#the most logical solution i can come up with is that gansey was continuously replacing said plants

[seasonallyappropriategoth]

i need to talk to gansey and what i need to talk to him about is how the fuck he kept multiple mint plants happily alive indoors. that does not happen.

[swimmingwolf59]

Of BMWs and Cadillacs

(Also can be read on my AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/users/swimmingwolf59 )

The BMW is on its last legs.

Ronan has been driving it for ten years, and his father had driven it many years before that. Adam had briefly driven it during his college days, because no way in hell would Ronan ever let Adam drive all the way to Princeton in that old shitbox, but after he’d risen in the ranks as a civil engineer the keys were handed back to Ronan as Adam proudly bought a car for the first time. Ronan hardly goes anywhere—half of his drives are out into the middle of nowhere because he just wants to drive and not think about anything but the wind blowing through the open windows and the cradle of the stick shift under his palm—but when he does he always takes the BMW.

Even if Adam has a rather nice Cadillac that Ronan wouldn’t mind taking for a spin if his husband ever let him.

Adam has kept the BMW running for years, always taking it upon himself to give it regular maintenance and oil changes, as well as coming to save Ronan and jumpstart the engine whenever it stalls in the middle of nowhere. Ronan honestly loves how much Adam respects and cares for his car – if he hadn’t already been head over heels in love with him for twelve years, hell that probably would’ve done him in.

However, Adam’s patience with Ronan’s stubborn grip on his old ass car eventually runs out, as Ronan always knew it would. It probably has something to do with the fact that this is the third time in one week that he’s had to drive out to random fields to pick up Ronan because the BMW broke down. Ronan would laugh at how ironic it is that now he’s the one with the unreliable and dying car, rather than Gansey, if he wasn’t so sad that it means he has to let the BMW go.

Everyone he has ever loved drove this car. Matthew, when he was first learning to drive. Declan, if Ronan is ever in a good enough mood to admit that he loves him, when he’d first learned how to drive. Gansey, when he’d had to pick up Ronan’s drunk ass way too many times to count. Blue, when she’s angry at Gansey or the world in general and needs something that will let her drive recklessly and vent her pent up frustration, a feeling Ronan knows all too well. Adam, all of the time really (and not always just driving). And then of course his father, with Aurora always smiling in the passenger seat.

Ronan has had so many memories in this car, both good and bad, that he can’t bring himself to get rid of it. He gets as frustrated as Adam does when it breaks down everywhere he goes anymore, but he holds such fondness for it inside of him that it tears him apart thinking about sending it to the trash heap.

His trusty stead for so many years deserves better than that.

So he stubbornly keeps driving it, even though he knows that it likely won’t last long enough to get him back home. He and Adam have fought over it too many times to count, but Adam at least respects the sentimental side of why Ronan wants to keep the car.

He just can’t understand why Ronan doesn’t want to get a new car.

“For fuck’s sake Ronan, you don’t have to get rid of the BMW when you buy a new car!” Adam snaps as they’re driving back home in his Cadillac, the BMW abandoned on the side of the road for now until Adam can get a tow truck to come retrieve it. They’re practically friends with the tow truck people by now, Ronan thinks wryly as Adam continues, “Wouldn’t you enjoy driving in a car that can actually handle your ridiculous speeds without breaking down in the middle of fucking nowhere?”

It isn’t unusual for Adam to swear, but the fact that he’s swearing so frequently tips Ronan off that he’s actually really mad this time. He sinks down into the passenger seat, trying not to get angry himself. “I just don’t want to deal with shopping for a new car, alright? Those dumb fucks at the car dealer always think they know better than me and walk me around in fucking circles instead of just trusting that I know which fucking car I want.”

“It’s their job to know more about cars than you, Ronan – you can’t blame them for wanting to make a sale,” Adam says tersely, and Ronan can practically feel his eyes roll. He has to bite back a rude comment about the salespeople, knowing it will only make Adam angrier.

It’s quiet in the car for a moment before Adam sighs heavily and says, “What if someone bought a car for you?”

Ronan snorts. “Alright, first of all – who the fuck would do that? And second of all, I don’t trust anyone knowing what I’d want in a car. Except for maybe you.”

