Acronix slipped out of the hidden door to Krux's lab, and wandered down the after-hours empty halls of the museum. Alright, so his brother didn't technically want him ambling around (presumably out of a fear of being caught, but the future twin suspected Krux just missed him), but the only vending machines were outside the hideout. It wasn't his fault that Krux had no fun snacks, was it?

He had made his way past a large skeleton of some sort (taking a moment to observe it in fascination), when he heard the distinct sound of music drifting into the exhibit room from a distant wing. Curiosity peaked, he followed the sound to see if he could find its origins, listening intently as he walked. It didn't sound like it was one person's phone (from what he knew of the devices, they couldn't get that loud. Then again the technology of the future was very impressive, so he might have been wrong on that front), so he couldn't help but wonder who would be playing loud music in a closed museum or for what purpose.

Turning a corner, he got his answer fairly quickly. People were scattered all over the wing, many of them holding flutes of bubbling liquid while light hearted music played over the scene. Acronix quickly stepped away from the obvious party to avoid being seen, but continued to watch with interest. Scanning the participants' well-to-do dress (apparently fashion was one thing that hadn't changed all that much since he had been gone), and the general fun-yet-restrained atmosphere, he gathered that this wasn't some elicit party being thrown by trespassers. Seemed like it was some kind of museum event, even though it was a little strange that Krux wouldn't have thought to mention such a thing.

His suspicion was confirmed when a gray haired man with large round glasses stood in the center of the loose crowd, and tapped at the side of his champagne flute for attention.

"Hello, everyone! I hope you've all been having a good night!"

The crowd murmured and nodded positively in response, and the man smiled.

"Well, thank you all for coming down to our celebration for the opening of the 'Ninjago Hall of Villains Exhibit'! We certainly had our rough patches getting this all open in time, but thanks to everyone's hard work, we got it done!"

There were light cheers, and louder ones from guests who had had a little more celebratory champagne than the rest. The speaker let the joyful buzz die down some before his smile turned a little more serious. "Of course, a lot of this is thanks to the work of our dedicated curator of history, Dr Sanders Saunders! He unfortunately couldn't be here tonight, but let's give a toast to his efforts all the same, huh?"

As the party goers cheerfully raised their glasses to "Dr Saunders", Acronix now wished he had recorded all of this. To think, they were having a whole party in his brother's honor (technically), and he hadn't even shown up for it! Of course, he thought with a fond crooked smile, that was Krux for you. He had always hated parties of any kind, and apparently in forty years that hadn't changed at all.

Really, it was too bad his brother despised parties, though. If he didn't, perhaps he could have gone to this party being thrown for him and brought his brother along while he was at it! Everyone looked like they were having fun; the music was playing an exciting rhythm, people were laughing, and there was a generally genial air all around.

His smile wavered some when his imaginings were interrupted by reality. Looking back over the crowds of people, he could all-too-clearly picture his brother standing as far to the side as possible and becoming completely miserable. Or possibly even falling into one of his "bad moments", like he once had at one of the first Elemental Alliance parties they had attended. That was, if he still even struggled with those? Acronix had no idea. He and their parents had never even learned what those moments were let alone knowing whether they could disappear.

In a flash, he looked to his borgpad with newfound realization as these questions weighed on his mind. Creeping away from the celebration, he opened up the web browser, and asked the internet all the problems they had never had answers to. Perhaps, with so much new knowledge in the world, there would be new knowledge on this as well! A wide grin grew on his face as he searched up his query in a flurry of typing.

He opened multiple tabs of research as he learned more and more- getting closer and closer to solving what had always seemed like a life-long mystery. After coming across many articles that all said the same thing - and sounded exactly like his brother -the findings were an epiphany, a sudden lightning bolt of knowledge that finally leant the missing puzzle piece to the seemingly unsolvable puzzle that had been plaguing his twin his whole life.

ASD, autistic spectrum disorder, an invisible illness! Modern science was truly amazing, that it was able to find explanations for the seemingly unexplainable, and even more so that he was able to find these explanations with simple searches.

Tablet in hand, he ran straight back to the hidden room - thrilled at the exciting prospect of presenting his findings to his brother. He would certainly be glad to hear what he had discovered.

As the secret door closed behind him, his brother was still seated at the work table tinkering with something, just like he had been when Acronix had left. He also didn't seem to notice that his brother was back. The younger time twin rolled his eyes fondly at that. Even when his brother looked so different now, he really hadn't changed all that much. Forty years ago he would get so involved with projects that he noticed nothing else, and it would seem he was still doing it today.

"I'm back," he pronounced cheerfully, walking up to the table his brother was at and leaning against it.

"Back? You left?" asked his brother, looking up from the plastic tubing he had been messing with to frown at his brother, "I thought I said not to go wandering around the museum," he lectured, pointing accustorily at his twin with the screwdriver in his hand.

