Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Olimar sighed as he grabbed his space suit out of his locker at work.  It was only the beginning of his shift, and he knew it would be a long one, as he was on cargo check today.

Looking at the calendar that was attached to the locker door, he marked an x on that day, Wednesday.  At least he was already halfway through the work week.  He used to work Thursday through Monday, getting Tuesday and Wednesday off.  But he was able to get his hours changed once he and Daisy divorced.  He needed weekends off now, since that was when he got custody of Polly and Reagan.

Olimar can’t say that he was very upset about the divorce itself.  He and Daisy had fallen out of love by the time Polly was born, it was only a matter of time before they ended things.  He was moreso upset with the custody arrangement.  It was nice having more time to himself, but lonely more than anything.  Plus, it was disheartening to hear Reagan complaining about his mother while at his house, and not being able to do anything to help.

Olimar shook his head as he stepped into his spacesuit.  Despite not being scheduled to leave the planet, all employees were expected to wear their suit during work hours.  As he zipped it up, he glanced at the calendar in his locker one last time.

One day at a time, Olimar.  He thought to himself, before shutting the locker to get to work.

The entire day was fairly mundane.  Checking cargo, filing paperwork, rince and repeat for eight hours.  When he finally got to his locker to dress down for the day, he internally congratulated himself for finishing the day with little to no hiccups.  As he closed his locker, ready to leave, he noticed a familiar face enter the room.

“Evening, Louie.” He smiled and waved at his coworker.  He and Louie weren’t exactly friends, but he was the only coworker that Olimar went out of his way to interact with 

Louie waved and hummed in response as he went to open his own locker.

“How was your day?” Olimar asked, leaning against his locker, holding his bag out in front of him

“Was fine.” He mumbled, fiddling with the lock “Cleaning duty.”

“Ooh, rough.” Olimar chuckled a little “Hope that wasn’t too difficult.”

Louie simply shrugged at this as he finally got his locker open.

“Well, I ought to be going now.” Olimar said as he moved away from the locker and stood up straight “Have a good night, Louie.” He said as he began to exit

“You too.” He heard him mumble.

Before Olimar even unlocked the door, he heard Bulbie begin to bark.  The dog had learned to recognize his footsteps at this point.  As he cracked the door open, Bulbie sat, tail wagging, staring at the door.  Well, sit was perhaps a strong word.  He was crouched in a sort of half sit, half stand, as if he was trying to sit, but was too excited.

“Hi Bulbie!” Olimar exclaimed, closing the door behind him before the small dog ran up and tried jumping up on him.  With his size, his paws didn’t even reach up to Olimar’s knees.  Olimar set his bag down on the floor beside him, before he sat on his knees to shower his pup with attention.  His moments with Bulbie were always the highlights of the day.  Well, unless his kids came over.

After a few moments with Bulbie, he got up and stretched a bit.  It was only about 6 PM, but he already found himself ready to sleep.  He decided he’d do an instant meal for dinner, and just relax the rest of the night with Bulbie. 

Heading into the kitchen, he pondered what to make, before settling on some instant noodles.  He approached the cabinet and brushed past a few snacks before finding the cup of dried noodles.  He grabbed the kettle and set it to boil, before opening the fridge to grab a pack of baby Pikpik carrots.  Ramen usually had carrots in it, but not enough.  He opened the bag and grabbed a few, before taking a knife and cutting them into smaller slices.  As he finished, the kettle turned itself off, a sign that it was done.  He went back over to that side of the counter and peeled half of the lid off of the cup of noodles, before pouring a decent amount of water inside.  He grabbed the small handful of Pikpik carrots and dropped them in the broth, before placing the cover back on to sit for a few minutes.

During this, his mind couldn't help but wander back to the pikmin planet.  Remembering how Louie insisted on cooking for them every night, despite having freeze-dried rations.  Olimar was never big on trying new foods, but his mind opened up a little after that.  He was initially horrified at the prospect of Louie eating those creatures, but now he finds himself missing the taste of skitter leaves.

His time on that planet wasn't the best in the moment, but now he looks back on it quite fondly.  Especially compared to his first visit.

As he reminisced, Bulbie approached him, tail wagging faster than ever.

"Hungry boy?" Olimar asked, causing Bulbie to get even more excited.  He chuckled, before walking down to his nearby food and water bowl to fill it.  Bulbie reminded him of the purple pikmin.  The way they would always break out of the ship's hold and demand attention.  Of all the pikmin, the purples are probably the ones he misses most.  He found them being his favorite of the five.

He let out a small content sigh as he grabbed the scoop in Bulbie's bag of food and shoveled some into the bowl, before bringing it to the sink to fill the other half with water.  As he went to set it down, he had to push Bulbie out of the way so that he could even place the bowl in the first place.

