Chapter Text
Larry ran about the field when the bell rang. Phoenix and Miles fell behind in a walking pace until they met Larry by a tree. It was the middle of spring and green grass with wildflowers fell in abundance.
“Tag! You’re it!” said Larry, whacking Phoenix on the shoulder before running off.
The first person Phoenix looked to was Miles.
“Don’t look at me,” he said, sitting down at the base of a tree, opening a book. “I’m not playing.”
“Right… That’s okay!” said Phoenix with a smile.
Ever since the class trial where Phoenix was accused of stealing Miles’s lunch money, he, Larry, and Miles have been hanging out during recess. Despite Miles’s refusal to join in some of their games, Larry and Phoenix still included him. He was a strange kid from his serious way of speaking and prissy way of dressing, but they never judged him for it. Phoenix especially. In fact, Phoenix admired him.
Miles himself appreciated Phoenix and Larry’s company. He had never had friends his age before this, so their acceptance of him meant a lot, even if during recess or during their games, he’d rather sit under a tree and read.
Phoenix ran across the field towards Larry who was kneeling in the grass. “Tag!” he yelled, touching Larry’s back, but he didn’t react and instead kept looking for the perfect flower.
“What are you doing?” Phoenix asked curiously.
“I’m making a bouquet, duh,” replied Larry, still picking out flowers to add to the tiny collection he had in his other hand.
“Why?”
“You see Marissa?” whispered Larry, pointing to a girl from their class with short brown hair playing four square on the blacktop.
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to give her flowers cause that’s what you do for a girl that pretty.” Larry stood up, happy with the collection of white and yellow flowers he had picked from the dirt. “I’m going to ask her out.”
“You’re going to ask out… a girl?! Don’t they have cooties?!” asked Phoenix, worriedly.
“It’s the risk you have to take for love,” replied Larry, solemnly. He then ran over to blacktop to hand the flowers he’d collected to Marissa.
Phoenix looked around at the sea of wildflowers. Maybe Larry’s idea wasn’t too bad. It did look fun.
He picked a couple of them, some yellow, some purple, some white. He then ran his tiny bouquet over to Miles under the tree, holding them out to him.
“Here! I got you flowers!”
Miles looked at them, squinting his eyes. “Those are actually weeds,” he said. “That white one in particular is a stellaria media, more commonly known as a chickweed.”
“O-oh.” Phoenix felt a rising shame in himself. He didn’t know flowers and weeds could look so similar.
“And those purple ones are wild violets,” said Miles. “And the yellow ones are taraxacum, or what most might call dandelions.”
“I thought dandelions were the ones you blow on to make wishes,” said Phoenix.
“That’s what they become after a while. The full transformation of a dandelion from the flower to the seed head usually takes about a month,” explained Miles.
The embarrassment that before filled Phoenix was now intrigue and curiosity as Miles talked about the flowers, or weeds, he had picked out for him.
“There’s actually more than two thousand microspecies of dandelions,” Miles continued.
Larry then ran over to the two of them. “Hey, guys!”
“Hi, Larry,” said Phoenix. “Did Marissa like the flowers?”
“Yeah. She’s my girlfriend now,” said Larry proudly. They looked over to Marissa who had stuck the flowers all over her hair. “Turns out girls don’t have cooties, so you’re completely safe to be around her.”
Larry then took note of the flowers Phoenix was holding. “Ooh, who are you giving those to?”
Phoenix bashfully laughed, scratching the back of his head. “I was giving them to Miles, but then he told me that the ones I picked were actually weeds, not flowers.”
“The ‘flowers’ you gave Marissa were actually weeds as well,” Miles told Larry.
“What?! I gave my sweet Marissa weeds?! Is that like… bad luck for love?” Larry asked fearfully.
“No. I don’t think so, but I don’t believe in that stuff anyway,” said Miles, turning his nose back into his book.
Larry breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Phoenix. “But you know, Nick, you’re supposed to give flowers to pretty girls. It’s a sign of love!”
“O-oh!” Phoenix must have misunderstood that before he tried to give weeds to Miles. “Well… when I meet a girl I like, I’m sure she’ll be prettier than any flower I could give her.”
Miles buried himself further in his book, but then the bell rang calling them back inside.
“Last one there is a rotten egg!” Larry yelled, running off to the blacktop.
Phoenix was about to go run after him, but stopped when he saw Miles standing up out of his peripheries. He knew Miles wouldn’t be one to join in their game, but didn’t want to leave him.
Miles met Phoenix’s eyes, but quickly cast his eyes aside, then down on the flowers, or weeds, still in Phoenix’s hand. “Those… are for me,” he said. It was a statement, but still polite enough as to not yet claim possession over them.
Phoenix smiled at Miles, holding the weed flowers out to him. “Yeah! Here!”
Miles took the weed flowers from Phoenix’s hand, their fingers brushing. Miles held them in both of his hands pulling them close to his chest. “Thank you, Phoenix.”
Phoenix’s smile was bright and cheery. “Come on! Larry’s waiting for us and we’re gonna be rotten eggs.”
They ran back to class, laughing hand in hand. Meanwhile, the weed flowers sat inside Miles’ blazer pockets, falling deeper into the pocket with every step.