Wow, okay. Now his brother was just uncannily reminding him of their father. He shrugged the thought off, since there were more important matters at the moment. "You did," he retorted lightly, "I was just going to find one of those devices that distribute snack foods. You have nothing to eat in here, brother," he complained, leaning further into the table and crossing his arms.

Krux grumbled unintelligibly as he jotted notes on a piece of paper in front of him, but seemed to have no further refutation to that.

"Oh, by the way," the younger twin related as though he had just remembered, but with a weight that suggested he was leading up to something bigger, "While I was searching I ran into a celebration the museum was doing. Something about opening up a new wing of the museum, it would appear."

Krux paused in his writing and shifted in his seat, but offered no more reaction than that. All the same, Acronix saw it as a sign that he was listening, and continued, waving towards his seated brother, "It seems they were even throwing it in your honor, brother. Or, well, at least in the honor of that curator persona of yours."

"What of it?" dismissed his brother, going viciously back to his work, "You know I hate parties. Utter wastes of time."

Waving his brother's protest off, he rolled his eyes and snarked back,"Yes, yes. They're 'below you' and 'back-patting for the intellectual inferior', you've said many times," theatrically building up to his final point, he tapped at his chin, exaggeratedly reflecting, "Really, I believe you just hate them in general. And I started asking to myself, 'why is it that Krux despises parties so?' And, well, then I discovered a few things..."

Acronix took a deep breath, and slid his borgpad- showing the results of all of his research - onto the table. His brother glanced up to give it a scathing glare, but did not look at the screen further or investigate what his brother could mean, instead looking back down at his paper, even though Acronix knew he wasn't working on anything on it anymore. He was just being ornery.

Acronix frowned, knowing that his brother's stubbornness about hating everything new was going to prevent him from hearing this information that could be helpful. He didn't want to see his twin brother be hurt any further because of some ridiculous feud with modern knowledge.

Trying a different tactic, he turned around where he stood to face his brother, sighing loudly, "Krux," he spoke, his voice for once free of sarcasm, sass, or jesting, instead it was layered with genuine concern that was only ever heard by his brother. And only then when he really meant it. The tone got his older brother's attention, though he still did not look up from his pretend work. "Brother, I know you always hated it when others called you weird…" he started again, this time without preamble.

That got Krux's attention immediately, and he finally looked up, glaring daggers at his young twin. "I don't know what you're talking about," he deflected harshly, not having talked about this topic in over forty years, and certainly not prepared to do so today.

"Please, I'm your twin, brother," he scoffed, leaning his elbows against the table to be more at his older twin's eye level. Tilting his head to the side, he continued, "I know that that did bother you. Do you truly think I didn't notice?" he chided earnestly with a sad sort of smile.

Leaning over the table, he tapped at the tablet meaningfully, and declared to his brother confidently, "Well, I have discovered something. Something, I think you will like to hear," picking the tablet back up, he turned the screen towards his twin, showing him all of the proof he had found as he scrolled through it, explaining hopefully, "It is not you who are weird, brother, and I KNOW I've always said that, but now there's scientific proof to support me (not that there was any doubt to my knowledge in the first place)," he paused in his scrolling on the results screen of a test he had taken in curiosity, the declaration and description of signs clearly on display. He held it out further, an open invitation for his brother to take the device and look for himself, and informed him with a hopeful smile, "From the look of things, you just have something they call 'Autistic spectrum disorder'."

Krux's response was immediate, and livid, and Acronix's smile fell at the unintended result of his discovery.

"Oh, of course. It was all only because of some illness that they have only now ' discovered' ," he snapped bitterly, tapping his index finger against his own crossed arms. Sarcastically, scowling snidely he mocked, "Thank goodness, modern science has invented an excuse for my failings."

"No, it's not like that," Acronix insisted, shaking his head in exasperation of his brother's dismissal of his suggestion. Gesturing empathetically he tried to convince him, "It isn't an excuse or a falsehood. It is a proven biological discovery that it is not your fault you have been doing things wrong, brother. It's not...you being a failure. Your brain...ah, how did this article phrase it?" He scrolled back through the webpage, trying to find the paragraph that had caught his attention, "Your brain is just 'wired differently'," he tried to explain, gesturing the example of tangled wires and tubing that lay scattered across the work surface.

"What I'm attempting to say is, as much as you have always beaten yourself up for your perceived failings, none of it was your fault." Grinning in victory, he harshly chirped, re-crossing his arms in a way that said he would take no further arguing, "Now when I defend you, I have inarguable proof. You are not weird. Advanced modern science says so."

Krux still doubted that was factual, but he was, admittedly, intrigued by the theory. But there was no way that he was going to let his brother know he was actually considering the suggestions of modern learning (he had his pride, after all), so he quickly distracted him, changing the subject abruptly, "Weren't you going to go acquire snacks from one of those machines in the lobby?"

