Baby you're a firework [4th of July Gathering]

[jeongbro]

From Candlewood, Henry could hear the party going on northeast of town, the thud of distance bass and the pop of fireworks and the shrill of cars put to the test. And how shit was that?

He texted Blue, first. A soft, subtle inquiry, a joke of an invitation, but a broad one. One for all of them. He remembered Ronan's arm in that cast, and him saying it was from Kavinsky, and Henry had no duty to them, but it would be good to keep all of them away from the mess that was going on at that party outside of town. None of them had to come, of course. They were all their own people, adults--and a ghost who was as good as one, in Henry's eyes--and they were each allowed their own decisions.

So Henry texted Any plans for the 4th Wendybird? And then he followed it up, even before she could answer, I think my place could use some Virginian charms.

He had no decorations. Fourth of July over the past two years had become a thing tainted by Joseph Kavinsky. But he could, easily, go down a couple blocks and buy more two-liter bottles of Pipsy and lemon-lime soda than he could possibly need, and some liquor and mixers, and chips and dip. If he didn't use it all up, he'd bring it to Panoptes. And that seemed like a good enough way to ignore that Joseph Kavinsky was trying to blow himself up, to him.


[Running as a gathering]

Comments

[incognoscibilis]

Adam would have said it was probably both but it wasn't the actual point of the discussion. While Ronan was up, Adam forced himself out of the couch and got a soda, inspecting the seal just in case someone had attempted mischief.

When it cracked open, Adam took a drink.

"I'll hang out on the balcony and watch the fireworks if you're all getting high."

[thedreamthief]

Relaxing back into the couch, Ronan arches an eyebrow at Adam, head cocked.

"Never said we'd be smoking any of it. Just an option," he says then hesitates a second, brow furrowing. "Does that shit really bother you?"

[incognoscibilis]

Adam shrugged but he was more careful with his actual answer, taking a moment to choose his words. After last night and the games they'd played with who was in control, Adam was afraid of sounding hypocritical.

"I don't want to know what kind of person I'll become if I'm drunk or high."

[thedreamthief]

That much Ronan knows. That much Ronan has always known, and he nods, eyes narrowing as he licks his lips.

"I meant the rest of us. Me," he adds to be more specific. He already knows Adam doesn't mind his drinking too much. Partially maybe because he trusts Ronan more than he's ever trusted his own father, but maybe also because Ronan doesn't indulge nearly as much as he used to. Adam's never outright said whether he gives a shit if Ronan or Noah or anyone else smokes around him, but Ronan's also never asked. "Does it bother you if we do?"

[incognoscibilis]

"Only if you start setting cars on fire and, I don't know, torturing kids." Only if they become dangerous, he means. Only if they give up enough control of themselves that they could hurt someone.

But Adam also knows that pot won't do that. Even so, he just can't bring himself to make the exception.

[thedreamthief]

Ronan knows where the worry comes from, but the idea still makes his lips curl into a grin. It's not mocking at all for once, just generally amused as he tips his head back, eyes still on Adam.

"All pot does is make me either want to fuck or eat an entire back of Cheetos," he says, smiling against the lip of his cup before taking a sip. "I get it though," he adds because he knows it's important. "No pot tonight. I'm not letting you leave me alone in here with the Cheng Gang."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam smirked back at Ronan and raises an eyebrow. "For all I know, you'd torture a small child by taking their Cheetos," Adam said, because he understood and appreciated that Ronan knew why Adam didn't partake but he also didn't want to bring down the mood of an already awkward party by turning into the local D.A.R.E. advocate or something.

"You realize that it's our friends plus Cheng that you just called the Cheng Gang, right?"

[thedreamthief]

"Who the fuck gives Cheetos to a baby?" Ronan remarks with a half grin.

He pats the spot beside him on the couch then as he stretches back into the cushions, head cocked as he watches Adam. "And yeah. I do. Our friends sometimes make shitty life decisions, man. Can't do anything about it. Did you know Noah fucked around with Kavinsky?" He knows exactly how Adam will respond to that and before he can, holds up a finger. "We all know I make shitty life decisions. And I have fucking regrets, alright?"

[incognoscibilis]

"Irresponsible parents," Adam said. His own, once he was old enough not to choke.

But Adam was more interested in rearranging himself and then in staring at Ronan. He waited for the punchline, the psych! that told him that there was no way it could be true. When it didn't come, his eyes went a little wide as he tried to consider what could possibly have led to that.

"Well," he said, filling the air. When he couldn't find an appropriate response, Adam just said it again. "Well.'

[thedreamthief]

Adam's reaction is pretty satisfying, Ronan's lips twitching into a grin at the look on his face.

He lets the revelation settle for a minute, almost smug. "Think it was only once," he says though, as far as Ronan's concerned, that's one time too fucking many. "I don't fucking get it, man. Why him? Of all fucking people."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam only raised an eyebrow then, didn't call out the faint hypocrisy in Ronan's disgust. He had the leverage if he really wanted, but those two weeks constituted a very brittle topic of conversation that Adam preferred to seal with tape and put away to be forgotten.

"If you're so bored, you should just sleep. You could dream us some indoor fireworks."

