Mother's Day was a fraught affair in the Lynch household. It was worse this year, with the house mostly empty again and Adam not there to distract Ronan from his more painful emotions. There was no event at the market to pour all of his fierce energy into either. When the notification had lit up on Adam's phone about picking up his Mother's Day flowers, Ronan had first felt a lightning flash of grief. But the emotion had quickly washed away in fondness.
Adam had gotten Mother's Day flowers for Persephone, but had apparently opted to deliver them himself. The idea that they wouldn't get there was unforgivable.
Ronan hadn't let himself overthink it. He'd picked up the bouquet of daylilies and now he knocked on the door of Fox Way as he let himself in. "Hey, anybody home?" he called into the house. "You guys should really lock your door, fuck."
Persephone’s quiet voice drifted out of the kitchen to the side, sounding completely unsurprised by the visitor. “But that would defeat the purpose of you letting yourself in.” Adam had a key, but Adam was still in the ancient times, and she had woken up knowing that Ronan would be visiting her today.
It had been a surprise, then. She knew what today was, of course. Blue and Maura had made plans, but things were obviously more tense right now. She had spent the better part of the week baking, and the fruits of her labors were handed out here and there, but still were on display along the countertops in their kitchen. A freshly made pecan pie was just now cooling on the counter, nearly ready to be sliced.
“I’m in the kitchen, wipe your feet off first.” She knew he hadn’t, but she was also teasing him just to see if he’d do it.
Her airy voice was always a little eerie. It was one of the things Ronan had grown to like about her, but it caught him by surprise now and he scowled in the direction of the kitchen. Torn between ignoring her instructions like a hardheaded brat and obeying them like an asshole who could be told to do things, he eventually rolled his eyes dramatically and stepped back outside to rub off his boots on the mat.
This was for Adam. And maybe a small appreciation for the part Persephone played in Adam’s life.
Of course, that didn’t stop him from feeling awkward as shit as he came into the kitchen with flowers in his hand. “That’s literally why people knock. To be let in.” His words held no heat. He frowned and held the flowers out like they might burn him if he held onto them too long. “Parrish wanted you to have these.”
“You don’t need to be let in, you’re welcome.” Persephone reminded without turning around. She tidied up a few things, made some room on the counter, put away a few dishes-- Busywork was normal for her, anytime the stress had amped up around 300 Fox Way, you could find Persephone doing something. She had never done well with idle hands.
At his offering, she turned around with surprise on her face. It took a lot to surprise a psychic, though Vallo had accomplished it a few times, and she was constantly finding herself impressed by the limits Adam could push himself. That was different than not knowing something was coming, though, and she glanced from the flowers, up to Ronan’s angry eyebrows, and back down again, before taking them gently. “He did? They’re beautiful.”
Ronan almost wished he'd pulled out his phone and recorded this for Adam's sake. But he wasn't that brand of douche. Instead, he leaned a hip against the counter with the pecan pie on it and took stealth sniffs. Couldn't look too fucking eager.
"Yeah, they're not bad." He could've dreamt them in unreal colors but he was pretty sure Adam hadn't asked because it was important he arrange this whole thing on his own. It seemed extra unfair he wasn't here to enjoy the results. "Surprised you didn't see this coming. You know he thinks of you as...well, you know. There's probably a card or some shit at the house that says exactly how he feels and I should've just asked him but whatever. At least those won't wilt away in a flower shop."
There was knowing, and then there was knowing. Persephone’s pale cheeks tinted pink as she handled the flowers. She set them down gently on the table so she could snag an empty vase from a nearby cabinet - it was an ugly thing, from Persephone’s own days of pottery, certainly undeserving of heartfelt flowers but it was either that or a giant yellow one that had a strange face painted on it. This would do.
“I know,” She felt it necessary to confirm it, to the world, not just the middle Lynch brother. “He deserves a great deal of good in this world, I’m happy to offer as much of that as I can.” She went about the process of arranging the flowers in the vase carefully. “A card can wait for one more day.” She sounded sure of it only being one more day. “Are you ready?”