"Ready?" He asked, leaning down.  Bulbie responded with a sharp bounce-like movement, his tail wagging even faster.  Olimar looked at him, before quickly setting the bowl down and stepping back.  The dog immediately sprinted, almost falling into his bowl, as he shoveling down food as if it was the last meal he'd ever have.  Olimar smiled down at him, before turning to the counter beside him and grabbing his noodle cup, and a fork from the drawer below.

Approaching the small two chair dining room table, he set the cup down gently, before pulling out his chair and sitting down.  Peeling the cover off completely, the noodles were mostly cooked, only needing a bit of mixing.  It was good, even if a bit basic.  The Pikpik carrots certainly helped.

About halfway through eating, he felt his KoppaiPhone buzzing in his pocket.  He pulled it out, and saw that Daisy was video calling him.  He wiped his mouth with a napkin before swiping on the screen and answering.

"Hi Oli!" She waved, before proceeding to look away and begin applying makeup.  She was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, her phone was propped up against something.

"Hi Day'" He greeted her back.  It wasn't too out of the ordinary for them to have random video calls, usually about the kids, but sometimes just to chat.

"So, would it be alright if I kept the kids this weekend?  Sherri thought it would be fun to take them out to like, get to know her better, yknow?" She asked, not waiting for an answer before continuing "You can take them to dinner some time this week instead.  If that's okay with you."

While a tad disappointed, Olimar nodded at her "That's fine.  I'll see if I can take them out this week." he sighed

"Okay!  Thanks so much, Oli." She smiled

The two continued to chat for a few minutes, before ending the call.  He supposed it would be nice to have some free time that weekend, though he still would have preferred to have some time with Reagan and Polly.  Bulbie approached his chair, jumping up with his front paws on the seat to get his attention.  He smiled as he leaned down and scratched behind his ears.  It's okay.  He'll take them out the next week instead.  Glancing at his Kophone, which had yet to turn off, he looked at the time.  He figured he should get some sleep, despite it not even being 7 yet.

Chapter Text

"Hi Bulbie!" Olimar smiled, kneeling down to greet his dog.  It was a fairly relaxing day at work luckily, so he was feeling quite good.  As Olimar showered Bulbie with attention, he glanced up to see the dog bed adjacent to the front door.  In front of it, the carcass of a squeaky toy that Bulbie had ripped open.  It was a squirrel toy that was long and had three squeakers throughout the inside, with no stuffing.  Almost like a sock.

"Bulb.." Olimar sighed, standing up and walking over to throw it away.  He grabbed the toy, and a nearby stray squeaker and dropped them into the bin nearby.  Looking around, he noticed that there wasn't many toys scattered around.  Bulbie rarely touched half of his toys, so those usually just sat out.  But other than that, he couldn't spot any of his favorites.  Approaching his toy box in the corner, the only things in it were some bones that he never finished.  Looking back over at Bulbie, who had been following him, he tilted his head.

"Wanna go in the car?" He asked, prompting Bulbie to perk up, and bark.  His tail began wagging faster, so much that his whole body wiggled with it.

Olimar was lucky enough that Bulbie wasn't interested in other dogs, so he was well behaved in pet stores.  Approaching the front entrance, the doors opened in front of him as he stepped onto the mat.  Bulbie recognized the store, as they had been before, and immediately tried leading them to the checkout.  They usually had small treats at the checkout area at this store, so he was always excited for that.  Olimar tugged on the leash a tad to redirect Bulbie to the toy area.  It was near the back of the store, so they walked through the large walkway that the different shelves sat around.  Eventually the reached the isle and made a right into the toy section.  He picked out a few himself, and then let Bulbie sniff around and pick some.

As Bulbie sniffed around, he watched him adoringly.  How was it possible for a creature to be this cute? 

"Uh"

He turned around to face the voice that came from behind, assuming he was blocking the way for another person.

"Oh, Louie!." He exclaimed, a tad shocked.  In front of him stood his coworker, wearing a navy blue hoodie and basketball shorts.  That wasn't the strange part, though.  On his shoulder sat a cat.  Not a kitten, clearly an adult cat, black and speckled with orange and white spots, wearing a harness with a leash that was in Louie's hand.

"I didn't know you had a cat!" He smiled, a bit shocked

Louie nodded, glancing away and bringing his hand up to it, letting it push it's face against his hand.  "Her name's Mocha." He mumbled, before looking down at Olimar's dog "Bulbie?"

"Oh!  Yes, this is Bulbie!" He said happily, tugging on his leash a bit and prompting him to come closer.

"S' he nice?"

"He's about the nicest pup you'll meet." Olimar smiled down at his dog

Louie nodded, before making a clicking sound with his tongue and wiggling his fingers at Mocha, prompting her to jump down.  Bulbie was never aggressive with dogs, but he had never seen him interact with a cat, so this did worry Olimar a tad.  She approached him and Bulbie just sat, tail wagging.  The two circled and sniffed eachother, and both seemed to like the other.  Bulbie booped her curiously with his snout and she did the same to him, prompting his tail to wag faster, as the two pawed at eachother.

