Disclaimer: none of the characters used in this story belong to me. They are just my puppets (sorry!) to play with for a short time, until I feel like returning them. Maybe in a few hundred years or so :)

These are just some shorts I've been working on to brush up on my writing, which I haven't done in ages. I hope you like them.

Boys Who Never Grew Up

Scott ran his tongue over his teeth, checking for any loose or missing ones. All there, as far as he could tell.

His brother Virgil, sat across from him, was performing his own checks, gingerly gritting his teeth together and rolling his jaw, testing it was still connected. He took Scott's hand and examined it for any breakages. He was less than gentle when holding the ice pack to the elder's knuckles – a fact acknowledged with a wince and a hiss.

"Sorry," was all the medic could say.

"No, I should be sorry," Scott mumbled, sniffling slightly, a little congealed blood crusting on his upper lip the evidence his nose had been bleeding.

Virgil sighed, his anger melting into sympathy. His left eye was already beginning to swell. "I should be the one to apologise – I shouldn't have called you an arrogant, self-centred hyper freak on steroids."

"And I shouldn't have compared Two to an arthritic one-legged turtle on valium trying to climb a glacier."

Scott snorted a laugh. Virgil pressed the ice pack harder. Scott hissed, then flinched slightly as his breath whistled through a cracked tooth. Another trip to the dentist needed.

"Still," Scott conceded, "that's one mean right hook you have there, Virg."

Virgil stroked his own jaw subconsciously and shrugged. "Must run in the family." He didn't have to look up to see the crooked smile streak across Scott's face.

At the doorway, John and Tin-Tin stood watching, leaning against the frame. Maybe it was the lack of the Y chromosome that excused her from understanding the ways of men. Living with seven of them, she would have expected to declare herself a master.

"How can they be laughing? A few minutes ago they were trying to tear each other to pieces."

John managed to cover his snort with a cough. "Tin-Tin, when it comes to men, you've got to be one to understand one. Those two though..." He shook his head. "You won't live long enough to even scratch the surface. They're... boys who never grew up."

Tin-Tin smirked. Guess he had a point.