Chapter Text
█, ██, 1989.
“Oliver!” You giggle, clasping your little hands together.
Today you had the privilege of playing with none other than Oliver Ludwig himself, the son of the founder of Playtime Co, Elliot Ludwig.
Your mother had been working for Playtime Co. for little over a year at the point, and you couldn’t have been more ecstatic. You were homeschooled, a decision your mother had made before you’d even been able to walk, making it easier to hang out with the kids of the Playcare as you did your schoolwork.
At some point, you’d even been integrated into the Playtime Co. school system as an unofficial student, the Miss Delight’s often stopping by to help you with your schoolwork—not like it was hard. Fourth grade was extremely simple for you.
In fact, you’d often finish your work quickly. Too quickly. Then, you’d just be sitting around, bored without any source of entertainment as you waited for your friends to finish their school days.
Likewise, your mother was always around somewhere in the factory, but she was never really present in your life during the work day. The weekends were when you spent the most time with her. Your father wasn’t in the picture so you spent hours and hours enjoying each other's company.
Or at least, that was until you met Oliver.
Oliver Ludwig was a lot like you in many ways.
For one, he was also homeschooled. Kind of. He spent his days annoying the staff—and you. Yes, to your current embarrassment, you had at one point found Oliver to be a nuisance. Maybe it was the way his mouth wagged on and on, or how his short blonde locks always seemed effortlessly gold and shiny.
Regardless, you couldn’t stand the young Ludwig.
And then, when you thought you’d reached your final straw, he started talking about his older sister, one he’d somehow never met but was completely enchanted by.
Poppy.
See, years before Oliver had even been born, Elliot Ludwig adopted a different child. A girl with bright red ringlets and brilliant blue eyes.
Unfortunately, she died not long after.
It was clear to you, even as a mere fourth grader, that Mr. Ludwig had never recovered from this loss—and yet, he’d still adopted Oliver to fill whatever hole was left in his heart from Poppy’s absence.
And Oliver idolized him for it.
“C’mon, let’s go play!” The young Ludwig laughs, tossing the math workbook your mom had sent you off with before heading down to the labs.
“I wanna, but my mom’s gonna get mad at me!” You whine, crossing your arms and turning away.
“Too bad.” Ollie smirks.
Ollie ignores your cries of protest, dragging you out of the janitor’s closet you’d taken temporary residence in and out into the massive Playcare dome. The painted sky enthralled you, and this was one of its prettiest phases. That, and the artificial night sky with star LED’s.
It almost made you forget that the orphans never got any actual sunlight or vitamin D until they got adopted, which thankfully, happened quite frequently. If it wasn’t young couples or people like Mr. Ludwig, it was the scientists of Playtime Co. They chose the children personally, bringing life into what you assumed was a colorless gray void of a house.
But how could you know? You’d never been in a scientist's house.
“Let’s play!” Ollie demands, tossing a medium sized red ball at you.
You roll your eyes in retaliation, but toss it back nonetheless. You throw the ball back and forth in silence for what feels like seconds, but you quickly realize it is much longer when you look at the miniature clock on your wrist. It was a gift from your mother, who wanted to give you something to feel closer to your absent father.
3:04 PM. You still had half an hour until your friends got out of school.
That would be plenty of time.
“Dad says I might get to tour the labs soon.” Ollie says happily, lips turning upward into a large, toothy smile. He’d just finished growing in all of his permanent adult teeth, and couldn’t be happier. Although, you’re sure he missed those visits from the tooth fairy.
Hah, take that Ollie.
“Oooh! That sounds fun!” You say, voice filled with a sense of awe. “Say hi to my mom if you see her.”
Ollie nods. “I will…if I’m not too busy becoming the king of Playtime!” He jests, smirking as he narrows his eyes at you childishly. “Then I’ll be your boss.” He sticks his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at you from six feet away.
“Yeah sure you will.” You roll your eyes dramatically.
You liked Oliver a lot more than you cared to show. In all honesty, he was one of the best friends you’d ever had, weaseling his way into your heart in such a small amount of time. You might have even gone as far to say Oliver Ludwig was your best friend…in the entire world.
Of course, you wouldn’t let him hear that. Ollie was prideful as is, and it would wound your own pride to see him so confident. Does that make you a bad person?
No, you reassure yourself—it doesn’t. It isn’t your job to keep his ego in check, especially as a ten year old yourself. Then why did your heart shatter in two whenever you saw those sad, puppy dog eyes of his? Or how you always longed for his presence whenever he left with his father?
Did you have a crush?
NO!
Absolutely not, you reprimand yourself. Crushes are silly. Plus, you can’t start dating until college. Your mom said she would kill you if you did, and although you’re sure she was joking, you don’t want to face her wrath. That faint blush that appeared on your cheeks was a childish fantasy, nothing more.
Ollie tosses the ball back to you again, but this time, you don’t catch it. You don’t even try to. Instead, you sassily fold your arms as you frown back at the bubbly blonde boy whose face instantly drops.
“Why’d you stop?” He asks, befuddled with a hint of disappointment.
“I don’t wanna play anymore.” You reply, flatly.
