Work Text:
Emmet knew something was off as soon his he cracked open his eyes, his limbs feeling weak and his brain fuzzy. He groaned as he reached beside him blindly and searched for his phone which was blasting his alarm. Thomas the train theme of course. It was only fitting!
After a moment he found the device and shut it off, simply laying there with his face pressed firmly into his pillow for a few more blissful seconds until he forced himself to get up. It took a lot more effort than normal to simply sit up, legs feeling like jelly when he stood. Despite the urge to just lay right back in bed Emmet slowly made his way out of his room, sending one last yearning glance towards his custom made train bed as he crossed the door frame. His and Ingo's beds were the first thing the twins had gotten for their shared apartment, having to be custom made due to the majority of those designs being made for children. Especially Ingo's Thomas the train bed, which his brother had joked about and Emmet went ahead and did anyway. Ingo would deny this, but the younger twin knew that he unironically enjoyed it.
Once Emmet stepped into the kitchen he was greeted by Ingo, the fact that his brother managed to wake up before him was yet another bad sign. The last time that happened he was–no. He was not sick! He couldn't be, he had work to do! Today was scheduled with lots of trainers for them to battle and Emmet was quite excited for it! Sure he may not feel like he was a max hp, but he was fine! Ingo was wearing his Chandelure onesie while Emmet still had on his joltik one, both of them loved to sleep while wearing them. The fabric used to make the clothing was really soft and thick, it was especially nice for if either one was overstimulated and couldn't wear their normal sleep wear.
"Good morning Emmet! Are you feeling unwell? You are usually up much earlier than myself." If this were anyone else Ingo wouldn't be nearly as concerned, but this was Emmet. His brother was known to bolt out of bed a good hour before his alarm went off, especially if he was looking forward to the battles that awaited them at work. If it was their day off he might sleep in, but that was unheard of on work days. Not to mention as much as Emmet was trying to hide it he could see the strain in that smile of his, he was paler than usual as well. "Sit down, I'll get us breakfast." He moved to grab their two mugs, pouring coffee into them. One was white and the other black, both having a matching train picture with the words 'choo choo motherfucker' written in bold letters. They were a gift from Elesa, Emmet found them hilarious while Ingo…okay, they were kind of amusing. He put sugar and cream in his own, leaving Emmet's as black, before setting the white cup in front of his brother. Ingo sipped on the caffeine, eyes never leaving Emmet as he waited for a response.
Emmet flopped down in the chair, a laugh bubbling up and moving past his lips as he waved his hand to dismiss the idea. "You worry too much, I am fine! I just needed my beauty sleep that's all–I can't go around looking like a zombie like you brother!" He hoped the playful jab would knock off any concern Ingo had, but from the disbelieving glare that was sent his way he doubted it. His throat ached in protest as he spoke and he held back a wince. He reached for his coffee and took a few sips, the warm liquid doing wonders for his poor throat. Though the relief only lasted for a moment, so he found myself finishing his coffee in record time in a desperate attempt to soothe it.
Ingo studied him for a second before letting out a sigh, turning around with coffee still in hand as he went to figure out what the two would have to eat. He would let it go for now. Emmet could be really stubborn at times, best not to fight him on it if it was unnecessary. He would have to keep an eye on him though.
The twins had settled on just having oatmeal and afterwards moved to their separate rooms to change into their uniforms. Ingo didn't miss how Emmet had tripped over his own feet and almost fell, but he didn't comment on it. Emmet could be a bit clumsy after all…that didn't mean much.
Ingo emerged from his room, tugging on his gloves and making sure all his pokemon were recalled and back into the pokeballs in his jacket. "Emmet! You almost ready?"
"Yeah–! Just a second!" Emmet called back, struggling to slip on his shoes. Jeez, were they always so difficult to put on? He felt dizzy as he stood back up, shaking his head in an effort to clear the feeling as he joined his twin at the door. "Okay ready!"
Ingo stared at him, raising an eyebrow "Your pokemon?" He deadpanned.