Adam doesn’t say anything to that, so Ronan tugs the hood of his hoodie over his head and stares out the window. Most of their fights end like this, both being too angry to even say anything sometimes, so they just remain in a stony silence until one or both of them reaches out to gently touch the other and signal that, at least for now, things are alright. They’ve survived for ten years like that, both too stubborn for their own good, but it works for them somehow.

Since they fight about this often, the silence only lasts until they make it into the kitchen at the Barns. Ronan had been experimenting earlier with a pasta dish that had exploded in his face, so they just pop some macaroni and cheese in the microwave and collapse onto the couch together. Opal has just started college this year, so they’re alone as Adam draws his fingers through Ronan’s short curly hair that he’s finally started to let grow out again and Ronan rubs his hands along Adam’s thighs in appreciation.

It won’t be long before they fight about the BMW again, but at least for now Ronan is content to just doze into Adam’s side, tangled together like they have been for so many years.

 --

The next day, Adam is home later than usual.

This isn’t exactly unusual, as Adam often has to work late when there are big projects that need to be finished by an upcoming deadline, but he usually texts Ronan that he’ll be late. Today there is absolute radio silence. He doesn’t answer the two times Ronan calls, and he hasn’t even contacted Gansey when Ronan calls him in a panic.

“He’s dead somewhere, I just know it,” Ronan says into the phone, cradling it with his shoulder as he rubs along Daisy the dream cow’s flank. These days he always goes to the cows when he’s stressed about something. His and Adam’s three dogs wind their way between his legs, but even their presence isn’t at all comforting to him right now.

“Don’t jump to conclusions – there’s been nothing on the news about a dead body, and it’s not like Adam goes anywhere discrete on his route home,” Gansey responds logically, but it does nothing to calm Ronan. “He probably just forgot to text.”

“Parrish doesn’t just forget, and you know it!” Ronan practically shouts. Daisy startles under him, and he coos softly to her in apology.

“Ronan, I’m sure he’s fine! There’s no need to panic yet.” But there’s every reason to panic, and Gansey’s calm tone just infuriates Ronan.

He’s about to spit fire at him into the receiver when just then he hears a car—no, two—pull into the Barns’ driveway.

“Oh thank fuck,” he sighs as he leaves Daisy and rushes out of the barn.

“Ronan is that him—?” Gansey asks, but Ronan is already hanging up on him as he runs across the field, relief flooding through him. The three mutts lumber after him, always eager to see Adam.

“Parrish you goddamn motherfucker!” he shouts as he skids down the hill towards where Adam’s Cadillac and another car are parked next to the BMW in the driveway. He stomps towards Adam’s figure climbing out of his car, worried anger quickly replacing his relief. “Where the hell—”

He trails off as he finally comes to a stop next to Adam and actually gets a glimpse of the car that is tethered to the back of the Cadillac. For a moment he can only blink at it, uncomprehending. “…What the hell is that?”

Ronan, of course, knows what it is – it’s a navy blue BMW Alpina, the newest model that Ronan has been secretly admiring. It doesn’t surprise him that Adam had picked up on that, his love for cars is so strong it’s practically tangible, but that doesn’t explain to him why the car is here. He knows what it is, but he can’t comprehend a world in which it would be sitting in his driveway next to his old BMW and Adam’s shiny Cadillac.

Adam is grinning from ear to ear when Ronan forcibly draws his stare from the Alpina to gape at him. “Your new car!”

Ronan can’t even begin to process that, so he avoids a reaction entirely by saying instead, “Why the fuck is it covered in glitter?”

Adam’s expression turns somber as he reaches out to gently trace his thumb along the back of Ronan’s hand. “Because Noah would’ve wanted that.”

The thought of their old friend makes Ronan’s chest and throat tight. It’s been ten years, and he still isn’t over the fact that Noah had been ripped away from them so violently and suddenly. He knows of course that it was supposed to happen, Gansey’s life for Noah’s, but he hates that he never got the chance to say goodbye. That he never got to tell Noah how much he loved him and thank him for getting him through those first few years when his dad died, for making him laugh and doing stupid stuff with him.

He’d been trying for years to find a proper way to honor Noah; leave it to Adam to find such a perfect solution.