"Aw, good boy Bulbie!" Olimar exclaimed.  Bulbie usually stopped whatever he was doing when Olimar talked to him, but he ignored Olimar to continue interacting with Mocha.

"They like eachother." Louie mumbled, being especially quiet on the first word.

"They do." Olimar smiled, crouching down to try and greet Mocha.  Louie joined him, getting on his knees to pet Bulbie.  Both animals briefly took attention off of eachother, before returning to playing.

"How old is she?" Olimar asked "Bulbie is about eight now."

"Three." Louie mumbled in response, not looking up from the animals "Adopted her last year."

"After the pikmin planet?" Olimar tilted his head, Louie nodding in response

"Missed em', I guess."

"That's understandable." Olimar chuckled "Bulbie really reminds me of the purple ones sometimes.  It's nice."

"Mhm." He hummed in acknowledgement "Mocha's like white." he mumbled

"Aww." He cooed at her "So I'd imagine she's quite a handful then?"

Louie nodded in response, smiling slightly and scratching her behind the ears.  The two sat for a few moments watching the animals, before Olimar stood up.

"We probably shouldn't linger here." He chuckled awkwardly "They seem to get along great, would you like to set up a playdate for them some time?  I don't know any other pet owners, and he can get quite lonely."

"Playdate?" Louie asked, standing up

"Mhm.  We could meet at a park or something and let them play." He smiled

Louie didn't hesitate in his response of "Okay.", before pulling out his Kophone.  He typed something into it, before handing it to Olimar, open on the new contact page.  Olimar assumed he knew what Louie wanted, and entered his number.

"I'll text you."

"Alright.  See you tomorrow, Lou." Olimar waved, as Louie knelt down and made the same clicking noise, patting his shoulder.  In response, Mocha jumped up on his leg and then climbed up to his shoulder.  Louie waved, before walking off, seeming to head towards the cat toys.  Olimar looked back at Bulbie, who was pulling on the leash trying to follow them.

"Bulbie, come." He said, tugging on the leash a bit.  Bulbie watched the two turn a corner, before turning back to Olimar happily.  Olimar bent down to grab one of the toys Bulbie was showing interest in, as well as the few he already picked, and led him towards the checkout.  As usual, the cashier gave him a treat.

Olimar sat on the couch, watching Bulbie as he attacked one of his new squeaky toys.  Olimar never minded the technically annoying noise.  Sometimes he'd pick up and squeak a few of Bulbie's toys for fun, though he broke that habit because Bulbie thought that meant it was playtime.  I really should take him to the park soon.  Olimar thought, before feeling his KoppaiPhone buzz in his pocket.  Taking it out, it was Daisy video calling him.  He swiped to answer, only to be met with Reagan.

"Hey dad!" He exclaimed, holding the phone at an angle so that Olimar could only see his eyes and forehead

"Hey Rea." He smiled "How was school this week?"

"It was okay.  The HLA teacher let us watch a Disney movie on friday, so that was cool."

"Sounds fun." Olimar hummed "Was it good?"

"It was kinda boring." He chuckled "It's a princess movie, but it just focused on the prince.  And he was boring."

"Hm.  Maybe next time you watch a movie, you can suggest one you like?"

"Maybe." He shrugged "Oh, can I say hi to Bulbie?" He suddenly changed the topic

"Of course." Olimar smiled, before flipping the camera to show Bulbie on the floor, playing

"I took him to the pet store today to get some new toys.  He met a cat and they were friendly with eachother!  It was really cute" Olimar rambled

"Really?  Dogs usually hate cats." Reagan exclaimed

"You know Bulbie, he's funny like that." Olimar laughed "How's Polly?"

"She's good.  Sherri took her to the planetarium yesterday."

"Aw, she loves the planetarium." Olimar reminisced a bit "How are you liking Sherri, by the way?"

"She's really nice.  I mean, it's a little weird, but I'm just not used to her I guess."

"Well I'm glad you like her." He smiled.  Olimar thought he would have been jealous at the prospect of his kids having a step-parent, but he's found himself just being happy for them.  Maybe it helps that Sherri is a girl, it doesn't feel like she's replacing him as a father.

Olimar's thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like Daisy shouting to Reagan in the background, before he turned back to the phone

"Gotta go dad!" He exclaimed "Love you"

"I love you too." He smiled, waving at the camera before the call ended.

Setting the kophone down on the couch beside him, he turned back to Bulbie, who had now lost interest in the toy and was facing him.

