Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

There weren’t any Lost Boys posters on Ronan’s walls, but there was a photo on his nightstand of him in full Dracula garb on Halloween, with Blue dressed like a psychic from a film, silks and all, pressed to his side, Gansey in a disturbingly real looking suit of armour standing behind him, and Noah in a wolf mask and a letterman’s jacket on his other side. The looks on all their faces told Adam that they knew what they were doing and they were heavily enjoying the irony of it all.

Other than that, Ronan’s room was a very average teenage boy experience. His closet doors hung open to reveal a mess of boots at the bottom and rows of purely black clothes. A single cowboy boot lay overturned in the corner, and an empty birdcage sat on his dresser, with a dead-eyed Furby locked securely inside it.

“What’s that about?” Adam asked, raising his eyebrows and gesturing to the Furby.

“I might be a night-stalking blood-drinker-” Ronan said, fixing the Furby with a look of malice, “-but those things creep me the fuck out. But Matthew got it for me, so I can’t throw it away.”

Adam laughed and continued to snoop around Ronan’s room when Ronan showed no signs of telling him to stop.

He had a shelf full of DVDs ranging from Moulin Rouge! to some foreign art horror that Adam had never heard of. There was an impressive looking sound system taking up most of his desk, and the sort of CD organiser that was really popular in the 00s stood beside it. Adam crouched down to look through some of them, and found they were mainly electronica artists that Adam had heard of in passing but never hated himself enough to listen to.

He stood up, and saw that Ronan had sat on the edge of the bed, watching him intently.

Slightly self-consciously, Adam shifted on his feet, “What?”

Ronan shook his head, “Nothing. You’re just -”

He didn’t continue that sentence. Just got up off the edge of the bed and pressed a cool, gentle kiss to Adam’s lips.

Adam pulled away, letting his fingertips rest on Ronan’s cold chest for a moment. Something was gnawing on him.

“Do you know why Persephone adopted me?” He asked.

“You don’t need to do the truth-for-a-truth thing, man.” Ronan said, “I’m not expecting your sob story just because I told you mine.”

“I’m gonna tell you anyway.” Adam said, “Sit?”

They sat on the edge of the bed. Adam gazed through the window opposite the bed, out onto the rolling fields of the Barns property.

“You know I used to live in Virginia.”

Ronan nodded.

“More accurately, I used to-” He swallowed down the lump in his throat that always arose when he talked about his past, “- I used to live in a trailer park. My father wasn’t a good man. He beat me. And my mom, but mainly me. That’s how I lost my hearing in my left ear. Burst eardrum from falling down the stairs after a punch.”

His voice was remote, detached, like he was narrating a documentary on the flaws of parental guidance and not telling Ronan the story of his life.

“I worked three jobs, and he took all that money to pay for his drinking habits and then would blame me when we couldn’t pay the bills, like it was my fault.” He rubbed his thumb over his knuckles, a soothing gesture, “My mom didn’t do anything to stop him, and she didn’t do anything to stop me when I stumbled, bleeding, onto Persephone’s property.”

Ronan’s arm wound around his shoulders, a comforting, albeit cold , presence.

“Persephone didn’t ask any questions - I mean, she probably already knew. She just cleaned me up and took me to the hospital and helped me press charges.” He looked at Ronan from the corner of his eye, unable to look at him full-frontal just yet, “Both my parents are in jail now. For abuse and negligence.”

Something about Ronan was tense, but he didn’t say any of the usual platitudes that councillors had tried on him when he was going through court proceedings. There was no I’m sorry that happened to you , and there was no no child should have to go through what you went though , and there was no you’re safe now , which Adam had always found the most laughable of all those empty sentiments.

Ronan just said, “Okay. Thank you for telling me.” And pressed his cool lips to Adam’s temple, soft and gentle and so tender . No one had been tender with Adam in his entire life.

Adam didn’t want to think about his parents anymore, and he didn’t want to think about Ronan being in such a dark place that he tried to commit suicide, so he lay back on Ronan’s bed and stared up at the ceiling. A few seconds later, Ronan joined him, curling easily into his side.

Adam tilted his head so he could kiss Ronan, making up for the kiss he’d broken before.

He had no idea how long they stayed like that, lying together, trading lazy kisses back and forth, Ronan’s fingers tracing Adam’s ribs through his shirt, Adam’s hand heavy and hot on Ronan’s hip. Long enough for the shadows to lengthen and the sky to darken. It had been - not exactly sunny , but the clouds had been lighter, enough that Ronan’s skin would catch odd beams of light and burn faintly, so extraordinarily beautiful that it made Adam’s chest ache.

There was a knock on the door and, not even a second later, Matthew burst through the door.

“Matty.” Ronan said, twisted away from Adam’s mouth, just to Adam’s displeasure, “What did we say about knocking?”

Matthew paused in the doorway, staring up at the ceiling to give them some semblance of privacy, “I did knock.”

“You’re supposed to wait until I tell you to come in, dingbat.”

