When Nick arrived at the park, it was relatively empty, aside from a few old dog walkers looking to make the most of the lovely weather. True to Connor's word, the playground was a wreck. Half of the swings were missing or spun around the metal bar at the top, the slide was rusted, and the see-saw was… see-sawn in half. The only thing still intact was the basket swing.
Nick dodged the litter and random rubbish on the floor as he made his way towards it, falling into it with a sigh. It was too early in the morning for a fourteen year old to be outside, he needed his beauty sleep, but he was too eager to see Connor again. Was he being too clingy? He wasn't very experienced when it came to friends.
Pulling out his phone and dismissing a few meaningless notifications, he swung absently on the swing. Connor would be here any minute, since they'd agreed to meet up at nine, and it was currently ten past nine. He was either trying to be fashionably late, or he's overslept, something Nick wouldn't put past him. He didn't really care much. It was nice to get out of the house.
Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, Nick felt the swing tip to the side, as another person sat down. He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was, especially when they started moving. Nick slipped his phone into his pocket.
"Me and my foster brother used to do this thing," Nick was ashamed at how long it took him to realise that Connor had something in his mouth, and he wasn't some random person who'd just come over and started talking to him. It changed his voice slightly. "We'd sit with our back to each other, like this," Connor continued, twisting his head to look at Nick.
He leant forwards, after that, making Nick want to instinctively reach out to stop him from falling, but he never got the chance to when Connor slammed his back into the other, propelling the swing forwards. It made Nick knee himself in the stomach, and he remembered, for next time, to move.
"Then we do what we would normally do on a swing, but there's two of us on either side," Connor explained smugly. Nick raised an eyebrow as he half-heartedly swayed his feet forwards and backwards, just enough to keep the swing going. Connor was doing it enough for the both of them anyway, and he didn't even look tired.
"Um, Connor?" Nick began, hearing a hum in response. "I think everyone's done that at some point,"
He was greeted with silence, but something told him that Connor was grinning, actually trying to stop himself from laughing this time.
"Well, sure, but I was the one who came up with the idea," He joked, tapping the side of his head. Nick laughed too, and they jumped off the swing, the shorter one stumbling a little but regaining his balance, a little flushed.
"It's an old swing, it's probably killed quite a few people," He muttered, and, thankfully, Connor let him have that, snorting and nodding in agreement. "It's known as the swing of doom, it once even decapitated someone. I was there," Connor added.
"Really?"
"...No… aaanyway, roller skating?" Connor suggested, holding up a pair of the wheeled boots by the laced. Pink wheeled boots. With stars on them. Nick almost spontaneously combusted with the second-hand embarrassment and amusement.
"Why are they pink?" He struggled to say with a straight face. Connor shrugged, waving them around beside him and grinning. "I like to roller skate in style," He replied, completely ignoring the fact that they were plastic, and, although the size adjusted depending on the person's feet, they were probably meant for a nine year old.
"They were my sister's, but she got bored of them," He admitted eventually, after a moment of Nick just staring at them like he'd just seen a fairy.
"Why do YOU have them now, then?" Connor shrugged again.
"'Cause of a situation like this. Think of how fun it'll be,"
Fun. Fun, he said.
____
"Eek, no, I'm not doing this, noway, definetlynot," Nick squeaked, after falling on his butt for the twentieth time. The stupid things were broken, they had to be. Everytime he tried to move in them, even with Connor's help, the wheels just started to roll around on their own.
"It can't be that hard, let me try," Connor retorted. Nick pulled them off his feet quickly, not wanting to spend another millisecond in those cursed shoes. They were the most impractical thing he'd ever even heard of, anyway. What kind of idiot thought it would be a good idea to attach wheels on the bottom of shoes, knowing full well that they'd roll about?
Nick had finished his internal rant when Connor pulled them on, fastening the velcro and cautiously standing up, amazingly, being able to balance in them. He took a tentative step, then another, then another. Nick just watched in awe, pouting a little at the ease.
"Hey, Nick," Connor called, having made his way to the top of the hill. Nick's heart dropped. "Watch me go down this hill,"
Nick jumped up from where he was sitting, still not wearing any shoes, and ran towards Connor, but it was too late. The taller boy was already rolling down the hill at lightning speed, screaming in what Nick thought was fear.
The blue eyed boy could only watch in horror as Connor collided with a tree, and winced at the thump noise it made. He'd never put his shoes on faster than he did now, or run faster to get down that hill, before.
"Please don't have a concussion," Nick fretted, helping Connor up and checking if he was hurt. He had a few cuts, and some bruises forming, but other than that, he'd live. Nick let out a sigh of relief.
"This entire park is cursed! It was probably built on an ancient Indian burial ground or something,"
Nick chuckled. At least Connor didn't have any more brain damage.