Neither had wanted to be the first to respond; it wasn't every day they were confronted with such an explicit question. They were, after all, only nineteen years old at the time. Sitting side by side in her bomb-site of an apartment, the brothers remained silent, communicating only through their clasped hands under the table. Each felt as if they were squeezing the others' fingers too tightly but couldn't speak. It was Emmet who broke the silence, when Ingo dropped his hand in favour of pinching his brothers' thigh to get him to speak.

'I won't share Ingo! And Ingo won't share me,' he said, his hands flying up to grasp the edge of the table.

'So I was right.'

Elesa didn't seem entirely distraught by their rejection; she wanted them both and if they said no, she expected to get neither. Instead, she seemed curious, leaning forwards slightly in her chair, chin perched on her hand while her elbow rested carefully on the table. The brothers' eyes widened again, each automatically reaching for the other.

'Shit,' Emmet muttered the curse to himself – Ingo found his hand and ran his own thumb across the younger twins' knuckles. Inadvertently having already destroyed their own protective barriers, the brothers caved in and told Elesa everything. They told her how one could not sleep without the other beside him, how they had progressed so gradually from brothers to lovers that they could hardly pinpoint the moment it all changed. They told her their secret and she absorbed every word without her heart once feeling as if it were breaking. Rather, she felt disgusted, not by their actions but by her own, as if she had almost destroyed something that was already so fragile. She had made a promise to them that day, one she intended to keep forever.

It was not her secret to tell. She vowed to never tell another soul, for the looks on their faces as they spoke their story were not sad, but anxious. Every word was accompanied by a furrowed eyebrow, a shared, stolen glance, a hitch in voice, but it was Ingo's explicit request that had her almost in tears.

'Most people suspect. They see us, rather, they see right through our lies. They cannot be sure though because we have learnt in time that we can get away with nothing in the public eye. You know how fickle the media is. In double battles, we are unbeatable and we are in the newspapers so often that it would be international news if we were found out. Losing our jobs, we could handle. We would survive. Not well, but we would be able to live. We worry, every day, that we would not survive if our parents ever found out the truth. Please, Elesa. If you can't keep our secret for us, keep it for them.'

xxxxx

'Ingo, your Xtransceiver. It's ringing.'

'Leave it to ring.'

'It's Elesa. Your screen says so.'

'Can't you see I'm busy?'

'Are you?'

'What?' It wasn't as much a query as it was a knee-jerk reaction. 'You don't think I'm busy?'

'Silly Ingo, kisses aren't busy.'

'They're not.'

'No. Only if I'm kissing too. I'm not. I'm reading, see?' Emmet moved his newspaper to show Ingo the article he was reading. Ingo rolled his eyes but stopped dropping kisses onto Emmet's shoulder and neck, taking the Xtransceiver from his brothers' hand.

'Yes?' He answered after what could only have been the twenty third ring.

'Can you open your front door?'

'What?'

'You keep saying that tonight,' Emmet interrupted but Ingo slipped a hand over his mouth.

'I'm halfway up the stairs, please?'

'Fine,' said Ingo before he hung up. He struggled to disentangle himself from Emmet, but when he did he went straight for the front door and opened it just in time for Elesa to hurry through.

'Close it!' She hissed, 'and lock it too, with all the locks.'

'Are we going to be killed?'

'What? No,' Elesa said as she dropped her purse onto the kitchen counter, 'I just had a really bad date, that's all. Can I ask you a favour?'

'What?' Ingo asked.

'He's broken. That's all he's said, all night!'

'Huh?'

'Ignore him. What favour?'

'Can I stay here for a couple of days?'

'Because you had a bad date?'

'Yes?' Elesa tried to look pitiful even though she knew she hardly needed to. Even on a bad day, Ingo was one of the most generous people in the world and Emmet was oblivious to the concept of inconvenience, willing to help regardless of the consequences for himself. 'Well, you see,' she sat down next to Emmet on the couch before Ingo was able to return to his earlier place. 'I didn't think he'd be that awful, so I'd given him my address but he turned out to be such an idiot that when I tried to tell him I wasn't interested, he said he'd drop in tomorrow.'

'So?'

'So with a head as full of air as he's got, if I'm not home for two days he'll think I gave him the address of a haunted apartment.'

'You quit dating models. The last one was an idiot too,' Emmet said. He folded his newspaper and dropped it to the floor; suddenly, Elesa's predicament was much more intriguing than reading about the loss of Sawk territory due to the redevelopment of the Nacrene warehouse district.

