Work Text:
A warm breeze ruffled Adam's hair as he lay on the roof of a stolen car.
It was the later moments of summer, the ones that were all too warm or full of chilly rain. Autumn was teasing its way into the world, coloring the occasional leaves. Soon, it would be too cold to lay out here like this (at least not without bundles of blankets and tight, fluffy jackets- which Adam would rather go without, thank you). Yet, for now, it was a welcoming warmth that surrounded Adam. Not too hot, not too cold. He found it comforting.
Shifting onto his side, Adam turned to glance down over the side of the car to watch his partner-in-crime having a smoke. The way Jonah's breath would dance in the night air was mesmerizing, almost.
He tried not to stare at the way Jonah's lips parted as he exhaled.
"What are you even doing up there?" Jonah questioned, tilting his head back to meet Adam's gaze and tucking his past-dyed hair behind his ear.
Adam swallowed. Jonah’s eyes were beautiful, reflecting the night sky like the world would shine its brightest for him and him alone. Adam wanted to lean down and tell Jonah just how much he loved those little freckles on his cheeks, and how they were like a little night sky themselves. "Stargazing," he said instead. It was safer… easier.
The two of them had been friends for as far back as Adam can remember. He can't ruin that. He can't.
"Oh," Jonah said. "Feeling poetic today, are we?"
It was teasing, poking fun at the way Adam would sometimes find himself lost in thought (like a world-famous author, Jonah would say), but Jonah himself was climbing up onto their van and tossing his discarded cigarette away. The car shifted, creaking under their imbalanced weight until Jonah slid down to lay next to Adam.
Jonah's arm bumped against Adam's, and their legs pressed together in the forced proximity of the small roof. It made Adam's heart do backflips in his chest.
"So," Jonah hummed, obviously to the plight of the boy beside him, "What stars you lookin' at?"
Adam tried to gaze up at the blanket of stars layering the night sky and pick ones that Jonah would find pretty. “Over there,” he muttered, like talking too loud could break the peace they had created. He traced out a bunching that was distantly familiar to the way Jonah smiled when he laughed.
Jonah squinted, furrowing his eyebrows and trying to point to where Adam had. Adam scooched closer, shutting one eye and guiding Jonah’s hand until it was in the right spot. He found himself itching to linger, to intertwine his fingers with Jonah’s (their matching old, chipped nail polish; side by side). He, decidedly, did not– instead opting to pull away and turn so his flushed face was out of sight.
“What is it?” Jonah asks, breathless and quiet.
“Something lovely,” Adam answers, “what do you see? Tell me a story.”
A snort sounds from beside Adam, and they both sit in comfortable silence for a while. “A prince,” Jonah finally complies. “See? That’s his crown, and that’s his ear over there… he’s looking down.”
Fumbling to keep up, Adam squeezes his face up tight until he can sorta see a full face with a crown. “What’s he looking at?”
“His knight.”
“Oh?”
“Forbidden love, Adam, keep up.” Jonah teases, nudging Adam’s side with his elbow. “He’s loving, but no one can know it. It’s a quiet, secret sort of love. But it’s special.”
After it’s been long enough he’s sure Jonah doesn’t play on continuing, Adam turns back towards his companion. Jonah is staring up at the sky, an awe-struck sort of look in his eyes as he watches the stars overhead. Adam’s breath catches in his throat. “Do they ever make it?” Adam prompts.
“I don’t know. Up to you, I guess,” Jonah smiles, turning to Adam with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Adam is suddenly, starkly aware of how close they are. They’re almost nose to nose, sitting with cold metal against their backs; nothing but the night and miles of empty fields surrounding them (if Adam closed that gap, leaned a little closer, no one would know. No one but him and Jonah. Jonah and him).
Instead, after an awkward amount of time staring, Adam turns back to the sky. Jonah sighs alongside him.
“You're such an idiot,” Jonah whispers, barely loud enough to hear, and before Adam can ask why, or offer some witty remark– there’s warm lips on his, Jonah’s lips on his, and it’s everything he ever dreamt of and more. Jonah’s hand is balled in the fabric of Adam’s shirt, pulling them closer together, and Adam is so lost even though this all feels so right. Jonah moves away only to kiss Adam’s cheek, his forehead, his nose.
He’s already missing the contact when Jonah pulls away. Jonah’s lipstick is smeared across his upper lip, and from the look on his face, it must be smeared on Adam’s face, too. “Did that… actually just happen?” Adam asks before he can think better of it, his head light and fluffy.
“Well, if my lipstick all over your face is anything to go by… yeah, it did, dude.”
Adam can already feel the heat rushing to his face and ears, and he can’t think of a word to say. An ‘I love you’? Something romantic, something silly? All he can muster is a weak, “do it again.”
Jonah happily complies, muttering a quick, “took you long enough,” before he’s back to making Adam’s chest pound, effectively turning him into putty. With only the moon for light, decorating Jonah’s face anytime Adam opens his eyes, he can’t think of a better way to spend his time.
Once Adam is effectively covered in lipstick and blushing from head to toe, Jonah pauses. “So..?” He asks.
“So.” Adam answers, “What.. What does this mean, for us?”
“That I’ve loved you as long as I can remember,” Jonah says, like it’s the easiest thing to admit in the world, “and I want everyone to know it, if you’ll let me.”
And oh. That’s…wow. Wow. Adam thinks his heart might have honestly just stopped beating all together. “That sounds…awesome,” he musters, “wait. Was that constellation thing all just..?”
Jonah snorts, then bursts into a laugh- Adam thinks he’s falling in love all over again with those dimples. “Oh my god,” Jonah huffs, breathless and grinning from ear to ear, “You’re such an idiot. God, I love you.”
Adam can’t do much else but melt into Jonah’s touch, the boy’s hand cupping Adam’s cheek sending sparks of electricity down his spine. Right now, Adam is more sure than ever that he loves Jonah back. He loves him so much it’s all he can think about, sometimes.
So, he says it. “I love you”
Then, “I love you, God, I love you, Jonah. I will love you forever.”
And he will.
Jonah smiles, in a small, soft, special sort of way. Just for Adam. “Same here, man.”
And they will. Love, love each other forever until they can’t anymore and time itself has come to an end. It’s safe here, face to face under the stars on the roof of a van and staring into each other's eyes.
Their love has been a long time coming, after all.