itinere | open

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[ OPEN ]

The newly opened mechanics shop in Itinere might not look like much from the outside looking in. But one should never judge a book by its cover. Adam Parrish has never met a broken thing that he didn't know how to fix. He was a tinkerer, a repair man, a fixer of most things. He was the Magician. Inside, one only needed to glance around to find items of all sorts from motorbikes to radios, from lamps to engines, from heating and cooling units to bicycles. Things came into Parrish's Garage and they always left repaired. Given the recent cold snap and snow, there were space heaters littered about the space since the large garage door was open to allow customers in. Music was playing from a radio that looked like it came from ancient times. The boy inside was busily hunched over one project or another. Anyone was welcome to disturb him.

[ CLOSED to RONAN LYNCH ]

The snow was an unexpected surprise. Adam had noticed the strangeness about it, the fact that it continued and continued to snow and yet it never piled up more than what would be appropriate on the front of a Christmas card or in a Norman Rockwell painting. For days since it had started Ronan had been bugging him to go out and go sledding in it. Adam had adamantly refused because getting Adam to do things outside of his comfort zone always took some coercion. For days Ronan hadn't let it rest either mentioning it vicariously or outright until finally Adam caved. Adam always caved when Ronan really seemed to want to do something.

This was how Adam found himself bundled up and out in the cold. He had on a thick coat, a scarf, a wool cap and some snow boots that Ronan had dreamed for him. It was freezing outside and Adam still looked up at the snowfall with a hint of skepticism. He looked down at the trash can lid in Ronan's hand and shook his head. "Okay, nope. That's not a sled." He proceeds to turn on his heel and start back to the apartment building.

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At first Adam wasn't sure what he was hearing. But as he realized that it was Ronan laughing he fell back into the snow. He couldn't decide whether to be pissed off or whether to be laughing too. For a bit he just laid there and looked up at the snow falling from the sky. He'd swallowed a mouthful of it in the fall. And he guessed that, in itself, was funny.

Adam Parrish laughed too.

Not only did he laugh, he got up to his knees, wadded up a baseball size ball of snow and lugged it at Ronan. Somehow, he hit him directly in the face. His laughter stopped. And he immediately felt bad. "Oh uh... I meant to..."

He'd just hit Ronan Lynch in the face with a snowball. This was where anyone with any smarts would turn tail and run. Adam Parrish was very smart. "Crap." He got up to his feet and ran.

The laugh was good. The laugh meant that Adam wasn't hurt, that he had actually enjoyed himself despite the disastrous ending, but let's be real. Ronan had known this was how the sled ride was going to end. This was how all sled rides ended.

There was a moment of stunned silence when Adam hit him in the face with a snowball. No one in Henrietta had the courage to hit Ronan Lynch in the face with anything. After that moment's pause, Ronan grabbed a handful of snow, bolted upright and threw it at Adam, hitting him squarely in the back. He continued lurching to his feet and ran after Adam, culminating in throwing his body at Adam in a tackle that would send them both to the ground if Adam didn't move a little bit quicker.

If Adam knew that Ronan knew that this was how the sled ride would end, Adam would be pissed. But right now he was running for at best: his dignity and at worst: his life. The snow, of course, hindered the speed at which he tried to escape. It was just the right amount of deep that meant a person had to lift their legs up higher to get any movement from step to step. But it was a valiant attempt at fleeing, nonetheless, in spite of the awkward galloping.

First he felt that snow hit him in the back and he yelled back. "I wasn't aiming for your face!" Which, he realized in hindsight did not speak all that highly for his aim. But it was true all the same.

He felt the mass force of Ronan tackling him shortly thereafter. The impact knocked the breath out of him as he fell back into the icy snow face first and skidded forward a bit with Ronan on top of him. There went another handful of snow into his mouth. Adam scrambled, trying to get away. Only now he was starting to smile without really thinking too much about it. No one had the guts to throw a snowball at Ronan Lynch. And Adam had done so. He'd even hit him in the face. He was pretty sure that was enough to keep him happy for a little while at least.

Well Ronan wasn't going to offer that information freely. Honestly, it wasn't going to be all that bad. Ronan was only chasing him because he was running. Adam wasn't anyone that Ronan was ever going to take his anger out on. He'd been someone's punching bag too often in his life.

"We've got to work on your aim then, Parrish," he yelled just before he tackled him.

