Chapter Text
Blue clutched a glass of orange juice when she made her way into the living room, plunking herself unceremoniously onto one of the two couches, one which Henry joined her on not five seconds later. Ronan threw a wad of coasters on top of the coffee table that was situated in the center of the room.
Blue snorted in disbelief. “If you would have told me a year ago that Lynch would go from living in a place where the bathroom and the kitchen occupied the same space to offering coasters, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“Sorry we have fucking manners here and don’t appreciate you assholes leaving rings on the glass table.”
Gansey picked at the collection of rocks delicately grouped on a smaller table that was pressed up against the wall, with a strange glass and several framed photos adorning the edges. Gansey lifted one particular pebble, a strange shade of crimson speckled with a goldish hue.
“These are fascinating.”
“Only you would find a pile of rocks fascinating, Dick.”
“Careful,” Adam said. He plucked the rock from Gansey’s grasp and placed it back against the glass that was carefully placed at the corner of the table. It was filled with murky water and grass, a concoction that Opal created and was genuinely prideful of. “Opal doesn’t like it when you move her stuff around.” He recited it with a stern sincerity, like he had memorized it for an important exam, and the domesticity of it wasn’t lost on anyone.
“Ah, my apologies.”
Gansey moved to sit down on the couch that Henry and Blue were occupying, squeezing onto the left side of Blue. He kept a book open on his lap but he wasn’t paying much attention. The three of them made a strange picture of limbs on the maroon couch but Ronan didn’t mind when that left the remaining, slightly smaller couch, for Adam and himself. Ronan threw himself on the couch, lounging with a practiced ease, leaning in towards Adam when he finally joined him.
Even though Adam was clad in a soft, verdant coloured hoodie with ‘HARVARD’ spelt out across the front and a pair of old jeans, Ronan still thought he looked incredible. His hair was slightly longer, wisps of curls adorning his forehead and the loose smile he sported every since he’d come home for the summer following his first year at Harvard was contagious. Adam hadn’t been home for long, a handful of weeks at best, but already Ronan felt more at ease. The barns felt less spacious with Adam around, tending to the animals or making breakfast with Opal even though she insisted that peppering their pancakes with grass was a suitable idea. The Sarchengsey group had managed to circle back to Henrietta, a break from travelling around the world, and they all had seen each other every single day since they realized they were all, finally, in the same place.
“Where’s the little rascal anyways?” Henry asked.
“She’s with the witches,” Ronan grinned impishly when Blue glared at him, “against my better judgement.”
“She loves it there and you know it.”
She did love it there and he knew it only because when he picked her up, she’d make a fuss about leaving and the entire ride home she wouldn’t stop talking about what she’d done.
Ronan leaned in to stage whisper into Adam’s ear.
“You know what she came home talking about after hanging out with the witches and Sargent for a couple hours, the last time ? She was rambling about misogyny and the patriarchy and shit,” Ronan threw Blue a wicked glare despite the the grin already forming, “I don’t need her destroying the patriarchy until she’s old enough, Sargent.”
“Conquering sexism and oppression knows no age.”
Henry threw his fist in the air and hollered. “Fight the power!”
Adam observed everyone from the vantage point of the crook of Ronan’s neck. He felt uncharacteristically strange and off-kilter. His body felt too heavy, too remote and it left him with a feeling he couldn’t shake off. Adam falling asleep regularly in places that weren’t the bed was not an unusual occurrence. Though he felt less ragged than he did a year ago, he picked up shifts when he could and even though school was out for the summer, Adam had accepted research positions which started in early July and he needed to be prepared. Plus, the Barns and everything inside it provided a lazy comfort and a benevolent atmosphere that always persuaded Adam to succumb to his exhaustion. He was getting better with it, getting eight hours of sleep almost every day and working no more than 60 hours a week now that he was back home.
Ronan nudged his shoulder when he felt Adam’s head dip. The press of Ronan’s shoulder was a grounding one and Adam leaned back, turning his cheek to press against the back of the couch, so that he was looking directly at Ronan’s profile.
