A few minutes had gone by, and Luke was still sitting on the couch in the basement thinking. He started to realize he had feelings for Max, and that all these years of bickering over the stupidest things was his way of covering them up. He really liked being joined to Max, and when they were one headed, he saw for a short moment, that Max had always felt the same way too. Luke sat up wondering what he should do when the door opened and he heard someone coming downstairs.
"Ok, careful Mark, easy now. These are steeper than the ones upstairs." It was Ethan and Mark. Luke watched as they made their way down, sideways, one step at a time. They seemed to be clinging to each other for dear life. As though if one of them were to fall, they could grab onto the other to stop themselves. They only had three more to go before Ethan's leg hit Mark's, which cause him to fall and pull Ethan down by their joined chests.
They lay groaning as Luke watched and faintly smiled. Ethan and Mark had now been conjoined with each other for almost eight hours, so getting up off the floor wasn't hard for them at all, or anything else for that matter. Ethan and Mark strolled over to Luke, who they could tell looked a little sad. Ethan plopped down with Mark beside Luke. "Hey son, how's it going?"
Luke shrugged and looked away from the conjoined pair. Mark put his hand on Luke's left shoulder, "Luke, what's wrong? What happened with you and Max?"
"Nothing..."
"Hey now... You can tell us." Ethan wrapped his right arm around Luke. "We saw Max leave, he looked as thrilled as you do now. So what happened? Did you guys fight again?"
"It's nothing, I don't want to talk about it. It's between me and him."
Ethan and Mark both looked at each other and knew they wouldn't get an answer out of him. They worked together so they could stand, while Mark sighed, "Ok then... Come on Ethan. I think we should tell my dad that we can't get apart and are stuck like this forever..."
Luke's head shot up and he grabbed Mark's arm. "Wait! I think I can get you apart!" Ethan and Mark stopped and turned to Luke. "Me and Max had couldn't split a few minutes ago. But we found out it was because deep in our heads, we really didn't want to. But as soon as that changed, we popped apart!"
Ethan leaned back lifting Mark off the ground and spun around. They both looked thrilled and were cheering, Ethan eased Mark back down, "So, you can split us?"
"Maybe..." Luke was staring at his father. "Dad, do you want to split from Mark?"
Ethan looked back and Mark and rubbed his back. "Well, the two of us have been getting along just fine. Unlike the rest of you, we haven't fought yet, and we can work together without a problem. I really do love having you stuck to me Mark. It's been... interesting." Ethan nudged his crotch into Mark's without Luke noticing. "But I have to work tomorrow, and you have school. So I know we can't stay like this, but I would do it again without a doubt."
Luke was a tad jealous, but was happy for both of them, "And you Mark?"
Mark started to blush, but Ethan nudges him to talk. "Luke... I'm not sure how to say this, it was hard enough telling your dad. But I... sort of... have a crush on him. So being stuck with each other is a fantasy come true! It was probably me that kept us together before. He's right, we go together perfectly and I don't want this to end! But we do have to split apart at some point. Plus, we can re join whenever we want to, so I'm ok with it. I'm ready this time."
Luke nodded and stepped towards the conjoined pair. He put his hands on their shared chest until they were absorbed. Once in, Ethan and Mark could feel their chests begin to separate until they were apart. Mark looked down and could see a break in their skin, He lifted the shirt they were still wearing together and crawled out. "Burr... my chest feels so cold and bare now... Thank you Luke, I'm going to check in on my dad and Zack."
"Thanks Luke" Ethan gave his son a hug. "So.. tell me what happened."
"I don't want to talk about it right now." Luke tried pushing away from his father but couldn't. He looked down and saw his chest joined to Ethan's. "Hey! Dad, what are you doing?!"
"I don't like seeing you like this. And now that I know we can only split when we both feel like it..." Ethan smirked wickedly at Luke, and pulled him to the couch before sitting down. "We'll stay this way until you talk."
Luke glared at his father, "What about school and work?"
"We'll phone in sick" Ethan looked smug as he crossed his arm behind Luke's back. Luke continued to glare as he too crossed his arms. Neither of them was going to give in.