marlowemuses | I want to feel my heart pounding in my chest

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I want to feel my heart pounding in my chest

They'd made it sound like a scholarship at first, an honor earned from his intelligence and hard work.

Adam had thought that this was the ticket he'd worked so hard to earn, his entry to the capitol's university. He couldn't imagine what else would summon him--him, Adam Parrish, by name--to the palace.

The reality was baffling and frustrating. He'd spent the past hours being interviewed and tested by an array of officials and tutors who claimed that he was being considered for a position as the prince's companion. It wasn't a position Adam wanted, but everyone so far had emphasized what an honor it was, and Adam's polite, non-confrontational attitude toward authority was deeply ingrained. But he had his pride and his temper, too. He'd refused to open his mouth to let them check his teeth like he was a horse for sale.

After the fifth minister left, evidently satisfied with Adam's intelligence and ambition, Adam paced the room.

This had to stop. Adam didn't want to be here, and he didn't want to play babysitter to the spoiled prince of the kingdom. He had ambitions. He had his place in the university all but guaranteed, as soon as he could save up enough money for his entry. They could take their 'great honor' and stuff it up the prince's ass.

Diatribe ready, Adam whirled on the next person to open the door, ready to tell them just what he thought of their nonsense interviews. He wasn't anticipating a teenage boy his own age. Startled, Adam drew up short, dropping his eyes to the floor. This had to be the prince. And while the kingdom had advanced past the days of public executions, Adam knew that any of the royal family could ruin his prospects permanently if he displeased them.

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"Of course I am." Adam clearly didn't care about his money, power or position. He respected people based on merit. Ronan wanted to earn that respect. He had never kept friends because they were all the same. Other kids from other rich, royal, noble families. They cared about the same things his brother cared about and cared about none of the things Ronan thought were important.

"Anything you can think of...just tell me, I can give it to you."

Adam grinned a little, bemused but pleased by Ronan's earnest determination to please him. It was a fascinating and heady thought to be offered anything he wanted by the prince of a kingdom.

"A piece of candy," Adam repeated, refusing to ask for anything more. He didn't care about Ronan's wonders, and he wasn't about to be bribed. He wanted to be friends with Ronan because he liked the prince.

"Stubborn." Said in a playful tone. Ronan liked that. Adam didn't had principal and wouldn't be bribed. He liked him all the more for it.

Ronan smirked. "Alright. A piece of candy." Still holding Adam's hand Ronan fell to sleep. It didn't take him long and he was opening his blue eyes slowly. Between their clasped hands is a piece of candy. When Adam puts it in his mouth it will taste like his favorite things and it will make him feel good.

Adam watches him, bewildered, as he closes his eyes and seems to sleep. It's what he promised, after all, stealing from dreams, but it still seems strange and unbelievable. Adam watches him closely, struck by how young he looks in sleep. Vulnerable. Handsome.

Ronan's hand twitched against his and Adam blinked, confused to find a requested piece of candy in their clasped hands.

Taking his hand back, he considered it, watching Ronan warily, and then put it in his mouth. His eyes closed with pleasure, stunned by the feelings that washed over him at the taste of the candy.

So Ronan was magic. Powerful, world-changing magic. And he was willing to offer the secret openly to Adam.

"You can make a boat?" Adam asked, thinking about all the possibilities contained in Ronan's powers.

"I think I can make anything." So far he hadn't found a limitation. Then again he hadn't tried for anything that wasn't easy to hide.

Watching Adam with the candy he smiles. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah." Adam took Ronan's hand again, giving it a squeeze. He smiled a little, shy but pleased. They could get their boat without anything that would bother Adam's moral code, and then they'd have all the world at their fingertips. Freedom.

Adam had only had a friend for a few hours, but already his whole world had shifted. Everything had re-centered around Ronan. Adam's studies and his career still meant so much to him, but the opportunity of freedom and adventure on equal terms was something he couldn't pass up.

"I'm gonna sleep now, okay?"

"You want to sleep out here?" Ronan got a little closer. "We can go back to the palace....or I could get a blanket or a tent."

"I thought that was the idea," Adam said, smiling at his friend. His heart thudded a little at the way Ronan scooted closer to him. "Sleep on the beach to give myself the excuse not to go home."

His eyes lingered on Ronan's, holding his gaze steadily. "I wouldn't say no to that tent," he decided.

"Yeah. That's the plan." He smirked. "But I feel a little bad making you sleep on the ground."

Ronan smiles at that. Adam doesn't think he's weird. Isn't scared by what he can do. "A tent and a blanket."

"Well, if I'd gone home, you'd be sleeping on the ground. And I'm too proud to stay at the castle." Their hands are still clasped, and Adam doesn't want to let go. He doesn't look away, liking the way that Ronan looks when he smiles.

"Why are you too proud to stay there?" Ronan wasn't upset by it. Actually he found Adam's honesty about staying there refreshing. "It's just a building."

"I don't want your charity, and I don't want to be rescued," Adam answered, a little bit of wariness returning to his eyes. Of course Ronan didn't get it. As the prince, everything had always been his for the taking.

"I don't want to rescue you." He fired back quickly. Ronan closes his eyes and takes a slow breath. "I'm not trying to argue or push you, Adam. I'm curious. I want to know who you are. I think you are worth knowing." His thumbs brushes Adam's palm. "Really knowing. Not surface level bullshit. That's all."

He shifts so he's laying on his back. "Just need a couple of minutes." Don't leave, he thinks before closing his eyes again. Another breath and he drifts off to sleep.

Adam watches him again, the way he drifts off into his stealing dreams. He's intrigued by Ronan's earnestness. The way that although it was supposed to be Adam earning a place at the prince's side, now it's Ronan who wants to earn a place at Adam's side. Ronan makes him feel like he's worthy and exceptional in a way that no practical accomplishment ever has.

