“He felt a sudden urge to save all these other Adams hidden in plain view, though he didn’t know if they would listen to him. It struck him as a Gansey or a Blue impulse, and as he held that tiny, heroic spark in his mind, he realized that it was only because he believed that he had saved himself that he could imagine saving someone else.”
concept: everyone in adam’s dorm thinks he’s a witch
so, like, everyone knows there’s something odd about that parrish guy. he’s smart as hell and charming and sweet and also snarky and hilarious…but he has secrets. and not just the boyfriend back in virginia (who’s a catholic, street-racing farmer with a kid???) who no one can agree exists or not (there’s a whole betting pool on it). no, something’s strange with adam parrish. he knows things. weird things. like when it’s going to rain or when a professor’s going to cancel class or when the machine in the dining hall is out of ice cream. also, he’s freakishly great with plants (this one guy likes to tell this story of a rosebush flowering when he touched it but he could’ve just been high) and animals (stray dogs tend to follow him around campus a lot). he casually tells a bunch of girls he’ll do tarot readings for them once at a party and everyone assumes it’s just for fun, but everything comes true, in some form or fashion. so after that, there’s usually a small cluster of people waiting outside his door when he gets back from class to see how they’re going to do on that quiz or how that date’s going to go or if they should take that internship or forgive that relative or rekindle that friendship. so word starts going around that there’s something not quite normal about adam parrish. something unexplainable. something mystical. something witchy. he gets invited to join the campus wiccan club numerous times and he always politely declines. he doesn’t charge anything for the readings but people drop off small gifts anyway: baked goods and handmade jewellery and potted herbs and thank you notes. he gains a modest, devoted following. he answers questions on a facebook group in his spare time. obviously there are skeptics but no one really pays too much attention to a kid giving ‘psychic’ advice in his dorm room. it’s college. weirder shit happens all the time.
finally his roommate has to ask one day, as tactfully as possible, pretending he’s not actually buying into any ridiculous campus rumours: “…so are you or aren’t you?” and adam just looks up at him, distracted, and says, “what, bi? obviously. i have a boyfriend.” and his roommate is just like, “…never mind.”
adam honestly kind of likes being ~cool and ~mysterious and well-known and he likes helping people out and being appreciated for his ~special talents even if he thought all he wanted was to fit in and fly under the radar and be normal. blue tells him he couldn’t be normal if he tried; gansey’s proud; ronan’s smug.
so people speculate for a while and never get any real answers about it and eventually they just accept his uncanny intuition as one of the quirks of the campus. UNTIL that one time ronan comes up to visit with a black cat trailing behind him that goes straight to adam when he sees him and a raven on his shoulder and an icy glare that seems like it could put a curse on anyone it falls on and everyone is intimidated and in awe because 1. the boyfriend is real, 2. they’re both actualwitches, and 3. damn, they’re really fucking hot together
a list of extremely romantic quotes from adam parrish about the love of his life ronan lynch
adam parrish had been gansey’s friend for eighteen months, and he knew that certain things came along with that friendship. namely, believing in the supernatural, tolerating gansey’s troubled relationship with money, and co-existing with gansey’s other friends. (…) the latter was only problematic when it was ronan lynch.
adam suspected gansey’s preference was because ronan was earnest even if he was horrible.
adam laughed in disbelief. “do it for you! some of us have homework, you know.”
adam just looked at him witheringly. “do your homework.”
adam said, “you’re such a dick.”
“don’t be such a shitbag,” adam murmured.
adam punched ronan, saving gansey the trouble.
“shut up.”
“that’s why its latin grammar is terrible. it’s your grammar.”
adam made a face. he felt it would take more than pizza to improve ronan’s character.
“you’re a neanderthal.”
“he’s a pit bull.”
“god, ronan,” adam said. “enough.”
adam was, all at once, fatigued with ronan and his uselessness.
“you look like a supervillain with your familiar.”
[ronan ranting obnoxiously about malory and his dog] “why couldn’t he have something normal like a raven?”
“is this a real conversation, parrish?” adam didn’t bother to reply. he merely exchanged three textbooks for his gym hoodie.
