11:30 pm
It must have been the 8th cup of tea that Patton made tonight. Virgil inwardly groaned at the amount of washing he'll do the next morning. Next to him, in some royal pyjamas, Roman rubbed his back in sympathy.
"Pat, you know that the amount of tea you're drinking will cause your soulmate to stay up way past 12 now, right?"
Patton fidgeted with the cup's handle as he looked down in shame.
"I can't help it, Virgil! This is my coping mechanism for now. I'll apologise to my soulmate afterwards!"
"Tsk tsk. They're going to be so caffeinated."
Patton looked at the cup once more and set it back down on the table. The swirls of tea and milk dragged on like the minute hand of the clock on the wall.
He felt his eyelids begging to close once more, so he took another sip with a heavy sigh.
"Seriously, it's just ridiculous how the Switchover must occur at exactly midnight on 21st birthdays. Where is the stable schedule? Where does my deep sleep go?!"
"To be fair, dear Virgil, you don't have to stay up and watch Patton and his soulmate Switchover."
"Shut up princey," Virgil muttered as he gently shoved Roman off the couch. "You know we should always support soulmates during the Switchover. Plus, didn't you hear about the new fine instigated last month? They're gonna penalise families who deliberately leave soulmates helpless!"
"Yes yes, now, would padre like a cookie with that tea?"
"ROMAN."
11:45 pm
"Remy, I sincerely appreciate your efforts, but I will not consume another cup of coffee."
The partier grinned behind his Starbucks Chocolate Mint Frappuccino™ and took a long sip before stating, "Your soulmate needs all the energy they can get so that I can take them to my party tonight!"
"It is almost midnight! They can't possibly sleep well with your insistent partying!"
"Look, I didn't guarantee that they will have a healthy lifestyle, but life is short and fast. As One Direction once sang, live while we're young!"
Logan shook his head wearily, staring back into the book open in his palm. Somehow, the equations only swirled into a grey moosh instead of its usual sharpness. Does the Switchover require the loss of a few brain cells in addition to his energy?
Remy had started humming to himself again, stirring into his drink absent-mindedly. It was a nice substitute for Roman, for he did not nearly sing as much and was much less boisterous in the apartment.
That said, Remy isn't roommate material and has this annoying tendency of popping in uninvited, smothered in alcohol. Often the case with 'after parties', Logan noted. It was rather dangerous, and he would rather have Roman around for long-term stays.
But of course, Roman had moved out to join his soulmate Virgil in Florida. It was only last week, but Logan already felt a gaping hole in Roman's absence.
It's true that Roman is a royal annoyance, but he was for sure a good classmate and roommate. He at least balanced out the studious and quiet nature Logan possessed. Logan wondered if he and his soulmate could achieve a similar equilibrium too.
Well, only time will tell.
11:50 pm
Patton struggled to wipe the tears from his eyes as he laughed at the scene before him.
There was Roman, dancing on his toes like he was on fire. His arms, outstretched, flailing desperately around Virgil's body.
Virgil himself was on top of the kitchen counter, determinedly holding the cookie jar above his head and away from Roman's grabbing hands.
Roman's huffs of annoyance matched the sparkles on his fingernails, a paint job that Patton was very proud of. Perhaps he should paint his own nails while waiting for midnight to strike, and leave his soulmate a lovely set of pink nails?
Patton was shaken out of his reverie at the shouts and the crashing sound behind the counter. He hurriedly ran over, sighing in relief that the two idiots had landed on the beanie cushion conveniently placed earlier. The two aforementioned idiots were still bickering on the floor, poking one another until they were reduced to laughter.
Patton picked up the cookie jar, thankfully unshattered. With that, Patton slid the jar further into the cupboard, in hopes to prevent another fight over it later.
"We could have broken our necks Ro! I can't believe you pulled me off like that!"
"It wasn't my fault! You should've just left the cookie jar there instead of your arm!"
"I had better intentions for removing the cookies from your grasp! No way will I let you go on a sugar high and pull an all-nighter again! Never again."
"Aww Virge, please! It's really for Patton's benefit..."
"You're a sorry excuse of a 'helpful' friend, and you'd better apologise now."
Roman sighed in defeat, "I'm sorry for being adverse to what's best for Patton and endangering you in the process, Virge. Forgive me?"
Virgil wriggled off the cushion and stood up, sweeping himself off haughtily as he said, "Maybe later, after cuddles."
Roman instantly brightened, "cuddles!"
Patton could only smile warmly, softly acknowledging the yearning in his own heart for his soulmate.
Only 10 minutes to go.
11:55 pm
Logan shut his book with a satisfying thud, a final farewell to the comfort of his collection of knowledge. Hopefully, his soulmate will equally enjoy his varied interests, so that he'll be able to connect faster with them. If not... well. Logan would make an effort anyway. It is what the universe intended anyway.