Ronan wasn't going to let him up. That would ruin all the fun. Instead, he was going to try to flip Adam over on his back. When he does get him on his back, he'll pin him there, a crooked grin on his lips. His face is wet with snow and red with cold. He's lost his beanie and the tips of his fingers in his fingerliess gloves are numb with cold, but this is the happiest Ronan has been in Itinere.

Adam continued to scramble, kicking up snow with his hands, feet and elbows. His mouth was full of the snow that quickly melted to turn into frigid water. It was this that made him allow Ronan to flip him over if just to get his face out of the snow and the snow out of his nostrils mouth and eyes. Of course once he was on his back he had to look up at Ronan, up at that wicked grin on his lips. That grin made Adam's heart skip a beat and his stomach flip-flop inside of him, unsure whether to be enamored by it or terrified by it. Maybe he was a little of both.

He loves seeing Ronan this genuinely happy though. It's like looking down the rabbit hole at some oddity that's so absurd and yet insanely beautiful both in it's uniqueness and in the act itself. It's beautiful. It's difficult to look at. It's hard to look away from it.

Adam is pinned and only just realizes it when he feels a small smile creeping onto his own lips. He's been just lying there in the snow looking up at Ronan for too long, he thinks. He swallows hard and schools his features, pushing that almost smile away and trying to wrench himself free. "You're always trying to kill me, Ronan. I wonder why that is?" He's teasing, mostly.

Most of the snow was clear of Ronan's face by now, but not before he'd swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of it, once in the landing and once when Adam threw the snowball at his face. Enamored and terrified were the best possible options as ar as Ronan was concerned. He was accustomed to people being terrified of him and he figured it was all right if the two went hand in hand.

It's not often that it happens and it likely won't last terribly long simply because it is Ronan and he has difficulties with happiness. However, right now he is happy, and he's aware that most of that is Adam's doing. He's entirely uncertain how he feels about that, but as happiness is such a rarity with Ronan, he's not in the habit of turning away from things that make him happy just because they're unexpected. That is, after all, how the Pig ended up wrecked.

Ronan sees that smile and it adds fuel to his own happiness. He's been around Adam long enough to know that smiles, even small ones, are rare with Adam. He's not generally a happy boy (and that's part of the reason he's attracted to him) but when he is happy, it's a thing that makes Ronan proud, a thing that makes his own heart flutter a little harder in his chest, makes it a little more difficult to breathe. He also sees how Adam pushes that smile away and attributes it to Adam still not entirely comfortable with whatever the hell is going on between them. He smirks at Adam's words. "According one really fucking gay playwright we kill the things we love the most."

Yeah, Ronan had just said he loved Adam. He'd leave it up to Adam to decide how he meant that and he wouldn't ponder too long on it himself. He'd thought about following it up with a reminder that he regularly 'tried' to kill Noah, it just didn't take since Noah was already dead, but he didn't want Adam to feel less special and he's afraid that's exactly what following it up with anything about killing Noah would do.

Edited (because I hit enter too fast 'cause I wanted you to be able to squeal before you went to bed) 2014-12-29 04:08 (UTC)

There are those rare moments in life when time seems to stand still. Adam had experienced it a few times and it had never been for anything good. Time stood still each time he knew his father was about to beat the shit out of him. Time stood still the when Gansey had gone to speak to Blue on his behalf. Time stood still when Adam lay bruised and beaten, couldn't hear out of one ear and had to choose between his parents and saving Ronan from arrest. Time stood still when he had first had a vision of Gansey dead in Cabeswater. Time stood still when he knew that Persephone was dead.

Time stood still now as he tried to digest what Ronan had just said. Why was time standing still when it was such a perfect moment? Maybe Adam just wasn't used to perfect moments, or good moments, or anything good at all. Had Ronan really meant that? In Adam's experience, Ronan didn't say things he didn't mean.

"Oscar Wilde wasn't..." But then he was. Adam knew that. And the more he thought about the quote and the one who penned it, the more Adam thought that Ronan was much more of a genius than he let on to most people. "Oh. Yeah, he was, I guess." Did it really matter? Ronan had just as good as said that he loved him. Adam was terrified. He felt on cloud nine. He didn't know how to react to it.

Adam Parrish was lovable. Adam Parrish was lovable to someone like Ronan Lynch.

He smirked, that grin he had pushed away moments before showing itself again, more mild, more timid, more shy in nature than before. And perhaps more genuine too as Adam was suddenly unguarded in light of his surprise. "Then I guess I don't mind so much." He finally admits. "The trying to kill me, I mean."

