

From that day on, Ryan carefully timed his trip to the showers so that he wouldn’t run into Adebisi. In fact, that was the only time the dude wasn’t in his face. Adebisi seemed to be everywhere. In the kitchen, in front of the television in the quad, at McManus’ stupid EmCity council meetings. Ryan tried to keep the image of Adebisi – water glistening on his naked body – out of his head, but most days that was damned near impossible.

From time to time, Adebisi would make a pass at him. It was just something he did, as much a part of his personality as wearing that hat. He always knew Ryan would turn him down, and it surprised Ryan that Adebisi would take no for an answer. Maybe he just knew that Ryan O’Reily would never be anybody’s prag.

One incident in their history stood out to Ryan. It was during the first council meeting after his return from the hospital. Adebisi gave him a hat, which he set on Ryan’s head in pure Adebisi fashion. It was a completely unselfish gesture, one of the few acts of kindness that a fellow inmate had shown him, or would ever show him, during his time in Oz.

For many months, long after receiving it, Ryan slept with the hat tucked under his pillow. It became a touchstone of sorts for him, a way of connection. There, in the dead of night, he could feel safe and cared for. One touch of the soft fabric of the hat made him believe that someone in this fucking hellhole gave a shit about Ryan O’Reily. The fact that that someone was a man didn’t seem to matter. Maybe, in a way, he had become Adebisi’s prag after all.

A few days after Adebisi was killed, Ryan wore the hat for the last time. That night he tucked it away in his trunk, right next to Gloria’s stethoscope. It seemed to be the right place for it.
Next
ext_2328: (oz said hope)

[identity profile] history-gurl.livejournal.com 2006-11-08 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG! That was just fantastic. It was canon, and yet that little bit more. And I am just ... well, I'd say speechless, but clearly, that would be a lie. *g*

I love the tone. The matter of factness of Ryan's realization that discovering men is not so different from discovering women is refreshing. It is also in keeping with Ryan's practical nature. Funny that such a practical guy is also such a romantic. Well, and a murderer, cheat, liar, etc. but let's not hold that against him.

I think what you are doing with this is great. Now I'm anxiously awaiting more. Yay for fic!

[identity profile] delonariel.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
With the limited supply of Oz fics (that aren't of K/B nature), I'm always a bit surprised what I find something really well written
I love Adebisi/Ryan fics, but none of the once I've read were quite as good as this one

Re:Cat In The Hat

(Anonymous) 2007-07-09 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I was very moved by this story! It shows Ryan's vulnerability and loneliness after the cancer,and Adebisi being human.That was a very touching gesture on his part,almost like he understood that Ryan would feel exposed and weak after the cancer treatments.
I tend to like stories that deal with the human side of Adebise,because the show didn't ecxplore that too much.
And it does make sense that Ryan could find himself responding to that(as well as Adebisi's physical attributes!)
"He felt safe and cared for"-I felt a tug at my heart at that.
And my heart broke when he put the hat in the trunk after wearing it for the last time after Adebisi was killed.Next to Gloria's stethoscope,because they both signified people that had cared or comforted him,and they were either unattainable or gone.
This was beautiful,thank you1