"I met the most amazing girl today!"

"I met the most amazing boy today!"

Two bedrooms, one wall apart. But the person that they're really crushing on is...?

Let's take a step back to this morning.

"Jimmy! Get out of the shower! You're hogging all the hot water again!"

Rachel's complaints fell on deaf ears. Jimmy was rather particular about his hair, and spent at least thirty minutes washing it, plus another thirty minutes styling it. Rachel, for lack of much choice, opted for a haircut that was far more easy to manage. Her short hair took little more than a quick rinse with soap, and a quick minute with the blow dryer.

Both twins rushed out of the apartment with essentially zero time to spare. No time for breakfast. If they didn't run, they would miss the bus, and if they missed the bus and had to run to school and be not only late on the first day of school, but drenched in sweat... Well, there goes their high school lives!

Once safely at school, the twins went their separate ways. They've purposefully structured their schedules as to never have to intersect, hoping to never so much as have to see their twin's face during school.

It first happened in homeroom, as Jimmy's teacher called for self-introductions. But Jimmy wasn't paying them any attention, his attention fully fixed on a certain boy on the other side of the class. This boy was skinny, with a light complexion, and long black hair, head resting on his hand as he stared out the window. He seemed to be one of those cute, slightly effeminate emo boys, dressed in skinny jeans and a sweatshirt. Just Jimmy's type.

It was common for Jimmy to fall fast, and fall hard, typically for straight guys. But he had a good feeling about this boy. His name was Alex, and he liked music. Of course he did. Other than that, Jimmy knew nothing about the boy. But he swore that by the end of the week, he would make him his!

As for Rachel, her fated encounter happened during gym. Just before gym, technically, in the locker room. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the girl, with long black hair and a flat chest. Her legs looked exceptional in the short-shorts of her gym uniform. It took all of Rachel's willpower not to drool at the sight of the scantily clad girl as she changed.

Rachel knew nothing about the girl other than her name and her legs. Alexa, a shy nerdy girl. Rachel watched from afar, heart fluttering as the seemingly perfect girl entered her world. She had never had a crush before, and was struggling to keep herself contained.

Both twins had become absolutely enamored. Before, they had been worrying so much about fitting in, about making friends, about making the honor roll. Now, the entirety of their thoughts were on Alexa, or Alex, as they called themself.

Never before had the twins ever been in such a good mood when they returned home. Each went to their respective rooms, and thought to themself...

"I met the most amazing [boy/girl] today!"

Oh, if only they knew.

By morning, each twin had devised a plan to make Alex theirs. Had they really been thinking, though, they would have noticed that their sibling woke up exceedingly early. Perhaps Jimmy would have noticed that his sister spent just as long in the bathroom on her hair as he did. Perhaps Rachel would have noticed that her brother's shirt was the wrong way around. Love truly does make one blind.

Jimmy's plan for love was simple: trail Alex on his way from homeroom, try to get him alone somewhere, maybe a stairwell, and ask him out.

In reality, it went something like this:

"Hey, that stairwell over there looks interesting, right? How about we go check it out together? Alone. Just you and me."

"Sure."

Alex was nothing if not trusting.

Now alone (more or less, not counting all the students walking past on their way to class) Jimmy sprung his question.

"So! Are you free this Saturday?"

"Yeah! Did you have something in mind?"

"I was thinking we could hang out. You know, if you wanna."

"That sounds cool! Sure thing! Oh, here's my number, so be sure to text me! I gotta get to class, so we'll chat later, 'kay? Bye-bye!"

Once Alex left, Jimmy received quite a few stares as he danced in the stairwell. His sister walked past with a look of absolute disgust. That feeling soon evaporated as Rachel's thoughts returned to Alexa, and how she would ask her out.

Rachel's plan for love was simple. Unfortunately, the bees wouldn't arrive until next week, so she had to settle for plan B. Now, plan B was complicated, but it was also a lot less dangerous.

"Ahh! Ooh! Ahh! My gut!"

Rachel, thankfully, had taken drama lessons in elementary school. She smirked to herself as all those years of hard work finally came in handy.