“Oh, yeah!” Matthew grinned, “I’ll do it again.”

He closed the door and knocked again.

Ronan rolled his eyes, a fond smile playing at his lips, and sat up so it wasn’t immediately obvious what he and Adam had been doing, even though anyone who had half a brain in them would look at Adam’s wide pupils and sucked-on lips and know , “Come in, Matty.”

Matthew bounded into the room, a bright grin on his face, “Hi Adam. Hi Ronan.”

Adam waved. He was sure his cheeks were flushed from having Ronan’s mouth on his mere seconds ago and was desperately trying to cool them by sheer force of will.

“What do you want, Matthew?” Ronan said, a lot more kindly than he would’ve done if he had been talking to anyone else.

“Mom just got a call from Fox Way.” Matthew said excitedly. Adam raised his eyebrows and pushed himself up into a sitting position, “It’s supposed to thunderstorm in about an hour.”

The effect the words had on Ronan was immediate. A slow grin spread across his face, “No shit. Really?”

Matthew nodded. He was practically jumping up and down with excitement, “A ninety seven percent chance. According to Jimi. But she also says she’s bad at numbers, so I don’t know if she was lying to me.”

He frowned, but it was one of confusion.

Adam looked between them confused, “What’s this about a thunderstorm?”

Ronan’s arm looped around his waist and pulled him closed until their sides were pressed together. He said to Matthew, “Go call everyone up and tell them.”

Matthew bounced out of the room.

Ronan pressed his forehead to Adam’s, grinning loosely and triumphantly, “You wanna watch something fucking sick, Parrish?”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh in the face of Ronan’s open, boyish delight. He actually seemed his age for once, instead of aged prematurely, “Sure I would.”

Ronan surged forward to kiss him, laughing into his mouth when Adam shrieked and fell backwards because of the force of it.

Ronan drew back and looked Adam up and down, leaving Adam’s skin feeling hot all over, “You should probably go home and change. Into something warm. And probably waterproof.”

“Are you coming with me?”

“I’ll drive you home.” Ronan said, leaning in again to press another kiss to Adam’s lips, and then to the corner of his mouth, and then trailing up to his cheekbone, “But you’ll have to drive back yourself. I can’t fit your entire coven in my car.”

Adam snorted, “They’re not a coven .”

“No, sorry, they’re just a houseful of psychics that live together in one place and rely on each other to do magic.” Ronan pressed a kiss to Adam’s temple, “Nothing like a coven.”

“Whatever.” Adam pushed him lightly in the chest and Ronan reeled backwards, “Let’s get in the car.”

Ronan continued to not tell him what was going on as he drove Adam home. Eventually, Adam gave up asking. It was only an hour, or so Matthew said, and he’d find out then. Still, it bugged him to not be able to be excited about something Ronan was so clearly champing at the bit to do. It was nice to see him that enthusiastic, and Adam only wished he could share it.

As soon as Adam was out of the car, Ronan sped off to prepare for whatever it was that they were going to do, leaving no remnants of himself other than a ghosted touch across Adam’s knuckles.

Calla, Maura and Persephone were already waiting by the front door. Calla leaned heavily on a big golf umbrella, and Persephone had covered her fantastical outfit in a clear poncho.

“Hurry up.” Calla snapped at him, though she was snapping for the sake of snapping and not actually mad at him, “We don’t want to miss it.”

It. Great. They weren’t going to tell him what was up, either.

He passed Blue on the stairs, and only had time to frown at the jersey she was wearing like a dress (paired, of course, with baggy leg warmers over her boots and a big coat that eclipsed her entire head when she pulled the hood up) before she disappeared to join her mother and aunts by the front door.

He changed quickly, because he doubted he’d be forgiven if he didn’t, into warm, insulated joggers that Persephone had gotten him as a gift when they’d moved to Forks. He threw a sweater on, and then pulled his arms through the sleeves of his jacket. Warm, certainly. And the jacket was mainly waterproof. Maybe he could sneak under the umbrella with Calla.

They were in his car waiting for him when he got downstairs.

“You’re all too impatient.” Adam said, climbing in the driver’s side. The Hondayota groaned under his weight - there was no way it was meant to carry five people. At least, since none of the three psychics in the car had had a vision about it breaking down in the middle of the highway, he would still have a car after today.

“You were taking too long.” Calla dismissed. She was sitting behind him, with her bony knees sticking into his back. Persephone took the passenger side, because her and her large hair and larger dresses took up the most space. Blue had been, predictably, shoved into the middle spot because she took up the least space, and Maura sat behind Persephone, “Now drive.”

Adam rolled his eyes at her impatient tone and started driving. It took a lot longer to get to the Barns than it had when Ronan was driving, because the Hondayota could only get up to sixty on a good day, and that was without four extra passengers.

He nearly missed the turning hidden by the trees, but Persephone touched his shoulder and said, “There.” In her tiny voice.

