Work Text:
It was silly to think that, of all these strangers that were watching them, none could tell them apart at a glance. Hell, most of them couldn’t tell them apart at all. The only thing that differenced them was the fact that they always wore different colors. Few would notice if they switched. Jyushimatsu wondered what would happen if they both showed up wearing the same clothes one day.
But he was knocked out of his thoughts when the announcer got in the middle and shooed some people away to make a ring.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Are you having fun tonight?”
The crowd roared and hollered. Some whistled. Ichimatsu cracked his knuckles.
“That’s what I’m talking about! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s come to my attention that a lot of you asked for a very specific fight tonight, as you have so many times before, now, is that true?”
Among the cheers, Jyushimatsu’s whistling was clear to any who knew him well. Which was only one person in here.
“Well, you asked for it! So here you have it! The Twins will be putting another show for you! Give it up for One and Fourteen!”
Some people patted Jyushimatsu on the back as he made his way to the gap. Fewer patted Ichimatsu.
They met with the announcer in the middle of the ring, and he took the liberty of calming down the crowd for a moment. Jyushimatsu had painted his number on his abs and the back of his neck, for people’s convenience. Ichi had painted his on both shoulders.
“Okay twins, I want a clean game! One, you just got through a fight, so if you want to take a break without giving up, you know what to do, right?”
Ichimatsu nodded as the crowd clapped three times. The electricity of the air ran up and down his spine.
“Thank you people!” the announcer said. “Well then, anytime you’re ready!”
Jyushimatsu took a deep breath and made sure Ichimatsu exhaled with him before he got into position.
“Three, two, one – go!”
And so they did.
There wasn’t as much technique as there was pure improvising. Ichimatsu grabbed Jyushi by the arm and swung him around his back, causing the cheering crowd to open the circle. Jyushimatsu kicked his heel in the back of Ichimatsu’s knee – the same knee that’d gotten kicked in the fight he’d just finished. They both went down.
Jyushimatsu landed on top and shoved Ichi’s face in the ground, digging an elbow in his back. Ichimatsu pushed himself sideways until he rolled over with Jyushimatsu still on top of him, falling on his shoulder.
Jyushimatsu yelped. Ichimatsu punched the inside of his brother’s thigh.
The people had started throwing them things, now, mostly napkins from the canteen. One of them landed over Jyushimatsu’s quickly-reddening shoulder.
Ichimatsu twisted his legs around his brother’s, turning the other and landing firmly on his butt. He threw in an elbow to the head for good measure.
He grabbed Jyushimatsu’s legs and hooked them under his own armpits.
The crowd was ecstatic.
“Any pleading words, bro?”
Jyushimatsu squirmed some more.
“No? What a pity.” Ichimatsu pulled his brother’s legs back. “Nothing at all?”
Jyushimatsu’s squirming turned to fussing which turned into manic thrusting which managed to free a leg. Jyushimatsu kicked the hell out of that leg to throw Ichimatsu off.
Ichimatsu rolled out. Well, he tried to, before Jyushimatsu could grab him and put his thigh on the back of Ichimatsu’s neck, Jyushi’s leg at Ichi’s throat, and both his bandage-wrapped hands squeezing Ichimatsu’s arm.
Ichimatsu struggled against the floor, but at least his face wasn’t mushed up against the dirt. Much.
Jyushimatsu put his free knee on the small of Ichimatsu’s back.
Ichimatsu slapped the floor.
“Game!” The announcer yelled. “Wow, that was wild! Thank you for this amazing fight again! Fourteen has won, ladies and gentlemen! Please collect your winnings at the desk and come again for the Twins’ next fight! We’ll be here all night!”
Jyushimatsu helped Ichimatsu up. The announcer lowered his voice to talk to them.
“Fourteen, are you gonna take any challengers? How’s your shoulder?”
“Not good”, Jyushimatsu said, rubbing said shoulder. “I’m out for the night, I think.”
The announcer nodded. “That’s that for them, folks, let’s hear it for Fourteen!”
The crowd whooped. Ichimatsu walked behind and to the side of Jyushimatsu as they made their way through the clutter of bodies, in order to protect his brother’s injury from the wondering hands that insisted on darting out to pat their backs. Jyushimatsu patted some himself with his good arm. He even exchanged a few high-fives.
