I'm so far down, away from the sun / That shines to light the way for me (For Peter)

[changehistory]

Slipping Hiro was a little too easy. It wasn't that Adam wasn't curious about what was going on, or which side might be the best to be on, but a window in his cell was hardly incentive enough to get him to agree to go back into a Company cell. Been there, done that, had the scars...well, metaphorically.

The physical ones disappeared; the memories didn't. He wasn't going to be a Company lab rat, ever again.

So, why was he in New York, drinking in a pub around the corner from one particularly problematic empath's apartment? Best plan of action would be to hit Toronto and his safehouse and run off to Bali or somewhere full of sun and sand and pretty girls and boys. And yet...

He'd thought about Peter a lot in that coffin. Regret. A wish things could have been different. Some fantasies where it was. Maybe he just wanted to explain. Not apologize, of course, at least not for the plan, but maybe for...using him. If he'd thought he could recruit him in the time they'd had, he would have. Maybe.

He sighed into his beer, then flipped open the phone he'd stolen from Hiro. He'd left it off until now, not wanting anyone to be able to trace it, but he needed it for a moment. He'd destroy it after this. Besides...he rather thought Angela might not have told Peter about her plan to rescue and recruit him, which meant he wouldn't know Adam might have Hiro's phone.

It was worth the gamble. He sent the text, asking Peter to meet him (Hiro) here, flipped the phone off and ordered another whiskey.

Comments

[dreamtof_flying]

He wasn't expecting the text from Hiro, and in the few minutes where he decided whether or not to answer it, he veered from 'of course' to 'no way'. Life was just too confusing right now, and he needed a moment... a moment to figure out who he was, and where he was. Simple things.

Never mind the fact that he'd pushed everything with Adam to the back of his mind deliberately. He'd felt... well, he didn't know what he felt. Anger at being used. Relief that he'd stopped the virus from spreading. Odd feelings about Adam were there too, like... like he knew him a lot better than he thought he'd done. But he it was too late now. He'd disappeared, trapped, by all accounts, perhaps forever.

Making up his mind, he grabbed his coat and keys and headed out of the door to the bar where Hiro was waiting. It was close, he didn't have to be there for long, a quick drink, then head home and sleep for a few days. It all sounded like the best option.

Of course, seeing Adam there at the bar was the last thing he'd expected. He realized what had happened quickly, and made to turn to leave, not wanting to deal with this when he was so tired. But as he went to open it, he changed his mind, heading back to the bar and taking the stool next to Adam without speaking, waiting to see what he would do.

[changehistory]

Adam saw him the moment he stepped inside--probably because he'd been watching the door a little obsessively, worried when he got no response to the text. Peter starting to leave had him almost on his feet, ready to go after him to...do what he didn't know, but something. Certainly not ask him to come back (although, all right, maybe that).

When he came back in, came over, sat down, Adam breathed a sigh of relief and then mocked himself for feeling something so pointless.

"Hello, Peter." What else could he open with?

[dreamtof_flying]

Of all the times Peter wished he could get drunk, now was a good time. Instead he ordered himself a drink, avoiding looking at Adam until he could take a sip of the alcohol.

"You sent the text?" It seemed as good a place as any to start.

[changehistory]

Adam wished he could get drunk quite regularly. It was the one thing he hated about his ability, having taken solace in alcohol so often before it surfaced. But he still liked the taste, and sipped his quietly as Peter ordered, sat there silent, even though it was hell to wait.

Still, he was a very patient man.

"I did. I seem to have misplaced my phone in a coffin somewhere."

And didn't think Peter would've come if he'd sent the text from his own anyway.

If he was deliberately tossing the "coffin" bit out there to at least make some sort of "where have you been?" conversation, then...well, that's what he did.

[dreamtof_flying]

The mention of the coffin got a sharp look from Peter, his glass half way to his mouth, but he put it carefully down. He hadn't heard where Adam had been, assumed that he'd simply gone into hiding. Hiro hadn't said anything, after all.

"So you borrowed Hiro's. How does he feel about that?" Anything to divert attention away from what he was feeling.

[changehistory]

"Don't know. Don't particularly care." There was a vicious edge there, the distant lightness he went through life with disrupted for a moment. If he'd had issues with the boy before, for all he'd done four centuries before?