Emmet blinked, turning around and meeting the collective gaze of his whole team which were looking in confusion. "Oh. Oops." He fumbled with his jacket and pulled out his pokeballs, returning everyone with a weak chuckle. "Seems I almost left the station without all our passengers! I am just excited, I got ahead of myself!"
Ingo rolled his eyes fondly and with that they were out the door, walking together towards the subway station. He sent a few glances Emmet's way, a bit alarmed by the way his brother dragged his feet and struggled to keep up. Normally Emmet practically raced him to the station in the mornings, something was definitely wrong. Still, Ingo couldn't just demand answers without much evidence. Much less try and force his brother to take the day off, Emmet 'would rather die'. His brother's words, not his.
—-
When they arrived at work Ingo was very reluctant to let Emmet out of his sight, so he requested to join him on the double train which Emmet agreed to without a second thought. After greeting and speaking with their coworkers the brothers made their way to the battle train, entering once the doors slid open and walking to the end of the line to the very last car. This is where they would wait for their first challenger, but in the meantime they had the wonderful job of paperwork. Fun right? Yes. Fantastic. Though Ingo didn't mind it nearly as much as Emmet, who would dramatically fall into a seat and groan like he was dying. Yet to his surprise, Emmet did no such thing today. He watched as the man dressed in white simply grabbed his paperwork and settled down to work without complaint. Ingo opened his mouth to once again ask if he was okay, but Emmet just waved him off again with a reassurance that he was just tired.
Emmet clicked the pen in his hand as he stared at the page in front of him, his smile twitching at the sides in frustration. He couldn't focus! Every word just seemed to blur together, not to mention the growing migraine that felt like it threatened to split his skull open. He never liked paperwork, but when he felt like this it was nearly impossible. Still he tried his best, his handwriting a lot more shaky than normal as his body trembled slightly. It suddenly felt like he was boiling, dropping his clipboard in order to clumsily pull his jacket off. The subway was air conditioned, how was it this hot? He looked towards Ingo, noting that his brother was calmly sat a few feet away from him and purely focused on his work. Ah…so it was just him? Great…
It felt like an eternity, but likely only 30 or so minutes, before the twins' Xtranscievers lit up in sync. A challenger was approaching! Emmet dropped his papers and shot up in excitement, which was a mistake on his part in hindsight. He sucked a harsh breath through his teeth as black dots exploded in his vision, his hand flying out to grab at the hand rail next to him to stabilize himself. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like the world was spinning around him. He felt like he was going to hurl. After a few deep breaths it eased a bit and Emmet opened his eyes, sending a glance towards Ingo to see if he had seen. Thankfully, well in his opinion, his brother had his back turned to him. Ingo had been too occupied with putting things away to notice. His twin turned towards him, and Emmet decided in that moment that he would not mention what had just happened. He could see that Ingo was just as excited about today as he was, there was no way he was ruining that for him. Plus Emmet could handle it! He was a Subway Boss, one of the strongest trainers in Nimbasa! A little sickness wasn't going to stop him! "You ready Ingo?" He grinned, walking up to his brother so that they stood side by side.
Ingo paused as he looked towards him, his eyebrows furrowed "What happened to your coat? Is it too warm for you? I can turn up the air conditioning." It felt weird to see Emmet take it off while at work, even during the hottest days of summer both of them would refuse to remove any part of their uniform. Not to mention it wasn't even warm, in fact without his coat it may even be a bit chilly.
Emmet shook his head, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the sweat that had developed on his face. "I am Emmet, and I am fine! No need for concern!"
Ingo narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to argue–but before he got the chance he was interrupted by the subway door swishing open.
Both brothers stood up straight and looked towards the young challenger that entered the car. Emmet's smile brightened and the twins pointed forward as they gave their usual greeting.
"I am the Subway Boss Ingo."
"I am Emmet! I am also a Subway Boss!"
"You have done well to get this far, bravo! Now we will see if your car is set for victory–"
"Or defeat!"
