itinere | open || i heard that you make old things new; so I give these pieces all to you

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open || i heard that you make old things new; so I give these pieces all to you

Adam has been busy over the last month as the city has magically rebuilt itself before their very eyes. A lot of his time has been spent out in the mountainous and forested areas of the dome, away from people, doing what he has to do to make things right. Those who know him know what he's been doing. Those who don't, well, he isn't sharing. Over the month though, he's become more and more centered, more like himself and less scattered and overly emotional. Repairing the ley lines will do that for him.

He's getting back into a routine which includes a work schedule at the garage where he repairs and builds things of all kinds. Every day around noon he's in the park across the street, usually sitting on the merry-go-round, eating a sandwich he brought in for lunch.

Every few days he stops by Monmouth to check on Gansey, Noah and Blue. He makes sure the Pig is up and running as well as she can be. Then he disappears back to the apartment he shares with Ronan and keeps notes on all that's happened in Itinere since his arrival. Sometimes he goes to check the blue door that he's sure leads to Henrietta. It hasn't opened for him yet. Just his luck, he guesses.

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"Maybe," Noah says with something of a shy smile. "I mean, it's been a really long time, but I think it'd be fun to try. They say you never forget how to ride a bike, so I suppose I can test that theory."

Too, it would give him something to do, right?

Adam nods and turns away. They go down to the base floor of Monmouth and rummage through the debris. Adam, miraculously, finds just what he needs. He knows it must be wish magic because a lot of the junk down here is covered in dust and rusted and rotted and old. These boards are new and just the right size. He asks Noah to get the other end of one and help him take it outside.

"At least I'm not throwing you out of windows. There's minimal chance of you breaking anything doing this." He says, recalling the times when Noah was a ghost that Ronan would perform death-defying acts with Noah. How he hadn't realized Noah was a ghost before, he'll never know.

But now Noah's real. Adam has to wonder how Noah's doing with that, how he's adjusting to being tangible and here. "I'm glad things here are rebuilding."

"Yeah," Noah says, which is kind of the biggest understatement ever. Things sucked for a long time, it seems and now that they are changing, it's got to get better.

(Maybe, too, Adam didn't notice that Noah was a ghost because sure, Noah said he was dead, but he didn't go out of his way to show it.)

He grabs the other end of the wood and helps Adam to carry it. "Are you gonna try this, too?"

It does seem to be getting better. It's kind of amazing really, to be able to watch the buildings rebuild themselves from the bottom up to just what they had been before all of the destruction. And now there was so much more information, supposition and questions. Adam's been keeping up his journals, chock full of all the information he's learned.

Noah's answer is kind of an understatement, and doesn't invite more conversation on the topic. Adam's fine with that.

He helps to get the wood out, taking the backward route so that Noah can walk forward. He's actually used to hefting heavy things and walking backward with them. "Yeah. It's been awhile but I used to be good with ramps." When you couldn't afford toys, you used what was handy to play with. The trailer park was full of cheap tricks.

Noah trusts Adam's ability. It isn't because he's poor or anything like that. It's that Adam is just more capable than Noah is. (Clearly, since Adam didn't manage to get himself murdered by his supposed best friend.)

So, they set the board down and from there, Noah is content to take orders as best as he can, though he's never actually lifted a hammer or anything of the kind.

"I bet you're still good at it," he says.

After they set the board down, Adam gestures to Noah that they should go back inside to get more things. They head in that direction and Adam shrugs. "There are all different kinds."

It feels kind of silly to talk to Noah about ramps of all things. Sometimes Adam thinks there's no way that Noah or Gansey or Ronan could ever be interested in things like this, things that Adam has done many, many times, normal people things, not rich people things.

"We're just gonna do a simple one, no construction required." He picks up a cinder block and gestures to another one. "Can you get that?"

"Yeah," Noah says, picking up the block. It's heavier than he expected, but he can do this, lugging it behind Adam.

This is kind of exotic to him, it's true, but that makes it cool, really. He's got a lot to learn about just ... living life. He's not great at it.

"How'd you learn to do this?" he asks, not to be rude, but just ... how does a person know how to do things like this?

On his way out, he grabs a slab of thin film Plexiglas. Adam's used to hauling heavy things from one place to another as he sometimes has to do at one or two of his three jobs. They set the things down by the wooden board outside.

Adam stands upright and pushes a hand back through his messy hair. "Kids in the trailer park, we didn't have a lot of toys. But we had bikes. And we had junk laying around." He shrugs, as if that's enough of an explanation. Eventually Adam had grown apart from those kids. They got into alcohol and drugs and gangs. He went to Aglionby, fought like hell to go there. Different worlds.

He picks up the cinder blocks, one in each hand and sets them side by side. Then the wooden board is propped up, one end on the blocks and the other on the ground. "You never did this?" Of course not. But Adam wonders what Noah did do.

"No," Noah says. And yes, the question that Adam thinks is a good one. Noah did very little, really, except that which others instigated - Noah followed. That's what he did. And in his circles, if they wanted something like this built, someone else built it.

"This looks really cool," he says, and he means it too. He isn't mocking Adam - he wouldn't do that, though there were times when he was a ghost when it would sound like he was mocking - But really, he respects Adam a great deal, Adam who seems more capable than anyone aside from Ronan.

"It's a quick easy version. You can make them really intricate but... that requires more tools." His trunk is full of tools, but he would rather just go with the poor man's version. They're not looking for serious or intricate, just momentary fun.

Adam grabs the slim plexi glass and sets it up on the ground, a part of it up on the wood ramp. It presses close to the ground and will make for an easy gradual lift onto the wooden ramp. Perfect.

