May 7, 2016
Almost A Month Later…

It is a lazy afternoon in the Monarossabergie House, despite the fact that it is a game day; well, not any game day-- A playoff game day against the Ontario Reign, game two, with Reign in the lead of the series.

The residents of the Monarossabergie House are in the living room: Joseph Cramarossa is sitting on the reclining chair on his smartphone, Nick Ritchie is snoozing on the sofa by the window, and Brandon is on the dining table, typing on his laptop.

Then, the doorbell rings: Ding, dong!

Brandon perks his head up from the screen with a confused expression. “Huh, who’s here?” He peers at his other roommates to see if they would get the door; none of them move an inch.

With a sigh, Brandon rises to his feet and strolls over to the foyer. He opens the front door; his eyes immediately widen.

On the other side is a man who appears exactly like Joseph; the only difference is that he has gray-blue eyes, thicker eyebrows, his hair combed to a side, less facial hair on his face, and a cool mien. His attire consists of a gray T-shirt, black jeans and shoes, and a black backward cap.

“Hey, is, uh, Joseph Cramarossa here?” the Joseph-almost-look-alike asks with uncertainty.

Brandon looks behind his shoulder to face the living room. “Joey…!” he hollers. He then faces the visitor as Joseph steps into view, halting next to him.

A massive smirk creeps onto Joseph’s face as he lands his eyes on the visitor. “Mikey…!”

A smile comes across the guest’s face as he throws his arms out from his side. “Big Joe!”

Joseph steps up to him and clobbers him into a massive hug. The two then pull apart with Joseph hooking the guest’s head with his arm and knocking off his cap to scrub his hair harshly.

“Ah, what are you doing here, ya little runt?!” Joseph grumbles playfully as he rubs his fist against his head.

The man in his grasp has a panicked expression. “Ah ha, I just wanted to drop by and—”

“Uhhh, who is he?” Brandon cuts in, gawking at the guest while pointing at him.

Joseph gazes at him, halting his movements. “This is my baby brother.” He shoves his brother away from him, grasping his shoulder. “Michael Cramarossa. You can call him ‘Mikey.’"

“Hey…,” Michael says warily as he leans over to retrieve his cap.

Joseph nods to Brandon with his eyes on his younger brother, who is putting his cap back on. “And that’s my teammate, Brandon Montour.”

“Oh!” His thick eyebrows shoot up. “Can I call you ‘Brand-o’?”

Brandon shrugs. “I guess?” He then closes the door, turns around, and ambles back into the living room.

The two brothers follow him inside, ambling through the room.

Michael catches sight of Nick snoring on the sofa. He points to him. “Who’s that?”

Joseph nods to his roommate. “That’s Big Ritch. Leave him alone, he’s fine like that; doesn’t pay attention to you anyway.” He then guides him through the living room and into the dining room.

The oldest brother turns to his sibling. “So, what brought you down here?”

“Well, my team’s season ended, so I thought it’d be cool to stop by and say hi.” A smirk appears on his face.

Joseph nods his head.

From behind the countertop of the kitchen, Brandon asks the guest, “Who do you play for?”

Michael turns to him. “Hamilton Bulldogs, OHL team.”

Then from the living room on the sofa, Nick raises his sleepy head from the cushion. “Hi…,” he says softly and sleepily.

Michael turns to him and gives him a cool nod. “‘Sup.”

He gazes around his surroundings with his small eyes. “Is there something to eat? Cali Comfort ribs sound good right now…” A warm smile appears on his face.

Joseph shoots him a cold glare. “You just had that for your snack practice thing.”

He faces him from across the room. “My pre-nap snack,” he corrects him matter-of-factly. “And you can never have too much Cali Comfort ribs.”

Michael gives his brother a perplexed gaze. “What the heck are ‘Cali Comfort ribs’?”

“They’re ribs from a barbecue place that supports us,” Brandon responses from the kitchen. “They’re really good.”

He raises his hand in the air. “I’m up for barbecue.”