For Ronan, the only time he'd ever experienced the feeling of time standing still had been at The Barns, or in a dream. Most of the time when bad things happened, time seemed to spool out too quickly for Ronan. However, his experiences and Adam's were vastly different, particularly their childhoods. He was simply grateful right now that time wasn't spooling out too quickly so that he could enjoy every second of this moment.

No, Ronan didn't say things he didn't mean. He didn't lie and he didn't say things that he didn't mean.

He kept his silence while Adam worked through what he'd said, quantified it and processed it, giving him a chance to figure it out for himself. "Went to prison for it." No, it probably didn't matter. By the same token, Ronan was terrified, even if it didn't show. He'd veiled his emotions in another person's words, but they were still his emotions and he'd exposed them to Adam. He didn't often expose his emotions. It could blow up in his face. He tried to be prepared for that, knowing that Adam was still uncertain about everything. He wouldn't feel good about what he'd said until he'd processed Adam's reaction.

As Ronan would put it, no shit.

The grin was a decent enough reaction. It put Ronan a bit at ease. It wasn't Adam shoving him away, or telling him to get off him. That was definitely a reaction Ronan could deal with. He smirked at Adam's words, still hovering above him in the snow. It took him a moment to respond and when he did it was almost obvious that he had no idea what he was doing either. "Good damn deal 'cause I'm not planning on quitting anytime soon." Trying to kill him or loving him. Maybe both.

There was a long period here where Adam just looked up at Ronan. The silence drew out where it could have been awkward or uncomfortable. Adam didn't feel either of those things though. Instead, he just wanted to say everything to Ronan all of a sudden. Words wanted to gush out of him about how he felt and what he was thinking. At first it was so overwhelming that it was just too many words to process for him to pick and choose what to say.

It took him a long time to settle on one thing. An admission that he would never have said without some assistance. Of course, he has no idea that he's being assisted by the magical snow right now. "I can't believe that you like me. I mean sometimes it's okay and I get it. But other times I know you could have anyone and you like me and I don't get it because I'm... me."

Adam Parrish had spent most of his life being told he was nothing, being called every name in the book and accepting it as truth. And then Aglionby had happened and he kept thinking if he just kept fighting to be better than the people in that trailer park, to be better than his parents, that someday he wouldn't be those awful things he had been called. And then he had friends who liked him and believed in him in ways he had never been liked and believed in before. Adam tried so hard to measure up, to not let them see how awful he was. The fact that Ronan Lynch liked him? It seemed so far out of the realm of possibilities...

"What if you decide you don't like me anymore? What if I do something to make you quit...?" Quit trying to kill him or love him. Maybe both. Adam didn't think he would be able to handle it. The thought was terrifying.

Normally, Ronan would have made it awkward. He would have shot off with some sort of smart ass comment, but today he simply let the moment lie without feeling the need to destroy it. He was feeling the same sort of desire to actually use words and emote about his feelings.

"The fuck's not to like, Adam?" The words came out of Ronan's mouth brutal and brash, as if the truth so unvarnished had been ripped from him. It's something he wouldn't have ever phrased that way without some sort of assistance. "Have you met everyone else at Aglionby? Everyone else in Henrietta? They're Gansey or douchebags." He scowled and pushed himself up to sit in the snow, hands scrubbing over his head. "You're smart and you listen. You pay attention and you're different."

He snorted at Adam's question. "What? Like become a completely different person? You changed when you jumped in the ley line and I just liked you more." Later he'd want to kick his own ass for being so honest, for using so many words and opening himself up to all of this.

When Ronan asked what the fuck was not to like, Adam merely gave him an exasperated look that said 'really?'. To Adam, the answer was obvious. Too obvious. So obvious that he was ashamed of it and wouldn't be listing all of his faults out loud. He only counted them in his mind over and over again where no one could see or hear or judge him for them. No way was he going to shoot himself in the foot with Ronan by listing them all out loud.

Adam pushed himself to sit up when Ronan rolled off of him to sit in the snow. He listened. While Adam prided himself on being less Aglionby than most Aglionby boys, he could also easily be embarrassed by the fact, especially at Aglionby. It was a strange dichotomy of emotions over want and wishes and hopes and the reality of Adam Parrish being Adam Parrish.

He ruffled a hand through his hair to get the snow out of it, leaving it even more messy than normal as he looked around for his hat that he seemed to have lost somewhere along the way. "I started noticing it even before that, before the ley lines, the way you sometimes looked at me when you thought I didn't notice. The way you would just show up when I felt so alone that I might suffocate and die and no one would be there to see it. It was like you knew and you were there. And the way you always touch me. No one's ever touched me as much as you have, romantic or not. At least, not without jerking me around and beating me up. I noticed even if I didn't accept it or see it for what it was until later. And even then... crap, I'm talking a lot. Tell me to shut up."