“But why-”
The school bell rings, interrupting the young Ludwig mid sentence. Suddenly, your friends come pouring out of the two turquoise double doors at the entrance of the building, like a large torrent of running water. They can’t be contained, happily hopping around and giggling amongst one another as they pour out into the Playcare dome.
Kevin Barnes comes marching across the lawn, a malevolent grin on his face. Before you can think twice, he grabs a small, pony beaded friendship bracelet you’d made and starts to pull it off your wrist hastily.
“Hey!” You cry out, pulling away from the delinquent’s grasp. “That’s mine!”
Oliver doesn’t even think as he grabs the red ball from earlier, feeling the cool plastic in his hands as he mentally rehearses his plan. You look up at the young Ludwig, tears in your eyes as Kevin shoves you to the ground. “Stop!” You squeal, tears running down your cheeks.
The teachers (or counselors), if there’s any nearby, don’t seem to notice…or care. They’re too distracted with the little ones to care about Kevin’s tormenting. He was reprimanded a few times, sure, but he never stayed in trouble for long.
You were always told you were too sensitive, that you needed to toughen up—or that his bad behavior stemmed from the fact that he was ‘just a boy’, and boys are mean to girls they have crushes on.
You never believed that. Not for one moment.
Kevin pins you to the ground, holding your wrist above your head as he forces the bracelet off your wrist. You won’t stop wailing, but nobody comes to your rescue. The teachers don’t spare you a second glance. Then-
“Don’t touch her!” Ollie bellows, knocking Kevin off you and nearly trampling him in the process.
The two blondes wrestle on the floor, their shouts echoing throughout the dome as Ms. Greyber, Ms. Harper, and Matthew Hallard, one of the older kids whom you respected, all come to the ‘rescue.’ With Matthew’s help, Ms. Harper pulls Oliver off Kevin. Meanwhile, Ms. Greyber restrains the other blonde, who’s trying desperately to lunge and tear your best friend’s face off.
“Oliver Ludwig!” Miss Harper scolds. “What is the meaning of this?!”
“He was trying to hurt her!” Ollie exclaims, squirming out of Miss Harper and Matthew’s grasp.
“No I wasn’t!” Kevin screams in retaliation. Ms. Greyber doesn’t loosen her hold on him.
“That was highly immature, boys.” Ms. Harper reprimands, holding a finger up in the air. “We do not fight. We talk things out calmly with our words.” She declares.
“But he-!” Pushed you to the ground, you finish mentally. But Ollie never gets a chance to finish his sentence.
“Regardless of what he did, you gave the poor boy a nosebleed!” Miss Harper says, gesturing to Kevin’s crooked and bleeding nose. The blooming red liquid was smeared all over his face like fresh poppies in the spring.
“He pushed me to the ground.” You sob into your hands, still on the ground. “He took my bracelet.”
Ms. Harper sighs. “Boys will be boys.” And there it was. You’d grown used to that classic line because it seemed no matter what you did, or in this case, what Kevin did to you, nobody would ever be on your side. It was your fault for being born a girl, wasn’t it?
To this day, the only person who had ever defended you was Oliver Ludwig, and he would soon be punished for it.
“Oliver, my boy!” Elliot Ludwig’s voice echoes throughout the Playcare. He was quite theatrical, even in the most dire of situations. “What have you done now?” Mr. Ludwig demands, looking towards Stella Greyber who is still restraining a very angry Kevin.
“Dad!” Ollie lights up at the sight of the older man. He thought he was being rescued.
Elliot must be in his eighties or nineties by now, you think. He certainly looked it. From what your mother had told you, his health had rapidly declined in the past decade, probably from the grief over his late daughter, Poppy’s death.
Still, he looked rather solemn. His gray hair and mustache contrasted with the bright colors of Playcare, but were smooth enough not to blend with his ashy and wrinkled face.
“Mr. Ludwig, thank goodness you’re here.” Ms. Harper sighs, relieved. “Oliver and Kevin just engaged in a…’physical altercation’…and I believe your son may have just broken Kevin’s nose.”
Elliot stands in silence for a long minute, the only sounds around you are from the other orphans who laugh and play happily, oblivious to the fight that had just taken place moments ago. Stella gives Mr. Ludwig a sympathetic look, one that Ms. Harper doesn’t notice. Yet, Elliot’s aged face doesn’t change, if anything, it looks like he’s just processed what his son has done.
“Oliver, what have you done?” Elliot finally speaks. Ollie’s face drops, his heart shattering onto the floor.
“Dad, I-”
“When will you learn?” Mr. Ludwig asks, picking the boy up and leading him away like a criminal from a crime scene. Oliver wasn’t guilty though—not like those criminals you’d see on the television when you stayed up way past your bed time—and in your mind, he was being wrongfully punished.
A single tear drips down the blonde’s cheek as he looks back at you. His fern green eyes watering and filling to the brim as his nose begins to run and turn red.
Mr. Ludwig doesn’t falter, however, and continues to drag his adopted son along the artificial turf until they reach the employee exit.
Then, they disappear together. Hand in hand, father and son. You can only hope that Mr. Ludwig doesn’t reprimand Oliver too harshly. However, you would never be able to find out.
That was the last time you ever saw Oliver Ludwig.