Then a rhythmic knocking emits from the door: Knock, knock, knock, knock knock-- Knock, knock!

“I’ll get it.” Brandon strolls past the two brothers and into the living room.

Joseph turns to his younger brother with crossed arms. “Did you bring any of your friends along?”

Michael shakes his head. “No— they said they couldn’t make it.”

From the foyer, Brandon opens the door.

On the other side are three of his teammates: captain of the Gulls, Joe Piskula, with the close friends, Stu Bickel and Bryan Moore.

“Oh, hello there, Monty Muffins!” Joe exclaims cheerily.

Brandon flashes them a massive, unsure grin. “Oh, hey, what are you—?”

Bryan then steps to the front of the group and launches into his story: “Okay, so we were sitting at our house like, ‘Gosh, we’re hungry, what should we have to eat?’ and then Joe thought of a brilliant idea of having a picnic, but not just a picnic at some park, but a picnic at YOUR house because your background is huge and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, picnic at our house?” Brandon cuts in, holding his hands in front of him.

“Yeah! Isn’t it awesome?!” Bryan asks giddily, hopping up and down with delight.

“We brought Cali Comfort!” Joe announces happily.

“Can’t beat that!” Stu adds in, hooking his arm across his body.

Nick appears from behind Brandon with delight in his eyes. “Did someone say ‘Cali Comfort?’”

Joe holds up a woven picnic basket with a checkered white and red blanket draped underneath the lid. “Yuper-doos! A picnic in your guys’ backyard!”

Nick peers down at Brandon with a begging expression. “Please…?”

Brandon gives him a flat look. Then with a groan, he rolls his eyes, reverting them back to his other teammates. “Alright, we were planning to have Cali Comfort anyway.”

Bryan hops in the air with a pump of his fist. “Oh yeah!” He then bounds into the house, singing, “All about eating them good ribs! All about eating them good ribs!”

From the dining room, Joseph spots Bryan dancing into view. “Oh no,” he mutters.

Michael gives him a confused look. “‘Oh no’ what?”

“Squirrel's here,” he murmurs with his eyes locked on the small, bounding skater who is merrily approaching them.

“Who?”

Bryan halts in the entrance of the dining room, spotting the Cramarossa brothers. His eyes immediately fly open. “WHOA!” He rushes up to them. “Hold up, hold up--” He holds his hands in front of him. “There’s two Cram Crams.” He scrunches his eyebrows with a hand on his fuzzy chin. “Or am I seeing double?”

Joseph puts a firm hand on Michael’s shoulder. “This is my brother Mikey.”

Bryan gawks at him. “Whoa, you have a brother?! I have a brother too, his name is—”

“You already told me.” He gives him a scowl.

Bryan then whirls to Michael. “Do YOU have a brother?”

“Uhhh…” He eyes his older brother. “Yeah, I hope.”

“Whoa, no way!” the small skater exclaims in surprise. “I have a brother too! His name is…”

Joseph then storms away from the two as Bryan dives into another story of his. He makes his way to Brandon, who is standing in the living room, watching Stu and Joe walk into the patio.

“Why did you invite Squirrel and company here?” he grumbles as he halts behind him.

Brandon faces him. “I didn’t— Joe invited himself and them to have a backyard picnic in our backyard.”

“What—?!” Joseph quickly composes himself before he explodes in anger. “They can’t do that! They just can’t invite themselves over to my place like that—!”

“They can if they have Cali Comfort…” Nick points out, shuffling by him.

Joseph says nothing more. He just throws an index finger into the air in silent understanding.

Brandon then ambles across the room and into the patio with Nick following him.

Joseph is now all alone in the living room with his brother and teammate chattering. His eyes widen as a danger and an idea pops into his mind.

He strides out of the living room, through the foyer, and narrow hallway until he makes the right turn to his dim room. He halts in front of his closet, reaches his hands up to the shelf above his hanging clothes, and lowers them back with an object in his grasp.

He gazes down at the object. It is a small gift box with a bow on top.

