The first time he met her, he was only sixteen but it was already too late.
Siegrain tossed the wet pool towel into the laundry room and began to prowl through the kitchen. His first stop was the refrigerator for a cold bottle of water. There were room temperature bottles in the pantry but the outside had been hot and today he wanted the chill.
On their own, the bottles were a metaphor for his life. Jellal always wanted cold water, Mystogan preferred his room temperature. No one ever asked Siegrain what he liked best so he just took whatever suited him in the moment. It wasn't exactly a problem. But the fact that no one ever asked him represented something he hated – the middle. He hated that he always found himself there no matter what he did. Somewhere between Mystogan's bright star of excellence, and the golden sheen of wholesome perfection Jellal exuded, was Siegrain. He didn't actually know if he wanted cold water or room temperature – but he thought maybe someone should've at least asked.
He shut the fridge door and headed for the pantry. The new bag of pretzels and a handful of tangerines would be the perfect filler until dinner. Siegrain peeled the first tangerine right there in the pantry and stuffed three wedges into his mouth. His arms were full of snacks and a half-full bottle of water when he spun back around and faced the kitchen.
He blinked in surprise when he saw her – and she narrowed her eyes in confusion. She stared. Siegrain glanced backwards over his shoulder back into the pantry. He would've said something if his mouth weren't filled embarrassingly with wedges of tangerine. Her hair was a deep scarlet and her cheeks were quickly reddening to match.
"Uh –" she stumbled over her words and Siegrain quickly swallowed the tangerine. "What's going on?"
"Now, that's a loaded question," he said smoothly. Her face flushed an angry pink and Siegrain couldn't help the smirk that crawled across his face. She was beautiful when frustrated.
"You –" She searched his face with the most appealing honey brown eyes he'd ever seen. "You told me to wait in the kitchen and now –"
Siegrain's stomach plummeted to the floor. Of course. He rallied anyway. "There's plenty of me to go around, beautiful. One for every room of the house." Her face clouded into a flustered rage.
"What did you just say?" Siegrain laughed lightly and dumped his snacks onto the center island counter. He popped another wedge of tangerine into his mouth and watched her simmer. "I don't know what's going on here but –"
"Hey, Erza, I couldn't find th–" Jellal rounded the corner and cut off mid-sentence. His eyes flit from the angry girl with the red hair to Siegrain. "What's going on here?"
The girl, Erza, apparently, spun on Jellal and her face contorted in even more confusion. "I think you need to tell me what's going on first!"
"Oh." Jellal blinked and nudged the bag of pretzels aside to make room for his laptop on the counter. "Well, uh –"
"Like I said," Sirgeain interjected. "One for every room of the house." He tore open the pretzel bag and crunched noisily.
"Erza, this is my brother, Sieg."
"Are you twins? Why didn't you tell me you had a twin brother?" Her rage level was visibly falling.
"He's been away for a couple of weeks and I didn't even know he'd be back today." Jellal glanced over at him and Siegrain only shrugged. "Look, Erza, I should also mention –"
"Oh, hey, Sieg, you're back," a voice from the mouth of the hallway said absently. "Are mom and dad with you?"
"Nope." Siegrain finished off his water and peeled another tangerine. "They're staying for another week or year. Who knows. I got bored."
"What's happening?" Erza whispered. She slowly backed away from the center island as yet another boy who looked exactly like Jellal stood in the kitchen. Siegrain laughed again.
"I keep telling you, Red." He ignored Jellal's glare. Mystogan's eyes hadn't left the face of his phone. "One for every room of the house."
"Jellal, please, tell me how many more of you there are. I can't take this suspense."
"I'm sorry." Jellal ran a hand through his hair and took Erza's hand. Siegrain's eye twitched at the sight. "There's only three of us and, yes, we're identical."
"Identical triplets?" she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "But the odds of that are –"
"Unknown," Mystogan said. "It's been hypothesized that the odds are anywhere between sixty-thousand and two-hundred-million. Non-identical triplets occur in about one out of every four-thousand births. Most sets of triplets are considered trizygotic – which means three separate eggs were fertilized and attached to the uterine wall. Monozygotic triplets are when –"
"Okay, okay," Jellal pulled Erza away from Mystogan, who simply shrugged. "That's enough. She gets it."
"Just trying to help." Mystogan nodded at Siegrain and disappeared back down the hallway.
"So does he, uh, I'm sorry but –" Erza's eyes were stuck to Jellal's face, desperately seeking answers. Siegrain couldn't look away from her hair. Wisps of it had slipped from what had already been a sloppy bun. He loved it.
"Mystogan doesn't go to our school. He's on another planet most of the time. Sieg's been with our parents for the last few weeks." Jellal's expression fell into what everyone called his puppy dog face. "I'm sorry. I should've warned you."
Erza glanced back over at Siegrain. He waved and chomped another pretzel.
"It's fine." She finally smiled and something in Siegrain's chest flew away. "I do have to get home, though. My mom will flip out. I think maybe letting you drive me home is the most she'll be cool with until we get settled."
"Right." Jellal closed his laptop. "I couldn't find what you needed anyway. I'll get it tonight, though. I know I saw it somewhere."
"It's fine. There's time." Erza's hand closed around Jellal's arm. She turned back to Siegrain and smiled at him with a politeness he certainly didn't deserve at the moment. "It was nice meeting you. Will I see you at school?"
"If you're lucky." Jellal reached out and snatched one of the tangerines and glared.
"Be nice," he hissed.
Once they were gone, Siegrain's appetite died down. Like a brat he left the food on the counter and headed for his bedroom. Of course she was Jellal's girlfriend. Of course she'd moved to town while he was gone. Why should he ever expect anything different?
That night he dreamed of a beautiful scarlet sky but he stood on the other side of a thick pane of glass and could feel none of it's warmth.
Though he'd been excused from school for two more days, Siegrain dressed for classes in the morning. By the time he made it down to the kitchen, Mystogan was already gone. He'd left half his waffles uneaten but Jellal was still finishing off his pancakes. Siegrain sighed and grabbed a loaf of bread from the pantry.
The same chef had been preparing his family's meals for as long as he could remember. She'd asked him once if he preferred pancakes of waffles in the morning and in a fit of petulance he told her not to bother. There wasn't a third, unique option he could think of at the time. Ever since then he'd been punishing himself with plain toast.