I want to feel my heart pounding in my chest

[tenebrarius]

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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[the_greywaren]

There was something magical about waking up in a tent on the beach with this boy in his arms. Someone he had shown his secret too. All of them. No one knew these things about him but Adam. That was freeing and a little scary.

This was the best way wake up. Ronan kissed him back, tunneling his fingers into his hair.

"Good morning." He smiled against his lips. "God you're beautiful."

[tenebrarius]

"You're pretty breathtakingly handsome yourself," Adam flirted, grinning. He traced his thumb along the edge of Ronan's cheekbone. "Forget the boat, we can just stay here in this tent forever, kissing."

[the_greywaren]

"God. Yes. Please." Ronan would stay here forever if he could. Though the appeal of running away with Adam was just as strong. No responsibility. Just them. "I'm glad it's you that showed up."

[tenebrarius]

“We would have crossed paths eventually,” Adam says, grin still wide and content, as he continues tracing the lines of Ronan’s face with his finger. “One way or another. Your father just sped up the process. Or do you think you would have settled for someone else, if they’d been inflicted on you?”

[the_greywaren]

"Tell me. If my father didn't force it, how would we have met?" Ronan is crushing on this boy hard. You can't look at him and not see it. He stares at Adam as if it's the first time he has ever seen the sun rise.

"Settled?" Ronan shakes his head. "THe heart wants what it wants. What it needs. I would never settle. I would have waited."

[tenebrarius]

"It might have taken years," Adam says, grinning and blushing at the way Ronan studies him. "As I gained in renown, eventually I would have been in the same room as you." His finger traces Ronan's lips and he watches it, enchanted by him. "I like the way you say that."

[the_greywaren]

Ronan closes his eyes and enjoys the drag of Adam's finger over his lips. He's sexy without any effort. "So we're in the same room. Do i talk to you or do you talk to me? How do we meet?" He kisses the tip of his finger and sucks it softly into his mouth. "That I would have waited?"

[tenebrarius]

Adam's lips part as he watches Ronan suck softly at the tip of his finger. His breath quickens, cheeks heating. He likes the thought of the two of them, one day in the same room, the successful scholar and the lonely prince, but he's glad it didn't take that long. "That your heart needs me. With the implication that you'd wait for me out of everyone in the world."

[the_greywaren]

"It does. I need the right person and that is you." Ronan felt it. It was like the beat of his heart or his lungs drawing air. It just was. He walked into that room and saw Adam and he felt something shift. Felt a kind of comfort he had never known. "And I would have waited my entire life to feel what I felt the moment I saw you."

[tenebrarius]

"You're such a romantic," Adam teases, but he's deeply grateful for it. Unable to resist any longer, Adam takes a kiss, pressing close to Ronan. His tongue slips across Ronan's lips, tasting him. Each kiss makes him a little bolder, a little more needy, and Ronan's devotion makes it so easy to trust him and to take risks.

[the_greywaren]

"It's my best quality." Ronan is very much a romantic. A loner. But a lover. Who wants to love someone and share his life. He sighs happily when their lips meet and Adam doesn't pull back . His hand creeps up Adam's chest, slowly exploring. When their lips part his eyes stay closed but he's smiling. "Have you ever had a dream where it was more of smells and sounds and feelings than images? That you just felt something deep in you that you couldn't explain?"

[tenebrarius]

"No," Adam says, but he's grinning. He brushes the tip of his nose lightly against Ronan's, enjoying the way his heart pounds from being so close to him. Ronan's fingers make his skin light up, and the more they kiss, the greedier Adam feels for more. "Why?"

[the_greywaren]

"Just...there are things you can't explain, right? Like how a dream can make you feel like you are really falling or how there are just certain people in the world we are meant to be with." He toys with the ends of Adam's hair. "You can't explain it but you know how you feel. I don't need to know everything about you and it doesn't matter that I haven't spent years getting to know you. I just know."

[tenebrarius]

Adam smiles at him, but something in his smile flickers as a wave of disorientation goes through him, leaving his ear ringing. He hasn't eaten in too long. Too much had happened yesterday, and he'd only eaten a couple bites over the course of the day. "We should get breakfast," he says, keeping his tone calm to hide his own weakness.

[the_greywaren]

"Hey..." Ronan says softly, watching Adam intently. He takes Adam's hand in his. "Are you okay?"

[tenebrarius]

"I'll be fine," Adam insists, kissing Ronan softly to distract him. He nuzzles at his new lover, wanting desperately to hide how weak he felt.

[the_greywaren]

"Don't hide from me." He asks softly. Ronan doesn't want to hide or keep things from Adam and he doesn't want Adam to keep things from him. Sighing softly he finds Adam's lips and kisses him again. "How do you like your eggs, beautiful?"

[tenebrarius]

"Surprise me," Adam says, smiling a little and returning the kiss, relaxing into Ronan's sweet, supportive kindness. He felt safe, despite his nerves, and it was a little bit easier to accept the idea of Ronan loving him despite his weakness.

[the_greywaren]

"Alright. Scrambled off my stomach." He was hoping playful would keep Adam with him and focused on him, not whatever else was going on.

[tenebrarius]

"Makes sense," Adam flirts, kissing Ronan's cheek softly and then nuzzling him. "Since your stomach is so hot."

[the_greywaren]

"Glad you noticed." Ronan turns his head so he can kiss Adam fully on the mouth. "Are we going back for food or....do I just do my thing?"

[tenebrarius]

"Aren't we supposed to be running away?" Adam teased him, smiling at the kiss. "Dream me that boat and throw in breakfast. I'll watch over you." He smooths a gentle hand over Ronan's head, comforting and protective.

[the_greywaren]

"That is so damn sexy." Someone to watch over him. Who wasn't afraid of him. Ronan grinned and kissed Adam hard. He laid back and closed his eyes.

[tenebrarius]

Adam made a little sound of contentment at the kiss, and then settled in beside him, curling his arm around Ronan's head and watching him as he slept, careful and attentive. Ronan was his now. Adam wouldn't let anything hurt him.

[the_greywaren]

He fell to sleep like he always did. Only this time it wasn't such a jolt. The ground didn't rush up to slap him in the face. Ronan fell into his dream place peacefully. The Orphan girl was there to greet him but she wasn't afraid. She brought him a flower and lead him by the hand to a body of water. It was so smooth it looked like glass. In the center a ship was floating and he could smell the eggs and bacon from the galley.

He waded through the water and climbed the rope ladder to the deck of the ship. Ronan stood on the deck and held the wheel of the ship in his palms. He thought of the grain of the wood and the smell of the water, heard the creaking in the body of the vessel.

When his eyes opened he was looking up at Adam from the deck of the ship.