There were medics, of course, but they made Jyushimatsu jittery and Jyushimatsu made them uneasy. Ichimatsu just plain didn’t like being touched. So, while they were offered first aid, they weren’t questioned when they refused.
They weren’t the only ones fending their own bruises.
Ichimatsu threw some ice at Jyushimatsu, who held it in place over his shoulder and whimpered. Ichimatsu sat next to him and stretched his leg out, bent it at the knee, stretched it out again. Somebody passed them a shirt for Jyushimatsu. Surprisingly, it was his own.
“How’s that feel?” Ichimatsu said, pointing at the ice.
“Cold and painful.”
“It looks nasty.”
One of the other fighters opened the freezer and took a pack of ice for herself. She offered one to Ichimatsu. He shook his head. She grabbed one for him anyway.
“Did I break that, nii-san? It looked really bad when you finished your other fight...”
Ichimatsu bunched up the leg of his sweatpants around his thigh and held the ice over his knee. “No, it’s fine. Kinda feels like death. Kinda feels like Shitty-nii-san.”
Jyushimatsu laughed. “Painful, huh?”
The fighter who gave Ichi his ice came over and made a gesture with both her hands. It looked weird to outsiders but anyone who’d ever broken a nose knew what it was.
Ichimatsu put his fingers on the sides of the bridge of her bleeding nose and pushed them down. Something cracked in place and she bit her hand.
This one preferred fixing herself up, much like most others, and would rather get help from other fighters than the medics, at least for things like this. She was more comfortable with people who’ve had her injuries and knew how they felt.
“Hey”, Ichimatsu turned back to his brother, “let’s get our cash and just bail. I don’t wanna try walking on this when the adrenaline drops.”
“Yeah.” Jyushimatsu rubbed his thigh. “Lemme bandage my shoulder first.”
“Ace?”
“Yeah, it’s gonna swell a lot.”
Ichimatsu lifted the ice. “It does look pretty purple.”
“Then your knee’d better look yellow.”
They both laughed.
Communion was quick and crowded, and Ichimatsu again put himself between his little brother and the crowd to keep him safe on the way home.
“We’re back!”
Jyushimatsu collapsed on the couch. Nevermind that Choromatsu was in it. Ichimatsu moved to the kitchen and wet a towel.
“What the- where have you two been?!”
Jyushimatsu groaned in the couch’s seat.
“Out fighting”, Ichimatsu said as he raided the freezer. “Shoulda seen the fucker I took on. At least two heads taller than me.”
“What the hell, I thought I told you to stop?”
Ichimatsu sat down on the floor near the couch and placed a pack of frozen peas on Jyushimatsu’s shoulder. Jyushi’s sigh was muffled.
“What the hell, I thought we told you we didn’t give a fuck?” Ichimatsu stretched his leg out and bent over it. He patted the towel over his face. He wasn’t sure he was bleeding, but he did eat a lot of dirt today. “It’s not like we’re gonna die or some shit.”
“You don’t know that! You could get seriously injured!”
Jyushimatsu protested. Ichimatsu translated, “We mostly fight each other though.”
Choromatsu groaned towards the ceiling. “Why do I even try?”
“Hey, help him up”, Ichimatsu said. “His shoulder is hurt. He shouldn’t lie on his face.”
Choromatsu manhandled Jyushimatsu into a sitting position. Jyushimatsu struggled out of his shirt and laid the ice flat on his bandages.
“Have you... written ‘14’ on your stomach?”
“Yeah. My neck, too.”
“Why.”
“People can’t tell us apart.”
“And you had to put your names?”
“They’re just numbers. What’d you rather have, our birth order?”
“That’s even worse!”
“Can you not raise your voice”, Ichimatsu said, covering his face with the towel. “I’m overloading like hell.”
“Aw, nii-san. I’m sorry!”
“Nah, it wasn’t you, Jyushi. Was the other one.”
“Aw.”
Ichimatsu lied on the floor. The towel landed somewhere near his head.
“Wait, Ichimatsu, you hit your head?” Choromatsu said.
“A little. You should see my back. But after I’m done stretching it out.”