'I know,' she sighed, 'next time I'll find a nice one. Is someone ringing?'

'Emmet is,' Ingo pointed out.

'My Xtransceiver is in the fridge.'

'Why?'

'Because I left it there.'

Ingo frowned but walked to the fridge anyway. He should have been surprised to find that Emmet was correct, and that his Xtransceiver was sitting on the top shelf but he wasn't. Elesa however, having known the brothers for much less than their whole lives, was still a little concerned by such behaviour.

'That can't be good for it, can it?'

'It hasn't broken yet,' said Emmet, shrugging.

'Yet?'

'No, it's Ingo. Emmet's in the shower. No, I'm not lying, Mother. Why would I lie?'

Ingo waved a hand to get their attention, and both Emmet and Elesa quickly drew their conversation to an end. The parameters for their games had long since been set. It was appropriate to shout out awful things about the other in public, to think up challenging dares on drunk summer nights, to close the Nimbasa Gym for no reason but they all wanted to ride the roller coasters until they threw up. Phone calls from parents were off limits. Elesa's own mother and father were kept in the dark as much as possible when it came to her modelling career; they were only told about the most influential shoots that were to end up on magazine covers. The twins' parents were an entirely different matter and when one was on the phone, it was up to whoever was holding the Xtransceiver at the time to prevent any of their lies from faltering.

'Of course you can visit. We do have to work tomorrow, yes, but we can have someone rearrange our challenges. We only have one each tomorrow, they can wait one day. Yes, it's fine. No, he's in the shower. Because the doors are closed, that's why. Yes, I'll tell him. Yes. No. Yes, yes. Goodbye.' Ingo hung up and instead of returning the Xtransceiver to where he'd found it, he decided it would be better off on the kitchen table. 'Emmet,' he started slowly.

'No, that's not fair.'

'It's perfect!'

'Not fair though.'

'It's too perfect, isn't it?'

'Maybe.'

'What are you talking about?' Elesa piped up suddenly, confused and worried that she had missed something.

'You want to stay here for a few days,' Ingo started, 'and now we need a small favour.'

'How small?'

'He wants you to pretend you stay here some nights.'

'I do stay here some nights.'

'Do you still want both of us?' Emmet asked.

'What?'

'That day two years ago, when we told you our secret. We told you because you asked if you could have us both.'

'To be fair, I was trying to find out if the rumours were true. Partly. Mostly. I mean, no, not anymore. I don't.'

'You can have one of us,' Ingo said.

'Pretend to, of course. Our mother can't find out. You can help lie. You're very good at lying. Also, you love us, like we were your brothers.'

'If you were my brothers, we would have been fucking a long time ago.'

Elesa paused as the twins went silent.

'It was a joke. Because you two have been f –'

'We knew it was a joke.'

'It just wasn't a funny one. Not now,' said Emmet, looking more serious and straight faced than Elesa had ever seen him. 'Choose.'

'What?'

'Choose. Emmet or Ingo.'

'Wait, I have to choose which one of you I get to fake date?'

'We can choose.'

'Yeah, you choose.' Elesa didn't trust herself to make the decision. She knew it would be hard for them to pretend to be so distant with each other, but whatever plan they were somehow devising was going to convince their own mother that one was dating a model.

'Ingo,' Emmet said. 'You can have her. Not me, I'll lie. I'm good at it.'

'Are you sure?'

'No. But it's easier to just say it, isn't it? Ingo can date Elesa. I can lie.'

Emmet spoke slowly, a sure sign that he wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation but knew he had no choice. If they pulled this off it would cover so many of their tracks, leaving them free to worry less about their parents finding out too many unnecessary secrets. Ingo offered a hand and Emmet took it, letting his brother help lift him to his feet.

'It's only lies, Emmet. Just like the others. It's all lies, it can only ever be lies,' Ingo murmured into his brothers' ear, holding on tightly, as if they had set sail on a doomed vessel. But rather than accepting their fate they had one safety boat to help them back to the security of their own little island; Elesa.

xxxxx

'What do you think?'

It hadn't taken her long to completely redecorate the second bedroom. To company it was known as Ingo's room, to the world it was known as Ingo's room. But to the three people standing in awe at the ease of the transformation, it was nothing more than a front. 'It's where we keep our secrets,' Emmet had said once, although the same could be said for their entire apartment.

'It looks…'

'Well lived-in?' Elesa suggested.

