Things hadn’t quite been the same since the end of their search for Glendower... since the unmaking... Gansey left with Blue and Henry Chang to explore parts of the world Adam could only dream of while Adam well... well he found a place he thought he could actually call home. For a boy so hellbent on leaving Henrietta from the second he could form opinions he still wasn’t sure how to deal with the ache that lingered in his stomach every time he thought about heading off to university and finally leaving. It was so unfamiliar that he often caused fights with Ronan about it -- not on purpose, not really, but whenever Ronan brought up the future Adam couldn’t help but jump in with some comment about university that would make his boyfriend’s face drop because of course he knew Adam was leaving... Adam sometimes wondered if Ronan was worried he wouldn’t return. If Adam knew anything at all, and he thought he knew quite a bit due to grueling hours of studying, he knew for certain he’d return to the barns. To Ronan. Even to Opal, even after she’d eaten his slippers and spat the rough bits out onto his jacket.
It had been nice spending the past few months just he and Ronan (and Opal, always Opal), but he could feel the air getting more tense every day that passed because it meant just another day closer to his departure to university. He didn’t want to leave Ronan alone, not after all that had happened with his family, but if he didn’t go he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. Adam had to be his own person, he had to make a name for himself. He just had to make sure to leave in a way that signified how much he wanted to return... what better way than a surprise going away slash welcome back party? He’d contacted Gansey a few weeks before, and in a week he’d be set off for school, so they had to do it now. They’d flown in the night before, but it was just Gansey who would be showing up at the barns to help get it ready. Blue and Henry would pop by before Ronan returned, and as much as he wanted to see them (mainly Blue) he was glad to get some alone time with Gansey. The last time they’d talked was just a bicker back and forth on the phone about how Adam should have accepted his help with letters of recommendation even though it was months too late for that. Same old Gansey. Same old Adam.
Ronan had gone off for the day and he’d sent Opal on a quest to pick one hundred wild berries which should take her all day considering she wasn’t the best at counting. When he heard the familiar sound of the Camaro’s engine in the front he dropped the list of supplies he’d made up and slipped outside to watch the arrival of his friend. It wasn’t until he saw him that he realized just how much he’d missed Gansey’s company, how much he’d taken it for granted when he’d seemed to have endless time with him. The long walks through Cabeswater, the monotonous days at Aglionby, days planning their search for Glendower in Monmouth. It hadn’t even been that long ago yet and still it felt like forever.
Adam smiled once Gansey approached, the wave of nostalgia also willing him to hold up his knuckles for Gansey to bump like old times. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, or something like that. I think we’re really the only two alive who can surprise Ronan Lynch. And Opal -- but her surprises... well.. as Ronan says, ‘are downright fucked’.”