(no subject)

[thedreamthief]

There's a computer set up in the third spare room, the one Ronan had initially intended to be Gansey's, though Gansey has yet to use it. For now, the room is doubling as Adam's study on the days or nights he comes out to spend time with Ronan while he studies. Like most everything else in the little farmhouse, the computer is a dream thing, with a 24 inch monitor, endless hard drive space, 64 megs of RAM, and a lightening-fast processor.

And internet access of course, despite the fact there isn't a chance any cable company in all of Darrow could hope to wire out in Cabeswater.

For the first time since he dreamt it, it's actually Ronan who's using it, Adam stretched out on the opposite bed with an economics book as Ronan trolls through pages and pages of search results on the Darrow equivalent of Google.

"What are your feelings on alpacas?" he asks idly, squinting at the screen.

Comments

[thedreamthief]

Lightly skimming his fingertips along the dip of Adam's spine, Ronan's grin widens. "Haven't done that in awhile," he says and, he has to admit, it does sound appealing. Especially as it could be the first time using the shower he and Adam built, though the furnishings are more from Ronan's dreams than their hands.

Neither of them have moved at all though and, with a quiet laugh, he ducks to press another kiss to Adam's brow. "Or we could just take a nap. My dick's gonna get cold though."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam tilts his head up to kiss Ronan properly, a hand sliding along his belly, up to his chest under his shirt. "I'd hate for you to get cold," he says. He squirms a little, just to see how Ronan will respond. Already, he's resigned the night to being useless for homework. Ronan's the only one who can tempt him away from it.

"Better get the hot water."

[thedreamthief]

Ronan huffs out a laugh at that, imagining just dipping his dick in warm in a pail of warm water as he slides his hand to Adam's side and squeezes.

"Come on," he decides, shifting up then, grabbing his pants by the waistband so he doesn't get himself tangled as he stands up, but then letting them fall, pushing his boxer-briefs down with them. His shirt is the next off, Ronan tossing it toward the desk chair before he reaches for Adam. He's grinning, lips twisted in a sharp smile. "We haven't christened the bathroom here yet."

[incognoscibilis]

"We haven't christened a lot of places," Adam says. He lets Ronan tug him from the bed and throws his clothes aside with equal carelessness before closing the space, his chest to Ronan's back. For a second, he just revels in his warmth and kisses his shoulder.

"Are you happy out here?" He wants Ronan to be happy, even if it's not at Hywel.

[thedreamthief]

Before he can turn around, Adam's crowded up behind him, lips pressed to his shoulder. Even without Adam's arms wrapped around him, Ronan can feel the warmth of him all along his back and he turns slowly, not reading any irritation in Adam's tone, but curious nonetheless.

"I like the quiet," he says honestly. "And Cinnamon and Hercules have more space out here. The girls, too." He pauses then, watching Adam intently before, for once, choosing his words wisely. "Feels a little like home, you know? Shit's so fractured lately, it's nice having a place where things feel stable." And a place where there are things that rely on him. Living things. A place where those things won't leave him for something better.

[incognoscibilis]

Adam nods. It's not about persuading him back to Hywel, though he's missed. Adam just wants to know, to trust that Ronan is happy and that Adam is part of the things that make it so. He looks at Ronan and tries his hardest to keep his expression open rather than close his emotions down where they can't be seen. He just wants Ronan to know, to understand that he asks out of care.

"I want you to be happy," he says and there's no caveat that follows, just simple desire. Adam kisses Ronan, revels in the sense of suddenly going seventy miles per hour just from a simple touch.

[thedreamthief]

There's nothing harsh or judgmental in Adam's expression. His eyes are as warm as ever as he leans in to press a soft, lingering kiss to Ronan's lips.

Ronan's brow furrows as they part again and he lifts a hand to Adam's side, feeling over warm, bare skin. "What about you?" he asks, concern sneaking into his voice. "Are you happy?"

[incognoscibilis]

Adam's first impulse is to say no because he's lived his life at quiet extremes. To be happy requires being incandescently happy and to be sad requires abject misery. Being neutral, being content, is a strange idea but Adam realizes that that's what it is. He feels fulfilled, safe. That's happiness for him.

"Yes," he says, leaning forward to kiss Ronan's shoulder.

[thedreamthief]

It takes Adam a minute to answer and Ronan can only begin to guess what the flicker of Adam's expressions might mean as he waits it out.

Then his face clears and something that's nearly a smile tugs at his lips as he kisses Ronan's shoulder. The answer might be a lie, but it doesn't feel like one and Ronan lets out a breath in relief as he drops his hand in to Adam's. With a squeeze, he guides him out of the room and down to the other side of the hall.

"Come on," he says, grinning as they walk. "Bet making you come again will make you even happier."

[incognoscibilis]

"It might help," Adam says, voice light again. It's a weighty question he's asked and has had asked of him and he thinks they've both answered honestly, meaningfully. Ronan's answer had been measured and Adam's had been broad but both had been true.

"I love you," he says, because he wants Ronan to know it.

[thedreamthief]

Ronan may have been the first to say those words out loud, but it's Adam who says them more often these days, Adam who tends to initiate, to remind them both what it is they have together. Not that Ronan's forgotten, but hearing the words and knowing Adam would never ever say them without meaning them, does catch under his skin every time.

