"And then we tripped and ruined it all." Roman finished retelling his date, laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Kai was sitting backwards on his desk chair, his arms resting on the back of it.

He let out a low whistle, then said, "That's wild. Was Logic mad?"

"No! He was sweet and thoughtful the entire time." Roman said, "And I've been such a dick to him."

Kai hesitated, then asked, "What did fusing feel like?"

"Oh my god, suddenly all the love stories and romcoms made sense." Roman said, "We were warm and safe and someone else was there, too. Someone who knew both of us and helped us be stronger. And I felt so smart; like, I had all of the facts that little nerd learned and it made my ideas better!"

Kai glanced away from him, looking at the wall instead. He shrugged and said, "I heard it's one of those feelings where you can't really describe it. Like, you have to have done it to know what it feels like."

"Absolutely." Roman said, stretching his arms over his head. "It kind of burns, but like the first few rays of summer. Your first tan of the year; when you feel the sunlight after a long winter."
"So to understand fusion, I just need to take some Vitamin D." Kai said slowly, barely holding back a smile.

Roman grinned and pointed a finger-gun at him. "Yes."

"All of my friends are fusing lately and it's fuckin' weird." Kai said, after a short laugh. He swivels back and forth on the chair, his gaze unfocused. "First, you. Then, Pop."

"Pop Culture is already a fusion." Roman said, sitting up on his elbows to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Kai stopped spinning to say, "After your last show they found another one of her Sides."

"Huh. No way." Roman mumbled, surprised.

"Yeah, a Logic Side; like yours." Kai told him. Roman's chest fluttered at the thought. Logic was his. "And I guess they've already fused. Pop was blowing up my phone about it."

Roman winced and his voice squeaked a pitch, "Oh, nice to be included."

"She probably just forgot to text you." Kai said with a shrug.

"It's just- why have a group chat if-" Roman let out a short huff, "Nevermind."

"Or maybe she's gonna tell you tonight." Kai's phone screen lit up his face as he pulled it from his pocket. The device was vibrating frantically as it received an onslaught of messages. He squinted at the screen and said, "She's almost here?"

"It's the middle of the night, what is she doing here?" Roman asked, already walking to the front door. Kai followed after him, scrolling through his phone with a frown.

A single knock at the door sounded before Roman yanked it open. Before Pop Culture could speak, Roman griped, "You fused and didn't tell me?!"

Pop easily maneuvered past him, picking him up and stepping into the apartment in one smooth motion. She closed the door after them and shoved her phone into Kai's face.

"Did you get my texts?"

"Yeah, they don't make sense…" Kai said, pushing the screen away from him. "What do you mean, 'my fusion is hot'?"

"They're blowing up right now!" Pop said, turning her phone to type. Roman, still in her other arms, reads the screen as she writes. She googles a someone named AlwaysVouge. A youtube channel pops up as the first link, and Roman can see picture suggestions with what must be screenshots and fanarts of them. He squints at the tiny picture in surprise as Pop clicks on the Youtube link.

AlwaysVouge is a fashion and beauty content creator who also spoke about gender roles and queer rhetoric. They had about 20 videos, but their views sat consistently high. They seemed to be posting often, and were a new fusion.

"Holey Moley!" Roman gasped as Pop flipped the phone back at Kai.

"That's my face." Kai said, surprise in his voice.

"With really good contour." Roman added.

Kai's expression sours and he shakes his head. "Sorry, guys, I don't think they're mine. I'm not really the make up type."

"I don't think you understand." Pop said, waving her one free hand in a 'wait' gesture. She pulls up a different tab on her phone; a social media app where she looks up #AlwaysVouge.

The hashtag sits in the number 2 spot for trending, right under #CancelBosBurnham.

"Wait." Roman interrupted, pointing, "What happened to the Bos Burnham?"

"Ohmigod," Pop said, clicking the Burnham hashtag instead. Roman watched as the screen switched to pictures and videos from their most recent show. All five of the Bos were on stage, performing one of their songs. Based on the lights and the staging, Roman guessed it was Left Brain, Right Brain.

Roman knew from videos online what was supposed to happen. The four Bos up front would fuse into two separate Fusions. But this time, from the shaky camera from someone in the audience, Roman watched all four Bos fuse together in a tangle of limbs.

"What-?" Roman asked.

"Shh!" Kai was now standing next to them, watching the video, too.

The lights flashed and some members of the crowd screamed. Roman felt his throat tighten as the four Sided Fusion snapped into existence. It had eight arms, with nine hands. Eyes like a spider, and screaming mouths.

"Is that a-"

"STRESS." Pop hisses.

STRESS Fusions were no joke. The fifth Bo - Humble, Roman thinks - runs up to the STRESS; but before he could touch them, security guards stormed on stage. They pulled Humble away from the STRESS, and they all went backstage. The lights went dark. The video ended.