"Are you alright?" Alexa asked.

Rachel looked up at her classmate, currently midway through changing in the locker room. Her voice caught in her throat, and some kind of strange mumbling came out.

"I think I have to get Rachel to the infirmary, let the teacher know, 'kay?"

A tingle ran down Rachel's spine as Alexa grabbed her by the waist and helped direct her to the infirmary. Halfway there, Rachel paused, and Alexa looked at her funny.

"Um, say, are you free this Saturday?"

"Oh, uh, I just made plans with someone earlier today. He's a nice guy, though, so maybe the three of us could hang out together?"

"Oh! Sure! That sounds good!"

It wasn't quite the home run that Rachel had in mind, but a step forward is a step forward. She gave Alexa her number, and started formulating a plan to get rid of the third wheel, whoever that may be.

Jimmy, upon receiving the text letting him know about the change of plans, was certainly less than enthused. But what exactly could he say? He can't just let his crush down, right? Maybe becoming friends is a good first step. And maybe making friends with his friend is also a good thing!

Everything was coming together (more or less!)

Back at home, the twins were giggling like elementary school children. Their parents gave them an odd look, but the twins were silent about the source of their high spirits. Most teenagers don't want to fill their parents in on their romantic endeavors. Still, it was tough to feel so giddy, yet have nobody to tell. The twins weren't exactly on the greatest terms, but, well, they figured that it would have to do. They had yet to make friends at school, being so enamored with Alex(a), so they had nobody else to tell.

"You'll never guess what happened at school," Rachel said.

"I could tell that something happened! You wear your emotions like a--" Jimmy hesitated, his low grades in English catching up to him. There was a common saying here, right? "Like a painting."

Perhaps he was trying to say that his sister wore her emotions on her sleeve, or that he could read her like a book, but Rachel didn't care much about what he was saying, frankly. She just wanted to share her good news.

"I have a date this weekend! She's the cutest girl I've ever seen! She has legs like 'woah' and a chest like -- well, the chest isn't much to write home about, but her face, oh my gosh, you should see her face!"

"Oh! Good for you! Didn't realize you liked girls! I actually got a guy's number, and will also be going on a date on Saturday! He's a really hot guy, kinda emo, really skinny, androgynous, and hot."

"Lucky you!" she said. "Though," she thought, "I'm sure he's not even half as hot as Alexa is!"

And in his mind, Jimmy had already forgotten everything that Rachel had said. His thoughts floated back to Alex, and how he might look shirtless. Jimmy didn't have gym that semester, but he hoped that perhaps next semester he would share gym class with Alex and see him shirtless. Or perhaps he could invite him to the pool? It's still warm enough for that, right? The fall chill would probably hit soon, so that would probably have to wait.

The twins didn't really care about the romantic endeavors of the other twin, so the conversation stopped there. They were feeling good enough about letting the good news off of their chest. Now their attention turned to the date this weekend, and how they would deal with the third wheel.

On her phone, Rachel searched up "Poison stores near me."

As the time for the date approached, the twins each did their best to cozy up to their shared crush. Alex had severe face blindness, and didn't even realize that the twins were, in fact, twins. They just thought that they were finally making friends, and was super happy every day that they got home.

"To think that in my first week of school I would make two wonderful friends, and also make plans to go out and have fun with them!"

Finally, Saturday came. Rachel arrived first, bringing with her some rope and an anvil. There were some questions from the police, but she insisted that it was just an art installation, and, besides, she was just a student! While the police offer had room-temperature IQ, he did have a job that involved not allowing people to hang anvils from street lamps, and, thus, probably for the best, confiscated the anvil. This had nothing to do with the fact that his cousin was really big into blacksmithing.

"I suppose it's a good thing that I prepared plan B," Rachel murmured, grasping a vial in her pocket marked "poison." It was, in fact, just flavored water that she had been ripped off on.

Jimmy was the next to arrive. It had taken him quite some time to prepare his hair, of course. He also had used some makeup to hide the bags under his eyes, as he had been up all night agonizing over which of his over one hundred pairs of shoes he should wear.