Joseph then steps out of the room with the box clutched against his chest, looks both ways of the hallway to make sure the coast is clear. He then steps to the right and strolls to the end of the hallway.

At the end of the hallway is the closet. He opens the thin door with his free hand, revealing the mass clutter scattered on the shelves.

He kneels on the wooden floor, places the gift next to him, and reaches his both hands underneath the first shelf. He then straightens himself as he pulls a small, black safe into view.

His finger flies over the safe’s number pad, making the light at the top of the pad flicker green. He then grabs the handle and pulls the door open.

He takes the gift box, sets it in there, and closes the door on it. The light switches to red.

With a reassuring nod, he pushes the safe back into the darkness of the closet and closes the door. He rises to his feet and strolls back into the living room.

There, Joseph spots Joe strolling from the kitchen to the patio with an armful of paper towel rolls.

“Oh, can someone grab more paper towels for the picnic?” he calls out. “I’m afraid I didn’t bring enough!”

With a nod of his head, Joseph strides over to Michael, who is still conversing excitedly with Bryan.

“Mikey,” Joseph calls to him. “Mikey—”

Michael exclaims to Bryan in surprise, “What? No way! That’s crazy!”

“Yeah,” Bryan replies, “and then Kyle was like—”

“Shut it, squirrel!” Joseph snaps at him.

Bryan turns to him with a flat expression and hands on his hips. “Well, look who has come to rain on our parade.”

“Big Joe…!” Michael cries out to his older brother. “He was getting to the good part—!”

From the sliding glass door, Stu pops his head into the dining room. “Hey, Mooresy, help me set up outside.”

Bryan whirls to him. “You’re on, Pickle Stew!” He then twirls back to Michael and shoots him two index fingers. “We’ll continue on over ribs!”

Michael gives him a thumbs up. “Sweet!” He then turns to his sibling with a dark expression. “WHAT?”

“We gotta get paper towels—” Joseph grabs his brother’s shirt over his shoulder to guide him toward the paper towels’ location.

Suddenly, before they could move, yellow energy sparks from Joseph’s hand and Michael’s shirt and zaps between the two for a split second before it dissolves into each of them.

The two brothers freeze in place with wide eyes of shock.

The brother with the cap is the first to move by pulling away from the other one. “Whatever that was.” He shakes his head.

“Yeah.” The one with the most facial hair rubs his hair. “What was—” He takes a good look at his brother; his eyes immediately widen. “OH MY—!” He stumbles backward, losing his footing in fright and tumbling against the floor.

Meanwhile, the other brother is gawking at him. “I see myself,” he mutters.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” he sees himself shout in complete terror.

Brandon then ambles into the dining room. He spots the two brothers’ chaos. “Wh-what’s going on?” He gives them a skeptical look while halting in front of them.

The one on the floor scrambles to his feet and points to the younger-looking one. “I see myself! This is crazy!”

The younger-appearing one peers at Brandon. “I see myself too,” he admits lowly.

Brandon makes a confused expression. “What?” He gazes at his roommate. “Joey, there’s only one of you—”

“I’m not Joey!” the oldest-looking one exclaims, putting his hands on his chest. “I’m Mikey!” He points to his brother. “He’s-he’s—”

“Your oldest brother,” the juvenile-looking brother finishes flatly.

From what Brandon sees, Joseph gawks at Michael.

“You’re…me?” the eldest-appearing brother squeaks out.

The youngest brother takes off his cap from his head and peers down at it. “Yeah. I wasn’t wearing a cap…” With his free hand, he scratches his jaw. “And I swear I hadn’t shaved that recently.”

The oldest one rubs both of his hands against his thick facial hair-covered jawline. “Haaaaa, so this is how it feels like to have—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Brandon cuts in quickly. “Let me get this straight--” He turns to the one who looks like his roommate. “Mikey?”

“Yes,” Michael answers with a nod of his head.

Brandon then faces the one who looks like the guest from the OHL. “Joey.”