"Wait, what happened to them? Are they okay?" Roman asked, trying to take the phone from Pop's hands. She held it out of his reach and scrolled to the next post. Apparently Humble had come back out and apologized before he continued with a solo song and some jokes.

"They're fine, the other four came back out later. They didn't do any more fusion the rest of the show." Pop told him, slowly scrolling from post to post.

"Look at how quickly they cancel someone." Roman muttered as more posts were negative than concerned. He knew STRESS Fusions were dangerous, but it looked more painful than anything to him.

"Can't have a STRESS running loose." Pop replied sadly. "Anyway, they already made an apology tweet. I'm sure they'll be fine."

"What does this have to do with me?" Kai asked, still looking at the screen.

Pop laughed and paged back until they were back at the trending page. "Nothing." She clicked on #AlwaysVouge. "Kai, you're trending. On, like, everything."

As she scrolled through the tag, Roman saw posts with a picture of Vogue and then one of themself. Each one had a caption like, 'I think we're Sides!' or 'We look pretty similar, right?'

"They made a joke in their latest live stream that they should go viral so they can find their other Sides." Monica explained, "And the fandom just took that and ran with it. Now they're the second biggest news on the internet!"

"They're looking for me?" Kai mumbled, then stepped away, shaking his head. "Um, if we're Sides."
"I'm pretty sure they're from Florida." Pop said, fingers expertly navigating her phone. "You have got to message them."
Kai scoffed, shaking his head, "Everyone else on the planet is already messaging them."

"Yeah, and they're wrong." Roman said, "But you actually look like them, dude."
"I don't know." Kai scratched his neck, avoiding eye contact. "I have to think about this."

Pop gestured to her phone, suggesting, "You should watch a couple of their videos. Their Sides are really interesting, too. One of them works at a tattoo shop and the other is a kindergarten teacher or something."

Kai looked down at his phone again, his thumbs moving slowly. "That's interesting. Um," He looked up just long enough to mumble, "Thanks, Pop."

She nodded and they watched as Kai left the room, eyes on his phone. Monica shot Roman a worried look, and he easily waved her off. She let go of him as he said, "Don't worry, he just needs to wrap his mind around meeting himself."

"Yeah," Pop said with a long sigh. "We get that."
"Speaking of which, who's your new Fusion?" Roman asked, crossing his arms. "And why didn't you tell me?"
Monica laughed and pulled up a picture of their Logic Side on her phone. "Her name is Sandra. She's friends with Logan!"

Roman felt a little guilty for not remembering any of Logic's friends, but in his defense, he forgot. Pop switched to another picture, this one a selfie of a Fusion. Her long, dark hair stopped just below her chest. She wore glasses and had three arms.

"She hasn't picked a name yet." Monica explained, "We call her 'Um, Actually'."
"Logic and Pop Culture." Roman said with a small shrug. Monica snorted and nodded. "Sounds like a fun time."

Pop's face grew red as she tried to hold back a laugh. She covered her face with a hand as she whispered, tears in her eyes, "We irritating."
"I hate you." Roman shook his head, flopping down on the nearest chair. He scratched his head, spacing out in thought. Then he said, "Isn't it funny, that both of our Logics knew each other?"

Pop Culture grinned and said with flourish, "Ohh! Maybe it's a sign!"

"A sign for what?" Roman asked. "Logical traits stick together?"
"Maybe it means we'll still be friends after college." Pop said with a shrug, "Or maybe I'll leave you for Broadway!"

"Monica! No!" Roman clutched his chest dramatically. "How could you!?"

Pop laughed and then excused herself for the night. It was getting late and she had successfully delivered the life-or-death news. Roman waved her goodbye and closed the door after. He turned out the lights and made his way to his room. He stopped outside Kai's open door, glancing into the room.

The short man was pacing, while his laptop played a video in front of him. Vogue's face lit up the screen as they applied eyeshadow and made a joke. Kai snorted at the joke, but then shook his head with a groan. Roman kept walking, leaving him to his own thoughts.

As he settled into his own room, he pulled out his phone and checked for messages. Patton had messaged him a couple times, mostly flirty memes. Roman smiled at them, but didn't respond. He clicked on Logic's messages and felt his grin widen at Logic's newest text.

Logic: We need to meet up again soon. This time with Patton.

Roman: I'd love to.

His fingers itched to touch Logic again. Ever since they fused into Innovative, Roman had been antsy to do it again. Being fused, after he thought he was incapable of it, changed him. He wanted to do it again, over and over. He wanted to be by Logic's side all the time. Things were changing; Roman could feel the swift ripple of shifting winds rush across campus. New: exciting and scary.

With his newlyfound Sides with him, Roman could handle anything the world threw at him.


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