Ronan rolled his eyes at that exasperated look. He might be more inclined to speak right now than usual, but that didn't mean he was going to be a chatterbox. Besides, Adam's look deserved a look of his own. Like Ronan didn't know Adam's faults? He just didn't see most of them as faults, or he didn't see them as a reason not to like him.

There was less Aglionby according to Adam and less Aglionby according to Ronan. They were two different things. Ronan meant it as a compliment. He couldn't stand most of the boys at Aglionby, forget caring about them.

Ronan watched Adam with that intense stare of his, eyes flickering to Adam's hair and back to his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, entirely absorbed by watching Adam. It might have, for a moment, seemed as if he hadn't heard what Adam had said.

In fact, it was possible to believe that Ronan hadn't heard Adam even when he did respond. He leaned back into Adam, his lips crushing against Adam's. HIs hand went to the back of Adam's neck.

He was just complying with Adam's request.

Adam would have felt a little bit relieved that Ronan hadn't listened to a word he said, because he knew he was saying entirely too many of them. Especially in comparison to Ronan's lack of them. But he couldn't seem to stop them. He wanted to keep talking and tell Ronan how he felt. But he also didn't want to do that at all. He wanted to shut the fuck up and run and hide. So when Ronan stayed quiet and just stared at him, he was so gracious about it, and he also got really pissed off at Ronan for it. A part of him wanted to say thank you. A part of him wanted to yell at Ronan to say something!

Instead, Ronan came closer so that Adam moved backward just a fraction of an inch with the unexpected of it. Then he was being kissed and Adam was okay with that. More than okay with that. He didn't care that he was sitting in the snow, that his hair was a mess, that he'd lost a good ski cap or that Ronan wasn't saying anything. All of that sort of melted into the background as unimportant things when Ronan kissed him like this.

That hand at the back of his neck was both freezing and warm at the same time. Adam grasped either side of Ronan's waist to hold on to something and steady himself. Then his lips parted and he leaned into the kiss. He would never get tired of Ronan Lynch kissing him. He wanted to bottle it up so he could put it in the cereal box that held all of his most precious things that he only took out to look at and examine when no one was watching. Ronan Lynch was one of those precious things. Not only was that a realization to him that he would have to look further into, but he was so glad Ronan was kissing him when it had occurred to him. That way he couldn't let the words spill out of his mouth unchecked.

Oh, Ronan had heard every. single. word. He just hadn't reacted to them; he'd been too focused on Adam, on his face, on the way he smelled and felt, on the way he looked and on the words he said. It was simply possible to believe that he hadn't heard the words because he hadn't responded to them in any vocal way.

Eventually, Ronan would probably realize they were both getting wet and cold, but for the moment he was too wrapped up in kissing Adam, too wrapped up in the way that Adam tasted and felt against him. Everything was unimportant in the wake of this kiss, including it seemed breathing.

When Adam responded and started kissing Ronan back, he went still for a moment, his heart thudding in his chest. When he did respond to Adam kissing him back, it was searing. He couldn't get enough of Adam's lips or his hands, the way he pressed his body against Adam's. He only broke the kiss when his chest burned with the need for air. he leaned his forehead against Adam's cheek, breathing ragged and hot against Adam's skin. His knee was between Adam's legs, not quite pressed up against him, but close. He supported himself with one elbow, half his weight against Adam.

"We should go home. Get into some dry clothes. I wish we had a fucking shower."

The words were as ragged as his breath.

The most embarrassing moment came when Adam lifted his hips up, not a movement he thought out, just one that his body knew it wanted. He was seeking something to grind himself against and right then was when the kiss broke and Adam was left wanting. Then he realized what he had just done and how his body reacted to Ronan on top of him and kissing him at all, let alone like that. Adam gasped for air, closing his eyes and hoping Ronan hadn't noticed what he'd done.

He could still feel Ronan's breath warm against his cheek and Adam was glad that Ronan couldn't see the flush of embarrassment in his skin. Adam turned his head in, breathing in the cool air over the side of Ronan's shaved head. "Dream us a shower." He said softly, his breath fluttering against his skin.

"I don't wanna move. I like you this close right now." More words. But it was the truth of how he felt. Moving meant Ronan would move away from him. Of course, he immediately shivered from the cold, his heavy breath visible in the air.

