Ahhaha... briefly browsing, I realized I have read Phoenix. I read that one fairly early on, and it's the only Ratchet + Twins interaction that rings right to me. It's also the mode my personal head cannon Ratchet defaults to and what I unconsciously translate all of the rest of the fannon through. I guess I don't really see it as different so much as "this is what the gritty hard reality would be underneath the cartoon candy coating".