amias jumeaux | five, cb fin

You're 11 and you're watching your father excitedly hug your brother for landing the lead in the school play. Your brother did not audition for it though: you did. The two of you lock eyes, a mutual understanding. It'd already been a lifetime of being mistaken for one another even then, even as hard as both of you tried to establish your own personalities. Like, you know, auditioning for the school play. It's easier for the two of you to go with it because your dad will only feel bad- Ambrose smiles and hugs your father back, thanks him.

You're fourteen, and your brother has just gotten you a near-perfect score on a math quiz you definitely would've otherwise failed. He says you owe him one and you agree, shrug it off. The two of you have gotten good at pretending to be one another at this point; you don't mind paying him back when the time comes. Except it's something new.

"Finch?" You aren't surprised: you go everywhere with your brother, you knew the exact moment his feelings for her turned romantic. You were on the very same walk they were on when he discovered it. But, for the pleasantry of conversation, you and Ambrose agreed long ago to pretend it was necessary to be said out loud. "Why do you need me to go out with Finch for you? There's literally nothing scary about her!" But you do it, you go. And your brother's first date is a raging success- so much so that the two of them are still together to this day- and he wasn't present for a second of it.

You're seventeen. Your heart is in two places. You crave the adventure that can never come if you choose to stay in Five forever. You need your roots in order to survive. Ambrose feels the same, and so a plan is made. Two months later, and you're on your way to District One in an exchange program. A life of luxury for one semester. And then, when you come back for winter break, you will stay home and your brother will go back in your place. Best of both worlds, and easily the most complicated and dangerous operation the two of you have ever concocted, but if it works then both you and your brother get everything you've ever wanted.