knuckle heads
Gary was typically an understanding man, but there was something about these two new interns that was throwing him off. It wasn't like him to stress about anything. He was somewhere between realist, stoic, Zen master, and an overtired toddler. In other words, he was the most balanced person everyone knew. Euclid and Py's parents even opened up to them about a particularly rough time in their marriage when Gary was the mediator.
He didn't take any side and would sit silently listening. Joleen even broke into laughter telling them about how anytime their father Devante (Dev, as he liked to be called) would cut Gary off every time he had enough space between his lips to even look like he was about to speak. Dev, of course, jumped in with "Not even remotely true! I'm a great listener..." then trailed off into a philosophical speech about listening. The twins thought that Gary was a saint in a past life who volunteered to come back to earth one more time.
Gary would not blame anyone for not understanding, so much so that he would say (and really mean it when he said it) that the problem was in how he explained it. If something wasn't done right, it was his fault for poor instruction. It was Gary's self-improvement pillars that were being used as stilts by this clown who was an intern on arguably the most important project of their collective lives. What upset them the most was that he had no initiative and worked like a poorly written program.
If Gary told him to walk away, he would literally walk into a wall and start swaying as he walked in place. At first everyone overlooked it because they assumed he was intellectually disabled. His true twin was the one that changed that perception the day he told Fritz to cut it out and Fritz replied, "You're no fun." Franklin was Fritz's opposite. True twins weren't like Khayan twins; they were born at the same time, minutes apart in most cases.
Frank was too independent. Gary would give him a small task that he'd get fully immersed in as if it were a whole project. The intellectual pressure Gary had of dealing with one who wouldn't do anything outside of the literal step and the other who would start and finish something even if it were completely wrong was visible. It was causing him to lose weight and that bothered Py. When Py had learned that Fritz saw being "hyper literal" as a form of entertainment, overlooking it was increasingly difficult.
Frank was at the telescope a few steps away from Saylah, meticulously guiding in one of the mirrors, when Fritz bumped into him, cracking the multi-thousand-dollar piece. As the fear took the color from Frank's face, his true twin just laughed, pointed at Gary, and said, "He said go to you." Gary had been talking to Py when they heard the glass tap the metal. They knew it was broken. This was an incident that could have been avoided, not an accident that had to be accepted.
Seeing Gary walk away in anger as Fritz laughed must have been the final straw. Py had stopped him from falling as the shock took his balance, but he couldn't stop him from storming out of the lab, his movements drunk with anger. Fritz continuously bumped into Frank, joyfully repeating "you, you, you, you, you," each time. Frank finally broke down and yelled at his brother, but it was too late.
Py had made it to Fritz so fast Saylah didn't see him move, and just as fast Fritz was on the floor. Even though Frank knew his brother was wrong, he defended him anyway. Pushing Py made him fall over the beaten twin. This should have been enough, but Frank threw himself on top of Py then began whaling on him. One of the punches cut Py's face, introducing crimson to the white floored workshop.
Saylah stood motionless in fear, angry that her circle was being attacked. Py managed to off balance Frank and stand up, his chest on Frank's back, hands clasped together at the waist like a climber's harness. Fritz swung for the back of Py's head, and Saylah caught herself thinking with shocked humor, "This could be the most initiative and independent thought Fritz ever showed."
Py must have sensed it (or luck may have been on his side), but Fritz missed completely. At that exact moment, Py lifted Frank over his head and slammed him into his twin. As the true twins collided, Frank hit his head on the telescope, instantly opening the skin on his forehead. Fritz wasn't completely knocked down as he fell backwards struggling to keep his balance. From outside the lab, Gary saw Fritz stumble like he was on an invisible chair racing in reverse and knew they were fighting. He frantically swiped his access card, trying to get back in the room.
Meanwhile, out of eye shot, Frank hurried to get to his feet as Py stomped down, breaking Frank's forearm. No sooner did the scream of pain echo in the room than Py got tackled to the ground by Fritz. It seems like fighting was the only thing Fritz didn't need explicit instructions for. As they flew perpendicularly past Saylah, she heard Gary's voice. By the time they had landed, sliding towards him, Py had Fritz in a triangle choke while delivering several violent elbows to Fritz's head.
Fritz's unconscious body rag dolled off of Py as he pushed him away, expecting Frank to already be moving to attack him once more, but the fight was over. Frank lay on the floor holding his broken arm as Fritz lay snoring with that smug look, as if getting a lifetime's worth of pranks brought him joy even while sleeping.