"Hungry boy?" He asked, prompting Bulbie to wag his tail and run towards the kitchen.  As usual when Bulbie was excited, it wasn't just his tail wagging, but his whole body.

"Alright, alright." Olimar laughed, coming to his feet.  As he walked into the kitchen, he glanced at the clock on the oven, showing that it was around 7 PM.  He should decide what he's going to make for dinner.  Sighing, he grabbed Bulbie dual water and food bowl, walking it over to the countertop by the sink.  He held it under the faucet, before filling the water side about half way, then placing it back on the countertop and fishing through the food bag for a measuring cup.  He carefully shoveled two scoops into the bowl, before turning and walking it back over to Bulbie's eating mat.  He held Bulbie back with his food, before quickly placing the bowl and letting him at it.  He immediately began scarfing down food, making a big mess (hence the eating mat).

Olimar chuckled before walking towards the fridge and cracking it open.  There wasn't much, a sign that he needed to get groceries soon.  He sighed, shutting the fridge and walking to the cabinet, deciding to just make oatmeal.  A breakfast food, but no matter, it's easy.  He grabbed a bowl and opened the small package, pouring them in.  Bringing the bowl to the sink, he filled it with a bit of water, simply eyeballing it, before stirring and plopping it in the microwave and setting the timer for a minute.  Leaning against the counter, he glanced down at Bulbie, who had already finish eating and was now gulping down water.  It was funny to him, how Bulbie ate the same thing every day, yet never grew tired of it.  Olimar wasn't a big foodie himself, but even he wouldn't be able to eat the same meal over and over.  Though it would certainly make life more convenient.

The microwave beeped, interrupting his thoughts.  Opening it up, he carefully grabbed the bowl, quickly moving it to the counter in a vain attempt to not burn himself.  He stirred it around a bit, before leaving it to sit.

It reminded him of the pikmin planet.  How Louie would disallow him of making oatmeal or cereal, in favor of cooking fresh food every morning.  He misses Louie's food.  Louie..

Olimar perked up a bit, looking over to the couch where his kophone was.  Walking over, he grabbed it and opened the messaging app.  He had completely forgotten that he muted messages from unknown numbers.  Checking, there was indeed a message.  Simply 'This is louie', sent an hour ago.  He chuckled at the improper capitalization, before typing out a quick response of 'Hello, this is Olimar :)'.  Opening up the unknown number, he made a contact of it, naming it Louie of course.  Going to set a photo, he realized he didn't have any picture of Louie.  Really all of his contacts used a photo of the person, except for maybe the President's.  Shrugging it off, he saved the contact with no photo and stuffed his phone in his pocket, before returning to the kitchen to eat.

Taking the first bite, he cringed a bit, making a mental note to get groceries tomorrow.  It was bland, but serviceable.  He finished it fairly quickly, before turning to the sink to rinse the bowl out.

*Buzz*

Feeling his kophone vibrate, he pulled it out to see the notification as he leaned against the counter.  An image attachment from Louie.  Opening the notification, a picture of Mocha and him popped up.  His face wasn't in frame, it just showed her sitting on his lap.  Olimar chuckled, finding it cute, before moving to take a picture of Bulbie, who was now laying on the couch.  Holding up his kophone, he snapped a photo, before sending it over.  Seeing as he had no photo for Louie, he decided to just set Mocha as his contact icon.

As he did so, he realized that it was around 7:30- he decided to just watch tv for the rest of the night.  Flopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote, he sighed as he looked for something to watch.  Today was fairly productive, so that's good, he thought.  Tomorrow will be a bit busier.

Chapter Text

"Hi Day'" Olimar smiled.  He and his ex wife tended to video call often, as they were still friends.

"Oli, hi!" She exclaimed, waving at the camera "Hm?" She asked to someone off screen "It's Olimar." She said before giggling "Sherri says hi."

"Oh, how are things going with you two?"

"Great!" She smiled "The kids love her, I love her- so it's a win-win" She giggled "What about you?"

"Hm?  What about me?"

"Like, dating stuff.  Any luck?"

Olimar blushed a bit at this.  He had thought about trying dating again, but it was hard.  It felt weird to just generally go out and try to date.  He needed to know the person.  He and his wife were best friends in high school, and he never tried relationships before her.

"Ah.. No, I haven't really been looking.." He chuckled

"Really?  I expected you to be the one to rebound first." She laughed "Seriously, you haven't like, scored any numbers at least?"

Olimar paused at that.

"Erm.. Well me and Louie recently started texting." He mumbled

"The cute blond from Hoco Freight?" She asked, excited "Nice!  Who asked first?"

"It's not like that, Daisy!" He laughed "Louie's more of an.. acquaintance."