“Yeah,” he responses dully.

“Ohhh man.” Brandon places his hands on both of his cheeks. “You guys swapped bodies.”

Michael eyes his brother, who has his appearance. “Or swapped minds,” he points out coolly.

“Well, this is something unexpected…and weird.” Brandon clears his throat. “How-how did it happen—?”

Ding-dong! the doorbell rings.

Joseph narrows his brother’s blue-coloured eyes at his roommate. “You don’t dare.”

“I’LL get it!” Brandon calls out. He then rushes to the foyer and swings the door open.

On the other side are the two goalies of the Gulls: Matt Hackett and Ryan Faragher.

“Hi, hi!” Matt exclaims with a wave and a sweet smile.

“Oh, hey guys!” Brandon leans against the doorjamb. “What’s happening?”

“Well,” Ryan starts, “Skoolz said that there was gonna be a backyard barbecue picnic at your house.”

He lets out a sigh. “Oh yeah, he invented himself with Stu and Mooresy for that. It’s out in the back.” He nods toward the house.

“Sweet!” Ryan then leads his goalie buddy into the house. Brandon closes the door behind them and follows them into the living room.

The two goalies spot their teammate in the dining room.

Ryan nods to Michael. “Hey, Crammer.”

“Hi!” Matt waves to him.

Michael warily holds up a hand as a wave.

Matt then catches sight of the unfamiliar, younger man next to their teammate. “Oh!” He bounds up to him. “I don’t recognize you. I’m Matt Hackett, goalie of the San Diego Gulls.” He quickly shakes hands with him. “What’s your name?”

Joseph peers down at himself, making sure he still attains the physique of his younger brother. He then slyly peers at his brother, who has his actual physique, before facing the goalie. “I’m Michael Cramarossa, brother of the awesomest brother in the whole world, Joseph Cramarossa.” He runs his fingers through his hair like a model. “Call me Mikey.” He then clicks tongue with a grin.

Michael grimaces at his actual self in embarrassment.

Ryan steps up next to his friend. “Oh, so you’re Crammer’s brother!” he tells the younger-looking brother. “Nice to meet you!” He shakes his hand. “I’m Ryan Faragher. ‘Fedz’ is my nickname, so you can call me that. And you can call him ‘Matty Hack.’” He eyes Matt.

Matt chuckles in response, then turns back to the guest. “Well, I hope you like your brother’s team. We’ll be outside!” He then follows Ryan out into the patio.

Michael gawks his brother, who has his genuine appearance. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, Big Joe!”

Joseph dips his head and begins chuckling hard.

“Really?” the older-appearing brother continues on. “Is that how I really act like?!”

The younger-appearing brother lifts his head up to him. “I had to, I had to. That was amazing.”

“That was humiliating!” he cries out.

“I could’ve done worse,” Joseph tells him mischievously.

“Eh, that is true,” Brandon points out from behind the two.

The oldest-looking brother groans in response. He then faces the head of the house. “Can we have the barbecue in here? Just the three of us? I can’t go out and be humiliated more by my older brother.” He extends his hand toward his brother.

“No, I’m done.” Joseph crosses his arms and shakes his head.

Michael shoots him a glacial glare. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

He keeps his cold stare at him. “You know I can humiliate you just as much.” He dusts his shirt in pride of the ability he has now he appears as his older brother.

Joseph clenches his jaw. “Shoot.”

“Watch it.” Michael raises an index finger at him.

Brandon raises his eyebrows at the youngest-looking brother as a warning sign.

Joseph lets out a huff. “Let’s go eat,” he grumbles, beginning to stride toward the patio.

“Aren’t you suppose to get the paper towels?” Michael asks from behind him.

The younger-appearing man halts in his steps and whirls around to face him. “Does it look like I’m getting the paper towels?”

Michael stares at him flatly.

Joseph then grumbles as he turns back and storms into the kitchen to get the paper towels.

Notes

E.16 "I Am You And You Are Me"
Part 1/5
Episode 16/20