Adrian was like a kid who’d had way too much caffeine. He’d bitten his tongue all week to keep from blurting it out—even with Chris, which said a lot, because if there was anyone he couldn’t keep things from, it was him. Before the dimensional portal closed, he’d done the most incredible thing he could think of: he’d brought back… yeah, his other self.

Because, come on, what could be better than Adrian Chase? Exactly—two Adrian Chases! One who understood every crazy idea spinning in his head, who knew all the useless but awesome trivia he knew. Plus, they could pretend to be twins and people would totally buy it. They could even switch places and no one would notice!

But what really had him buzzing wasn’t that. It was imagining your face—his gorgeous girlfriend’s face—when you found out. Because, even though you barely ever said it, or actually never did, he knew you loved listening to him talk and, deep down, he knew you cared about him. And what better gift than to share everything… twice over?

So exactly a week later—yes, as if he’d timed every day and every minute—he brought you to his house, right when he knew his mom had her chess match (chess, seriously) so you wouldn’t crash headfirst into the news. At least, that’s how he saw it.

“Okay, okay,” he said suddenly, eyes shining and that nervous smile threatening to split his face. “You have to promise you won’t scream. Well, you can scream, but it better be from happiness, okay?”

He took a few steps toward the door of his private room—the one with the closet full of collectible plushies he swore would be worth more someday. You thought he was about to show you exactly that, but when he opened it, with an over-the-top flourish, your expression froze.

“Ta-daaa! See? It’s me! But it’s also… me.” And there on the other side stood another Adrian, identical, waving, just as frantic as the first. “Look at me!” he said, and your Adrian nodded energetically.

An hour later, you were sunk into the living room couch, trapped between two identical Adrians who seemed to be competing over who could talk faster. One gesticulated so much his arm almost hit you in the face; the other laughed at every word as if everything was the funniest thing in the world.

“…and I told Chris that if he ever meets a squirrel that knows karate, I want to be its trainer,” said the Adrian on the left.

“Exactly! And I told him we should open a dojo just for animals that can fight. ‘Karate Kid: Raccoon Edition,’” finished the Adrian on the right, cracking up.

Meanwhile, your thoughts were somewhere else. You glanced at them sideways, one on each side, so alike it was unsettling. The same crooked smile, the same strange sparkle in their eyes, even the same habit of interrupting each other. And yet, you knew—because you’d seen it on the mission—that they weren’t exactly the same.