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Henrietta, Virginia was never home to Adam Parrish. Not really, anyway- His parents had made sure of that, pushing him out of the nest long before he should have been. Of course, he had been fairly independent for a long time before that, but it had still hurt. So, home was never a word that Adam thought of when he thought of his small hometown. Home was a word reserved almost exclusively for anywhere else in the world, really- Big city apartments with minimal floor space, high rise offices where he could work his life away for a six figure salary.
It was interesting, then, just how much going back to Henrietta felt like coming home after a long day as long as Ronan was there.
The hondoyota had coughed it’s last puff of smoke several months ago, and the thrum of Ronan’s old BMW set Adam’s heart racing as he tore down the familiar old country roads. It hadn’t been an argument when it had happened, not really. Adam had needed a car and Ronan had insisted that he had been thinking about upgrading anyway, so it had just made sense that Adam would take the BMW to college with him. Ronan had said that it was a lot more suited to his new lifestyle as a fancy college student anyway, and Adam couldn’t help but agree.
This visit had been more of a spontaneous decision than anything, but the purpose of it definitely wasn’t- the ring in Adam’s glovebox had been burning a hole in it since Christmas and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep looking at it in the box instead of on Ronan’s hand. Ronan had no idea either, Adam knew because he had had Opal on Ronan watch for the past month. The man was a lot more perceptive than people gave him credit for, but Adam had wanted to keep this a surprise. Overt displays of romance didn’t come naturally to Adam- His style was more gentle morning kisses, late night cuddles, a constant and steady type of affection that he knew Ronan appreciated. Still though, Adam wanted to do this. He loved Ronan, and Ronan loved him, and it just didn’t make sense for them to wait anymore since Adam was set to graduate at the end of the year anyway. It was time for him to finally put what he wanted ahead of everything else for once, and what he wanted more than anything was to call Ronan his fiancé when he went back to college.
The yard was empty when he arrived, aside from Ronan’s pickup truck. Adam smiled at the sight- It felt like his breath came easier here, settled better in his chest. He got out of the car, shoving the ringbox into his pocket and grabbing his bag from the passenger seat before closing the door quietly. He let himself in, and stopped for a moment in the front hallway. In the early afternoon sunshine, he could see the dust filtering through the air.
He took his coat off and hung it by the door. Ronan didn’t seem to be inside- the man was loud by nature, a quality that Adam loved about him.
“Ro?” He walked past the sitting room and spared a glance inside, huffing a laugh. Ronan’s organisational style was what the man affectionately referred to as “organised chaos”- Adam referred to it as “messy”, but it was disagreements like those that kept their relationship fresh and interesting he supposed. Ronan’s work boots were thrown by the couch, his jacket strewn over it and there was an empty can and dirty plate left on the table. Ronan must have just finished lunch before getting distracted, Adam figured- when left to his own devices, Ronan tended to be scatterbrained at the best of times. Still though, despite the evidence of him being in there recently, there was no Ronan so Adam moved on.
The house was still and quiet, a rare occurrence when Adam was home. Opal and Ronan must have been outside doing something, but something about the peacefulness of the moment made Adam pause. The Barns had become more than home to him, but not because of the house. It was huge, much bigger than Adam’s old double-wide or the tiny apartment in St.Agnes, but it wasn’t anything about the house that made Adam feel like he belonged there so much. Since they had gotten together- since they met , really- Ronan had never for one second made Adam feel like he wasn’t welcome in his family home. Adam had never felt like he had belonged somewhere so thoroughly before, and it was all because of his boyfriend, the love of his life.
He fiddled with the box in his pocket, and smiled to himself. His fiancé , by the time the weekend was over, hopefully.
He put his things into the bedroom, changing out of the clothes he had been wearing in the car in favour of a pair of soft skinny jeans he had bought in a sale on campus and one of Ronan’s worn out old sweatshirts with a faded logo on the front of it- an old movie, probably, Ronan had said that it had belonged to Gansey when they were younger. It smelled like Ronan though, and Adam pulled it up quickly to press his nose to the fabric. He inhaled deeply and then couldn’t help but grin.
Shoving the ring into his pocket, he ran a hand through his hair, scrubbing it until it was considerably messier before making his way outside to the yard.
