Ronan Lynch groaned, attempting to collect himself and make sense of his current predicament. He was strapped into the driver's seat of his deceased father's BMW. His head was throbbing in pain. The airbag was taking up so much room. Dashboard lights were blinking rapidly, alerting him that something was wrong with his car. All of Ronan's limbs felt fine, nothing was broken or damaged. Looking through the shattered windshield displayed the ditch that his car was currently stuck in. The clock on the radio was still functional, displaying the time. 1:48 AM. Fuck.

Ronan's fingers blindly searched the cupholders, seeking out an object that he wasn't known to utilize. Once he wrapped his fingers around his phone, he dialed the one of the few numbers he'd ever saved as a contact. Would the other individual even pick up their phone? Ronan wasn't sure. Nope. After a few rings, Ronan was sent to Adam Parrish's voicemail. He might be busy with homework or spending some free time with the women at 300 Fox Way, attempting to understand his own abilities. Therefore, Ronan called the next individual who he believed to be any help.

"Ronan? This is unexpected. Are you dead or dying somewhere?" Richard Campbell Gansey III asked from the opposite end of the speaker, Ronan rolling his eyes at the other boy's remarks.

"Possibly. Where's Parrish? Why isn't he answering his phone?" Ronan demanded as Gansey sighed.

"Well, it is about two in the morning, so maybe he's asleep. Or, maybe he's studying," Gansey suggested as there was a loud crash from the other end of the line. Ronan arched an eyebrow and listened closely.

"Oh wait, I found him. Adam, Ronan is looking for you," Gansey announced to the individual who had just entered the room. Ronan pushed at the door handle, prying the driver's door open and climbing out of the metal death contraption.

There was muttering as Gansey and Adam spoke before another wave of shuffling came over the line. Ronan was now assessing the damage that had befallen his vehicle. Totaled. It was totaled. He didn't even need his mechanic boyfriend to tell him that.

"Ronan? What's going on?" Adam asked from Gansey's phone, making Ronan exhale a sigh of exasperation.

"Hypothetically, how much do you think it would cost to fully fix a totaled BMW? Specifically one that looks like mine. All hypothetical, of course," Ronan asked as the line went dead silent.

"You're lying..." Adam muttered before releasing his own sigh. Because he knew that Ronan Lynch was not lying. Ronan Lynch didn't lie.

"Christ, Ronan. Are you hurt?" Adam asked as Ronan looked down at himself, wanting to ensure that he was fine.

"No, I'm alright," Ronan confirmed to his boyfriend, inhaling a shaky breath. Meanwhile Ronan observed the demolished vehicle, uncertain what to do with it.

"Okay. Where are you? Gansey and I will come and pick you up," Adam stated. Then there was more muttering as Gansey and Adam began speaking with one another. Ronan kicked at the BMW's tires, noticing that one of them had flattened.

"Never mind. I will pick you up. Gansey is working on another lead. He says he's about to call Blue after this," Adam explained as Ronan sighed.

"That's fine. I'm just down the street from Nino's. If you could hurry, Parrish, I would appreciate it," Ronan remarked. Adam exhaled a sigh, clearly fed up with Ronan's lackadaisical attitude.

"Yeah yeah. I'm heading your way now. Hang tight," Adam replied before hanging up, most likely giving Gansey the phone back. Ronan fell back in the grass, staring at the metal heap before him.

Could Ronan dream up another BMW? Sure. After all, this wouldn't be the first car he'd dreamt up. A shiver dashed down Ronan's spine as he remembered the hell that was attempting to recreate the orange Camaro; it had taken way too many tries and was such a disaster. But did Ronan want to dream up another BMW? No. Something about the hunk of metal made him nostalgic. It had belonged to his father: Niall Lynch. In a strange way, it felt like one of the few physical things that reminded Ronan of his father. Therefore, he wouldn't dream up another one; instead, he'd pay a ridiculous amount of money to have it fixed.

Ronan didn't bother getting up when he heard a car pull over behind him; it had been about fifteen minutes since his call his with Adam and he just assumed that was who had arrived on the scene.