Ronan was waiting for them outside, a positively huge smile on his face. He’d changed his jeans into track pants and his boots into black Chuck Taylor’s. He was wearing an honest-to-God jersey , one Adam was willing to bet had his name on the back.

The clown car full of psychics, Blue, and Adam emptied out easily, and Ronan immediately came up to Adam to pull him into his arms.

“What are you thinking?” Ronan asked, easily ignoring the eyes on them. Well, Calla and Maura’s eyes, unashamedly. Blue, out of the corner of her eye because she’d never seen them be that affectionate in public. Persephone didn’t care at all, and was poking about through a few curling ferns.

“I’m thinking that it’s frustrating that you’re not telling me what’s happening.” Adam said, and glared over Ronan’s shoulders at his nosy family members until everyone but a sneering Calla looked away. Good enough, he supposed. He ducked down to kiss Ronan chastely, “And I’m slightly worried I’m about to be sacrificed.”

There was a general smattering of laughter. Blue shot him a smug little smile as he disengaged himself from Ronan’s arms, “You caught us. Prepare to lie down in a pentagram and be soaked in cat blood.”

“Not my ideal Saturday night plans, but okay.”

Ronan snorted and took Adam by the hand, guiding him easily into the forest. Adam looked doubtfully at him but followed when everyone else did.

It wasn’t a long walk until they all emerged on the other side of the forest that seemed to ring the Barns property in perpetuity. The trees thinned to reveal a wide clearing double the size of the SuperBowl stadium.

A thin, pale streak that Adam’s slow, human eyes had to work overtime to recognise as Declan darted up and down the field, piling dirt into mounds and drawing white lines.

A laugh startled out of Adam and he wheeled to his boyfriend, “The big great secret is that you’re playing baseball ?”

“No, the great secret is that we’re a bunch of mega-fast, mega-strong supernatural creatures and we’re all playing baseball.” Ronan paused, “But yeah, essentially the secret is baseball.”

Adam trailed his eyes, slow and purposeful, down Ronan’s body, “Didn’t take you for a baseball kind of guy, Lynch.”

Ronan said, a little breathlessly, “Great American pastime.”

Adam stepped forward to run his finger under the collar of Ronan’s jersey, fingertip trailing along smooth marble skin, “You aren’t even American.”

“Details.”

“Most normal people don’t play baseball in a thunderstorm.”

“Good thing we aren’t normal people, then.” Ronan flashed him a grin, not elaborating further.

Adam would have argued further with him about the semantics of his sentence and lack of ability to answer a question, but then something occurred to him.

“Wait,” He said, brain catching up fully to what Ronan had said last, “Did you say creature s ? Plural? As in, there is more than one type of creature?”

“You know what, Sherlock? You are unbelievable.” Ronan said, gently teasing, “How do you do it?”

Adam shoved his shoulder lightly. It hurt his hand a little bit, but he refused to show it, “Fuck off. Answer the question.”

Ronan gave him a long look, “You should swear more, Parrish.”

Behind them, Blue made a retching noise that made Ronan stick his middle finger up at her.

“Gross.” She said, and then pretended to retch again, “Go flirt somewhere else.”

“This,” Ronan said, a little smugly, “Is payback for all those times I’ve had to hear you and Gansey thinking sappy fucking thoughts at each other.”

From across the field, Aurora Lynch called, “Language!”

“Sorry, Ma!” Ronan yelled back, and then glared heartily at Blue, who had sniggered to herself.

A great rumbling sounded from behind the trees, and all their heads snapped up at the instantly recognisable sound. To be fair, any resident of Forks could have recognised that sound. It most likely haunted their dreams, a lurid red-orange Camaro with an engine that sounded like a jet plane taking off.

“Prepare to hear more ‘sappy fucking thoughts’ Lynch.” Blue said, glaring daggers at Ronan but unable to keep a straight face, “I’m going to think them so hard that you’ll keel over from psychic shock.”

He raised his middle finger at her again, “Sit and spin, maggot.”

She made a wordless scoffing sound and huffed off in the direction of the trees to meet Gansey in the middle.

Adam remembered, having been caught up in Ronan’s world a little bit there, that Maura, Calla and Persephone had been with them, and had likely heard a little to most of that conversation.

Abruptly, he was nervous to introduce them to Ronan. Sure, they’d most likely met, if they called his house to tell them about the thunderstorm, but it was an entirely different and new thing to introduce Ronan as his boyfriend .

Steeling himself, he took Ronan’s hand and turned to the three women that had quickly become his surrogate mothers.

Calla’s eyebrow spiked dangerously toward her hairline, but the only motion her eyebrows seemed capable of doing were dangerous ones, so Adam wasn’t particularly concerned. Still, he could feel his heart beating quickly in his chest. Persephone’s expression stayed the same mildly interested neutral that it always was. Maura looked honest and open and encouraging and only mildly judgemental, which was good. You know, for her.

“Maura, Calla, Persephone.” He said, keeping his voice steady and not affected by the nerves rattling through his system, “You know Ronan. My boyfriend.”