'Yes,' Ingo replied, staring, trying to absorb every detail. The sheets had been changed to something brighter. A laundry hamper overflowed in the corner, spilling Ingo's work shirts and Elesa's pants into a pile on the floor. Make-up littered the top of a chest of drawers; Elesa had even taken the time to spill some powder, the make-up that always fell between brush and face.

'I can do the bathroom next,' she said, breaking the silence that had descended on the room.

'Do that,' Emmet said. Elesa nodded and picked up the shopping bag filled with different shampoos and soaps, conditioner in brands the twins hadn't even known existed. She left the room, giving them time to collect their thoughts. It was late, nearly two in the morning, and they were exhausted. After a full day on the Super Multi line they were always tired, since more and more trainers were stepping up, embracing the idea of two-on-two battles. They had lost only once, to a pair of trainers from Nuvema Town in the South-East, in their early days as Subway Masters.

Emmet sat down on the end of the bed and fell backwards, already drained simply from the thought of how much energy he would expend the next day through lying alone. Ingo did the same beside him and there they stayed, staring wordlessly at the ceiling as they listened to Elesa singing to herself in the bathroom.

'She's awful.'

'She's not a singer.'

'It's lucky she has those looks. She can't sing. At all.'

'Maybe a little.'

'At all, Ingo.'

'Fine,' Ingo gave in, a heavy sigh escaping before he even noticed it rising.

'You're okay?'

'Tired. Today felt long.'

'Tomorrow will be longer. Too much lying, it's hard to keep up.'

'Just one day. After tomorrow we'll have a story, a very believable lie. It's easy to believe, after all. I am a Subway Master, she is the local Gym Leader. It's easy to remember as well, no complicated lies.'

'I am too, Ingo. A Master. We are the only ones. What about me?'

'I don't know. But for tomorrow, all you need to do is help us to set up our lies,' said Ingo. He felt Emmet's hand reaching for his own, reaching out through so many obstacles for the one thing that would help him feel grounded again; he felt lost, left out, annoyed even, that Ingo was the one who would have the false relationship with the only friend they trusted with their lives. He knew he would have felt the same way if it was Emmet in his place, so he let his brother take his hand, let him hold on so tightly that Ingo began to feel the pressure in his bones. 'Bed?'

'Yes,' Emmet said, standing so fast that he almost dragged Ingo off the end of the bed they were on. He dropped his hand as they left the room, each casting his gaze back to the alterations Elesa had made. It looked believable. Ingo switched off the light on their way out only to find that she had even installed a lamp that let off a soft glow in the corner of the room.

'We're sleeping,' Emmet said, stopped in the bathroom doorway; Ingo had gone on ahead of him.

'Do you want me to finish this up in the morning?'

'No, finish now. Then it's done. And you can just sleep.'

'Should I set an alarm for the morning?'

'No, Ingo does. It's okay. You just sleep tonight, yep.'

'Goodnight then,' Elesa said. She was pouring conditioner down the drain under the impression that a bottle only three quarters of the way full was more authentic than one fresh from the store.

'You too.'

Emmet slipped into the bedroom and closed the door after himself, cocking his head to the side, confused. 'Ingo?' he asked.

'I'm awake,' Ingo spoke quietly, his voice muffled. He was lying face down across the bed, fully clothed and unwilling to move again. 'Not for long, speak quickly.'

'Nothing.'

'It's something.'

'It's not.'

'It's Elesa.'

A pause.

'It's not.'

'It's all lies.'

'To cover more lies.'

'Are you coming to bed?'

'Yes. You need to move first.'

Ingo forced himself to open one eye and saw Emmet standing, staring at him, a blank expression on his face.

'Hi,' he said.

'Move, Ingo.'

'I'm too tired.'

Emmet didn't have the energy to try and counter his brothers' argument. He simply sat down next to him and picked up a pillow, then lifted Ingo's head up far enough to slip it underneath. He took the second pillow for himself and collapsed down onto the bed, awake only just long enough for his hand to find its way to Ingo's neck.

xxxxx

'What time is it?'

'I don't know.'

'Ingo, I can't see the clock.'

'I'm busy, Emmet.'

'No you're not. I said that yesterday, too. It only counts if I'm k –' Emmet didn't make it to the end of his sentence before he was cut off by a kiss that managed to both calm him down and reassure him, again, that no matter what was said today would only ever be lies. 'I'm worried.'