“you know, when i first met gansey, i couldn’t figure out why he was friends with someone like ronan. one day, he’d done some stupid shit i don’t even remember, and i just couldn’t take it. and i asked why gansey was even friends with him if he was such an asshole all the time.”
in conclusion, this boy is head over heels in love!!!!!!! (feel free to add to this)
hc that when the hondayota finally dies for good adam is already in a pretty comfortable financial situation and realises that he can actually treat himself to a pretty damn nice car? naturally he’s anxious as fuck whilst waiting to get approved to make the purchase but then the salesperson hands him the keys and he gets in and drives and drives, and he eventually has to pull over because fuck he’s crying so hard he’s so happy, so proud, because he made it, he made it.
when anyone begrudges adam his pride i really have to wonder if they have any idea what adam has been through? because abuse is fucking humiliating. it is degrading and dehumanizing and it takes and it takes and it takes until all you have left is this voice in your head saying the people who are biologically inclined to love you think you are a worthless piece of shit, so who are you to think any better of yourself?
sometimes abuse means groveling and begging and pleading for forgiveness for things that you didn’t do, or that you don’t understand the cause of. sometimes abuse means being told that you aren’t wanted over and over until you internalize that. none of that leaves room for pride, for dignity.
adam’s pride is all he has and he probably clings to it so strongly outside of his family home in part because he doesn’t get to have it inside. he doesn’t get to have dignity or humanity or pride when his father is near him in that house. he needs to have control over his situation with gansey and ronan; he needs to put up those boundaries; he needs to know that he can make it without them. leave the kid alone, honestly.
How Adam’s college friends thought he was weird, but it turns out that he’s pretty “normal” compared to his friends HC
-ronan never really goes up to college with adam, because adam’s the one who escapes back home on his time off
-adam’s college friends all think there’s something off about him, even tough they all also think he’s perfect
-his nickname with the college friends (that they never say directly to his face) is “Perfect Adam” to differentiate between him and another adam.
-how he disappears on weekends and holidays and doesn’t really tell anyone where he’s going
-how there’s a chest under his bed they’ve never seen him open
-fun fact: it’s Persephone’s tarot cards and he keeps them there for Reasons
-how there’s photos of a small girl in a black beanie on his wall and desk, but all of the photos are just of her face, never below the waste
-how adam has a boyfriend, but whenever they ask about this dude, the story changes for each person (they’ve compared notes and it just confused them more)
-“he’s tattoo’d and street races sometimes”
-“he’s a lonely farmer”
-“yeah he’s got a kid”
-“he’s an asshole I went to high school with”
-“trust fund kid”
-and then
-one day the rest of the gangsey decide to drop in unannounced because Henry, Blue, and Gansey are in town and Ronan’s missing his bf
-Opal is left in the care of 300 Fox Way because you can rip the fact that those women adore my small goat child from my dead, headcannon loving hands
-and they just watch as Adam’s face breaks stoic-Adam-bitch-resting-face as a beat up orange ass car pulls up and a sleek black one behind it
-gansey is the first one out
-that little boy fucking runs into adam’s arms and hugs him for longer than socially acceptable
-“stop stealing my man, Parrish”
-Blue definatly interrupts like this, insults Gansey’s boat shoes for the 28839439th time that day and kisses Adam on the cheek
-henry is a good bean and he just waves and stands next to Blue and Gansey
-and adam’s college friends are like “is that dude that hugged him the bf????”
-and Blue and Gansey are laughing while Adam shakes his head and Henry pulled out his phone to take photos because the other two of his roadtrip buddies are fucking gremlins that never take photos and then are sad that they don’t have photos of the memories
-yeah, Blue, Henry and Gansey are all in a beautiful poly-relationship and Blue and Gansey can now kiss because they DESERVE IT OKAY
-anyways, Ronan is the last one out
-and Adam looks Ronan in the eyes and goes “hey asshole”
-and adam’s college friends are fucking shook
-and ronan’s reply is “fuck off” because it’s ronan
-and adam just turns and goes “this is my ex Blue, and her boyfriends Gansey and Henry. And this is Ronan”
-adam’s poor college friends are so lost and confused and Blue isn’t helping because she KNOWS they are and is attempting to make it worse
-“throw back to when Adam and Gansey were lovers”
-“henry, remember that time you got a boner for perfect Adam?” “blUE-“
-“adam’s my second favorite boyfriend” “i’m your first right?” “Whatever helps you sleep, Boat Shoes” “thanks- wait-“
-(her favorite bf is Noah,,,)
-and they all just continue on with this for a while, everyone walking back to the dorms or something and adam’s college friends are just trailing with confused expressions
-and finally one of them stops adam and is like “are you really dating all of them???” And adam just goes “no???? I’m dating ronan???? I thought you knew????”
