Chapter Text
It was an early August morning, the sun peeking over the horizon, the cool morning breeze cutting through the evening heat, the ground wet with dew dotting every blade of grass. Adam was leaning half against the Hondayota and half into Ronan, their arms around each other, chins hooked over shoulders, content to hold on for as long as they had left. Adam was leaving for Harvard.
They originally said they weren't going to say goodbye like this, but Ronan didn't sleep last night and when Adam came down the stairs in the morning and saw him at the kitchen table, he felt the tears begin to well up. He had done a pretty good job keeping them away, until now.
Ronan moved to step back, but Adam clung onto him. "Adam," he said with a laugh, squeezing him tight.
"I know, just," Adam trailed off, closing his eyes. "Just another minute."
Ronan settled back into his arms and hummed. "I don't think this is making it any easier."
"Shut up."
"You're finally fucking doing it," Ronan said, turning his head to press a kiss to Adam's ear. "You worked your ass off and you fucking did it."
"I know," Adam's breath caught and he shut his mouth quickly, looking up at the sky, fighting the tears. He tried again, "I'm coming back."
"I know," Ronan replied firmly. "And you'll let me know when I can come up to see you."
"I will." They stood in silence again, enjoying the sound of the breeze and the animals far off in the barns. Adam tried to commit all of this to memory. The sounds, the smells, the idyllic summer at the Barns. The feeling of his cheek pressed against Ronan's.
"So you really think this piece of shit is going to get you all the way to Harvard?" Ronan managed to kick a foot out at one of the tires.
"Yeah." Adam leaned back and pressed his forehead to Ronan's, closing his eyes.
"You sure you don't want me to drive you?"
Adam kissed him. With their arms still wrapped around each other, kept close, it was just a firm press of lips, a promise, a thank you, a complicated mix of emotions that Adam hadn't even sorted out yet, but that had been bubbling to the surface for months and was about ready to boil over.
They kissed, again and again, meeting over and over between them hoping the actions would convey the bittersweetness of the morning, desperate to share what their words could not. It was clumsy, lips and tongues and teeth, it was more it wasn't enough, it was... wet.
Ronan pulled back, cupping Adam's cheeks, brushing away tears with his thumbs. Adam could see Ronan's tear-filled gaze looking back at him.
"We said no crying," Adam managed with a watery laugh.
"I'm not crying, you're crying."