#Bonding over the trashiest dramas ever written

[sterling-starlight]

Chapter 10: Ebb and Flow

The fact that he could see his own breath, coming out in erratic bursts, said that he was anxious. The fact that White seemed to be sitting right in the middle of this bitter cold said that she was anxious and terrorfied. Staring at him with wide eyes that glistened like ice hands clutching onto the material of her hoodie like it was the single thing anchoring her to this reality. Or the only thing keeping her from running away.  There was a faint ringing in his head, something trying to pound the belief that it was just a hoodie and that White was just a frightened young woman into his brain. His common sense battling against what he knew to be the truth of the matter. 

“You came back.” Ingo said, breaking the silence. He drew his coat closer to him, fightint against the chill that was settling into his bones. 

“I had to,” White replied in a wavering voice.  One of her hands reached up to twist into her hair, ice crystals sprouting from her fingertips. She didn’t seem to even notice the ice creeping up to her scalp. 

“Where’s Emmet?” Ingo’s eyes canned the room for his brother. The younger twim popped up from beneath the counter like he had been summoned, two mugs and the tea kettle in his hands. Completely unpreturbed by the drop in temperature. 

“Oh, hi.” He greeted like this was a completely normal thing that happened every Tuesday. “I found her outside our apartment. Said she didn’t want to talk until you got home. Honey-lemon?”

This wasn’t Emmet’s usual nonchalance. Emmet only broke out the tea when he needed something to distract himself. Something he could focus on to avoid the Donphan in the room.  Ingo breathed in through his nose, but coughed when the frigid air assaulted his lungs.  Regathering his composure, he strode across the room to the couch White had taken over. She huddled into one corner nervously, so Ingo respectfully took the opposide one.  

“What did-”

“Do you two hate me?” 

Ingo and White spoke at the same time, the former being completely taken aback while the latter continued to fidget with that lock of her hair. It was almost entirely coated in frost. 

“I beg your pardon?” He questioned, “Why would Emmet and I hate you?”

“Because I’m not human.” White replied, she glaned at him out of the corner of her eye. “Because I kept this-” she waved a hand down her front, and the material of her hoodie looked more like fur than cotton. “-From you both.”

Thinking back to the stories and legends Ingo had been pouring over for the past three days, he took a while to choose his words carefully. Selkies in the stories were always desired and romanticized. There were only one or two that portrayed them as monsters to be fear as hated; but those were the stories where they were horrendous demons. As mockeries of Arceus’ Holy Design. 

White cut him off before he could defend himself. “You and Emmet... you looked at me like I wasn’t even me. Like I was... a thing.” She said, her voice barely audible. 

From  the kitchen, the kettle dropped onto the strove too heavily to be on purpose. 

“That isn’t-” He Ingo began uncertainly. He took off his cap to run a hand over his hair. “I apologize if it came across that way,” he said carefully. “It was just... suprising. Creatures like you-” He paused when he saw the hurt in White’s eyes. He cleared his throat, “People like you, we’ve only heard about them in folklore and children’s stories. How were we supposed to react?”

“...I dunno...” White replied weakly. She drew her knees up to her chest, finally letting go of her hair in favor of lacing her fingers together. “I had my mind set on you two being like me. I never really con-consi-...thought of what I would do if it turned out another way.” 

Ingo dared to shift just a little closer. He took the fact that he wasn’t instantly pushed back by some sort of cold wind as a positive sign. “We don’t hate you,” he assured gently. She turned her head to face him fully and smiled. Ingo wasn’t sure if it was just him, or if it was the room itself that had warmed up. 

“I’m really glad,” she said. “You two are my favorite.”

She smiled bright enough to illuminate the world. Ingo wanted to protect such a precious treasure with every fiber of his being.

