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Elesa was equal parts excited and nervous to be going to Ingo and Emmet’s house and finally getting to meet her friends’ parents.
On one hand, it was comical that she hadn’t met them yet considering she had been living with the twins for almost a year now. She just seemed to always be out of the apartment whenever their parents came down to visit for the day. Even when they all had moved in, Ingo and Emmet had done so first. The school’s dorms had closed before their lease had started and instead of moving all her stuff twice in two weeks, Elesa decided to live with her parents for the summer
So really, meeting her friends’ parents was long overdue. They had even met hers a few times at this point. Even if they didn’t really like them. Thankfully the twins could be polite when they wanted to.
On the other hand, it was always a little nerve racking to meet someone’s parents. What if they didn’t like her? What if they were rude? What if she did something wrong and they sent her back to Nimbasa?
Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little. From the way Ingo and Emmet talked about them, their parents seemed fine. But then again, you never really knew with parents.
At least the long walk from the nearest station was helping calm Elesa’s nerves a little.
To bad she had underestimated how far into the countryside they would end up.
“I think I made a mistake,” Elesa finally admitted after walking for twenty minutes.
“About your shoes?” Emmet asked.
“We did say it would be a bit of a walk to our house,” Ingo added.
“I know,” Elesa whined, stopping in place. “Hold on a sec, I brought flats.”
The twins paused, Ingo holding out an arm in case she needed help balancing. “Perhaps I should have mentioned that your shoe choice wasn’t the best earlier, but I didn’t want to doubt your stamina,” he said. “My apologies. I would have if I had known you brought a second pair of shoes.”
Elesa waved him off before putting her overnight bag on the ground and digging out her pair of flats. “Don’t worry about it. I had already made us almost miss the train anyway. I should have just switched when I realised this trail was the whole path there.”
“We said we were from the middle of nowhere,” Emmet laughed.
“I didn’t think you meant the exact middle,” Elesa joked back, grabbing Ingo’s offered arm and switching her shoes. “Excuse me for thinking the road would be paved.”
“Nope! Just dirt roads and trails here,” Emmet said. “It’s either this or walk on the highway.”
“Dirt road it is,” Elesa winced.
“Really, the highway isn’t that bad,” Ingo said as Elesa picked her bag back up and they started walking again. “You are likely imagining a highway near a city. The road here only gets a handful of cars every hour. Really, it is a highway by name only.”
“Still unsafe!” Emmet chimed in, spinning around to walk backwards. “Its maintenance is often overlooked. There are still cars. There is also no sidewalk or trail.”
“That is true,” Ingo sighed.
“Is that why we took the train here?” Elesa asked.
“Partly,” Ingo said. “The bigger reason is that neither me nor Emmet can drive.”
“I can drive,” Elesa said.
Emmet tilted his head. “You can?”
“Yeah. I don’t have a car though.”
“We wouldn’t have been able to drive down here even if you did,” Ingo said.
“Yup!” Emmet added, spinning back around. “We don’t know the way home by car. Besides, the train is better.”
Elesa snorted. “Dorks.”
It didn’t take too much longer for them to finally reach Ingo and Emmet’s house. It was a nice place, the closest neighbor a couple minutes down the road. A forest sat next to the yard, an old play structure sitting in the middle. The yard was surrounded by a half-build fence, only really tall enough to mark the property line.
Emmet rushed towards the door as Ingo said, “The lake is another fifteen or so minutes down the road. We will have to show you it sometime. Emmet and I liked to hang out and swim there and our dad likes to fish there as well.”
“You say that like you don’t go with him all the time,” Emmet called from the top of the few stairs at the front door.
The tips of Ingo’s ears started to go red. “I don’t go all the time, Emmet.”
“No, but I bet you want to go sometime this weekend.”
“We have a guest. I can’t just go fishing.”
“I’d be down for fishing,” Elesa cut in.
Any previous embarrassment forgotten, Ingo perked back up and turned to look at her. “Really?”
“Sure!” Elesa said. “I’ve never actually gone before, but it looks fun.”
“Don’t let our dad hear that,” Emmet laughed. “You think we’re bad with trains? You haven’t seen Dad with fishing. Also, we need licences to fish since we’re over eighteen.”