There was only one place that Ronan could be since he was done his days work on the farm, so Adam wasted no time in getting there. If the Barns was like coming home, stepping into Cabeswater was like looking in a mirror- especially since Ronan had been dreaming up Cabeswater 2.0 with all of the love for Adam that he was allowed to express now. The trees welcomed him, the wind brushing over his skin and whispering in latin. Adam chuckled to himself, and then kept walking.
“Yeah, it’s good to be home.”
The path to Ronan’s favourite place was a well worn one, with beautiful flowers and shrubbery lining it all the way to the sunny clearing that Adam knew like the back of his hand. As he walked, he allowed himself to revisit all of the thoughts that he had pushed down throughout the year to avoid any unnecessary yearning- it was bad enough that Ronan was half a dozen hours away from him, but thinking about getting married to him would have killed Adam. Blue was going to kill him, for proposing without telling her first. Her and Gansey were off on one of their usual romantic getaways, but Adam couldn’t have waited anymore. It would be fine, anyway- it’s not like Gansey had told any of them before he had asked Blue to marry him. They had all known , of course, Gansey couldn’t keep a secret to save his life and he had been practically overflowing with ridiculous sappy energy for weeks beforehand. Blue had almost just told him to spit it out already, but Adam had just managed to talk her out of it.
The wind picked up a little as Adam saw Ronan across the clearing, as did the man’s heart rate. He seemed busy- working tirelessly to make this new Cabeswater perfect , just like he had been since he had started the project. He worked too hard, though, so Adam didn’t feel bad at all for distracting him from the effort.
He was halfway across the clearing when Ronan noticed his presence, and Adam watched his reaction with a familiar ache in his chest.
“Adam.” Ronan’s voice was barely above a whisper, and a smile spread across his face like the sun coming through the clouds. He crossed the clearing in a matter of seconds, and Adam brought his hands up just in time to rest his hands on the man’s shoulders as he kissed him breathless.
It only lasted a moment though, before Ronan pulled back with a confused expression. “Wait, you definitely had an exam. I wrote it in my calendar.”
The thought of Ronan Lynch having a calendar and actually using it to keep track of Adam’s college life was almost too cute for Adam to bear, and he leaned up to kiss the man again before shaking his head.
“They moved it forward, so I had a free long weekend.”
Ronan laughed, and then rested their heads together. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Adam brushed some pollen off of Ronan’s shirt, and then grinned. It had taken a while for the words to come this easily to him, but now that they had he felt like he couldn’t stop saying them. “So, what have you guys been up to?”
“Opal ate your old sneakers, the ones you were going to throw away.”
Adam took a deep breath, and then laughed on the exhale. “Of course she did. Did they at least taste good?”
Ronan sighed. “I had to dream her a second pair before she would eat her actual dinner.”
Adam smiled, shaking his head to push away the sudden swell of affection for their- Blue had called her their daughter, but that brought up a whole lot of feelings in both of them that they weren’t quite ready for- Opal, assuring himself that there would be time to catch up with her once he and Ronan had spent some time together.
“How are you , though? Declan still bothering you about night school?”
Ronan huffed. “I might have caved.”
Adam raised an eyebrow, and pulled back to cross his arms. “Ronan Lynch, doing what his brother says? Did you dream up some flying pigs too?”
“Ha ha, very funny.” Ronan rolled his eyes. “It’s just an accounting class, to help me keep track of the expenses for this place. I wanna keep it above board now, and that means-”
“Night classes?” Adam smirked.
“ Taxes .” Ronan shuddered and then sighed. “You’re a lot better at that kind of stuff than me.”
“If you needed help, you could have just-”
Ronan cut him off, shaking his head. “No, no. You’ve got enough on your plate being a big shot law student at Harvard, okay? I can do my own fucking taxes.”
Adam softened, and then kissed him on the cheek. “Are you busy? I can leave you to work if you want.”
“I was just about done anyways.” That was clearly a lie, but Adam let it slide this time. “Is that mine?”
“Yeah.” Adam chuckled. “It’s warm, smells like you.”
“Gay.” Ronan kissed Adam’s hair and then stepped to the side, pulling out a blanket for the grass. Since they spent so much time relaxing there, Ronan had figured that it just made sense to have a place to keep supplies there rather than hauling them to and from the house any time they wanted to go. Not for the first time, Ronan was grateful for how lazy he was.
