Jonah's eyes opened slowly, taking in the brightness of the morning. Sunlight crept its way through his curtains, slit by the white blinds. He slowly sat up, his face still sore from last night. His chest hurt, for some weird reason. Everything hurt, actually. He slumped over, putting his sore face into his warm hands, unsure if he even wanted to get up. Jonah glanced over at his clock, reading 9:32 A.M. How had he slept for almost 13 hours?! Holy shit. He rubbed the exhaustion out of his eyes as he crawled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Wow, he sure looked like a mess. There was a huge bruise both on his nose and his left cheek. Well, there goes his plans to hang out with Adam. He can't show up looking like this. Jonah looked down to the vanity and noticed his mother's misc. makeup items. Both of them shared a skin tone pretty similar, and she had some foundation and concealer. His dad always made fun of him for liking makeup, but this time he shouldn't. It'd save his ass too. Jonah picked up the small bottles and got to work, doing his best to cover up the bruises whilst also making sure not to hurt himself in the process. 5 minutes of work certainly would pay off. It wasn't perfect, but enough that Adam shouldn't notice. He put the products away and left back to his room, flopping onto his bed. Man, he was hungry but he didn't wanna leave his room. He'd actually lost a lot of weight because of this, and people had noticed. But he was desperate to not have to see his dad as much as he could. Even if it meant he just suffered more, any pain he went through was worth it. He fumbled for his remote and turned on the TV he had in his room as background noise while he grabbed another pre-rolled blunt. He flicked his lighter a few times before putting the blunt between his lips and lighting it. His dad HATED it when he smoked in the house. But he didn't care, that's the one thing he didn't care how his dad reacted. He needed this, that's for sure. Jonah grabbed the notebook underneath his bed and began rereading throughout his notebook. He got to his most recent unfinished poem, and skimmed over it. Reaching into his bag, he grabbed his pen and continued writing it. He wasn't as grounded as he is when he's sober, but he's more emotional when he's high, which worked for this poem. Light pen strokes mixed with flurries of emotions made for one of his sappiest poems yet. Man, he felt so pathetic for this. Here he was, acting like a little kid, writing about their crush. Eh, who cares? It's not like anyone was gonna see it anyway. He'd make sure of that. It took him about half an hour, give or take a few minutes of him looking up at the TV. Closing the notebook, he realised how unbearably hungry he was. Sooner or later he'd have to eat, so he grabbed a few things before heading downstairs, as a precaution.

Jonah made his way downstairs and headed towards the kitchen. He wasn't planning to make some meal or anything, he could just go get some fast food later that day. He was rummaging through the pantry looking for something quick, preferably tortilla chips. "Jonah Marshall!" He turned around quickly and came face to face with his dad, of course. "Are you high again? What the fuck did I tell you about smoking weed?! I've really fucking had it with you."

"Dad, you know it's the only thing that keeps me calm, I've fucking told YOU that it's the only thing that lets me get shit done."

"What the fuck did you just say to me?! Quit using your bullshit 'mental health' excuses to bring SHAME to this family. Just get the fuck out of my house already, Jonah."

"What?! What do you mean?!"

"I said get the FUCK out, Jonah. I don't want to see your face for the rest of the day. Get your ass in your fucking car and GO."

Jonah just stared at his father, dumbfounded. He took too long for his dad's liking, which got him a nice slap across the face. He quickly scrambled away from his father and out of the door, holding back tears. He shut the door behind him quickly and began to make his way towards his car, before looking up. There he was, Adam Murray, his best friend. Standing right there in his driveway. "Oh shit- Adam! I didn't expect you to be here. U-Uhm, what's up?" Adam tilted his head in concern, causing Jonah's heart to drop. "Well...I thought I'd walk here, to see if you wanted to hang out...are you okay?" Jonah began to sweat, completely unsure of how to answer. "Y-Yeah I'm fine! Why?" Adam walked up to Jonah and pointed at the slight bruising on his cheek, due to the second slap slightly melting his makeup. "Oh...that's just- that's just from hitting my head. I was getting some homework done and fell asleep on my desk, and smacked my head on it- it happens a lot, weirdly enough." Adam looked unsure, he didn't fully believe him for what he said, but again. It's Jonah. "Well, uhm. I'm out of the house for today, you still wanna hang out?"

"Well yeah, of course. Wanna head back to my place?"

"Sure, sounds good."

Jonah digs his car keys out from his jacket and unlocks the doors, once again opening Adam's car door for him. Adam sat in the seat and Jonah closed the door, going over to the driver's side and sitting down, closing the door and starting the ignition. Jonah pulled out of the driveway and began driving down the road, having the way to Adam's place already memorised. "Dude, Jonah, when's the last time you cleaned out your car?! There's Faygo bottles EVERYWHERE." Jonah laughed, he had literally just cleaned his car 3 days ago. "3 days ago, I just...really like Faygo?"

"When's the last time you drank water??? Whatever, there's water at my house."