He’s abruptly very aware of how adolescent and foolish he’s acting. These were three grown women, and they’re technically not even family (though family had never really been about blood relation at Fox Way) and he shouldn’t be feeling like a freshman taking his first girlfriend to the homecoming dance. Persephone and Calla wouldn’t care . Sure, Calla might prod and poke and sneer at Ronan a little bit, and sure , Maura might ask some questions in the interest of keeping Adam safe and protected, just like she did when Blue and Gansey started dating, but they wouldn't care , not really.

Besides, they likely already knew that Ronan was sneaking into Adam’s attic room sometimes so they could curl up in bed together and watch cosy baking shows. Sometimes Orla even yelled up a greeting. Jimi had once, quite politely, asked Adam the next day why Ronan couldn’t just use the front door.

(Adam had asked that Ronan, once. He knew no one in the house would complain, would likely not even notice one more person in the hordes of them - though they might have noticed another male in a house void of all but one - and Ronan had responded that it took the mystery out of it if he used the front door. Adam had no doubt that he’d continue to use the window not the door even now he’d been introduced to the family.)

Persephone took a few steps forward, giving the distinct impression of floating, with her foaming masses of hair and the many layers of tulle incorporated into her dress. She laid a gentle hand on Ronan’s, looked heavily into his eyes, and nodded.

Ronan blinked rapidly, then said, “Yeah. I will.”

And then Persephone was gone, a pillar of ivory with a butterfly backpack trekking across the field to go and talk to Aurora Lynch.

Maura smiled vaguely at them, eyes trained on the trees Blue had disappeared through, “Good for you, Adam.”

Calla turned to Ronan and eyed him critically. She lifted her lips back from her teeth, a snarl. Her words were hissed through her teeth, practically poison, “Snake.”

Ronan mirrored her snarl easily, accompanying it with a low, animal sound that started somewhere in the pits of his chest and made the hair on the back of Adam’s neck stand on edge. He sneered out, “Psychic.”

Then they exchanged a complicated sort of handshake, and Calla stomped off to go and yell at Declan for where he was marking bases.

Adam turned to Ronan, still holding his hand, “What did Persephone say to you?”

“You picked up on that?” Ronan tilted his head, free hand coming up to lift the leather bands around his wrist to his mouth. Adam wondered, not for the first time, how the things were so damn resilient to withstand being constantly chewed on by a vampire, “You’re a creepily observant little fucker, you know that?”

“Compliments will get you nowhere.” Adam said, tugging on Ronan’s hand to emphasise his point, “Stop trying to change the subject.”

“She asked me not to tell you.”

Adam nodded, knowing no amount of questioning could convince Ronan and his steadfast principles to tell him something told to him in confidence. He knew secrets, and didn’t spill others.

Blue and Gansey walked back into view, holding hands in that slightly awkward way they always had to to make up for the height disparity between them. Ronan was called over by Matthew to run the distance between bases to make sure they were all set up right, much to Declan’s annoyance.

“You’re going to do it just to piss him off, aren’t you?” Adam asked, eyeing the mounds of dirt that made up the bases - much too far apart for any normal human to reasonably sprint.

“Damn right I am.” Ronan said. His eyes darted around for a second before he leaned in to brush his cold lips against Adam’s cheek. He drew back, smiled in a blinding manner that left Adam dazed for a second before he loped off in the direction of his brothers.

Adam watched him go, trying to cool his suddenly skyrocketing pulse, and then turned toward Gansey, greeting him with a fist bump that the other boy always seemed so at-odds with, his cultured breeding clashing with his desire to be just like everyone else.

“Hey. No Noah with you?” He’d expected the last member of their group to be invited as well, but there was no sign of him.

“Oh, Noah’s on his way. Don’t worry.” Blue said, something a little bit guilty in her voice that Adam narrowed his eyes at, “He’s bringing his sisters.”

“Oh.” Adam said, mildly surprised. He’d never met the two Czerny sisters. He knew one was younger than Noah, and one was older, and there was very possibly a third one off in the ether somewhere. Noah seemed to always be talking about his family, but their paths had never intercrossed with the groups, the older sister graduated before Adam arrived, the younger sister not yet in high school.

“They should be here soon.” Blue said, eyes scanning the tree line. Then, suddenly, she said, “Gansey, can I borrow your phone?”

Slightly baffled looking, Gansey slid his sleek, expensive phone from his pocket and thumbed it open before handing it to her.

Blue, like Adam, was a little clumsy handling the mechanics of a phone, but she’d gotten used to them over the last few years of being friends with resident technophobe Ronan Lynch, who refused under any circumstances to even lay a hand on his phone when it wasn’t dire straits. She’d had to learn in order to actually relay important information to him.

She typed for a moment, and then turned the phone toward Adam. After a beat, he realised that she wanted him to take it, so he did and looked down at the white screen. In dark, blocky text, she had typed out: don’t mention Ashley to Declan. They’re exes that like to pretend the other doesn’t exist .

