Max stared in disbelief at this other person, this other him, just to the left. It was like he was looking at his reflection. The other Max mirrored his same confused, tired expression perfectly. Max raised his right hand to rub his temple. In part, it was to message away his aching head, but it was also to hide himself from this other him. Out of the corner of his eye though, he noticed the other Max doing the same motion with his left hand. Max quickly dropped his hand beside his hip, though the other him did not copy this action.
"So..." Max began as he looked at his double. "Are you me, or am I you?"
"According to Mom and Dad, there is no way to tell who is the original." The other Max spoke.
It was eerie to hear the sound of his own voice coming from someone else who looked just like himself. For a moment he studied the other Max's face. He had the same mole in the corner of his jaw, and his hair stood in all directions like his always did from waking-up. "Yeah... And neither of them probably know who was who anyways. I wouldn't put it past them to chop off the second head, Mom blindly mixing us around, and then Dad sewing us back on. Perfect blind test for them, not knowing who is who."
The other Max sighed in agreement. Max knew this because that was the same way he sighed when he agreed with someone else's logic. "I think we can agree that our parents are better experimenters than parents." The left Max said.
Max stared up at the ceiling. It was hiss turn to sigh, though he nodded his head as well. He felt an urge, a need, to try and differentiate himself from the other boy sharing his face. He turned to look at the other Max and felt a smile creep on his face, which the other him returned. For a moment, he could imagine them being normal twins, but when his gaze shifted downward, the normal part disappeared. Their heads were propped up on pillows now, making it easier to speak with each other while lying down, but it also gave them a clear view of the single body they shared. The blankets were pulled down, just over their navel. His body, their body as he corrected in his mind, seemed to be just as he remembered it was before the crash; though the shoulders and upper torso were noticeably wider. "At least we haven's lost much muscle mass." Max commented. He placed his hand over their chest, and the muscles on the left half shuddered. Max quickly removed his hand.
"Sorry." The other Max apologized. "It was weird feeling your hand touch our chest. I could only feel your fingers pressing into my skin here." He pointed toward his pectoral. "It feels like just your right hand, and not the right hand of our body... if that makes sense."
Max nodded his head. "No, that does make sense. It felt like my fingers were touching someone else's chest, not mine. Even though my palm felt like it was touching my own chest cavity."
"I felt your palm too." The other Max said as he placed his fingers along the center of their chest. "Do you feel this too?" He asked as he dragged his fingertip down toward their navel.
Max shuddered this time, and the other him pulled his hand away. "Yeah, I did." He confirmed.
"So... we have this center line where we both can feel? Is that normal?" The other Max asked.
"Are you really asking me?" Max questioned.
"No, I guess it was more rhetorical." The other Max responded.
Max's gaze followed the central line underneath the blankets to where he and the other him definitely shared one dick. He could feel it nestled between his leg, and the other him's leg. At the moment, he did not feel like exploring that far below. A glance from the other him seemed to indicate that he too was not interested in looking below their waist yet either. Deciding to change the subject, he asked, "So, what do we call each other? I guess we're technically brothers, or twins really. But, I don't think we should both be called Max."
The other him smirked. "Okay then. I'll be Max, and you can change your name. Simple."
"Hold on!" Max complained. "We should at least put it to chance. That way its more fair."
"Fine." The other him sighed. "Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
With both in agreement, they played the simple game to decide who had to take on a different name. Frustratingly, it took them 13 rounds to find a winner as, many times, they selected the same symbol. On the 13th round, Max came out as the victor.
"I think our middle name will work just fine for me. You can call me Charlie." The other him spouted happily. Charlie appeared to be just fine with losing the game. He stretched out his left hand in front of them.
"Nice to meet you Charlie." Max smiled at his twin. There was an awkward moment when both tried to shake the other's hand before they decided to bump fists instead. "The Palmer Twins, Charlie and Max, has a good ring to it." He commented.