•'Sibling'• [Boboiboy Reverse AU]

A Winning Bet

The pink alien lay still on an infirmary bed, bundled in with soft white pillows that Boboiboy had gone and found for them. Reverse stared at the slowly iv drip connected to their hand and listened to the rhythmic beep of the machine.

Medical personnel had formed a sort of bubble around Reverse. Where nurses would usually take a path straight by him to go collect medicine, now they pressed themselves to the wall furthest away from him as they passed or turned into the next hall to take the longer route to the medicine to bypass him entirely.

And the only nurse currently tending to the pink patient had shaking hands.

Reverse's fingers slowly tapped on the side of his arms, as they were crossed. It was just a little blood. All these people went so queasy at the sight of it. And it was only his face, chest and arms after all, anywhere below his torso and his legs weren't even coated in red liquid.

Reverse smirked a little to himself, the slits in his eyes thinning right on cue. They should have seen him that one time, he thought happily.

"You'll be okay in no time, okay! Have a good rest!" Boboiboy said, locked into a very engaging conversation with the pink alien. Seemed like they were a big fan. They were gushing over his watch earlier.

"Okay, Boboiboy! Thank you so much for helping me!" They said back, cheerfully. Interestingly, she seemed to intentionally keep her eyes on Boboiboy the whole time, never even daring to so much as glance in Reverse's direction.

"I'll be going now!" Boboiboy said, nodded respectfully, and turned to Reverse and let out a puff of air. Just as he opened his mouth, his watch played his notification sound.

Boboiboy stopped. Checked the device on his wrist. 15 missed messages.

He pressed on the first one, and felt exasperated when it opened to a couple of paragraphs from Yaya raving about whether he was okay and what the heck had happened. He had just lifted his fingers to send back a reassuring reply when Reverse began to speak.

"Boboiboy," Reverse said, now tapping his fingers on his outstretched thigh rather than his arms though one arm was still crossed, "I need to see the commander. For my bounty."

"Bounty? I don't think TAPOPS is involved in the intergalactical bounty system. You have to collect it from someone else." Boboiboy hummed thoughtfully, the hologram screen of the watch switching off, forgotten.

"He is involved. I just need to convince him." Reverse smiled eerily, cocked his head.

"Okay then!" Boboiboy readily agreed, not willing to convince Reverse out of something he was sure of. "What are you going to do with your spacemarks?"

At this, Reverse really grinned. It seemed completely crazed, and against the contrast of all the red completely staining his hair and face, a row of white showed itself on the bottom of his face, along with the two white blots that were his eyes, highlighting the red irises in them.

"Spoil you, of course." He replied. Boboiboy laughed, a choked thing that seemed shocked. "Spoil me?!"

"Yes. Earth, space. Buy whatever you want. My treat." Reverse kept smiling. "You like teddy bears, right?"

Boboiboy blushed. "That was when I was younger!"

"I can buy you ten."

"Deal." Boboiboy immediately said, even as the blush still stained his cheeks. "Oh, and the commander will want me to report back to him anyway, so let's go together right now?"

Reverse nodded simply and uncrossed his arms.

*

"Cadet!" Was what Boboiboy heard as soon as he opened the door to Kokoci's office, nearly jumping out of his shoes. "Get in! Now!"

Boboiboy and Reverse walked in, Boboiboy nervous, Reverse leisurely.

"Would anyone care to explain why the canteen is in ruins?" There Commander Kokoci sat, on his chair with several sunglasses on, dressed in a smart uniform with impressive shoulder boards that indicated his rank.

"Uhm, Commander! Sir! There was an unprecedented attack by a villain, named Fiendfyre! A major security breach, commander." Boboiboy held one elbow, the rest of the arm belonging to that elbow scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Fiendfyre... Reverse, what was his full name again?"

Reverse narrowed his eyes, towering over Kokoci. He looked down upon him. "Your own commander does not already know what happened?"

Kokoci stared. Reverse stared. That tense comment made them stand there for a few moments. Then Kokoci startled from his seat, and pushed all his glasses atop his head. "Wait, Boboiboy?!" He said, still clearly looking at Reverse.