“Which one’s she?” Adam asked, returning Gansey’s phone to him.

“The older one.” Blue responded, intentionally cryptic so none of the three vampires currently arguing about bases (well, two of them were arguing - Aurora just looked on disapprovingly and then intervened before it could go too far) could overhear them with that extra-sensitive hearing of theirs.

A sudden howl cut through the air, and Blue’s guilty expression enhanced a little bit. Adam couldn’t guess why - it’s not like it was the first time any of them had ever heard a wolf howl. There were tons of them in the woods around here. It’s why people always stayed on trails and made sure their friends and family knew where they were going.

“Oh.” Gansey said, absolutely oblivious as always, “They’re here.”

Adam frowned, “ Who's here?”

Guilty edge still in her voice, Blue said, “Noah and his sisters.”

Adam kept frowning as his brain worked frantically to make sense of her nonsensical statement, “What?”

Neither of his friends replied. Further on in the field, all of the Lynches, who had also heard the howl, were all looking expectantly at the trees.

The wolf’s howl.

“Noah and his sisters.”

“They’re here.”

“Oh my God.” Adam said, looking, accusatory, at his friends who were very stridently avoiding his eyes. Gansey worried his bottom lip with his thumb.

Jesus. And Noah always got the weirdest amnesia sometimes, and wouldn’t remember talking to Adam even though he’d only done so earlier in the day. He’d get distant and bordering on snappish (for him), to which Ronan would ask if it was “that time of the month” and Blue would smack his arm.

Oh, God.

“Are all my friends supernatural creatures?” He rounded on Gansey, “Are you going to come out and tell me that you’ve secretly been a potion-brewing, broomstick-riding witch this entire time.”

Gansey’s ears turned pink and he floundered, making aborted little sounds the way he always did when he wanted to explain something but wasn’t sure if he was allowed , “No, but I did die once.”

He chose not to address that for the time being. He didn’t have the brain power.

Adam heard Ronan’s sharp bark of a laugh from across the field.

“Glad you’re finding this funny, Lych.” He muttered, knowing Ronan would hear him.

Ronan appeared suddenly at his side. The only indication that he’d run and not teleported was the air around him being disturbed, lifting up Adam’s hair and floating it around his face.

“We couldn’t tell you.” Ronan said, putting a comforting hand on Adam’s back, “Not our secret. And Noah isn’t physically allowed to. He’ll explain.”

Adam rubbed a hand over his eyes, “God, this town is so strange.”

Everyone’s eyes were still on the forest, so Adam looked there too, just in time to see three wolves prowl out from the treeline. They were big - too big, to be proper wolves. Their backs easily came up to Adam’s shoulder.

The one on the left was the smallest, like it hadn’t finished growing yet, a dirt brown colour shot through with stray bits of black fur. The one in the middle was the largest, a lithe beast that slinked more than it walked, its fur a light snowy white. And there was something oddly familiar about the one on the right, with it’s sandy fur and expressive dark eyes.

It was an odd, almost ineffable thing, to watch the wolves change back into the humans that they truly were. It was like his mind couldn’t comprehend what his eyes were seeing. One moment, there were three wolves. The next, those wolves leaped into the air. Adam became vaguely aware of twisting lings, a grotesque transformation that his brain refused to show him in HD, and then the Czerny siblings were standing in front of him.

It was immediately evident that the three were siblings. Noah and the younger sister whose name Adam didn’t know sported the same impish mouth and slightly upturned nose. Noah and Ashley - she must have been Ashley, because the other sister looked to be about thirteen - had the same glittering in their eyes, the kind of thing that told you that they knew something you didn’t. Ashley and the younger sister’s hair was the same shade of honey blonde, though their brother’s was multiple shades lighter. All of them had the same pale, blue-grey eyes.

Noah gave a sheepish smile and jogged across the field to come and join them.

“Hey guys.” He ducked his head a little, and Adam realised that he’d been impolitely staring, “Hi, Adam.”

“Hey, Noah.” Adam said, wondering if they were going to address the fact that his friend had been a giant wolf mere moments ago.

Evidently, they were, because Noah’s next words rushed out of him like he’d been punched in the stomach, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you! I wanted to, I really did, but there’s this generational curse thing that prevents us from being able to go ‘oh, by the way, I’m a guy who turns into a massive wolf sometimes’, so it’s like - I tried to hint at it! But you, uh, were sort of wrapped up in trying to figure out something else.”

His eyes flashed over to Ronan.

Adam had kind of figured that Noah had a secret, but never in his wildest imaginings did he think that he was a werewolf. It wasn’t the sort of thing logical, sane people jumped to automatically.

(He reminded himself that logical, sane people didn’t usually have vampires for boyfriends.)

But maybe Noah was a little bit right about that last part. Adam was clever, he knew that. He was analytical. If he really wanted to, he could have figured it out, could have put two and two together long ago.

