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Growing up with someone that looked exactly like you had been fun for Ryland and Colt. The two had made it a game numerous times to mess with their mother and teachers, especially in elementary school, by pretending to be each other, swapping jackets and seat at whim, answering to the other's name like it was second nature.
They had been absolute hellions when dealing with substitutes who couldn't even hope to distinguish the two.
"Colter! I've told you multiple times! We do not throw markers at other students! Timeout corner, now," the substitute told him, looking down on the young boy in the red jacket in front of him.
"I'm not Colter," the boy responded softly, curling in on himself slightly like he was frightened. "I'm Ryland. Colter is besides me and he threw the marker."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ryland," the teacher apologized, slightly embarrassed. "I get you two confused sometimes. Sorry about that," he said again, walking over to the other desk, neither having a name tag in the front, courtesy of the twins deciding to have some fun.
"Colter, timeout corner now," he said again, now in front of the twin in the blue jacket.
"I'm sorry, mister, but I'm not Colter. I'm Ryland."
"Well, you both can't be Ryland."
"Says who?" The twin in the red jacket asked.
"Yeah," the one in blue agreed. "Says who? Maybe we can both be Ryland today?"
"That's sound like fun!" The one in red agreed, falling into a fit of giggles alongside his brother.
"Fine! Both of you, corner now!" The teacher demanded, shivering when a pair of twin devilish smiles fell on the two boys faces.
"That's not fair," the one in blue said first, calm as could be.
"Yeah, group punishment is illegal anyway," the one in red continued, following his brother's lead.
"It's in the Geneva Convention," the two said at the same time, high-fiving each other as they finished.
The poor substitute's soul ascended in that very moment. Difficult students were one thing. Twins were another. But these two were devils in human form together, hellbent on making him regret his day job.
"I give up," the man muttered. "Enjoy an early recess everyone," he resigned himself, throwing a hand up and letting the kids run wild. This wasn't worth the paycheck.
He took it upon himself to look through the cubbies of the Grace twins while they played. Usually, when dealing with twins, each one would get assigned a specific color to keep them separated.
In this case, it looked like Ryland had blue and Colter had red, given their book bags and raincoats being in their assigned color. This should make it easier for him to keep the two apart.
Taking a much needed break before he had to continue to deal with them, the substitute sat behind the desk, resting his head in his hands.
"Are you okay?" The blue Grace asked gently. "I'm sorry my brother and I made you upset. We were just having a bit of fun."
"You're okay, Ryland," he comforted, noting the jacket color. "I just need to tell Colter that it's not okay to throw markers during class. Not at me or anyone else. I just don't know why he's so difficult. You're always so quiet during class until he riles you up. You're a good kid, why can't Colter be more like you?"
"Ummmm, I'm Colt, sir."
Just as his soul had ascended earlier, the teacher's soul now descended into hell, falling further as the boy continued.
"And I didn't throw the marker at all earlier. That was Ryland. He got bored and decided to see if he could beat my record of hits."
Twins were the devil. Bored twins were clearly hell incarnate.
~~~
"Colter Grace! You get back here right now, young man!"
"Only if you can catch me, granny!" Colt yelled back at his teacher, an older woman with no tolerance for fun in her science class, much less a explosive foam courtesy of his twin brother's formula.
Science had been boring lately, so Colt decided that he would spruce it up, make it interesting, with help from Ryland of course. He'd asked Ry for help with a 'science fair project', wanting to make something cool that would blow up. They'd settled on a decomposition reaction, more commonly known as Elephant's Toothpaste that would bathe the world in dyed color and foam.
Under the teacher's watchful gaze, Colt had carefully grabbed the necessary components - soap, peroxide, dry yeast from home that he'd pocketed before heading out, and food coloring to make it even more fun. He'd turned the room into a red mess of foam and booked it.
Turning into a corner, Colt smacked heads with a familiar face, sending both of them to the floor and Ryland's glasses off his face.
"Oh, hey Colt," Ryland said, helping his brother to stand up from the ground, ignoring his spectacles for a moment. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Fuckin' run!" Colt yelled, sprinting off and leaving Ryland behind, confused and about to face the consequences of his brother's actions.
"Got you," the teacher shouted, grabbing Ryland by the front of his shirt. "You are in big trouble, young man! I'm taking you to the principle's office."
"What'd I even do?" Ryland asked, confused while simultaneously understanding that Colt had something to do with this. "If you're looking for Colt, I'm not him. I'm Ryland."
"Oh sure," the teacher responded, voice dripping with sarcasm as she dragged the blond down towards the office. "You have an identical twin brother and I'm the Queen of Spain. I have no tolerance for your lies today, Colter."
Letting out a sigh, Ryland accepted his face and went willingly with the woman, vowing to make Colt do his chores for the rest of the week as compensation for the chewing out he was going to get. He could only imagine what Colt had done to piss her off this badly.
Later that same night, Colt would certainly face the consequences of his own actions in the form of his younger, nerdy brother.
"You blew up the lab?!?" Ryland shouted at him. "How?"