“Well, I guess you had to get it from somewhere,” Elesa joked. “Sucks I can’t go fishing though.”
“It will be fine,” Ingo said. “I got a licence. Plus, no one’s going to see us out there and even if someone did, they wouldn’t tell. No one really cares out here.”
“Awful,” Emmet tsked, still smiling. “You and Dad both. I think I’ve heard him say that exactly.”
“Just open the door,” Ingo laughed.
Emmet chuckled too. “Ready?”
Ingo nodded, planting his feet. “Ready. Elesa, you may want to step back.”
“Ready for what?” she asked, doing as her friend said.
“In case Orthworm comes charging at Ingo,” Emmet said, opening the front door. He stuck his head in and called, “Hello! I am Emmet and we are here!”
A man’s voice called back from inside, “Emme- Orthworm, wait!”
Elesa didn’t even see the Pokemon until Ingo was flat on his back and laughing, an Orthworm wiggling around on top of him. Ingo kept trying to grab it while the Orthworm continued to wiggle out of his hands.
“Hello! Yes, yes, I missed you too,” Ingo got out. He managed to wrap his arms around the Pokemon and sit upright. “Elesa, this is Orthworm. Orthworm, I am going to let go so you can say hello to Emmet and our friend Elesa. Please to not tackle her.”
Orthworm freed himself from Ingo and slithered over to Elesa. She crouched down, holding a hand out. Orthworm gave it a sniff before quickly wrapping himself around her.
“You’re friendly!” she laughed. She lightly grabbed the Pokemon’s head and gave it a shake. “Hi!”
A laugh from the doorway made Elesa look up. Emmet was pulling out of a hug with a much shorter man, Emmet being almost a whole head taller. The man had the same silver hair as the twins, although he lacked their goofy sideburns.
“I hope Orthworm’s not causing too much trouble,” he said.
“Hi, Dad!” Ingo said, pulling himself up. “And of course he’s not. He’s just a little guy.”
“Ingo’s given up trying to stop Orthworm at this point,” Emmet chimed in.
“I can see that,” their dad laughed again, giving Ingo a hug. Once they let go, he turned towards Elesa. “Alright, Orthworm, leave the girl alone. Let’s head inside and you two can finally introduce me to your friend.”
Elesa stood and brushed off her clothes. She hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt. Her first impression shouldn’t be her on the ground getting covered in dirt. This was her friends’ Dad.
“Hello, um, sir,” she said, internally cringing already. She stuck out her hand. “I’m Elesa. Thank you for having me over.”
“No need for all that,” he laughed. “Call me Nico. Mel and I are happy to have you!”
“Where is Mom?” Emmet asked looking inside.
Ingo looked over to the garage next to the house. “Her bike isn’t here. Is she still at work?”
“Yeah, you beat her home. Said she got held up at the shop.” Nico came down the doorstep and finally shook the hand Elesa should have already lowered. “I should put you out of your misery there. Nice to meet ya!”
“Oh, I’m taller than you.” If she wasn’t red before, she certainly was now. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that! I just wasn’t expecting it. Emmet said you were shorter than him and Ingo, but they’re, like, really tall. I was picturing you around my height, not, um, uh-”
The twins’ laughter cut off Elesa’s stammering her way into a deeper hole. One leaned on each of Nico’s shoulders.
“It’s okay, Elesa,” Ingo said. “He’s more than used to it.”
“He’s our short, little Dad,” Emmet said.
Nico pushed them both off with a wave of his hands and a laugh. “Get off me, you two Grubbins! How about we head inside like I just said? Your Mom’ll be another fifteen minutes, give or take. Enough time to get settled and show Elesa around.”
They finally got inside, the group immediately crowding the front entrance. Nico managed to get Orthworm back to the living room to give Elesa, Ingo, and Emmet space to get their shoes and coats off.
“Are you sure the pullout is fine?” Ingo asked grabbing both his and Elesa’s bag and making his way up the stairs. “I truly don’t mind sleeping there if you’d rather an actual bed.”
Emmet followed with his own bag. “I am okay with it too. If you like my bed more.”
“I said it’s fine,” Elesa laughed. She started following as well, only to pause at the foot of the stairs. “Why is there a rock here?”