Rachel Stared at Jimmy. Jimmy stared back.

"What are you doing here?" the twins asked in tandem.

"I'm here for my date!" yet again in tandem.

"I'm meeting Alex(a) here, so get lost!"

The twins glared at one another, realization still not yet setting in.

"Oh! You're both already here! And you're making friends! Great to see!"

Alex arrived, wearing black skirt, ripped black t-shirt with a fishnet top under it, and black high top sneakers.

"Cute outfit!" Jimmy said, admiring Alex's rejection of gender norms.

"Thanks, Jimmy! Oh, Rachel, this is Jimmy! And Jimmy, this is Rachel!"

"I know," the twins said in tandem.

"Oh! You're already friends!"

Jimmy laughed. "Friends? With a loser like her?"

"Ha?" Rachel's grip on the vial of poison tightened. "I don't need to hear that from some dork who still sleeps with a teddy bear!"

"At least I don't need a night light to sleep!"

"Woah, woah, let's calm down!" Alex insisted. "What's going on here? Do you two not like one another?"

"We're twins," Rachel explained.

"Unfortunately," Jimmy added.

Alex's eyes went wide. "Wow! Twins! Looking at you two now, you really do look alike!"

"I look nothing like [him/her]!"

"Oh! And you're in tandem! That's wonderful! Shall we head out now? We're heading to an arcade, right?"

The twins looked at one another with confusion. Still, they followed after Alex, with a bit of hesitancy.

"You did say that you were crushing on a boy, right?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, of course! But you said you were crushing on a girl, right?" Jimmy himself wasn't actually certain that Rachel had said this, but he was pretty sure that she did.

"Yes! But you were talking about Alexa?"

"Who the heck is Alexa? This is Alex!"

"Alex? No, clearly this is Alexa!"

Alex turned to face the confused party behind them. "Um? My name is Alexa, but I prefer to go by Alex."

"Oh! Ok, Alex. Still, you should clear things up for Jimmy! He thinks you're a boy."

"I am."

"Huh? But you changed in the girls locker room! I thought you were a girl!"

"I am."

"Huh?"

"Oh! Twin tandem! Nice!"

"Can you please explain yourself?" Jimmy begged.

"Oh, sure thing, yeah!" Alex placed a hand to their chest as if saying something very important. "I'm genderfluid. I was born female, but at different times identify as either male or female or neither or both. Does that make sense?"

The twins shared a look, and shrugged.

"I guess so," Rachel said.

"It's kind of surprising, but I'm just glad to hear you're not a girl," Jimmy said.

Alex looked somewhat hurt by that. "Do you not like girls? I am a girl roughly half the time."

"No, no! I just, well... I had intended to have this be a date between you and I. But I only like boys, so if you had turned out to be a girl, then I would have been heartbroken. You see, I pretty much exclusively crush on straight boys, and get my heart broken constantly. I'm not sure if I could take it if my crush ended up being a girl."

"Oh. Well, you are cute, and I am a boy sometimes, so it could probably work out, I think," Alex mused.

"Wait, wait!" Rachel said, taking hold of Alex's hands. "I have a crush on you, too! And I don't care if you're a boy or a girl! I like you for you!"

"Hey! I asked him out first!"

"So? I got to know her first!"

"What? That can't be true, we have homeroom together!"

"Ah! Crap. Well..." Her hand slowly slid towards the vial of poison in her pocket.

"Hold on! There's no need to fight!" Alex insisted. "You're both very nice, and it's clear to me that you love one another dearly!"

"Ha?"

"See! Twin tandem! Let me guess: when you were children, you did everything together!"

"..."

"You played together, ate together, slept in bed together! You were never apart!"

"Damn," Rachel covered her mouth. "My face really is a painting, isn't it?"

"Excuse me?"

"She means to say that you're exactly right," Jimmy explained. "Up until middle school we were inseparable. And then..."

"Well, it's natural for boys and girls to drift apart once you reach that age, right?" Rachel asked.