It would be another six months before a new mirror would be ready, but by then the three had made up and were now the best of friends. Frank and Py even joked that they were now scar brothers. Gary figured out how to get the most productivity out of the true twins. He would give Fritz a task and always end it with "come back to me, get my attention respectfully, or wait to get my attention and I'll get you the next task. If you can't do that, check on your brother. Make sure he's not too far off in a rabbit hole and stay with him."
The twins were two of the most intelligent, normal people you could ever meet, but it seems like their instruction sets were set too far to either side of the dial. Leave one to his own devices and trial and error ensue until you correct it. Give the other a task and he'll do that, then wait for the next set of instructions, occasionally forgetting what the bigger picture was. Learning their strengths and weaknesses became the missing element needed to get the most productivity from them.
The setback to the deadline was quickly done away with now that Gary knew how to work with them. Gary and Py even developed a check-in system that would let them know when either of the two was drifting into old habits. Saylah seemed to have a nurturing soul that they understood. When Gary was at his wits end, she would help him understand how to say what needed to be said.
One mistake in the morning led to many improvements by lunch. As they all saw it, the upfront effort was worth the backend rewards. They just knew that the twins would never be the creative self-initiating team that would innovate. That was fine, because it showed that not all skills are those of inventors. It's also fine, no, better than fine; it's great! Gary taught everyone something much more meaningful than skill. He taught them life.
Yeah, it's hard to learn a new language or a new tool, but you learn. Schools are set up for that, even psychology schools. Psychologists may disagree, but even they treat people like applications. They categorize, diagnose (troubleshoot), and treat (repair), but they don't teach what Gary did. Gary taught them acceptance.
Gary is not a violent man, but he hit all three of them. He sat them all down and they spoke for hours. He highlighted his shortcomings first and last, but in the middle of that he addressed the twins and Py. It was emotional and hard to listen to. Saylah found herself crying that night in her apartment, reflecting on the day. The frustrations, the fight, the trip to the hospital, the silent ride with Gary as she ignored the tears that sought shelter in his beard.
Saylah had never heard Gary raise his voice, let alone curse. To her he had always been the calm mediator and a patient teacher. As far as she knew, no one had ever seen him like this. The image of him drove home that whatever he was about to say would matter. If no one else saw it, she knew it would be a canon moment for them all. Gary glared at them like a jaguar at sunset. The fiery orange of sunlight turned what had made him stand out under the midday rays into the camouflage needed for the violence of a hunt. He didn't have the big cat's teeth, but his words bit hard.
"This is not a fucking family!" he yelled at the three. "You're not my children and all of you should be taken off this project because when it comes down to it, talent doesn't mean shit to me! I'd rather not do and have peace than to do and have pain. You all will stay working together. Not because you are indispensable, but because if you're willing to fight each other, you damn well better be willing to fight yourself when doubt shows up in this project. Because, guess what! That's what started this shit today!"
Gary looked at Fritz and said, "You're afraid to do the next logical thing for whatever reason and that's okay! You do what you are told to a level of detail that forces me to think of how I give you instruction or ask you to get information."
Then he turned to Py. "You're my right-hand man! Without you things don't get built, but don't let that get to your head. Somewhere out there is your equal, and somewhere else is someone better than you two combined."
Frank was next and Gary took a moment to think before sighing and saying, "Frank... you're not Py, you never will be, but that's a great thing. You have Fritz and together you two are unlike anything I've seen. You can work independently and know how to get him to work with you like I work with Py. But you're twins, and that adds a secret element. We don't know how your brains work, but they do and what comes out is amazing."
Saylah wasn't expecting this. Gary turned to her and said, "My dear Saylah, you embody tranquility. You are the sense maker, but you're also the heart of a star. You're more powerful than you understand and if you ever just stand by and watch these three knuckleheads go at each other again without stepping in and knocking some damn sense into them, I'm going to knock some sense into you!" Then he laughed to keep the tears away.
"This is not a fucking family, so don't expect a hug, but bring it in."
As they formed a circle with each other, touching at the head, Frank winced painfully as he tried to lift his broken arm to close the loop. Saylah elbowed it, chuckled like a big sister, and threw her arm around his shoulder.
Gary's right; they aren't a family; they are a team. It's their competitive nature, their unique skills, and their coach that keeps them together through the ups, downs, and boring moments of slow, steady progress. They don't passively accept one another; they work at it. It's that work that transformed this destructive fight into something that tightened their bonds.
Today was a far cry from the moment it all almost fell apart, Gary acknowledged to himself as the magnetic door lock deenergized. Entering the workshop he said "this is my last rodeo" to himself, smiling at a sign Fritz put up the day Frank's cast came off. The sign read "Knuckleheads" and touching the cast had become a tradition. The team looked up at their leader, nodded with a small smile of big respect, and returned to their tasks.