All I Can Do

Rating: G | Category: Gen | No Warnings Apply | Originally Posted 7/7/23

Oliver & Phil | Oliver & Nicky | Mr. Gappolino is here for like 3 seconds.

Phil has to give Oliver some news, he doesn't take it the best.

I cannot do anything for you
Heigh-Ho, talking is not in my line
If can meet you somewhere
I'll be there at your side, with a smile.
That's all I can do for now, nothing, nothing, nothing else

This was originally gonna be a plot line in another big fic I'm working on but I cut for like. various reasons but I was so obsessed w the idea of it I wrote this entire thing in a few days while all my old wips drown around me LOL. Consider this taking place in like a nebulous time during that. Whenever I finish it. This takes place like around 2 years or so after schrodinger's ni no kuni 1 (I intentionally left it kind of vague on which game it could be.) Oliver & Nicky are 15 and Phil is 17.

The old garage was alive with the sounds of Oliver and Phil fiddling with an old engine, something Phil had picked up from a scrapyard on the way home from school just for the purpose of taking it apart and putting it back together again. The both of them heaved as they picked up the final part to place it on top and tie it all together, and with a heavy clunk, it was done. Oliver stretched as he appreciated their work. “Awesome!” he smiled, “It looks great!”

Phil hummed through the toothpick in between his teeth. “Yeah,” he responded, though a bit half-heartedly. That entire day, it had felt like Phil’s mind had been somewhere else when he worked. He dusted himself off and leaned up against one of the piles of boxes with a sigh, Oliver taking a seat on a stool next to him.

As he sat down, Oliver remembered how people around town used to joke about him following around Phil like some kind of duckling, and sometimes it still felt embarrassingly true. He looked up at Phil, staring off into the distance, and tried to hide his frown.

“You okay?” He asked, careful to not sound too intrusive. He watched Phil cringe and his gaze flick around nervously, which didn’t help at all, really.

“I…got something to tell you,” was his only response. Oliver stayed quiet, waiting for him to just keep going, but he couldn’t help feel the slightest bit of dread. Phil fiddled with the toothpick in his fingers, voice deadpan. “I got into college. Full ride.”

Oliver’s worries washed away as he shot up from his seat, beaming. “Really?! Phil, that’s great!” He exclaimed, but oddly enough it seemed like Phil was less than eager to match his enthusiasm. He couldn’t even look at Oliver, his face turned to the side. Oliver’s smile faded. “Phil…?”

“I got a full scholarship to Berkely. Once I graduate I’m moving to California.”

He felt his stomach drop. That was only a few months from now. “B-but Phil, what about-”

“Ollie you gotta look at the bigger picture.” Phil’s voice was almost pleading, “I’m gonna be the first person in my family to go to college, for God’s sake my parents used to be moonshiners! Did you know that?!”

Oliver shrunk into himself. “No. I didn’t.” Jeepers.

“They don’t like talking about it.” Phil finally looked up at him. “I love this town. You know that. It’s just…once y’know, everything happened…” Phil’s face soured, and Oliver frowned. They both knew exactly what everything meant, but no matter how long it’s been, it was never fun to bring up. “I realized I can’t stay here forever. Motorville isn’t big enough for some people, and that’s fine.” Oliver couldn’t help but feel the silent implication that he wasn’t ‘big enough’ to leave, whatever that meant, and it didn’t feel great. “If I really want to work towards my dream-”

“Our” Oliver mumbled, his frown twisting more into a glare.

“What did you say?”

“Our dream, Phil.” He dug his foot into the ground, feeling his frustration boiling over. “It was gonna be our dream.”

“You don’t think I know that?!” Phil sounded genuinely offended. “Just because I said-”

Oliver’s voice rose. “Well I don’t know how you’re gonna work on our dream when you’re just gonna get up and leave me behi-” He stopped himself, grimacing. He was upset, sure, but he didn’t mean to say it like that. Phil did not seem amused.

“I’m not-” Phil cut himself off with a groan, hitting his forehead with his palm. “Damnit Ollie this is why I didn’t wanna tell you!”

“I’m…” Oliver mumbled. He was upset at a lot of things, angry at a lot of things, and probably even a little bit embarrassed. He walked over to his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go home. Bye.”

“Ollie wait-” Phil tried to reach out to him, but Oliver had already taken off down the block, and he guessed Phil didn’t care enough to chase after him. He really wanted some distance between them, right? Let him have it.

Oliver cringed. It’s not like Phil was doing this to hurt him on purpose, but man it’s not like it didn’t sting either. But that’s not Phil’s fault. It was nobody’s fault but his own, really. He felt selfish, Phil could do whatever he wanted, whether Oliver liked it or not. And if Phil wanted to move across the country and maybe even never see him again-

Oliver went inside, up to his room, planted his face into his pillow, and screamed. It helped a little bit, at least, but barely. He scrambled to open his drawer and pull out Mornstar, not even bothering to change out of his normal clothes. He needed to clear his head and get out of there as quickly as possible.

