[attr="class","body"] "Hey! That's no fair! You guys are ganging up on me!"

[break][break] Ollie laughed, his chest heaving from how much he laughed as he lounged on the couch with Caleb Harcourt. A laptop was propped up between them, showing the faces of his brothers and father, from where they were in Kanto.

[break][break] Things weren't perfect. They could never be perfect, but his lips stretched wide into a smile that hurt, while he watched his brothers banter with Caleb.

[break][break] It was like they were in high school again, joking around the bleachers.

[break][break] Some things never really changed.

[break][break] "Okay, okay," he said with a wide smile, closing the laptop. Then, he looked back, only to find his boyfriend staring at him with what was a bemused expression.

[break][break] "What?"

[break][break] "Nothing, it's just - I love your family."

[break][break] Surprised, Ollie leaned back against the couch. He propped an elbow up between them, leaning into a hand. His other was placed comfortingly against Caleb's thigh.

[break][break] "They love you too. Sorry they can be kinda rowdy."

[break][break] Caleb shook his head.

[break][break] "I never had that growing up, you know. Zev and I — he's my brother, but we were never — " A look of pain crossed his face. "And seeing you all together, like that, makes me feel a little lonely sometimes. I wish I had that."

[break][break] Sympathy swelled in Ollie's gaze, and the Ranger leaned forward, grabbing his face with both hands.

[break][break] "You don't need him, Caleb."

[break][break] Their lips brushed together, the heat of his gaze catching Caleb's.

[break][break] "You have me."

[break]

NOTES

- THEME: FAMILY [break]
- Sleep Score: 400

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[attr="class","body"] He never forgets her, not really.

[break][break] He thinks about her whenever he falls asleep at his desk, face marred with paperwork where the ink hasn't dried. In that way that Caleb Harcourt sometimes falls asleep on the couch, and he has to drape a blanket over him. He thinks about her when the sun rises, or in the way that fire crackles on the stove.

[break][break] She is not here, but she is here all the way in Kalos. He wants to forget about the way that they once climbed these very same mountains together, wants the way that they crosses these same seas.

[break][break] He wants to forget but he can't forget. His phone rings as he walks into his office, and it's the day after Caleb Harcourt has left on his vacation to the other side of the region with his blond co-worker. He half-expects it's willow atkins calling to check in on him, or to provide updates about boruta maher or his godkids.

[break][break] But instead, on the other end, it's someone he hadn't expected to hear in a while.

[break][break] "Miss Morningstar?" he asks, cradeling the phone into the crook of his neck and skims over the paperwork that wren rourke left on his desk."Didn't think I'd hear from you."

[break][break] Of course, she is a Councilwoman in Hoenn, alongside her partner KING WAYLAND that Ollie doesn't know very well but believes in all the same. The man who's steadily climbing up the ranks of the Hoenn Gym Circuit, perhaps even clawing the way with his best friend MATIAS SILPH.

[break][break] Every so often, Freya checks in on him.

[break][break] She tells him about everything that's going on in Hoenn, even the things that he doesn't ask about.

[break][break] The thing that he's too afraid to ask about.

[break][break] "She's okay, then?" he asks, swirling his chair to look at the open window to his office. "She's... good?"

[break][break] "Do you miss her?" Her lips curve into a smile, and he can tell that she's laughing at him. "You can call her office, you know."

[break][break] Ollie is quick and clever, enough to know how to deflect.

[break][break] "Just as much as you miss her. You know you can call, right? She gave you her number."

[break][break] Eva Morales has never been quite the same, not after freya morningstar and KING WAYLAND get engaged. But just like him, Freya is always too afraid to ask. To text. To call.

[break][break] "She asks about you sometimes," he says, asking cheerfully. "She wants you to call."

[break][break] A pause.

[break][break] "She asks about you too."

[break][break] Ollie knows it's wrong. He knows that there's no way that she does. And yet, he wants her to. It feels nice to think about that she might, even just a little.

[break][break] Somewhere, somehow, he hopes that PENELOPE LIVY hasn't forgotten him too.

NOTES

- THEME: REMINISCENCE [break]
- Sleep Score: 600

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[attr="class","body"] "Avatarship?"

[break][break] Ollie's eyes are wide at the pokemon that greets him the minutes that he steps outside of his apartment. It's in plain sight, on a Sunday morning, when he's just preparing to go out on a run.

[break][break] 'It is you, my boy.' The deep psychic words set root in his heart, making the ground beneath his feet seem to tremble. 'Do not deny it.'

[break][break] The eyes of a Solgaleo stare back at ollie morales, as endlessly deep as the oceanic eyes of the man who's ring that he wears on his right hand. They were still in the planning stages of the wedding, but Ollie had never been happier than the day Caleb Harcourt asked for his hand. The Head Ranger's grin had been nearly bright enough to split Hoenn's darkened skies — the skies that had been dark ever since Team Rocket's Zev Harcourt had made a pact with NECROZOMA on that fated night.

[break][break] The skies of that region that were dark, an endless stream of nighttime madness.

[break][break] No hope in sight, except for the glowing beast that now prowled in front of him. Alongside his sister.

[break][break] "Ollie, Solgaleo needs a partner if we're going to defeat Rocket and I can think of no one better."

[break][break] Eva Morales stood in front of him, looking annoyed and a bit breathless. He didn't blame her. After all, the League had sent her on a special mission just to find him, and she'd spent the last half-hour trying to convince him to leave everyone, to leave Caleb on this farfetched heroic journey. To save Hoenn. To save the world.

