The evening comes around and the residents of the Monarossabergie House, including the two swapped Cramarossa brothers, drive down to The Nest.

In the backstage of the Valley View Casino Center, wearing suits and ties, Brandon with Nick leads Michael-as-Joseph up the ramp and into the vast room below the audience area.

“So this is like the backstage of the arena,” Brandon starts off, circling his index finger around the room.

“Whoa…!” Michael shouts with his brother’s awe-filled eyes.

Brandon points ahead of himself to the entrance of the tunnel, where light from the main room is coming from. “And that’s the tunnel, where we go onto the ice.”

Michael slowly steps toward the tunnel, taking a good look at the ice stretched out on the other side in the empty, vast room. “Sick!”

Brandon rushes up to him and pulls him away, guiding him back across the room, toward the locker rooms. “And over here is the interviewing station and the locker rooms.”

Michael peers up at the arena across from the tunnel, where the lower half of the wall is blocked off by a black divider. Above the divider is a mural of animals, planets, and iconic buildings of San Diego with a sixties style to it.

He points up to the large painting. “What is that? Why would someone paint that in a hockey arena?”

Brandon frowns at the artwork. “Don’t ask me, it looks like it’s been there for ages.” He approaches the curtained doorway of the divider.

Michael follows him down the carpeted trail, pass the interview area, and into one of the opened doors. They amble down a white hallway with the Gulls’ logo drilled into the wall in front of them in all of its glory.

Michael chuckles in excitement. “This is so cool!”

Brandon sighs. “Minor leagues…” He then leads him through two turns before entering the room to the left. Michael as Joseph follows him quickly with thrill.

They step into the bright, small locker room, where most of the Gulls are already suiting up for the game.

Michael stands in the middle of the doorway with awe. “This...is...so--”

“This way.” Brandon grabs his arm and guides him deeper into the room, where their stalls are located. He sets him in his brother’s stall, then sits down next to him in his own stall.

From across the room, Bryan spots Michael; his eyes widen with glee. “Oh, Crammer Slammer!”

Michael perks up to the small skater. “Mooresy!”

A big smile appears on his face. “I’ve got to tell you the time when--”

From next to the attentive skater who looks like the eldest Cramarossa, Brandon makes the signal to Stu, who is next to Bryan, to stop his friend’s talking by swiping his hand across his neck.

Stu immediately gets the signal: He turns to his friend and exclaims, “Hey, Mooresy, I wanna hear about that story of yours!”

Bryan whirls to him. “Really? Okay, so one time, Kyle and I were…”

Brandon lets out a sigh of relief now that Michael is out of the spotlight.

“Brand-o…!” Michael hisses at him. “I wanted to hear Mooresy’s--”

“Mikey,” Brandon cuts in, facing him. “We don’t want anyone thinking you’re off. You’re your brother right now, you’ve GOT to act like him. Just for the time being, okay?”

Michael lets out a huff. “My brother’s SO boring.”

Brandon shrugs. “Sorry. Just-just focus on suiting up.”

Michael then begins muttering to himself under his breath as he reaches over to the stalls behind him and begins figuring out his brother’s equipment.

---

After all of the Gulls are suited up, Coach Dallas Eakins strides into the room in his suit and tie.

“Alright men,” he starts, “this is a critical playoff game. We are down one in the series, but now we got the home advantage. So let’s use that to our advantage and tie up the series!”

The Gulls exclaim a series of agreement as a response.

Coach Dallas nods his head. “Alright, and now we got our captain speech!” He then steps back as Joe bounds to the middle of the room.

“Oh boy, playoff season is the best season! I am so happy that y’all made it this far to the second round! Let’s go score goals and make our fans proud and let everyone be happy! Oh, I’m so proud of every single one of you!” He pulls the closest Gull to him, who happens to be Shea Theodore, into a tight side hug.

Shea makes a grimace as a sign of help.

With his free hand, Joe pumps his stick into the air. “Now, let’s go Gulls!”

The team then stands up and makes a single-file line behind the starting goalie, Matt. They then follow him down the carpeted trail to the entrance of the tunnel.

“Oh man, this is so exciting!” Michael exclaims from behind Michael Sgarbossa.

The other Michael peers behind his shoulder, giving his apparent teammate an odd look.

Michael quickly straightens himself up, clearing his throat. He puts on a serious expression. “Yeah. Pffft. Whatever,” he forces out, attempting to act like his brother as a form of reconciliation.

Sgarbossa nods his head then speeds out of the tunnel as his name is called by the announcer.

Michael lets out a sigh of relief, dropping the serious mien.

From behind him, Nick pats his shoulder.

Michael turns to him with surprise.

“I think you’re doing great,” Nick tells him with the biggest smile he can make, which is not too big.

Michael playfully punches his shoulder. “Thanks, Ritch. It’s so hard to put this serious act, I just want to enjoy myself as me here in my first AHL game. But apparently, Big Joe is such a…” His voice trails off as he spots his actual self striding over to him with a glare.

Joseph as Michael halts next to him with crossed arms. “How’s it going?”

“Fine,” Michael forces off. “Just fine. I have to be all sour and serious like you--”

“Good.” He pats his shoulder. “Keep it up.” He then begins to stroll away from him. “And DON’T do anything stupid! I’ll be watching you!”

Michael lets out a huff as he watches his younger-appearing brother make the turn to exit the room. He then gazes ahead as he hears the announcer’s voice boom:

“AND HERE ARE YOUUUURRR SAN DIEGO GULLS!!!”

With that and a jolt of excitement, Michael takes off onto the ice with his brother’s teammates.

Michael quickly gets into the swing of warmups, following his brother’s team’s routines. Yet here and there, he would sneak in a wave or a smile to the fans lined up against the glass with posters and pounding of the glass.

“No--!” Brandon hisses as he pushes Michael away from the lucky fans.

“What did I do--?”

Brandon brakes next to him, his back facing the glass. “Don’t interact with fans! Joey never does that on his own!”

Michael shakes his brother’s head with a frown. “Can I just make him a bit better? Give him more of a pizzazz?”

“No. Just remember, don’t humiliate him. He can do the same to you. You guys got each other’s reputations; handle them with care.” With that, Brandon skates off to do a drill.

Michael stares hard at the ground. “Fine,” he mutters. “I just won’t do anything.”

That is exactly what he did. He did the mundane routines he needed to do to not stand out and took that into the actual game. He didn’t fight, he didn’t assist, he didn’t score, he didn’t touch the penalty box, didn’t try. He would skate when it was his turn, pass if he got the puck, and hit if it was necessary.

The outcome might or might not have been different if Michael as his oldest brother was more involved, but the final score cannot be changed: Two to one, overtime loss for the Gulls. Now they are down two in the best-of-seven series.

As the Gulls solemnly stroll down the line of carpets toward their locker room, Joseph as his youngest brother is standing by the edge.

He then spots his brother has his genuine self lumbering down the carpet. “Hey!” he snaps at him.

Michael stops and spots him. He takes a step off from the trail for the other skaters to pass by him. “I tried, okay?” He shrugs. “At least I didn’t do anything stupid.”

Joseph stares hard at him with narrowed eyes. “You’re lucky I’m tired. I’m gonna deal with all this tomorrow…” He then turns around and strides down the room.

Brandon halts next to Michael, watching his young-appearing roommate making his way to the exit door. He then looks at his apparent teammate. “Let’s just go home as quick as possible.”

“Suits me.” He follows Brandon back down the carpeted trail and into the locker room.

Notes

E.16 "I Am You And You Are Me"
Part 4/5
Episode 16/20