Grinning, Ronan gives Adam's hand a squeeze, turning at the last minute to walk backward into the bathroom, pulling Adam in after him. "More than you love getting straight As?" he asks, his smile turning sharper as he backs Adam gently against the wall.

[incognoscibilis]

"More than," Adam says. He can think of plenty of hyperboles but they all sound silly, excessive trimmings for a relationship that doesn't need it. Stars in the sky, leaves on a tree, and on and on and on. They're almost entirely clichés and Adam is no poet unless he's making contracts with magical forests.

He smiles and kisses Ronan, letting his back rest against the cool tile.

[thedreamthief]

It's a dumb little comparison, all tease to lighten the moment. Adam's smile is warm and relaxed as he tips his head back against the tile and Ronan can't resist it so he doesn't even bother, leaning down to press a kiss before giving his bottom lip a playful bite.

"Pretty high praise there," he says, his voice still light before he reaches over to turn on the faucet for the bath. "Too bad you can't put that on your transcript."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam laughs and holds Ronan to him for a second, kissing him softly back. "Where are you going that you need a transcript anyway?" The question isn't condescending. Adam places a different value on education than Gansey does. Gansey sees education as the prize in itself and Adam sees it as the weapon to slay the dragon. Ronan, Adam suspects, sees it as a weight or a form of torture.

"Applying to a school for dreamers?"

[thedreamthief]

Grinning still, Ronan shrugs, testing the water with his fingers and adjusting the tap before stepping in. He holds a hand out to Adam, a silent gesture for Adam to join him.

"Maybe I'll join a cooking class or something. Crochet. Who the fuck knows, don't you hold me back." His voice is teasing and he wraps an arm playfully around Adam's middle, tugging him close as the bottoms of their feet get wet.

[incognoscibilis]

"I think I can get in the tub by myself," Adam says, taking Ronan's hand and squeezing it as he steps over. It's not about the help, never was. Ronan pulls him close and Adam lays his head on Ronan's shoulders, trying to imagine Ronan doing something as methodical as crochet. In his head, imaginary Ronan swears at nearly every stitch.

"Someone probably should join a cooking class," he teases. "Someone's got to know how to keep us alive."

[thedreamthief]

"Fuck you, I make a perfectly decent grilled cheese," Ronan points out with a smirk, Adam's hair tickling his jaw as he rests against Ronan's chest. He lets himself indulge for a second, tucking his nose in Adam's hair before pulling away long enough to again check the water temperature and then set the spray.

"Might not hurt though," he added, turning back to Adam as the shower rained down over his shoulders. "If only for something to do with all those fucking eggs."

[incognoscibilis]

"You know there's foods outside of bread and cheese, right?" Adam teases. Ronan probably knows it better than any of them. Magical or not, the Barns had still been a farm and Ronan had spent his life next to fresh ingredients and good food. He wonders if Ronan misses it, if Aurora or Niall had been good cooks.

"You could learn to bake." Adam drops a kiss on Ronan's shoulder, then his neck. "Soufflés have eggs, right?"

[thedreamthief]

Ronan huffs a laugh at that, tipping his head to the side as Adam kissing along the length and sighing at the touch.

"You want me to learn how to bake fucking soufflés?" he asks, sliding his hands down to Adam's hips, the spray warming his back. "How about we start with brownies. And I bet I can at least make spaghetti." His grin turns more teasing then as he meets Adam's eye. "Would you move out here if I fed you every night?"

[incognoscibilis]

"Does spaghetti have eggs?" he teases.

The question stops him and Adam has to think about it for a long moment. It's a tempting thought, having this place that he and Ronan have built, made in their own image of what home should be. But Hywel has his name on the deed. It's a place that belongs to him and is open to them all.

"I worked hard for us to have Hywel," he says finally. He's not ready to give that up.

[thedreamthief]

Adam's tone turns serious and Ronan stills a moment himself. He doesn't mention that he'd worked hard for the farm to be theirs, doesn't because it's a different kind of work. And Hywel means something to Adam in a way Ronan can only begin to understand.

So he nods instead. "And it's closer to school and the garage," he says because it's the truth. "I wasn't being serious." Not entirely, at least. Not really.

[incognoscibilis]

Adam frowns and looks Ronan in the eye then, soft but serious. He doesn't say anything, just searches Ronan's face. This place still belongs to them, made by their hands and dreams, but Hywel is the Monmouth he'd never allowed himself. It's hard to let that go, especially with the others still there.

"This is home too," he says, realizing the depth of it for the first time himself. For the first time, he has more than one home, one shelter, rather than one little place he's barely scraped together as his own, clung to with frugality and exhaustion. "I'm lucky," he adds and there's a little wonder in his face as he realizes the truth of it.

[thedreamthief]

It's Ronan home, that much is true. It's more of a home than Hywel, more like the Barns than anything Ronan's ever had. But just because it's his home doesn't mean it needs to be Adam's.

But he likes the idea that it might.

"Not sure luck has anything to do with it," he says with a small grin then, stepping back a bit to pull Adam into the spray. "Still fuckin' stuck with me, are you?"

[incognoscibilis]

Adam closes his eyes and lets the water pour over him, soaking through his hair and down his skin. It seems too cliché to say to Ronan that he's part of that luck, so Adam just leans forward and kisses him instead, slow and deep as if kissing him deep enough lets him say it better.

He's stuck with Ronan. He's okay with that.