So this was the situation now.

Neo had indeed taken a wrong turn, there was no denying that part. What he would deny to his grave, however, was that it hadn't been an accident; he had done it on full purpose, spotting a road sign leading to a supposed scenic point and using the opportunity while Zeke was distracted to follow it up the mountain. He wasn't even sure why he had done it, beyond the faint hope that maybe some pretty nature would get Zeke to cheer up again. Which was already a very stupid, sentimental thing of him to do. Since when did he care if Zeke was mad at him? Being mad at each other had been their constant state of being for the past few years, give or take a few slightly better episodes.

But like every good deed, it hadn't gone unpunished, and now here they were. In the actual butt-end of nowhere, alone, in the mountains, with the rapidly falling night, and their car wouldn't start anymore.

Cursing under his breath, Neo turned the key in the ignition again like that would somehow produce a different result than the last seven times. Hey, one could always hope. But that hope was in vain; the car was dead and stayed dead, and Neo was sitting here trying to start the engine of a dead horse and wondering why it wouldn't get up.

"Let me," Zeke remarked, reaching for the key and turning it himself, to no avail. A dead horse, after all, didn't suddenly become less dead because another person was beating it now.

"Hm. So you're not just too dumb to start the engine," Zeke mused, staring at the car. "That might be a problem. One sec."

Hopping back out of the car, he opened the hood, staring inside like he actually knew what he was doing. "If the engine won't start, it's normally the battery," he muttered, "but it can't be the battery, we've been driving this whole time and it's not that cold out either. It seemed normal to me, anyway," he added. "Hang on a sec, I need to check something."

Neo stuck his head out of the car. "You know how to fix an engine?"

"Believe it or not, I actually know a lot of things, Neo," Zeke shot back, and Neo made a conscious effort not to flinch. "I've seen YouTube tutorials."

Neo narrowed his eyes.

"Just trust me," Zeke said, which only cemented Neo's mistrust. Whenever Zeke told absolutely anyone to trust him, what ended up happening was disaster.

"Let's just call someone," Neo said before Zeke could possibly blow up their car. "Like…I don't know—"

His eyes landed on the screen of his phone, and he trailed off. No reception. They truly were in the dead middle of nowhere.

"Like nobody," Zeke guessed, bending over the open car and inspecting the engine. "Just trust me on this. This baby will be up and running again in no time."

Twenty minutes later, it was pitch-dark, and they were still in the same spot.

"I don't get it!" Zeke burst out, pacing around the open car and venturing dangerously close to the edge of the rock. "The engine seems fine. The wiring seems fine. Everything seems fine. Why aren't you starting?" He slapped the windshield with his palm, leaving a handprint. "It can't be the battery!"

Neo sighed. "Whatever," he muttered, too tired to even put up a fight anymore. "Get back in, it's dark."

Grumbling under his breath, Zeke closed the hood again and retreated into the passenger seat. "I'd like to see you do it better," he said.

"I didn't say anything," Neo replied.

"You meant to! I know, I know." Zeke rolled his eyes. "That's what I get for telling you to trust me when I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm telling you I did know what I'm doing, it's just that I can't find the—"

He stopped short. His eyes widened.

"Neo," he said, "when was the last time we stopped for gas?"

Neo's brain came to a screeching halt, short-circuited, and astral projected straight into the Andromeda Galaxy.

"Uh," he said.

"Yesterday," he said.

"Probably," he added lamely. "I think."

"Ah-ha!"

Sitting up in his seat, Zeke pointed a triumphant finger in his face. "And here I was checking the engine!" he burst out. "The whole time our smart, serious professional was just forgetting to stop for gas! In your face, Roadhouse!"

Yes, Neo thought. No good deed went unpunished. None at all.

But he wouldn't flip out, he told himself. He wouldn't give Zeke that satisfaction. In situations like these, it was much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality.

"Whatever," he retorted. "Congrats or some shit. And now what?"

From one moment to the next, Zeke deflated. "Uh."

"We can't call anybody," Neo went on, gesturing furiously to their cell phones. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere and it's fucking dark outside. Now what?"

Zeke pondered that.

"One of us," he mused, "could go down the mountain and buy enough gas to get us out of here."

Neo cleared his throat. "Not half bad," he said, pulling out his phone. "Where's the nearest gas station?"

According to his navigation app, about two miles. One way. In the dark.

In the bushes above them, something rustled and shot out into the night with an unholy shriek.

"Yeah," Zeke muttered, glancing nervously over his shoulder. "One of us should definitely do that."

"One of us should," Neo agreed. "We can't stay here all night."

Awkward silence.

Somewhere in the distance, something started howling.

"Maybe I'll go," Zeke said without sounding very convinced of his words. "Was that a coyote just now? I've always wanted to meet one."

And he would run into wildlife, Neo suddenly realized, given his track record. Potentially dangerous wildlife.

