(Ronan shies away when the light strikes adam’s face; he clenches his fists when Adam turns into something else entirely: a surreal blend of tanned, freckled skin and blue eyes.
Ronan Lynch can’t stand how beautiful Adam Parrish’s freckled face is, and it’s becoming a problem.)
Adam notices, and tries to dismiss it as mere coincidence that whenever he turns on the lights in his apartment or walks next to Ronan at school, Ronan clenches his fists and looks away, as if he’d been struck. Vanity and coincidence, that’s all it had to be. But Adam Parrish doesn’t believe in coincidences.
So, Adam convinces himself that it’s a simple game, that it doesn’t matter if he finds out that it’s not just a coincidence—that Ronan has feelings for him. Nothing’s going to change, Adam says to himself.
Adam starts edging closer to Ronan whenever he can. He leans on Ronan at Nino’s, makes a habit of asking Ronan for his notes in latin class while facing him, brushes their fingers together when Ronan hands him the notes. (Adam ignores how his fingers tingle after they touch, ignores the warmth at the pit of his stomach.)
And Ronan notices. ( He wants to lean in to kiss Adam, wants to count all the freckles in Adam’s skin, wants to hold Adam’s hand, wants to fucking devour him. He just scoffs at the thoughts, but then Adam leans into him when they’re in Adam’s apartment and enough—)
"What the fuck, Parrish? What the hell are you doing?" Ronan practically leaps away from Adam. One more second with Adam’s skin against his and he would fucking burn.
Adam doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. He notices the way Ronan’s eyes flicker and close when he touches him, the way a sigh almost escapes his lips and he thinks fuck it.
And then they kiss because they might as well. (Noah throws a party after they announce their relationship because gosh darn it, about diddly darn time.)
After that, Ronan Lynch draws constellations on Adam Parrish’s skin—light, feather touches that make Adam tremble. Sometimes Adam comes to the apartment so tired that Ronan’s fingers against his skin just lull him to sleep. Ronan makes a habit of counting Adam’s freckles, and watches him fall asleep. Ronan thinks about how lucky he is, how impossible that this boy cares about him, and doesn’t flinch at his touch (but rather falls into it, begs for it).
Ronan dreams a rosary, and prays every night that they’ll make it.
