The Printer Incident

There was some thing's the Hamada twins would cling to for dear life and heaven help anyone who tried to get them to give up.

Their clothes. They would NEVER switch clothes unless they REALLY wanted to bug the heck out of their aunt and brother. It lead into the "Matchy" clause.

Their computers. Hiro had things he didn't want anyone to see. Hideki didn't want anyone to know he had a list of his passwords taped to the back of the screen.

Their rooms in general. Even if Hiro shared a room, it was clear who's space it was and which twin called it his. They may bunked with each other at times, or hung out there but it was Hiro's space. Not to be switched or crossed.

Hideki was the same with his room. He liked having his own space, where he could put his things and keep them organized.

But everything else… Was fair game.

"HEY HIRO!"

Tadashi jumped hearing Hideki's voice as his pen skidded… Marking up his robotics design. "Uuuugh!"

This healthcare bot is never gonna get finished as long as twin thirteen year olds are in this house…

"What?!"

Hideki skidded to a halt and held up a book grinning. "Trade ya Unsouled for Everlost."

Hiro looked at the book in question before reaching over to his night stand and grabbing the title requested. "Deal."

They traded before parting ways as Hideki bolted down the stairs.

"You two would trade your souls if it meant candy robots and books." Tadashi remarked peering around to see Hiro making himself comfortable.

"Says the single nerd who can't get a girlfriend." Hiro smirked.

"Why you…" Tadashi grabbed an eraser using a ruler to flick it at Hiro smirking when it hit him.

"HEY!"

oooooooooo

"HIDEKI!"

The teen jumped nearly getting what he was mixing all over himself as Hiro ran over to him. "What?" He asked as he went back to whipping the bowl of heavy cream in front of him.

"I'll trade ya some gummy bears for chocolate."

"Pass. Unfair trade by rule of chocolate is better." Hideki responded as he whisked faster a bit flying up and hitting the younger twin on the cheek.

"There is no Hamada trade rulebook!"

"Actually the trade rule is IN our brotherly book of rules. Rule 55, Any and All Trades Must Be Fair in order of WHO is the trader and who is the tradee. Therefor… Your gummy is no good here."

Hiro hmph'd crossing his arms. "You hog all the chocolate!"

Hideki just smiled innocently. "And you hogged the TV earlier."

Hiro rolled his eyes before eying the now whipped cream as Hideki set it aside to retrieve something else. He waited before moving to take a taste.

WHACK!

"OW!" He retracted his hand to see his twin holding a wooden spoon. "That was SO not fair!"

"Totally. Go. Before I use it again."

Hiro took off proclaiming that he would take Hideki's chocolate stash.

"Yeah, yeah over Tadashi's dead body." Hideki scoffed to himself.

"Hey Hideki sweetie is that chocolate mousse ready yet!?"

"ALMOST AUNT CASS!"

He started mixing faster adding in the melted chocolate. Not like he's gonna try to up the ante.

oooooooooo

"Hiro why don't you just leave Hideki alone? So he didn't wanna trade. Big whoop."

"Oh no that was a perfectly acceptable trade!" Hiro muttered as he flipped through a beaten and worn notebook that had over 400 entries in it…. Over 400 Hamada Brothers Rules. "... Great there's no rules about what constitutes a fair trade."

"Why don't you just TALK to him?"

"I have to find a better trade!"

"Hey I have an idea put this much energy into some college entry exams!"

Hiro gave Tadashi a look of doom before turning back to the rulebook. "Go back to nerd school."

Tadashi shook his head as he finished gathering up his things. "Already doing that. Try not to burn the house down."

"Noted."

Tadashi made his way downstairs and found Hideki sitting in the living room playing with Mochi. The longer haired boy had a content look in his eyes as he had Mochi try to catch a string. "C'mon Mochi you almost got it."

"Mew!"

"Hey Hideki… Just let Hiro have this way this once. Please."

"No. Rule 55 bro. Rule 55."

And there it is…..

