Work Text:
Emmet drags his highlighter across the page with a light scratching sound. The sentence he'd highlighted is now surrounded by green; the color he'd chosen to highlight information about conditions for egg hatching. It's just a small tip about keeping a room warm for eggs — nothing overly important — but Emmet highlighted it anyway. Most of the page is highlighted in different colors too — pink for natures, yellow for nesting habits, blue for length of time is takes for eggs to hatch. Everything is neatly color-coded… or was neatly color-coded before Emmet started butchering it with his highlighters.
Really, he doesn't need to be going back through this book and re-highlighting things. He already read through the whole book and studied it! And he did the same to all the other books he'd managed to get his hands on about breeding and egg hatching. Emmet had spent hours pouring over all the information he could before taking the certification test, then he took the test. He took it a little over a week ago now. Which means going back and highlighting again is verrry unnecessary.
It's just… well, Emmet felt like he did a decent job at the time.. but he's feeling less sure of himself now that the results are due back any day now. Which is his fault, really. Emmet had gotten curious and so he made the worst mistake he could have possibly made; he entered the dark depths of the internet to read about other people's experiences. And there were so many horror stories about aspiring breeders failing their tests because they missed minor details!
So, naturally, Emmet started to panic because what if he misread something or answered too many questions wrong or missed some piece of key information while he was studying the first time! There are just so many things that could have gone wrong that he had to make sure he didn't miss anything! Just to be sure that he really didn't leave any information and doesn't need to panic… after all, Emmet couldn't just sit still and tell himself that everything would be fine! He'd tried doing that for a couple days and found out that's a verrry quick way to drive himself crazy! So, he found all the books he'd used to study and has been pouring through them all morning.
Three books are sitting on the coffee table, all open to several awfully highlighted pages. There are another four still stacked on the floor by his feet and yet another closed beside him on the couch. Alongside the books are several uncapped highlighters strewn carelessly around the living room — he's been shooing Archie away from the pink one near the corner of the table every five minutes; greedy monster that one. It's a mess and Emmet knows it, but he just can't bring himself to get up and clean it yet. Not until he's done double-checking himself!
He just has a couple more books to get through, right? Should be easy! Nevermind the fact he hasn't moved from his spot for hours now… it's almost noon and he's been at this since the sun rose. That's probably not a good thing, but Emmet can't allow himself to be derailed now! He's been chugging along these tracks for too long to just give up! Oh, but maybe a short break couldn't hurt? Reading is becoming far more taxing than he thought it would be. At this rate his engine is going to break down!
Maybe he can justify a couple minutes of rest…
Emmet sighs, dropping his green highlighter on his book before bringing his hand up to rub his eyes. They're starting to hurt now after staring at words for so long. He presses the heel of his hand into his left eye, the pressure helping alleviate the ache a little. Though the throbbing behind his eyes remains persistent… maybe he should get up and take Tylenol or something? His head is pounding!
A hand lands on his shoulder. He jolts before realizing that it's probably just Ingo, then he lets his muscles relax. Emmet groans and leans back against the couch, dropping his hand and opening his eyes as he tilts his head up to face his brother. Ingo is now standing behind the couch, eyes full of concern as he looks down at Emmet. He gives his shoulder a light squeeze. "You've been at this for quite a while, Emmet. Maybe you should take a break?" Oh. Looks like Ingo had the same idea… Emmet laughs a little, then he sighs.
His head flops to the side, eyes landing on where Archie is now curled up on one of the Pokébeds with one of Emmet's slippers in his mouth. He should probably stop that… he's too tired. A tired smile spreads across his face. "I am Emmet and I was just about to do that, don't worry." Emmet glances back towards his twin.
The corners of Ingo's mouth flick up in one of his smiles, concern shifting to amusement. "Ah, I see we were riding the same train of thought then. Here," Ingo says as he holds his other hand up. In it is Emmet's white Tynamo mug and a bottle of Tylenol — held quite precariously too; Ingo has a couple fingers looped in the mug's handle while his others clutch the bottle. Despite his brother's interesting method of transport, Emmet can feel his smile shifting to something a little more fond. Leave it to Ingo to always be two steps ahead of him. He reaches up to take both from Ingo.
"Oh, I love you Ingo." Emmet wastes no time in taking a gulp of water before setting the mug down on the coffee table so he can open the bottle. He hears Ingo laugh again as his hand withdraws. Then, his twin walks around the couch and flops down on the cushion beside him. Emmet doesn't pay Ingo any mind as he pops the bottle open and takes out a couple pills.