-“he’s a farmer?!” “…yeah?” “,,,he’s fucking terrifying” “yeah”
-and the rest are all like, “ronan’s barely said a word or even hugged adam and he’s the supportive and loving bf adam cares for????”
-and then ronan, in his terrifying, shaved head, tattoo’d glory turns to adam and chucks his hand cream at the boy’s head and goes “oh yeah, got you this” “thanks”
-and adam and ronan’s smiles are really soft in that moment and the college friends are like “OH”
-“stop flirting. I want to eat some college dorm room ramen” “Adam, are you living off of ramen?” “Gansey, it’s not that big of a-“ “im buying us dinner now”
-and Blue and Henry are just being weird and making fun of Gansey
-ronan just calls everyone “asshole” or “jerk”
-blue flips him off at least once
-honestly, what a weird constellation these dorks make
-but soon, the trio has to leave because they’ve got to visit Helen and her gf and the elder Ganseys
-and it’s just Adam, Ronan and the college friends left
-and adam starts his homework at his desk while Ronan lounges onto adam’s bed
-“btw, I brought chainsaw” “in the dorm?” “In the dorm”
-and a small chainsaw heads pokes out from Ronan’s hood at the sound of her name
-college friends fucking loose it now and just disperse because they can’t handle anymore of this
-and poor adam’s roomate is left alone with adam and the terrifying creature that is Ronan
-but adam and ronan are being chill, but somehow Roomate can’t concentrate with ronan and chainsaw there
-and then ronan just gets up suddenly and walks out and adam doesn’t even flinch when the door slams, just smiles and rolls his eyes and continues with his work because he knows ronan will be sitting on the trunk of his car when he finishes this chapter
-and he meets back outside, but it’s cold now and adam’s an idiot who didn’t think to bring a hoodie so he’s cold in his cocacola shirt that he’ll probably never get rid of
-and ronan’s there, sitting on the trunk, feeding chainsaw out of his hand with feed adam expects is dream-made
-and they just sit there in silence for a bit, watching chainsaw eat
-they’re shoulders are touching and ronan’s slightly leaning into adam, but not overly so and he’s sitting on adam’s good side so that he can hear him
-“squash one, squash two-“
-adam laughs before ronan lapses into humming old songs he learned from his bagpipe training, bless his heart
-and adam just listens, occasionally petting chainsaw as they sit
-and it’s over too soon because Ronan gets a call from Maura’s phone, but it’s Opal asking to talk to Adam and wanting to be picked up soon because “maura’s making tea again” and ronan should leave home before his poor goat daughter is destroyed by shitty tea
-and they don’t kiss or hug, ronana gets into his car and drives off as adam stands on the curb and watches him disappear
-“he left fast” “yeah, he needed to pick up Opal” “his… daughter?” “Yeah”
-and none of the college friends question adam directly, but they all accept that perfect, but weird Adam is definatly the least-weird of his friend group
-(and they attempt to compare notes on what happened that night, but get even more confused because one noticed that Blue wore weird clothes and another was like “but Gansey looks like white priviledge” and “ronan can’t be the gay farmer with a kid”, “adam must have two boyfriends”, “adam said that ronan has a daughter named Opal”, “IS he the gay farmer???? I thought he was the streetracer????”, “was Gansey the trust fund boyfriend????”, “how come his ex is dating his bf????”)
Isn’t it interesting how us, as a fandom, have just collectively swept under the rug the fact that our precious and adorable son Adam Parrish canonically murdered, forged evidences and blackmailed people? My sweet baby, off making me proud.
Reminds me of this: “Ronan, a sinner himself, wasn’t as struck by the transgression as he was by Gansey’s insistence that they continue to pretend Adam was a saint.”
I love of how all the tags to this post are “my ruthless son”, “my baby”, “I’m so proud of him”. Like, we don’t deny that he can be the cruelest of all, we just really appreciate it.
Nothing but My Aching Soul 