"Make sure to do your safety checks!"
"Everybody smile!"
And then together as one they shouted "ALLL ABOARD!"
And with that, the battle had began. Ingo reached into his pocket and tossed out Chandelure "Cinder, approach the platform!" His pokemon let out a cry and eagerly got ready for battle.
"Caboose! It's time to take this track straight to victory!" Emmet brought out his Galvantula, the electric spider doing a small jump in the air, they were clearly just as hyped for this battle as her trainer. The younger challenger, who finally introduced herself as Dawn, sent out her Buneary.
The battle was quite intense, so much that Emmet had all but forgotten how he wasn't feeling great–or well he had up until he had jumped into a pose too quickly. The last thing he remembers thinking was that he was going to throw up, before his vision went black and his body fell. He doesn't even recall falling!
Throughout the whole battle Ingo had been sneaking glances towards his brother, his concern only growing at the trembling that he noticed. Sure he could write that off as Emmet just being excited, but paired with his pale skin and how much he was sweating? Not to mention being a lot more slow in his movements, for once it seems like Emmet was just a few seconds off from being in sync with him. He was close to cutting this battle short and just dragging his twin home, but before he could Emmet's body finally seemed to give out. Ingo's head snapped in the direction of his brother as he heard Emmet let out a shaky gasp, panic filling him as he fainted. "EMMET!" Ingo moved at lighting speed as he went to catch his twin, his eyes wide and his hands shaking slightly due to adrenaline.
Dawn let out a gasp, recalling her pokemon without a second thought. She spun on her heel and called out 'I'll go get help!' before running out of the train car.
Ingo didn't even hear her, too focused on Emmet to even notice the challenger darting out. He wrapped his arms underneath Emmet's armpits and slowly lowered them both to the ground. He sat and let his brother's head rest in his lap, lightly smacking his cheek to try and get him to wake up. Why was he not waking up?! Ingo was nearly thrown into a panic attack, but luckily Emmet's groan snapped him out of it. "EMMET!" Can you hear me? What happened?"
Emmet lifted a hand to his head with another groan, slowly opening his eyes. He smiled up at Ingo, still dazed. "Why are you yelling, brother? Wait…" He blinked a few times, finally starting to process that he was in fact on the floor being cradled by Ingo. "Oh. Did my car get detrailed? I was wondering if that would happen." He felt the older twin tense up and Emmet looked at his expression in slight worry. Oh. Ohh shit– Ingo was pissed. He slowly sat up, his smile twitching nervously. "Ingo..?"
"What." Ingo's voice was deadly quiet, the man taking a breath before taking a hold of Emmet's shoulders and shaking him a bit. "WHAT THE FUCK EMMET?! YOU KNEW? YET YOU STILL CAME TO WORK?!" He was absolutely fuming, if looks could kill Emmet was sure that glare alone would have sent him straight to the grave.
Emmet couldn't meet his eyes, his gaze dropping to his hands. He tugged at the fingers of his right glove nervously, his smile small and strained. "I did not think it was necessary to sound the alarm on my health…I am fine! I am not out of commission!"
Ingo grit his teeth, taking a deep breath to try and calm his anger. Don't get him wrong, it was completely out of concern for his brother. Emmet knew this. It was also upsetting how little Emmet cared for his own health. "Emmet."
"Yes–?"
"You. Fainted."
"......."
Well, Emmet couldn't argue with that. He sighed, lifting his head with an apologetic expression. "I am sorry. I did not believe I was that sick– I thought I could still work. I didn't want to skip it…"
Ingo's face softened, leaning forward to embrace his brother with a deep sigh. "You need to take better care of yourself. Missing one day of work isn't going to kill you."
Emmet leaned forward into Ingo, his arms moving to lazily hold him back. "Yes. I know. But I also know you would have been too worried to come to work either, I didn't want you to have to miss the day because of me. We were both looking forward to the battles scheduled."