'I know.' The words came softly, so softly that even Emmet struggled to hear them; he could feel them though, spoken against his own mouth. He could feel the smile that followed, the warm morning sun that filtered through the blinds, Ingo's heartbeat pressed up against his own. 'It's late.'

'How late?'

'Almost eight o'clock. We need to get up, we need to get ready.'

'Just five minutes, Ingo. Five more minutes without lies.'

Ingo's breath caught in his throat at Emmet's words. Rarely did they pay attention to the fact that nearly every waking moment they shared was a lie, but when they did, they wondered how they got away with it. They knew that many of the people they worked with had suspected that there was more to their relationship than they were letting on, Elesa had thought the same. They only told her the truth because she had approached them and asked the right questions, working her way in just far enough that they felt she had earned the right to know. She had been more upfront than anyone else, more direct, more determined to know the truth. She had asked if the three of them could share a relationship and they had declined, not because they were put off by the concept but simply because each already belonged to the other. Emmet was Ingo's and Ingo Emmet's, it was something they had known since long before they even understood the concept of devotion. It was something so inherent that it had always been and would always stay that way, something so deep and so pure that it was worth everything. All the hate, the lies, the doubt. All the secrets they kept from so many people, all of it.

Ingo felt Emmet's fingers in his hair, pulling him closer again, pressing their foreheads together. He opened his eyes to see Emmet's closed, tightly, struggling to hold back the tears that had been threatening to fall since the previous night.

'It's okay,' he said, dropping kisses down Emmet's cheek, ending by his ear so he could lower his voice even further. As much as they both cared for and trusted Elesa, Ingo didn't feel the need to have her accidentally overhear their most personal conversations. 'It's just you and me, Emmet, always. I don't like it either, I don't, but we needed to do something. It'll be over tonight, then we can stop worrying. Tomorrow, Emmet, tomorrow we'll stay here all day, us.' The kisses moved back up, slowly, carefully, until one fell against the corner of Emmet's mouth. One small kiss turned into something more as Emmet kissed back, pouring all his fear and worry into it, every negative thought that had crossed his mind in the fifteen hours previous. Ingo didn't stop him, didn't try to control it. This was Emmet's moment, his way of gaining back part of the confidence he'd lost to their plan. When he pulled away for breath, he forced Ingo to sit up with a hand to the chest, and lifted himself upright as well.

'Just today.'

'Just today'

'Promise me. One promise.' Ingo just stared, before he reached out to brush the hair back from Emmet's face. He didn't need to say anything because Emmet would ask anyway, despite already knowing that he didn't need to say it out loud for Ingo to promise it, whatever it was. 'If you have to kiss her, don't mean it.'

'Never. Are you ready?'

'No.'

They were never going to be fully prepared to face their own mother with an onslaught of lies. Elesa was well intentioned, well prepared, but she was simply a prop in their play, part of the scenery.

'How long?'

'She's arriving at 9am.'

'I'll go first,' Emmet said, nodding towards the bathroom door. He stood up without looking back and closed the door after himself, leaving Ingo alone, still dressed in his clothes from the previous afternoon.

xxxxx

Elesa was already awake and in the kitchen, as dressed as Ingo could have hoped for, singing to herself again.

'Emmet was right.'

'Hmm?' she made a questioning noise when he spoke, too preoccupied with filling the coffee machine to look up.

'You can't sing at all.'

'Oh, well, I'm making coffee.'

'Black, no sugar.'

'And Emmet?'

'White, no sugar.'

'That's easy to remember.'

'Don't put too much milk in Emmet's. Where are your pants?'

'On the floor in the other room.'

'Oh.'

'Is that okay?'

'I think so.'

'Where is Emmet?'

'Shower. Anything on the news?'

'Not yet,' Elesa said, gesturing towards the television. The coffee machine had been switched on and she stepped back, finally looking at Ingo for the first time. 'You slept in your clothes?'

'Yesterday was a Super Multi Line day. It's exhausting, then we stayed up late.'

'Late?'

'We usually wake up at four thirty.'

'Seriously?'

'Yes.'

'Still? Sorry for keeping you up last night, I didn't think you had to do that anymore.'

'The Subway opens at seven. We need time to get ready, prepare the Station, run maintenance. You know that.'

'I didn't think it was every day.'

'You're a Gym Leader.'

'You know perfectly well that the Gym never opens until eleven. Most of the time I'm out half the night with all these events, I wouldn't be able to run it at all if I had to wake up that early to do it.' Elesa opened the fridge to take out the milk and started opening all the cupboards, one at a time, searching for mugs.

