Reno snickered, shoving the steaming mug of coffee into my hand. “Sorry, we couldn’t resist…but, uh, what did you say about twins before?”
The other one, not Reno, snorted as he squeezed past us. “He’s probably someone who believes the idea of twins is hot. Not exactly a rare attitude.”
“Ew, I have standards,” Reno said, pushing his twin away, who looked only faintly annoyed at the roughhousing. “Wait.”
“He’s gay, or at least bi, yes,” Not Reno said as he stepped through into the kitchen. “Reno! Stop drinking my things just because I leave them within reach!”
“How do you…” Reno began, and then shook his head, turning to me. “You are?”
“I am,” I said with a shake of my head. “Problem?”
“If I had a problem being around The Gay, I would have been pretty pissed off for the past…uh, when did you come out?” he called into the kitchen.
“It would be more accurate to say that you brought me out of the closet at twelve,” Not Reno called from the kitchen, and I could definitely hear the difference between them. Reno was more energetic, if slightly nervous, while his brother was more serious and calmer. There was a note of humor in their voices that connected them though, Reno’s obvious in its playfulness while Not Reno was more…wry. “And then when I was outed against my will, you finished the process for me with everyone else in our lives.”
“You came out for…” I stepped forward and leaned in. “What’s your name? I don’t want to keep thinking of you as ‘Not Reno’ for the rest of this conversation.”
“And yet there is hardly a nickname I could choose that would not be more accurate,” Not Reno said with a snort as he poured himself a mug of coffee, adding what looked like a precise amount of sugar. “Mikhail. Most people call me Mick or Mika, depending on your preference. And no, I have no preference; I answer to all three.”
“Oh, you’re the scientist,” I said with a nod.
To my surprise, Reno sighed wistfully. “I’m so tired of everyone thinking you’re the only scientist around here.”
“People who are unfamiliar with scientists think of them as more mature and reasonable, unlike how you act,” Mika said, with a shake of his head. “The average person doesn’t realize that your average scientist is just a strange little man or woman with a vested interest in their chosen topic.”
I took a sip of coffee, amused to find that it didn’t taste cheap. “Does that mean you’re a scientist too, Reno?”
“I am,” he said, and I had to laugh at the way he preened. “Primarily a botanist, with some forestry thrown in, and while I don’t have any paperwork or a degree to prove it, I did some dabbling in bugs too.”
“I can’t say I’m an expert, but I’m pretty sure there’s a word for someone who studies bugs.”
“There is, but if I called myself an entomologist, that wouldn’t be accurate. And a lot of people think of etymology, which isn’t the same thing.”
“I mean, it makes sense; they’re close enough that in people’s heads, they’re gonna get mixed up.”
Mika sighed. “Now you’ve done it.”
Reno grinned. “I know they sound the same, but people mix them up too much; it bugs me in ways I can’t put into words.”
I stared at him, knowing from Reno’s expectant grin and Mika’s tired sigh I needed to reach through the fog of barely being conscious to make sense of what I was… “Oh…oh God. No, no wordplay, no wordplay! Not before I’ve finished a cup of coffee, and not for an hour after either! Or I’ll use the big needle when it’s time for a shot when you need one.”
Reno looked startled. “What? You…you can’t give shots, can you? Big Boss said you were an EMT.”
“And you’d be surprised how many EMTs work on becoming RNs in their free time. Really helps when you were also a corpsman; they give you a leg up getting through school, not just money, but accepting the training you got as college credits if you bat your eyes at them,” I said with a smirk. “I wasn’t brought on as just an emergency onsite medic. I’m here to be your GP without actually being a GP.”
“What?” Reno asked, looking horrified. “What?”
Mika sighed heavily. “Xander spoke of it repeatedly before he even mentioned Colin was coming to join us. It’s a logistical and administrative pain in the ass to drag a physician out here or to send us back to one for what he would consider the basics. Colin is a way to stop a lot of back and forth.”
“I can’t replace an actual physician, but you’d be surprised at the amount of things I can actually do and be trusted with before a doctor has to be dragged in,” I said and then frowned. “Which reminds me, I need?—”
“A bigger tour, and to get set up,” Cait’s voice rang out, and I turned to find her eyeing the three of us. “Reno?”
“Here,” Mika said softly, handing over the cup he had been working on, and I realized it wasn’t his original, but another. “I wondered when the noise would drag you out.”
“I could have made her coffee,” Reno said with a frown.
“And I realized she’d want it before you did,” Mika said. “Be more observant.”