"Okay so there's a certain way to work this kind because it's not intricate." Adam explains. "When you get to the top you have to lift with the front handlebars of the bike, almost like jumping. You want me to show you?"

"Yeah," Noah says, because everyone knows now that he's real and can get hurt, he's kind of a coward. But it's clear he wants to learn; his gaze is keen on Adam and what he does. He isn't sure, really, if he can even do what Adam is describing, but he wants to try. This stuff, all of it: this is what it is to live, right? And Noah wants to do that.

"Most ramps, when done right, are curved and smooth." Adam explains, moving over to where the wood sits on the cinder blocks. He runs a finger along the blunt, sharp edge of the wood. "This one is straight. So most of the upward trajectory of your flight will be you." Physics.

He goes over to his bike and walks it away from the ramp, still talking. "So when you get going on the ramp, you want to almost lift up. Then control your fall so that you land upright on the wheels. You control the bike. The bike does not control you."

Adam gets on the bike and looks at the ramp. Then he's cycling in. He doesn't go on the ramp. He circles around it, a large and wide circle. "You wanna pick up some speed." And another circle. Then he's going in straight at the ramp. Over the plexi glass, onto the wood, he lifts up off the bike like he's jumping before he reaches the end of the wood slab and sails high for a bit. Then lands onto the tires and skids to a stop.

When he looks over to Noah, his eyes are smiling, if not his lips. "Did you see what I did there? Need me to do it again?"

That? Was cool. Half of Noah's face lifts in a crooked grin. "Yeah. Do it again, just so I can be sure." So he can judge if he even can do this, watching the muscles of Adam's body work in tandem to make that happen.

"You make it look easy," he notes as Adam circles again.

With Noah's go ahead, Adam is once again circling the bike around to pick up speed. "It's pretty easy, except the landing takes a lot of control. You've just gotta go for it. No fear." Granted, Adam has had a lot of practice with this.

"You fear it too much, you'll tense up and crash and burn." And here he goes, speeding at the ramp, lifting up just before the edge, like a jump, and then soaring. He lands hard on the wheels and then stops and gets off the bike, walking it over to Noah.

He won't force Noah to do it. He's looking at him curiously, waiting to see if he says yes or no.

No fear. Easy for Adam to say (no, not really, Noah knows, but still). With a deep breath, Noah takes hold of the handlebars of the bike. What's the worst that can happen, right? He can just die. Been there, done that, haha.

Just go for it. That's good advice, really; he needs such advice, with life. With Lucy and Jill.

Anyway.

He climbs on and starts to peddle, taking a wide circle of the ramp and then back again.

Just as he's about to aim for it, he backs away, circling again. He can do this. He can. By this time, of course, Ronan would be egging him on, calling him a pussy. Maybe that's what urges him on. But he hits the ramp and goes up and up, then down and down, just barely keeping the bike upright, wobbling as he goes.

But he did it!

Unlike the string of obscenities that Ronan would have good-naturedly hurled at Noah to urge him on, Adam is absolutely silent, hands shoved into his jeans pockets. He's chewing lightly on his bottom lip and waiting... watching...

It might be that he's more nervous for Noah than Noah is for himself. That's because Noah hasn't been alive in a long time. It might be hard for him to know his own limits. And he wants Noah to accomplish this one thing for some reason. It will give him a thrill, make him feel alive, more alive than just existing.

That's why when Noah lands the bike, a little wobbly but still upright, Adam throws his hands in the air and whoops aloud, running over to him. He rests a hand on Noah's shoulder and squeezes. "You did it!" He says excitedly. "Do it again."

Ha!

Noah grins widely, leaning into Adam's touch. That Adam was so excited makes it that much better, he realizes. Adam, who's normally so withdrawn.

Again? With a grin, Noah shrugs. He'll try. After all, he knows now how it should go and after a few circles to get up his speed, he goes for it again.

This time, his balance belies him and he goes off the ramp a little crooked, which means he lands a little crooked, which means he goes down in a heap of skinned elbows and knees.

Yeowch.

He sits up, rubbing at his bloody elbows. "Didn't do so well that time," he says in a mastery of understatement.

Adam winces when he sees the angle of Noah's lift off, knowing what's probably coming next. Which means he's already heading in that direction even before Noah's hard landing. He skids to a stop and crouches down, checking Noah's injuries for anything serious.

"I've done that lots of times." Adam confesses. It's true, but he's also trying to make Noah feel a little better about it.

"Anything broken?" He asks.

"No," Noah sighs, but man, those cuts sting.

He peers down at his skinned knees and a thought occurs to him: he looks up and over at Adam with a crooked smile. "Maybe I'll have a scar."

You know, like the one on his head from where Whelk had killed him? That's cool, right? Well, kinda, at least.

Noah's smile gets a small ghostly one from Adam. He guesses cuts and bruises, when gained in this way, are a part of being alive. Gansey and Ronan are probably gonna kill him for putting Noah in danger like that though. Maybe. "Well as long as nothing's broken, it's a win."

He offers a hand down to help Noah back to his feet. Then he picks up the bike and walks it back around by Monmouth. "Probably enough for today though."

Noah won't let Ronan and Gansey yell at Adam, even if they want to because it wasn't like Adam knocked Noah over. Noah did that all by himself.

He follows Adam toward the building, though, following along, rubbing at his scrapes to feel the sting. "Did you ever, like, fall on your face or anything like that?"

He isn't sure why he's asking except that he's curious.

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open || i heard that you make old things new; so I give these pieces all to you

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