'Third from the right.'

'Thanks.'

Ingo was sitting on the couch by then, staring intently at the news, wondering if by any chance the overnight train services from all across Unova had been cancelled. It didn't look like it and he sunk back into the cushions, closed his eyes, and listened to the near silence around him. It was almost like a regular morning, except it was much lighter outside. He could hear the shower running from down the hall, faintly, comforted by the noise that reminded him that Emmet was only a few rooms away. Elesa's noise was more intrusive because he was unaccustomed to it; usually he was the one to organise coffee and breakfast. His eyes opened slowly when he smelled the coffee, held right under his nose, so he reached up and took the mug from her. It was bitter today, she hadn't measured the coffee correctly and he doubted she had measured it at all. Emmet wouldn't be happy.

'So, what's the plan then?'

'You should put pants on.'

'All in good time.'

'You just… go along with it. If I say something, if Emmet says something, you help us lie. You do whatever my girlfriend is supposed to do.'

'So, no spilling the whole 'love thy brother' thing?' Ingo's head snapped to face her to fast that Elesa didn't even see him move, not until she noticed the death glare in his eyes. 'Just kidding! Lighten up a little.'

'Not today. No jokes today, please. Tomorrow when she's gone you can make a hundred bad jokes in a row. Just not today.'

'I know, I know. You're just so tense I thought I'd try to lighten the mood a little, you know? You and Emmet both.'

'It's our lives. She can never know. Our father can never know. No one can know, just you. Myself, Emmet, you. Three people know, and it needs to stay that way.'

'Okay. Sorry,' she said in a quiet voice.

'What is she sorry for?'

Suddenly, Emmet spoke from the doorway. His hair damp but still dripping, he looked much more awake than his brother, but still confused by what he had overheard.

'Nothing important,' Elesa spoke up. 'Coffee?'

'White, no sugar.'

'I already made it,' she indicated the mug perched by the coffee machine. 'Can I shower next?'

Emmet looked to Ingo for the answer; he nodded.

'Yes.'

'Make sure to put pants on when you're finished!' Ingo shouted down the hall after her. Emmet picked up the mug and sniffed it. He took a small sip, frowned, and returned the hot beverage to the countertop. 'Bitter.'

'Yep.' Emmet sat down on the couch as well, and sighed.

'Feeling better?'

'Worse. She's getting closer. Every minute that passes, she's closer. It's hard already.'

'It's just the same as before.'

'No, it's more important now. We're older. They expect more.'

'Maybe.'

'They do.'

'We should close the subway.'

'What?' Emmet had a vague idea of where Ingo's thoughts were heading, he always did, but the choice of words was odd. They never closed the Subway, not even for holidays. Ingo was the one who always wanted to work longer hours, the one that wanted to repair the broken carriages himself even if it took three nights with no sleep.

'Just for a weekend, so we can train. Maybe all the way past Lacunosa, in the Chasm. We were almost beaten yesterday, we should get stronger.'

'New tactics. The trainers learn, they watch recordings over and over.'

'Exactly.'

They fell silent, side by side and their hearts heavy with anticipation, beating in sync. It was already after eight thirty, which meant that their mother could arrive at any moment. Ingo still needed to shower and put the clothes he was wearing into the new basket in 'his' room.

'Do you think it'll work?' Emmet asked, 'we hope it will, I know. We think it will, it sounds well planned. But will it work?'

'I don't know.' Ingo put a hand on his brothers' knee and used it to help himself stand up. Emmet watched as he walked back over to the kitchen and poured both mugs of coffee down the drain, his own missing only a few mouthfuls. 'And I don't know how she survives on her own.'

'She has people that make her coffee.'

'Oh. Yeah.'

They both looked up when they heard a knock at the door. Ingo froze in place at the kitchen sink, the only thought rushing through his mind being that he was glad he'd already turned the taps off. Emmet waved furiously for him to move, not towards the door but back towards the couch, his eyes wide. Ingo looked confused but crept across the floor, thankful that he'd remembered to take his shoes off before going to sleep.

'What?' He hissed below his breath.

'Go. Bathroom, shower. Pretend you were there all along, I'll get the door. You and Elesa in the bathroom together, makes sense, yes?' Emmet whispered.