Acronix's posture drooped from its confident stance when he realized that his brother was just trying to get him to drop his argument. He was going to protest and push his point harder, but noticed that his older brother was flickering his gaze to the tablet that sat on the table. He suppressed a grin, knowing that Krux probably was thinking about what he had said, he just didn't want to admit it! Well, fine. Acronix could play along if that was the way he wanted to be.

"That's right! I completely forgot to get those," he exclaimed, putting a surprised hand to his forehead (doing a very convincing job of looking distracted, at least he thought so). Turning around, and conspicuously leaving the tablet laying on the table, he pointed to Krux and said in parting, "Think about what I said!" as he ran back out of the lair.

With his twin gone, Krux sighed to the empty room, and giving the piece of tech a wary glare, picked it up and looked through the research his twin had done. It wasn't that he didn't trust Acronix, but he had always had a tendency towards confirmation bias. Even all those years ago, he would usually only consider the information that supported his cause and ignore everything else. Krux was sure that tendency would only be worsened by the foulness of the internet.

Fumbling with the screen momentarily as he struggled with how to work it, he soon figured it out enough to scroll through the articles that his brother had displayed, reading through them all with a scientific critique. The more he read, looking at the studies, symptoms, and first person descriptions, the more the more the realization hit him like a punch in the gut - but in the best of ways. It really was the truth, he realized as he read through the very apt results of a test Acronix had clearly taken on his behalf, and then the scientific argument behind them. He doubted and hated modern science, but he was no fool. Acronix was actually right . (And, even if he wasn't, and this was truly just a modern farce, Krux desperately wanted it to be true.)

He felt a surge of self-assurance and confidence that he hadn't felt in years (in forty long years). He wasn't a failure. It was this autism's fault, not his own weakness. Knowing that his constant struggles were from something no one - not even a Master of Time - could control took a life-time weight off of his chest. For the first time, he actually felt right in the world.

"At least modern science is finally good for something," Krux remarked to the empty room, setting the borgpad back down onto the tabletop.

In the middle of his epiphany, Acronix wandered back into the lair, eating handfuls out of a bag of something highly-processed and likely artificial-cheese flavored. Krux picked his screwdriver back in hand, pointedly not looking at the device he had just put down. Acronix may have been right but he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that new science actually had its merits.

Acronix's eyes flicked knowingly between the tablet and his brother all the same, even as he sucked the cheesy chip-powder off of his fingers.

"Must you do that, brother? Grab a napkin or something," complained his brother completely normally, acting like the conversation had never happened.

The complaint did nothing to stop Acronix, who just stuck another finger in his mouth and shrugged.

Krux hissed in disgust, and shook his head remarking, "You shouldn't eat those artificial ingredient laden monstrosities,anyway."

The younger twin rolled his eyes, willfully ignoring his brother. "So, did you think about anything I said?"

"I might have," came Krux's noncommittal answer, setting the screwdriver down and crossing his arms once again on the tabletop.

"Brother," exasperated the younger twin.

Starting to nibble on his fingernails, Krux thought about what he had learned and looked between the internet that had held so many answers, and his brother who had gone to the trouble of finding them all. The brother who had always assured him he wasn't strange, no matter how many others may have thought so, and who now gave him the proof that it wasn't his own failure. The knowing of the existence of the thing was a relief in and of itself, but there were still so many questions he had always had. The answers were apparently there for him to learn, but he just couldn't look for them himself.

Looking away from his brother, he snapped, "I've thought about it!" Biting at his thumb, still not looking at his twin, he cautiously admitted, each word delivered halted and harsh, "The basic description… does sound fairly accurate to my experiences. I still think this could be an invention by modern learning, but...we could look into more deeply. Just to be certain, I suppose," he slowly conceded.

Acronix beamed, knowing that was basically his brother's version of asking for help (which had somehow gotten even ruder and gruffer, but he still knew his twin). "Of course, brother. We'll find out more about this - and about you - together."

"Hmf," huffed Krux in agreement. "Well when we have the time anyway. We do have a plan to work on," he reminded him, gesturing at the glass containers of snakes scattered throughout the lab.

The younger twin laughed, remarking, "Of course. We still owe that stuffy Elemental Alliance some payback!"

Krux laughed as well. The idea of revenge had always sounded good, but now that he knew all of his more unlikable actions weren't even his fault, he felt even more vindicated at striking back at the Elemental Masters.

And when the Hands of Time worked together, no one and nothing would stand in their way. Not even autism.


Krruuuuxx that wasn't exactly supposed to be the take-away, here, bud. XD

Anyway, there it is! Not perfect, but I do like it. I loved writing all of these, honestly, because these headcanons just feel so right for these two!

So, I hope you enjoyed this fic. Reviews, favorites, etc are always loved. Thanks for reading along to my descent into madness!