What is fluid bonding?
Fluid bonding is a negotiated agreement to forgo barrier protection (condoms, dental dams) within a defined group of partners — typically following recent shared STI testing and an explicit conversation about exclusivity within the bonded group. Common in long-running play partnerships and polyfidelitous polycules. Fluid-bonded groups generally do not play unprotected with anyone outside the group between tests, and that is the entire point. The conversation is non-trivial: who counts as inside the bond, what happens if someone has an outside encounter, what testing cadence applies.