It shouldn't have been embarrassing; Ronan had noticed. It was one reason he'd stayed close. His own body had reacted the same way to the kiss and Ronan really didn't want to pull away just yet. It would be very clear how kissing Adam had affected him so he stayed close and still, warm and content in the knowledge that Adam did want him, even if he was still confused by it.

He shivered at Adam's breath over his head, down his neck and swallowed hard, breath momentarily taken away by the idea of dreaming a shower, by the knowledge of what that dream would probably be like. "Maybe I will," he responded, struggling against pressing harder against Adam (and thus cluing Adam into just how this was affecting him). "I should probably warn you, that's going to be some dream." He's had dreams like that of Adam before, but never with Adam in the bed with him.

At Adam's words, Ronan quit struggling to be so still and pressed against Adam, lips finding that spot just below his ear, grinding against Adam's hip. "Yeah, but we could go do this inside on the couch."

Because the bed was far too much of a temptation right now.

Adam had to smirk initially when Ronan implied that he would enjoy that dream. That is until his face flushed even more once he actually thought about Ronan dreaming about a shower for them and what that would entail. Adam's mind couldn't help but go there too. Of course in his version the shower was tiny like in the trailer where he had grown up with barely enough room to move in and sometimes with cold water when the hot water was frozen or broken. He and Ronan together would never be able to fit into that shower. And that thought affects him too, being with Ronan in a shower.

When Ronan pressed against him, Adam just barely stifled whatever the hell sound that was trying to make its way out of his throat. Instead it was a whispered, confusing thing, like an exhale of air through a tight throat. Yes, he could feel that Ronan was in the same state that he was. Adam couldn't decide whether to be glad for that or afraid of it. He suddenly imagined the pair of them inside in this same position on the couch.

"Yeah. Okay. Inside." Maybe getting up and putting some distance between him and Ronan to walk to their apartment would help him feel less confused about what he was feeling right now. All he knew was that he was extremely turned on by Ronan Lynch right now and he had no idea what to do about it. "Help me up?"

Ronan watched Adam's reactions play over his face, trying to decide what it meant: should he stay in bed to dream the shower? Despite what potentially embarrassing effects it may create. Or should he go dream locked in the bathroom just to be safe? The shower was not going to be tiny nor would the water be cold. Ronan was certain of that. There would be plenty of room for both of them--and Christ on a cracker. There was no doubt that dream was going to end up messy and embarrassing for Ronan, and he probably wouldn't even be able to hide it since he and Adam usually ended up tangled up in each other before the night was over.

Yeah, that sound didn't make this any easier on Ronan. His bit his own lip and let loose a combination curse that was elegant and multi-layered in the way that only Ronan could execute. It was safe to say Ronan was imagining the same thing.

At Adam's agreement, Ronan awkwardly pushed himself off Adam, one knee going into the snow before he straightened up and held a hand out to Adam. "You can change in the bedroom. I'll grab something out of the laundry room and start a fire."

With his hand in Ronan's, Adam let him help him up to his feet, easier said than done in the snow. Once he was up, he looked around for his lost ski cap. It was truly lost because it was nowhere in sight. Probably buried in the snow somewhere. "You can dream me a new wool cap too. I liked that one."

He tries to dust off what snow he can. Then he starts walking with Ronan back to their apartment.

"The fuck. You want to make me a grocery list now," Ronan smirked as he shoved his hands in his pockets and started for the apartment. His shoulders were bunched up against the cold. He looked back at Adam, pausing so that he can catch up with him. He wasn't sure how this was all going to play out or what was going to happen once they got to the apartment. It made him a little nervous to be honest.

Adam had to run a bit to catch up with Ronan because he had lingered just a bit to look for that wool cap to no avail. Once he caught up though his hands were shoved into the pockets of his coat too, feet crunching in the snow. He watched the ground as they walked.

"There's probably a shop somewhere I can find another one." But really, getting Adam to spend money on anything that wasn't an absolute necessity was like asking a cat to bark like a dog. It just wasn't going to happen.

Ronan smirked, shaking his head at Adam's comment. "Long as you can handle the hangover, I can handle the list." There was a reason that Ronan got all the real groceries in the house and order the pizza and the Chinese takeout.

Once they were inside the apartment, Ronan went straight to the laundry room, grabbing up a pair of sweatpants and a black tanktop. He changes out of his wet clothes trying not to think too much about Adam doing the same thing in their bedroom. He's trying not to put too much pressure on this moment, trying not to overthink it, but it's a big deal. That moment out in the snow had been a big deal. The fire is just starting to catch when Adam walks into the room. Ronan turns to look at him, that particular look sweeping across his face, that one that looks like he's devouring Adam with his eyes.