Burying him alive snapped whatever lingering affection might have refrained. He'd thought the Company had been Hell. Turned out there were deeper levels.

[dreamtof_flying]

Was this who Adam really was, Peter wondered. Over 400 years of life could take it's toll on a person. If so, what did that mean for Claire, and to a lesser extent, himself?

But... locked in a coffin. That sounded like it was worse than anything he could have dreamed up as punishment. His expression softened just a little ashe worked through the implications of that. "So after you get your freedom, you come here. Why?"

[changehistory]

Adam...faltered a little at the question, gaze dropping to his drink. One fingertip traced around the glass for a long moment, before he shrugged and glanced at Peter.

"I wanted to see you."

[dreamtof_flying]

Peter swallowed, hard. Adam wanted to see him? Did that mean he wanted to finish off what he'd started? Or something else?

Right now, he hadn't got a clue where he stood with Adam, after everything that had happened. He thought... well, he didn't know what he thought other than he thought that they were friends. They'd certainly gotten close in their time together, but that was where Peter's certainty ended. "Why?" He'd allowed his hair to fall forward, hiding part of his face. A deliberate attempt to hide, possibly. He couldn't tell anymore.

[changehistory]

Adam hated those sorts of questions. Explaining himself had never been his strong point--not honestly, at least. He could talk all sorts of game when he wanted something big, charm the devil himself when he was really on, but that simple question gave him pause.

"Thirty years in a cage--you were the only person who gave a damn. Elle wanted a plaything, not a friend. You...talked to me. Eventually."

Was that an answer? Maybe, maybe not. He was lonely. Being out of the cage didn't change that.

[dreamtof_flying]

Peter guessed that, which is why he was pushing. He didn't want the easy, charming answers. He wanted the reality, the deep down truth.

He turned to look at Adam, studying the man he thought was his friend, trying to decide if this was another lie, or if this time it was the truth. Eventually he relaxed. It would do for now. "Well, I couldn't trust you at first."

[changehistory]

Adam met his gaze steadily until Peter finally did relax. It was a good sign, surely? He ventured a small smile, wry and self-deprecating.

"And you don't think you can trust me now."

[dreamtof_flying]

"Would you if you were in my shoes?" he asked, frowning at Adam. "Given everything that happened, it's going to take a lot for me to trust you completely again."

Truth was, he felt betrayed, but there was more to it than that. Lost, almost. He'd gotten to trust Adam so well... and then everything happened so fast.

[changehistory]

"No, I wouldn't," Adam murmured. "But I'm willing to do the work if you're willing to let me try..."

He hadn't meant to hurt the boy, he'd just been...consumed. And now was feeling just as lost, honestly.

[dreamtof_flying]

That got a long hard look from Peter. "Why would you want to try?" Why after everything that had happened, would he want to try to make it up to Peter - well enough that he could trust him?

It was what Peter simply couldn't get his head around.

[changehistory]

Adam shrugged, not that he didn't know, but uncomfortable with the vulnerability in the answer, again. "Because I like you. And that's rare for me. It's...been a very long while since I had a friend."

[dreamtof_flying]

Truth be told - Peter had liked Adam. All the people he knew were all very well, but a friend, just for him?

Adam had become that to him, before it all went wrong. "But what you did..."

[changehistory]

Adam looked down with a sigh. "I know. I don't...I don't even know how to begin to explain it to you. I can't explain it to myself. But I really...after all I've seen, all I've lived through? It...seemed like the right thing to do. Before we completely self-destruct in a way no one comes back from."

[dreamtof_flying]

"How is that different to letting us self-destruct ourselves? It's probably the same numbers dead." That's what Peter couldn't get past, at least not yet. "A grand, noble idea, that really wasn't well executed."

[changehistory]

"Same humans dead," Adam acknowledged. "But without the wreckage to the environment that nuclear war would bring. No nuclear winter. No radiation poisoning and mutations. An Earth the survivors could actually rebuild, healthier."

He gave Peter a wry smile that didn't reach his eyes--more of a twist of his lips containing a touch of self-loathing.

"Admittedly, no. Not my greatest idea ever."