TWV: Twin

James sighed as he stared at himself in the mirror. It had taken some time, but he had accepted that the fifth grader looking back at him was him. It was and it wasn't. He knew he was James. He could remember weightlifting yesterday, he could remember his first kiss with Stacy Evans, but that was Brook looking back at him, right down to the Minecraft pajama shirt and the thankfully dry Goodnites.

"Just gotta shower. It'll clear my mind and" he sighed. "Then I'll figure out what to do about this." Brook's high pitched voice sounded foreign in his ears. It was unsettling for his audible voice to no longer match his inner monologue.

He started the shower and stripped, groaning as each discarded article only further revealed how scrawny he was. He had lost five years, a good fourteen inches in height, his shoulders felt less than half as broad, and the less said about the rest of his body, the better.

"Shit." James groaned as he looked up at his body wash all the way up on the top shelf. He put it there to keep Brook from using it.

"Guess that came back to bite me in the ass." He muttered after a few failed attempts to stretch up. It still stung to look up at his gunmetal body wash as he squirted Brook's Silly Apple body wash into his hand.



He dried himself off, having to wrap the towel more around his waist than he was used to. Part of him still expected to be his old, tall broad shouldered self, which made him move awkwardly as he tried to reconcile his imagined self with his new reality.

"None of my clothes'll fit." He realized as he came to the bathroom door. He opened it and a new problem arose.

For a split second, James thought there was a mirror right outside the bathroom, but his reflected self was wearing Minecraft pajama pants, not a towel.

"Oh, my god." Brook declared, staring at James. "You're... you're frigging me!"

"Brook" was all James got out before Brook pulled him into his bedroom.

"This is too awesome!" Brook said, closing the door.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do I really sound like that?" Brook frowned. "I guess it's my voice, but your way of speaking, so- wait, you are James, right?"

"Yes." His nervousness about his brother's excitement was undercut somewhat by relief. At least Brook knew.

"Awesome! That means I get to skip school."

"What?"

"You'll go for me." Brook said as if it was obvious.

"No way. We need to fix this." Brook lunged at James, taking him by surprise.

The fight was short-lived. James could not get his unfamiliar body to move the way he wanted, instinct relying on muscles that were no longer as developed as they had been yesterday. He soon had his face pressed into Brook's musty carpet, his arm pinned painfully between his shoulder blades.

"Say uncle!"

"Uncle!" The pain only increased.

"Say you're gonna go to school for me."

"I'm- ow! I'm gonna go to school for you."

"Awesome." Brook grinned. "We gotta hurry though. Dad's giving me- you- us? A ride." He dashed over to his dresser, tossing a pair of briefs at James. James's lip curled, but he didn't want to be naked. "It's not fair, dad." Brook said in a mocking impression of James's old voice. "I had to wear them until I was 13. You can't buy Brook boxers. He still wets-" he switched back to his own voice. "Wait, did you wake up wet?"

"No."

"But you were wearing Goodnites, I bet." James's face was all the confirmation he needed. "Crumb, dad's coming." He quickly chucked his uniform shirt and pants at James before diving into the closet. James yanked the polo on as Dad opened the door without even knocking.

"Let's go, Brooklyn Dodger." Dad said, sighing. "Get your pants on, you're gonna be late." James's stomach sunk. He had Brook's face, his voice, and being caught pantsless was a perfect Brook situation. He even smelled like a freshly showered Brook. He had no hopes of convincing Dad he was actually James. All he could do was stumble into his pants as Dad shepherded him downstairs and out to the car where Brook's booster seat waited. What was he going to do?