enjoy :3
the autumn leaves crunched under phill's feet as he walked along the ruined sidewalk. the leaves, beautiful gradients of red, orange, and yellow, covered the large cracks, crumbling stone, graffiti, and blood stains embedded all along the sidewalks. they were practically impossible to walk on, but phill liked to walk around town anyways. he was always very physically active; he was outdoors more often than he was indoors. his favorite outdoor activity was taking brisk walks throughout the town, calmly going at his own pace, taking in the beauty and serenity of the nature around him. oftentimes, during these walks, he would drop by his friends' houses for surprise visits. david was usually the main receiver of these surprise visits, but today, phill felt like walking all the way downtown to see lukas.
usually, he'd have his headphones in as he walked, blasting all sorts of loud, headache-inducing hyperpop into his ears, but today they sat on his shoulders, hanging around his neck. he really wanted to take in his surroundings; it was lovely outside that day. his pale-blonde hair that faded into white bounced weightlessly as he walked, almost defying gravity, blowing slightly from the soft autumn breeze. he gazed up at the grand trees, his pace slowing as he studied the the ever-shrinking array of color on the branches. the leaves fell constantly, all around him, a beautiful rain, falling gracefully from the trees with a gentle wind. he watched as one got blown off its branch by the wind, flew off and flew gently from side to side mid-air, then brushed up against his sneaker as it landed on the ground.
thoughtlessly, his fingers made contact with the stem. they lifted it from the ground and held it up to his big, blue eyes. he studied the warm, cozy red color with a deep interest. standing in the middle of the empty sidewalk, the empty town, with nobody else, all by himself, taking in the lovely red of the freshly fallen leaf. a red that consoled him, he thought of enveloping himself in the leaf and letting it comfort him that way.
he dropped the leaf and continued walking downhill.
lukas's house, a quaint little brick ranch, sat on the corner of his block, on the hill that separated the middle class from the lower class in sticktopia. this hill was seen as a sort of midway point between middle and low class--the middle lower class. it fit lukas well; he wasn't exactly poor, but he didn't have the money for small luxuries like his friends do.
phill crossed the empty street, also horribly ruined like the sidewalks, and stopped by the small front yard. the garage was open, revealing the assortment of vehicular and outdoor accessories. the grass, green with splotches of yellow, was free of leaves. instead, a colorful pile of them sat behind the large, barren tree planted near the corner, with a rake beside it. as he looked closer, a head of soft, red hair came into vision, blending in slightly with the leaves, then came a pair of clothed arms and pale hands, nails painted a shiny black.
"lukas?" phill said.
the redhead turned swiftly, startled. he lay on his back, submerged in the leaves, seemingly staring into nothing before. his face relaxed upon realizing it was just his friend.
"phill?" he said, a waterfall of leaves fell from his shoulders as he sat up in the pile, revealing his maroon-colored knit sweater.
phill walked over. "what the hell are you doing?"
"...raking the leaves."
but the rake sat across the pile, untouched.
"what are you doing here?" lukas retorted.
"what do you mean, what am i doing here?" phill smiled. "you know me. i've dropped by like this a bunch of times before."
"great timing," mumbled lukas.
phill, now standing over his friend, glanced at the leaf pile. it was a pretty decently sized pile; it concealed much of lukas's lanky legs, and only the tips of his black boots poked out at the end. suddenly, phill turned. he began walking towards the garage, which was across the two, with long, suspenseful strides, walking over the stone walkway and up to the side of the garage. lukas watched him curiously and wordlessly. then, he turned back around, got into a lunge position with a mischievous grin, then bounced up and sprinted towards lukas.
"cannonball!"
a flurry of leaves flew up into the air as phill crashed into the pile and he popped right back up, a number of leaves caught in his hair and a bright, wide smile on his face. lukas couldn't help but smile when he smiled, and when phill suddenly burst out laughing he couldn't help but laugh when he laughed. the leaves slowly flew back down, a gentle rain on the boys, catching themselves in their hair and on their clothes as the two laughed their hearts out, their boisterous laughter echoing into the sky.
then the sudden harsh squeal of the screen door startled the boys and they whipped their heads around to see fayda standing in the doorway, hand on her hip.
"LUKAS ICHIGO TILLTON! what the hell are you doing? why aren't you raking the goddamn leaves?!"
he immediately gave into obedience. "sorry, ma, i'll rake them, sorry," he apologized profusely as he hastily stood and grabbed the rake from the grass.
"you want me to help you?" phill said.
lukas turned to phill. "oh. uh, sure. if you don't mind. there's another rake in the garage."
fayda watched as phill lifted himself from the pile and jogged over to the garage. she didn't say anything about him being there, because by that point, she, unwillingly, was used to his random visits. she watched as he came back out with a second rake and began to tidy the lawn with a hurried lukas. she stood watching the two rake the tousled leaves back into the pile for a moment more before walking back into the house, shutting the door behind her.
lukas let out a sigh of relief as soon as he heard the door close.
"she stresses me out," lukas muttered suddenly. he then looked up at phill and clarified, "don't get me wrong, she's a good mom and i love her to death, but... y'know."
"yeah."
phill moved the rake with a careless swishing motion over the grass, only grazing the leaves, not contributing much help at all. he swung the rake harder, only resulting in the leaves being thrashed about more. glancing up at his friend from the ground, lukas saw his vexed expression.
"phill," he said hesitantly, "no offense, but that's not how you rake the leaves."
phill clicked his tongue, pressing the rake into the soft soil. "y'know, why don't you guys get a leaf blower?" he then said. "it would be so much easier."
lukas sighed. "you know my parents. old fashioned people. here, let me do it."
phill moved off to the side as lukas approached him. he watched lukas intently, watched as he quickly and effortlessly raked the leaves, the metal teeth grouping them together and scraping them across the grass and tossing them into the pile. lukas had figured that, since phill never does any chores at his own home, he wouldn't have any skill in housekeeping, and unsurprisingly, he turned out to be right.
lukas had finished raking the remainder of the leaves in less than a minute. "i'll get the bags from the garage," he said.
he walked in, then came back from the garage with two large paper bags clutched in his bony fingers. he took one, shook it open, and held it upright, asking phill to put the leaves in. he did as asked, taking his rake and digging it into the pile, scooping up a section and then tossing it into the bag. he was definitely much better at this task than raking.
by the time they were done, the boys managed to fill both bags to the brim together. they carried each bag to the edge of the sidewalk, standing across from each other and lifting the bag in between them as they heaved it to the sidewalk together. they had plopped the second bag down on the stone, the surrounding leaves jumping up from the sudden motion. phill and lukas stood gazing down at the bag, breathing each other's air, relaxing for a moment.
"we make a hell of a good team, don't we?"
lukas looked down at phill, who looked up at lukas with a satisfied smile. his gleeful, vibrant eyes, full of never-ending vigor, looked into lukas's gloomy, tired eyes. a soft smile slowly came across his face.
"yeah we do," he said. "chaotic combo for life."
phill chuckled.
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