Jonah was laughing his ass off, obviously high. This unsettled Adam, but he's driven while high before. Plus, he'd rather be in the car than walking back home. Adam's house slowly approached in the distance, and Jonah slowed the car down. Reaching the driveway, he turned and parked his car before taking out the keys. He and Adam left the vehicle and made their way inside the house. Since Adam was living on his own, it was a pretty empty place. It was also a rather small house but Jonah couldn't care less. As long as he could spend time with his friend he didn't mind at all. Despite how often the two hung out, they never really knew what to do. Sometimes they'd just sit around, or share homework and test answers. Sometimes they'd talk, but mostly Adam did the talking. Jonah obviously never said much about himself. Which is funny, considering how polar opposite their personalities are, everyone expects that Adam would be the more reserved one. But no, it was Jonah by far. "When's the last time you brushed your hair, man?" Adam pointed to the mess that was Jonah's tangled silver hair. "Oh...uhm, I can't remember honestly. Is it really that bad?" He was lying, he knew how bad his hair was. He just didn't care. He's been way too distracted to focus on his hygiene, which was pretty gross but was a harsh reality. "Ugh, sit on the floor. In front of the couch. I'll brush it for you, then. But if your hair is crunchy, I'm gonna hit you upside the head with this damn brush." Jonah laughed at this, but listened to Adam's command. He sat himself down on the floor, and waited for Adam to grab the hair brush. This was gonna hurt, for sure. Adam's returning steps echoed through the hall, and he made his way to the living room. Walking around the couch, he sat in the seat behind Jonah and got ready for this mess of a hair-do. "I'll warn you, be careful. I scream very loudly-" "Yeah yeah, whatever, just shut up and turn around." Adam grabbed a bottle of hair detangling spray (throwback to my childhood) and shook it a bit, spraying some over the biggest knot in Jonah's silver hair. It was pretty bad, what the hell does he do to tangle his hair this bad?! He began to lightly brush at the knot, getting a few winces out of Jonah. Jesus Christ. It took about 10 minutes just to get through the first knot, and there were still about 8 more. They weren't nearly as bad as the first one but it didn't make it any less annoying. Not to mention Jonah's constant complaining, but he didn't blame him. Adam had a period of his life like this before, depression and dysphoria hit him so hard he didn't brush his hair for a month. Yeah, that hurt like hell trying to untangle. About halfway through one of the last few knots, Jonah piped up. "Hey, how do you know how to untangle hair so well? Your hair is almost never tangled." "Well, I went through a depression period, didn't brush my hair for a month, and had to learn how to untangle it. Picked up a few methods. I've untangled Eve's hair a few times, sometimes you just get used to it."

"Shit dude, maybe I should learn how! I really hate brushing my hair, honestly. It hurts like hell, it just gets tangled so much I stopped bothering."

"It's a wonder what showering and detangling spray can do for your hair."

"Way to be passive aggressive."

Adam jokingly hit the top of Jonah's head with the brush as Jonah laughed, before continuing to work on the knots in his hair.

After about half an hour (give or take a few minutes, no one was counting), Jonah's hair was finally fully brushed, back to its normal fluffy state. "There, we're done. Holy shit, my arms hurt." Adam handed Jonah a small hand mirror so he could see how he looked, and he glanced at himself and his freshly brushed hair. "Dude, it looks a lot better now, thanks!" Jonah turned around and hugged Adam, which again caught him off guard. But he liked hugs, as much as he didn't admit it, so he hugged back. "I'll be right back, don't set anything on fire." Jonah chuckled as Adam got up and headed to his room. He closed the door behind him and took off his hoodie, and then his shirt. He searched through his drawer and pulled out his chest binder. He'd completely forgotten to put it on, considering he knew he couldn't while walking to Jonah's house. He put it on as quickly as he hood, then covered it with his clothing once more. He just so happened to catch a glimpse of the papers on his bed, including his English work. He noticed that the poem work he had written was on top of all those papers, walking over to put it away. He hadn't finished it during class, so he had to take it home over the weekend for late credit. His eyes looked further and further down, slowly reading and taking in all the words he had written. All about his best friend, Jonah. He'd written about everything he knew about him, and how loved he had made him feel. He cringed a bit, not used to showing emotion that often, especially being this sappy. Fuck, he'd completely forgotten that Jonah was literally in his fucking living room, and here he was getting distracted. He hurriedly put the papers back into his backpack and left his room, heading back to where Jonah was. Jonah was keeping himself entertained by spinning his keys around his finger, of course. Simple things like this entertained him. "Ayy there he is! Thought you died or something." "Yeah, only you would be playing with your car keys when your friend dies." "Hey!" Adam laughed at Jonah's response, heading towards the kitchen. "I'm getting a drink, and I'm getting YOU some damn water." Jonah chuckled a bit as Adam opened his fridge, grabbing him and his friend a chilled water bottle. He made his way back to the living room and tossed the bottle at Jonah, catching it mid-air. Jonah got off the floor and sat on the couch, Adam sitting next to him. "So, when you said you were out of the house for the day, what's that supposed to mean?" Jonah choked a bit on his water, completely unsure of how to answer. "Uhm...well...it's...it's nothing bad! J-Just that my uh...my dad just wants me out of the house until tomorrow. To uhh...spend time with friends, so I don't spend too much time inside...hah." Adam raised his eyebrow at Jonah, making him sweat bullets. "I don't quite believe that, but ok. You need somewhere to stay for the night?" "...Yeah..." Adam sighed and rolled his eyes. "You could've just asked, dude. You're such a dumbass, Jo." They both just stared at each other before they just burst out laughing. "Well, if you need clothes I have some spares. Just...please go take a shower, dude."

Jonah faked an offended gasp, before laughing. "Fine, fine. I feel like it would've been nicer to straight up tell me I smell awful." Adam got up and grabbed a towel from the hallway closet, and grabbed some spare clothes for Jonah. "Here, don't forget to brush your hair too."

"Again? Man, self care is hard."

"Yeah, it is."

Jonah left for Adam's bathroom and Adam sat back down, taking a sip of his water bottle. It then hit him that he gave JONAH his OWN CLOTHES to wear. Holy shit, I really just did that. Jonah didn't seem to think it was weird though, so he just decided to pretend he didn't just do that.

Man, why was he feeling this way?

——————