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"What day is it today?"
"...Thursday? I already told you," Adam was really confused, since he was pretty sure Ronan had asked him the same question at least three times already.
Ronan huffed softly and ran a hand over his head. “No, I meant the date,” he was chewing on his bottom lip now, and really, since when did Ronan Lynch do that?
Adam walked over to him and gently tapped the poor lip. “Stop that,” he said, now frowning. “It’s July 3rd,” he replied, his accent instantly deepening with his confusion. Really, what was Ronan up to now?
He said as much out loud.
“You really don’t know?” Ronan was grinning now, his razor sharp smile, and this wasn’t always the bearer of good news. “Nevermind, Parrish. You have class soon, so go,” he made a shooing motion at the door, as he relaxed in Adam’s desk chair. He was seriously considering getting one for the Barns.
Shaking his head, Adam bent over for a kiss before walking out the door, bag slung comfortably on his shoulder.
As soon as the door shut, Ronan let out a laugh. “I can’t believe he forgot his own birthday.”
*
Ever since Adam had started college, all of them - especially Henry - had been adamant about remembering and celebrating birthdays (Ronan still couldn’t get the shrill voices of Blue and Gansey out of his mind, that first year when he had brushed the whole thing off. Henry spent the whole conversation laughing in the background).
Similarly, Adam’s insistence that he didn’t want a fuss on his birthday was always met with Ronan’s amused smile and a breathy kiss - the kissing part was getting easier, but they both still found their hands trembling afterwards.
“I’m getting him something...special,” Ronan said into the phone, mincing his words. It was a pity he hadn’t thrown his phone under the bed because now he had to deal with Gansey questioning him to make sure he wasn’t about to screw this up. “Gansey, I’m not proposing to him,” he huffed, staring at the wall with his eyes wide open at the very idea. “It’s just his birthday, it’ll be fine.”
The “hmm” from the other end of the line didn’t have him convinced, but he couldn’t do much with his best friend back in Henrietta. “Just...be here,” he murmured, before hanging up, his eyes suddenly alert on his surroundings.
Recently, Ronan had felt like there was always a presence watching over him, and he would never admit it to anyone, but it was comforting. "Thank you," he said out loud, phone still held rather limply in his hand.
*
It was several hours later before Adam finally came back to his room, and Ronan had been fast enough to warrant himself the title of ‘Greywaren’. He would probably already have tattooed the word on his forehead if he didn’t know that that would definitely be a dealbreaker for Adam.
“Ronan…?" came Adam’s voice, as the door creaked shut behind him. The room was shrouded completely in darkness, causing him to frown. He reached for the light switch as the silence in his left ear suddenly began to ring.
The light clicked on, and the sudden appearance of his friends shouting random things (some of it sounded like “surprise!” and “happy birthday!” but Adam couldn’t be sure) made him instinctively take a step back, clinging to the door, before he let out the breath he had been holding.
His gaze landed on Ronan’s easy smile, and it was suddenly easier to calm down.
“I can’t believe you left your darling Henrietta for this,” Adam said to Gansey, but there was a quiet relief hidden in his eyes as he hugged the newcomers. Henry was rather enthusiastically digging something out of a bag, while Blue stood at his shoulder, murmuring in his ear.
“This one’s all on Ronan,” Gansey replied, as the boy in question scurried out of sight.
There was a mad scramble as everyone tried to hand over their present first.
Blue’s laughter rang sharp and loud in the room. “Maybe we should’ve actually organised this whole thing.”
“The only things we organise are quests.” Henry.
Before anyone could say anything else, Gansey shoved a packet in Adam’s hands. “Here, open this.” It was as simple as that, and Adam set to meticulously unwrapping the present, which turned out to be a leather-bound journal.
After that, the presents started stacking up, and Adam lost count of the amount of items Henry pulled out of their bag (“Is that Mary Poppins’?” Ronan asked, at one point), as he fish-mouthed at everything and everyone. It wasn’t that easy to let go of his initial instinct to refuse anything that looked like it cost more than he made in a month’s salary.
“There’s also cake!” Blue yelled out, which sent everyone into a mad dash for the chocolate cake that seemed to Adam had appeared out of nowhere (he was starting to wonder who the real magician was, after all).
*
“You didn’t give me your present, I'm wounded,” Adam jokingly accused Ronan, later that night, as they were alone once again.
“I was waiting for the right time,” he replied with a smile; neither of them had failed to notice that the smiles were coming easier for both of them, especially when they were around each other like this.
Getting up from his perch on the desk chair, Ronan pulled out a packet wrapped in “Birthday Boy!” wrapping paper. “Really, Ronan?” Adam said, raising an eyebrow as he caught a glimpse of the paper.
“Hey, you have to admit it gives it character,” Ronan was grinning now, but it did little to hide the nervous glint in his eyes.
Quickly, Adam unwrapped the present, abandoning all finesse.
Upon opening it, he simply stared at the object in his hand.
“Do you like it?” Ronan finally asked, after several long seconds had passed in excruciating silence.
It was a glass plaque with leaves and flowers embroidered all over, and right in the center were the words “Nunc scio quid sit amor” written in elegant calligraphy.
“Ronan…” Adam raised his head to look up at the boy in question. “I love it.” His lips upturned in a smile, bringing a hand to clutch at Ronan’s, lining up their dark skin to perfectly complement one another. “Thank you,” he whispered, as he stepped closer, setting the present on the bed so he could place his other hand at the back of Ronan’s neck and drag him in for a kiss.
“I don’t know how to say it, but I wanted you to know how I feel,” Ronan murmured in Adam’s right ear, once they had broken apart.
“I know, I always know,” he hesitated for a second, before continuing, as that hadn't always been true. “And I...I want you to know that I feel the exact same way.” It was clumsy and awkward, but Adam wouldn’t change it for the world.
Nunc scio quid sit amor = Now I know what love is