Luke stared at his body, aghast. He had not been prepared for whatever lingering magic, or curse, to activate so suddenly. He and Zack had fallen on their ass. Their shared ass, he corrected himself in his mind. The air had not been knocked from their lungs, but thankfully his friend was more dazed than he was. But before he had time to think, his friends' mother rounded the corner.
Sharon was dressed in her business attire carrying a briefcase in one hand and her phone in the other. He and Zack were in clear, unobstructed view. He half expected her to scream, but her eyes showed no sign of shock, or even confusion. "Hold on a second. My son and his friend just tripped." She spoke to the person on the other line of the call, before turning her attention to Luke and Zack. "You okay boys?"
Luke did not know how to answer the question. He knew that Sharon could see Zack and himself, and their singular body, but she only seemed concerned that they had 'tripped'. He opened his mouth, unsure what words to use, but he decided on saying, "We're okay."
He turned to his left, and he could tell that the Zack was coming out of his daze. He was staring at their stitched down the middle clothes, seemingly trying to find where he ended and Luke started. "We're okay, right Zack..." Luke grabbed Zack's attention, trying to pass through their eye contact that he would explain everything.
Zack cleared his throat. "Yeah, we're fine Mom. Just enjoying the... cool grass."
Sharon rolled her eyes at her son's comment. She continued walking toward the house, stepping beside the equally puzzled twins. She did not seem to bat an eye upon seeing her eldest sons also joined to a single body. She wrapped her arms around her twin sons, embracing them in a warm hug. She then continued walking into the house and returned to her phone call. "Yeah, yeah. They were fine. And, Zack was giving his typical teenage angst..." The conversation was cut short as Max, who was closest to the door, pulled it shut.
Zack immediately turned to face Luke, nearly brushing their noses together. "Oh my god! What the hell just happened?! Why is your head on my body?"
Luke put his hand up, as if trying to surrender. "Hold on Zack." He said, as he also needed time to process what had transpired. His friends' mother was not only unfazed upon seeing Zack and himself sharing a body, but Mark and Max as well. He asked himself why that was, but he could not explain it.
"What the hell is going on?" Zack repeated after Luke seemingly took too long to answer.
Luke felt himself being yanked to the left, as if the muscles on his inside were pulling him. Which, Luke realized, they were in a sense. "Stop Zack!" he complained. "You can't pull us apart. We're literally joined at the hip."
"That doesn't just happen." Zack stated. "What the hell is going on?"
Mark and Max shuffled closer. Luke noticed that they seemed unsteady on their feet, about ready to topple over themselves. All the times Luke was joined before, he and other person shared control over most of their body, but this time, things were a lot different. Luke could only control the right half of his and Zack's body. Everything on their left, seemed to belong to Zack, if belonged was the right word in this situation.
"Go on Luke..." Mark encouraged. "I think we all need to be brought up to speed."
Luke decided to explain as much of the relevant details that he knew. He told them about the weird skin suite that joined people together, and how he and Mark were the first to try it. After Mark left, he had tried it with some members of his family, leaving out whom, but he indicated that they had no trouble like both pairs had now. Everyone immediately noticed the joined pairs, unlike how Sharon had acted. Finally, Luke explained that his father was joined to some random co-worker now too, and that everyone who used the suit would end up, joined to someone, as they are.
Zack was the first to speak up. "First, how the hell did you not know they were permanent. Second, how the hell did you join with just Mark when he and Max have always been like that?"
"What?" Luke and twins all questioned, their turn to be shocked.
Zack gawked at his older brothers, but he seemed to think their confusion was genuine. "Well, maybe not always, but for as long as I can remember, you guys have always been... joined together."
"That's impossible Zack." Max spoke up. "Just a few hours ago, Mark and I were two totally, completely separate people. We were wrestling over the tv remote. I had pinned Mark, but then he made us roll over. Suddenly I on my back, with Mark... attached to my side."
"That's not possible..." Zack's eyebrows pushed together. "Just this morning, I heard you guys arguing about what shirt to wear. You were hogging the bathroom; taking too long in the shower. You joined me for breakfast by the TV, eating from the same bowel of cereal."
"That doesn't make any sense..." Luke spoke, unsure of what to make of the two contradicting stories.
"Well first..." Mark spoke, "I remember things just like Max said. Only I was the one pinning you." He smiled deviously.
"Just get to the point." Max sighed, clearly not caring about who was actually winning their wrestling match earlier.
Mark continued, "But, maybe you're both right in a way. What if when the permanency factor kicks in, it changes people's perspectives to match what they see. It explains why Zack remembers things way differently, and why our mom wasn't concerned to see any of us... sharing a body."
"But I don't remember you guys being born, or living however long stuck together..." Luke commented.
"Well..." Max spoke up, "It may have something to do with being effected by the suits. Since you and your whole family used them, you all, including Mark, remember how things were. But, Zack and I never put the suits on." He hesitated for a moment, "So not wearing the suits seems to have altered mine and Zack's memories, at least until we joined with someone who wore them. I don't remember Mark and I sharing a body, but... I always used to think your dad and Colin had been joined for most of their lives."
"What?" Mark and Luke both questioned.
"Yeah, I thought your dad and Colin were born that way or something. Never did get around to asking..." Zack nodded.
"So... you two remember my dad and... this Colin..." Luke started. He had no idea the name of the person is father was stuck to, but clearly Zack and Max did. "... being joined for who knows how many years, and only Zack remembers the two of you being joined." He rubbed his head. "So your mom will think that my dad and Colin, her twin sons, and you and me, Zack, were all joined together." He sighed. "At least that limits all of the explaining we have to do to people outside of our two families."