Ingo pulled away from the hug just enough to look at his brother, eyebrows furrowed and his mouth in a deep frown. "Emmet. Your safety and well-being come first before anything else. Of course I would skip work when you are sick, you are my brother. I want to take care of you. I do not care what day or time you need me, I will be there. Please do not feel the need to hide your illness for my sake."
Emmet nodded, opening his mouth to reply. "Okay fine, your concerns have been noted and will be taken in to consideration–"
Ingo lightly bonked him on the head with his hand "Simply say that you understand, you dork." He teased lightly, chuckling a bit.
Emmet laughed and stuck his tongue out "Yes yes, whatever."
Soon enough Dawn returned with the subways medic, the younger twin letting himself be examined with the insistence of his worried brother. Turns out Emmet not only had a fever, but most likely had a bad case of a virus that was going around.
"We need to get you home." Ingo stood up, offering a hand to help Emmet to his feet.
Emmet took his hand and lifted himself up with some difficulty, black spots dancing in his vision and nausea swimming in his stomach. "Yes. I suppose it is a good idea to return to our home station. Apologies for the detour in our schedule."
Surprisingly it was the medic that spoke up next "No apology needed Emmet, everyone gets sick sometimes! What's important is that you get some rest, the subway isn't going anywhere. It'll be here waiting once you're all better." He then turned to Ingo with a smile "Make sure he actually takes care of yourself, yeah? I swear you two worry me sometimes, you're both such workaholics."
Ingo nodded in agreement, laughing a little "Yes, I will make sure my brother does his proper maintenance. I assure you there is no need for concern regarding our work however, we very much enjoy our roles as Subway Bosses so it's only fair that we work so hard! Nonetheless we will take breaks whenever they are necessary. This being one of those times, please inform the rest of our staff that me and Emmet will be absent until further notice." After receiving a nod from the medic Ingo brought his attention back to his twin, his frown deepening as he saw how he was currently struggling to not sit back down. Without a second thought he moved to scoop up Emmet to carry him, holding him bridal style and beginning to walk out of their current train car.
Emmet's mind was so foggy that he didn't even register that he was being lifted until he was fully in Ingo's arms. He let out a confused 'huh?' and tensed up, only relaxing as he glanced up and realized it was his brother carrying him. Usually Emmet would whine about not needing to be babied like this, but at this moment he was just thankful to not have to walk right now. He leaned his head against Ingo's chest, closing his eyes as he finally let himself relax. He didn't have to pretend to be okay anymore, there was no point. Everyone knew he was sick now anyway.
The battle train had been closed early and had returned to the station quickly so that the twins could return home, all of their coworkers wishing Emmet a swift recovery as Ingo left with his brother. At some point Emmet had fallen asleep in his arms, Ingo doing his best not to jostle him as he made his way back to their shared apartment. Arceus knows he needed all the rest he could get. Ingo felt bad for letting it get to this point in the first place, next time he would not be so lenient and force Emmet back to bed immediately. He had known that Emmet was unwell, though he didn't understand the extent of it up until now.
—
Once inside their apartment Ingo carried Emmet straight to bed, setting him down and tucking him in. Thankfully Emmet was a heavy sleeper so this didn't wake him up. Ingo then left the room to set both of their coats and hats neatly on the coat rack next to the front door, reaching for all of their pokeballs to release both of their teams. All of the pokemon seemed very concerned about Emmet, Elecrotross and Galvantula specifically rushing towards his twins' room as soon as they were let out. Chandelure cooed and leaned up against Ingo's side, the man reaching up to pat their glass face reassuringly before moving towards the kitchen to make some soup.
—
When Emmet blinked awake about an hour later it was to the sound of their tiny train 'choo chooing' towards his bed. It was something they had bought originally so that when either twin was socially burnt out they could send each other things without the need to leave their rooms. The track for it stretched throughout the whole apartment and could be adjusted and moved however they pleased. Honestly, one of the best their purchases ever in his opinion. He slowly sat up to look at it, a cold rag that was placed on his head falling into his lap. It seemed that Ingo had moved the track to stop right next to his bed, Emmet noticing a post-it note attached to the front along with pills and a water bottle held in the open train car it pulled around. He reached forward to grab it and read the note, smiling softly.
