Luke had not realized how difficult it was only having control of half of his body. Or rather, his and Zack's body as he corrected himself. He leaned into his twin friends' shoulder heavily, using them as a crutch of sorts. While he and Zack struggled to walk, Max and Mark seemed to have acclimated to their joint body much faster. "How are you guys doing that?" he asked.
Both of the twins shrugged their shoulders. "No idea." They answered simultaneously. Mark then continued, "Its almost like... muscle memory. I know how to move with Max."
His twin nodded in agreement. "I still can't feel Mark's side of us, but its like a intuitively know..."
"Why are Luke and I struggling? I don't feel any muscle memory!" Zack said, just before he lost his footing. He and Luke would have face-planned into the cement, but Max and Mark each grabbed their shoulder, keeping them from falling.
"Maybe you should pay attention to where you are stepping Zack." Luke commented, frustrated with his other half.
"Shut up Luke!" Zack glared at him. "This is your fault we're even in this mess!"
"You hugged me, sparking whatever this magic was." Luke remind him.
"You can't pin that on me. I had no idea that I'd get stuck to you!" Zack narrowed his eyes. "You're the one who could not read directions! If you had, you'd have know this would happen!"
"There were no directions or anything. It must have popped up later!" he answered defensively.
"Guys, maybe we should just keep going. People are starting to watch." Max warned.
"Fine!" Zack and Luke answered together.
The four of them walked safety into Luke's house, taking the better part of an hour to do so. "Mom!" Luke called. "I have some... news."
They heard Luke's mother walked downstairs to meet them by the front door. She paused at the foot of the stairs, and placed a hand over her mouth up upon seeing the four boys. "Oh, Luke... Zack..." She rushed over to them.
"Wait Mom..." Luke spoke. He was afraid that if she touched them, the three of them would be joined together. He took at step back, causing him and Zack to nearly topple over. His mother wrapped her arms around them, to help them gain their footing again. "Well that answers one question."
"What?" Alisa released them and stepped back.
"Apparently you can only merge with people who are not joined themselves." Luke answered.
Alisa stepped back and looked at her hands. "I had not thought about that Luke. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful." She then looked at the boy that shared her son's body, and at the twins beside them. "So... Mark and Max, and you and Zack. Luke, at least you are joined with a friend."
"Yeah, we're two-headed friends now." Zack said, distain in his voice. His voice softened immediately. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to speak that way to you... Its was a long walk over hear." He did not elaborate any further.
"We also wanted to share other news." Luke spoke again. "The silver lining is that people not involved in the fusions... don't seem to notice."
"More like they don't think anything of it." Mark jumped in.
"Its more than even that..." Max said, putting his index finer to his chin. It was a habit of his, and his brother's, when they were trying to problem solve. "Its like everything changes to fit the fusions. Almost like reality altered to match what it is now."
Everyone except Mark looked at his Max quizzically. "My brother means to say is that people's memories seem to change... matching what they see us. Everyone we met seems to think that Max and I have always been conjoined twins, and everyone thinks it was normal to see Luke and Zack joined even though they are not related." Mark commented.
He continued, "Even our own memories, to an extent, seem to match this new reality, or way things are." He shared a glance with his twin. "Neither of us remember being born conjoined, but we can move around like we've always shared a body. Its like we've had years of experience dumped into our brains."
"But then why do Luke and I struggle?" Zack asked, repeating his question from earlier.
The twins shared a knowing look, and Max spoke up. "Remember how mom, our mom, referred to you guys, 'my son and his friend...'. Who knows how or why, but you guys may have been conjoined later in life. At least that is what people seem to remember."
Luke nodded, agreeing with the twins' assessment. It seemed to make sense in his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, Zack's expression told him that he did not like his brother's answer, but he seemed to accept it as well. Luke decided not to comment, not wanting to anger his friend. In hindsight, Luke knew that he was lucky. Of all the people he could have fused with, he was joined with one of his best friends. It would have been a lot worse if he had bumped into some random stranger. However, that luck did not exactly translate for Zack. His friend had nothing to worry about as he have never dawned the suit. Unintentionally, Luke had dragged him into this, and in his mind, he owed his friend.
"At least that is a bit of good news..." Alisa spoke, seemingly trying to focus on the silver lining. "We will still be able to go about our lives as normally as possible." The news seemed to have lifted his mother's spirits.
A phone vibrated, and all eyes went to the twins. Max pulled a phone from the jeans he and his brother were wearing, and Luke wondered if they now shared the device. "Mom texted." he informed everyone. "She wants to know when we were heading home." He glanced at his twin. "We should probably head back; we don't want her to worry. But..." Then all eyes seemed to shifted to Luke and Zack.
"Right..." Luke hesitated, knowing that he and his friend could exactly not go to their separate households anymore. He and Zack stared at each other for a few moment. He wanted to stay with his family, especially since his dad would not be home, but he could not tell what his friend was thinking. Would they argue about it? Luke was not keen on finding out how a fight between them could be resolved. The feeling of guilt returned. "Its your call Zack. Do we go to your place, or stay at mine?" He asked.