[9/19] when after you see your face

[thedreamthief]

Hywel is far from empty by the time Ronan makes it back. Hercules scampers over as Ronan stalks his way past the barn area and Cinnamon turns her large head to blink huge, brown eyes at him.

The upstairs is equally occupied, the door to Gansey's room wide open and Adam out in the front room, a scatter of books and papers around him. Ronan doesn't so much as say hello before he stalks straight for the bathroom, stripping off his shirt once he's inside to examine the bruise already blooming across his side.

Fuck.

He checks out his hand next, frowning at the singed skin between his fingers before dunking it under the faucet, trying to clean out the dirt and ash, hissing at the slight sting.

There'll be no hiding this from Adam and, already, he's trying to come up with a decent lie. A believable lie. He fucking hates lying, especially to Adam, but he can already picture that shuttered off expression of disapproval and disappointment. Ronan had made a promise and he'd intended to keep it, but he hadn't been expecting some asshole with his face and his name to show up and kick Noah around.

He doesn't know how he could be expected to not react.

Scowling, and stomach still twisted in knots, Ronan flings the water off his hands and reaches for a towel, ignoring the ache in his side all the while.

Comments

[incognoscibilis]

"You're better with us," Adam says. It's a broad, general term but he means it. In lieu of the happy family that will never repopulate the Barns, Ronan needs them. He needs Gansey and Noah and Blue. He needs Adam. A Ronan without those things as an angry, windmilling thing with no one to bring him back to ground.

"I'm better with you."

He wraps his arm a little tighter around Ronan. A little more protective. He kisses Ronan's head.

"Do you need burn cream or anything? Do we have burn cream?"

[thedreamthief]

The first part is true, but Ronan's still not so sure of the second. Adam Parrish was a self-sufficient boy who made himself into a self-sufficient man. If Ronan can't imagine Adam without the rest of them, it's only because he doesn't want to.

Adam's arms tighten around him and Ronan let out a low, pleasant huff of a laugh before glancing down at his own hand, fingers spread to see the mark left behind.

He shakes his head. "Had worse. Just stings." He curls his fingers back into a loose fist, hiding it away as his lips twitch into a teasing grin. "Might let you kiss away the bruise if you want though."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam Parrish has known his whole life how to be an army of one but it's been harder, letting in allies. Being an army of four, then five, then six. An army of two. Even then, he knows he's better for it. He's better for Blue, Noah, Gansey, and Ronan.

"At least wash it off, will you? Don't give him the satisfaction of an infection."

Adam's proud of himself for saying that. For smiling through it. It's a thought he's used before to motivate himself through bad days but now it's something he can share rather than bottle up. It's still a spiteful thought but it's no longer a thin veneer of self-defense either.

[thedreamthief]

Once again, Ronan can't help but wonder how often Adam's had to deal with this exact wound in his life. He'd seen the bruising, the split lips and black eyes. He'd seen the hits firsthand.

The memory still leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Likely always will.

"Yes, Mom," he says instead of calling further attention to it, meeting Adam's grin with his own. "But does that mean you're not gonna kiss it better?"

[incognoscibilis]

"You better hope I'm not your mom," Adam says, but he does lift Ronan's hand to his mouth to lay a kiss on his knuckles. He doesn't kiss the injury itself, aware of how fragile burns can be, but he does linger. He loves Ronan's hands as much as he thinks Ronan loves his.

"You didn't dream me healing kisses, Lynch. So you should still put a bandage on it."

[thedreamthief]

That quicks a grin to Ronan's lips and he curls his fingers to give Adam's hand an answering squeeze before pulling him in close to steal a kiss from his lips instead. As far as Ronan's concerned, that kiss could heal almost anything.

"Christ, fine," is what he says though, pretending to be irritated as, with a heavy sigh, he pushes himself to his feet. He ignores the continued ache in his side he leans back to pop his back. "Where the fuck do we even keep that shit?"

[incognoscibilis]

"Bathroom?" he guesses. It occurs to him that none of them have been responsible enough to get it but it seems like something they'd have. He hopes that maybe Gansey or Blue has had more responsibility. Or Krem or Mrs. Huang had come by before.

"I hope we have some."

[thedreamthief]

"If we don't, I'll dream some later," Ronan says, turning to head toward the bathroom, opening the cupboard mirror above the sink and rifling through the shaving cream and cold meds until he finds the small tube of ointment crammed on the third shelf near the back.

The container dates as least as far back as the first Gansey, he thinks. Hell, he's probably the one that bought it.

[incognoscibilis]

"Well, now we don't have to."

For a second, Adam can only watch Ronan. He's quiet and worried but he's also convinced, just by looking at him, that this Ronan is better. Whoever the other one is, he can't compare.

Knowing it, convinced of it, Adam moves behind Ronan and wraps his arms around him.

[thedreamthief]

Ronan isn't expecting Adam to follow and he glances up to see his reflection in the mirror only a second before Adam's arms wind around him from behind. Adam's warm against him from hip to shoulder and Ronan lets himself lean back into it as he unscrews the cap on the tube and squeezes a little bit of it between his fingers.

Glancing up again, he catches Adam's eyes in the mirror and wiggles his hand as if to say, 'See?' before he puts the cap back on the tube.

"Thinking about dreaming the BMW," he says then, voice quiet and calmer. "Tired of driving Gansey's shitmobile everywhere."

[incognoscibilis]

The change of subject is abrupt enough that it startles a laugh out of Adam. "Well we've both already stolen it," he says, thinking of those nights in Henrietta. He had hotwired the Camaro. Ronan had dreamed up the keys. Essentially, they'd both cheated but the results had been kind of the same. Life-altering.

"Noah can have the Camaro."

[thedreamthief]

"Why the fuck does Noah even need a car?" Ronan counters with a hint of a smile. He tosses the ointment back in the cabinet and turns to rest back against the counter, watching Adam openly now. "He can pop in wherever he wants. We could just use it for parts."

Because they both know it's only a matter of time before one or both of the Pigs breaks down again.

[incognoscibilis]

"To keep Gansey from driving two Camaros," Adam says practically. He's still holding onto Ronan and plans to hold on him for a lot longer too. Dropping a kiss on Ronan's shoulder, he nods toward the sofa.

"Let's lie down."

[thedreamthief]

It isn't like Gansey can drive both Pigs at one time, but Ronan's lips twitch into a near smile all the same. Though that's more to do with the kiss Adam places against Ronan's shoulder than anything.

"Yeah, okay," he agrees, glancing out the door toward the other room as Adam steps back. His tone turns more teasing then,"You sure you can take the break from studying?"

[incognoscibilis]

"I can read and let you sleep on me at the same time," Adam says, teasing back. It feels safe to do so now, once the harshness has been dealt with, at least a little.

"Come on. Couch."

[thedreamthief]

They both know Ronan's not likely to sleep all that much, but there's a comfort in just being close, he knows. "Couch," he agrees, crowding into Adam's space as Adam steps back, walking him backward into the other room.

Nothing's fixed, maybe. The other Ronan is still around in this world, probably still fucking with people. Ronan's heart is still a mess and his mind is worse, but he has Adam. He has this moment and a countless, unknown more stretched before him.

And that's all he really needs.