“You only just noticed? I’m not doing my job right.” Adam helped him to lay it down, sitting down on the corner of it and then pulling out his phone to toss it onto the grass.
“How is the new phone going?” Ronan bit his lip. He had dreamt up the smartphone for the man- it had unlimited storage and never ran out of battery, plus it had the murder squash song permanently set as the ringtone. It was perfect, and it didn’t cost him a cent which was perfect for any and all gifts involving Adam. The perks of being a supernatural being, he supposed.
“All of my friends love my ringtone.” Adam huffed and then kicked his shoes off. “You’re a menace.”
“You love me.”
“I do.” Adam smiled at the phrasing, and then bit his lip. “It’s really good to be here, I missed you.”
Ronan sat down beside him, his happiness almost tangible. “I didn’t think I’d get to see you for another couple of weeks at least- I was considering flying out to see you.”
“You’re too sweet, Ro.” Adam reached out and took his head, pressing a kiss to the little divet between his knuckles and then keeping his hand to tangle their fingers together. “Who knew you were such a romantic?”
They spoke in unison then. “Everyone.”
The Henrietta sunshine was slow and thick like honey, and before long they both found themselves lying on the blanket to watch the clouds drift by.
“That one looks like a lawnmower.” Ronan smirked, pointing.
“It looks like a blob, Ro.” Adam chuckled and rolled onto his side, looking at the man beside him. “Plus, it looks more like a car.”
“Trust the mechanic to think everything looks like a car.” Ronan reached out to run a finger along Adam’s jaw, smiling. “I think you’re right, though.”
Adam’s brain emptied, and he swallowed. “Ronan, I want you to marry me.”
Ronan froze, and the wind stopped around them. “You what?”
Adam stared at him for another few seconds before his brain kicked back into working order in double time and he fumbled for his pocket, pulling out the ringbox and prying it open.
Ronan blinked, and his eyes were definitely wet. Adam’s heart stuttered in his chest and he shook his head. “Let me try that again.”
Ronan nodded dumbly, and Adam pulled away to hold the box out properly. “Ronan, I- I never thought I’d get married. You know that- I never even thought I’d make it out of high school sometimes, so this is surreal.”
His boyfriend didn’t say anything, so he continued. “When you kissed me in your bedroom, I went to talk to Gansey and I asked him how he knew that he was in love with Blue.”
Adam sniffed and then cleared his throat. “He said that she made him quiet, but that couldn’t be further from the truth with you. I’ve been quiet my whole life- Too afraid to stand out for the wrong reasons, but you made all of that go away. You make me reckless, and stupid, and loud and that’s how I know I love you. I want you to keep making me stupid for the rest of my life Ronan, will you-”
“Yes.” Ronan’s voice broke badly, so he tried it again. “Yes, Adam oh my god , yes.”
Adam laughed wetly, and then leaned down to kiss him hard, taking the ring out of its case and throwing the box to the side. “Let me put it on you?”
Ronan held his hand out, and Adam slid the ring on until it fit snugly where his fourth finger met his knuckle. He had imagined how it would look a million times, but he had never anticipated just how much it would knock the breath out of him. “Holy shit.”
Ronan nodded slowly. “Holy shit .”
Adam kissed his hand again, before falling onto his back and laughing up at the sky. “Ronan, we’re engaged.”
“Sargent is gonna fucking murder you, Parrish.”
Adam snorted. “Luckily I have a big scary boyfriend to protect me, right?”
“Big scary fiancé , actually.” Adam’s heart skipped at the correction and he reached out to take his fiancé’s hand.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Adam closed his eyes and kept Ronan’s hand close to his chest, letting it’s steady weight calm his frayed nerves and keep his excitement in check. He could hear Cabeswater coming back to life around them, the wind and the birds creating pleasant background noise to their new engagement. Those stupid inspiration blogs that Gansey sometimes forwarded to him said that home wasn’t a place, it was a person- It had taken him almost 25 years of his to realise that, but it was the truest thing he had ever heard. Ronan was the heart and soul of the Barns, and Cabeswater too, so it was no wonder that those were the two places on earth that felt the most like home to Adam. Ronan had designed them that way after all, and no matter how long Adam spent away it always felt like the place was waiting on his return with bated breath.
It was so good to be home.