Work Text:
The idea was all Gansey’s. After being tip-toed around by his friends in the weeks following his almost death, he had suggested that the gang get together and make a trip to his family’s cabin. Thanksgiving break was just around the corner and called for the perfect time to get away from the horrors of the past months and the pressures of the real world beyond their little bubble.
They had planned to spend the holiday with their respective families, except for Adam, who would be working at the factory that day for some extra cash, no matter how hard Ronan and Blue pestered him into reconsidering and joining either of their festivities. Ronan argued that he wouldn’t be able to handle Declan’s nagging on his own. Adam had only grinned, patted the other boy’s cheek, and said, “Grow up, Ronan.”
Thanksgiving night they made the two hour drive up to the cabin by the lake to spend the weekend there. Gansey had assured a skeptical Adam that they would make it back for class on Monday and that he shouldn’t worry.
After a long day of hiking in the surrounding woods and canoeing in the lake adjacent the cabin, they were all sat around a brightly lit bonfire that Henry and Gansey had built. “We deserve some teenage normalcy after that good ol’ fright Gansey Boy gave us,” Henry remarked, poking at the base of the fire.
Blue sat between the two, her head on Gansey’s shoulder and a leg thrown over Henry’s knee. “I don’t think there could ever be anything normal about us, even in a world without magic. Just look at Ronan. He has a pet raven!”
From the other side of the fire pit, Ronan sat next to Adam, pressed together from shoulder to hip to thigh. “Hey, don’t bring Chainsaw into this, maggot. She’s not here to defend herself.” A soft chuckle came from beside him, and Ronan felt his insides heat up, not from the fire burning away in front of him but from the boy beside him.
“I use to think Ronan was crazy for wanting to keep Chainsaw around but she’s quite grown on me over the past year,” Gansey piped from his seat.
“See, thank you, Dick. At least someone has some sense here,” Ronan said at the same time that Gansey added, “A side from the times that she defecates all over my work.” The other three laughed as Ronan threw a glare at Gansey. They continued the night on in similar banter while roasting marshmallows. At one point, the marshmallows went from being eaten to thrown. When they later discussed how the Great Marshmallow War had begun, Ronan would sit silently in his seat without saying so much as a word. For now, though, they were content in their shenanigans.
“Whew,” Gansey sighed as he desperately tried to get rid of the goo that one of his friends had smashed into the lens of his glasses. “I think I’m about ready to hit the sack.” The others all murmured in agreement.
“Someone’s gotta stay until the fire completely burns out,” Blue pointed out, ever the forest deputy.
“I can stay back until it’s all burned out,” Adam volunteered.
“Yeah, I can stay, too,” Ronan agreed, all too eager for some alone time with Adam.
Henry and Blue shared a knowing look before throwing identical smirks in Ronan’s direction. Gansey, the oblivious boy he was, only beamed at his two greatest friends. “Great! Thanks so much. We’ll catch you guys back at the cabin.” He slung his arms around Henry and Blue and the trio slowly made their way back up the dirt path.
Ronan watched them until they disappeared beyond his line of sight then turned back to Adam. He found the other boy with his face towards the lake, gazing out into the calm of the still water.
One side of Adam’s face was bathed in the vibrant yellow light from the embers burning away at the logs in the fire pit while the other half was covered in the soft pale glow of the moon reflected off the surface of the water.
Ronan had spent countless amounts of hours in the past years he’s known him drinking in the beauty that was Adam Parrish and yet, every time he looked upon him it always felt like the first.
The dusty hair that sat atop his head and refused to be tamed, just like its owner. His thick eyebrows, furrowed in concentration during their Latin class. His straight nose and prominent cheek bones, swathed in freckles; freckles Ronan had tried to put a number to many times before, but a new one seemed to appear each time he thought he had it figured out. And those perfectly shaped, pink lips that challenged Ronan to be a better person but also laughed at his stupid jokes, lips that kissed Ronan’s own with a fierce passion when they were alone but also whispered gentle words to him when he had a particularly bad nightmare.
Ronan had tried to express to Adam just how beautiful he thought he was numerous times but he never seemed to believe him. Perhaps it was for the best that Adam had no clue just how gorgeous he was, inside and out, for that would be far too much power for one person to have, even if they were Adam Parrish.
Yet, somehow without even knowing it, Adam held a lot more power over Ronan then he would like to admit. He knew how strong his feelings for Adam were – his heart threatened to burst every time he simply thought about this boy – but he hated to dwell upon them in fear of doing something rash and drastic that would damage what they had now.
In need to stunt this train of thought, Ronan jumped up from his seat, startling Adam out of his own mind in the process.