'Take these pills, they will help! Text me when you wake up, I made soup :)'
Emmet took the pills along with downing about half the water in the bottle, screwing the top back on before setting the bottle on his bedside table. He found that his phone was set on his table and he picked it up, groaning dramatically as he turned it on and saw all his missed messages from Elesa. Of course Ingo had informed her that he was sick, he didn't expect anything less from his brother. He rolled his eyes fondly and replied to Elesa with a quick 'I am okay! In bed I swear :>' before sending his twin a quick message that he was awake. Ingo popped up not a second later, had he been waiting at the door or something? He wouldn't put it past him. Emmet chuckled and sent him a smile and a wave. "I was not asleep long, was I?"
Ingo stepped into the room, carrying a rag along with him as well as a bowl of chicken noodle soup. "No, only for approximately an hour. I am glad you are awake though, you didn't eat all of your breakfast this morning so it is important that you eat." He set the soup on the table and moved to gently push Emmet down so that he was lying down fully. He then took the old rag and threw it in the laundry basket, setting the new cold rag on his brother's forehead.
Emmet blinked and just let himself be pushed down, raising an eyebrow with a laugh. "How am I going to eat while laying down?"
Ingo picked up the bowl and the spoon set inside,lifting it up slightly "I am going to feed it to you, obviously."
Emmet sputtered "Wha– Ingo! I am not a little kid! I can eat on my own!"
Ingo merely hummed and lifted up the spoon further, bringing it closer to Emmet's mouth. "Never said you were. Now, choo choo here comes the train!" He was clearly holding back laugher, finding this quite funny.
Emmet glared at him, making direct eye-contact as he opened his mouth to respond. "This is unneeded and you know it–mhm!" He was cut off by Ingo putting the spoon in his mouth. He went cross-eyed as he stared at the spoon, his gaze returning to Ingo as it was removed from his mouth. "Rude." He pouted, getting a laugh from his brother in response.
"It's for your own good."
Emmet groaned for what felt like the millionth time today "Yes. I know."
"Good! So we are in agreement!" Ingo put more soup on the spoon and brought it back up to Emmet's mouth "Let me refuel you, open up!"
Emmet deadpanned "I am not happy about this." Nonetheless he opened his mouth once more, taking the offered food.
"Too bad." Ingo chirped happily in response, bringing another spoonful up to his lips. "I am taking care of you, whether you like it or not."
—
After making sure Emmet was fed and getting him to change out of his now sweaty and gross work clothes Ingo had finally left the room to let him rest some more. He kept his phone on full volume and kept an eye out for the toy train in case his brother tried to contact him for anything, but for now all he could do was wait. He decided to busy himself with some left over paperwork in his room.
Hours ticked by before he knew it and Ingo got out of his chair to go and check on Emmet again, leaving his room and going across the hall to pop his head in. The sight that greeted him was quite adorable to say the least. All of their pokemon were either in the bed with his brother or sleeping right next to it. Galvantula was scrawled out across Emmet, her legs hugging him tightly. Elecrotross was acting as a head rest, Durant along with a mini horde of joltik covered his arms, and Haxorus had his head resting on the bed as he watched Emmet sleep closely. Ingo took a picture with his phone before leaving them be, feeling reassured that Emmet was in good hands–err paws? Legs? In good care!
—---
It took a few days but soon enough Emmet was fit to return to work, the man practically jumping off the walls from being cooped up for so long. Safe to say he did learn his lesson though, he wouldn't lie about being sick in the future! It wasn't worth it, and Ingo may just go feral on him again if he tried. He was thankful that Ingo was there to take care of him, though he could of done without the teasing and no doubt good amount of blackmail that came from it. It would take weeks for Elesa to stop laughing at the video Ingo send of him being loopy on medication and playing dress up with the joltik. But hey, at least the joltik had a blast!