Sorry it is a bit late, I fell asleep. The really normally written story starts next chapter so thank you for sticking through this. As always take care of yourselves and thank you for reading.

They never did tell Virgil. First because they weren't sure when he'd be ready but then it became they felt guilty for never having told him when he was younger. The lie had started to become a reality over time. His parents put nubs on the empty pen and told him to always use that pen when writing to them so they always knew it was him, occasionally taking it to refill the ink to make things more believable. They wrote down facts about his fake soulmate in a notebook developing her backstory, personality, and hobbies, making notes of everything they told him to make sure they wouldn't forget and mess up, letting Virgil figure out their lies. So no one could tell him otherwise his parents gave him a lot of hoodies and convinced him to adore them, meaning he would wear them every day so no one ever saw the writing.

It was only about a half a year after the original writing when the red inked person gave in and allowed the others to break the much older, and mostly outdated, tradition of only giving personal information after you naturally meet in person, allowing for them to go by their first initials instead of just their colors. Virgil's parents were relieved to not see a J amongst them, meaning Janus was not one of them, although this made them have a bit of a guilty conscience for tearing Virgil away from his only good friend for no reason. However, the introduction of their initials lead to them naming their character. They chose the L from the group, the one who seemed to be the eldest of the bunch and named her Lisa. Virgil seemed so happy to learn her name so they were sure they were doing everything right, until another year later when the person, now known as R, conceded again. This time there were now entire first names. To his parents' horror, they were all males. They could only hope their son was bi, pan, or something of the like. Even if he wasn't, perhaps the idea of having a female soulmate would convince him he was.

Virgil didn't think anything about it until high school when small school-boy crushes gained the added level of sexual attraction. Virgil had told everyone growing up he was straight, he never even questioned it. He never really thought about the fact he only ever had "crushes" on girls after they gave him signs they might have crushes on him. Since he was physically unable to see he didn't really have anything he was visually attracted that would catch his eyes. He thought he just enjoyed the company of males more, that he simply was able to have a deeper emotional connection with them was just because he was great friends with them. He never thought much about the fact that after his anxiety got bad he felt so soothed by the sound of deepening male voices, nor that he found the much firmer feeling of a male's hands, or even chest when he hugged them, much more pleasant than the more plush feeling of a female. When the males of his grade began to start noticing girls, internally he really didn't understand it. When the boys would talk about a girl's body it honestly didn't sound very appealing to him, some of their depictions even making him feel a bit uncomfortable or revolted. When everyone else was starting to experiment in having relationships with others before getting with their soulmates, if they even intended to be with their soulmates, the idea of being with one of his female classmates just didn't feel right. He thought it was perhaps because he only really saw himself as being with Lisa. That is until he overheard some people talking about gay relationships and for the first time he found himself being a bit too intrigued. He didn't think much of it until more of his hormones came in and he stopped being able to completely deny everything. There was a kind boy, a year above him by the name of Patton that he simply couldn't ignore. He was a great conversationalist, even if he was a bit more sociable than him and he was a very physically affectionate person, which wasn't good for Virgil's poor heart. As he continued to be friends with this boy, the more he began to fantasize about being with him. He knew he had his soulmate and that Patton apparently had two but he still wanted a relationship with him. He wondered if he was being ridiculous but he knew now he wasn't straight. His attraction to Patton made him feel so ashamed he couldn't even tell his parents about his existence.

He spent the whole semester with Patton thinking about it. The more time past the more he became unable to deny he genuinely just didn't like women in that kind of way. Perhaps he was just bi with a preference for men. But he couldn't understand the appeal of women. His soulmate was female. He didn't have to be with his soulmate, sometimes soulmates were just friends. But he had no idea how he would tell his parents he was gay and didn't want to be with his female soulmate. His only idea was to go to the very person that caused him to realize all of that, Patton. They were decent friends and he was openly gay and polyamorous, so he was like a father to all of the budding members of the Lgbtq student body who needed advice. It was one day at lunch when he finally confronted him, nearly at the semester's end when he would no longer be seeing Patton in case things didn't go well.

"Hey Patt?" Virgil whispered to his desk partner before the classes ended.

"Yes, Kiddo?" Patton beamed brightly.

