fandomtownies | The Junkyard, Thursday Afternoon

It was a good thing A.J. never really bothered to be stealthy, although he did consider the fact that the squeaking wheels of the Red Rider wagon he was pulling behind him might be misconstrued as something else. The squeaking wheels stopped for a moment, as A.J. got a little distracted by a particularly twisted pile of what looked like it might have at one point been sheet metal, and then he remembered that he was supposed to be looking for Andrew. Which wasn't too difficult.

"Hey, Andrew!"

Andrew somewhat disentangled himself from the pile he was diving into, and turned around to spot A.J. nearby.

"What's cooking good looking?" he called out.

[[ np! I haz snow day! ]]

"Nothing much, chicken butt," A.J. snorted in response. Yeah, okay, so the rhyme wasn't nearly as good as Andrew's, but A.J. had maybe 2.5 seconds to think of one, so it wasn't bad all things considered. He tilted his head at the the activity he seemed to be interrupting. "Find something good already?"

Andrew grinned at A.J.'s attempt then glanced back into the pile. "I'm not sure," he said. "I think it's a bicycle built for two, but it's probably like an industrial potato masher or something."

"Need help getting it out?" A.J. said, head tilting. Whichever it was, it would still probably have parts that they could very easily use. "I mean, I could really use an industrial potato masher..."

"I could use an extra hand or three," Andrew said, tugging ineffectually on a few of the metal bars covering up the object. The bike wasn't that far in actually, but Andrew wasn't seeing an easy way to free it.

"Cute wagon," he added, before turning back to the pile.

"Well," A.J. said, moving over and ducking his head to try and find a good place for either leverage or a grip, "I've got two...And that wagon is very utilitarian, I'll have you know. It's served me well."

He thought he'd gotten a good grip. The slickness on everything from the drizzly weather probably wasn't helping much, either. "On the count of three?"

"I wasn't making fun of your wagon," Andrew said quickly, not wanting A.J. to get the wrong impression. "I like it. There's something about a guy pulling a wagon that's very... likable." And he would just leave it at that.

He grabbed on and nodded in response. "You do the counting," he said.

"Hm." Likable. He could get behind that. A.J. nodded. "Okay. One...two...THREE!" Just like the added emphasis on the last number, A.J. gave the possible-bicycle a mighty pull that would result very embarrassingly if if Andrew didn't do the same.

Andrew tugged on the bicycle type thing with all his might, whooping as he felt it pull free of the entanglement -- yelping as his feet slipped out from underneath him, sending him sprawling on the the wet ground.

"Did we get it out," he asked, making no clear movement to get himself up. He could feel the cold damp seeping through the seat of his pants. The damage, so to speak, already done.

A.J.'s back hit the ground mere milliseconds after Andrew's, barely missing the other boy as he fell victim to the exact same fate. He landed with a groan, ducking his head back against the damp ground before the dull pain of the fall built into a chuckle. His hands opened lightly around the frame that he'd been clutching on for dear life, then closed again, as his gloves were starting to seep through and his hand seemed to be threatening to stiffen. He looked down his chest. "Uh. Part of it."

"Oh good," Andrew said, lifting his head up and looking around. "I think my knee caps have softened the landing of the other part," he said, chuckling himself.

He sat up slowly, checking to make sure the only thing bruised was his dignity. "So, think we can use this?" he asked. "I think there is gear or two digging into my left butt cheek."

Apparently he had managed to land on top of as well as underneath part of what they had yanked out.

"Butt che--?" A.J., still back on the ground because he was feeling moving at the moment would be a little bit painful, rolled his head over to the side to get a better look at the damage on Andrew's side of things and blinked. "How the hell did you manage that? That's almost impressive..."

Groaning slightly, he made himself attempt to sit up.

"I have a gift," he replied, carefully and very unsteadily getting to his feet.

He walked over to see if he could give A.J. a hand. "You're not broken are you? I would feel really kind of horrible if I broke you."

"Oh, come on," A.J. grinned, taking any assistance that Andrew was willing to offer without hesitation, "I don't look that delicate, do I? I think I'm all in one piece. Unlike our bicycle potato masher..."

Andrew reached down to try and help A.J. get back to his feet. "No, you look very sturdy. Whatever that means," he said, mumbling the last part.

He glanced at the bits of pieces of the contraption. "Well, we would just be tearing it apart anyway, right?"

"Good point," A.J. commented, and then promptly chucked his piece of the bicycle into the wagon. "We're off to a good start!"

Andrew added some selects pieces to the wagon as well. "I'll just try to ignore the fact that my pants are kind of freezing to my leg right," he said with a laugh.

"Anything in particular we should be looking for in here? You, my friend, are the expert in my mind, so don't let me down."

Edited 2008-01-17 20:44 (UTC)

"Oh, please," A.J. scoffed, shivering a little because Andrew's mention of freezing pants reminded him of his own. "This is perfect scavenging weather. If it were just a touch colder, I'd suggest we stop for a bit to have a picnic."

Taking a moment to look around, A.J. picked a nearby pile to begin sorting through. "An expert, huh? Well...what would be really great would be things like clocks and stuff, that have gears to pick and choose from. I mean, I guess, really, they probably have that stuff at the store in town, but this is so much cooler. Household machines might be helpful, too. Washers, dryers, that sort of--"

A.J. cut himself off with a sudden "ooooh." Prying away a sheet of metal, he found hidden underneath it broken alarm clock, the older kind with the bells, a plethora of springs dangling from its opened face. "Perfect! See, clocks have springs, too." He prodded at one, making it bounce. "Although we're probably gonna want a really big spring..."

"Next time it snows, we should totally plan on having a picnic!" Andrew exclaimed, liking the idea very much. "Complete with basket and blanket. Just maybe not in the middle of a junk yard."

He followed A.J.'s instructions and started to poke through more piles, carting anything containing gears and springs back to the wagon.

"So, A.J., tell me about yourself," Andrew said. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Aww," A.J. pouted slightly at the lost prospect of a snowy junkyard picnic. "But when the snow covers the piles of crap, they look all perdy..." He took a second in inspecting what looked like the cooling agent of a refrigerator; he didn't know what they could use it for, but it was cool, so he put it in the wagon. He shrugged. "I dunno, man. Not much. Work, school," completely ostracizing roommate, "a couple projects here and there, but that's kind of all. What about you?"

"Score!" Andrew said, holding up a metal box with two metal shafts sticking out of either side. "If I'm not mistaken, this is a transmission gear box." He walked it over to A.J.'s wagon.

Andrew paused a second, deciding on how truthful he wanted to be. "I've been okay," he started. "Neil had to leave right at the start of the term. That sucked. Hard. Kind of like a breakup without the breaking up part."

A.J. had to take a second to check out the transmission gear box himself. Had to. He looked impressed and a little disappointed that he hadn't spotted it. He gave Andrew the sort of slack expression that looked like it was trying to convey sympathy, but not entirely doing the job. "Yeah, that does suck," he muttered. "But the breakup part is kind of the hardest part, y'know? I mean, could've been worse. Could've had to go through the breakup part without even really a relationship that you're breaking up out of..."

Yes. A.J. thought that made sense.

Andrew snorted. "Yeah, but it's not like that would actually happen to someone," he said. "But on the bright side, I have a date this Friday. At least I hope it's a bright side kinda thing."

A.J. grunted a little as he tossed something like looked like a mixer gone completely iron into the wagon. Yeah. Never actually happens. His nose wrinkled for a second while he let the moment of annoyance pass.

"Definitely a bright side kinda thing," he agreed, nodding assuringly. "So. Dish. Who's it with, where's it at?"

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