[break][break] But as much he wanted to —

[break][break] "I can't," Ollie said, with a firm shake of his head. His hand ruffled in the tuft of the great beast's neck fur, his silver ring gleaming on his finger, before he pulled back. "You know I can't, Eva. I can't leave Kalos; they need me here."

[break][break] 'I can't leave Caleb.'

[break][break] "You know, Commissioner Livy is asking for you."

[break][break] Something like pain flashes in his eyes, twists in his gut. He scowls.

[break][break] "Asking for me? If she wanted to ask for me so bad, she should've asked herself!"

[break][break] Tearing his eyes away from that psychic hold, Ollie stalks away. The door slams in his apartment, shocking Caleb from where he stands, still sharing a plate of pancakes with his adopted daughter Lisette. Blond, just like his fiance's other partner.

[break][break] "Ollie? What are you doing back? I thought you were - "

[break][break] Ollie ignores him. He strides across the room and embraces Caleb Harcourt, pushing his face into his shoulder.

[break][break] "I need you," he murmured, voice husky and deep. "I only need us, okay?" He pulls up, glancing down at the young girl who still seats across the island counter, and flashes a smile too.

[break][break] "We're happy here. The three of us."

[break][break] Because he is happy here. No matter how complicated things are, no matter how difficult things may be, Ollie knows that he can at least count on one thing.

[break][break] And he'd never abandon them for anything. Not even her.

[break][break] They can find their own hero.

[break]

NOTES

- THEME: AVATARSHIP [break]
- Sleep Score: 800

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[attr="class","body"] They do find their hero.

[break][break] Someone nameless and faceless that Ollie doesn't know. Someone with a heart of gold, who is brave and true like Isaac Merlo, someone who is charming like CIAN MAHER, and someone who is courageous like Greyson Connors.

[break][break] When Hoenn's skies finally clear, Ollie and Caleb are invited to PENELOPE LIVY's official ceremony.

[break][break] She was made part-time commissioner the day that dahlia goode was felled by MATIAS SILPH, who had turned around to stab her in the middle of an AQUA Meeting. The double Avatar survived by the skin of his teeth as Councilwoman freya morningstar and her fiancé Elite Four KING WAYLAND detained him. It was only through Eva Morales' intervention that the man wasn't killed immediately for his treason but rather jailed and scheduled for a juste hearing. However before proceedings could continue, the man escaped.

[break][break] Even after Hoenn's hero saved the region, MATIAS SILPH was still missing. Suspiciously, kyle lopez went missing too. Not even noah faber knew where they were.

[break][break] Supposedly.

[break][break] But today was a day of celebrations. As bittersweet as all of it made him, Ollie was genuinely happy for Penny. It was something that he knew that she always wanted, always deserved. Even if it was not the future that he may have envisioned for himself, it was enough to see that she - too - was happy.

[break][break] Lisette runs off into a running leap when she and Caleb Harcourt spot PENELOPE LIVY's first hand, BARNABY FINCH, beneath the flower arches, undoubtedly trying to make last minute arrangements. Ollie lets them go, intent on following, when a voice stills him.

[break][break] "Ollie."

[break][break] Kalos' Head Ranger blinks, turning on his heel. He half-expects it to be his sister, or maybe even freya morningstar, or possibly even newly-wed Greyson Connors and annalise henderson. But it's none of them. Instead, it's —

[break][break] "Penny."

[break][break] It's been years since he'd last seen her. Years and yet — she was as beautiful and breathtaking as she'd always been. Except instead of a punch to his gut, the sight of her instills something warm and familiar. Comforting, nearly.

[break][break] "Congratulations," he greets, pulling her into a warm hug. She seems stiff, but he ignores it. There's a reason that he came, after all, and it wasn't because he thought that she would want him here. It was because it was the right thing to do.

[break][break] She shrugs at him.

[break][break] "It's a formality, Ollie."

[break][break] He wants to roll his eyes. Put it up to her to try to push off the excitement of the event. But even as much as she may try, Ollie knows that it isn't the truth. It isn't really a formality. Even though she'd been part-time commissioner for months, and was practically guaranteed the position anyways, Ollie knew that there was probably a small part of her that had always wondered if she was made for it, if she was suited to it.

[break][break] After all, dahlia goode's footsteps are huge shoes to fill.

[break][break] A giggle races across the floor as Delta and Lisette chase each other in a bed of flowers, a sharp bark from a semi-drunk KING WAYLAND stilling them in their steps. Ollie doesn't realize he's staring until Penny's voice speaks up beside him.

[break][break] "She's nice," she says softly. "She looks happy."

[break][break] 'Are you happy?'

[break][break] Ollie glances at her, trying to read her face for signs of discomfort, but finds none.

[break][break] "You know," he says, with a smile. "You're allowed to be happy too, Pen. You deserve it. More than anyone."

[break][break] He doesn't mean happiness. He means her position.

[break][break] But she knows that.

[break][break] She looks at him, amber eyes meeting that of emerald green. A spark races up his spine, their hands just a breadth apart.

[break][break] "You think?" she murmurs, voice expressing a rare sense of vulnerability. "Ollie, what if it's - " 'What if it's just a fluke? A dream?'

[break][break] "It's not." He reaches for her hands, squeezing tightly. "You deserve this, Penny."

[break][break] He smiles. Despite all that lay between them, despite how complicated it all was, he knew this to be true. Just as he knew that he loved Caleb, and their daughter, and —

[break][break] Just as he knew that he would always love PENELOPE LIVY, no matter what.

[break][break] "You mean that?"

[break][break] "Yeah," he said softly, eyes the color of grass and wildflowers. "I do."

[break][break] He squeezed.

[break]

NOTES

- THEME: LOVE [break]
- Sleep Score: 1000

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