Heatherwood Park
by carcrash.

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Ayden and the new boy stared at each other for what seemed like the longest time. The only sound to be heard was the gentle rustle of the breeze carrying leaves in its wake.

Jaz let out a gentle cough and excused herself, which broke the two out of their little trance.

“I’m going to class,” she spoke. “I’ll leave you two darlings to chat.”

Shyly, Ayden let out a smile and put out his cigarette in the dirt, careful not to crush it in the brush. The field would most likely catch on fire if any embers touched the plants. He would be crushed if their beautiful “playground” was destroyed.

He looked out at the park, his eyes traveling across the expansion of it, his heart fluttering in his chest like if he were a mother hen. This place was absolutely wonderful, and no one else could understand that besides him and Jazzy. It held so many memories for the both of them.

“I can see what’s so special about this place,” Levi spoke out, causing the smaller to look up at him, blinking.

He obviously didn’t think anyone could feel the magic this place had. After all, people drove past this place like it just an empty, useless lot, or maybe a future building complex.

Noticing the other boy’s confusion, Levi explained himself. “I mean, it’s relaxing, desolate, beautiful…” he paused. “This is the kind of place where you’d want to build a fort. You know, if you were six.”

“I do want to build a fort here. I just never had the time, or the tools. And I’m sure it’s illegal to build on public property.”

Levi cracked an amused smile, but not a mocking one.

“Eh, if they tell us to take it down, we will.”

Ayden’s face broke out into a beam; he could have been on a Colgate commercial with the radiance he gave off at that moment. “You’re going to build one with me?” he asked, excitement evident in his voice.

Smiling, Levi nodded, and moved to put a casual arm around him, viewing the open space with him, imagining what they could create together.

“The world is our landscape,” he noted. “I’ll get some supplies and tools, and I’ll meet you here tomorrow morning at six. You bring the decorations and the refreshments. We should head to class in the meantime.”

For the rest of the day, Ayden couldn’t get the bright smile off of his face. Nothing could bring down his happy mood. It was odd for him, to be that excited over building a fort, but he was building it with the most beautiful boy on the planet, and said beautiful boy wanted to create that with him!

They could create memories in the place that Ayden loved most. That was the most rewarding thing of it all.

He almost felt like a giddy fan girl drooling over sexy vocalists, but he was just Ayden drooling over sexy classmates.

“Can I be in love with someone I haven’t even known for a day?” he asked Jazz later on that night over the phone. She lets out a laugh, obviously amused.

“I just thought he seemed right for you, and it turns out he just might be. Just take things as they come, okay?”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed. “I just think he’s so… amazing? Wonderful! I just want to get to know him.”

“There’s honestly nothing stopping you, Addy,” she spoke. “Go for it. If it feels right, go for it.”

And he did just that.

Early the next morning, he met up with Levi with a box full of knickknacks, a bag of chocolate chip cookies, and a container of lemonade. How he managed to get all those things out of the house without his dad noticing was beyond him, but he was proud of himself nevertheless.

Levi had brought tons of plywood, paint, nails, hammers, a window, and other necessities. Ayden stared at him with his jaw dropped, wondering how he brought all of those things over.

Noticing his curiosity, the taller boy grinned. “Car,” he stated. “And my dad is a carpenter. I’m sure he’ll notice that a lot of his shit’s missing, but oh well. He’s a pro and gets lots of work anyway.” He shrugged. “I’ll get a door for us within the next few days.”

“That’s pretty sick,” he nodded and set down his box and the food. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get more. My dad would flip if he noticed anything missing from his kitchen.”

“Eh, so he’s some sort of Nazi, hm?”

“I guess you could say that,” he murmured, glancing away and taking out a cancer stick. He stuck the cigarette in between his lips and, with a lighter, ignited the end of it. He took a long drag and offered Levi one. He refused, stating that he had a smoke only a few moments before he arrived and he wasn’t that desperate for another one.

The subject was a sensitive subject for obvious reasons, and he wasn’t necessarily going to go through a sob story about how his daddy beat him to someone he just met. He wasn’t that desperate for attention for one thing, and two, he really didn’t need any concern from him or from anyone. Jazzy didn’t even know, and that was big.

Levi looked over at me and noticed my strained face. He frowned. “Daddy issues, huh?” he wondered. “Don’t worry; you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“You can read people easily, can’t you?” Ayden wondered.

Levi smiled and nodded, “Yeah. Really well, actually. I want to become a therapist when I’m older.”

Ayden smiled, “That’s cute,” he stated and then slipped the cigarette back in between his lips so he could help Levi move all the planks to the corner of the field where they were going inconspicuously set up their fort. It’d be a long walk, but it’d definitely worth it.

“We should just drive over the fucking brush to the corner of the field. This is going to be fucking ridiculous carrying all this wood and shit,” Ayden mumbled.

“Don’t fret, Addy. At least we’ll build up some muscles, eh?”

It was almost dark by the time they maneuvered all their items to the correct location. They collapsed onto the ground and let out heavy pants. Damn, that was a lot of work. They whipped out the lemonade, which was still cold by now since it was still snowy outside. Ugh, they’d have to shovel all of the snow out of the way for their little hut to work, wouldn’t they?

“Didn’t realize it’d be this much work,” Levi muttered as they split the huge jug of juice—they had forgotten the Dixie cups. The Winnie the Pooh ones were Levi’s favorite, Ayden learned.

Lighting up the millionth smoke for that day, Ayden took a long drag and casually blew it out into the air, staring up at the stars with Levi. He glanced at him curiously and squinted as if trying to figure him out. “Why’d you move here?” he wondered curiously.

“Mum got a job here. Er, like a promotion, you know?” he sighed. “Plus we wanted to get away from Dad, so it gave us the excuse.”

“You have ‘Daddy Issues’ too?” he murmured. “Well, at least I’m not alone.”

And he wondered if Levi went through the same thing that Ayden was going through, and had been going through, for the past several years, but he wasn’t going to press the issue. Not tonight.

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Author's Note: Kind of reminds me of the song All The Best Cowboys have Daddy Issues by Senses Fail.