“You good?” Ronan’s voice was deep and he made sure to speak clearly, directing the question towards Adam’s good ear.
“Yeah,” Adam said but it sounded breathless. “Just tired.”
Gansey looked up from his position with a dazzling smile. It seemed he couldn’t stop doing that lately. “Have you been working Adam to the bone already, Ronan? My God, he’s only been here a few days.”
“Not my fault Opal woke us up at ass-o'clock to go exploring.”
“She also wanted breakfast,” Adam hummed.
“Well, I invite either of you to take a nice healthy nap on my lap,” Henry winked, he was as bright and theatrical as the words he spoke. He rubbed his thigh suggestively. “There’s always room.”
Adam let out a lethargic huff of laughter but didn’t respond. Ronan flipped him off. Blue flipped Ronan off in retaliation, exchanging a fist bump with Henry.
Henry toasted him. “You’re too charming for your own good, Lynch.”
Adam tried to tune out the rest, distantly wondering if he was going to fall asleep. He didn’t want to, he wanted to save every moment he had with everyone before they had to leave again. He blearily tried to blink back the sudden exhaustion but with Ronan pressed up against his side and the warmth of the fireplace hugging his body, he knew he had lost. Ronan moved to wrap an arm around Adam’s shoulders, his finger dipping into Adam’s sleeve and rubbing languid circles on Adam’s wrist. Ronan was much more comfortable with displays of intimacy since they had first gotten together a year ago.
“You wanna take a nap in our bed?”
Our bed. The word was not lost on Adam and even though he had officially moved in a year ago, it still stunned him to think of the Barns as a home and how good it felt to fall asleep next to Ronan every single night and wake up to Opal jumping on top of them. How normal it started to feel to have a family who loved him every single day. A loose smile materialized on his face. He never thought he’d have this. There was a warm feeling in his chest that he held on to with a relentless grip - the Adam Parrish way.
“Na, I’m good.” Adam said. Or tried to say. The words ended up slurred and almost incomprehensible. He figured Ronan got the point though. I’m comfortable right here.
“Parrish, how is it possible for you to fall asleep with Cheng and Sargent being so damn loud.”
Adam knew that Ronan had said that for the benefit of harassing Blue and Henry because Ronan knew that Adam could fall asleep in the middle of a goddamn avalanche if he was tired enough.
“I dunno why ‘m so tired.”
Ronan gently wrestled out from underneath Adam, standing in one quick fluid motion, “I’m putting Parrish to bed, he’s starting to drool.”
Adam glowered at Ronan, “I was not.”
Adam slowly moved onto his feet, Ronan placing a hand on his shoulder to make sure he didn’t topple over. The room briefly swayed, but instead of feeling sick or dizzy, he just felt mildly confused. Though exhaustion was a familiar companion in the life of Adam Parrish, it wasn’t anymore and this felt different.
“Are you able to make it?” Gansey was still sitting on the couch, the book abandoned on his lap. He looked comfortable with Blue and Henry, all three squished together, inhabiting each other’s space like they belonged there.
Henry grinned gleefully, “I don’t know, Parrish looks pretty unsteady on his feet. Lynch might have to carry him up those wretched stairs.”
Ronan looked offended. “Wretched? I’ll have you know I designed that staircase myself.”
Adam snorted. “I’ll be fine.”
Ronan grasped Adam’s hand, gently kissing the knuckle. “I’ll come get you when there’s food.”