“Let’s go swimming,” Ronan blurted. He didn’t know what he was doing with this suggestion, but a dip in the freezing water was certain to help his heated thoughts.
“What?” Adam said, standing up to level his gaze with Ronan’s.
“Swimming. You know, that thing you do where you wade into a body of water and –”
“I know what swimming is, smartass. I also know that it’s most likely freezing in that lake.”
“Afraid of a little cold water, Parrish?” Ronan smirked.
“No,” Adam stated defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. He tilted his head towards the fire, slowly dwindling to ash. “What about the fire? We told Blue we’d stay until it was out.”
“All I’m hearing are excuses.”
They stood in complete silence, staring at each other, daring the other to back down. Suddenly Adam stepped back and said, “Fine,” before pulling off the sweater he was wearing, exposing his bare chest. Ronan started, surprised by the expanse of Adam’s pale skin, also speckled in small freckles.
Before Ronan was able to process what was happening, Adam was already down to his underwear.
“Well, Lynch? This was all your idea.” It was true, it had been his idea, but now that he was here his brain was broken, stuck on the image of Adam only in a pair of boxers.
When he finally got his brain to function he quickly stripped down. Ronan felt his face turn red from being so exposed. He really should start thinking before speaking. Adam flashed him a smile and said, “Last one in has to tell Henry his hair is amazing!” running towards the end of the dock.
“Hey!” Ronan shouted. “No fair! You know I’ll never hear the end of it if I do!” But it was too late. Adam hit the water with a giant splash. Ronan made it to the edge of the pier and almost backed out until he realized all the shit Adam would give him for eternity if he didn’t dive in.
For not the first time that night does Ronan regret the idea immediately, as he hit the water. It was bone chilling and pricked at his lungs as he held his breath while under. When he broke the surface, the cold Autumn air did nothing to help his situation.
He looked around for Adam but found him nowhere, that is until he heard a, “Gotcha!” from behind him. The next thing he knew he was being pushed under the frigid water again. He came back up, chocking on water, to the sound of Adam’s laughter.
“How’s it feel to know that you are a huge loser?”
Ronan scowled around the water he was still coughing up. This only served to make Adam laugh harder.
“Come on, Ronan. Don’t be such a baby!”
“Hey! I am not a baby.” So Ronan did the only thing he could think of to show Adam how much of a baby he wasn’t. He cupped his hand and sprayed Adam with a wave of water. Adam tried to cover his face in time but failed miserably.
Ronan smirked, watching on as Adam dragged his palms from his face. He turned to face Ronan, eyebrows furrowed.
For a moment, Ronan panicked, thinking he had truly upset Adam. But that feeling quickly faded away as Adam said, “You are so going to regret that,” promptly slapping water back in Ronan’s face.
They splashed away, laughing and cursing each other. Before long, the boys grew tired of the water works. Ronan swam around for a bit, dipping under the water.
Resurfacing, Ronan turned his attention to Adam. The other boy lay on his back, floating across the water with his eyes closed. High in the sky at this time, the full moon shown down over the lake, lighting Adam against the dark background of the lake.
This seemed to be a reoccurring event that night. And a fitting one at that, Ronan mused.
Ronan had been in a very bad place when Adam had come into their group. Ronan had been rude, hostile, and callous. It had been a defense mechanism in the wake of his father’s murder. And Gansey knew that this wasn’t who Ronan really was. His best friend knew that Ronan was kind and caring. That he was compassionate and devoted to those he loved. But Adam had not known that Ronan.
The Ronan that Adam had met called him trailer trash. Tried to drive him away from Gansey. Fought with him every chance he got. And yet, Adam stayed. He stayed and he pushed back with as much force as Ronan was giving.
Others had tiptoed around this new Ronan or steered clear of him altogether. But not Adam. Never Adam. And that meant everything to Ronan.
Adam was the light shining through Ronan’s darkest moments when nothing seemed to be going right.
A hand to his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. “Hey,” Adam appeared in front of him. His lips looked a shade to close to hypothermia for comfort.
“Your lips are turning blue.” He pressed a finger to Adam’s mouth. “Let’s get out of here.”
Before he could move to make his way back to shore, Adam caught his wrist. “Wait. Let’s stay here a little longer.” He kissed the fingers that had just left his mouth, inciting a gasp from Ronan’s lips.
“Adam...” he whispered.
“Just a few more minutes,” he pleaded, looking up through his eyelashes. Both of them knew that Adam was using that look to get what he wanted, but Ronan fell for it anyway.
“Okay. But if we’re gonna stay in here we have to stay close,” Ronan said. Adam smirked at his suggestion.