***

The Golden Grove was pretty, at least, it helped ease his nerves. When he dropped down into the Rolling Hills, he almost headed to Ding Dong Dell before remembering Pip lived in its sewers and decided that the Golden Grove sounded like a better idea. Just spending some time staring at how the light dappled through the leaves, or how the flowers rustled gently in the wind. No Phil to move a few thousand miles away, no shared dreams hanging in the balance, no worries at all.

Man, he was hungry. But also, he really didn’t wanna go home y-

Oliver’s thought was cut off by the sound of something big rustling in the bushes. His head snapped to the side and his grip around Mornstar tightened, moving to hold it up defensively. He was surprised then when instead of some huge monster, he saw the pop of a green coat cut through the reds and oranges of the plants.

“Oliver!” Nicky cried, half paying attention as he stumbled through the bushes. “Agh! Sorry. Surprised to see you here though!”

“Oh, uh, hi Nicky.” Oliver wasn’t quite sure what to say, Nicky was probably the last person he expected to run into on his little trip. “What are you doing here?”

“Studying Bumbler group behavior, I could ask you the same thing though.” He answered, brushing off the last few twigs from his coat, and finally looking up at Oliver. Only to squint and look him up and down. “Is that what people wear in your world?”

“Y-yeah. I guess.”

“Hm. Neat.” Nicky blinked. “So, why are you here?”

Oliver looked to the side, he really didn’t wanna talk about it. Thankfully, his stomach rumbling gave him the perfect way to sidetrack the conversation. “Do you uhm, have a sandwich on you? I forgot to bring something before I left.”

Nicky’s face shifted, obvious to the fact Oliver was trying to change the topic, but it seemed like he didn’t mind too much though. “I was actually about to throw down a travel spell and go home, you can come with me if you want. I can get you something there.”

What was Oliver going to do, say no?

***

Nicky’s house was big, tucked away in some corner of an island Oliver eventually recognized as Turtle Crag, and it really didn't look that much like a house either. With swooping curved walls, pillars holding up the front, and statues carved into the top of the building, it looked more like a church than a place people actually lived. The inside was just as fancy, walking down a long hallway painted baby blue with the same kind of pillars and detailing from the outside.

“I’ll get you something, go sit down.” Nicky motioned Oliver forward, then promptly disappeared into a side corridor before Oliver even had a chance to reply. Following the suggestion, he shuffled off into the main room, taking a seat on an ancient looking sofa and making note of the staircase next to it so tall that it curved away into a dark corridor. It didn’t take long for Nicky to come back holding a plate of all kinds of fruits; green grapes, babanas, and oddly enough an entire snow radish.

“Take anything you want, just not the radish. That's mine.” He said as he took a seat parallel to Oliver on the other side of the sofa. Oliver had to try and hold back the face he wanted to made when he saw Nicky pick up the snow radish and bite into it as if it were a carrot. “So, how have you been?”

“I-uh…uhm.” Oliver struggled to find the words, for various reasons.

Nicky didn’t seem too bothered. “You must’ve been pretty upset if you came here without anything.” Oliver only hummed in response, and Nicky cocked his head to the side. “What happened?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“Me and my friend got into a fight.”

“Really?” Nicky replied, shocked. “Whoever your friend is must have d-”

Oliver cut him off. “No, It was…” he hesitated for a second, the look of Phil’s face flashed into his mind. “It was my fault.”

Nicky blinked. “Huh,” was all he said at first, “Well..keep going then.”

“Me and Phil…we’ve always had this dream to build the best car-” Oliver stopped for a second. “Well you wouldn’t know what a car is, would you.”

“I can pretend.”

“O-okay, then. Our dream was to build the best car in the world, together. And he just told me he got into a really good school for building cars, but it’s really far away.” Oliver sighed. “I…didn’t take it that well.”

“Can’t you just cast Travel?” Nicky asked as if the solution was obvious.

“I wish it was that easy.” Oliver sighed “We don’t have magic back home. Getting around is a lot harder to do, especially if it’s far away.”

Nicky hummed. “No magic? At all? Your world sounds so… different .”

Oliver stared at the floor, trying to distract himself with the intricate patterns in the tile. “It is. I just…” he struggled to find the words. “It’s always been our dream, and now he’s just gonna be…doing it without me.”

“Well, I think you would know a thing or two about messing up people’s dreams, wouldn’t you,” Nicky said a bit smugly. Oliver went pale until he saw Nicky crack a smile. “Relax, no hard feelings….anymore.” He giggled. “That being said, I’ve always been a bit glad you beat me that day at the Colosseum.”

“Really?” Oliver looked up at him.

Nicky nodded “When I think about it, even if I did win the whole thing, I don’t think I would’ve been able to handle what came after. To be honest, I don’t think I ever really cared about all of that. I just wanted to prove to my dad that I could win.” He stopped for a second, “which is probably why I lost so hard.”