"That's not what you told me." She teased

"Day'!" He exclaimed.  There was admittedly a small.. incident, back on the pikmin planet.  Nothing actually happened, but he found himself with a small crush on Louie.  Of course, he confided in Daisy about this, and they worked through it.  For the time being, at least.  It was small, and Olimar got over it, to the point where he doesn't even think about it anymore.  At least until now.  And now he realized the.. romantic implications of asking for his number so directly.  It's probably normal that the idea made him blush, right?

Chapter Text

Stepping through the front door, Louie groaned as he kicked his shoes off.  He was so relieved it was finally Friday, and he wouldn't have work for a few days.  It's so tiring.  Getting up early everyday, having barely any time at home in the morning to cook or see Nana and Mocha, sitting in a loud, bright, busy building for 8 hours a day with either barely anything or way too much to do.  He hated it.  As he moved his shoes from the random spots they were in to the shoe shelf, Mocha ran up to greet him.  His annoyance at the day quickly turned to relief upon seeing her.

"Hey Moch'.." He mumbled, scratching her behind the ears.  He sat down on his knees and called for her to climb up on him, which she did, laying on him with her front paws sticking out behind him as she was essentially thrown over his shoulder.  He smiled, standing up while still petting her with his other hand, before exiting the small hallway and stepping into the living room.

"How was work?" Nana asked, grabbing the remote from her spot on the couch and pausing the tv.

"Eh." He hummed, plopping himself down on the couch, prompting Mocha to jump down onto his lap.  "Boring." He just left it at that.

Nana hummed in response, before unpausing her show.  The two didn't make much conversation.  Didn't really need to.  Louie glanced up to watch as he cuddled Mocha.  Though he was mostly just zoning out on the screen.  It was some game show, something the two watched often.  It was only a little after 5:30, a little too early to start on dinner, so he just decided to play the waiting game.  Though his spacing out was interrupted by a notification on his kophone.  He pulled it out, seeing that his coworker Olimar had messaged him.  Opening the notification, it was a video of him playing with Bulbie.  The camera was facing the dog, but you could hear Olimar's voice in the background as he threw around toys and played tug of war with the pup.  Louie smiled softly at the cute video, before opening his own photo album to find a similar video of Mocha.  Though she wasn't very interested in toys, so all he had was a video of her walking.

Louie knew it was considered 'abnormal' to take cats on walks like dogs, but he himself is abnormal, so why not.  As it turns out, she loves walks, so he finds himself needing to walk her daily, lest she begin scratching up furniture.

He sent over the video, before Mocha began to paw at him.  He sighed, still being too tired from the day to enjoy much of anything.  He patted the seat beside him to get Mocha to get off of him, before standing and stretching.

"Gonna take her on a walk." He mumbled, waving to Nana before heading towards the front door to find her harness.

"Alright, be careful." She exclaimed back to him as he left the room.  He responded with a loud "uh huh", before grabbing Mocha's harness and leash from the coat rack.

Stepping out the front door, he mostly let Mocha lead the way.  Nana's house was in a fairly rural, yet not secluded area, compared to the city at least.  Her house specifically was a decently sized two floor cottage.  The front yard had nothing much in it, simply being left plain, and a bit overgrown.  There was a small stone path leading up to the patio steps, which led down to the street.  Around the area, there were several trees that weren't quite dense enough to be considered a forest, but were nearing that point.  He and Mocha usually just wandered the surrounding area on walks.  There was a hiking trail nearby that he'd occasionally take her on, but he needed to drive there, so it wasn't their usual spot.

He only walked her for a brief 15 minutes before deciding to return home to relax before making dinner.

At this point, the tv had changed from game shows to random reality tv shows.  The two were laughing at it and making the occasional remark on the people in it.  This was interupted when Louie glanced over at the clock, seeing that it was nearly 6:30.  Time to start on dinner.  He decided to just go with pasta tonight, a fairly simple dish.

"Dinner." He said as he plucked Mocha off his lap and stood from the couch.  He set her down on the sofa and began towards the kitchen.

Entering the area, he began searching for the dishes he'd need.  The pot, two pans, two spatulas, and a special noodle spoon.  It wasn't worth the effort to do home-made noodles, so those were simply store bought, but he intended on making the sauce himself.  As he set out the pot and pans on the stove, Nana entered the kitchen, intending to help.  Louie.. does not like cooking with others.  It slows him down, and he usually needs to instruct the person.  Thought he made an exception for Nana.  She taught him, after all.

He grabbed some tomatoes from the fridge and simply said "dice.", to which she complied, going to grab a cutting board and knife.  The two went between chopping veggies, frying meat, and mixing noodles, with barely any hiccups.  They had cooked together a million times before, and had a good rhythm with it, even without verbally communicating.  Eventually they had finished, Louie going to strain the noodles as Nana grabbed them bowls.  The two each took their own servings.  Nana had just noodles and sauce, while Louie had meat sauce on his.  He walked both bowls over to the dining table as Nana began on dishes.  The dining table was decently large, housing six chairs.  The two usually sat across from eachother, so Louie prepared their dishes accordingly.  He set some napkins next to each bowls, along with a fork.