"Shhhh!" Colt shushed him, putting a finger to his lips. "I don't want mom to know. Thanks for managing to talk your way out of it by the way. Gotta teach me how to do that."
"Spill now," Ryland demanded.
"I kinda, maybe, sort of used the reaction you gave me," Colt sheepishly answered. "In all honesty, it worked really well."
"The one for the science fair? For the foam?"
"Yeah, there wasn't really a science fair. Class was just getting so boring, so I figured that I should bring some science from home, you know?"
"I can't believe you," Ryland spat out. "You nearly got suspended. You're lucky I managed to talk them down to a week of ISS."
"Oh c'mon," Colt prodded his brother, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "You know it was fuckin' sick. It exploded everywhere! That class is gonna be red until we graduate."
"It worked that well?" Ryland asked, his voice lost of all its bite, now infused with pure curiosity.
"Hell yeah it did!" Colt shouted out, throwing his arms up into the air. "We gotta try it again, but bigger."
"And at home," Ryland added on.
"And at home," Colt agreed.
"Fine," Ryland sighed out. "Let me grab the supplies and we can blow some up in the backyard. I want to get some good data on this too, so maybe we can do increasing concentrations?"
"Fucking sick! Let me go get the food coloring," Colt said rapidly, taking off towards the kitchen, leaving Ryland alone in their room.
Letting out a deep sigh, Ryland rubbed his face before following his twin outside. Colt may have been a pain, but he was his brother. Besides, who else would be blow stuff up with?
~~~
"Wait wait wait, you want me to go to your gym class today? Why?" Colt asked Ryland, both hopping into the car with Colt behind the wheel. Ryland refused to drive unless he absolutely had to.
"They have the fitness test today and I really don't want to do it," Ryland explained. "I have a test to study for and I really could use the extra time too."
"What's in it for me?" Colt asked, drifting the car around a corner as Ryland gripped onto the door for dear life. "I mean, if I'm going to do it twice, I need some sort of incentive."
"I'll give you my allowance this week," Ryland offered, but Colt just grimaced and shook his head.
"I don't know, little brother. I think I might need something a bit more."
"How about I help you study for your history exam this week?"
"And?"
"And…" Ryland sighed as he answered, hanging his head in shame. "I'll do your homework for you for math."
"Whole week, right?"
"What?!?" Ryland shouted in shock. "No! You're doing one class for me! Why the hell would I do your homework for a whole week?"
"Because you love me," Colt shot back, looking over at his brother with puppy dog eyes.
"Eyes on the road!" Ryland shouted at him. "Fine! Fine! I will do your math homework for the week."
"Deal!" Colt accepted, abruptly stopping the car, pulling into a parking spot.
"Just please, make sure that I don't do Colt levels of good on the test. I need to pass, not be recruited onto the football team."
"What do you have all those muscles for then?" Colt joked, grabbing his brother's arm. "To carry your books?"
"Yes," Ryland responded, completely serious.
Textbooks were heavy, of course he was going to have some muscle from constantly carrying them. He wasn't going to tell Colt that he'd also taken to working out when he couldn't sleep at night. If Colt wanted to workout everyday to get built and pick up girls, Ryland could at least mess with him.
Besides, looking identical was part of the fun. It allowed them to pull these kinds of stunts too, so neither of them was going to complain.
"How are we even related?" Colt rolled his eyes. "I'll see you after school."
"See ya," Ryland said, waving him off as they split ways.
Middle school had been horrible for them, getting split up for the first time since childhood, but they were used to it. High school had given them plenty of time to get used to not always having the other around, no matter how much it sucked to not have their other half by their side.
When Ryland's gym class came, Colt snuck out of his study hall and quickly got changed, placing his glasses on after popping out his contacts and ruffling his hair into a messy mat of locks on his head. If he was going to be his brother, he would have to play the part. Now it was time to put his acting skills to use.
"Ryland Grace," the teacher called. "You're up."
Stepping up to the bar in front of him, Colt prepared himself. He could do pull ups no problem, this would be a piece of cake.
"Go," the teacher demanded, blowing his whistle as Colt began to pull himself up to the bar over and over, counting aloud as he went.
"One, two, three," he counted rapidly, ignoring the teacher's jaw dropping at the boy's fitness, one that was unknown for Ryland Grace to have. "Four, five, six," he continued to count until he reached 20, a good stopping point and he dropped to his feet.
"Grace! Since when the hell could you do that?" The gym teacher shouted at Colt as he remembered he was supposed to be his brother. Shit.
"I've uh… I've been working out," Colt responded awkwardly. "Yeah, my brother's been a great help. Colt's super strong, you know, so I've been having him help me."
"Absolutely outstanding work, Grace," the teacher continued. "I expect to see you and your brother at tryouts for the football team this week."
"Oh, we can't. Lots of after school nerd clubs," Colt lied. "Um… sorry," he muttered out, leaving the teacher and the rest of his classmates staring as he sat in the locker room.
Ryland was gonna kill him if he found out.
