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Ingo hadn't been sleeping well since his return from Hisui; going from the quiet yet stressful life surrounded by nature of ancient Sinnoh to the incessant hustle and bustle of the great city in present day Unova proved to be more of a culture shock than either of the twins had expected. The nightlife noises often kept the elder up late, leaving little time for any proper sleep. Meanwhile the nights he'd be able to fall asleep at a reasonable time were often quite restless and left him more tired than if he'd simply not slept at all.
Had they still been children, perhaps they could have shared a bed at night. Perhaps the proximity could provide enough comfort and security now as it did then and help lull his brother to sleep or at least relax him enough to receive some level of rest at night. The knowledge that one wasn't alone is often quite comforting. It had been the case whenever they would share the couch in their office for an impromptu nap during some of their many late night shifts, where despite having been short and low quality sleep they would wake up refreshed and rested, so perhaps it would be equally effective now. After all, it had been effective for him the first couple of nights following Ingo's return. Both brothers refusing to spend more than the necessary time apart, afraid to let go only to wake up to the realization their reunion had been a dream all along.
It had been the best sleep Emmet had had in close to a decade.
Roughly a week after his return, Emmet had suggested to Ingo the option to extend the itinerary of their sleeping arrangements, reasoning to himself that the extended close contact could help them both ease back into their two-car train routine. Perhaps suggesting they share a room for a longer period over their morning coffee had been slightly tactless on his part, Ingo choking and sputtering at the words teary eyed and red faced. The suggestion had crashed and burned at the table that morning with Ingo's thorough and unmoving refusal, Emmet couldn't help the pout of his lips or the curious sting in his chest at having such a harmless idea being so harshly amd thoroughly turned down.
Almost two months since then, the fear of a sudden separation wasn't quite as raw and slowly allowed the return of a sense of almost normalcy. Except that as the days passed by, Ingi struggled more and more to obtain any proper rest.
Emmet worried, of course, knowing first hand how draining it could be to fulfill his duties while your engine never truly docked at the station for its scheduled maintenance, having experienced something similar himself after Ingo's disappearance. He could only imagine his brother's struggle with the added stress of being in a new but distantly familiar station and gaps in your memory that his twin must be experiencing. But aside from empathizing. There was not much Emmet could do to help him, so he settled on trying to provide him as much comfort as possible during their waking hours and allowing him to sleep whenever he caught Ingo dozing off. It would have to do for now, he supposed.
Before his time in Hisui, Emmet and Ingo would typically share many of the responsibilities that came with being the subway masters and running the battle trains equally. With each of them taking roughly the same workload and working practically the same schedule. The "roughly" being primarily due to Ingo's stubborn habit of trying to complete as much of the paperwork as possible on his own. Following his return however, per Emmet's request, Ingo's responsibilities had been cut down to be dispersed amongst the rest of the staff and his shifts had been shortened with the intention to allow Ingo to acclimate once again to the rush of modern life with more ease. Despite his initial refusal and insistence he would be fine returning to their old itinerary, Ingo understood this was the best track to follow in order to ensure a smooth transition and avoid as many unnecessary derailments as possible. This often meant that Ingo's shifts ended before Emmet's; sometimes he would remain at the station wishing to return home as a two-car train, secretly reverting to his past habits and attempting to complete a last bit of paperwork or reviewing some nearly forgotten information to pass the time, sometimes he would head home first to begin dinner preparations or perform a number of household chores. Wishing himself to alleviate his twin's workload as much as possible.
Today had been a case of the latter.
The night had been long and the work day hectic and full of challenges which left Ingo exhausted and struggling to remain awake by the end of it. Not wanting to be more of an inconvenience and knowing full well his brother would simply let him sleep well past their scheduled departure time if he happened to doze off while on standby, he set his destination for their home. Hoping to unwind for a couple minutes after caring for the basic needs of their Pokémon and before commencing dinner preparations. At least, those had been his intentions. Unfortunately he had barely had enough energy after arriving at their apartment to release and feed their pokemon before collapsing on their couch for a much needed breather, not even having the energy to remove his uniform past loosening his tie or removing his gloves and shoes along with his coat at the door as was their routine. His signature hat had always provided him with an odd sense of comfort as he would often opt to continue wearing it even at his assigned residence back in Hisui, however in this case it had been more of a lack of energy than a wish for comfort why his hat remained solidly on his head. A few deep breaths later and before he could register it happening he was drifting off to sleep, sitting upright on the couch.
Emmet arrived to a dark apartment a few hours later, a last minute incident with a rowdy passenger having delayed his arrival by at least another hour. Assuming Ingo had decided to sleep until his return, he quietly removed his gloves, coat and hat, hanging them by the door and stuffing the gloves in one of his coat pockets before just as quietly removing his shoes and releasing his own pokemon, gesturing at them to keep quiet. Chandelure's purple flames glowed softly from the living room as he fully entered their apartment, illuminating just enough for Emmet to barely make out a sitting figure on the couch.