"I think that gender is irrelevant," Alex said. "I have both male and female friends."

This sentence is only true thanks to the efforts of the twins over the past week. The fact of the matter is that, while Alex is fluid with gender and happy to befriend everyone, not everyone is happy to befriend them. But the gist of Alex's statement rings true: no matter the age, boys and girls can still be friends. Societal pressure may cause a rift, though. That's exactly what happened with Rachel and Jimmy.

Up until middle school, not only were the twins inseparable, but they were indistinguishable. It was common for them to share everything up to and including clothes. But society expected certain things from them, and they began to change. Jimmy stopped wearing Rachel's clothes and playing with her. Rachel locked herself in a spare bedroom. Both children cried. Then they fought. Their emotions were a mess. Things never quite got better from there.

"Look, we may have been close in the past, but the fact of the matter is that we're completely different now. I want nothing to do with her."

"And me with him."

"Don't be so cold! You're siblings! Twins, at that! You should get along with one another! And I'll make sure that happens! So, with that in mind, off to the arcade!"

Alex grabbed the arms of the twins, and dragged them down the street towards the Ultra Mega Arcade downtown. This was the biggest arcade for miles around, and had arcade machines from multiple different countries. If you could imagine it, it was probably there! It had multiple floors, and was crammed full of visitors, many students on their weekend break from school.

While, generally speaking, the twins generally stuck to themselves and had their own interests, there was one thing that both of them still shared: a love for games. Mobile games, PC games, console games, obscure indie games, they loved them all! And the arcade was a place where they could play to their hearts' content while showing off their skills!

"Bridge VS Axel! First round! Fight!"

In the first test of strength, Rachel got an edge over Jimmy as she beat him in a building/fighting game called Buildy Gears where you created buildings while also fighting an opponent. Jimmy got his revenge in a game of air hockey, and then showed everyone up in a racing game, breaking the monthly leader board.

"You're really good!" Alex complimented him.

"I hope so! I can't tell you how many hundreds of dollars I've probably spent on racing games over the years!"

Of course, his time playing Minnow Cart 8 at home probably helped big time.

Alex won their first game in a three-way fruit slicing game. They also beat the twins in a dancing game, as well as a music game from overseas.

"I've been to japan before and played this game, so I might have had a slight edge," they admitted.

The day was coming to a close, and Rachel had to get back after losing game after game after game to one of the other two. She saw a crane game by the entrance, and knew that this would be her moment to shine!

Rachel confidently strode to the machine, slipped two quarters in, and slowly positioned the claw over a purple bear plush. With enthusiasm, she slammed the down button so hard that the thumping sound from her palm striking plastic echoed throughout the arcade.

The claw machine slowly reached down. It paused for dramatic effect as it clamped down on the pile of plush toys. And then, it rose back up, carrying the bear! Of course, this is where machines always tricked people! Just when they thought they had won, the cruel claw of fate dropped the plush! But not today! Rachel's bed was stuffed to the brim with plushies won from this very machine! She knew just what to do to make it cooperate with her.

"Please fucking work," she muttered under her breath. "I swear to god I will crawl back here in the dead of night and smash your fucking glass in if you don't give me that god-damned bear!"

It worked! The claw machine, with perhaps a bit more enthusiasm than normal, returned to the hole and dropped down the bear. Rachel held the bear out to Alex triumphantly!

Alex squealed with delight! They took the bear, and gave it a tight bear hug. Even Jimmy had to smile at his sister's impressive showing. And though she only won one other game in the entire night, Jimmy had to admit that it was Rachel who truly won this round.

The twins exited the arcade along with Alex and the newly christened Mr. Fluffikins.

"That was a ton of fun!" Alex said. "I hope we can all hang out together again soon!"

Here, the twins' smiles dropped. Now, they had to admit, today was a ton of fun, but the idea of spending time with their sibling when they could be having some one-on-one alone time with Alex was certainly less than ideal.

"Maybe," they both promised, noncommittally.

