Golden summer evening sunlight drenched the barns, turning everything into molten gold: the fireflies dancing around Ronan Lynch's head, the grass heads waving in the breeze, the laughter ringing out from where his younger brother Matthew and Opal were dancing around a sprinkler on the lawn.

"Hey" he called to them, sliding the first few burgers onto the BBQ. "Stop pissing around and help."

Predictably, they both ignored him. Opal squealed as Matthew picked up the sprinkler and pointed it at her. Ronan stood in front of the BBQ, feeling the last of the sun's heat on the back of his neck and revelled in his happiness. Even though the last year had felt like a dream, he was still pleasantly surprised by how happy he felt every day. Everything just felt so right.

The glass doors behind him slid open, and he heard Adam Parrish step out into the garden. Ronan didn't turn around as he felt Adam's hands slide softly round his stomach from behind, his head coming to rest on Ronan's shoulder. About an hour ago Adam had arrived after his long drive down from Harvard, and now his hair was slightly damp and curled from his shower. He smelt like Ronan's shower gel. He was to stay at the Barns for the whole summer. Three whole months with him- Ronan felt breathless at the thought. Of course, he drove up to Harvard nearly every other weekend to visit him and they rang each other every night (Facetime had diminished Ronan's hatred of mobile phones slightly), but those short visits never really seemed enough.

"Gansey just texted me" he said, quietly, happily. "They'll be here in fifteen."

"Twenty if Dick is driving" Ronan replied, flipping one of the burgers.

He heard Adam's quiet, surprised laugh and felt his hand tug at the material covering his body. "Is this my college hoodie you're wearing?"

Ronan shrugged, because Adam couldn't see his smile. He might have stolen it the last time he'd visited Adam. And he might have worn it nearly every day since then.
"It looks better on you anyway" said Adam, right in his ear, lips brushing skin.

Ronan blushed, and he was glad Adam couldn't see his face. He muttered, "Flirt."

They were both quiet for a moment as Ronan rested his hands over Adam's, closing his eyes and soaking in the feeling of this moment. Right here. Right now. This was what the rest of his life was going to feel like.

But then Adam just released a breath and said, "I love you."

He said it so simply, so matter-of-factly, but it still caught Ronan's breath every single time. That someone like Adam Parrish- smart and driven, beautiful and magic- could love him made him want to dream himself wings so that he could fly.

Ronan turned because he wanted to look Adam in the eye when he said- "I love you too." Ronan had always loved saying that, because of how it made him feel and the fact that he was allowed to say it now- but more than anything he loved how genuinely surprised and happy Adam looked each time he said it. Like he'd forgotten the fact until the next time Ronan reminded him of it, and he felt the warmth of it each time anew.

The first time he'd said it, months ago now, Adam had been silent for such a long time afterwards that Ronan had begun to regret his words. But now he knew it was just because Adam Parrish had never imagined someone saying those words to him and meaning it.

"You two!" he snapped at Matthew and Opal, but he was only pretending to be impatient. "Would you lend a fucking hand?"

"Please" added Adam, and of course, as soon as he spoke, they both jumped to attention. Somehow Opal could never listen to Ronan, but she always did whatever Adam asked her to. Ronan's resulting fake-irritation over the matter was a source of endless amusement for the pair of them.

They all busied themselves setting out the table on the lawn- bread and salad, knives and forks, lemonade and beer. From between the trees around the garden ivory deer peered out at them, tiny glowing flowers slowly circling their antlers. Pink streaks spread out across the sky.

Ronan adored this place. And since graduation, he'd spent every single day here. Tending to the animals, slowly fixing up the barns and the house, selling the eggs and milk, dreaming whenever he got a chance. It was a good life.

From inside, he heard, "Kerah!" from Opal, which meant the others were here. He and Adam grinned at each other, before hurrying to the front door. Ronan opened it to find three very suntanned and excited looking people on the doorstep- Henry Cheng, wearing a Madonna t-shirt and sporting what looked like a pierced ear, Blue Sargent, who had a bad-ass scar over her left eyebrow, and Richard Campbell Gansey the third, who, bizarrely enough, seemed to be wearing scuffed jeans and a creased blue t-shirt.

"Look at you two" said Gansey with a little burst of emotion in his voice, like a proud parent. He laughed as he exchanged a fist-bump with a grinning Adam, and then offered out his fist to Ronan. Ronan just raised an eyebrow at it before pushing it out the way and throwing his arms around him instead. "You loser" he said, gruffly.

