Stranger Than Fiction

[Kaidan Tahmores]

"Dude."

The mask of jovial friendship that Kaidan had carefully prepared for Jensen Par'Vizal slipped slightly, a glimmer of indignant disbelief shining through the cracks as he glanced in his brother's direction.

"Dude."

It was easy to see the similarities between Kaidan and Cohen Tahmores. Same homeworld. Same upbringing. Same genetics, same face, same physique. The similarities were so compelling that few people had the time or inclination to pay attention to the differences. When they did, it always came in absolutes. Kaidan was the smart one, while Cohen was the nice one. Introvert and extrovert. People saw them as a binary, as two sides of a coin, or two halves of a whole. People weren't entirely wrong on that, either. The twin brothers were as inseparable as Talus and Tralus, reliant on the presence and influence of each other for stability and survival, and just as likely to cause a devastating astronomical event if anyone tried to tear them apart. There had been two horrific weeks in their youth where school had attempted to place them in different classes. It had not gone well.

The reality though was much more subtle than the neat labels that people liked to apply. Kaidan understood the impulse: facts and figures, labels, patterns, they were sort of his thing. He liked things that were predictable, that followed set rules, and patterns. He liked to calculate, and to coordinate. By comparison, Cohen was much more go with the flow, much more comfortable with uncertaintly, much more instinctive and last-minute than Kaidan felt capable of being. Those differences wove together, complimenting each other, binding into something stronger and more effective than either of them was individually. Cohen sparked an idea, and Kaidan gave it form. Kaidan dragged them into trouble, and Cohen charmed their way out of it. That was their binary. That was their balance. Usually, it worked for them. Sometimes, though?

A badass old lady.

For a brief moment, it was as if the two of them hadn't grown up in the same house after all, and hadn't endured a childhood spent with a father whose idea of fun games for infants involved memorising the identity of Jedi terrorists. Kaidan shook his head and mustered a sigh, turning his attention back to the Citadel's newest student, before Cohen's free spirit steered them too far away from Kaidan's expertly crafted plan.

"You'll have to excuse my brother. He knows perfectly well that her name is Jocasta Nu, he's just trying to be cool."