it'd been on his mind the whole time.

[break][break] ollie didn't often let things get to him. or at least he tried not to. half his personality was based on the fact that he was a cool, fun and easy-going guy! but there were some things that got under his skin.

[break][break] sometimes "somethings" were more like someones.

[break][break] and someones were sometimes in the form of one PENELOPE LIVY.

[break][break] maybe he'd manifested his worries into fruition that night. he walked home from the streets of evergrande city, just returning from his shift at the ranger hq, with a bag of takeout in his hand when he spotted a familiar face.

[break][break] he blinked. emerald eyes caught in a tilted lamplight.

[break][break] "penny?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

The phone quivered in her shaking hand. Fingers crawled across the screen, typing the first 2 letters of his name.
[break][break]

His contact flashed across the screen and with it came a wave of guilt melded onto a deep desire to see him. To feel his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders again, and the heat of his breath against her skin.
[break][break]

Then a familiar voice sliced through the fog, pulling her attention away.
[break][break]

"Ollie...?"
[break][break]

For the first time in years, genuine relief leaked from his name, tasting sweet on her tongue.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

it was her!

[break][break] not that it was any surprise, considering the fact that they lived in the same city and not even just that, in such close proximity to one another, but he was happy to see her nevertheless.

[break][break] not that she was ever happy to see him, but it's not like he ever let it bother him.

[break][break] his lips spread into an easy going, wide smile as he closes the distance between them.

[break][break] "hey, pen. how's it going?"

[break][break] normal. easygoing. chill.

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

"how's it going?"
[break][break]
Such a simple question said with such a simple, easygoing smile.
[break][break]
It absolutely shattered her.
[break][break]
Whatever space he took up, she doubled, stepping forward until her arms were wrapped around his torso and her head nestled into the comfort of his chest. All the once, the emotions pilled back into her, like a river breaking through a poorly built dam. It suffocated all other thoughts and worries and hesitations that would've normally festered, leaving only one thing behind: the incurable dread of isolation.
[break][break]
Fingers wrung into the wrinkles of his shirt, a muffled sob choked out.
[break][break]
"Shit. Absolutely fucking shit."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

"what..?" [break][break]

his eyes widen.

[break][break] before he can even register what's happening, PENELOPE LIVY wraps her arms around his torso and buries her face in his chest. and then he hears something that he hasn't heard for at least three years.

[break][break] she cries. a sob wracks her chest, and in turn, his stomach falls into a pitfall. sympathy crushes his chest as he instinctively pulls her close, his arms wrapping tightly around her.

[break][break] "penny," he says, lips turning into a frown. "what happened?"

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

"Cian and I," she muttered, her voice a dried leaf, rattling in her throat, "we broke up."
[break][break]

Once that first tear broke free from the confines of her own stability, the rest followed with ease, becoming two matching pairs of unbroken streams. Her fingers wrung tighter, digging deep into the wrinkles of his shirt, and she began to cry with the force of a person vomiting on all fours.
[break][break]

"And it's all my fault."
[break][break]

It felt stupid, standing there and offering so much of herself to him, but at that moment, where the world felt nightmarish to its core, she felt no need to search too deep into the shoulds and shouldn'ts of their shared moment.
[break][break]

It was selfish at its core, but all she could think of was how much she needed ollie morales and how little she cared for anything else.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

'they broke up?'

[break][break] many would think that he would feel elated at the thought of it, considering the history that he shared with hoenn's finest councilwoman. but for a person like ollie, that would be impossible.

[break][break] impossible because the way that she was holding onto him, crying and clutching onto his shirt, made his heart wring in an awful and terrible way. because how could he feel even any amount of relief when someone he'd once loved from the bottom of his heart was experiencing such a terrible amount of pain?

[break][break] (and yet somewhere, somehow, something small sprouted in his heart.

[break][break] he was a terrible person.)

[break][break] hands wrap around her shoulders, large and warm, in an attempt to steady her as he pulls her back slightly.

[break][break] "of course it's not," he said swiftly. "come on," he says, wrapping one arm around her as he holds her, where as the other grabs the takeout bags. "let's get you inside. we're almost home, anyway. and i'll make you something warm and nice."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

Ollie couldn't be further from the truth.
[break][break]

The guilt felt heavy on her shoulders, weighing her further into him with each passing second. If it weren't for Ollie, who kept her still in his arms, the ground would've certainly made an unfortunate bed to weep into.
[break][break]

"Okay," she sniffed.
[break][break]

Together, they moved back toward his apartment, Penelope swaying beneath his arm, hands still curling into the ends of his shirt. It felt like they were 23 and in love again, taking on the world one blissful step at a time. Back then, it was Penelope who sought to bring him up, and now, only the opposite rang true.
[break][break]

Before reaching his doors, words tumbled out from her lips. Guilt had turned her into a fool.
[break][break]

"Thank you, Ollie. For everything."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

he focuses on making sure that she's okay the whole trip home, gripping her shoulders so that she can lean the entirety of her weight onto him.

