It takes time to rebuild a fraternal relationship.
Adam had said that the last time that Ronan and Declan had had an argument. Things were tenuous at best. Now, he was racing down winding roads after another screaming match in D.C. He didn't know where he was going nor did he care. The accelerator kept rising as he flew down the dark roads. Driving always seemed to help when things were bad.
Adam groaned. The lamplight was bothering his eyes and he wasn't sure his brain could hold any more grammar and vocabulary. His Latin professor was notorious for giving difficult tests, especially the first one of the semester. He said it helped "weed out the weak." Adam was far from weak but remembering over 1,000 lines of Cicero on top of keeping up with his other classes was keeping him up late. "Clauses inside of clauses inside of clauses… are there any indicative verbs on this page?" Adam muttered as he tapped his pen against his desk and resisted the urge to throw the book at the wall. Satisfying as it may be, it wouldn't help him retain the information and waking up his suitemates would be rude.
A tap at the window made him jump, and the book fell to the floor. He thought he was hearing things and, with a shiver, remembered the ways Cabeswater would try to get in touch with him. "We're past that." Adam spoke softly, closing his eyes with a deep breath. The tapping resumed, harder this time. Cautiously, he approached the window and peeked through the blinds. A grin crossed his face, but it was concealed by the time he opened the window.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Adam scolded his boyfriend as he climbed through the window. "It's 2am!"
Ronan gazed at the jeans and t-shirt that Adam wore. "Says the idiot awake at 2am." Adam's irritation and joy subsided as he closed the window and realized that Ronan hadn't cursed back. He glanced to where Ronan slumped on the edge of his bed, head in hands. On the one hand, Ronan wasn't terribly surprised he'd ended up here, but he knew he was inconveniencing Adam by showing up in the middle of the night without warning. "It happened again."
Adam sat beside his boyfriend and pulled his head into his lap. He gently stroked Ronan's head in silence. After a few moments, he finally spoke. "Declan?"
"Yes." Adam could feel Ronan's sigh on his leg and forced himself to not think about the way the heat from his breath felt on his skin through the denim. He willed himself to breathe normally and wait to hear what Ronan had to say. "It was so stupid. Of course it was. Before I knew it, we were both screaming, and I was in the BMW, speeding off." He groaned. "I'll have to fix it tomorrow. Somehow. Maybe I can convince Gansey to talk to him." Ronan rolled onto his back, looking up into Adam's weary face. "Why the fuck are you up?"
"Latin exam tomorrow." He gestured to the book of Cicero laying on the floor next to the desk.
"Need help studying?" Adam laughed in surprise to which Ronan glared.
"I suppose it can't hurt. And you were never bad with Latin." He got up to retrieve the book and Ronan leaned against the wall with one hand out. He read a sentence at a time and waited for Adam to give him a translation of it, correcting him on occasion. Despite not being much of a student, Ronan did keep up with learning Latin at the Barns.
As time slipped by, Ronan ended up sitting in Adam's lap, continuing to read. Adam's voice was growing heavier with each sentence and Ronan set the book onto his side table. "What was that for?" Adam drawled out. Ronan shifted to kiss his boyfriend on the cheek.
"You're exhausted, and you'll do better with sleep."
"I've pulled way worse hours than this at Aglionby." Still, he didn't fight it much and was appreciating how close Ronan was to him. Ronan could definitely feel the shift in mood and smirked.
"I said sleep, Parrish." Instead of responding, Adam nuzzled into Ronan's neck with light kisses. Ronan bit back a groan and sighed out as a warning, "Adam!"
"Yes?" He spoke between kisses, trailing up his neck and onto his jaw. Both boys were breathing more intensely.
Ronan could barely get out the words, blood draining from his head and his breath shaky. "You… need… r-rest." Adam's mouth closed over his, and any attempt to stop him vanished.
Breaking the kiss, Adam looked into Ronan's eyes and whispered. "I need you." Ronan slipped one hand into Adam's hair, pulling him closer and into a deeper kiss. Adam responded by rotating so that instead of having Ronan in his lap, he was leaning over his body. One hand still in Adam's hair, Ronan moved his other to slide under the back of Adam's faded t-shirt. It didn't take long until both shirts were off, and Ronan pushed Adam over to the side. Adam gave him a sleepy, hungry grin.
