Mandela Catalogue REQUESTS (COMPLETE) (PART 1)

Adam + Jonah (Platonic) (Angst) (BAD ENDING)

Requested by Quarrye on AO3
This is an alternate timeline to the Jonah X Adam request (the very first request and chapter).  Warnings: suicide, bad ending.

. . . . .

"I said-ugh, you and your DEAF hearing!! I can't fucking stand it! You talk ALL THE TIME, and then when shit actually gets SERIOUS for once, you just joke on and on AND ON!! The HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!"

Something inside Jonah must have snapped completely, because he shrieked back while pointing towards Adam, the loudest voice Adam has ever heard from this guy: "Do you think I'm unaware of WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! I think that perfectly describes YOU. I TOLD you to NOT go in there, and yet you go back to those... those THINGS every time you get a CHANCE!! I ASKED you through the radio WHY you weren't responding, and the first thing you yell to me is to FUCKING QUIT. What do I QUIT when I don't even know what I ever did to you that time?! And-and that one time-you-"

He suddenly quiets down, and slumps in his seat. His hands are covering his entire face, and Adam heard quiet noises from Jonah before he realized Jonah was crying. He was sobbing deeply, with pain, now that all the anger and hate drained out of him.

Adam's brain suddenly clears with a spark, as he thought of what Jonah said in the last sentence. Wait. But... wasn't Jonah trying to prank him through the walkie-talkie to turn around? To make him believe that apparently something was behind him??

"Jonah." Adam called his name. He didn't respond and kept on weeping with complete despair. Adam finally realized that this was a symptom of M.A.D., and Adam didn't even know and was criticizing his paranoia and calling him out his weaknesses. Adam even knew Jonah was a heavily anxious person even before the interaction with the alternates, and yet he pointed that out and called him weak for having anxiety issues. Like what an alternate does.

He really is a selfish person, isn't he?

"Jonah."

His voice was much more softer now, as his heart felt this heavy twinge, and the heaviness spreading through his chest. It was Adam's fault: he caused all of this to happen. He didn't want to admit nor feel it, but he felt a guilty conscience, as realization hit him straight in the face.

"Look, man... I'm sorry."

Jonah had stopped crying, but his breaths came in and out in shuddering gasps, as he tried to hear what Adam was trying to say. "I didn't mean to say that... I was just trying to say... Uhm... I didn't know that that wasn't you."

. . . . . 

Jonah seemed to not hear anything. He instead shifted himself to face the windows, away from Adam.

'Ugh, whatever. That's totally fine,' Adam thought grumpily. 'I tried and he rejected my offer himself. Fuck him, I guess.'

They drove all the way back home in thick, churning silence, but Adam forgot to tell Jonah that he was told by the TV man that he was an alternate. He just drove all the way back to Bythorne County, anger driving him forwards and leaving his mind blank. Meanwhile, Jonah was shaken. Were Adam's words true? That he wasn't Adam's best friend?? Was he just being too paranoid?? Was he not considered brave and a best friend even though in the end, he went back for Adam and saved his life? Who was he caring for? 

He swore he saw a face of an alternate reflected on the car's side mirrors, sitting in the back seat. Blonde, wavy hair with a cold smile, seemingly an angel. When Jonah turned around to see the false angel he was not there. Adam glanced at Jonah but didn't say anything.