Chapter: The One Where The Jay-Z Song Is On
Character(s): Gansey, Adam, Ronan
Summary: The Raven Boys do a road trip on a budget.
Notes: Started chattering really excitedly with ronangreywarens (thank you for choosing such a fab song) about this months ago and, after doing my damnedest to break Gansey for heart shards, here we are! Will explain more circumstances in the next one.

"Why the fuck don't I get to drive?"

Gansey didn't turn his eyes from the road. "This isn't your car."

"Like I would want a fucking Suburban. We could've taken my car."

Adam snorted, turning in his seat to face both Gansey and Ronan. He nudged Ronan's elbow away from his collarbone. "Yeah, because we will definitely make it to Chicago if we got stopped by every cop on our way there."

Ronan sneered. "Like they'll do anything more than smell exhaust."

"That," Gansey said, "is exactly what I was worried about."

"And how'd we pack all that in your race car, Lynch?" Adam asked, cocking his head towards the very full back.

Leaning deeper into the passenger seat, Ronan let his elbow slide up Adam's shoulder but didn't argue. Instead, done with the third Mozart piano concerto in an hour, he reached for the radio controls and Adam smacked his hand away.

Ronan scowled. He elbowed Gansey and caught his eye in the rearview mirror. "Then why can't I sit in the front?"

"Because I don't want to lose my other ear," Adam said.

"And we need a navigator," Gansey added. "Are you volunteering?"

Grumbling, Ronan leaned back in his seat. "At least change the station - the sound is shit from all the interference."

Adam obliged, setting the radio on search. They listened through the fuzzy, preaching, country, the news, and more fuzzy over the hum of wheels against uneven pavement until they hit -

Welcome to the land of fame, excess, whoa -
Am I gonna fit in?

Ronan slumped. "Kill me now."

"Don't tempt me." Glancing over at the scrolling text on the console, Adam said, "It's a nineties to today station. You up for hymns?"

Scoff but no complaint.

The car went quiet for a few seconds. Fields of corn passed, blending into woods, blending into hay rolls, blending into seas of wheat. They crossed over a wide river, wheels rolling over in a hollow hum.

Predictably, it began with Gansey. Ronan watched as his head bobbed before his fingers drummed against the top of the steering wheel.

Slipping back to the front of his seat, he and Adam both watched, eyebrows raised.

Gansey looked at Adam, then Ronan, but instead of appearing ashamed or abashed, he grinned and held his fist to his mouth -

And the Jay-Z song was on,
And the Jay-Z song was on,
And the Jay-Z song was on!

"Are you really gonna lip-sync to Miley Cyrus?" Ronan looked over at Adam, fingers tapping against the laminated map book in his lap. "Oh fuck, you're not gonna."

Shaking his head, Ronan threw himself back into his seat and stared out the windshield. "I'm in fuckin' Pitch Perfect."

Gansey stopped lip syncing about butterflies just long enough to point out, "And you're complaining about it."

They were coming upon the chorus for the second time. Ronan noticed his traitorous foot keeping the beat. It was all he could do to not nod his head like yeah.

He couldn't stop the humming though, so after checking to see if Adam and Gansey were focused on the road ahead of them and serenading each other, Ronan gave in - brought out his air guitar and best moves.

And the butterflies fly away.
Nodding my head like yeah,
Moving my hips likes yeah...

"How many times has this happened?" Gansey whispered to Adam.

"Third."

They shared a subtle high five.

"We should do Call Me Maybe again."