"Or a wolf," Neo mused. "You stay here and wait. I'll find the gas station."

"Why you and not me?" Zeke retorted. "I'm not scared, you know."

"Says the scaredy little baby who believes in ghosts," Neo replied with a scoff. "I'm not scared. I'm going."

"I'm even less scared than you!"

"Oh really?"

"Damn right I am! Why don't we go together and then I can prove it, you big old chicken—"

Barely a few meters from them, a mountain lion burst out of the bushes, briefly sniffed the air, and padded on into the valley.

The two of them exchanged a glance.

"Or maybe," Zeke said conversationally, "we should stay here and wait for the morning."

Neo nodded. "Probably better," he said. "But not because I'm scared."

"Me neither."

Silence. The two of them adjusted themselves in their seats, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do now. Sleep, probably, but this location didn't exactly offer itself to restful sleep. It was fully dark now, only the stars and the crescent moon offering some light, the mountains and the trees and the bushes all blending together into a dark mass that swallowed the road they had come from. The trees were constantly creaking, the wind starting to howl around the rocks and the peaks, unknown things rustling between leaves and branches and going bump in the night. The car seats weren't the most comfortable place to sleep either, granted. But most of all, Neo couldn't shake the thought that if anything happened to them here, no one would ever hear them scream.

"The doors are locked," Zeke said after a while, "right?"

Neo nodded. "All locked," he replied, having manually done it just earlier. Better safe than sorry.

"Good," Zeke muttered. "Don't unlock it."

Silence fell once more. Zeke adjusted himself in his seat. Neo tried to angle himself in a position that accommodated for his long limbs as best he could. The wind was still howling.

"We don't even have a blanket," Zeke remarked after a while. "I'm cold."

"Weak," said Neo, even though he was slowly cooling out himself. He could brag about coming from a cold country all he wanted, but that still didn't protect him from being stuck in the mountains at night with only a tank top on his torso.

"Not even a big scarf," Zeke went on. "We're gonna freeze to death here before tomorrow."

A light went on in Neo's head.

"One sec," he said, diving behind the seats to reach for the backpack he had haphazardly dropped in the backseat earlier. Rummaging through it, he dug past a pile of surprisingly unnecessary items until he found what he sought. The scarf he had worn during the interview the other day, then ditched the moment the cameras were off, cursing it for being too hot for the weather. Now, however, it was perfect.

"For the freezing little kid," he said, holding it in Zeke's face.

Zeke blinked, then he took it, draping it loosely across himself. Neo leaned back in his seat, resigning himself to a cold night but too proud to say anything, when a soft piece of fabric brushed against his exposed arm.

"This scarf's big enough for both of us," Zeke remarked. "You can have some. But you better not hog it."

For a moment Neo considered declining, but common sense won over pride in the end. "This is my scarf," he said. "You better not hog it."

"I thought you weren't even cold."

"I'm not. This is about principles."

"You with your principles," Zeke muttered, curling up in his seat as best he could. For a while, all was quiet. Not awkward or watchful anymore. Almost…peaceful, all things considered.

"There are so many stars though," Zeke mused at length, resting his head against the window. "I've never seen that many stars before."

Neo looked up.

He hadn't looked much at the night sky in years, but Zeke was right. There really were stars…so, so many stars. Not just the usual constellations he knew from the cloudless city sky, but millions and millions more that he had never once seen, lights from distant galaxies and long-bygone eras that couldn't hold a candle to the constant light pollution of the here and now. But in this place, dark and lonely, they were still visible. Still glittering, painting the sky with a million bright patterns.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Me neither."

"It's beautiful." Zeke pointed up. "Look, you can see the Milky Way."

Neo scooted closer. He could barely make out Zeke's face in the dim light that reached them here, but even so he could tell he was smiling.

"Have you watched YouTube videos about astronomy too?" he asked lightly.

"Of course," said Zeke. "You know, I wonder if there are aliens up there somewhere. Which galaxy d'you think they're in?" He rested his arm on the dashboard. "There are so many and we've only found a few planets where they—oh." His eyes lit up. "They've found so many planets, but not the missing one in our solar system."

Neo snorted. "What?"

"Planet Nine." Zeke motioned up. "They know it has to exist, because it's affecting other planets, but they just…can't find it. Weird, huh?" He leaned back. "They've found planets circling around other stars, but they can't find the one that's right under our nose."

Neo didn't say anything. He didn't dare say anything, didn't dare interrupt this moment. Suddenly he could imagine nothing more fascinating than stars and planets.

"Maybe there are aliens living on that one," Zeke went on. "It has to be really dark, and really cold. But maybe they've found a way to survive anyway. Aliens are weird."

"Mhm."

Their gazes met. Zeke was still smiling.

Neo held his breath.

And behind them, amid the sound of wheels on gravel, a blinding light flashed up.