But he had been wrapped out in the mystery that shrouded Ronan Lynch - it was such a deep, all-encompassing question that Adam now realised, with a little bit of embarrassment - that it had all been a front for his crush to hide behind. He had liked Ronan, more than he thought he should have and, instead of confronting that fact and analysing the way Ronan looked at him or their interactions in the parking lot before school, he’s jumped straight into the there is something weird about him and his family so they’re obviously vampires .

Ronan smirked, cocky.

Gansey politely pretended that Adam hadn’t spent the last three months hoarding theories in his brain like some tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorist.

Blue pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh.

Ignoring them all, Adam said, “It’s fine, Noah. What are your sister’s called?”

He pushed down the stinging sensation inside of him at once again being the last person to know some great secret. It was illogical to feel that way - Noah couldn’t have told him, or he would have, because Noah was a great guy who probably wouldn’t’ve wanted Adam to feel excluded; the others were being good friends by not outing him.

Noah exhaled a little sigh of relief and turned around so he could gesture to his siblings.

“The tall one’s Ashley.” He said, pointing to where Ashley had gone over to talk to Aurora and pointedly ignore Declan, who was only standing a few paces away. Then he gestured to the younger sister, who was chatting animatedly to Maura, who looked amused, “And the short ones Adele.”

Adele noticed them looking at her and waved, every inch of her face carved with the same mischief as Noah’s was.

Ronan’s head snapped around then, a wide and sharp smile spreading over his face.

“Fuck yeah.” He said, looking at something Adam’s human eyes couldn’t see, “I didn’t think they’d make it.”

And then he was gone. He returned a few seconds later, captured in a headlock by an extremely beautiful dark-skinned woman with the same intensely blue eyes as the Lynches. She was dressed like it was still the seventies, in a big fur coat and bellbottoms that Orla would be jealous of. Lagging behind her, lingering by Declan’s side, was a woman identical to her in every way but wearing more casual paint-splattered jeans.

Ronan and the woman wrestled and joked their way back over to Adam, Blue, and Gansey. He had to extract himself from the fist she was scraping along his shaved head before he could introduce them.

“Adam, this is Hennessy.” He said, making it clear that she’d already met Blue and Gansey before.

Hennessy’s perfectly shaped eyebrows raised, and she scanned Adam from head to foot. He had to fight off the urge to fidget under her clearly judgemental gaze, “Oh, so this is Adam.”

Ronan glared at her, “Not a word.”

She ignored him, “He’s been lamenting about you for the last few months. Like a lovelorn widow.”

Adam raised his eyebrows right back at her, eyes darting between her and Ronan. Neither of their stony faces gave anything away, “Oh?”

Hennessy gave a put-on sigh and deepened her voice in a caricature of Ronan’s, “ I wish Adam would look at me. I like Adam’s hands. Do you think he’s figured it out? Should I tell him. He’s cute when he’s concentrating in Latin .”

Blue hid her laugh behind a cough.

Ronan’s glare could have stopped an oncoming army, but Hennessy looked unconcerned, “I never said any of that.”

She pulled a face at him, “Didn’t you though?”

Ronan’s glare somehow got heavier.

Adam, whose own brain hadn’t known peace since the first day he’d walked into the Forks High School cafeteria by Blue’s side and had had the breath knocked out of his lungs by the insane, tumultuous beauty of Ronan Lynch, decided it was time for a little bit of payback.

He tilted his head at his boyfriend, all faux innocence and batting eyelashes, and said, “You talked about me?”

Once again, he got that strange feeling that Ronan would’ve blushed if he could have - now Adam had seen the Lynch family portraits before Ronan was turned, he knew that Ronan was just as pale before as he was now, with an easy pink blush that would settle along his cheeks. Part of him mourned the fact that he’d never be able to make Ronan blush like that, but he could use his imagination and fill in the gaps.

“She is a liar and a thief. Don’t trust a word she says.”

Hennessy shrugged, “All true. But I’m not lying about this.”

Blue leaned in close to whisper to Adam, even though it was entirely unnecessary because the two vampires could definitely still hear them, “Hennessy’s an art thief.”

Hennessy looked quite proud of herself, and Blue’s eyes sparkled with a sort of admiration that likely meant she sold the paintings to buyers and gave the money to charity, or something like that. Or maybe Blue just liked the idea of a female vampire art thief. The concept was very Ocean’s Eight .

Adam nodded and turned back to Ronan, enjoying making him flustered a little bit too much, “Did you have a crush on me? That’s so embarrassing for you.”

“Adam, we’re boyfriends.”

“Yeah, but still.”

“Oh, like you’re so much better.” Blue said through a laugh, “At home, it was all - There’s something weird about Ronan. It’s impossible to be that attractive. He must drink blood to keep himself young. He’s like Dorian Gray. I’m going to obsess about him for months and continuously and homoerotically stare at him from across the lunchroom table .”

Adam’s ears burned, “I never said anything like that.”

“Yeah, but you were thinking it.” Blue said, a little smugly.

Ronan opened his mouth, his expression suddenly cocky and sure, but got cut off when three voices rang around the clearing at the same time.