“To stay warm, you creep. Body heat and all that,” he added, before grabbing Adam’s arm and pulling him closer.
“You know, that’s been proven to be untrue. The heat from our bodies is just gonna-”
“Can’t you let me give stupid excuses to have my boyfriend close to me without bringing science and logic into it, Einstein?”
Adam huffed out a small laugh before turning around to lean his back against Ronan’s chest as Ronan wrapped his arms around his waist.
“Fine, but only ‘cause my boyfriend wants to snuggle with me.”
“I wish you would stop using words like ‘snuggle’,” Ronan grunts out. Adam only hums in acknowledgement. They wade in the water close together in peaceful silence.
Until this moment, I’d only dreamed of paradise, Ronan thought to himself.
“Ronan,” Adam tentatively whispered into the silence.
“Hmm,” Ronan closed his eyes, feeling those words reverberated in his chest. He felt Adam’s grasp on his forearms grow tighter.
“I want to be honest with you, the way I know you always are,” he said, an almost unidentifiable tremor in his voice. Almost.
Ronan’s heart jumped at this, but he kept his eyes clamped shut. Adam was always confident in the words he spoke. He only used them when he was sure of what he was saying. It was one of the things Ronan admired most about him. For Adam to be hesitant and nervous, Ronan knew what he was about to say meant a lot.
“I think...I’m in love with you,” he breathed out. Ronan’s eyes snapped open. His heart thumped in his chest so fast he was sure Adam could feel it in his back. Maybe it was just Adam’s heart he was feeling, running a mile a minute. Or perhaps it was both of their hearts, pumping equally as fast in unison.
Love.
Adam was in love with him.
“I only say ‘think’ because... I’ve never felt this way before and I don’t want to lie to you. I want to be 100 percent sure. You deserve certainty, Ronan.”
Ronan could do nothing but stand there paralyzed. Adam, the boy who could have whatever or whoever he wanted,loved him. The one who had been beaten down - mentally and physically - time and time again, and yet still allowed Ronan to hold him like this. The man that Ronan believed to be the greatest in the history of humankind. That Adam Parrish loved this Ronan Lynch.
And even though Adam himself was still uncertain if the feelings he had for Ronan could be called love, Ronan was certain in his feelings for Adam. He knew that he had loved him for so long and would continue to love him for as long as Adam would allow it. Most importantly, though, he was certain in their relationship. He knew that he would do whatever he could to make Adam happy and vice versa. They fought and yelled and argued with each other, but in the end they always found their way back to this. The moonlight shining over the dark water.
Suddenly, Adam pulled away from their embrace and turned around to face Ronan.
He wrapped his arms around himself where Ronan’s has previously been.
“You can say something you know,” he chuckled nervously. “It would actually make me feel better if you did.”
Ronan stayed silent, still in shock at what had unfolded moments ago.
Adam spoke again. “I’m sorry that I can’t just come out and say it. This is all new to me. I want to think this through. I want to be the best I can be in this relationship for you, Ronan, and that would take-”
“Adam.” Ronan interrupted, bringing his hands to the other boys face. He gently rubbed his thumbs across his cheeks. “I know how hard this is. Take as long as you need to think this shit through. I’ll wait however long it takes.” He moved one hand to rest behind his neck.
“Since we are being honest, I want you to know that I...” He took a moment to close his eyes and breathe before he finally let this out. When he opened his eyes once again, he looked at Adam who was already staring intently back.
He let out his breath and with it said, “I love you.” Adam sucked in a gasp. “And that’s why I’ll wait by your side until you’re ready.”
Now it was Ronan’s turn to be frightened at his confession. Adam didn’t allow much time for Ronan’s nerves to escalate, grabbing Ronan by the shoulders, bringing him close. So close their foreheads pressed together, noses touching.
“You love me?” Adam whispered into their shared space. Ronan only nodded a confirmation.
Adam closed the distance between them with a hard kiss. Ronan responded immediately, running his fingers through Adam’s hair. The kiss slowly lost its heat instead turning gentle. Ronan pulled away first and stared at Adam’s swollen lips, his tousled hair, the rosy cheeks and crystal clear blue eyes.
“You’re perfect,” he stated.
Adam slowly smiled, “No, I’m not. You are.”
Ronan playfully rolled his eyes, a grin plastered on his face. “Why don’t we just agree that nothing’s perfect.” Adam laughed loudly as he moved closer to Ronan to kiss him.
And if nothing’s perfect, Ronan thought to himself, then right here, right now, in this moment with Adam, swimming in the moonlight, they were nothing.