Emmet came back down and sat next to the rock on the bottom step. “This is Wugtrio! They are Dad’s. They tend to sleep a lot. Wakey-wakey, Wugtrio! Elesa is here.”
“What’s a Wugtrio?” Elesa asked.
“They’re native to Paldea, like Orthworms, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them. But did we not mention Wugtrio?” Ingo came back down, sitting a few steps from the bottom. “I feel like Emmet would have at least.”
Well now this was embarrassing.
“I, um… I thought you said Dugtrio,” she mumbled.
Elesa felt herself go red at Emmet’s grin. Even Ingo looked like he was about to laugh but composed himself quickly with a fake cough.
“I see where the misunderstanding came from,” Ingo said. “They were thought to be a regional variant of Dugtrio for a while when they were first seen by travellers from other regions like Galar and Kanto, fun fact.”
Emmet had finally managed to coax Wugtrio from their rock, the head closest to him tiredly poking out.
“Verrrry sorry to wake you,” Emmet said, petting the head as it reached out to him. A second poked out and moved towards Ingo. “I thought you would like to say hi. Also, we missed you.”
Wugtrio’s third head poked out, looking at Elesa. She held out a hand and petted it as it reached out and nudged it.
“You’re a lot less squishy that I thought you’d be,” Elesa said. Wugtrio wiggled out of all their hands and settled back in their rock, heads poking out a bit now. “Just as wiggly though.”
“They’re getting older, so they tend to stay on their step a lot more than they used to.” Emmet gave the head closest to him another pet and a small kiss. The other two heads zipped over, demanding their own kisses which Emmet gave with a laugh. “But that is okay. You deserve a comfy retirement after dealing with us our whole lives.”
“Like a worm parent,” Elesa joked, standing back up.
“Never heard it phrased like that, but you aren’t wrong,” Emmet laughed. He grabbed his bag and started heading back upstairs. “Though, I think Wugtrio would be eel parent. Orthworm would be worm dad.”
Ingo followed his brother up as Elesa followed him. “Orthworm would be more like worm older brother with a ten-ish year age gap and Scolipede would be our bug mom.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she already thinks that,” Emmet laughed. “What would that make Scraggy then?”
Ingo thought for a moment, eventually settling on, “Lizard baby brother.”
It didn’t take log for them to get their stuff put away, especially considering all they had to do was place their bags in the twins’ room. They were only staying for a couple days so they hadn’t needed to pack much.
Ingo and Emmet’s room was very obviously their room, even with most of their stuff removed. Old posters of Pokemon championships and train diagrams littered the walls with a few similarly related objects and books on the shelves. A few faint outlines of removed glow in the dark stars could be seen on the ceiling.
Apparently, their room was supposed to end up as a guest room, but since they were their parents’ most common visitors, both beds and the old things they had left here stayed. The few boxes that had been shoved into the corner with the closet also seemed to disagree with the proposed guest room too.
Emmet claimed that even if it got turned into a guest room, the train stuff and two beds would probably remain. Ingo agreed, but also said he wouldn’t be shocked if it became a sort of storage space instead.
By the time Elesa had been shown around the upstairs, consisting of the boys’ room, their parents’ room, the bathroom, and the old playroom-turned-Pokemon room, the sounds of Nico starting dinner could be heard as they made their way down the stairs.
She was then shown around the ground floor. It was mostly just living room and kitchen/dinning room. There was a door that led to the basement, described as a “dungeon” by Ingo, under the stairs. It was a nice place.
Unfortunately, the kitchen sounds weren’t doing Elesa any favours. While she had brought her headphones, a birthday gift from the boys a few months back when they noticed how bothered she was by certain noises, she didn’t want to get them if she didn’t have too.
She was a guest. While she knew Ingo and Emmet didn’t mind talking to her while she was wearing them and she was alright with it, who knew what their parents would think. She felt a little bad assuming the worst, but knowing her own parents…
Well, there was a reason she only used them for music when she visited home.
The kitchen sounds weren’t too bad yet. Hopefully they wouldn’t get worse. She could handle it right now.
Then there was a loud motor outside, and Elesa couldn’t help the way she tensed. It slowed down and turned off nearby.
