Six weeks. These six weeks were going to kill Adam. Ronan had left disappointed but looking somehow satisfied, after "accidentally" brushing Adam's hand when he walked by to leave.

Blue wouldn't shut up after Adam had told her and Noah. "We can go on a double date!"

"I really don't think Ronan is a double date person," he had told her.

"I bet he would for you."

"I really don't think I am a double date person."

Blue had laughed at that. Adam could feel his muscles pulling into a smile without his permission. A boy had just asked him out. A savagely handsome and infuriatingly teasing boy. For the first time, he hated the shop rule about dating. Adam hadn't dated since Blue and hadn't really wanted to. Blue had come up with the idea after they had broken up so that neither had to watch the other dating other people up close and personal. But that had been when they had first broken up and everything had been raw and painful. It wasn't like that any more, but the rule still stood for professional reasons.

It didn't help that Ronan took every opportunity to come to the shop. Have a question about sun exposure? He was there. Might have accidentally picked off a scab while scratching his tattoo when he wasn't supposed to be? He was there. Gansey wanted to see Blue? He was there. There was a reason for nearly every day, despite Ronan's supposedly full class load. Either Ronan was incredibly smart, or he was ignoring his classwork completely. Either was a likely answer.

The most interesting day was the time Ronan and Gansey had brought Ronan's brother, Matthew, to the shop. He had just turned eighteen and wanted to get a tattoo or piercing "just like his big brother".Gansey had talked him out of it by saying that Ronan's older brother, the dickhead, wouldn't approve. Ronan had immediately approved when Gansey brought the dickhead up. Instead, they settled on an industrial piercing with a silver bar. Ronan had gotten a matching black one.

Adam couldn't stand how cute it was watching Ronan interact with his adorable younger brother. But moreover, he couldn't stand how hot Ronan was with his new piercings and dark tattoo hooking out of the collar of his tank tops. It was going to end Adam.

"Just break the rule this one time," Blue encouraged him in a whisper when she caught Adam watching Ronan intently. He looked away swiftly before Ronan could catch him, too. While Gansey and Ronan talked tattoos, Matthew was busy leaning over Noah's sketchbook, looking for tattoo ideas for when it was his time to go to college. Noah couldn't take his eyes off the personification of sunlight in front of him."Really, I don't mind," she said.

"It's not about you minding." Blue made a small, offended sounding noise. "Not like that. You know I care about how you feel. It's just about professionalism. Reputable shop owners don't date clients."

"I think you're being too uptight about this. It's not like you're going to fuck and chuck a bunch of clients while working on them. This guy really likes you, and I think you really like him," Blue reasoned.

Adam could feel heat rising to his ears. He would never admit it to Blue, but he really did like Ronan. The more he came in, the more he got to know Ronan, the more he fell for him. His sharp edges, the brutal way he smiled, the way he was constantly finding reasons to touch Adam, which never failed to send a wave of heat through him.

And it didn't help that Ronan was getting braver as Adam consistently didn't stop him. Perhaps encouraged was a better term for it. Giving him a fist bump, letting him put his hand on Adam's lower back as he passed, allowing him to twine their fingers together after a high five. It was like fire was burning through Adam's veins that he never noticed until Ronan soothed it with his touch.

"You cool, Parrish?" Ronan called from across the shop.

Adam had been staring again. He tried to cover it up.

"Just wondering how the tattoo is healing up. Let me see it?" he asked nonchalantly.

Ronan raised his eyebrows, but complied, coming over to Adam's station and stripping off his shirt.

Adam took a moment to admire Ronan's build. He got an eyeful of Ronan's arms daily because of the tank tops, but now he could admire Ronan's body with his art on it. It was no where near done, they still had three sessions of shading to do, but it already suited Ronan. He had access to Ronan's back every couple weeks, but he was usually so engrossed in the tattooing that he didn't have time to enjoy it. He ran his fingers gently over the bottom half of the tattoo that they had done in the last session, as though he was feeling for dry skin and scabs when really he was just relishing the feel of Ronan's skin beneath his.

Ronan made a sound that was almost sinful. Adam pulled his hand away quickly.

"Get a room," Matthew yelled from Noah's tattoo chair. Blue, Noah, and Gansey laughed. Ronan flipped them off.

"I wish," he muttered.

Adam was sure his ears were completely red. "Six weeks." But he was reminding himself more than Ronan.