Oliver fidgeted in his seat, almost embarrassed. “I didn’t beat you that bad.”

Nicky took another bite from his snow radish. “It felt like you did. Anyway, a bit after you beat me, I realized something. My entire life focused around that tournament. And it was just…gone. I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. After a while I realized I could do whatever I wanted, really.”

“You work at the Colosseum now, though.”

“Well I do it now because I want to, duh. Not because I felt like I had to. Could you imagine if I won that day? I think my head would’ve grown so big it would overshadow Solomon’s, ugh .” He laughed to himself.

Honestly when he thought about it, Oliver was pretty impressed with how much Nicky grew since the Ultra Ultimate Division. He was still Nicky of course, but he was also a far cry from the kid who proclaimed himself the most talented familiar tamer in the past century up until the very end and desperately claiming Oliver as his rival. The Nicky he knew today would rather spend his time staring at wild familiars from bushes and fighting without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“What I’m saying is: no matter what happens, if you’re involved, it’ll work out. I think so, at least.”

Oliver looked up, the ceilings felt so tall they reminded him of a palace. “You really think so?”

“Nicostrato!” Oliver suddenly heard a familiar voice shout quite sternly from above them. “Devi vieni qui adesso ! Farete in ritardo!”

Oliver whipped his head back down to watch Nicky roll his eyes, before his face twisted to confusion. “ Late for what?! ” He shouted back, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs growing ever louder.

“Il colosseo! Colosseo!” His father called. “Se arriviamo in ritardo, quel figliolino verde di put-” Mr. Gappolino finally came into view when he reached the bottom of the stairs, stopping in his tracks when he looked up and saw someone other than his son standing there. “Why hello, Oliver!” He said, pleasantly surprised, “I didn’t know you were here!”

He barely got a chance to say hello back when he saw Nicky’s eyes widen. “The Colosseum?!? Hell! I thought that was tomorrow!” He ran a hand through his hair, before turning back to Oliver. “Sorry, we need to go.”

“Oh-Um, no, it’s okay.” Oliver shuffled, fumbling to get his wand as they all walked out to the front of the house together. “Thanks for talking with me.” He said,

“Well I mean, we’re friends right?” Nicky smiled as his father cast Travel while Oliver began preparing Gateway.

“Yeah. We’re friends.” Oliver looked off into the distance, his mind clearly already back home. “Bye Nicky.”

He couldn’t even see Nicky in the combined white glow of both spells. “Bye Oliver!”

***

The sun had started to set by the time Oliver started walking over to Phil’s house, he hoped he was there by now, but he knew Phil had a bad habit of staying at the garage far too late. He wouldn’t mind too much though, at this point he was fully prepared to run halfway across town to find him. Oliver walked up onto the porch and knocked on the door, silently hoping it wasn’t answered by one of his parents.

It was hard to hide his sigh of relief when it was Phil who opened the door. “Hi…” Phil paused for a second, you could cut the awkwardness in the air with a knife, “Ollie.”

“Hi Phil.” Oliver stood up straight. “Can I, uh, talk to you for a second.”

“Y-yeah. Sure. Yeah.” Phil walked out, closing the door behind him. “Have a seat.” He said, motioning towards the bench swing on the patio. They both sat down, and it also seemed both of them realized how wildly inappropriate it would be to rock the swing right now.

“Remember that time we broke this thing when we swung on it too hard?” Phil asked.

Oliver smiled, just a little bit, still looking straight ahead. “Yeah, you thought your mom was gonna kill you.” He giggled, and Phil snickered. For a second, everything was nice.

“Hey, Phil.” Oliver turned to look at him. “I’m…sorry about earlier.”

“I-I’m sorry too. I uh, said some things that probably weren’t the best, and I get why you’re upset-”

“No, it’s okay.” He replied, “It was just a lot to take in. That’s all.”

“I get it. But hey, you know it’s not like I’m gonna be stuck there forever, right?” Phil shrugged. “I’m gonna spend my breaks visiting here.”

“But what about after you graduate?”

“I dunno, maybe I’ll make you visit me.” Phil laughed, “Maybe you’ll like California, you ever been to the beach? Like a real one, at the ocean.” He pushed his foot against the ground, and the bench began to sway in the evening breeze.

“Yeah, actually.” Oliver answered, he just happened to leave out the fact that the beaches he saw were not anywhere in this world. He made a mental note that he was gonna have to tell Phil the everything else part that happened after the everything a lot sooner than Oliver thought he would have to.

It was quiet, for a moment.

“Hey, Ollie?”

“Yeah?”

Phil looked over at him. “Our dream?”

Oliver stopped for a second, then nodded. “Our dream.”

“Junior! Dinner’s ready!” Phil’s mom suddenly called from back inside.

“I’m outside! Coming!” Phil shouted back, “Hey, my mom always makes more than enough, wanna come in with me?”

Oliver smiled. “Sounds great!”