'Yeah. Good luck,' Ingo ran a hand through Emmet's hair in a slight effort to make it sit properly; it was still damp but close to drying and he hadn't even combed it, as far as Ingo could tell. Emmet smiled and waited for the bathroom door to close – he briefly heard Elesa's voice, surprised, but the door reduced their hurried conversation to murmurs. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach, nerves, he hoped, but he ignored it in favour of answering the door before their mother started wondering if they were still asleep.

'Hi,' he said. He didn't know what else to say, it had been almost eight months since they had seen her but it was the first time she was visiting them in Nimbasa. She looked as if she was about to cry. 'Are you okay?'

'Of course I am! Oh, let me look at you Emmet, have you grown again?'

'I don't think so.'

'Are you sure? You look taller.'

'I'm sure. Come in,' he added when he realised they were still in the doorway.

'So, what are we doing today?'

'Doing?' Emmet asked, ushering his mother to the couch. He moved back to the kitchen, the least he could do for her was dispose of Elesa's coffee and brew a fresh batch; he didn't want to kill her.

'Of course! You think I'm going to visit my boys all the way out in the big city and let them keep me cooped up inside all day?' she said with a smile, a smile that was very similar to Emmet's own, 'where is your brother, anyway?'

xxxxx

They both loved their mother. They always had and always would. She was kind, open hearted and loving in return. Much the same could be said for their father, although he was much more reserved and introspective. She had always been there for them, when they fell over, when they had bad days at school, when they first discovered that Patrat bite if hit with Oran Berries. Now that they were older they would go out of their way to impress her, to prove that they were adults, capable of making all the right decisions. It was their turn to remember her birthday on their own, to call her once a week, at least, and to let her know if they were appearing in any magazines or on television. She was so proud of her boys for what they had become. They had moved from a small town, risen quickly through the ranks, challenged all the Gyms in Unova and beaten the Elite Four with ease; the first time they had appeared in a magazine, the article suggested they were prodigies, capable of picking up and mastering something that would normally take years, in such a short time.

It was for all of these reasons and more that they had no idea what to do when they realised she would need to stay the night. Their choices were limited; she needed to sleep somewhere and they wouldn't hear of her staying in a hotel when they had the space. The day had been a flurry of activity, through the amusement park, a tour of the Subway, even a Musical. Elesa had kept up wonderfully, proving herself as adaptive as the twins had hoped, filling in their lies with the little details that made the whole story fall believably into place. Their mother loved her, found her a delight to talk with, so kind and chatty and knowledgeable about the city she had a responsibility to. If they were completely honest, the boys thought their mother was a little starstruck, what with Elesa appearing on no less than two different magazine covers a month. They knew they had succeeded by lunch, when their mother jokingly asked how long until they could expect grandchildren. Elesa had laughed it off, suggesting they were both far too young, too busy, but it wasn't out of the question in the future.

'Of course!' Elesa exclaimed cheerfully. Little did the brothers know that she was already planning ahead. Dinner was done, the dishes washed and dried and returned to the cupboards. She was going to swoop down and knock them of their feet with the brilliance of her thinking. Their mother had looked apologetic, as if she was intruding on Elesa's recently established territory. 'You just have to stay here, it's no problem at all. I'm sure Ingo won't mind giving up his bed for one night. He can share with Emmet just this once.'

'Oh, but what about you, dear?'

'I should be getting back to my own apartment. Desperately needs some attention and I have to be up early for a radio interview anyway. It's going to be broadcast from Unova to Johto, isn't that exciting?'

'Very! Is it going to air live?'

'Yes, that's why I have to be up so early!' Elesa paused, giggling as if she'd made a joke, 'Is that okay?' She looked to Ingo for a response, who in turn glanced at Emmet; he shrugged nonchalantly. 'See? I'm sure it's not the first time!'

'I've got some very cute pictures of the little forts they used to make on the floor – it used to be the only way they slept for months!'

'Mother, please,' Ingo interrupted, 'we were children.'

'Nonsense, you were thirteen.'

'I think he wants you to stop talking,' said Emmet. He knew he wanted her to stop or someone might let something slip in a miscalculated moment. The boundaries had begun to blur and something needed to be done. So instead of letting the conversation carry on in the direction it was taking, Emmet yawned, lifting himself off the couch with what looked like a great amount of effort. 'I think I need to sleep. I'm tired. We ran the Super Multi line yesterday, I still haven't slept enough.'

'Well, you sleep tight. I'll make sure Ingo doesn't wake you.'

'Thank you. Goodnight,' Emmet said, placing a kiss on his mothers' cheek. 'And you,' he added to Elesa, who waved and blew him a kiss; Ingo frowned, but whether it was genuine disapproval, Emmet couldn't tell.