As casual as he ever was, Emmet plopped down on the empty cushion between Ingo and White (although he still kept a respectable distance away from her), three mugs of tea expertly balanced on a tray. “Now that we’ve cleared the air a little bit,” he began, hanging Ingo a mug of honey-lemon and nudging a separate cup of what looked like hot coco in White’s direction, “how about some TV? White, I heard the newest episode of My Love; My Devotion airs tonight.”

“For real?! Turn it on, turn it on!” White bounced in her spot, the cold almost melting off her body as she stared at the blank television screen impatiently. Emmet chuckled and flipped the TV on to the drama station. Ingo signed and relaxed into the overstuffed cushions, resigning himself to a night of poorly written romance. 

---------------------------

“How could he do this?!” Surprisingly, it was Emmet who voiced his disbelief at the show.  As far as Ingo could tell (he was only half paying attention to the dribble), the male lead had chosen to go overseas to Hoenn for the sake of his business rather than stay in Kanto with his girlfriend. His heavily pregnant girlfriend because of course she was.

“Right? Doesn’t he know abandoning his pups is the single worst thing a parent can do? And he was so likable before.” White agreed vehemently, hugging her Seel plush (she had rushed to grab it during a commercial break). “Tatsuya deserves Nanase more than Kazuto does, anyway.” She said, referring to the three parts of the show’s main love triangle.  Honestly, polyamory would solve everyone’s problems, since all three parties clearly loved each other. Oh, but that wouldn’t be dramatic enough would it? How else would the writers incorporate a “whose baby is it, anyway?” story line? Despite how badly he wanted to rip this show’s writing to pieces, White was enjoying it. She was acting more like her old self; open and affectionate and happy. 

The episode finally ended with a grand, sweeping crescendo as Tatsuya boldly declared that he would take care of Nanase and her unborn child before it finally cut to the credits. Ingo breathed an internal sigh of relief, while Emmet and White boo’d. White was so displeased that she threw a few popcorn kernels at the screen. Which she quickly scooped up and ate before dropping herself back onto the couch. 

Ingo’s watch chirped happily, alerting him that it had just turned ten’o’clock. Had he really lost so much time with that show? There was no way it was only an hour long...

“Well...” White began as she stood back up, sucking the salt and butter from her fingers. “I guess I should get going now.” She offered a weak smile  to Ingo and Emmet. “Thanks for having me over, and for... being so nice to me. Not many humans would be, after learning what I am.” She began twisting a lock of hair around her hands again and looked away.

Ingo and Emmet exchanged glances. “It’s getting late. Are there even going to be bunks available at the shelter?” Emmet questioned. 

“If there isn’t, I can sleep in one of the canals,” White replied with a faint shrug. Her smile faltered at the corners, “I’ve done it before.”

“Or you could stay the night.” Ingo spoke up, causing the other two to look at him curiously. White shifted her weight, her eyes narrowing and lips pouting in consideration. It was unnatural, seeing her with so much restraint. “It’s too dark for you to be wandering the city by yourself.” He continued. 

White opened her mouth to argue, but the rumble of thunder quickly shut her off. She squeaked and held herself. “Where did that come from?” She asked in a quavering voice, glaring at the ceiling through her bangs. 

“A storm started brewing during the show’s run time,” Ingo informed. His sentence was punctuated by another, louder rumble. 

“OkayyouwinI’mstayingthankyou.” White somehow managed to say that entire sentence in a single breath. She practically dove back onto the couch, grabbed her plush, and snuggled into Emmet’s side for protection.  He wrapped his arm around her like he had done it a thousand times before, and Ingo felt disgusted that he was jealous over his brother.  Emmet was completely and utterly devoted to Elesa, what threat could he-

Ingo’s thoughts came to a screeching halt. Threat? Had he seriously classified his own brother as a potential threat? Arcues, this was maddening. But Ingo did the only thing that he could do whenever his thoughts and emotions began going places he didn’t want them to-

“Please excuse me,  I’d like to get to sleep early.”

-He got up and ran away like the gods damned coward that he was. Because that was all he knew how to do.