"What do you want to drink?" Nana asked, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard

"OJ." He said flatly

Nana chuckled a little, going into the fridge and pulling out a carton of orange juice, along with a can of sparkling water for herself.  She poured both drinks into the glasses, before pulling the tab off her sparkling water and setting it aside to recycle the can itself.  She grabbed both glasses, while holding the tab between her pinky and ring finger, before bringing them over to the table.  She carefully set both drinks down, before tossing the soda tab to Louie.  It was green, the same color as the can itself, which made Louie happy.  He liked the colorful ones more than the plain silver ones, they were special.

"Thanks." He mumbled, putting it in his pocket.

Louie scarfed down his food quickly, as usual.  He finished in only a few minutes, before rising from the table to begin on dishes.  Grabbing the bowl and glass, he returned them to the kitchen, before starting the water to wash the pans.  He went through and washed everything fairly quickly as Nana finished her own food, placing it on the counter for him to rinse as he finished up the other dishes.  Nana made her way over to the couch, Mocha following quickly after, jumping up onto the woman as she sat down.  Louie followed soon after as he finished dishes, grabbing the remote as he flopped down on the other side of the couch.

"Movie or show?" He asked as he powered on the tv

"What about a Christmas movie?" She asked

Louie's eyebrows furrowed

"Not December."

"It almost is." She grinned

"Is November."

"29th." She retorted

Louie sighed, caving in and deciding to put on one of those classic stop motion Christmas films.  He was firm on his stance that Christmas celebrations should start in December, but he had a soft spot for those movies, seeing as he and.. Seeing as he had grown up with them.  Leaning into the couch, his eyes rested on the screen as he watched the movie unfold before him.  The animation wasn't good, especially compared to newer stop motion movies, but it had a lot of charm.  Just like those old scratchy cartoons.  He yawned, his eyes beginning to feel heavy.  What time was it?  Eh, whatever.

Louie's eyes squinted open to the light surrounding him in the living room.  Glancing at the clock, it was about 10 PM.  Really late, Nana should be in bed.  Looking over, he saw that she and Mocha had both passed out, the latter laying on his grandmother's chest.  Like him, she was a really heavy sleeper, so he figured there was no getting her up.

"Mocha" He called, following it up with a clicking noise as he pet her.  She woke fairly quickly and allowed him to pick her up and place her on the carpet.  Nana was sitting up in the corner of the couch, her head over the edge of the back of it.  Not good for her back.  He repositioned her to be laying on her back, her feet facing where Louie was previously sitting.  There was a large wool blanket over the back of the couch that he removed and unfolded, before laying it over her.  Walking over to the other side of the couch, he grabbed a pillow and lifted her head, laying it underneath.

"Night Nan." He mumbled, placing a kiss on her forehead, before picked Mocha back up and making his way into the hallway, where Nana's bedroom and the stairs sat.  His room used to be on the bottom floor, but they switched a few years prior when she started getting too old to go up and down the stairs everyday.  Climbing the stairs, he entered into the second floor, which had a sort of balcony looking over the ground floor.  To the left of the stairs sat the.. guest room.  His was on a wall directly adjacent to that door.  It was left open during the day, for Mocha to go in and out as she pleased.  His bed was the only "adult" looking thing in his room.  He had a rug with a road print for when he'd play with cars as a kid, glow in the dark stars on the walls and ceiling, a net in the corner for the various stuffed animals he'd collected throughout his childhood, and various video game consoles, controllers, and games scattered across the floor surrounding his dresser, which his tv sat atop.  He didn't find himself playing as much anymore, but it was still nice to have them all set up in case he wanted to use them on a whim.  His bed wasn't made, but wasn't a big mess.  He had a fuzzy blanket and a comforter on top, the fuzzy blanket having been kicked to the foot of the bed.  He set Mocha as the food of the bed, before slipping his shorts off and hopping into bed, pulling the comforter over him.  To his side was his "main" plushie, a fuzzy elephant, a bit smaller than a pillow.  Elephants weren't his favorite animal, but it was sentimental.

Laying down, he turned to the side that it was on and hugged it, laying his head on top of it instead of his pillow.  He yawned, feeling tired, but his eyes didn't feel heavy.  He was too awake now, he supposed.  He sighed, sitting up and leaning over the side of the bed to retrieve his phone from his shorts' pocket.  Bored.  Laying back down, he opened his phone and noticed a new message.  Olimar had responded to his video of Mocha a few hours ago, presumably while Louie was cooking.

"Aw, so sweet!  Do you walk her often?"