"You nightmare" Gansey replied, still laughing. He was literally shinning with happiness to be back with them again. So was Ronan, and so was Adam. As soon as they were all together again it was like something he hadn't realised was missing clicked right into place; they fit together in an intrinsic way he couldn't really describe, just feel.
Next was Blue, who was tearfully hugging Adam and excitedly asking him all about his courses at college. (Adam was top of all his classes, not that Ronan bragged about this at all to anyone).

Then she turned to Ronan. "Still a midget, then" he said.

"Still an asshole, then" she replied before they grabbed each other in a hug.

Last to enter was Henry Cheng, hesitating in the doorway. "Gansey-man here assured me I was invited, but no offense Lynch, you kind of scare the shit out of me. Am I definitely welcome in your rather awesome abode?"

"Oh, shut up" said Ronan, rolling his eyes and pulling him in. Adam shut the door behind him.

They all went back out into the garden, where Gansey stopped stock-still with his eyes wide. "Oh" he said, very quietly, just absorbing the Barns with his eyes. Ronan could see how much he had missed this place just from his expression, his adoration of it burning through.

Blue had made Opal a garland of flowers, which she put into her hair. Ronan didn't know how long it would take until the garland was in Opal's mouth rather than on her head, but it was still a nice gesture.

When the food was done they all sat down at the table, plates full and glasses sparkling, laughter ringing out into the warm, fragrant evening and chatter bubbling forth. They were all together again, and nothing had ever felt more right in the world. Somehow they were all interlocking pieces that fit together to make something whole, something raw and magical and kingly.

"Tell us all about your travels then" said Adam, smiling. Ronan could see the others admiring his new haircut and his finely cut clothes, but more than anything they were admiring the new found self- confidence that made him seem twice as handsome as he had been before.

So they did. The three of them had been travelling for the whole year in the specially adapted Camaro Ronan had dreamt for them all those months ago. "We've been all around the US, and we've been to Venezuela and we've been to mountains and waterfalls and caves and deserts, the prettiest little towns and biggest cities" said Blue, her eyes shining. Ronan could almost see all the places she described reflected in them. "The world" she started, then laughed, "the world is so big."

On the table, her hand intertwined with Gansey's. "And, in other news, Henry got an ear piercing" she said, nodding towards him, "and Gansey got some fashion sense."
"Hey!" said Gansey, but he wasn't really offended, he was too happy for that, at the same moment Henry asked, "Do you think it makes me look edgy?"
Ronan snorted. "You're wearing a Madonna t-shirt. Let's not forget."

Blue laughed. "Asshole."

Ronan flicked a bit of his roll at her. "Midget."

Then the conversation moved on, rolling and tumbling on like a river, to Adam's place at Harvard and the internship he'd been offered at a law courts after he graduated. Which was close enough for him to be able to move into the Barns permanently. As Adam spoke, his thumb stroked softly over the back of Ronan's hand. Then it was on to the future for all of them, a world of new and unknown territories- Gansey was going to college in Oxford after his gap year, Blue was going to do a conservation project in the Welsh mountains to be close to him, Henry was going to Yale. They would all be scattered far across this glittering world, but somehow that didn't scare them.
"We've been through a shit-ton of crazy together", as Ronan put it, "how is a few countries distance going to keep us apart?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They stayed until it was late, until the sun slipped away and the stars appeared instead, glittering above them. They stayed until Declan came to take Matthew home, exchanging a fist bump and a joke with Ronan as he did so. They stayed until Opal slipped inside to curl up asleep on Ronan's bed. They stayed until they were all a big drowsy tangle on the grass, staring up at the stars, arms slung over backs, heads resting on shoulders.

"I wish Noah was here" said Blue, quietly. Gansey touched her hair, comfortingly.

"He is here, though" said Adam, leaning back on his palms. "Can't you feel him?"

And the truth was, they could. A whisper they couldn't quite catch, a breeze ruffling their hair, a phantom presence slotting into their intrinsic togetherness.

After that, they were all quiet for a while; just soaking in how felt it felt to be all together again. Ronan tipped his head back and closed his eyes, just listening. Henry was telling a joke and Blue was laughing in that uncontrolled and completely blissful way; he could hear Gansey eagerly explaining something to Adam- some new theory or discovery, whilst Adam asked more curious questions whenever he paused, trying to figure it out with him. In the dark, creatures scuttled and sang out to one another. The Barns were alive alive alive. Ronan was alive alive alive.

Together, they were kings and queens, they were raw and whole, they were effervescent and dream-like. They were the rulers of Henrietta.

And, more than anything, they were best friends.