coffee war

viii

ronan disliked the cold. he didn't like being in a world where one could see their breath in the morning and even less when you could see it throughout the day. even so, he hated the heat even more, just the thought of sweat made him want to break something.

preferably kavinsky's jaw.

as he trudged through the bitter cold morning to that stupid coffee shop with that stupid boy with his stupid perfect teeth, ronan dreamt of finally beating kavinsky once and for all, for k to finally leave him alone. he'd beaten him in every race they'd fought in together, even in ronan's bmw versus kavinsky's mitsu.

he always screwed the shift from third to fourth. ronan didn't.

yet, when it cdme to fist fights, kavinsky had him. he fought dirtier than ronan ever could, and ronan fought pretty damn fucking dirty and knew how to box like his life depended on it. but kavinsky's life had depended on it once, and since then, he's fought to kill.

ronan shook his head to rid himself of thoughts of kavinsky and his perfectly punchable jaw. he raised a hand to feel the stitches he'd gotten in his eyebrow after having another row with kavinsky while he was high off his ass, kavinsky being the high one, not ronan. ronan always regretted meeting with kavinsky, but he always went back.

ronan sighed. he'd tried to get over kavinsky, but it wasn't that easy. it never was.

ronan turned the corner and ran into someone else who had just been standing still. his nose glanced off of the person's shoulder because ronan had had his head tucked down against the freezing wind. he stumbled back as the other person stumbled forward.

"what the fu-" ronan started to say as he was cut off. he bent forward and held his nose in his hands, years forming in his eyes, because, well, that happened when you're hit in the nose.

"oh my god i'm so sorry, i was just standing there and- oh, it's you," the voice of the person who ronan had run into - even though it wasn't ronan's fault that idiot had been standing still on a fucking sidewalk - had been sincere up until the point it broke off into a more subdued tone.

ronan still pinched the bridge of his nose as he stood up straighter to look at whoever he'd run into, but the voice had already rung a bell. it was that stupid boy from that stupid coffee shop with his stupid perfect teeth. he internally screamed before externally speaking.

"you could've just left it at a sweet little "i'm sorry" and then maybe a polite "are you okay?" before going straight to hostile," ronan grumbled at adam's stupid face, which at the moment was a cross between an unimpressed look of sheer cool and the permanent scowl he wore whenever ronan was in the room. or on the street as it appeared.

adam snorted and tossed his head up in the air. "oh, yes, my bad, but i thought that being hostile was your thing," he said, casually cruel. he crossed his arms and awaited ronan's reaction.

ronan sensed he was trying to rile him up, so he decided not to fall for it. he knew it would just piss him off more.

ronan needed to work on his flirting.

ronan needed to work on a lot of things.

ronan threw on the most sarcastic smile of his life. "thanks, sweetheart, but i'll just be on my merry way. in fact, i was just headed to see your beautiful face," ronan had to force himself not to lose composure as adam's unimpressed gaze turned into the most incredulous, jaw-dropped look. it was cute. "but, seeing as you're not at that wonderful coffee shop, i'll settle for seeing you here. that is, unless you would like to accompany me for a cup of your shit coffee?" ronan made sure to let his face fall into a sneer so adam wouldn't realize he was actually asking. that way, he could tell gansey at least he asked to get coffee with his dumb fucking crush so he could say he'd beaten gansey to the punch. ronan wasn't sure whether gansey realized there was a punch to beat or not.