Louie typed something up about how he did, not expecting Olimar to reply at this hour, but to his shock, he responded within a minute, jokingly commenting on Mocha's attitude.  Louie smiled, typing out a response.  They continued texting for quite a while, until Louie felt himself falling asleep.  He sent over a goodnight message, before shutting his kophone off and placing it to his side, and hugging his elephant.  He felt himself slowly but surely dozing off.

Chapter Text

Louie's eyes squeezed open as he felt squishing on his stomach.  Sitting up, Mocha had been pawing him, "making bread" with his blanket.  She meowed at him, before jumping out of bed and towards the closed door, scratching at it.  He yawned, flipping the comforter over and kicking his legs off the side of his bed.  His phone was on the other side of the bed, so he layed back to grab it, checking the time.  Around 9:30, AM of course.  Sitting back up, he grabbed the same shorts from the previous day and slipped them on.  He felt his pockets, remembering the soda tab that Nana had given him last night.  Pulling it out, he made his way to his dresser, and opened a small drawer near the top.  Inside there was various acrylic paints, along with a small container filler with bottle caps, soda tabs, safety pins, and other small miscellaneous items.  He liked painting bottle caps decoratively, along with making some into buttons using the soda tabs and safety pins.  He had no reason, it was just fun.  Probably his favorite bottle caps were the custom Rocket Cola ones.  One of his favorite games had a soda brand in it called Rocket Cola, a parody of the real world Pikpik Cola.  He had various label printouts and had painted and applied labels to several caps to resemble the in game equivalent.  Also his flower caps.  Oh, flowers.

Closing the drawer, he turned over to his windowsill.  On it sat a pot of his favorite flowers, bacopa cordatas.  They came in various colors, but he had white ones.  They're small and grow in large groups, usually having five small petals with a yellow middle.  The pot itself had an open bottom, and he had a plate beneath it to allow for drainage.  Not the prettiest setup, but it worked.  On the floor near the window sat a very small watering can, specifically for these flowers.  Grabbing it, he made his way over to the door, opening it and letting Mocha out.  He carried the watering can into the bathroom, and to the sink to fill it.  The tap in the bathroom sink wasn't very high up, but luckily the can was small, so it fit underneath.  Filling it only a little, he turned the faucet off and lifted it out of the sink.  It was a little wobbly, but there wasn't enough water in it for him to really struggle.

Walking it back to his room, he poured a small amount of water in the pot, before placing the watering can down, deciding to just empty it later.  He stretched, before going to check on the other flowers.  Exiting his room, he walked down the stairs briskly, before peaking his head out of the hallway.  The lights were off but there was plenty of natural sunlight bleeding into the living room/kitchen area.  Walking over, he saw that Nana was gone, presumably having moved to her bed.  Shrugging, he made his way to the kitchen to feed Mocha.  Opening the pantry, he grabbed the bag of kitty kibble and filled about half a cup of it.  Carrying it over to the counter, he set it down before grabbing her bowl.  He poured the half cup in, before returning to the pantry to grab some canned food.  He fed her a mix of wet and dry food, for taste, and it was better for her than just one or the other.  He pulled open the tab on the can and turned it over into the bowl, as it plopped down into it.  He grabbed a spoon and mixed it around a bit, before rinsing the spoon off and grabbing her bowl, moving it back to it's original spot.  Mocha wasn't very food motivated, so he didn't bother calling her.  She knew to go to her bowl when she was hungry, and that there'd probably be food for her.

He finished cleaning the rest of the mess before making his way over to the back deck.  There was a sliding glass door that opened up onto the wooden porch, which housed some gardening tools and chairs.  It used to be cluttered with pool toys and sprinklers for when summer came, but as Louie got older, they stopped setting up the inflatable pool and sprinklers, so now those sat in the shed.

The flower bed sat near the porch, right where the fence surrounding the back garden sat.  Nana had the fence built when Louie was young, since he had a habit of escaping.  The shed sat in the opposite corner of the yard, right up against the fence.  The rest of the yard had a small stone path walking through it, leading up to a sandbox, that had been long left untouched, and now just sat covered.

Grabbing the larger watering can, Louie walked it over to the side of the house, grabbing the hose to fill it.  It wasn't that difficult tending to flowers in the winter, though it did require some more effort compared to the warmer months, considered how much it snowed on Hocotate.  Nothing too crazy, but it was consistent every year.  As he waited for the water from the house to begin spraying, he set the can down to inspect all the flowers.  Some of the seasonal ones had withered, so he knew to be watching for those to regrow in the spring.  The other year-round flowers seemed perfectly healthy, just in need of some water and love.

He noticed that the hose had water leaking from it's spout, so he went to place it into the watering can, letting it fill.  Once it had finished, he twisted the valve to turn the water off, and carried the significantly heavier can back over to the flowers.  He carefully sprinkled them all with water, making sure not to over feed them, before pulling it away, pouring the excess water into the ground nearby.  He quickly set his sights on his next task, making breakfast.  He was feeling pancakes today.

