It was a brisk yet beautiful fall day, it was a rather a good day by the looks of it. The clouds scattered themselves on the sky which was in a beautiful hue of blue, the yellow-orange sun gave out bursts of heat; though it wasn't enough to cover up the cold season. The orange, yellow, and green crusty leaves scuttled around in a circle which casts a small tornado, flying in different spots producing a rustling sound in the area.
The playful laughs of children were heard as they jumped and played on the leaves, scattering piles of leaves all over yards, streets, and sidewalks; they seem to care less from their surroundings.
The cold breeze swept back and bitterly blew the shoulders and neck of a female trainer, causing her to receive a shivering sensation on her arms. Cold, she hugged herself tightly with her coat and mumbled a few words of complaints.
Her lips trembled slightly and gave a glance to the tall teenager beside her, "Hey, don't you ever get this 'tingly' feeling with this season?" she asked, her voice was shaky.
The tall teen's response was a shrug; "Tingly?" he inquired, his tone was low and curious. He was seemingly a little confused with her question, seeing her walk slowly made it hard for her to keep up with him; he paced a step back for her, "Well- not much from what I experienced. What made you ask that?"
"Oh- you know! That's just me." she chirped and playfully punched his arm, "and yeah, it's cold out here." she stuck out her tongue.
"Well, thank you for your concern, Leaf." he chuckled and rubbed his arm. His thoughts started to drift away somehow, despite Leaf's mild exterior, he noticed how wordy she suddenly became ever since the fall season begun.
His thoughts were soon disrupted by two hands flailing directly in front of him, "Hey, Red! Were you ignoring me?" asked the verbose female, a pout formed on her pink lips.
Red's hazel eyes (which sometimes was mistakenly resembled red to others) widened and he came in an abrupt stop in front of her. Why was she even there on the first place? Noticing how close Leaf was to him, he took the chance to take a slow step back. Too close, he thought.
"So Red, wanna take the swings?" the brunette asked, her arm outstretched along with her finger at a deserted but charming playground.
Red was stunned at the sudden change of subject, but his gaze soon softened at her innocent question. Her blue eyes dazzled in excitement, her lips formed into a smile, her rosy cheeks brightened into a darker shade, and her brown hair gracefully flew by the crisp wind. He couldn't help it that his lips twitched up into a smile.
"I don't see why not." Leaf grinned wider at his response, she took the opportunity to grab his both hands and clasped them together with hers, entwining them.
"Awesome!" she exclaimed happily, she slowly looked down at their hands and smiled meekly, "Hey, whoever thought that your hands could be so warm?" her boisterous voice melted into a gentle soothing voice.
Red took notice of her actions, awkward it was, especially the people who gave adoring looks at them whenever they passed by which added more the awkward. Noticing how firm she gripped on his hands, he knew she was serious about this.
The brunette's face glowed a pink tint and looked away from her sight, "Uh-huh, yeah- could we perhaps get going now?" he pulled his hands away and held one hand across his cheeks.
"Ah, right!" Leaf said instantaneously, rubbing her palms against each other, "Let's get going then!" she declared and practically skipped to the colorful playground.
Red breathed out before taking a confident walk, following the brunette who went ahead. His shoes stomped on leaves, creating crunchy sounds that sounded like bones cracking.
As Red entered the deserted playground, he stiffened in surprise- never did he know that an empty playground could be this pretty. The playground was blessed with nature's beauty, tall orange-leaved trees stood in almost every spot, flowers danced to an inaudible beat, and the breeze sang softly. Somehow, the sights were vaguely reminiscent of his childhood.
Leaf spun around with a giggle, "We have the playground all to ourselves!"
Red's head moved in a nearly imperceptible nod in agreement, "You don't say?" he drawled out and observed the playground again.
Leaf's spinning turned into an abrupt stop, as if she came in a realization, "I forgot! We should take the swings, right?"
Red smiled a benevolent smile, "That's what we're here for." his tone was gentle and hushed.
Leaf seemed flush pink at his calm manner, which was like a sudden change of behavior, "Um, yeah, right it is." she stammered and turned away from his loving yet unsettling gaze, "So there's three swings in different colors; blue, yellow, and red-"
"Red." The brunette said instantaneously which shocked Leaf for a second.
The girl laughed a bit, "Haha, what a surprising response to hear from you," her tone resembled sarcasm perfectly, "you could be strange at times."
Haha, seriously?
Red looked skeptic at her last sentence, it made him shuffle slightly. Strange? Him? Oh he would laugh at that. "Well- don't go blamin' to me with my strangeness." he remarked with a small frown, whilst smoothening his hair with his bare hand.
She was able to comply with his answer, though she decided to end their current topic. She wanted to take the swings for a swing, she's not taking no as an answer; no time to waste. Turning away from the tall teenager, she practically jumped to a swing to sit.
Red, who was stunned by her sudden stunt, immediately recovered and sat on the rusty and barely red painted swing. As the swings swung slowly, they made irritating creaky sounds, but it didn't bother them as much; they gave their hearing focus to the sweet sounds of nature. The calm wind, the rustling of leaves and bushes, and the harmonic sounds of the birds chirping.
A relaxed sigh escaped from her lips, "Doesn't this feeling make you nostalgic?" he looked at her strangely, though she continued on, voice hushed and calm, "This feeling… washes away our worries- don't you agree? Every time we get too worrisome about simple and small things, we could always come back here, just like that."
The boy blinked several times before giving a small grin which somewhat resembled his child self, he got that idea very well. Twisting and turning the chains of the swing, he finally answered, "Yeah, with the soothing sounds of nature, it makes me calm and forget about those irritating things." his mind started to wander off to a certain full-of-himself young lad.
"Hah," said Leaf, "I know who you're getting at, but he isn't really that bad." she swung even farther; the creaky sound became louder as she continuously swung and swung.
The sun glowed brighter which casts a shadow under the brim of Red's cap, he scoffed in response, "Yeah, sure." he drawled while he rolled his eyes. Going out of topic, he started to say, "Do you like someone?" Red asked idly, his hazel eyes focused at her blue ones.
Leaf blushed at his sudden question and the fast swinging turned into an amble movement, as she did that; she dawdled between her thoughts. Should I tell him? This is actually a great time and atmosphere to start saying it; she thought and turned her head to speak.
"Well- I actually like you-"
A spiky haired teenager burst out from the bushes and he simply yelled, "Hey! You guys made a secret hideout, without me even!? Well, that's a big no-no!" his physical appearance was untidy, as it seems. His hair remained spiky, but was tousled with twigs, and wrinkles on his clothing; he was foolhardy enough to come out like that.
The brunette pair stared at him, dumbfounded at his outburst.
"Why the Arceus were you in the bushes?" Red asked, his tone low and threatening.