Alex laughed. "Oh, stop trying to act like you hate one another! You've shown your true colors tonight!"

"Look, even if that were true -- which it isn't -- I think we have something more important to discuss!" Rachel told Alex.

"That's right!" Jimmy said, nodding his head. "The fact of the matter is that we both like you! We're both happy to spend time with you as a friend, and it will hurt whoever is turned down, but ultimately, you do have to decide between us!"

"We're being selfish, but we do ask for your answer!" Rachel bowed. Jimmy followed suit.

"I have to decide?" Alex asked.

"Well, yes, that's how things work," Jimmy confirmed. "Two people date, and then the third wheel honorably steps back."

Alex put on a thinking face, though they had already made their mind up a while ago. "Well, I suppose that could be one option. Or..."

"Or?"

"Do you twins really not have telepathy or something? You keep saying the same things! Anyhow, I was thinking that things went really well today, and that your relationship with one another is starting to grow! You're certainly not back to how things used to be, but I think that you can share things with one another now. Good memories, things like that."

"Okay?"

"So, what I had in mind was rather simple... Ok, so you know how I'm genderfluid, right? So sometimes I'm a boy and sometimes I'm a girl?"

"You explained this earlier, yes," Jimmy nodded his head.

"Right! So, I was thinking that while I'm Alex," she looked to Jimmy, "I could be Jimmy's boyfriend."

"Heck yeah!" Jimmy jumped up in the air in a manner similar to a certain plumber.

"But!"

"Eh? But?"

"But! While I'm a girl! I can date Rachel!"

"Huh?"

Nobody could blame the twins for being in sync this time around.

"It's perfect, right? Jimmy thought I was a boy, and Rachel thought I was a girl, and while neither of you were wrong, per se, you didn't have the full picture. Now this solution should be able to make everyone happy, right?"

"Woah, that seems like perhaps it might be a bit much," Rachel said.

"How so? Neither of you had realized until we all met that the person that your twin was crushing on was me, and at school you don't talk to one another. On even days, I can be a girl, and on odd days, I can be a boy. You can even pretend that I'm two separate people, if it pleases you."

"No, no, we should accept you fully for who you are, right?" Jimmy asked.

"Clearly, but regardless of that, we can't go and date the same person!" Rachel insisted.

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"Because it's weird!" Jimmy cried out.

"Weird? I''ve been told that my entire life. So maybe I am weird, so what? I'm happy with who I am, and that's what matters!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Jimmy insisted.

Alex shook their head. "I know. But what I'm trying to say is that being weird isn't bad! Everyone has their own situation, and everyone should make the best of it! I think you're both really nice, and I can't imagine turning either of you down!"

"We're flattered by that, but..." Rachel hesitated, looking over at her brother. Back when they were kids, they even shared their underwear. Yet now she can barely stand looking at him. And they're supposed to share a partner? That's pretty outrageous, as far as ideas go.

"I don't know," Jimmy mumbled. "It could work."

"What? Are you serious?" Rachel asked.

"What? Why not?"

"Because we would be dating the same person!"

"And? I like Alex, you like Alexa, and this would make us both happy."

"I mean, that's true..."

"We don't even need to know about dates and stuff, you know? Keep things separate, enjoy things, live our own lives..."

Alex shook their head. "No! You're siblings! You can't keep your feelings from one another! You should bridge this gap that has formed between you, and I can be the one to help! We can have individual dates at times, of course, but I think that group dates like this are also important!"

"I don't think most group dates involve two people dating the same person," Rachel noted.

"Well, no, but this is a special group date! You're special twins, super in sync, and I'm genderfluid!"

Rachel was still a bit unsure, but, you know, Alex was super hot. Her brother was annoying, and she would hate sharing things with him again, but maybe they could make things work.

Besides, if she said no here, she would be turning down her crush, right? And Jimmy would win? She couldn't let that happen!

"Alright! Let's do it!" Rachel nodded her head, filled with determination.

"Yay!" Alex grabbed both twins, and pulled them into a tight group hug.