Adam nodded, reeling from the blatant display of tenderness, the way Ronan’s eyes still held the same uncompromising affection that Adam knew he himself reflected in the way his body curled instinctively towards Ronan’s. The feeling of being surrounded by his family, of Ronan looking at him like that and touching his hand as if Adam was fascinating, imparted a fervor that he was starting to become more accustomed to. It was such a simple moment. Blue spreading out on the couch, pushing her feet onto Henry’s lap and pressing her back into Gansey’s side, wildly discussing something with a fiery passion that was so Blue-esque. The way Henry laughed brightly and the way Gansey avidly listened, drinking in every word like a starving man in the desert. The way Ronan left lingering touches, the way they’d exchanged inside jokes throughout the night. Adam welcomed the stifling warmth and kissed Ronan’s shoulder as he passed him, climbing up the stairs, feeling light even as exhaustion weighed him down.
He didn’t fall asleep slowly, he didn’t fall asleep much at all. The second his body hit the bed, Adam blacked out.
It took an astounding hour and a half for everyone to decide on pizza once Adam had left.
Blue groaned. “You guys know there’s other food that exists right?”
“Pizza’s fast, easy and cheap.”
“Since when do you care about spending modestly, Lynch?”
“Since Adam ripped him a new one when he bought an excessive amount of food home and they had to throw out nearly half of it.” Henry supplied.
Ronan usually wouldn’t care if someone had lectured him about wasteful spending and if Declan had reprimanded Ronan about inordinate purchases a year ago, Ronan probably would’ve snarled a furious ‘ fuck you ’. But when it came from Adam, he felt severely chastened.
“What do you have against pizza?”
“I don’t know,” Blue sounded exasperated. “It’s almost as if we eat it every single damn day.”
“We aren’t eating yogurt for dinner.”
“I don’t just eat yogurt, Ronan!”
“How about a compromise?” Henry suggested. “Yogurt on pizza?”
Gansey involuntarily scrunched his nose but when Henry glanced at him in a muted request for support, he winced, “that doesn’t sound… awful.”
“What fucking planet are you living on if you think yogurt on pizza isn’t the worst fucking idea known to man.”
“Jane, would you be too horribly offended if we got pizza that didn’t have yogurt on it?”
Ronan grunted, tossing his phone onto Blue’s lap, “order whatever you want. I’m getting Parrish and if you order yogurt on pizza, I’m not going to be the one to break the news to him.”
Ronan made his way up the stairs, moving across once he breached the hall. There was a clutter of stones and sticks haphazardly placed in random corners that Opal found. She’d always claim she was decorating the house. Ronan didn’t have the heart to tell her to put it back outside considering she did everything in earnest and she'd never let him hear the end of it. Plus, Chainsaw liked to pick at her newest collections and leave them on the windowsills. He nudged one of the rocks with his toe, avoiding another stubbed-toe incident that left him swearing up a storm at the inanimate object, before he reached their bedroom. A strange, quiet thud resounded from behind the door when Ronan gently knocked, his other hand gripping the knob.
“Adam?”
Another thud reverberated from the room and Ronan took this as a sign that he could enter, gently calling out Adam’s name once more. He pushed the door open and paused. The bed was visibly undone, blankets spilling from the mattress and pillows haphazardly tossed aside. Adam’s pants looked as if they were carelessly tossed on top of the wild bed spread.
And in the center of the room was a small child.
What the fuck.
The kid was swamped in a Harvard hoodie, Adam’s harvard hoodie, that went well past his knees with the hem of the sweatshirt brushing against the kid’s ankles. He was floundering in the center of the room, drawing his hands to his chest, balling the fabric that spilled over his fingertips into small fists. The kid was shaking erratically, staring wide-eyed at Ronan.
Ronan, being the brilliant young man he was, believed that the best course of action was to pause in the doorway, staring at the child in frozen bewilderment. He had an absurd thought, something that he would’ve dismissed entirely, if it weren’t for the fact that the kid was sporting the familiar dirty mop and soft blue eyes that Ronan knew all too well.
“Motherfu-” Ronan drew out the ‘u’, aware that swearing in front of a younger Adam Parrish wasn’t the brightest idea. It was different, swearing in front of Opal or Matthew, they were siblings to him, but this was an Adam that Ronan had never encountered before and he knew that he needed to be careful.
