Chapter Text
The wind rustled through the trees bringing goosebumps to the surface of Ronan’s skin. He looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, allowing scattered flakes to land on his face. On a snowy night long ago, his mother had told him that all snowflakes were tiny fairies who planted a kiss on your skin as they melted away. A silly children’s story that had stuck with him through the years.
Adam moved among the trees up ahead, stopping every now and again to consider which rocks needed to be moved. Flakes began to gather in his dusty hair, his ears pink with the cold. Even from a distance, the dark circles under his eyes were visible, his shoulders hunched with an ever-present exhaustion. Trips to the forest like these, just the two of them, were becoming more and more frequent. Ronan tried hard not to dwell on it.
“Gansey would freak out if he went alone. That’s why he asks you to come,” he would remind himself every time he began to feel a glimmer of hope.
“How much longer, Parrish?” he called out with feigned impatience. “The roads are going to get bad soon, and I don’t want Gansey all over my ass about ‘safety.’” He was confident that there would be a layer of ice and snow on the roads by the time they made it back to the BMW.
Adam stooped to pick up a large rock, his lean muscles straining under the thin, faded winter jacket that he insisted was “perfectly adequate.”
“I think that’ll do for today,” Adam said, turning towards him.
They made their way back through the trees kicking a small stone between them. Occasionally, Ronan would grab a handful of snow from the low-hanging branches and toss it in Adam’s general direction.
Adam obligingly dodged and fired back at him with more precision, although Ronan wasn’t putting his whole heart into avoiding them. He had to try hard to fight the smile that kept working its way onto his face.
~~~~
When they reached the BMW, they found that Ronan had been correct about the accumulation. Piled on top of the car was a layer of snow at least three inches deep.
“I guess Cabeswater was getting different weather.” Adam mused, staring up at the onslaught of large white flakes. The grim look on his face made it clear that he was thinking about the temperature of the attic apartment waiting for him.
Ronan swore loudly and began to wipe the snow off the car with his hands. He cursed himself for not keeping a brush in the backseat as Gansey so frequently suggested.
“I was going home anyway; just come stay the night. The roads will be shit, and your apartment is not worth dying for. No offense.”
He refused to look at Adam’s face while continuing his furious attempts to clear the car. He would undoubtedly see this as an attempt at being roped against his will into staying somewhere with a halfway decent bed and some heat. Heaven forbid.
“I suppose that makes sense,” Adam said after a long pause.
“Parrish, it doesn’t make any fucking- wait, what?”
“Staying at The Barns, I mean. That’s what you meant, right?” The words came out rushed, suddenly self-conscious.
“Yes, yes, that’s what I meant. I just wasn’t expecting it to be this easy.”
“I’m not an entirely unreasonable person. And anyway, I’m in no mood to fight with you.”
“Sure you’re not,” Ronan said, a smile creeping onto his face. “Let’s get the fuck out of here then. I’m freezing.”
~~~~
As soon as they were inside Ronan cranked the dial for the heat. Whatever song had been paused upon their arrival picked back up, blasting through the speakers. Adam gave a murmur of discontent but closed his eyes, head tilted back against the seat.
Ronan smiled. A small voice in his head quietly whispered, “Adam Parrish is staying at your house tonight.” He calmly told it to “Shut the fuck up.”
It didn’t take long for sleep to pull Adam under. His mouth hung open, lips dry and cracked from the cold. Ronan lowered the volume and changed the song to something softer.
Before their fragile friendship, Ronan had assumed Adam was looking to become another drone. A robot who only cared about material possessions. Why else would anyone work as hard as Adam did, at a school full of boys destined to become just that?
Of course, he'd been wrong. Sure, Adam wanted the money, longed for it even. But it was mainly about the stability and control that came with it. Two things that'd been severely lacking during his childhood. Hell, his entire life, really.
Adam shifted, mumbling something that Ronan couldn’t quite make out. He shivered, pulling his arms around himself.
Ignoring the fact that it was more than likely something from a dream that caused it, Ronan threw his hand into the back seat, feeling around for the jacket he'd thrown back there weeks earlier.
His finger snagged on the jacket’s hood, and he pulled it forward, draping it over Adam.
“He’s cold,” he told his reddening cheeks.
The roads around them were empty and dark. Snow continued to fall in sheets, blanketing everything.
“Don’t worry, Parrish. We’ll be home soon.”