Chapter Text
The car was silent except for the faint rumble of the wheels on the road, Adam's attention taken up by his effort to drive while Jonah lay in the backseat, staring upwards at the shadowed ceiling of the car. His eyes were unable to adjust to the darkness and his head pounded.
God, how hard did he hit his head?
Jonah's eyes would occasionally wander to the blond in the front seat, his closest (and only) friend. He wondered how long it had been since the two hadn’t been somewhat on the run. A year? Two years? He didn’t know and really didn’t care, he was just glad he could be with his friend. Adams' pale blue eyes were locked on the road, his fingers tapping to a nonexistent tune as he drove.
Adam’s face lacked emotion, but he still seemed at ease in the car, even after the events that had taken place maybe two days before. Jonah was still processing the event himself. He knew about Adam's obsession with alternates, so he didn’t question him about it.
Adam's unblinking eyes shifted to Jonah for the first time in hours, his intense stare seeming to soften a little at the sight of his friend. Adam couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Jonah, his injury from trying to help him, and Adam's reaction to the encounter. He still was stuck on what he had done, the way he felt out of place in his own skin now. He pushed his guilt down. It just didn’t make sense. Adam was human…or he thought so at least.
The silence of the car faded from comfortable to awkward the second the two boys locked eyes, Jonah's heart rate quickening when his eyes met the intense stare of his friend. Jonah’s brain connected pieces that he had never thought about before. Adam’s lack of emotion, his close to nonexistent reactions to being injured, his disregard for other people's emotions, and the things that would slip from his mouth when he became aggressive during arguments.
Jonah watched Adam's face seem to melt and shift in front of him. His eyes widening as he watched. He turned his attention away, not wanting to accept the truth of his friend's nature. He decided that he wasn’t fully recovered from his fall off those stairs. He wondered how long Adam had been an alternate, if his best friend since childhood was ever truly human… or if the original had been killed and replaced with an imitation of him. He wouldn’t forgive himself if the latter had been true. If the real Adam had been replaced and he hadn’t even realized he could never forgive himself. If he were that ignorant to his friend-
“Hey, Jonah.”
Jonah's focus slowly turned to Adam once more, seeing it was returned to its normal composition. His expression concerned, giving Jonah some reassurance that he wasn’t in danger at the moment.
“Jonah, you okay?” Adam repeated his words to the boy sprawled across the backseat. He realized the car had stopped in front of some gas station, the fluorescent light faintly stinging his eyes. Jonah blinked a couple seconds before humming a yes. Adam chuckled and unbuckled his seat belt, patting Jonah's leg to signal the other to sit up and crawled over the seats to sit beside him, taking the left side of the car.
“Hey, about what happened at the house-” Adam started, trailing off, not knowing how to explain himself. He wanted to talk to him but had no clue how to go about it.
Adam could hear Jonah's heart racing beneath his hoodie, the sound somehow alluring to Adam. He shook his head, clearing his weirdly violent thoughts from his mind. He decided he wouldn’t say anything, not wanting to be the cause of his friends panic. Adam wrapped an arm around Jonah's shoulders and pulled him close.
“How long has it been?”
Jonah's tone was uncharacteristically serious. Adam looked down at his friend. His brown eyes filled with tears ready to fall.
“What do you mean?”
“How long have you been an alternate?” Jonah's voice strained with the statement.
“I don’t know. I’ve never known about that but I swear it’s me. Alternate or not, I'm still your friend.” He wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say until Jonah pulled him even closer, wrapping his arms around him and quietly sobbing into the black BPS hoodie. This time Adam froze. He didn’t move until Jonah pushed off of him, a weak smile on his face as he began laughing, Adam following after the taller boy.
The two sat there for a while before Adam heard faint snoring from the silver-haired boy and smiled fondly, gently moving Jonah off of him and laying him upright in the seat before climbing back into the driver seat. Adam looked through the rearview mirror at Jonah, smiling softly at his friend's sleeping body. His eyes shifted to himself for a moment, seeing where his face was melting into a shadowy mass, his bright eyes being the only distinguishable feature in the void of his face. Adam, startled, tensed in his seat, watching his reflection just as quickly morph back into his regular appearance. He stared at his reflection for a moment, waiting for something to happen. His reflection stayed the same, not revealing anything more.
Adam glared at the mirror, irritated about this new discovery. The blond leaned his seat back as far as he could and closed his eyes. He didn’t feel at all tired, but he just wanted to rest. Maybe he wouldn’t be the same, but he could pretend that basement never happened in his dreams.
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Jonah’s eyes squinted open, struggling to adjust to the harsh sunlight swallowing the inside of the van. He stretched the best he could, his head and feet pushing against the doors and his arms stretched out above him. He relaxed his body and pulled himself up, looking out the window to see where they were.
Adam must’ve been driving while he was asleep because Jonah couldn’t see any sign of the gas station He had stopped at. Jonah’s attention flicked back to Adam. He had forgotten about the other night for a moment, his friend had been an alternate possibly the entire time he had known him. His nerves eased a bit as he locked eyes with Adam who looked as calm as he could be. Jonah smiled, mumbling a sound similar to a greeting. Adam smiled back, replying with something the boy's ears weren’t processing. Jonah rubbed his face and ears, shaking his head in an attempt to wake himself fully. Adam’s eyes flicked between the road and Jonah, listening to the GPS to find their next job.
“Sleep well? You were out for a while. I would guess it’s probably noon right now.” Adam commented, trying to start a conversation to break the silence. Jonah reached up to the passenger seat and grabbed their shared phone from it, checking the time, 12:24 PM.
“How did I…?” Jonah trailed off, clearly confused about how he could have slept so long. Adam let out a light chuckle at Jonah’s completely confused expression.
“Yeah, you were out cold the whole time.” Adam continued keeping his eyes glued to the road in front of him. Jonah tried to search his memory for what their next job had been, of course, he hadn’t been listening to Adam on the phone, too focused on how much money they would’ve made from that last job if it had been real.
“Wait, Adam, where are we going?” Jonah voiced his confusion, earning a jokingly disappointed head shake from his friend.
“I told you earlier Jonah, some guy thinks the noises in his attic are an alternate, the usual.” Adam replied as if they hadn’t had an extremely close call with alternates just a few nights before. Even the name of the creatures made his skin crawl. Jonah chose to ignore how his closest friend was one of them.
“Hey, at least this isn’t too good to be true. I mean it’s just $125 for it, only a little more than we usually get.”
Adam was right, they usually only got about $100 for every job they took, more reassuring than a promise of $500 a night (he was still a little upset they didn’t get the money).
Jonah eased up, trusting Adam’s judgment. It’s not like he had been wrong often before. The GPS went off, getting both boys' attention.
“Oh, we’re almost there,” Adam spoke, observing the screen in front of him. Jonah leaned forwards further, grabbing the seat in front of him and looked at the screen. The neighborhood was far away from the last house they had stayed at, about 4 or 5 hours away. Jonah guessed they were around ten or fifteen minutes away right now. The silver-haired boy leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, dozing off again under the warmth of the sunlight.