Ronan has always been the sort of person who wanted relationships and people in his life that mattered. The kinds of friends that you know would help you bury a body. The kind of friendship you had to earn, not the kind that was given freely because you had a title. Ronan wanted Adam to like him because Adam doesn't like the things about him that everyone else cares about.

He drifts to sleep thinking about a tent. It starts as simple canvas. Poles. Then it takes shape in his mind. A floor. Fabric that keeps it cozy and warm while letting them see through to the stars above them. He dreams of cozy blankets that envelop them and feel like laying in a cloud. It's all so real. He can feel it in his fingers. Smell it. And that is the perfect moment to wake up.

One minute it isn't there. The next it is. With Ronan inside, fighting off the sleep that renders him useless for a few moments after.

Adam keeps hold of his hand the whole time, and he's awed when suddenly they're inside of a soft and luxurious tent. Sitting up, Adam looks around, admiring all of it. He's never been anywhere so comfortable in his life.

"It's wondrous," he says, moving to sit close beside Ronan. He doesn't get a reply, so he looks more closely at Ronan, who still seems to be asleep.

Adam traces a fingertip along the curve of Ronan's eyebrow the same way that Ronan had brushed away the strand of Adam's hair.

His eyes slowly open but his body still feels like it isn't really his. A couple of minutes pass and he finally flexes his fingers and twitches a leg. He can feel Adam's finger and his heart beats faster. A lazy smile pulls at the corners of his lips.

"Wondrous." His deep, gravel voice says the word slowly. "Think I'll take that as a compliment." Tilting his head he pressed into Adam's hand.

Adam cups his hand around Ronan's cheek, tracing his thumb gently along Ronan's cheekbone. It seems that it's draining somehow for Ronan to dream. He's vulnerable and dazed to some degree. Adam makes a note of it, watching over him protectively.

"I'm officially impressed," Adam tells him, smile soft and fond as he studies his friend. It'd be so easy to kiss him like this. The idea is tempting. Reckless.

Adam thinks of the insinuation that Ronan likes boys, and thinks of the flirting they've been doing. His eyes linger on Ronan's lips, but he stays where he is, continuing to stroke his thumb along Ronan's cheek.

A soft laugh escapes him. "Now your impressed." He says through a breathy chuckle. Being a prince wasn't impressive. Nor having wealth and things. All of the things that would impress anyone else didn't interest him at all and that impressed Ronan.

He watched Adam. Studied the shape of his eyes and lips and thought about what it might feel like to kiss him. Thought about how badly he wanted to kiss him. Couldn't stop thinking about how the soft touch from Adam's thumb was felt everywhere. Ronan laid his own had over Adam's and turned his face into the others palm. He took a breath and placed a soft kiss against his warm hand.

Opening his eyes he looks back at Adam. He can't take anything from him, it has to be given. Ronan doesn't want to be another person that just takes what he wants and never gives Adam a choice. "I want to kiss you."

Adam's heart flip-flops as Ronan says what he's feeling. He supposes it isn't a surprise, not when they've been holding hands for half the evening, not when he's curled protectively over Ronan with his hand cupped around Ronan's cheek.

He's never kissed anyone before, and he's not at all sure he won't mess it up, but the concept seems simple enough. Leaning down, Adam brushes his lips against Ronan's, light and careful.

Ronan has never kissed anyone either. He's been kissed, but never reciprocated. His father would insist he socialize at the galas and balls he would throw for the kingdom. For Ronan socializing had been sitting alone drinking until he could stand the people in the room. His father would find him and offer him up to the first pretty girl he would see walking by. Dance with my son!, he would say with a hearty laugh. She would giggle and Ronan would be shoved off to the dance floor.

More than once he had been kissed. He stood statue still until it was over and just walked away. There was never any interest, no spark. Just the strong need to get away.

When Adam's lips touched his Ronan didn't feel like he had felt before. It felt like fire, like electricity in his veins. He made a soft sound and closed his eyes. He mimics the way Adam is holding his face and cups his cheek in his hand. Ronan kissed him back, soft and careful at first. Now that he was kissing Adam he didn't want it to end. He had been right, Adam's lips felt incredible. Ronan kept kissing him.

Their first soft kiss made Adam's heart flutter, and then Ronan reached for him, kissing back and lingering in the kiss. He felt his blood heat, skin tingling where Ronan was touching him and everywhere Ronan wasn't yet touching him.

Adam shifted, bracing his elbow beside Ronan's head as they kiss. It makes him feel alive, and Ronan's careful reverence makes him feel like he's special. Cherished.

Dizzy with yearning, Adam shifted a little closer, resting his chest against Ronan's as they exchanged kiss after kiss.

His hand slides from Adam's face into his thick, long hair. Fingers scraping lighting over his scalp. When Adam shifts, he does the same. Ronan didn't want to scare him away by being too aggressive, so he tries to pay attention to those signals.

Ronan parts his lips and moans softly into Adam's mouth, tongue teasing. Now that they had started kissing he couldn't imagine it stopping, so he didn't.

Adam gives a surprised little moan at the feeling of Ronan's tongue. It makes his belly and groin tighten with lust, deepening the feeling from sweetness into yearning. He'd heard that kissing was nice, but he hadn't imagined that it would be anywhere near this addictive.

Meeting Ronan's tongue with his own, Adam chases the feelings that the kiss gives him. He wants more. He wants everything.

That moan sends a shiver through him. His hand tightens in Adam's hair and he shifts even closer, one long leg sneaking between the others to tangle them together.

"Keep kissing me like that and I'll never go home." He panted lightly against his soft lips before brushing his tongue lightly over the plump pout.

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