“Mom’s home!” Ingo said loudly, which didn’t help. Not that she blamed her Loudred of a friend. Especially not when he looked over at her, his brows knitting slightly as he lowered his volume. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” Elesa took a slow breath. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. The motor just surprised me.”
“Mom’s bike can be loud,” Emmet said with a nod. “Do you want to grab your headphones? Go hide?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said again.
Ingo and Emmet glanced at each other before looking back at her. Before either one had the chance to say anything, the front door opened.
“Sorry I’m late,” a woman’s voice called from the door, “Cole spilled bunch of damn coolant at the last second and we had to get that cleaned up before heading out. Are the boys and their friend here yet?”
“We’re in the living room, Mom!” Ingo said as the sound of a Pokeball went off.
A Scolipede entered the living room, scuttling over to Emmet, followed a woman that was only a touch shorter than the twins. She was taller than Elesa for sure. She had the same eyes as Ingo and Emmet too, a piercing grey that thankfully Elesa had grown used to, and a bit of grey starting to pepper her otherwise dark brown hair from age.
Emmet started scratching Scolipede. “Hi, girl! I missed you. Yes, I did! I have some more Joltik for you to meet.”
The twins’ mom gave Ingo a hug, saying to Emmet, “I hope you didn’t bring them all this time. We don’t need a repeat of your last visit.”
“I only brought a couple.” Emmet stood and accepted the hug from his mom. “It is fine. They even have Pokeballs this time.”
“That’s something, at least,” she laughed. She let go and faced Elesa. “And you must be Elesa. Nice to finally meet you!”
“Uh, yeah,” Elesa said, mouth suddenly dry. She stuck her hand out and hoped its shaking wasn’t as noticeable as she thought it was. “I’m Elesa. But I guess you already knew that. So, um, yeah.”
“No need to be so nervous, I don’t bite,” she laughed, shaking Elesa’s hand. “Name’s Mel by the way.”
“Elesa.” Why did she say that? She already said that!
Thankfully, Ingo chimed in, “Where’s Scraggy?”
“He’s still resting,” Mel said, turning away. “He was running around the shop all afternoon. Not to mention the scrap he got in with some wild Pidoves. I’m not sure he quite understands that he’s weak to Flying-Types yet.”
Ingo and Emmet managed to divert their mom’s attention away from Elesa after that. She wouldn’t be surprised if they could tell she needed a minute to resituate herself.
And she had almost managed to do that before Scolipede nudged her. She jolted away, heart jumping to her throat. It was fine. She wasn’t even scared of Bug-Types! This was fine!
Then kitchen fan turned on and Elesa couldn’t take it anymore.
Everything was just too much! Everyone was talking and the fan was too loud even at this distance and she had already made a fool of herself in front of both of the twins’ parents! She just wanted everything to be quiet for a second. Just long enough to get herself under control again. Was that too much to ask?
She should have gotten her headphone earlier. She should get them now. But what would Mel and Nico think? Even if she wasn’t worried about that, which she very much was, she couldn’t get herself to move from where she stood in the middle of the living room. Now look at her, trying not to cover her ears like she was a kid again.
“Boys,” Mel said, breaking through Elesa’s racing thoughts and causing the twins to look over, “go help you dad with dinner.”
“Dad doesn’t need our help,” Ingo said as realization crossed Emmet’s face. He nudged Ingo’s side and jerked his head towards Elesa. “We’re going to go help Dad.”
They left, only for Ingo to pop his head back through the doorway a moment later. He mouthed the word as he signed, “Headphones?”
Elesa shook her head. She didn’t need to embarrass herself even more right now.
Ingo’s head disappeared and Emmet’s appeared a moment later, face full of concern.
She waved him off, not wanting to add explaining them to their parents to all this.
“Hey,” Mel said once the twins finally entered the kitchen, “are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine,” she managed to get out. It sounded fake even in her own ears. “It’s just a bit of noise.”
“It’s okay if you’re feeling overwhelmed.” Mel sat on the couch. Scolipede wandered over and rested her head on her trainer’s lap. “I work in an auto shop all day. I know how much noise can bother someone.”
