In honor of CDTH being officially less than a week away! I'm sorry if it sucks, I literally wrote it in the middle of the night. Go ahead and leave a review if you liked it! Or hated it! Or read it! Yes, I do need validation from strangers. and i oop-

Adam lay awake, his eyes closed, his chest gracefully rising and falling as he breathed. The soft morning sun streamed through the window, warming his face. Adam knew he ought to get up. But he had the day off work. He could sleep in. He had slept in. He had nowhere to be; he could enjoy the entire day with Ronan. Adam's heart ached unexpectedly as he remembered he only had three more weeks in Henrietta. Three more weeks at the Barns. Three more weeks with Ronan.

It wasn't that Adam was not excited to go to college — on the contrary, he was ecstatic. He had nearly worked himself to death to get into an Ivy League school. And he had. In three weeks, Adam Parrish was going to Harvard. Although he was nervous, Adam felt like he was ready. He felt like he had been born ready. Except he wasn't. He hadn't been. He wasn't ready to leave Ronan. The last months of the summer had undoubtedly been the best of Adam's life. Living at the Barns with Ronan and Opal and Ronan's pet raven, Chainsaw, Adam was finally happy. He knew he was going to be happy at Harvard too. But not this kind of happy.

Stop your whining, Adam chided himself. Get yourself up and enjoy the time you have here while you still can. Adam finally opened his eyes, blinking against the sunlight. He turned on his side, then quickly sat up in alarm. Adam untangled himself from the sheets and jumped out of bed, glancing at the clock as he did so. Then he paused, his heart rate slowing gratefully down, relief flooding him.

10:38.

Adam had always been an early riser. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept in that late. He drew in a deep breath. Adam had initially been alarmed at the lack of Ronan sleeping beside him. Adam almost always woke up first, and if he didn't then Adam woke up as Ronan got ready for the day. Adam's first instinct was panic — what had happened to his boyfriend?! But then he repeated the question slowly to himself, rationalizing it. What could happen to Ronan out here? As a Dreamer, his safety was never guaranteed, but the Barns came as close to a guarantee of safety as Ronan Lynch would ever get.

Stop worrying, relax. Adam picked up his clothes from the floor, where they had been abandoned in a heap the previous night. The first couple weeks Adam had spent at the Barns, he had resided in Declan Lynch's room. Ronan had slept in his own childhood room. But that made the sex complicated. Two full-grown teenagers (men? not quite) could not easily sleep together in a single twin-size bed. Adam remembered how uncomfortable he had been at the original idea of sleeping in Ronan's parents' bed. Both of Ronan's parents were dead and Adam didn't think fucking their son in their bed was the best way of honoring their memory.

"Hey, Parrish,'' Ronan had said, "you have to remember that I was created in that bed. It has emotional value.''

Ronan had, of course, been joking, but it had not made Adam any more partial to the idea. He had only agreed to it when Ronan had said, "Or we could just get our own big-ass mattress. Set it up in Matthew's room, he has the space, and I technically created him so . . ."

Adam fucked Ronan in his parents' bed.

Adam found Ronan leaning over the rail on the front porch of the quaint white farm house. Ronan didn't turn around as Adam came out. Adam moved up beside him, and Ronan extended his forefinger to rest on Adam's elbow. He shot him a sideways smile. "I thought I'd let you sleep in since you have the day off.''

"I thought something had happened to you,'' said Adam, in reply.

"I'm fine.'' Ronan's icy blue eyes were soft, his guard let down to an extent that was reserved for exclusively Adam Parrish.

Adam slipped his hand into Ronan's. "I was worried.''

"Shit always has you worried.'' His voice was untroubled.

"Ronan. I'm serious. I think . . .'' Adam ran a hand through his dust-colored hair. "I have this . . . this feeling, Ronan. It's a bad one.''

Ronan regarded him. "Cabeswater is gone, Adam. I thought your powers went with it. Unless this is a different kind of creepy-ass-psychic-shit feeling?''

"I don't know." Adam dropped his gaze. "It feels like it, but it can't be Cabeswater. I just . . . I don't know.''

"So you don't fucking know. It can't be that important.''

Annoyance pricked at Adam. "You don't know that,'' he grumbled.

Ronan didn't respond. Adam did not fight with him often — not really fight, that is. Ever since they met they had had their glaring differences. Usually it didn't provoke more than a couple sarcastic remarks from one or the other (mostly Ronan). During their Aglionby days they had gone through periods of several days where they would not speak after an argument. One would apologize (usually Adam). Then the other would apologize in turn (usually Ronan). Then Ronan would shoot him a smirk and everything would go back to the way it had been before, as if they had never fought in the first place. Over the summer their "fights" had gone more like this: Ronan would do or say something asshole-ish. Adam would get pissed. Ronan would get pissed. They would stare intensely at each other for about fifteen seconds. Then all tension would transform into sexual tension and they would make out. Then all was well again. This was exactly how Adam saw their current conversation going.

"I don't need to know, Adam! You don't need to know everything either. Some things just fucking happen and no one has any goddamn clue why. You have to be okay with not knowing, and just living.'' Ronan's gaze sharpened slightly, in a way that indicated he was getting angry.

Adam was angry too. "Living is kind of hard when nothing about you life is normal!" He snapped.

They had subconsciously moved closer to each other during the heat of their argument, so that they were now standing chest to chest. Close enough to where Adam could feel Ronan's breath on his cheek.

"You're leaving.'' Ronan's voice was suddenly flat, all traces of the anger that had been there seconds before, gone. "You're going to college. That's pretty fucking normal. True, it's Harvard, which isn't very normal, but it's unnormal in good way. Unnormal in a way where you can still live your life and be satisfied with not being an all-knowing god. I think I should remind you before you completely forget: you're only human, Adam Parrish.'' The way Ronan said Adam's name was so familiar and comforting Adam almost forgot to be stressed.

Adam didn't have good response, so he said, "'Unnormal' isn't a word.''

"Oh yeah?'' Ronan's eyes glinted. "Bite me.''

Adam held his gaze for half a moment, before his hands flew forward, gripping Ronan's shoulders. He pressed against him hard enough that Ronan had to grip the rail of the porch so he didn't topple over the edge. Adam's mouth was working so furiously against Ronan's mouth, chin, and neck, that his teeth accidentally caught Ronan's bottom lip. A drop of blood appeared at the point of contact. Adam pulled back slightly. "Sorry,'' he murmured.

Ronan drew a slow, sexy smile. "I asked for it.''

Their hips ground together and their shirts came off.

Adam was out of bed for approximately twenty minutes before he crashed back down on the mattress, tangled up with his boyfriend. After some time, the boys drew back, sweating and panting. A thin sheet pulled over them, Adam snuggled closer to Ronan. His arm looped around his neck, kissing him tenderly. Ronan's fingers were up in Adam's hair, stroking his head with more affection than most people would ever think Ronan Lynch capable of. Adam was once again grateful for the Lynch parents' bed. He was grateful for the creation of Ronan. He was grateful for the limited time they had together.

All in all, Adam had a pretty good day off.