“It’s time.” Said Maura, Calla and Persephone in unison. The three women turned toward each other with wry smiles on their lips. Three women, one entity, even if Persephone’s soft voice had been lost between Calla’s more strident one. Of course they had said it together, that was never in question. They did everything together, inseparable even in the minds of those closest to them.

Overhead, thunder boomed across the sky, loud enough to rattle Adam’s ear. He could feel the bass of it in his spine, echoing along his bones.

A slow, vicious smile spread across Ronan’s face, and he leaned in to press a quick kiss to Adam’s lips, chaste in the presence of their friends and family. Then he pulled a face and turned to Hennessy, “Stop thinking that.”

She laughed as he sped off to join his family, the Czerny’s and Jordan where they were congregating by the pitchers mound.

“What were you thinking?” Gansey asked curiously.

Hennessy laughed again, not even bothering to tone down her words, “Something very distasteful and inappropriate about those two-” she gestured to Adam, and then across the field to Ronan, “- that probably wouldn’t be polite to say in the presence of small children with super hearing.”

Adam blushed harder, “I’m walking away now.”

Hennessy easily kept up with him as he started to stride across the field to everyone else, “Awww, don’t be embarrassed. It’s cute that you two are such losers together.”

“Thanks.” He said sarcastically, aware that everyone else who was milling about the field was following them over to the congregation in the middle, “That means a lot.”

“Maybe it does.” She said, “He did talk about you, you know. Like, a lot. I wasn’t lying about that.”

Looking back on it, he probably should have been aware of both his and Ronan’s crushes. He prided himself on being perceptive, but he’d been too wrapped up in the vampire mystery to actually pay attention to feelings.

Adam didn’t really know what to do with the information Hennessy was so freely giving him. It’s not like it was useful now, considering they were together and the mystery had been figured out. He frowned to himself and broke into a light jog to reach the others quicker.

Ronan shot him a smile over the heads over the others, and Adam returned it. Aurora was busy explaining the rules but Adam, who knew there was no logical way for him or any of his human friends to keep up with the vampires and werewolves, only half paid attention.

The teams were divvied up - Ronan, Hennessy and Ashley on one team; Noah, Declan and Jordan on the other. It seemed to be divided in a way that allowed the exes to not have to talk to each other as much as possible.

Aurora herself wasn’t playing. Adam asked her about it.

“I prefer to referee.” She said, as happy as she ever was, “I’m the only one who can see them. Aside from little Adele, but we prefer to not involve children in shouting matches.”

“Why? Do you think they cheat?” Adam asked, pulling his hood up against the coming rain.

“Oh, I know they cheat.” Aurora said. A hint of sadness entered her voice, “Just like their father. There wasn’t a game on Earth that Niall wouldn’t try to scam his way through.”

To Adam, it seemed a strange characteristic to fondly reminisce on, but to each their own he guessed. One part of her statement struck Adam as strange, “But Ronan doesn’t lie.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Aurora agreed, her pale eyes stuck to the field as the teams exchanged complicated high fives and got into position, “But he has an advantage with his mind-reading. We ask him not to use it, and he never says anything - if we think he is using it though, and we ask him, he’ll admit to it.”

From across the field, Ronan yelled, “It’s not like I can turn it off!”

The rain had begun to properly pour, great fat drops of water crashing down and soaking Adam to the bone. Adam retreated away from Aurora to the small line of people that had amassed at the crowd’s edges in makeshift spectator stands.

He ducked under Maura’s umbrella to protect himself from the worst of it. He should probably swap with Gansey - Maura’s arm wasn’t long enough to properly accommodate him, and Gansey was currently repeatedly bashing himself on the head with the spike of an umbrella as he tried to bring it down enough to cover Blue. They looked so cute together, though, laughing and grabbing at each other’s arms, that he was vaguely loathed to break them up, even in the most minute sense.

Aurora whistled, sharp and loud enough to leave Adam’s ear ringing.

The game commenced.

Adam had to admit that he didn’t know much about baseball. His gym teachers in Virginia had always turned a blind eye to his various bruises and cuts, but had always excused him from class. In Forks, it was way too windy and wet all the time to play any outdoor sports because there was a very real risk of hypothermia all year round.

Besides, the only thing his father had ever seemed to take enjoyment in was watching the local game, even if the cable and the beer he drank had come out of Adam’s paycheck instead of his own. He’d never been able to watch sports of any kind, not really. It gave him a sickening feeling of deja vu that set him back weeks of progres in not being that fucked up boy from Virginia with the shitty past and the shitty parents and the shitty trailer.

In spite of what little he knew about ordinary, human baseball, this seemed to be entirely different.

Well . It was always going to be different, when there were two vampires and a werewolf per team.

At least Adam could see why they needed the thunder storm. If they didn’t have it, there would likely be a lot more people who knew their little secret.

It was Ronan’s turn to bat. He pulled a complicated trick, his hand and the metal bat nothing but a blur, moving too quickly for human eyes to focus on. He readied his stance.