Ronan sneered at ugly vase, both disturbed in an artistic sense and delighted in a shithead one. Sometimes ugly things were better. Sometimes they were just ugly. He watched her put the flowers in the vase with the ghost of a smile.
“I wasn’t sure how I felt about you taking up that role in his life at the beginning. Not sure I could’ve trusted anyone to take up that spot and not hurt him somehow,” he admitted. He didn’t echo her insistence that Adam deserved the world because that was a fucking given. He just pulled at his leather bracelets and glanced off to the side. “But he trusted you. And I trusted his gut. I’m, uh. Fuck, I don’t know. Glad it worked out.” There was already way too much sentiment here and it was starting to make Ronan itchy. He scowled and scratched at his nine-day shadow of a beard. “Wait. Ready for what?”
Persephone was impervious to any sneers or delighted shithead smiles from Ronan at this point -- though really she always had been. It always helped when you could tell someone’s true self fairly quickly in meeting them, and for all of Ronan’s gruff ways, she would forever be fond of him.
It was a little like the other way around for him, in that sense. They both ultimately only wanted the best for Adam, Persephone had seen something in him that she both wanted to protect and to help foster into something better, more powerful. Being a mother figure to him was the least she could offer, especially given his own lack of good parental figures.
“I’m glad it worked out too.” His words made her flush with pride, an easily spotted bloom on her pale cheeks. She finished arranging the flowers to her liking and smiled. “For his return - tomorrow. You might want to vacuum the house.”
"What." Unsurprisingly, Ronan perked up at that. He hadn't heard anything yet about a return, only we're working on it which was fucking fair but not any more frustrating on day nine than it was on day one. Caught up in a feeling of relief - not to mention being off-balance because of this strange little outing that made him feel both far away from his own mother and closer to the one Adam picked for himself - Ronan did something unthinkable.
He swept Persephone up into a bear hug.
It was brief but he wasn't quick enough to school his face as he pulled back and the relieved grin was painfully obvious. "Fucking A, that's good news. You're sure? You wouldn't tell me if you weren't sure," he corrected with conviction. "Goddamn, yes, I am ready."
“I wouldn’t tell you if I wasn’t sure,” Persephone confirmed, but it was muffled as she was adjusting to the hug and the pulling away and the oomph that had hit her as soon as his arms wrapped around her. Not many people hugged her, and certainly not this one of the group. Adam and Blue at times, but Ronan was the enigma that kept everyone at arm’s length.
Until he didn’t.
His love for the two closest to him that were trapped far away came through in that hug, and made her happy. She grinned right back. “Good. I think they are, too. Well--” Persephone immediately winked. “Ready to see you.”
Ronan rolled his eyes but it was an affectionate gesture. "Oh I know they're not minding the adventure. Gansey probably hasn't stopped vibrating the whole damn time."
Now that his anxiety about when everyone would be home was settled, he felt lighter. Less like a snake coiled to strike and more like a snake that was sunbathing on a rock. It was honestly work to stop his dumb face from advertising every joyful emotion richocheting through his chest so he leaned a hip against the counter next to the pecan pie and nodded his chin towards it.
"Is this for me or is it just a mean tease?"
Persephone shrugged, in that maddening way that was about her, not quite an answer, never quite a confirmation. When it was important - like when it involved Adam - she could certainly say the words with conviction, but when it came to pie or adventure?
Some things were best left to the imagination. To let them roam free, galloping through the wild fields.
But the snake looking pleased and clearly in want of homemade baked goods was a little too much to pass up, so Persephone pulled out a much-too-large knife from the nearby strip and smiled a little too wild-like. “I suppose I can share so you can put off your cleaning chores. Grab a fork and sit down, Lynch.”
Any other day, Ronan might have been more difficult. He might have talked more shit. Any other gift, he might have delivered it and made his excuses to leave. Those days were starting to get further and further behind them, though.
God help him.
Ronan pulled two forks out of the drawer he knew they were stashed in and two plates down from the cabinet above it. He plopped down into a chair, putting one set of plate and fork across from him and one in front of him.
"Thanks," he grunted preemptively, finally glancing up at her with a faint hint of a smile. "Just don't tell Sargent about this."