[thedreamthief]

There's a flicker across Adam's expression, a look that Ronan can read all too well. He's holding back, biting back the impulse to call Ronan a hypocrite. A weaker person would cave to the impulse, indulge in an easy, petty swipe. Ronan would.

But Adam only shrugs it away a moment later, easily shifting topic.

"Mmm," Ronan answers, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling. "Hadn't thought of that." He could do it, he thinks. He still hasn't dreamt much since being taken, but it's getting easier. Little by little. Even Adam's pen had been acquired with barely a blip. Eyes closing, his lips twitch into a mischievous smirk. "Want me to?"

[incognoscibilis]

He knew that Ronan knew and that was enough. It wasn't a scene he wanted to revisit, especially now when they were all holding their breaths and trying to figure out how to interact with Henry Cheng in a socially acceptable manner. Changing the subject was vastly easier.

"Do you promise not to burn the place down?" Adam asked. This wasn't their home and Ronan was not exactly known for behaving well when he was someone's guest.

[thedreamthief]

"Take the fun out of everything, Parrish," Ronan says, tipping his head down briefly to smirk at Adam.

Pulling in a breath, he rests the cup of water between his thighs and relaxes back into the cushions again, closing his eyes. "I promise I won't even singe the fucking carpet."

There's something about doing this here, in Henry Cheng's living room, doing it while Adam watches, that feels a little bit like showing off. It's not the first time Adam's witnessed this, but Blue's never seen it. Nor Cheng, obviously. Part of him hopes they're too busy wrapped up in their own conversation to notice.

And part of him hopes they don't miss it.

He's asleep in seconds, hands rested on his thighs and Cheng's shitty music filtering in to color his dreams.

[incognoscibilis]

Adam smiled, somehow fond despite it all. He shifted a little, just enough that Ronan's head was pillowed on his thigh. It wasn't much rest and it wasn't much protection, but Adam made himself believe that this was all Ronan needed to ensure a safe dream.

In this position, Ronan was the creator, the sleeping god. Adam was his meager protector.

[thedreamthief]

It shouldn't take him long. Years of not really knowing what he's doing followed by months and months of practice and Ronan knows now. How to get in and get out. He's getting better at recognizing his own voice in his dream too, distinguishing it from the one outside, the one ordering things Ronan has no interest in creating. Things non-magical and deadly.

That voice whispers now, as always, and Ronan ignores it, slipping into Cabeswater to find what he needs.

It shouldn't take him long and it doesn't. Just like every other time, when he awakens, he can't move for a moment, staring up at the beautifully sharp lines of Adam's jaw, noting the hint of worry in his brow. He smiles softly, as close to reassurance as he can manage.

There's a handful of multi-colored pebbles on Ronan's stomach, no bigger than M&Ms and, when he can move again, Ronan glances down. "Ta-da," he says before tipping his head back with a brighter smile.

[incognoscibilis]

They looked like candy and for a second, Adam just wanted to reach out and run his fingers over them, to see how they felt or even how they tasted, but that was a dangerous whim with dream objects. For all he knew, it took a slight disturbance or water or even just a surfeit of intention to bring them to life.

"How do they work then?" Adam asked. Partially because he was curious and more because he wanted to see how Ronan lit up when he explained himself.

[thedreamthief]

Carefully, Ronan brings his hands to his stomach, collecting the little pebbles one by before sitting up, swinging his legs back down to the floor.

There are about two or three dozen in total and Ronan holds up just one of them between thumb and forefinger, showing it to Adam. "You just toss them in the air and they go off. The color tells you what they'll be when they explode except the black ones. Those are surprises."

He glances upward then, still smiling a little. "They'll work better with a higher ceiling, but they'll be fine in here. Might need to vacumn afterward though."

[incognoscibilis]

Adam smiled, bemused and fond, because of course Ronan could dream up miracles that had to be tidied afterward. It was, really, a pretty good summation of most of his creations. Chainsaw came to mind.

"Should we wait until they're paying attention? Or just startle the hell out of them?" he asked. It was the kind of proposition that usually ended up with someone on a wheeled pallet getting keelhauled behind a BMW.

[thedreamthief]

"Stupid question," Ronan says with a smirk as he funnels out about half of the pebbles into one hand and carefully passes them over Adam.

With what he has left, he plucks out a blue and a red then, after glancing over at the other three, tosses them gently into the air, his face splitting into a wide smile as, just as in the dream, they burst about six feet up in a boom and a crackle. They're quieter than real fireworks, of course, more like popped balloons than an explosion of fire, but out the corner of his eye, he can see three figures jump about half a mile and can't help laughing.

[incognoscibilis]

It was a fireworks display in miniature and even though it wasn't as bright or as loud as what was happening over the fairgrounds, Adam thought it was more magical for it. This was something that was privately theirs and so undeniably a thing made from magic for all of them.

Adam took a pinch and through them up in the air, watching them go.

[thedreamthief]

Adam throws up a few more, air buzzing with fizzles and pops and bursts of pink and purple and yellow. They've definitely caught the attention of the other three though it's Adam that Ronan can't look away from. His smile is wide and slightly awed, the weariness he so often carries on his shoulders melted away here in Cheng's fucking living room.

And Ronan wants to take this moment, with Cheng in it even, and keep it for himself, hoard it away. Because it's that smile that makes Ronan feel like he's not such a monster after all.