Elesa sat on the couch next to Mel. She rubbed her arms, trying to calm herself down. “But it’s not even that loud.”
“It’s not just volume,” Mel said. “It’s the number and types of noises too. It’s fine if you need a break. Ingo mentioned headphones? Are you sure you don’t want those?”
She really did want them. But…
“You won’t think it’s weird?” she asked quietly.
“Again, auto shop,” Mel laughed lightly. “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable here. Now, headphones. Yay or nay?”
Elesa took a breath. She could always just put them away if things got weird. “They’re in the front pocket of my bag in the bedroom.”
Mel got up. “Alright. I’ll be right back.” A few moments later she returned with Elesa’s headphones in her hand. “Here you go.”
Elesa took them and put them on, immediately feeling a bit better as they muffled some of the background kitchen noises. “Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” Mel smiled, sitting back down again. “And if you feel the need to go hide somewhere, my and Nico’s room is to the right at the top of the stairs. No one would judge you.”
“Really?” Elesa asked, looking up in shock.
“You’re friends with my boys. Do you really think they’d take offence is you dipped for a few minutes?”
“No.” She looked away again. “But…”
“Me and Nico would be fine with it too. Like I said, you’re the guest here. We just want to make sure you’re comfortable.”
“Um…” Elesa swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Okay. Thank you. You’re… You’re really nice.”
“What made you think I wouldn’t be?” Mel asked with a light shoulder bump and a smile. “Are the twins slandering my good name?”
“No! It’s, um… My parents wouldn’t…” She trailed off. Now probably wasn’t the time to get into all that, especially with her friends’ mom who she had just met. “You’re just, uh, a little intimidating. With the bike and the Scolipede.”
Mel was quiet for a second before saying, “I get it with the bike, but this old girl’s just a big pushover.” She laughed as Scolipede chittered and tapped her antenna against her chest. “Don’t give me that. You are! The twins used to ride her around when they were toddlers.”
Elesa couldn’t help her snort or the goofy smile from spreading across her face. “They did?”
“They did!” Mel moved Scolipede’s head and stood with another laugh. “I’m sure I got some pictures around here somewhere. Let me go find them and embarrass the twins.”
Elesa laughed again as Mel went upstairs. Scolipede moved over to Elesa’s side of the couch, resting her head in her lap. Elesa petted her head, finding the way Scolipede clicked in enjoyment funny.
The rest of the time before dinner was spent going through a couple photo albums. It was fun to see how small her friends were once upon a time. And that they were apparently always obsessed with trains.
Ingo and Emmet came back into the living room after a bit. They immediately retreated back to the kitchen bright red when they couldn’t get their mom to stop showing off baby pictures and Elesa from teasing them about them. They only returned to tell them that dinner was ready.
Elesa wasn’t sure if she should keep wearing her headphones at the table. It would be polite to take them off, but she didn’t think she was quite ready to do that. After a quick moment to ready herself, she kept them on and walked in after Mel. Worst case, she could just take them off.
She didn’t have to. The only comment Nico made on them was that he liked the stickers on them, which led to Elesa talking about her Pokemon and being an Electric-Type specialist while they ate. It was fun and him and Mel seemed genuinely interested.
After dinner, Elesa, Ingo, and Emmet offered to help clean up. They were told to go find something else to do and there would be plenty of other chances to help out. The trio ended up in the living room while trying to find something to watch on the TV. Elesa had taken the chair while the twins claimed the couch.
After a few minutes of finding nothing interesting, a Scraggy waddled in and up to Emmet. He latched onto Emmet’s legs with an annoyed sounding yip, cutting Emmet off.
“Oh! Hello, Scraggy,” Emmet said. “I know, I’m in your spot. Would you like to sit on my lap or for me to move?”
Scraggy squinted at Elesa, then looked up at Emmet and raised his arms while making grabby hands.
“Okay. Up you go!” Emmet laughed, lifting Scraggy and placing him on his lap. “Elesa, this is Scraggy. He is new. Mom brought him home nearly a year ago.”
“Has it really only been that long?” Ingo asked, giving Scraggy a scratch. “It feels like we’ve already known you for so long, Scaggy.”
