what's a man to do but go looking after you?

"Well howdy there, li'l Torchic's and Turtwig's. The name's Theodore, but you can call me Mr. 'Teddy' for short! Welcome to Mareep Meadows Ranch!"

You look up from your clipboard to watch the man introduce himself to the children. He doesn't look up at you, keeping his focus on the kindergarteners in front of him. For some odd reason you feel like you're supposed to know who this "Theodore Callahan" is, but the name doesn't ring a bell—and all things considered, you feel like you're pretty good with remembering names and faces.

It must just be déjà vu. The feeling will pass quickly enough.


He wakes with a start.

Oliver doesn't have nightmares often. His dreams, when he remembers them, are usually vivid and just downright weird enough that he can usually tell they're just dreams, even if they're strange or frightening.

But the scary dreams—the nightmares—were the ones that felt real. As he woke up he realized he was alone in bed (save for Layla) and his stomach sank until he was lucid enough to realize that he wasn't back in the Pyrinas apartment, and that the empty spot next to him wasn't vacant permanently. He could see Deote Meadows through the window on the wall.

He settles back into the pillows, covering his face. The adrenaline rush left him exhausted and he'd barely even started the day. The nightmare was still playing on the inside of his eyelids like a projector displaying a movie on a bedsheet you'd hung on the wall.

Why would he dream about that? Hands falling away from his face he let them settle on his stomach, clasped together as he stared up at the ceiling. He's thinking back—to that day on the ranch that had actually happened, which had eventually led to Oliver asking Teddy why he'd joined up with the Galleria in the first place. He'd divulged his own reason, and—

The tears prick at the corner of his eyes before Oliver fully realizes why. Sitting up (and startling Layla a little bit) he ran a hand through his hair, pushing the shaggy blonde locks from his face. The events from the day he and Cliff were finally moving to Gaia ran through his mind—because that's what he thought of, because that's what ended up bringing him to the Galleria.

Cliff had caused them to be late to the airport, and because of that the airline had to move their flight. By some stroke of luck they'd been seated next to a Galleria official who divulged he was on his way to Gaia to see about potentially bringing the Galleria on tour, and encouraged the brothers to check it out once it was all official.

It was the domino effect of fate. And that's how life was, right? If one little thing had gone a different way, your entire life could have ended up going down another path. And if Cliff hadn't made them late to the airport, they wouldn't have met that Galleria official, which wouldn't have put the Galleria on Oliver's mind which means he wouldn't have tried out for the part and—

The nightmare he'd had last night would have been reality, wouldn't it?

"Good mornin', sunshine!" Teddy's voice rang out from the door to the bedroom as he pushed it open with his back, coming into the room with the fixings for morning tea. "How'd ya sleep? I didn't wanna wake you, but it was too hard to resist not jumpin' back into bed so I hurried with the kettle."

His voice is the marble that goes through the Rube-Goldberg machine of Oliver's barely-held-together emotions, hitting the dominoes that are labeled "misses flight to Gaia" at the start and "finds true love and happiness" at the end. When the final domino clatters to the ground, the tears finally spill over the threshold of Oliver's eyelashes. For his part, Oliver at least tries to choke back the shuddery sob that escapes him.

"Wha—" Teddy starts. Layla, who'd laid her head on Oliver's leg, looked up at the other man with a soft whine. Tray still in hand he glances around the room for the best place to set it, finally settling on the dresser before sliding into bed, arms around Oliver as Layla scooted away—but still keeping a watchful eye on her trainer. "What's the matter, darlin'?"

The more Teddy talks, the worse it gets, really—because his voice is so soft and tender and worried and if Oliver hadn't been on that rescheduled flight he'd likely still be alone in his apartment in Pyrinas—or maybe he wouldn't, but would he be where he was now?

"I had...a bad dream," Oliver tried to explain through his tears and sniffles. "Th-that's not all of it, I just..."

Teddy's arm around him pulls him closer, and he's cooing in Oliver's ear that it's alright. It helps—it really does, but it also just makes him cry more. The tea's gone cold by the time Oliver has calmed down enough to explain what exactly was going on, though after coming back to the land of the logical, it feels a bit silly to have gotten so worked up over it all.

"I had a dream last night where we didn't know each other," he explained, voice a little bit hoarse and nasally from the outburst. He's not looking up at Teddy, instead opting to keep his head buried against the other man's chest. "It was that day when I brought the students for a field trip, but we were strangers. Which doesn't sound that bad but it was weird and it felt too real, and..."

"I don't think it's weird to get upset over somethin' like that," Teddy said. Oliver almost burst into tears again, but he manages to hold it back—must Teddy always be so kind and wonderful and reassuring?

Oliver knew that he did. It was just one of the many, many things he loved about him, after all.

"When I woke up I started thinking, and I realized that...if Cliff wasn't Cliff none of this—" he motions around the room, to the two of them together— "would've happened."

"If Cliff wasn't Cliff? What's he got to do with this?"

Sitting up a little and rolling onto his side, he places a hand on Teddy's chest and half-lays on him, looking down at the other man. Oliver's sure he looks like a right mess with his sleep-mussed hair and his bloodshot eyes and a face blotchy from crying, but he doesn't care.

"The day we were flying out to Gaia, Cliff had to do something that made us late to the airport. Remember how I said I'd met someone who worked for the Galleria and that's what made me want to try out? That Galleria person was sitting by us on the plane, and that's why I decided to keep an eye out for the tryouts."

Teddy looks thoughtful for a moment, so Oliver continues. "If Cliff hadn't made us late, I never would have met that Galleria guy, and I never would have tried out for Hellebore and I—"

He pauses to swallow another sob, letting it out as a little breath instead.

"I never would have met you, my love, and we wouldn't be here together right now, and—"

Teddy pressed a finger to Oliver's lips to quiet him, before moving his hand to cup one side of his face, broad thumb both swiping away a few stray tears and stroking his cheek gently. Letting out another shaky breath and closing his eyes, Oliver leaned into the embrace, focusing on his breathing for a few moments to calm down.

"There ya go," Teddy said softly, with a hint of a smile to his voice.

When Oliver opened his eyes again, he almost lost it again with how Teddy was looking at him—with an expression of such love and tenderness that Oliver knows he'd do whatever he had to in any lifetime or timeline to be on the receiving end of that gaze.

"It's easy to get lost thinkin' about how things coulda gone," Teddy continued, as Oliver was still lost in his eyes. "Trust me, I know. But I find it's better to be happy with what you've got now, and think about how you're gonna handle the future. You can't change the past, darlin', for better or for worse."

"Well this is one thing I would never, ever change," Oliver said adamantly, leaning down to press his lips against Teddy's in a soft kiss. The other man's hand moved from his cheek to wrap around his shoulder, fingertips delving into the lengths of Oliver's hair at the nape.

"Me neither," Teddy said when they separated. "You want me to go warm that tea back up?"

Oliver nods a little, nuzzling his nose against Teddy's before relenting and peeling himself off the other man. "If you hear me crying again, it's just because I need to call Cliff to apologize for calling him a cunt that day at the airport."