"Isn't this just a tragic tale? Lynch and his burning hunk of metal. Didn't it used to belong to daddy, too? Oh, that must hurt," A voice spoke, resulting in Ronan gritting his teeth. Thankfully, it wasn't Joseph Kavinsky, but it was someone who ran with his crowd: Prokopenko.

"Piss off," Ronan sneered as the boy laughed, shaking his head.

"No. I'm really curious what's about to happen. Did you already phone a friend?" Prokopenko asked as another car pulled up. Almost as if he was worried it was an adult, Prokopenko sped off.

Ronan rolled his eyes, looking back and seeing Adam Parrish's junkyard car idling there on the side of the road. When the car shut off and the driver stepped out, neither of them spoke. Instead, Adam stared at the wrecked BMW, almost in an analytical manner. He tilted his head to one side, then exhaled a sigh.

"Do I even want to know how this happened?" Adam questioned as Ronan hummed, then shook his head.

"Probably not," Ronan admitted. Adam nodded, knowing that his boyfriend was most likely telling the truth.

"Wonderful. Well, I can already tell you that it'll be cheaper to buy a new one than it will be to restore this one. You fucked up the frame pretty badly and almost everything needs to be replaced. That's not even with the addition of the paint job and all of the fancy shit inside like heated seats, air conditioning, cruise control, and all that other good stuff that isn't necessary for the car to actually run," Adam explained as Ronan shrugged, clearly not caring how much money it was going to cost to fix it.

"How long do you think it'll take to fix?" Ronan inquired as Adam hummed, still looking at the wreckage.

"A couple weeks, at least," Adam replied in earnest. Ronan only nodded, a small grin appearing on his lips.

"Do you think that means Gansey will let me drive the Pig?" Ronan asked as Adam shot him a glare.

"He would be a complete idiot to put you behind the wheel of the Camaro after you did this shit to your own car," Adam pointed out as Ronan huffed, then proceeded to rise to his feet and look at the burning skeleton of his car.

"You call a tow company and I'll call my boss. I'll start working on it after school tomorrow," Adam admitted as Ronan nodded, doing as he was told. Thankfully, he found a 24 hour towing service and they were scheduled to come take the wreckage to the garage Adam worked at. When Adam returned to his boyfriend, he was giving him an annoyed glare.

"I still can't believe you did this. Was Kavinsky involved?" Adam demanded as Ronan shook his head.

"Not this time. I'm fully capable of doing dumb shit on my own, Parrish," Ronan remarked as Adam placed his head in his hands and exhaled a deep sigh. Truly, Ronan was afraid that Adam was going to yell at him. However, the disappointment was something that Ronan Lynch was far more familiar with.

"Gansey is going to give you the longest lecture you'll ever experience," Adam muttered, but Ronan only shook his head and gave his boyfriend a sly smirk.

"Impossible. No lecture is longer than the continual one that him and Declan share about how I need to go to class and do school work," Ronan reminded Adam, who only gave the smirking boy a deadpanned glare.

"That's another thing you should probably take into consideration. But, whatever. I'm too tired to argue about that right now. You are aware that we have school in a few hours, right?" Adam inquired as Ronan rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"I will not be attending class tomorrow. Please inform all the teachers that I totaled my car," Ronan expressed with a grin, meanwhile Adam only gave his boyfriend an annoyed look.

"You, Ronan Lynch, are truly the worst," Adam murmured as Ronan allowed a laugh to escape his lips.

"Oh, Adam. I know. You are not the first to tell me this information," Ronan replied as Adam sighed, stepping forwards and hugging onto the other boy. Ronan was shocked by this sudden affection, but was glad to accept it.

"Do not scare me like that again. Got it?" Adam muttered into Ronan's t-shirt, which currently reeked of smoke and gasoline.

"I got it," Ronan responded, keeping Adam pulled close to his chest. If Ronan Lynch got a say, he'd never let go of Adam Parrish. Ronan's fingers were clawing at Adam's maroon hoodie, keeping the boy who smelled like nature and magic as close as possible. The taller boy closed his eyes, loving the feeling of holding onto his boyfriend.