Ingo sighs as he sinks into the cushions. "I love you too, Emmet." Emmet nods a little to his words, popping the pills into his mouth and then leaning forward to grab the mug. Just as his fingers wrap around the handle, Ingo clicks his tongue. Emmet throws a glance towards him just in time to see Ingo his licks his thumb, then reach towards Emmet's face. Naturally, Emmet leans away from him. "Ah-ah! Don't run away from me. You've got blue on your face, little brother."
Oh… perhaps Emmet wasn't paying as much attention to his highlighter as he should have been. Oops. He groans as he leans closer to Ingo again and brings the cup to his mouth. Feeling his twin's wet thumb rub his cheek is uncomfortable, but he sits through it as he downs his Tylenol. Thankfully it doesn't last all that long and Ingo soon pulls away with a blue thumb.
"I'm a bit surprised you've let yourself get so messy, Emmet," Ingo says as he rubs his thumb on his black sweatpants. "What has you studying this hard, might I ask? You already took your test, didn't you?"
Ah, the dreaded question. Emmet had specifically not told Ingo why he was studying in the first place because he knows exactly what Ingo is about to say. Still, he doesn't like lying outright to his brother's face. So, Emmet sighs as he brings the cup away from his mouth, instead cradling it in his hands. He watches the water ripple in the cup. "I am Emmet. I got on the internet, yup!"
Ingo smacks his forehead, knocking his cap back a little. "Oh Emmet, I did warn you."
The disappointment in his tone is palpable and makes Emmet laugh. "I remember." Ingo drags his hand down his face, eyes opening to fix Emmet with an unamused, yet teasing stare. He doesn't say anything else for a moment before letting his hand fall away from his face with a sigh.
"Curiosity killed the Purrloin, huh? Well, I can't imagine any of those bad things you read about will happen to you." Ingo's hand dips into his pocket as Emmet turns away again. He knows that Ingo is right, but he still can't help but worry! It's a bad habit of his… always jumping to the worst case scenario about things. Truthfully, Emmet has yet to find any information in the books that he didn't cover in his text. He doubts there will be. Emmet is verrry thorough. Still…
A beat of quiet passes and Emmet turns back toward Ingo, mouth opening to fix to explain himself. It clicks shut when he sees Ingo holding an envelope out for him.
Those are the tests results.
Emmet's heart leaps into his throat. His brother must have recently gone to get the mail! He didn't even notice because of how ingrained he was in his books! Emmet blinks, mouth flapping as he tries to figure out what to say. Eventually he lands on: "How long…"
"I just got back from the mail-room." Ingo waves the envelope at him. "Come on now, Emmet. Open it! Then you will have your answer and you can stop worrying. It kills me to see you so stressed."
He reaches for it, then immediately pulls his hands back and shakes his head. "No, you open it. Read it to me. I can't look!" Emmet leans forward to set his cup on the coffee table, freeing his hands so he can wave them in the air. It doesn't help as much as he hope it would, so he starts to rock back and forth too. That's a little better.
Ingo watches him for a moment before pulling the letter back and tearing the paper open. He can't look! Emmet squeezes his eyes closed, rocking faster.
There's shuffling. More ripping. More shuffling… a gasp! Emmet's eyes snap open and he looks over at Ingo. "You passed!" His twin flips the paper around to show off the big bold letters telling Emmet that he passed his test and will be receiving his license soon.
Everything is frozen for a moment.
He passed. All that studying was worth it! He didn't make some grave mistake or fail or any of those bad things he read about! Emmet did it!
Excitement explodes in his chest and he shoots off of the couch with a verrry undignified squeal. His hands flap so hard it starts to hurt, but Emmet doesn't care. "I did it! Iii did it!" Emmet twirls in his spot, wrapping his arms tight around his body. The pressure isn't enough through, so he whips around and opens his arms. "Hug! Need a hug!"
Ingo, who had just been watching his excitement with a quirk in his perpetual frown and a light in his eyes, is quick to set the paper aside and rise from the couch. The moment he opens his arms for Emmet, he throws himself at Ingo and his brother squeezes him as tight as he can. All of the energy buzzing under Emmet's skin seems to drain away as he hugs Ingo back. His twin always gives the best hugs… "I'm so proud of you, Emmet. Even if I know having bugs all over the apartment will be a nightmare," Ingo murmurs to him.
And that's what does it.
Emmet can feel tears pooling in his eyes as he buries his face into Ingo's shoulder. "Ttthank you! Sooo happy!" Emmet really is! He's going to torment his brother forever with his Joltik once he starts breeding them! It's going to be perfect!
Oh, he just can't wait!