Scraggy gave a happy chirp before pulling away from Ingo’s hand. He looked over the armrest at Elesa like he was judging her.
“I remember you mentioning him,” she said, leaning over and holding out a hand. “Hi. I’m Elesa. It’s okay.”
Scraggy cautiously sniffed her hand and squinted at her.
“I’m not gonna do anything, don’t worry,” she added.
With another sniff and a huff, Scraggy softly headbutted her hand.
“That means he like you,’ Emmet said.
“I’m surprised,” Ingo added. “He’s usually quite protective of us and our parents. But I’m glad he’s approved of you!”
“Me too. He’s so cute!” She moved in to give Scraggy a scratch, only for him to push her hand away with a yip and burry his face into Emmet’s chest.
Not quite managing to hold back a laugh. Emmet said, “As protective as he is, he is also shy. And he is picky with who pets him. Only Ingo and Mom can regularly. Dad can pet him sometimes. I only get the occasional head pat.”
“But he let’s you hold him?” Elesa asked.
Emmet nodded. “Yup!”
“Scraggy is a little strange like that.” Ingo gave him another scratch, coaxing him out of his half-hearted hiding spot. “But we are all a little strange in this family. Aren’t we, Scraggy? Yes, we are. Mwah!” Ingo gave Scraggy a kiss on the head.
Scraggy gave a trill and a wiggle before jumping off Emmet’s lap. He ran off once he hit the floor, holding his loose skin as high as he could.
“I think you embarrassed him, Ingo,” Emmet laughed.
Ingo laughed too. “I think you may be right, Emmet.”
“Do you think your parents are replacing you?” Elesa joked. “Scraggy kind of looks like Ingo.”
“That’s what we said!” Ingo and Emmet said together.
“We aren’t replacing you!” both parents called from the other room.
“Dad’s going to get a Gligar,” Emmet said with a snicker.
“You’ve been saying this since your mother brought Scraggy home. I’m not getting a Gligar!” Nico called back. He entered the living room a moment later.
“You thought it was funny the first time,” Ingo said.
“Yeah, the first time. You boys have been stuck on this joke for months now.”
“That’s because it’s funny to tease you,” Emmet chimed in.
“That’s it!” Nico said, throwing his arms in the air, “I’m kicking you outside. Go take a walk or something.”
“Mom!” Ingo whined while Emmet scoffed in offence. “You can’t just let this happen!”
“I can and I am!” Mel shouted back, a laugh in her tone. “We’re kicking all three of you out.”
“Fiiiine,” Emmet huffed with an exaggerated eyeroll. He got up and walked past Nico over to the front door, Ingo following behind dejectedly.
Elesa paused near Nico as she went to get her shoes. “Sorry I started that,” she said. “We aren’t in trouble, are we?”
“Not at all,” he laughed. “Don’t worry. Those two are just being dramatic.”
Elesa shuffled in place. “Why are you kicking us out then?”
“Kicking you out is a strong way of putting it. You three seem like you got some energy to burn.” Nico shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that. We’d just rather you do it outside.”
“Oh,” Elesa sighed. “I was worried I’d offended you or something.”
“Nah,” Nico said, waving off her worry. “I can tell you’re a good kid. I’m glad my boys managed not to scare you off with all the train facts.”
Elesa snorted. “If they can sit through my historical fashion inaccuracy rants anytime I get them to watch a period piece with me, I can sit through a few train rants. It’s only fair.”
Nico smiled and gave her a pat on the back. “Attagirl. Give ’em a taste of their own medicine.”
Elesa heard the front door open and Ingo call back, “Elesa, we’re going to show you the lake!”
“Ingo wants to fish,” Emmet chimed in.
“Not right now!” Ingo’s embarrassment was clear in the way his voice squeaked. “Dad already said we’ll go fishing in the morning. Elesa, we are departing!”
“I think you better get going,” Nico laughed. “Make sure they don’t wreck anything with a battle, will you?”
“No promises!” Elesa sped over to the front, catching the door just before it closed and stuck her head out. “Hey, wait for me!”
Emmet stuck his tongue out at her while Ingo pulled his brother’s hat over his face and dashed off. Elesa yanked her shoes on, grabbed her coat, and chased after them.