Jordan, who had been trying to psych out her other opponents up until now, gave up on him, knowing that there was no way for her to trick his mind-reading powers. She threw the wall. Ronan’s bat blurred through the air, nothing but a shining streak of silver, and collided with the ball with a sound like boulders colliding together on a mountain. It flew fast and far, and already Ashley was darting off, switching effortlessly into her giant wolf form to go follow it.

Gansey cheered as Ronan streaked off around the bases. Adam was a second too late, not realising that cheering was something that they were doing.

Ronan made it to the last base, twisting around and kicking up a wide splatter of mud, just as Ashley got back to the field, ball in human hand. She frowned, her doll-like face contorting with it, and she threw the ball back to Jordan.

Ronan was grinning when he darted over to Adam to give him a quick kiss before switching out positions.

“Gross.” Adam complained, even as his arm snaked around Ronan’s rock solid waist, “You’re soaking . And full of mud.”

“And I’ve never been sexier.” Ronan was grinning, enjoying himself too much to remember to be angsty and brooding, “Come here.”

Adam rolled his eyes and obligingly - because it was such a hardship to him - kissed Ronan again.

Ronan’s shirt soaked through into his own, and Adam pulled back, letting his finger catch on the top button of the jersey Ronan was wearing, “Do I get to wear one of these with your name on the back?”

“You can have this one. Might be a bit wet though.”

Adam opened his mouth to retort but Calla, who had her own umbrella and was steadfastly not sharing with anyone except the thirteen-year-old werewolf child she was giving a piggyback to, cut him off with a biting remark, “If I have to listen to you two flirt anymore, I’m calling in an air strike.”

Ronan raised his middle finger at her and bared his teeth. She bared hers right back, and covered Adele’s eyes so she wouldn’t see his rude gesture.

“Ronan!” Aurora’s pleasant voice called from across the field, “It’s your turn to bowl!”

Ronan winked at Adam and broke into a backwards jog. The rain fell smoothly off his toned, stony body. It didn’t seem to bother him.

“I hope you’re being careful.” Maura said, in such a low voice that Adam had to strain to hear her, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Beside him, Persephone curled her hand into his. He looked up, startled at the unprompted physical contact, which wasn’t the kind of thing they frequently engaged in - that was more Maura’s thing.

Persephone looked at him with serious, mirror-black eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked Maura, turning back to her and pitching his voice just as low as hers on instinct, “Because I can guarantee you that we haven’t - we aren’t doing-”

“No, no, it’s not that. It’s just - he’s seventeen. He’ll always be seventeen.” Maura said. There was something very sombre in her usually jovial eyes, “He’s eighteen now, just like you’ll be in a few weeks, but he’ll always be seventeen. And then you’ll both be forty seven, and you’ll look your age but you’ll still be madly in love with a boy who looks seventeen. And then you’ll be on your deathbed, in your eighties, nineties. And he’ll stand by you, looking exactly as he does now.”

A large part of Adam resented Maura for pointing out what he hadn’t wanted to address before, hadn’t even let himself think before.

That Ronan would be perfect forever, unchanging and beautiful and young, and Adam would go on to get laugh lines and crow's feet and liver spots and grey hairs.

Instead of spiralling the way he wanted to, he said, still in that low tone of voice, “Just let me have this. For now.”

Maura pursed her lips and exchanged a Look with Calla and Persephone before turning her attention back to the game.

Adam desperately tried to divert his attention elsewhere. He didn’t - couldn’t - pay proper attention to the game. Instead, he let his eyes linger on the way Ronan’s wet clothes clung to his perfectly sculpted body, the kiss he’d get after every change-up, the friendly way he’d punch Hennessy in the arm after a good go-round, the cool acknowledgement he’d give Ashley (his feelings there were either loyalty to his brother by not interacting with his ex-girlfriend, or it was a dislike of Ashley for dating Declan in the first place. Adam couldn’t exactly figure out which one it was.)

When the rain started to clear, and the thunder started to disappear, the game came to a halt. Adam had no idea who won but, given the way Ronan immediately ran to him and kissed him hard enough that Adam saw stars, he was going to guess it was Ronan’s team.

He didn’t complain, this time, about Ronan’s wet clothes and wet face and wet hair. He just let himself have the moment.

Because he knew it wasn’t going to last. He was going to go off to college, was going to start applying as soon as applications opened. And Ronan, no matter how small that part of him was, would always hunger for his blood. And all of his friends were going to leave, and one of them died (he still needed to ask Gansey about that) and one of them was a werewolf , and his boyfriend was a vampire , and he was going to stay young and handsome forever while Adam got closer to dying each day.

But for now, it was nice. He had cold arms around his waist, and cold mouth smiling into his. He had Gansey clapping him on the shoulder as he and Blue started to trudge back across the field. He had Persephone’s tiny little smile sent his way.

Things would be okay. He’d find a way to make it all okay.