[break][break] he focuses on her like a laser, because if he does anything else, he's sure that he'll fall apart with all the questions that are racing in his head. her and CIAN MAHER broke up? why? how? why was she sad? did she want to get back together with him?

[break][break] why did he care?

[break][break] more than that, why did she - fall to him? should he have been calling someone else? a friend?

[break][break] was he really equipped to deal with this?

[break][break] ollie voices none of these things, remaining silent on the entire journey, until they make to the door.

[break][break] then he looks down.

[break][break] "hey, hey," he says softly. "don't say that and get all sappy. it's nothing. i'm just doing what anyone else would - coworkers right?" his lips turn into a smile, slightly teasing. "amicable."

[break][break] with a click of his keys in the door, he lets them into his apartment.

[break][break] surprisingly... it's cleaner than what one might imagine. maybe it has to do with the fact that up until recently, he had been spending a lot of nights at willow atkins's house, due to his injuries, and even though he'd officially moved back into his own place, he was busy enough with his ranger work that he spent nights either in the hq, at Laurence Anderson or annalise henderson's houses.

[break][break] "hey, give me your coat. go over to the couch and get yourself comfortable."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

"Yeah. Coworkers."
[break][break]

For once, the shared understanding between them burnt, feeling like fire on her tongue.
[break][break]

Maybe it was true. They were just coworkers who happened to share a longer past than most. But tonight, for the first time in forever, her trembling heart begged to be anything but.
[break][break]

It's with a click of the door's lock flipping open that his apartment is revealed to her. Its layout was no different than hers, the kitchen and dining room tables were all positioned the same. If anything, beyond her own apartment, it felt reminiscent of the one they shared all those years ago. Even the simple color scheme of her pillows bled a strange sense of familiarity.
[break][break]

"Okay."
[break][break]

After wrestling off her ragged coat, she goes to settle on the couch.
[break][break]

"Your place...it looks nice. I like the colors."
[break][break]

They were all her favorites.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

a bit of anxiety thrums in his chest as he watches, out of the corner of her eye, settle into his couch. it wasn't like it was the first time he had a girl over, but it was the first time he had penny over. the first time in a lifetime, or at least that's how it felt like.

[break][break] instead, ollie busies himself with taking out the takeout and putting it into plates. doing things with his hands have always comforted him, and this is no different.

[break][break] finally, he walks his way over to hear and places the two plates on the table, laughing softly.

[break][break] "you should. they're the same colors as always." as when we'd been dating. "the same plates too, see?" he points at them - sure enough, the dishes are a set that she'd bought for him in their first month.

[break][break] he smiles.

[break][break] in front of them is just some chinese food from a local place. just two plates of pineapple fried rice, with a marinated egg cracked over the top of it.

[break][break] after placing them, he walks over to his fridge, pulling the door open. cold frosted it's way up to his shoulders.

[break][break] "is there anything you'd like to drink? i've got beer, juice, soda, uh... wine."

[break][break] wasn't his, but she didn't have to know that.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]

There is a twitch in her heart at the reveal of the plates.
[break][break]

They, too, had been kept with him after all this time.
[break][break]

Fingers furling and unfurling in her lap, Penelope forced out a chuckle, teeth nearly ripping through the insides of her cheeks.
[break][break]

"I can't believe you still have those."
[break][break]

But that's ollie morales for you. Someone too bright for this world - much like another person she'd recently been forced to shatter.
[break][break]

"I'll take some water."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

he grabs a beer for him and a glass of water for her, walking across the plush carpet of his apartment to make his way over.

[break][break] a laugh bubbles from his chest. "of course i did. you know me - i'm lazy."

[break][break] but that wasn't the truth.

[break][break] he couldn't thrown it out, broken it, shattered it in his anger at their break-up and the situation that had transpired between them. but for some reason, when he'd returned to kalos after looking for in hoenn that one day — the idea of throwing away her things seemed like yet another thing that his splintered heart could not bring himself to do.

[break][break] and so the plates stayed in his possession, along with everything else, for the remaining years. bits and pieces of her still colored in his life no matter how much she'd moved on from him.

[break][break] "this is from a place just down the street," he says. "you ever been? it's called the golden bowl."

[break][break] he cracks open the beer.

[break][break] the nature channel is turned on in the distance and the sight of two piplups racing across a frozen tundra appear.

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]