He shut his bedroom's door softly, though there really was no need. Remy was loudly cheering for a random game show on TV, which was his only non-caffeinated solution to remaining energised until 12am.
Logan could appreciate the effort, though he did feel his eyelids drooping. Gritting his teeth in the effort to keep them open, he made his way back to the couch in the living room.
"Come on Lo-Lo, this guy is insane. Watch, he's going to guess every answer and win the grand prize! This is so rigged, ain't it?"
"Remy, you're far too invested into what was solely constructed as a distraction. You've made it a paradox, focusing on a distraction within a distraction, whilst distracted from your main task at hand."
"Nah, don't worry, I'm totally focused right now. Plus, there's so much time left until y'all Switchover, like half an hour or something."
"... there are 5 minutes remaining, Remy."
"Oh."
11:57 pm
Patton wrung his hands anxiously before sweeping them through his hair to shout, "I CAN'T DO THIS."
"Padre, what do you mean? You can totally do this! I mean, it's not like you get a choice, but you can do this!"
Virgil shot a warning glance to Roman before taking a breath.
"Pat, we should probably do the app exercise now. Breathe with me, please?"
Patton only nodded, shivering slightly. Virgil grabbed his phone to open Headspace, while Roman quietly sat down to join them on the carpet.
All three breathed deeply in time to the emerging beat, and Patton squeezed their hands in appreciation.
The sounds of the ocean filled the room, drowning out the anxiety-inducing ticking of the clock.
12:00 am
It was only a second ago that Remy's laughter filled his ears. He had slowly blinked, and suddenly the room darkened.
The TV was no longer on, and Remy was no longer beside him. Instead, he felt the squeeze of hands while seated on a carpeted surface. He then heard some waves rolling over a sand-bed, so perhaps he was teleported to a sea-side area.
He also felt the uncomfortable feeling that his soul was dramatically displaced into another's body, which made sense for the Switchover. So the books described the experience accurately enough.
He exhaled deeply, completing the breath taken in by his soulmate. Strangely, it sounded familiar. So did the voices surrounding him.
"Um...Hello? Patton's soulmate? Ro, it's past 12 now, right?"
"Yeah, it is," Roman replied before turning back to 'Patton', "Hey, soulmate, how're you feeling?"
'Oh', Logan thought to himself, 'Roman. Just like my ex-roommate.'
Logan slowly blinked his, well, his soulmate's eyes open. The room swayed before settling into focus, and Logan pushed up soulmate's glasses. With that, Logan realised with delight, 'Huh, maybe both of us like to read.'
Seeing that his head drooped and he currently faced the floor, Logan made the effort to raise it and meet the figures before him.
What a sight beheld him.
"Roman?"
Roman's face twisted with curiosity, meeting Logan's bewilderment.
"Wait, how do you know my name?"
"...And Virgil."
Virgil in turn raised an eyebrow, giving a slight nod to indicate that Logan accurately named him.
Logan sighed, facing Roman again, then smiled.
"It's good to see you two together, in person. I am Logan."
12:00am
Patton's soul had only just settled back into this dimensional plane when it nearly jumped back out at the sound of someone's boisterous laughter.
Patton winced, feeling waves of exhaustion hit him while simultaneously being attacked by light and sound.
Slowly, unsure of himself, Patton opened his eyes to recognise the TV show playing. He then turned to face the man eagerly watching, someone clad in sparkles both figuratively and literally.
This man suddenly turned to Patton and screamed, "I TOLD YOU SO! HE TOTALLY GUESSED IT ALL RIGHT AND NOW HE'S WON!"
He seemed to calm down a bit when noticing how Patton shrank down in the couch, but perhaps he hadn't realised the Switchover had taken place. He just continued, "I should totally go on there. You should join me! Together we'll definitely get that $10,000."
He took a sip of a Starbucks drink and then properly turned to face Patton.
"You okay there, Logan? You're suddenly a lot more...blank."
"I...Um. I'm not... I'm not Logan. I'm Patton, his soulmate, I guess?"
"Oh. Oh sh*t, right it's past 12," the man startled and hurriedly switched off the TV.
"I'm sorry honey, I had entirely forgotten. But now you're here, in Logan's body, which is totally not weird and it's fine."
Patton slowly nodded in agreement, but it eventually became nodding off to sleep.
"I'm Remy by the way, I'll be helping you out for the next 24 hours, since Logan's roommate had moved out last week, ya know, cuz soulmates were found - Oh, you're half asleep. Yeah, we should go to bed now, come on."
Patton allowed himself to be pulled off the couch, into a room, and fall onto a soft blue bed.
'Are those glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling? That's pretty,' Patton thought to himself as he drifted off into the abyss of deep sleep.