"How's your day been so far?"

"good.  just watered the flowers and ate, relaxing now"

"Oh, you have flowers?"

"yeah.  used to be nanas, mine now"

Olimar smiled at his phone as he typed a response.  He and Louie had been texting a bit more lately, which was nice.  He was always friendly with his other coworkers, but he had never found himself considering any of them friends.  To be fair, he never spent over a month on an uncharted planet with any of them.

He had made the most of his Saturday so far, a feat he was quite proud of.  He walked Bulbie, he got groceries, cleaned up around the house- though there was an embarrassing amount of just laying down in between all that.  Still, it felt good to get things done.

Ruff!

Hm?  Looking down from where Olimar sat on the couch, Bulbie was staring at him, front paws up on the couch cushions.  Olimar giggled at this as he set his phone down and picked him up, setting him on the seat next to him.  Bulbie was a small dog, and while he could jump up on furniture, he always whined and made Olimar pick him up onto it.  Quickly, Bulbie moved from his spot next to Olimar to climbing up on his lap, cuddling into him.  Bulbie was a fairly playful and energetic pup, but Olimar always loved these small moments of calm, where he got to just sit with him.

Grabbing his kophone, he checked the time- around 11.. Still a bit too early for lunch, so he had time to kill.  Pulling up his phone camera, he zoomed out to increase the field of view, and took a picture of the sleepy dog on his lap.  Pulling up his chat with Louie, he uploaded the image, captioning it "Sleepy boy".

Soon after, Louie sent back a picture of Mocha, asleep on his shoulder.  Olimar found it adorable how she seemed to insist on sitting on his shoulder.

”Aww!  Does she always sit up there?”

“yeah, she’s spoiled”

”So is Bulbie.  If I stop giving him attention for even a second, he whines and head butts me until I continue!”

”mocha does the same”

Olimar hesitated for a moment, before typing his next response;

”Sounds like they could both use friends!  Would you like to plan a time to meet and let them play?”

Louie responded much faster than Olimar would have thought.

”sure. my place work? we have a yard”

”That sounds good to me!  When would work for you?  I have the kids on most weekends, so maybe some time after work?”

”tomorrow @ lunch?”

“That should work.  Lunch being closer to noon or 1?”

”11 if you want food”

Olimar usually would politely decline, but the prospect of eating Louie’s cooking again for the first time since the Pikmin planet was too tempting.

”Will do :)”

Tomorrow at eleven then.  Setting his phone down, he redirected his attention towards Bulbie, who was still resting in his lap.  He scratched his head gently as to not disturb him.

Tomorrow at eleven.  Closing his phone, Louie kicked Mocha off his shoulder (AKA spending almost a minute gently nudging her off his shoulder), and made his way over to his dresser.  Opening the top drawer, he brushed his way past various bottle caps and art supplies and retrieved his journal.

Closing the drawer with his side and promptly plopping himself on the floor, he opened and began flipping through various recipes of his, until he reached the ‘P’ section.  Skimming through a few pages, he finally found what he was looking for- Pikpik Carrot stew.  He hadn’t made it in quite some time, so needed to remind himself of the ingredients.

He skimmed through the list, and assumed he had everything, but still wanted to double check.  Lifting himself from the ground, he slipped through his open bedroom door and shuffled downstairs.  Nana was watching some game show on the TV like usual.  Walking past the couch, he made his way into the kitchen.  

Nope.  Had none of the actual veggies.  Need garlic, lettuce, and obviously the carrots.

”Nan’” He said flatly, leaning against the counter.  She hummed in response “M’ gonna go to the store.  Need anything?”

She gave him a short list before he quickly made his way out.  Their local store didn’t carry Pikpik brand carrots, so he’d have to go to the bigger one in the city.

Most of what he needed was in the veggie area, so he cleared out a majority of the list there.  Last thing was bread.  The bakery area was at the back of the store, while the veggies were near the front.  Groaning a little, he moved the handles of his basket to be hanging on his arm, and placed both hands firmly in his hoodie pocket.

There were various people around that he didn’t really pay any mind to, just weaving between them.  Until he saw someone he recognized.  Tensing up a bit, he quickly dodged to the side and hid behind one of the shelves, turning into the next isle.  He hated seeing people he recognized.  Especially- nevermind.

Sighing, he made his way to the bakery area, quickly now.

Soon enough, he had anything and entered the self checkout line near the front of the store, when- them again.  Crouching down and averting their gaze, he instead went to the standard checkout, making sure not to look their way.

Not the best grocery trip, but he did it.  This is why he never went to the big store.  It was over now though, and he got what he needed to make Pikpik carrot stew for lunch tomorrow.