The twins' emotions were swirling. Confusion almost prevailed, and if they weren't teens in the midst of puberty, perhaps it would have. Instead, desire prevailed.

"I can deal with my twin if it means I can be with Alex," each thought to themself.

Thus the date came to an end. Neither twin had fully processed just what happened, but were still feeling rather euphoric. Each returned to their room, with smiles on their faces, and laid back in bed, going over the events of the day.

Rachel turned over the vial of poison in her hand, thinking to herself, "It's still not too late to use this."

A knock came at Jimmy's door. He groaned, figuring that maybe he left some hair in the shower drain or something. He was surprised to see his sister standing there when he opened the door, an old stuffed bear in her hands.

"I was thinking that, maybe for old times' sake, we could sleep together again tonight?" Rachel suggested.

Back in the day, they had been inseparable, yet their peers forced them apart, ruining even their at home relationship. That just wasn't fair.

"Just for tonight."

The twins tucked their bears into bed, and turned on a night light. Long ago, each twin had won the bear for the other twin, after dozens of dollars worth of tries. They had treasured those bears more than anything else, slept with them every night tucked between the two of them. Had the bears missed one another while they were separated for so long?

On either side of the bears, the twins slept. It wasn't an easy sleep, after so long apart, and such a strange day. But sleep came for them eventually, and either way, there wasn't school in the morning. They could afford to sleep in.

Some time around noon, the twins awoke, with Rachel very confused for a moment as to where she was. She looked over at her brother with a hint of annoyance, but as the memories of yesterday washed over her, that grimace turned into a smile. Jimmy looked away, face red.

It was a quiet morning, a rare occurrence in the house. Normally, the house would be filled with the echoes of annoyed screams, Rachel demanding that Jimmy hurry out of the shower, and Jimmy begging for a moment of peace.

Jimmy allowed Rachel to use the bathroom first that morning, heading to the kitchen with the worst bedhead his parents had ever seen. And when Rachel entered the kitchen, the twins' parents braced themselves for a shouting match that never came. Instead, the twins nodded at one another.

Slowly, things began to change. At home, the twins played games together more. There was less shouting, less fighting. More sharing. Rachel left for school the following week with Jimmy's shoes on. Jimmy left wearing Rachel's jacket.

At school, the twins avoided one another less. They studied together in the library, checked out clubs after school, and hung out with friends together. They shared how their classes were going, and if their teachers were good or if they should be avoided at all costs.

Sometimes on weekends they would go out together with Alex, sometimes heading to the arcade or to a cheap fast food place. Sometimes they would go shopping together, or head to the skate park. It was a common sight to see the unique trio out on the town, laughing and enjoying themselves.

And, yes, they also got solo dates with Alex frequently. When Alex went out with Rachel, they dressed more feminine, in dresses and skirts, while with Jimmy, they typically wore more androgynous clothes like skinny jeans and sweatshirts.

It was a strange arrangement, that was for sure, but it fit them. It made them all happy. That was what mattered. They all smiled, and bonds that seemed broken were renewed.

"And that," I say, "is how I met your mother."

"Woah, woah, woah, absolutely none of that was true!" Rachel scoffs and gives me a look of pure poison.

I sneer at her, then turn back at my son and her daughter, adopted twins, and tell them, "Everything that I said was one hundred percent true!"

Alex laughs. "There was certainly an element of truth to it!"

Rachel shakes her head. "No, no, no! That's completely wrong! And how can you just skip over the volleyball competition!"

"That isn't really PG-13," I tell her.

"True enough... We'll have to fill them in on that when they get older."

I laugh. "Even then, how awkward would that be to tell your children?"

"Well, yes, that's true, too. We'll have to work on a redacted telling of it."

The twins -- that is, the new generation of twins -- look at one another with confusion. Well, I suppose that's to be expected. Most twins do not have (functionally) three parents, with two being siblings and the third being genderfluid, occasionally their mother and occasionally their father. But, hey, like I said, this might be a strange state of affairs, but it works! Everyone is happy, and we've got two adorable children! It's not a typical life, but it's our life, and it's a perfect life!