Catch-all log

[fiachdubh]

Characters: Ronan Lynch, Magnus Bane, Adam Parrish, Arthur Stuart, Jace Wayland
Summary: building a forest; meeting up for post-event debriefs; chance encounters; grooming
Date(s): Post August 12th
Warnings/Notes: maybe some heavy petting possibly at some point but otherwise nothing! I will update if necessary.

Top levels will be in comments!

Comments

hehehehe

[aberth]

( Despite all efforts to the contrary, Adam still hasn't learnt to relax while he's sleeping, at least not here. Maybe it's the world hopping thing. Maybe it's because he's hyperaware of a person sleeping at his side. Maybe, just maybe, it's instinct by now, but when Ronan gets up some signal starts firing in his brain and he comes to quickly, eyes blinking at the ceiling.

There are flowers creeping along the walls that weren't there before. It reminds Adam of the weirdness that happened a few days ago, of power stretching from his fingertips and blooming to life. He doesn't think too much on it though, not when his bladder is an insistent reminder of morning. He stumbles out of bed, clumsy limbed and still tired, all but falls into the bathroom to find Ronan inspecting a trimmer. He pauses for a split second, wondering briefly if it's weird to piss in front of him, before remembering that he's done it before, countless times, and just because they've touched each other's dicks doesn't mean they have to be awkward about seeing them, so.

Adam yawns, a jaw cracking thing, and goes about his business. )

You're up early.

( It's a bit incoherent, he's sorry. )

[fiachdubh]

[ For some reason e can't explain, Ronan spends just a touch too long sitting on the edge of the bathtub with the trimmer in his hands and no indication that he's going to turn it on. There's a part of him that wonders if he should let his hair grow once more; a part of him that remembers how it felt to have it to his shoulders and curling in the breeze, to have Matthew tug at it when he wanted a piggy-back ride through the Barns, to have Gansey tuck a strand of it behind Ronan's hair, making him blush. His mother petting his hair as he sat by her chair, reading.

But this is all gone. Matthew's gone, Gansey's gone, Ronan's dad, his mom - all gone. He swallows hard, sniffling tears away when Adam walks into the bathroom, morning-clunky and comfortable. Ronan's shoulders relax just a fraction as he takes Adam in, his heart fit to burst, like a tree is growing too big inside it. When Adam talks through a yawn, Ronan snorts, looking down at the trimmer in his hands. ]

Yeah, I woke up thinking my hair needed to go, and now... I don't know.

[aberth]

( It takes Adam a second longer than it usually would for him to realise something's wrong. In his defence, he's only just woken up. But in between humming in response and washing his hands, an awareness of it comes to him. He stills, gaze heavy on Ronan's bowed head, his shoulders. He has to fight the urge to reach out and touch, instinct demanding physical contact. )

Oh.

( From the little bits he could gleam of the Ronan from before, he knows that this is a lot bigger than a haircut. Most things are for Ronan, when it comes to the matter of self and memory. So Adam does his best to try and work his way through it, leaning back against the sink. )

Well, you don't have to, if you don't want to. ( He thinks that's important to say. Ronan cuts his hair to make a point, but maybe that point has been lost along the way. ) But you also don't have to let it grow.

[fiachdubh]

[ Ronan, carefully, bites his lower lip, as he brushes a thumb over the trimmer. He realizes, when thinking about it, that it's just hair. That to most people, it's no symbol, it holds nothing of importance but something helping self-worth, just an aesthetic thing.

But for Ronan, it's like history. It's like letting go of some of the grief. It's like sanding away at his edges, smoothing them out until he's rounded up, able to be filled out, a whole human again.

He doesn't know if he's ready, and when he looks up at Adam, he doesn't feel like he is. ]

Do you like it?

[aberth]

Hey.

( He moves, until he's standing in front of Ronan. Adam holds his gaze for a long moment, blue eyes soft and curious, as though this is a puzzle he's carefully trying to work out. ) It shouldn't matter what I think, because it's your body. ( He knows that's a somewhat conflicting statement coming from a boy who sands off his own edges to fit in, but he's also prickly about self-will. Ronan's always been the braver of the two of them. ) But if it helps, I think you're pretty either way.

( He smiles, sweet, reaches out, stroking the palm of his hand over Ronan's head, following the curve of his skull until he can cup it, thumb moving restlessly over his jaw. )

What do you want to do, Ronan?

[fiachdubh]

[ He lets out an amused chortle at Adam calling him pretty, rolling his eyes, the quiet contemplative mood that was making his heart bleed a second ago gently ebbing away. He's been called a lot of things; sharp and cruel and handsome and 'like he was carved out of marble', even, once, by an art teacher. But he'd never been called pretty. Not when it meant something softer and gentler than Ronan had been in recent years.

He's something you can cut yourself on. Not something pretty.

Still, he looks up into Adam's eyes, and can only see fond sincerity there, in his look and in his touch, which makes Ronan's eyes flutter a little. He nods, after a while, and holds the trimmer out to Adam. ]

Do it. Shave it off.

[ Maybe, at some point, he'll be ready to have longer hair again. But he's not there yet. ]

[aberth]

( There are moments when the person Adam has fought against becoming somehow slip in. This is one of them. But instead of feeling hurt about it, he just feels safe. Here he can let his words shape themselves into mountains and dusty fields, because Ronan has seen that part of him, has seen that he can be more too. Adam never thought he'd mellow out, Gansey would probably call it a miracle. But really, it's just this, being known and being wanted regardless. )

Okay.

( If he feels a little strange about doing this, he doesn't show it on his face. Instead he just nudges Ronan's knees apart so he can step between them, taking the clipper in hand. Their bathroom is a fairly small affair, but they'll clean it up after. Adam hums, a wordless tune, as he runs his free palm over Ronan's scalp, guiding him to bow his head before he turns the clippers on and moves them to the nape of his neck.

He doesn't ask if Ronan's sure, he knows he is. )

[fiachdubh]

[ When Adam takes the clippers and moves between his own thighs, Ronan reaches out, wrapping a hand around the back of Adam's leg, fingers spread wide, anchoring himself to right here and right now, Adam close and taking care of him in one of these moments where Ronan allows himself to be vulnerable.

He tips his head, closing his eyes as Adam sets himself to work. It's not a long process, but it's intimate in a way few things are, and Ronan's fingers squeeze around Adam's thigh regularly, giving himself over to Adam in yet another way. ]