"Why are you..." And the commander's eyes followed the way one single droplet of blood slowly travelled from Reverse's lip to the edge of his chin to the floor. "Covered in..."

Reverse put a single arm on his hip. "Your security is terrible and inefficient. It cannot protect any members. I wasn't expecting you to know who I am; but to not even be on alert that I'm not my brother is ridiculous." He spat.

"You're not-" He raised a single eyebrow, then his face lit up with recognition and he jumped back. "Wait, it's you! The one who breached our god darn security, what the hell are you doing here! I thought we kicked you out!"

Reverse's eyebrows creased, and he tilted his head, put his hands behind his back and leered at the commander. "What? Kicked me out? Pffft."

"Wait, wait," Boboiboy cut in, clearly seeing that Reverse had no intent at all to introduce himself, and he didn't want his brother to actually get escorted out, not for fear of his brother, but rather for fear of what his brother would do the poor members that would be assigned to that task, "This is my twin brother, Reverse, commander. He's no threat, I assure you."

"Your what?!" Commander Kokoci yelped.

"He was the one who took down Fiendfyre while I helped people trapped under rubble. We're a good team!" Boboiboy smiled. Kokoci looked to Reverse in shock, but not before letting his eyes switch from Boboiboy to Reverse then back to Boboiboy again in a show of disbelief.

"So, you," Kokoci began, pointing a single finger at Reverse, "are the one who defeated an enemy in only 4 minutes? So damn fast that we didn't even have time to respond to the crisis until it was already over?"

"And... and I was about to congratulate Boboiboy, as well..." The commander sunk into his seat, holding his head in disbelief. Then he shook his head and focused his eyes. "Well, no use focusing on that now. You have potential. Would you like to join TAPOPS?"

Boboiboy's mouth hung right open.

"I decline." Reverse sneered, an expression of pure disgust, another variation of crazed, "I don't let myself be recruited. Much less by an incompetent commander who cannot keep himself updated. Fix your security."

Kokoci completely shut up at that response. He was probably not used to being flat out refused by people he asked.

"I'm here for my bounty. Fiendfyre Glycerin, 6000 spacemarks." Reverse said. Then his sneer worsened and he bared his teeth, barking, "Now!"

The commander steeled his expression in such a professional way that Boboiboy was abruptly reminded that this was the man who had gone on an undercover mission posing as a janitor for years with no issues.

"Aren't you a tricky one." The commander said, then stood from his seat. "How can I convince you to join?"

"6000 spacemarks," Reverse repeated, not even bothering to heed the commander with a proper response.
The commander grinned, a shit-eating one. "So, if I pay you 6000 spacemarks, you'll join? Deal."

Reverse clenched the inside of his mouth irritably. "No. Give me my 6000 spacemarks from my rightful bounty."

"But think about it. You want a bribe? We can do that. TAPOPS can bend a little. 12000 spacemarks including that bounty."

Reverse's lips parted even as his teeth stayed clenched together. "You, shit eating little pipsqueak, are one of the examples for my brother to take after? Go around offering people bribes to join their puny, terribly organised, terribly militarised little book club?"

The commander frowned, then put his hands up in the air in a mock surrender. "6000 spacemarks. You can collect your bounty but there's a catch."

"I don't do catches." Reverse frowned. "6000."

"You haven't even heard what the catch is yet, cade-" "I am Reverse. You will not call me a cadet." The commander shrugged with his hands still up. "Alright, Reverse. I won't call you a cadet. But the fact stands: you haven't heard what the catch is."

"I expect nothing good." supplied Reverse, coldly.

"What is it that you want? Just name it and you have it if you become a member." Kokoci went on.

"There is one. You aren't capable of fulfilling it."

"What is it?"

"My brother's safety. My brother's examples. They must be stellar. I want my brother to succeed in life, no matter what it is. He makes a fine hero. You hold him back." Reverse stated, matter-of-fact, plain as day.

"He makes a fine hero." The commander agreed. "But I would say we've succeeded in what you ask for."