“Connor, get your butt out of my face!” Those were the first words I ever heard from either of the Fletchall Twins.

We were on the bus together in the fourth grade. I had just moved to Falls Church and didn’t have any friends, so I sat next to them. Connor had been trying to close the window, but his height as a fourth grade wasn’t doing him any favors, so his butt ended up a bit too close to Brendan’s face. I took an instant liking to them.

Connor and Brendan Fletchall were born on January 15, 2001. Brendan Fletchall was born just four minutes before his identical twin Connor, yet he often holds it over his brother’s head in disputes over things like who gets shotgun in the car.

“I don’t argue with him anymore. I just go with it,” Connor said.

The Fletchalls have been playing basketball their entire lives. They were on the varsity roster for the Mustangs this year, and the best is still ahead of them in their senior year.

At first glance, you wouldn’t peg the twins for basketball players. Standing at 5’9”, they are some of the shorter players on the team. With their aggressive play style, they are able to compensate for their size when defending players larger than themselves. Also, their experience has made their skills more refined than their opponents.

The twins are each other’s best friend. They spend most of their time together. With the same sports, jobs, friends, and even the exact same class schedule, they don’t get much time away from each other.

“It can actually get a little annoying sometimes. We literally don’t have a second away from each other during school,” said Connor. Brendan agreed.

I asked them if they have ever swapped classes to confuse their teachers, but they hadn’t.

“I don’t think it would work. Our teachers and classmates have always known our faces,” Connor said.

It actually makes sense when you think about it. The Fletchall family has lived in the same city for their entire lives, and pretty much everyone in Falls Church can differentiate between the two now. If you ask, most will tell you that Brendan has dimples or a deeper voice, or that Connor has a slimmer head. But to some, their identities are still a mystery. I’m constantly getting asked how I tell them apart. By now, it’s just second nature.

The twins also have older and younger brothers. Jack Fletchall is a freshman at James Madison University, and Ryan Fletchall is a freshman at George Mason. They all look a fair bit alike. You can identify them all by their curly light brown hair.

I remember the first time I ever went over to their house. All was going well until the topic of sports came up. The two started arguing over who was the better athlete. Brendan claimed he was better because he was named MVP of their Rec basketball team. Connor claimed he was the superior sportsman because he was named MVP of their flag football team. They ended up in a brawl on the floor in about five minutes. We all ended up playing video games soon after when they had gotten tired of beating each other up. They don’t seem to stay mad at each other for long.

I think this story encompasses the two’s relationship. They’re constantly in competition, fighting to see who can be better at whatever they’re doing. Whether it be on the basketball court, in their schooling, or even in something as minute as a game of Fortnite, they’re always pushing each other. This makes them improve in everything they do.

That same year, the twins and I decided to go outside and throw the baseball. We thought it would be fun if we practiced pitching, so Connor decided he would be the pitcher and I would catch for him. That left no job for Brendan, so we decided he would be umpire until we switched. We advised him to stand behind Connor, as he didn’t have a glove or proper padding to defend himself. He insisted on standing behind the catcher because “that’s what a real umpire does.” It didn’t take long for a ball to bounce off my glove, hitting him in the eye. He started crying and sported a nice shiner for a week or so.

No matter which twin is the most athletic and which one has the best ideas, the Fletchalls twins are always going to be clashing heads, but for the right reasons. This is what makes them so great. They’ll take a chance to prove their own points to each other, even if it means taking a baseball in the eye every once in a while.