He lay awake for what felt like hours. He stared at the darkened ceiling for so long that he was sure the clock began to tick, loud and irritating in the blackness. They had a digital clock but that didn't stop Emmet from thinking he'd heard the noise. He listened to the muffled sounds from outside in the living room, unsure of who was speaking or what they were saying. He heard the door to the next room close and assumed their mother had decided to follow his lead, heading to bed early in preparation for the morning; she could catch a train home at noon, leaving them just enough time to share breakfast and perhaps a quick sample of their jobs. Emmet had already rescheduled twice with one trainer, he couldn't put it off any longer. He heard another door close a full twenty minutes later, more faintly this time, the front door. Then footsteps, familiar and heavy even on the carpet. Another door, quietly. Then almost silently, it was locked. Not for any specific reason but simply to keep their mother from prying. The excuse of 'Emmet fears break-ins' had worked right up until they had left home, there was no reason that should have changed.

Ingo lay down wordlessly, unsure if Emmet was awake. He doubted that he would have fallen asleep but he couldn't be sure – the comments about weariness were not lies. The brothers needed sleep, and soon. He waited, one minute, two. Three, perhaps. He didn't know; the darkness confused him in his already sleep deprived state. Then suddenly, without warning, without a word, Emmet was lying on him, ear pressed to his chest, listening for that familiar, identical heartbeat.

'Hey,' he said softly, the word only just forming in the silence.

'Sssh,' Emmet said. He moved, sitting over Ingo, pressing their foreheads together again, just as he had that morning. 'You didn't kiss her.'

'I didn't need to.'

'It worked,' he said, the whispers falling from his own lips onto Ingo's, each one chosen carefully. Now was not the time for a lengthy conversation.

'It did, perfectly.'

'Thank you.'

Emmet didn't need to say anything else because Ingo knew exactly how loaded the words were. He was thankful that the whole day had panned out as they had intended, that no one had found out more than they needed, that no hearts had been broken. No secrets had been spilled but rather they had been contained, locked deeper away by a whole new set of lies, barriers, boundaries that people would need to cross to find the truth. It was all of these things and more that Emmet had meant by his simple 'thank you', and it was all of these things and more that he was sharing in a single kiss, one of the most meaningful they had ever shared. There were too many words and not enough time, and Emmet, sweet, empathetic Emmet, didn't know how to express fears for himself, only to show how grateful he was that things had worked out well for others. He broke away and took a deep breath, speechless again. He moved once more, back down to listen to Ingo's heartbeat. There was no sound he wanted to hear more, nothing he would have preferred to lull him to sleep.

xxxxx

'Eelektross, Gastro Acid now!'

Emmet always felt like he should hold back, as if the teenager standing in front of him deserved the win more. After all, he won numerous battles every day and these were up and coming trainers that put months of effort in, just for the opportunity to battle him. He, like his brother, had developed an intuition about these trainers, allowing him to scale his victories. He didn't want to win easily, and he didn't want to discourage the children. He held back, just enough, to give them a fair fight, to make their training worth it.

But now was the time to end it. The trainer, a boy from Nacrene, was beginning to look too self-important. Eelektross' acid spilt through the train carriage, causing the trainer to jump up onto a seat and his Whimsicott and Krookodile to cry out in pain from the burns. Emmet himself was standing on the edge of a seat, hanging out into the aisles from the handrails. Behind him, Ingo gestured for their mother to lift her feet up; the acid would not damage the train, but it would ruin her shoes.

'Good! Now, Excadrill – aerial ace on Whimsicott!' He shouted, his grin wide, only grasping the rails with one hand. He could see the colour draining from his opponents face as Excadrill delivered the final, super effective blow. Whimsicott swayed on the spot for a moment or two, rocking back and forth with the motion of the carriage.

'Return!' The boy cried, clearly stricken by his predicament. Whimsicott disappeared in a flash of red, unconscious but alive. 'Go, Krookodile! Go for Excadrill first and use Crunch!'

Both competitors watched as strong jaws latched onto Excadrill's arm; the boy punched the air as the Pokémon stumbled, while Emmet let out a very uncharacteristic, taunting chuckle.

'What are you laughing at?'

'You fought well. Verrry strong! But you made a mistake. Excadrill is not weak to dark type moves. But your Krookodile, she will feel the effects of his attacks. Excadrill, finish this now! Earthquake!'

