Work Text:
Jon Murdock likes being the center of attention.
No one is really sure where this aspect of his personality came from (both parents vigorously deny it and his Aunt Izzy refuses to comment and his Uncle Foggy claims it’s his influence), but Jon can’t help be just a little bit of a show-off. Sometimes. Hardly ever.
Soph, of course, is the opposite. She is perfectly content sitting on the sidelines observing, making wry remarks if anyone asks her what she’s thinking. Jon’s the one who loves to be the life of the party, and she’s content to let him have it.
Cooper Barton is easy-going and soft-spoken, more comfortable with computers than weapons. He stammers when he’s surprised and blushes if complimented. And he looks at Sophia Murdock like she’s the sun and moon and every planet there ever was.
Jon isn’t sure he likes it.
Soph is his twin, his sister. It takes a lot of work on Jon’s part to get her to laugh at his jokes and when this…this nerd shows up and stammers out a lame computer pun (who comes up with computer puns for crying out loud) and Soph actually laughs at it, a real, amused laugh. Soph rolls her eyes at most computer jokes but for him she actually thinks it’s funny? He’s indignant. He’s outraged. He’s insulted. Who is this person and why’s he making Soph laugh? Is no one else concerned about this?
His parents are no help (“Cooper makes Soph happy Jon”, “Cooper’s a sweet kid, in spite of his father–” “Matt”) and his Aunts Karen and Izzy and Uncle Foggy seem to think nothing of it (“are you mad because his jokes are funnier than yours?”) and Ruthie, his youngest, loyalest sister simply frowns at him when he brings up Cooper’s absurdity and Jon slinks away, defeated and perturbed.
He is perfectly content to sulk about this until further notice when Soph picks up on his bad mood and drags him out to Fogwell’s to spar. “Sure you don’t want your boyfriend to come?” asks Jon sullenly and gets laid flat out on his ass for his trouble.
“Don’t be difficult,” says Soph composedly and that’s what drives Jon nuts about his sister, is her refusal to react. Jon wants people to know how he’sfeeling, he has no compunctions about it. Soph never gives anything the proper response like a normal person. Some small part of him fully acknowledges this is a stupid way to think, seeing as how no one is their family could ever be described as normal and he and Soph aren’t the same person, they’re twins not doppelgangers, but Jon isn’t feeling very reasonable right now.
He’s stronger than his sister, but she’s faster. He can take more blows, but she knows where to hit. They’ve been evenly matched since the fourth grade, when their father first started teaching them. Soon enough, he’s lying on his back in the ring, sweating and exhausted and his sister is leaning against a post for support, panting. His ribs ache from her fists landed (Soph doesn’t pull her punches with him but she doesn’t actually set out to harm him either).
“Why don’t you like Cooper?” she asks, letting herself sink to the floor. Jon isn’t one to hold on to his grievances unless he’s really upset and Soph is pretty sure they haven’t gotten to that stage yet. Jon leans up on his elbows, glowering.
“I don’t not like him,” he hedges but Soph can be patient. It never takes long for Jon to talk about what bothers him.
They’re not psychic, despite what anyone (Stick) thinks. At least, Soph is fairly certain that they aren’t. But she knows her brother, knows his moods and his temper and how he is so open with his feelings, so unlike her. Jon opens his hands and heart to the whole world while Soph guards hers. She envies him and is equally grateful that isn’t something she’s able to do easily.
“Why do you laugh at his jokes?” Jon demands and Soph considers the question.
“It’s not that they’re funny,” she finally allows and Jon snorts at this. She ignores it. “It’s that he knows he’s not the most…social person, but he tries anyways. He reminds me a little of you, sometimes.”
Now Jon does sit up, not sure whether to be indignant or astonished. “Me? We have nothing in common!”
“You’re both good older brothers,” says Soph. “You both love freely. You’re good with people, believe it or not. You care about things. You–you both care about other people. That’s not something I can do all the time.”
“You care about people,” Jon says, quick to defend her as ever. Soph tilts her head in acknowledgment.
“You care about everyone,” she corrects gently. “I can only care about a few people at a time and a few all the time. That’s just how my brain works, I’ve accepted that.” She lets that sink in for Jon for a few seconds before saying deliberately without inflection, “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”
“No. Maybe. Yes,” Jon snaps. “What of it?”
Soph looks at him, looks at her twin, her other half, the reverse and mirror image of herself. She gets up and sits down next to him, even as he tries to avoid her eyes. “I really like Cooper,” she says and notes how he tries to scrunch in on himself when she says it. “I think he’s a great guy and I think he’s…he’s in this, for the long haul. But you…” she takes a deep breath and then another and says as gently as she can, “but you are my brother, Jon. No matter who I date or see or wherever I go, you’re always going to be my brother and nothing’s going to change that. You’re always going to be my guy.”
Jon is very quiet for awhile before saying finally, “No matter what?”
“No matter what,” Soph replies and Jon sighs, a long sound of release.
“Okay,” he says quietly. “Okay.” Soph lets herself slump over so she’s lying next to him, tired from physical and emotional exertion. It’s quiet in Fogwell’s for exactly twenty seconds before Jon adds, “My jokes are still funnier than his, though.”
Soph kicks him in the leg as best she can lying down.