Adam found himself clutching onto Ronan, too. Most likely because every fragment of his soul was so concerned that he was going to arrive on the scene to discover a barely breathing Ronan Lynch. He considered himself lucky that he didn't find that. And, as much as he wanted to scold Ronan for being reckless, he couldn't lie about how thankful he was that his boyfriend was simply alive.

"Aww, were you worried about me?" Ronan teased as Adam sighed, but tightened his hold on his boyfriend.

"Fuck you, Lynch..." Adam seethed, meanwhile Ronan barked out a laugh at that snide comment.

"Oh, yes please, Parrish," Ronan replied as Adam rolled his eyes and pushed out of the hug, shooting the taller boy an annoyed expression. Meanwhile Ronan was laughing rather hard at his own response.

"You can't lie, Parrish. You walked right into that one and you know it!" Ronan explained as Adam continued to give him a deadpanned stare.

"Why am I dating you...? It's bad for my mental health," Adam muttered as Ronan continued to laugh.

"Oh, please. I'm bad for everyone's mental health. Sargent feels the need to remind me of that fact frequently," Ronan answered as his smile remained shark-like and radiant. Adam released a deep breath, shaking his head before outstretching one of his hands towards his boyfriend.

"Will you make a sexual joke if I just hold your hand?" Adam asked sarcastically as Ronan shrugged his shoulders.

"More than likely. I thought you knew me, Parrish. But why don't we just find out, huh?" Ronan replied, grasping onto his boyfriend's hand and squeezing it tightly. Adam was quick to lace their fingers together, holding onto the other boy's hand like his life depended on it.

"I hate you," Adam muttered while rolling his eyes.

"I love you, too, Parrish," Ronan replied, his grin growing even larger as Adam exhaled yet another exasperated sigh before yanking on Ronan's arm and pulling his boyfriend in close to him. Without a single beat of hesitation, Adam pressed his lips against Ronan's, smiling into the kiss and still being thankful for the fact that Ronan Lynch was still alive.

Ronan didn't hold himself back; instead he proceeded to pull Adam closer to him and keep him close. Ronan's hands caressed Adam's cheeks, meanwhile Adam's calloused hands gripped onto the front of the taller boy's t-shirt. When the shorter boy ended the kiss, Ronan was still extremely smiley.

"What lessons did we learn tonight, then, Lynch?" Adam demanded from his boyfriend, who seemed to hum in thought.

"That you prefer to leave the lecturing to Gansey. That, apparently, you think I can't get myself into trouble without Kavinsky being involved. That you're upset that I'm getting the whole car repaired opposed to just buying a new one. And that, no matter how pissed off you are at me, you still absolutely love my sexual jokes," Ronan answered as Adam rolled his eyes, nodding for Ronan to follow him to his vehicle.

"You're truly the worst," Adam grumbled as Ronan wrapped an arm around his boyfriend as they walked up towards Adam's car.

"Tell me something I don't know, Parrish," Ronan retorted as Adam glanced up at his boyfriend.

"That I love you and that everything is going to be alright," Adam whispered as Ronan's eyes widened, not expecting the shorter boy to take his response so seriously.

"Well, I love you, too. And I hope that you're right," Ronan replied honestly, a yawn escaping his lips as Adam exhaled a sigh and smile weakly.

"C'mon. You've been through a lot and now you're exhausted. I'll take you back to Monmouth," Adam explained as Ronan nodded, falling into the passenger seat of the shorter boy's car and slamming the door shut behind him. Meanwhile Adam crawled into the driver's seat, grabbing onto Ronan's hand again once he was situated in the car.

They drove off that night, leaving as the tow company arrived to take the wrecked BMW to the garage. Ronan Lynch was everything but a fragile being, but he still hit his limit every so often. Thankfully, he would always have Adam Parrish in his life; a force that was always pushing against him and would always be there for him if he was ever in peril. At the end of the day, the two boys knew that they would always have one another. And, truly, that was all that they needed.