Chapter Text
Ronan stomps the cold out of his feet as he steps back into the house after finishing morning rounds of the animals. It’s still mostly dark out, so he sheds his coat, hat, and boots, letting his feet carry him back upstairs. He peeks into Cameron’s room, lips twitching into a smile at the seven-year-old’s familiar sleep position: sprawled on his stomach, one arm extended and one arm bent under his pillow in a Superman-like pose. Lingering for a moment before closing the door quietly, Ronan continues down the hall to the master bedroom. He notices his phone on his nightstand, aglow with a notification, as he closes the door, and he shucks his jeans as he crosses the room, picking up his phone as he sinks down to sit on the edge of the mattress.
It’s a single line of text and a photo message from Declan.
‘Teagan Samuels, 2, Michigan.’
And the photo staring back at him from the screen is a toddler with the brightest orange hair Ronan’s seen this side of the Atlantic and blue eyes that almost perfectly match Adam’s. It takes every ounce of restraint he has to not reach over and violently shake Adam awake.
Instead, he keeps looking at the picture as he slides back beneath the duvet. When Adam finally starts stirring a short while later, Ronan gently tips him onto his back and he moves to lie between his husband’s thighs, propping himself up on his arms above Adam.
“Mm, hello,” Adam flutters his eyes open and a broad, sleepy smile pulls across his lips as he looks up at Ronan. “Have to say, don’t mind waking up like this.”
“Good morning to you, too,” Ronan dips his head down and drags his lips over the stubble along Adam’s jaw, nudging his phone into Adam’s hand.
Adam makes a quizzical, still-sleepy noise, but curls his fingers around Ronan’s phone and lifts it to look at the photo. He falls quiet for a minute and raises his free hand to stroke Ronan’s bicep idly before softly saying, “We’re not turning the Barns into a Hogwarts for dreamers.”
“So, what I’m hearing,” Ronan starts to trail soft kisses down the right side of Adam’s neck, “is seven more.”
Tipping his head to give Ronan better access to his skin, Adam drops the phone amongst the covers, sliding both hands around Ronan to rest on his shoulder blades, “One more.”
“Three more?” Ronan continues his descent down the column of Adam’s neck and moves to dip his tongue into the hollow of his husband’s collar bone.
Adam’s breath shudders on the intake at Ronan’s ministrations, “One more.”
“You know I’m a horrible negotiator when it comes to you,” Ronan moves slightly lower to press a firm kiss to Adam’s sternum. He settles his chin where his lips just were, meeting Adam’s eyes through the dim light creeping into the room as the sun rises outside. “One more.”
Adam slips a hand up the side of Ronan’s neck to cradle Ronan’s cheek and a smile plays on his lips, “Okay.”
As he turns his head to kiss Adam’s palm, Ronan keeps eye contact, murmuring against Adam’s hand, “Yeah?”
The smile stops playing and turns into a grin and Adam tugs Ronan up his body. Now he cups both of his husband’s cheeks in his hands and pulls him down for a searing kiss, but not before whispering, “Yeah.”