Adam Parrish had never been so unapologetically happy in his life. Growing up in his trailer was filled with insecurities and pain, and even once he moved out, the whole business with Gansey and Blue was more than enough to sour his mood. Even when Cabeswater did a turn to save Gansey, he could feel something inside him turning. Cabeswater was his, just his, and all of a sudden it was Ronan and it was Gansey and Blue made it scream to the heavens.
Finally, though, he had something that was all his. It was this time, the sun slowly rising and sleepily touching the windows, his deaf ear pressed into the soft fabric of Ronan's pillow. His half-open eyes stared at the sharp boy who lay so close with his arm resting on Adam's waist, their skin touching where Adam's shirt had ridden up. This half-awake time in the morning with Ronan was all his, and he wasn't about to share that with anybody, not even Gansey, their best friend.
"Stop staring," the grumble came from the barely-stifled smile on Ronan's face. He slowly opened his eyes to look at Adam, his hand sliding back so his fingers could touch his waist, rough fingertips pressed against his soft skin. Despite Ronan trying to be sharp, he knew that he had softened to his friend- were they just friends?- over time.
Their lips met for a loss. Unlike most of their kisses, their lips simply brushed together to avoid morning breath. It reminded Adam of the sparse flowers he had tried to grow in his apartment, fragile but beautiful and comforting. Once the kiss was over, Adam's eyes flickered down, giving Ronan the chance to appreciate the long eyelashes he had. They were pretty. Soon, Ronan looked down to what Adam was looking at. Nestled in Ronan's other hand was a rose, although it was clearly a thing of dreams, impossibly light and gentle as opposed to the usual harsh love roses imposed. The petals matched the blue of Ronan's eyes when they were softly in love, and the thorns were actually small flowers, the colour of Adam's dirt-shaded hair. The colours suited together, surprisingly, and they looked wonderfully soft compared to most of the things Ronan dreamt. His hand which held the rose lifted slowly, but as the tattooed boy got ready to thread it into Adam's hair, there was an angry shriek.
A shriek like that could only belong to one creature. Chainsaw flew onto the bed, her legs hopping in a happy dance as she seized the flower in her beak. The fragile thing faded and formed into dust, leaving behind a faint smell of cherry pie. Ronan growled lovingly as he swatted his raven away, sitting up to look at her.
"You rat," he spat, although the fondness was too hard to keep out of his tone. It was unbelievable how happy Ronan was in that moment, even as he bared his teeth at the chattering, smug Chainsaw. Happiness wasn't in lack at The Barns, thankfully, even despite the deaths that clung to the walls in grief.
Adam rose too, and they found themselves wandering to the kitchen, glad that the weather was inbetween summer and fall, a delightful temperature they could both handle with ease. Ronan pulled food out of the cupboards. He had never been good with keeping up with what he needed, but as it became clear that Adam was going to be visiting a lot, he was determined to keep him well fed. Adam couldn't exactly say no, since Ronan was eating too and he knew that Ronan wasn't insinuating that Adam couldn't feed himself, simply that he may as well eat.
Ronan pressed a bagel into Adam's hand, cream cheese hurriedly spread on it, leaning on the counter beside him. Chainsaw pecked at Ronan's bagel, and he shared with her against his will, allowing her to tear a chunk off. She eyed Adam's, but decided against taking his bagel, opting instead to hop across the counter noisily, calling 'Kerah! Kerah!'. She liked to annoy the pair when they weren't quite awake yet.
"Have you heard from Gansey lately? He said that he was going to see Child about getting Monmouth back yesterday," Adam's voice broke the silence. His accent was heavy, and he didn't even bother to bring the accent back a little. Ronan was glad of this: he liked hearing the friendly accent in Adam's voice, and he liked the idea that Adam trusted him enough to not try and reel the accent back. He picked a chunk of bagel off and flicked it at Chainsaw with a grin, a short laugh rumbling his throat as she almost fell off the counter to catch it.
" Not yet. We can pay him a visit, though. Fuck knows that he needs something to do except talk to Blue," Ronan flicked the last of his bagel at his bird with a grin. Adam considered it, before nodding. It was a Sunday, and he didn't need to be at work until the afternoon, since he had taken a sick day, his first in a long time. He originally took it so he could relax with Ronan that morning, but he knew that Gansey needed some company. Heavens knew that their friend had been a little lost lately. After investing so much time into finding Glendower, now it was all over, Gansey was stuck in a time of confusion. He didn't know what to do with his days and nights anymore except hang out with Blue, and when she had other things to do, Gansey was confused. It was strange to see Gansey, the one person who was always so sure of what to do, wander like that.
Ronan and Adam drove in silence. Adam had started keeping clothes at Ronan's house after he starting sleeping over, so thankfully he could get changed to look presentable. Ronan didn't care, but he had gotten changed into clean clothes, mainly to please Adam. Chainsaw sat on Adam's knee for the entire ride, permitting him to pet her neck feathers as long as he was gentle.
On their arrival, they noticed two things. The first thing was that Gansey and Blue were sitting on the front of the Pig in similar shirts, the one on Blue looking much bigger on her small frame.
The second thing was the cake box that sat between them. At the sight of Ronan and Adam, Gansey waved then over, an easy grin on his face. It was different to the one he held for friends of his family's, or for school, but rather the one that expressed how care-free he finally felt, freed from his frantic quest for the dead king.
The BMW came to a stop sharp enough that Chainsaw almost fell off Adam if it wasn't for her claws gripping him. He winced as her sharp grip broke skin underneath his jeans, small, barely noticeable dots of blood staining them.
"Kerah!" Chainsaw crossly called up to Ronan, using her nickname to scold him in a humourus way. She hopped up to sit on his shoulder and fluffed all of her feathers out in annoyance, leaving Ronan to laugh at her simply. They all climbed out of the car and walked over to the pair on the Pig. It was obvious that Blue had slept the night and stolen one of Gansey's shirts. Off-handedly, Adam started to wonder what would happen if he stole one of Ronan's shirts to sleep in. It occurred to him that he had no idea how Ronan would react, and a brave part of him decided to find out later.
" What's the cake for then?" Ronan asked in a blunt tone. It wasn't especially mean, but he wasn't one for using a false tone. His friends knew him well enough to not take offence. Blue grinned at him, and pulled the lid back.
The cake was single tiered (Blue had forced Gansey to keep it simple), with vibrantly red icing on top. In bold white letters was the words 'THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ME BACK TO LIFE'. As they all stared at it, it occurred to Adam that Gansey must have left a very confused cake maker that order.
"I wanted to say thank you for everything. For staying with me, helping me. This event seemed like the biggest one to say thank you for, though," Gansey laughed lightly. He pushed the lid shut, and held it out to Adam to hold. Adam took it, knowing that Ronan wasn't the best person to hold something that easy to ruin, especially with Chainsaw on his shoulder. "Child let me have Monmouth back. I won't stay forever, but... I want a place to stay when I visit. I've put too much into that place to let someone else take it like that," Gansey told them firmly. He was clearly pleased with himself. Whatever he bargained with, it was obviously worth it to him. A lot had happened in that old factory, and Ronan had to admit (in his head, obviously) that he was glad Gansey had kept it.
They all spoke for a while, before Blue said that she had to get to work, and Adam realised that he had to too. They bid each other goodbye and retreated to their separate cars. Since there wasn't time for Adam to go get his tri-coloured car, Ronan said that he would pick him up after work, agreeing to save the cake until Adam was there to share it. Chainsaw didn't make any promises, eyeing the box up, but Adam felt safe that Ronan wouldn't let her. A pecked slice of cake wasn't so appealing.