As Alex headed for the bedroom, he heard buzzing near his face and swatted at some tiny gnat-like insects in annoyance. One of them bit him, though it was barely felt. "Get away, dammit!" When he was further away from the living room, he found the bugs were not following. Must be in some of Mom's plants.
He carried the drinks into the bedroom, where Billy and Marcus were already working on the Lego Aston. Even though he was pretty grown up now, they were glad to have Marcus over. He had always been cool with them, more like a big brother. Despite the years since he had been a regular sitter, they were falling in together pretty quickly.
Back in the living room, the nanoflies were multiplying. The first few had isolated a pattern from the first organic being encountered, and it was shared through the hive mind as the devices rapidly built copies. Parts of the sofa and the top of the end table appeared to disintegrate as they were used as raw material. The swarm thickened until it was a visible cloud more than 6 feet in diameter, comprised of millions of the tiny devices. The swarm had no instructions, but they did have a pattern. The original was located not far away, and the swarm identified two other organic life forms that did not match. The cloud drifted to the bedroom.
"That's pretty cool!" Marcus was admiring the working headlights of the Bugatti model Billy had completed as they all sipped on Cokes. The lights were off except of one desk lamp, which made the lights easier to see, but the approaching swarm nearly invisible. Billy frowned as swatted at the air first. "Must be bugs in the house."
Alex nodded. "Yeah, there were some in the living room - I think one of Mom's plants might have some in it."
Marcus scowled as he heard the buzzing around his own ears, then slapped at his neck as he felt light stinging. "Damn! You have any bug spray?" Billy also started to slap at his face and arms. "Ouch! This little fuckers are biting!" He noticed Alex just sitting there while he and Marcus moved away from the light. The insects were visible where they fly around the desk, but didn't seem to be attracted to the bulb. "Aren't they biting you?" Alex shook his head with a grin. "They got me once in the living room. I don't think they liked the taste." Then he gave Marcus a curious look. "Dude! You got a tattoo like mine? I didn't see it before."
"Huh? I never..." Marcus' eyes widened and he jumped over to the dresser mirror. Sure enough, there was a dragon tattoo identical to the one on Alex's neck - even in the same spot. And there was a lot more - his hair was different, and he saw an acne spot appear on his cheek right where Alex had one. "Oh, fuck! Alex, did you open the thermos?"
Alex nodded in growing bewilderment. The gnats were swarming around his brother and Marcus, and both were slapping at themselves. "Yeah, sorry. It was empty, though."
Marcus opened his mouth to explain, only to gag as a portion of the swarm flew into his mouth and nose. Pain exploded all over his body, and he fell to the floor still surrounded by a dark mass of nanoflies. Alex rushed over to help, but nothing he did seemed to make a difference. Billy was also fighting off a swarm, but didn't appear to be suffering anywhere near as much. As he brushed at the insects, Alex stared. Marcus looked smaller, thinner, and his hair was sticking up now in a Mohawk. A red Mohawk. Falling back with a shout, Alex looked over to his brother and saw the same red Mohawk. And piercings! Silver metal started to blossom around Billy's ears and eyes, matching the piercings Alex had exactly. Marcus cried out again, his voice cracking as it changed to sound like Billy's. Under the swarm, he also had piercing identical to Alex's. The cloud around Billy shifted and merged with the one around Marcus, seeming to pass through the young man's body. Billy and Alex stared at each other - Billy was now identical to Alex right down to the tattoo and studded ears. Billy gaped at the thrashing form of Marcus. "What are we gonna do?"
Suddenly, the swarm swirled up and away from Marcus, leaving him gasping on the floor. The nanoflies detected total pattern duplication for all organic targets in range, and shut off, falling to the floor in a metallic shower. Marcus sat up with a groan, then felt his face and ears and gasped. The twins also gasped when they saw his face. It was Alex. No, all three of them were Alex! Marcus stood and looked in the mirror. "Are you guys OK? Are you bleeding? Is anything hurting inside? Oh, shit. I'm so sorry!" It was hard to talk with the stud in his tongue.
Marcus was terrified that he and Billy would suffer terrible pain and possible death, but as minutes passed, he realized he felt fine. The piercings were weird, but there was no pain or even discomfort. The twins came over to stand next to him in front of the mirror. Billy managed a grin as he draped an arm around Marcus' shoulders. "Welcome to the family, dude! We're fucking triplets!"