Tadashi sighed. "Alright try not to kill each other while I'm gone…"

"Noted."

And now their sounding exactly alike…. I swear this trade thing is getting old….

He headed out to test his robotics project… For the 75th time.

Inside the twins were separated but aware of the other.

It was quiet as Hiro quietly crept down the stairs armed with his trusty super soaker. Years of prank wars with Tadashi and Hideki taught him to be prepared.

Especially if your brother was a sitting duck.

One… Two…

Hiro took aim smirking. Hideki didn't even notice as Hiro pulled the trigger. Only yelping as the cold water hit him in the back of the neck. "HEY!"

Hiro laughed before taking off. "This is war dear brother!"

"WHY YOU!" Hideki jumped up giving chase. "THOSE GUMMY BEARS WERE NOT A GOOD TRADE! LEAVE IT ALONE!"

"Oh no! Rule 59! Revenge is acceptable as long as deadly forces aren't used!"

"Grrr!"

The chase continued for several minutes until they were in the shared room Hideki trying to take the watergun from his twin. "Give it here! Mine's busted!"

"How about no!?" Hiro nudged him harder than he intended as Hideki stumbled into Tadashi's desk. Hiro cringed feeling guilty. "Sorry didn't mean to-"

THUD!

Both twins looked to see what had been knocked over all thoughts of revenge forgotten as… They saw Tadashi's printer on the ground. A few parts broken off. "... Oh my gosh we're so dead!"

"Truce?"

"Truce!"

Hiro dropped the water gun going over and setting the printer back on the desk looking it over. Hideki gulped. "Will it live?"

"It's dead bro. Internal parts came loose, parts that let's face it no one here can or wants to fix… So… Yeah. We're doomed." Hiro rubbed the back of his neck. "Petty revenge was not worth that."

Hideki sighed shaking his head. This is not gonna end well… But he's not going down… "Who was the one who rammed into the desk?"

"You but-"

"Then it's my fault. Let's just junk this thing before Tadashi gets home!"

"Right!"

Now Tadashi had a small mystery to solve.

When he had left the house, his printer was still on his desk.

As he was heading around to the garage to get some things before heading in, he saw his printer, the one he had stuck a San Fransokyo Ninja's sticker to, in the dumpster.

There was two thirteen year olds who had been going at it upstairs.

And I know exactly which one probably did it… "Hey guys!" He called as he went up the stairs acting like nothing was wrong. "I'm home!"

"Uh… Hey bro."

"Sup?"

Tadashi found his brothers sitting on the floor in front of the TV, playing video games but he could tell something wasn't right. They were sitting too stiffly, Hiro was losing and not trying to even fight back.

"So… I have a question for you guys…" Tadashi turned off the tv as the twins gulped.

"S-sure Nii-san!" Hiro replied far too quickly.

"Y-yeah!"

Tadashi crossed his arms. "Who's responsible for the printer?"

Hiro felt guilty but Hideki stood up before he could give himself up as partly responsible. "My fault, I was being an idiot and knocked it over. Sorry…"

…. That's.. A first. Not the first time they busted something of mine but the first time Hideki was sole grave digger…

… I don't know if I want to know if that's even what really happened… Tadashi fixed them a stern look before sighing. "I have a lot of things I had to print out before my presentation… Now I have to find another one… Not just that but… I thought you guys were going to just give up the petty revenge schemes."

"I'm sorry bro… Is there anything I can do to make it up?" Hideki lowered his head a little giving Tadashi a guilty look.

Tadashi shook his head before a thought came to him.

Weell… I do need help with my robot…. "You know what… You got a deal… I need some help at SFIT in a few days… You up for some science?"

Any thoughts of taking the blame left Hiro's mind as he gave his twin a truly mortified look. "You're gonna make him your nerd school assistant!?"

"You wanna help?"

"...Nope! Have fun Hideki!"

Hideki shook his head and sighed a bit. "I'll do it… Besides… I wanted more one on one time anyway…"

"Then we have a deal."

Why do I have a weird feeling about this?