"ARCEUS! Ingo?! Why are you just sitting like that in the dark?!" He exclaimed, louder than intended and barely catching himself from tripping over, Galvantula nudging at his side to help steady his footing. "Ingo? You okay?" He asked quietly before approaching his brother, leaning over to catch a glimpse of his face.
Despite the hat further obscuring his face, the purple flames illuminated his features enough to reveal a solemn frown pulled deeper than usual and a chest moving with slow deep breaths. Breathing a sigh of relief after realizing Ingo had simply fallen asleep in a weird position again, he reached to carefully remove the elders' hat and place it on the coffee table. Despite already being asleep, Ingo looked utterly exhausted and uncomfortable, with furrowed brows and a deep frown, it almost looked as if he was trying to work through a difficult situation in his sleep. And perhaps he was. Before he registered his actions, Emmet reached towards Ingo and gently ran his fingers through his hair in a soothing motion. An action that had subtly followed them throughout their lives, often petting each other's hair when they needed some gentle reassurance and comfort. Ingo's expression immediately softened and he attempted to nuzzle at the gentle touch, a quiet sigh blowing past his lips had his shoulders relaxing slightly. Emmet giggled quietly to himself repeating the motion two, three more times then sitting next to Ingo and guiding his head to rest against his shoulder for a surely more comfortable position before resuming the gentle pets. His heart filling with a tenderness he was unsure what to do with.
They sat like that for a few minutes, with their bodies flush against each other and Emmet caressing him, Ingo slowly relaxing more and more as time went on before, eventually, he slowly fluttered his eyes open. "-mmet?" He mumbled sleepily. "Yes Nii-san?" Was Emmet's quiet response as he continued petting his twin's head. Ingo turned his head slightly during a downwards stroke and kissed his palm before speaking softly with a groggy voice. "W-lcom home" Emmet's smile was almost bright enough to illuminate the room as he responded. "I'm home. Sleep well?" Ingo simply nodded before sitting up with a yawn and a small stretch of his back, Emmet flicked on the lamp atop one of the side tables to better see his twin now that he had woken up. The warm light making odd shadows play on their faces. And despite that, Ingo somehow looked quite refreshed, this only made Emmet's smile brighter and his chest feel tighter.
"What time is it? My apologies, it was not my intention to sleep. I'll go ahead and begin dinner preparations. You should relax, you've had a long day." Ingo spoke as he got up rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes and blinking at the newly illuminated room, which had Emmet immediately standing at attention next to him as he did so, an almost exasperated smile playing on his lips. "I should be the one saying that Nii-san! You look exhausted. Let me help with dinner? It'll taste better if it's the two of us working on it together anyways! And besides! It's more time we get to spend together, I missed you today. We were so busy I barely got to see you." Emmet finished and waited expectantly, after a short hum of consideration Ingo nodded, the corners of his lips lifting slightly which caused a mirrored reaction in Emmet's face. "I think I'd like that. I felt rather lonely myself. And I hate chopping onions."
With that out of the way and a short huff of laughter from the younger, the two headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner, and while not necessarily quicker, the room was filled with an easy atmosphere as they cooked and half-heartedly bickered with each other over the proper ways of chopping vegetables.
After dinner, despite Emmet's insistence they end the night early for Ingo's sake, the two sat down in the living room to watch the evening news in comfortable silence. "Emmet?" Ingo muttered quietly, breaking the silence. "I am Emmet." The younger responded, his eyes still on the screen as he waited for his older sibling to continue his train of thought. "Would it….Nevermind! It is a silly request." At that Emmet couldn't stop himself from turning to look at his twin, lips pulled taught and eyes focused on anything but him. "Oh! Now you HAVE to tell me! What is it Nii-san?" It was rare for Ingo to make requests, the thought of being able to help his older brother had him sitting in attention waiting for his twin's next words. "Would it be okay….if I joined you in your bed tonight?" Ingo finished in an uncharacteristically small voice, a light blush dusting his cheeks before he finally looked up and turned to Emmet with weak and tired eyes.
It. Was not what he had expected the request to be. Despite himself, he put his hand atop Ingo's and squeezed. "Of course. As many nights as you want. Let's go to bed, Ingo." His eyes filled with an emotion he couldn't name and Emmet's heart tightened at the sight. There was a yearning he didn't know. And as they settled for the night in Emmet's bed for the first time in months since Ingo's return it only seemed to grow in Emmet's chest as Ingo drifted off almost immediately, a contented sigh slipping past his lips. Investigating that yearning would have to wait, for now at least it seemed Ingo would finally be getting some proper rest.