Part of Ronan knew he should be responsible and let Adam rest. The part that won, however, was the part that had been put through the wringer that day and wanted to let go of everything except his perfect boyfriend. He leaned over Adam, kissing him and guiding one of Adam's calloused hands to his zipper. He sighed and groaned into Adam's neck, blood rushing through his body at his touch. But the emotions of the day demanded that Ronan seek more, and he kissed his way down Adam's chest.
Adam was sighing and squirming under Ronan's attention. His stubble grazed his skin, and his body was on high alert to each sensation. Ronan's scratchy stubble, soft lips, warm breath… Adam couldn't keep his eyes open and instead let himself feel everything. Ronan rarely held this desperation and dominance when they were alone together, and Adam's entire body was tingling from it.
His breathing grew ragged as Ronan continued downward, his hands sliding down the back of his pants until they were completely off. The cold air ran up Adam's legs until Ronan leaned down over them, warming them with his own body. Ronan's breath warmed Adam's inner thigh and he audibly gasped. Ronan glanced at him, a hard glint in his eyes, but Adam didn't notice. His eyes were closed, and his head thrown back. This simultaneously urged Ronan on and softened him.
He moved so that he was laying next to Adam, whose eyes had opened at the gust of air that ran over him when Ronan moved. Ronan gently guided Adam's head to his, kissing him softly at first. He whispered so low that Adam could barely hear him. "I love you." Adam smiled the smile that melted Ronan's heart and leaned so that they were forehead to forehead, legs intertwined before returning the comment. They kissed again, wrapped up in each other. The kisses started gentle but quickly built back to the hunger they had before. After that, it was a flurry of contact - skin on skin and lips on skin and breath on skin and sweat on skin. Their bodies wrapped and unwrapped around each other until they finally fell asleep.
Morning came too soon but Adam was grateful for his habit of waking up long before classes started. Half awake, he buried his head into Ronan's neck, curled up behind him. He took a deep breath in, smelling everything that was Ronan, and sighed. Ronan rolled over to kiss him. "Why the fucking hell are we awake right now?"
"Because my alarm went off, you dumbass." Adam kissed him back. He nestled in against his chest and Ronan's arms instinctively wrapped around him.
"It's too damn early." Ronan was no stranger to operating on a sleepless schedule, but last night had drained him in more ways than on.
"Mhmmmm. But I don't have class for another two hours." Adam trailed off, talking into Ronan's chest. "Want to get breakfast with me?"
Ronan shook with silent laughter. "You're a tease, Parrish." By the time Adam realized what Ronan thought he had meant, Ronan was climbing out of bed and pulling on his jeans. Adam watched him with a smile. He still couldn't believe he deserved him. Ronan had turned around to pull on his shirt, and Adam watched as it covered his full back tattoo, one he had traced with a sleepy hand many times before. Ronan smirked at him in the mirror when he realized he was being watched. "You coming, sleeping beauty?"
When Ronan had realized that Adam was watching him dress, blood rushed to his cheeks and his heart pounded. Behind his smirk and sarcastic comment, was the softness that Ronan had always had for Adam. He was constantly amazed that Adam chose him when he deserved so much more. It was more than he had let himself hope for for a long time. Even now, after being together for months, it brought emotions flooding through him when Adam looked at him with love and desire.
It was his turn to watch Adam get dressed and pack up his stuff. Linking hands together, Adam brought him out through the main room of the suite and into the halls with a slight blush across his face. Many of the guys in the dorm did a double take, never guessing that Adam's Catholic farmer boyfriend would look so dangerous.
Adam took a ton of pleasure in showing Ronan around the campus and taking him to his favorite breakfast spot. The two had coffees and muffins on a bench near a small pond with a large tree cascading over it. Ronan couldn't help but feel at home in this setting, because Adam looked so at home in it. He walked Adam to his Latin class, kissed him and wished him luck in a truly Ronan way, making Adam laugh and shake his head as he entered the building. Ronan drove home and called Declan, ready to make amends.