With Emmet's permission, Excadrill sent a powerful earthquake in the opposite direction; it was a normal hit, with regular resistance on Krookodile's part. But she was weakened by their battle, and her trainer's miscalculation cost her victory. She collapsed to the floor with a whining 'Krooo!', leaving Emmet, as always, the victor.

'I am Emmet. I won against you. But I think I just got lucky. In a Double Battle, if you misread one thing, the rest will be totally different,' he said, reciting the same speech he used for every victory. 'You did misread. That was your downfall. Practice and try again, I hope you get stronger next time!' He added as the train pulled back into Gear Station. He returned Eelektross and Excadrill to their respective Pokéballs. The trainer from Nacrene nodded and muttered a 'thanks' under his breath as he disembarked the carriage, stepping carefully around the acid that still lay on the floor.

'Emmet, that was wonderful to watch! Do you always make such a mess though?'

'No. Only sometimes. Ingo set the chairs on fire last week. It's okay. Our carriages are strong.'

No sooner than the trainer had left, maintenance entered armed with pressure hoses and toolkits. To repair any real damage, Emmet explained as they disembarked the train, avoiding the spilt acid as they went.

'And no one minds?'

'No. Trainers like the challenge. It's very different to battling in a field,' Ingo explained.

'Moves are chosen carefully, some moves are banned. Surf, for instance, after we almost drowned,' Emmet continued as he opened the door to their office. It was a small room to begin with, designed to house the original security system. But as the train network had expanded over the years, more space was required and the room had been abandoned in favour of the much larger control room, only two doors down. The brothers had taken the office as their own. They worked in the control room for the most part, but their job was a stressful one that gave them little down time during the day. A small office was useful for those rare moments when they did have a minute to themselves, and a place to go and collect their thoughts before the next train departed. Cosy, their mother had called it earlier that morning when they had dropped her bags off. Emmet had shrugged it off, for he was of the opinion that it didn't matter since it was quiet, had space enough for two desks, and was somewhere they could go to complete paperwork without being interrupted.

Emmet pulled out his own chair, indicating for her to sit down while he sat in Ingo's, leaving his brother with nowhere to sit.

'There's a train home in twenty minutes, mother,' said Ingo, frowning at the timetable plastered to the wall over his desk. There wasn't a spare inch of wall space that didn't have a timetable or map stuck to it, current or not. There was an original map above Emmet's desk, from back when the subway only had two lines and was used only for transportation. Photographs, too, they were stuck up with pins, pushed deep into the plaster walls, some from long before the War, some more recent. It was one of these more recent photos that had caught their mothers' eye; the brothers on their first day as Subway Masters. Perched on a bench in the main atrium of Gear Station, they could have been waiting for a passenger train to take them far across Unova. Clad in freshly pressed uniforms, their hats were the only thing out of place. Ingo's was on his lap as he looked at his brother, whose own was pulled down over his eyes; they both wore grins, identical and wide, a genuine moment of happiness.

'We like that one. It was our first day,' Emmet said. It wasn't difficult to establish which photo their mother was staring at. 'Would you like a copy?'

'Please. Now, you'll be home for Christmas?'

'Yes. Like always.'

'Should we expect to see Elesa then, too?'

'I don't know. I'll ask her.'

'I hope she can make it. I'm so happy for you,' their mother said as she stood up; she raised an eyebrow when neither of them moved. 'Hurry up, one bag each. Make yourselves useful, I've got a train to catch. You know your father can't cook and I'm worried he's burnt the house down already.'

xxxxx

There had been a note stuck to the front door of their apartment when they returned after work, scrawled in Elesa's handwriting. Gone home, it said, he might be an idiot but he's a gorgeous idiot so call me tomorrow. They laughed; she never would change, they knew it and so did she.

It had felt like the longest two days of their lives. The fear, anxiety, pain, they had all been worth it for this moment, when their hearts felt light and their heads felt clear. There was nothing to force them to converse in whispers, no one who might walk in unexpectedly. They were safe, home, and their secret had been buried well, deep enough that they were sure it would remain between them, and Elesa. They knew that one day they would need to face their situation, to come up with more lies or divulge some truths, but for now, they were free. Kisses fell from Ingo's lips, following Emmet's jaw, then collarbone, then back again until they met, wordlessly. The kisses spoke for themselves, with neither one prepared to break away, for they never knew just how soon that moment would come, the moment when they did run out of lies.

Hope you enjoyed reading. If you could leave a review/hatemail, I'd appreciate it.