Two friends on your team in a fight? Don’t pick sides in public. Get both stories in private.

Taking a side in front of everyone turns a disagreement between two people into a split in the whole group, and it makes the one you did not back stop talking to you. Hearing each of them alone is slower, but it is the only way you get the version that is not being performed. Most of these turn out to be smaller than they looked once nobody has an audience.

If this lands in your lap, say you want to hear both and then actually do it separately. Keep what each one tells you. Nothing destroys this faster than repeating it.