"Colt! What the hell?!" Ryland shouted at him when they got to the car. "You want to tell me why I'm being recruited to the football team?"
"My bad?"
~~~
"C'mon Ry," Colt begged. "Just come and tour the place with me, watch me do a few stunts, just come and see what your cool older brother does for a living."
"First of all, you're only older by 5 minutes," Ryland corrected.
"Best 5 minutes of my life," Colt shot back, ignoring the glare Ryland gave him before he continued.
"Second of all, why would I want to go and bother you at your job?"
"You wouldn't a bother. Besides, Jody's been wanting to meet you. You'll love her," Colt told his brother, slinging his arm around Ryland's shoulders. "So… what'd you say?"
"I'll go," Ryland agreed, earning cheers from Colt. "But only to meet Jody and watch a few stunts. That's all. I have work to get done."
"Deal!" Colt readily shouted, taking his brother by the hand and dragging him to his place of work as Ryland shouted for him to slow down, to stop, to watch for traffic as a car nearly hit them.
"Jesus Christ, Colt!" Ryland shouted at his brother. "Are you trying to kill us?!"
"Oh come on, Ry, live a little," Colt joked, gently punching his brother's arm. "You survived my driving, you can survive a walk with me. Hey look! There's Jody!" He shouted, waving over at a blonde girl, a big smile on his face and hearts in his eyes.
"You really love her, huh?" Ryland commented as she walked over.
"Yeah, I do," Colt admitted.
"Oh my goodness, you must be Ryland!" She exclaimed, pulling him in for a big hug. "It's so great to finally meet you! I've heard so much about you!"
"It's great to meet you too," Ryland responded. "Same here. All good things I hope."
"Nah," Colt cut in. "I told her what a menace you used to be before you became too cool to fucking mess with teachers."
"I'm so sorry about him," Jody apologized. "He told me about what you're going to school for and how proud he is of you."
"Hey! No need to throw me under the bus!" Colt argued.
"And I think that's the sound of Dan calling for you to get ready for a stunt," Jody responded with a smirk. "Come on, Ryland. You can stick with me today."
With a small nod, Ryland followed close behind Jody, taking in all of the sights of a movie production. So many moving parts, he couldn't focus properly.
"There you are, man!" A taller guy shouted at Ryland, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. "It's time for your fall, Colt. Good to see you already in uniform," he commented, taking in Ryland's jeans and black jacket. "Let's get you ready."
"Oh, I'm not-" Ryland tried to begin, but was quickly cut off.
"You're gonna do fine, dude. Come on, we just gotta rig you up and we're all set to go," he said, dragging Ryland along with him towards an elevator, not letting him get a single word in. "We really gotta shoot this so we can get moved on to the next scene, so we're try and make this a one and done, okay?"
"I don't think you understand. I'm not-"
"Man of the hour's here!" The man called, continuing to drag Ryland over to the crew, standing over a ledge. "Let's get him hooked up, yeah?"
"Hang on!" Ryland attempted to say. "I'm not Colt!"
"No, you aren't," the man agreed with a smile. "You're Officer K, a blade runner. That's the attitude you gotta have, man! I love it! Let's get him up!" The man demanded.
"Oh shit!" Ryland swore, feeling himself getting lifted off the ground. He hadn't even noticed that he'd been tethered into a vest and all locked in. This wasn't good. "No no no! Hang on!"
"Dan! What the fuck! Get him down right now!"
From below, Colt had been getting ready to head up to do his drop, a simple 60 foot drop that would be a one and done for him when he saw his brother getting lifted into the air, Jody by his side, both freaking out as they watched Ryland get lifted into the air.
"Colt?" Dan shouted back down, doing a double take between the two. "What the fuck…" he muttered to himself.
"Fuckin' Christ," Colt swore, racing up the elevator and over to his brother as the crew gently set him back on the ground, Dan apologizing over and over as Ryland shook slightly, stepping away from the drop area. "Shit. Are you okay, Ry?"
"I-I'm good," Ryland confirmed, throwing up a thumbs up. "I'm just gonna head back down to the ground now."
"Yeah, just head back down to Jody. She'll keep a closer eye on you."
"Shit, man," Dan sighed out, rubbing his face. "I'm sorry, Colt. I didn't even realize."
"How? How did you not realize? Macho stunt man versus anxious chihuahua."
"You both kinda act the same, Colt. Yeah, he's a bit more nervous, but that's just you around Jody. I thought maybe you two had something going on. I wasn't gonna ask."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously," Dan confirmed.
Jody had quickly welcomed Ryland back onto solid ground, apologizing over and over, which Ryland brushed off. It was an accident, he wouldn't hold it against them.
Future visits had been planned with more caution, letting the crew know to double check that they actually had Colt before doing anything and making a visitor's pin for Ryland that read "NOT Colt Seavers".
Colt had found it absolutely hilarious, it was Jody's idea, of course he would. Ryland did not until he realized that it actually prevented him from almost getting dropped again. Then it went with him everywhere. Even out of the universe.