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It was Thursday afternoon and as was tradition at this point, Dr. Ryland Grace was in the lab at the Avengers Tower. He was absorbed in his work when his phone rang. It was his twin brother, Colt.
“Hey, what's up?” he answered, figuring it was his brother making dinner plans or something since he was in town filming for the next couple of weeks.
“What the fuck, Ry? You wanna tell me why I just got bowled over by Captain America who apparently thought I was you in danger of being hit by a car?” Colt was clearly annoyed and possibly in pain from the sound of his voice.
“He did what?! Oh, let me guess, he didn't notice that you were setting up for a stunt?” Ryland asked, starting to understand what the issue was.
Colt snorted in irritation. “Yeah, I was minding my business, getting ready to roll over a car and someone yells ‘Dr. Grace!’ which of course distracted me and then he runs full speed into me knocking me out of the way and breaking like four of my ribs in the process.”
At this Ryland starts laughing hard enough to get the attention of the other occupants of the lab, Tony Stark and Peter Parker. “You're okay other than the ribs right? Please tell me the cameras were rolling for this.”
“I'll be fine. And of course it's all on camera. Jody and Dan are replaying it and laughing their asses off.” Ryland can tell Colt is trying not to laugh at the situation too. “Back to my original question, how do you know Captain America?”
“I'll explain it later. I gotta get back to what I was working on. Tell Steve I said thanks for trying to save me and tell Jody I need that video!” Ryland said before hanging up on his brother.
Tony looked intrigued by the time Ryland put his phone back in his pocket. “Everything okay?”
“So you know how I mentioned my brother is in town? I may have neglected to mention he is my identical twin. He is a stuntman and he was on set, supposed to be getting hit by a car today. Apparently Steve thought it was me about to get hit by a car and decided to intervene.”
“And there's video?” Tony asked, clearly delighted.
“Yep.” Ryland confirmed.
“Does your brother have plans on Sunday? He should come for dinner and show and tell. I'm sure he'd love to share his video of meeting Steve with the gang.” Tony was practically giddy at the thought of embarrassing Steve Rogers with this.
Ryland texted his brother, “We have dinner plans for Sunday at the Avengers Tower. Be sure to bring the video.”
Seconds later Colt texted back, “What the fuck have you been up to since you moved to New York?”
“You're always telling me I need more friends,” Ryland replied.
**********
Ryland and Colt arrived at the Avengers Tower for Sunday dinner and were immediately met by Tony Stark at the elevator. “Good afternoon, Dr. Grace. Mr. Grace, nice to meet you. Please tell me you brought the video,” he practically pleaded.
“Good grief, you are ridiculous,” Ryland sighed, and handed over a flash drive. Tony snatched it up and went to upload the video to the Avengers server.
“Uh, okay, I guess I'll say ‘Hi’ another time,” Colt said to Ryland.
“Sorry, he forgets his manners when he has a friend to torment,” Ryland said apologetically.
The next few minutes were a blur of greetings, with Ryland introducing Colt to a room full of Avengers. Colt was a little bit awestruck, but he managed to rein it in due to his familiarity of working with celebrities for years.
The last of the Avengers to arrive was Captain America himself, Steve Rogers. He saw Ryland and smiled warmly. Then he saw Colt and stopped in his tracks. Ryland grinned and said, “Hey, Steve, good to see you. I guess I don't have to introduce you to my brother, right?”
This got the attention of the gathered group who hadn't heard this bit of gossip yet. “Oh, you already know Dr. Grace's brother?” asked Natasha curiously.
Steve stammered, “Uh, yeah, we met earlier this week.”
Tony spoke up from across the room, “I have video of their meeting, actually!”
Steve groaned and gave a look that said he would give anything for an alien invasion or natural disaster or something to distract everyone.
Minutes later they were all gathered in front of a screen wider than Ryland’s entire living room. It showed Colt running across a street, right in front of a car that was much too close. Suddenly a familiar voice yelled “Dr. Grace!” and then the video went into slow motion as Colt froze and was suddenly rushed away from the car by a running Steve. Colt went flying, Steve took the hit from the car, and the director yelled “Cut!” Then the scene replayed from a different angle. And again from another angle. In one you could see Colt's confused face as Steve came running toward him. In another there was a good shot of Colt tumbling out of the road. The final shot showed a confused Steve as Colt stumbled to his feet and then started cussing him out for messing up the stunt.
By the end of the video, most of the Avengers were laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces. Steve had joined in the laughter as well. Ryland and Colt were both laughing even though they had already watched the video numerous times.
Eventually everyone was able to compose themselves and Steve made his way over to Colt. “I'm sorry again for all of that. How are your ribs doing?”
Colt smiled and said, “It's okay. You thought you were rescuing my brother and I can't fault you for that. The ribs aren't too bad, as long as I don't try anything too strenuous, like breathing deeply.”
Steve winced at that, “So all the laughing probably didn't help?”
“No, but it was worth it for the look on your face.” Colt answered with a wink. Steve actually blushed a little at that.
From across the room, Tony nudged Ryland. “Do you see those two? Are they flirting over him flinging him across the street?”
Ryland shrugged, “I wouldn't even try to guess what that's about, especially since we can't seem to figure our own relationship out.”
“Yeah, we should get on that, huh?” Tony said softly.