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

[adamparrish]

Since the arrival of the other three members of their group, Adam had been scarce. He purposefully stayed at work at the garage extra late. The sickness had kind of made it an easy excuse for him to bow out of sleeping in the same bed as Ronan. His erratic presence at the apartment made it easy to avoid actually talking. On June 1st though, after hyposprays and everyone being magically healed, it was the first true test for him and Ronan and Adam failed.

Instead of going home, he stayed at the garage until he couldn't stand the same four walls anymore. Then he went out to the forests of Itinere where the ley lines were. He worked on repairing them for Ronan. At least he could do one thing right, one thing to help. Maybe Ronan would notice he had done this for him. Maybe he wouldn't.

Adam would stay out in the forests way past dark, taking his time, doing what he thought needed to be done. Then he would head back in town to walk through the park, sit on a merry-go-round and push at it with his feet to move it around. The metal squeaked and after a quick trip to the garage, he came back to dismantle and oil the merry-go-round to keep it from squeaking so loudly.

Probably another thing no one would notice. Productive, though. Adam Parrish felt productive and useful... busy, even now at some god awful time in the night or morning. And he supposed that was the point.

Comments

[deathbysk8board]

"God, Adam," Noah says, doing a passable Gansey impression. "Live a little."

He nudges Adam's shoulder and urges him toward the swings, then he starts to run, getting to the swings first and sitting.

[adamparrish]

His features briefly scrunch up as he gets to his feet and jogs after Noah. Live a little? That's rich coming from a former ghost. "You're the one who doesn't wanna jump."

Adam takes the swing next to Noah and pushes off. It's really been forever since he did this, since he had fun just to have fun.

[deathbysk8board]

"I'm alive and I want to stay that way," Noah snickers as he starts to swing. "Maybe I won't come back as a ghost if I die again."

[adamparrish]

"Ronan wouldn't let anything happen to you." Adam assures him. "Neither will I." God, he's taken the roll of Ronan, urging Noah to do something potentially dangerous. He'll stop that here and now. If Noah doesn't want to jump he doesn't have to.

For Adam's part, he swings higher and higher. And he will probably jump in a bit.

[deathbysk8board]

Noah has his head back when they swing forward, leaning into it as they go back. Higher and higher, his stomach jumping a little with the sensation. He's grinning, feet kicking out and back.

"I forgot," he tells Adam, a little bit breathless, "What it's like." To do things like this.

[adamparrish]

Adam felt just a little bit ridiculous at first. But when he saw how excited Noah was, he relaxes into it. The higher he went, the more the thrill of it. And yeah, it was fun.

Ronan should be here, he thinks.

And with that thought of Ronan and his death-defying stunts, Adam leaps out of the swing to land in the soft grass in a crouch and roll before lying back in it. He did it. And only Noah saw it. But in some strange way, Ronan was here too.

[deathbysk8board]

"Holy cow," Noah laughs. "You did it. That was cool." His voice goes in and out with where he is on the swing. He still swings, though, fear getting the best of him. "You made it look easy."

[adamparrish]

Ronan was good for Adam in more ways than he could even fully understand. He gave Adam confidence. He reminded him not to be so serious all the time, to live a little and to have fun. Adam wants to say these things to Noah, but again, something stops him. Fear, the very thing that was keeping him away from Ronan right now. He's afraid.

Instead, he just smirks and nods. "I did it."

After a moment, he gets back up and moves to the swing again to sit down. His swinging this time is more subdued, just for fun and not to see how high he can get. He can enjoy this with Noah just fine. A former ghost and a magician, united in their two completely different fears.

[deathbysk8board]

If Ronan were here, he could probably talk Noah into jumping. But Ronan isn't here, so Noah just swings for a long while before he starts to slow, go lower and lower and slower and slower.

He actually feels a little tired. "Do you want to walk back with me?"

[adamparrish]

Adam's feet bring him almost to a complete stop, just barely pushing himself back and forth. He shakes his head, looking down into the grass. He still has to figure out what to do about himself and Ronan. He still has no idea where they stand. He just... needs space to think.

"I'm gonna stay here." He says. "You go ahead."

[deathbysk8board]

As his feet scuff and bring his swing to a stop, Noah looks at Adam. "Are you sure?" he asks. He gets to his feet, still rumbled and smudged, but alive.

"I could stay with you. If you want."