What the hell was going on?
Instead of falling into an existential crisis induced coma, Ronan did the next best thing and kneeled down, putting his arms out in front of him as if he was comforting a spooked animal,
“Hey, are you alright?”
Adam’s gaze never left Ronan’s hands but he stood still, fixed in the centre of the room, his mouth clamped shut.
Ronan’s mind whirred and he tacked a stainless smile on his face, before placing one hand on his chest in introduction, “I’m Ronan and this is my home,” he took a breath, his mind trying to confer some semblance of a reason to give Adam on why a stranger had him sleeping in one of their bedrooms.
“My parents,” Adam’s voice was awfully quiet. He spoke in a timid murmur, his accent uncut and colouring every syllable, “where are they? Are they here?”
“No, they had to - they’re out of town. For,” Work? Did Adam’s parents do anything other than be bags of shit? A family thing? Somehow, they didn’t seem like the type to rush out of town for an injured family member, “...an emergency,” Ronan finished lamely. “They asked me to watch over you, while they were gone.”
Adam’s mouth tugged down into a curious frown, his facial features scrunched together as if he was processing and considering this information. His deep blue eyes peered up at Ronan through long, dark lashes. He didn’t seem to relax. Ronan figured that that was fair considering he didn’t look too welcoming.
“For how long?”
“Not long. Your parents didn’t say,” Ronan was about to continue, make up some random unnecessary bullshit because apparently any Adam of any age could leave him a bumbling mess, when a distinct cackling was heard, followed by another round of bright laughter.
Adam took a step back, “who was that?”
“Just… my friends. They're downstairs. Do you want to meet them?”
Adam looked like he very much did not want to meet them but Ronan didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone in the room and the urge to tell everyone about whatever the hell was going on was too strong. Was this some weird time travel shit? Did that mean his Adam was where his eight year old self was before they switched? Or was this some weird magic shit that had shrunk Adam back to his preschool days? Oh Christ, was this permanent ?
“Why am I wearing this?” Adam’s soft voice startled Ronan from the land mine that was his thoughts, his legs noticeably cramping from crouching down for so long, “this isn’t mine.”
Okay, quick lie.
“Uh I put it on you because… you were cold?”
Nailed it.
“But there are already so many blankets on the bed.”
Even at a young age, Adam made him look like a dumbass.
“You were really cold.”
Adam lifted his small arms, the sleeves that were previously coiled in his grip unwound after he loosened his fists and unravelled down the length of his arm. “It doesn’t feel cold in here.”
“That’s because you’re wearing a sweater.”
Ronan couldn’t help the effortless smile that painted his face. Adam was obviously becoming a little more relaxed, albeit only slightly, with the knowledge that his parents had knowingly left him here under the supervision of a guy who may have looked like a creep, but so far, didn’t seem to be of any danger. Adam was still rooted to his spot, his shoulders uncomfortably squared, but he was speaking and Ronan was grateful. He didn’t know what age this Adam was, he looked no older than ten, but he wanted him to know that he was safe. Ronan carefully stood up, his knees cracking, and he brushed his jeans thoughtlessly when he noticed that Adam was wholly concentrated on tracking his movements.
“Why don’t we go downstairs and you can meet everyone else? We can get something to eat. You must be hungry.”
At the mention of food, Adam’s stomach gurgled loudly in contrast to the quiet solitude of the room and the incessant noises reverberating from downstairs, the quiet cacophony of laughter and chatter. Adam’s cheeks were a little pink and he wrapped his hands shyly around his stomach.
“Come on, let’s get something to eat.”
Ronan turned around before looking over his shoulder at Adam. He thought about offering a hand, but rejected the idea almost immediately. Adam still looked uncomfortable and Ronan didn’t want him to feel pressured to take his hand. After a few moments of contemplation, when the hunger won over staying alone in the strange room, Adam hesitantly followed him, his small feet paddling against the hardwood floor.
To Ronan, it felt like a victory.