"You look hot." The words slip out from between his lips of their own volition.

Inside the apartment, Adam watched Ronan turn to the laundry room. In fact, he watched until Ronan was out of sight before going to their bedroom. In there he shed his coat, gloves, scarf and the rest of his snow drenched clothes. Make no mistake that snow had gotten everywhere in the same way that sand tended to do when there was an excess of it and one rolled around in it or tumbled down a slope of it, whatever the case may be.

He changed into a pair of sweats and a white tank that Ronan had provided him. Ronan provided him with everything, it seemed. And so if Adam hadn't already had Ronan on his mind (he did because yes something big had just happened between them out in the snow), he would have anyway when he changed clothes. He joked with himself that it might be some big conspiracy by Ronan to make Adam think about him.

Adam walked back into the living room and watched Ronan as he poked at the fire until Ronan noticed him and looked in his direction. Normally this was where Adam would have looked away. But the way in which Ronan looked at him leveled him so that Adam couldn't look away. He lifted his hand and scratched at the back of his head over his messy, dirt colored hair. Three words shouldn't make his chest feel tight and his heart skip a beat. But they did.

"Thanks." Adam said. "So do you." Normally Adam might have stammered and awkwardly side-stepped whatever Ronan said to him like that. But for some reason, the honesty was just tossed right back at Ronan. And that left Adam reeling. "I mean... you... you know. Hot as in good." His lips thinned as he pressed them together to keep himself from saying anything else.

Ronan could feel Adam's eyes on him and it was a new experience (either being watched by Adam or being able to feel his gaze on him; he's not sure which). It was something that he liked. Ronan was equally as drenched; he'd had to drape everything over the counters for fear of it mildewing if he left it in a pile on the floor.

It wasn't necessarily a conspiracy so much as it was a knowledge that Adam wouldn't buy clothes for himself and Adam needed clothes. He needed clothes to lay around in, to sleep in. He needed clothes to wear out when he and Adam went to do things. He even needed old tee shirts and jeans to work in. They'd both come here with the clothes on their back and little else. He tried to make sure that the things he dreamed (or picked up in the shops) were Adam's style and it spoke to his attention to detail (or to the intensity he watched Adam with) that most of the time he succeeded. If that made Adam think of Ronan, well...so be it.

It was different that Adam didn't look away and Ronan wasn't certain whether it was because of something he was doing or because of what had happened in the snow. Yes, they'd kissed before here but out in the snow they'd been making out. There was a difference and not only had they been making out, they'd come back here to do it again. Maybe that shift had given Adam the confidence to look at him. He didn't know. Ronan pressed his lips together watching Adam.

Ronan smirked at Adam's words, shaking his head at the compliment. "I think you're the first person to tell me that." Most people thought Ronan was too sharp, too dangerous looking. Everything about him was a warning to back off, to keep their distance. That took precedence in their minds over the fact that he had been blessed with the Lynch good looks. He took a step toward Adam, bare feet silent on the wood floor.

"I thought that the first day I noticed you, that you were hot, in Latin class. You knew the answer. No one in Latin but me has known the answer...ever."

Ronan had done better than him. In the name of getting back to Ronan more quickly, Adam had left all of his things in a pile on the floor in their bedroom. He probably should have brought it into the laundry room but well, it would mildew on their floor because he was a boy who liked another boy and wanted to be where that other boy was.

Who could look away from an intense stare like that? Adam couldn't. And didn't until Ronan finally spoke. Once Ronan spoke it did something to break the spell and Adam looked away and moved in closer to the fire. He knelt in front of it, a foot or so away from Ronan. "I can't believe no one's ever told you that." He says. Not girls who didn't know Ronan liked boys? Not boys who noticed Ronan liked boys? Not Kavinsky? "You're you."

Adam stared into the fire, focusing intently on it now. But he could feel Ronan next to him, close, just as warm as any fire. He smirks. "You didn't even know who I was until Gansey dragged me to Monmouth like a lost puppy he found." Adam joked, waiting for Ronan to joke with him. But when he doesn't, Adam realizes that Ronan was telling the truth.

Adam remembered his first few weeks in Aglionby, how nervous he had been, how much less than others he felt. But he had studied so hard and worked ten times harder than an of the others to be as good as, better than, perfect. "Well... I studied a lot."

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