He leans into Adam, his husband automatically wrapping an arm around him, and buries his nose into Adam’s hair. Breathing in his scent of pine and motor oil, even after all of these years, is the most comforting thing Ronan knows, and he’s so relieved and angry that Adam made him worry just to go out and buy him a fucking car that he can’t help but bark out a laugh.

“I can’t believe you were so angry with me that you went out and bought me a fucking car.”

Adam just snorts. “Don’t feel so high and mighty – I did it for myself. I’m tired of rescuing your stubborn ass from some cornfield.”

I love you, Ronan wants to say, but instead he just presses a firm kiss to Adam’s forehead as he stares at the Alpina.

He loves it and he hates it, but mostly he can’t breathe through how moved he is. This car isn’t his dad’s and it’s not full of all of the memories the BMW has, but it’s completely his, in a way that no car has ever been before. It’s something Adam bought for him, something Noah in spirit can passionately decorate with glitter, something they can make completely new memories in. Even though they share a bank account now, he knows how much of a hardship it must have been for Adam to buy him such an expensive car, and he feels so loved and blessed that for a moment he worries he’s going to cry.

“Do you like it?” Adam asks quietly.

Ronan has to swallow through the thick wad of emotions building up in his throat. “I fucking love it.”

It’s of course in that moment that Chainsaw decides to descend onto the car, checking out the intruder. Ronan and Adam watch as she hops around the top of the car, ruffling the feathers on her wings to help keep her balance on the slick surface. Ronan doesn’t mind her poking around, until she stretches her wings to take off and immediately drops a huge crap down the side of the passenger door.

For a moment he just gapes as Adam dissolves into laughter beside him. Chainsaw flies off like nothing happened, and Ronan breaks himself out of his shock enough to shake an angry fist at her as she soars over his head. “Chainsaw, you fucker!!”

“I guess that means she approves of it!” Adam snorts, bending over double as he wheezes with laughter.

“I hate that fucking bird,” Ronan growls, and yet it somehow feels fitting at the same time. Everyone that means something to him are leaving their marks on his new car, exactly how it should be. The only thing it’s missing now are a bunch of random sticks and stones that Opal discovered in the woods somewhere. Maybe she’ll bring some home from Washington during Thanksgiving.

“You gonna take it for a drive, Lynch? Break it in?” Adam asks when he recovers from his laughter.

Ronan hums – the idea is appealing, but at the same time, there’s something else he’d rather do. So he pins Adam to the car, pressing flush against him and kissing him deeply. It apparently catches Adam off guard, as he doesn’t even respond until Ronan has already pulled away, grinning. “Later – I need to show a certain someone my appreciation first.”

Adam’s smile is wide, but he finds it in him to roll his eyes anyway. “I can’t believe it took me buying you a car to teach you how to thank people properly.”

Ronan barks out a loud laugh and leans down to cover Adam’s face in small kisses and nibbles. He leaves a kiss for every beautiful freckle that adorns his beautiful face until Adam pulls at his head impatiently and they kiss on the lips. It’s strange how Ronan never gets tired of this – he’s been lucky enough to get to kiss Adam Parrish every goddamn day for the last ten years, but every time it still takes his breath away. It makes him feel alive, and he doesn’t think it will ever stop.

Fucking hell he loves this guy.

“Hey, you know?” Adam says between messy kisses. “The Alpina has a pretty nice backseat – I tried it out at the dealer’s.”

A grin slowly grows on Ronan’s face, but he pretends not to know what he’s suggesting. “Oh yeah? Is it good and soft for the mutts?”

“Oh shut up.” Adam rolls his eyes fondly before turning around to wrench the back door open and push Ronan down onto the seat. “You know what I fucking mean.”

Ronan snickers and proceeds to make good use of the new backseat.

When he pulls into the Sarchengsey household the next morning, Gansey’s eyebrows are to the top of his forehead, Blue is practically on the floor roaring with laughter, and Henry is nodding gleefully in approval.

“Nice car, Lynch!” Blue howls through her laughter.

Ronan wants to hate her for it, but he loves the car more than he can ever say. It has a little of everyone he loves on it after all (hopefully the backseat will always smell like Adam). So he just scoffs and scuffs the back of her head when he makes it up the stairs to their front door.

“Shut the fuck up, maggot.”