"I, uh, I eat lunch in the Greenhouse. You have lunch next period too, right? Do you think you can go with me? I have something I'd like to ask if it's okay. You don't have to say yes, it's okay if you don't want to talk. There is no obligation to obviously. I'm rambling, I'm so sorry, I uh-"

"It's okay, Kiddo. I'm happy to spend lunch with you. I pack my lunch so it's in my bag. Do you need to stop at the cafeteria or at your locker?" Patton asked.

Virgil shook his head. The bell rang only seconds later and the two of them made their way down to the greenhouse, Patton telling one of the friends that he usually sat with that he was going to be hanging out with Virgil instead. Virgil remained completely silent until they reached the greenhouse too anxious to say anything. Once they slipped in he found his stool exactly six paces in where he left it.

"There should be another stool nearby. I found it once, but I don't exactly remember where," Virgil muttered, feeling rather unhelpful.

He really hoped no teachers or students had come in and taken it since he originally found it.

"Yep, it's just over here," Patton said, walking past him and pulling out another stool.

They both took out their lunches and set them on the mesh counters. Virgil's throat felt tight and he was beginning to regret taking Patton here.

"So Virgie, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Patton asked, his voice sounding so happy yet clearly concerned.

Virgil wanted to melt at the sincerity of his crush. It wasn't fair. He wished he could have been one of Patton's soulmates. The universe doesn't make mistakes though.

"I uh. I have a bit of an issue that I need some advice on," Virgil reluctantly replied.

"Oh, is everything alright?" Patton inquired worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… I think… It might be possible… that I've realized I'm gay?" Virgil stuttered out nervously.

"I don't see what the issue is Kiddo, that's a wonderful thing to discover about yourself. Is there something wrong? Is your family not accepting?" Patton asked, clearly stressing over the thought.

"No, well I don't actually know. You're the first person I've told. They've never said anything homophobic about the community. It's just my soulmate…" Virgil trailed off, guilt swallowing his voice.

"It's a girl, right?" Patton recalled, he could hear Patton growing a bit distant and thoughtful.

"Yeah, she is," Virgil confirmed, his voice a bit higher pitched from how constricted his throat felt. "Universe doesn't make mistakes but yet, here I am."

"Well it might be common but not all soulmates are romantically involved. Some are just really good friends with their other half, or, I guess in my case, parts. But maybe you should talk about this with her? Who knows, she might actually be a trans masculine individual who is simply afraid to come out because they don't want you to feel uncomfortable around them," Patton suggested.

Virgil hadn't thought about that. That could be a possibility, he really hoped it was.

That afternoon when he got home he felt what he assumed was Lisa drawing again. He went to his father, deciding to try to be casual about this.

"Uh, hey, dad, can you write to Lisa for me?" Virgil asked.

"Uh, sure thing Virge. Is there something you'd like to talk to her about," his father asked.

Virgil could hear him shuffling around to try and find something. Unbeknownst to him his father was opening up the journal with Lisa's information in it.

"I, uh, just wanted to talk to her about…" Virgil trailed off too scared to tell his father.

"About what? Is something wrong?" His father asked worriedly.

"No… It's just. I think I might be…" Virgil chickened out, he couldn't tell his father he was gay and had a female soulmate, even if he wanted this conversation. "I think I'm asexual. Yeah, asexual and aromantic. Might be wrong, still young you know? I wanted to casually ask about her sexuality and see what she said."

"Oh…" He father said, his tone sounding like he understood something he didn't. "Well, sure thing. Do you have your pen?"

Virgil handed it to him and held out his arm. His father pressed the tip of the pen to his skin and began to write. Once he pulled away and waited a few seconds.

"She's wondering why you asked, should I tell her?" His father asked.

"No, not yet. Just, uh, ask her to answer the question and that I'll tell her later," Virgil replied nervously, not wanting to ruin his chances in case his soulmate wasn't actually a female like Patton suggested.

His father wrote again and paused. Virgil waited with baited breath, hoping that Lisa would say anything that would be helpful to his situation.

"Oh, will you look at that. She says that she hasn't wanted to tell you but she's aro ace, just like you," he chirped cheerfully.

Virgil's heart sank a little. At least she didn't want that kind of relationship with him. She was just a platonic soulmate. They weren't going to be together. He was free from her, but he still had to face the reality that he was gay, without a romantic soulmate, and disabled. Likely it wouldn't be easy for him to have a real lasting relationship. Most people just stayed with their soulmate so there was a big possibility he'd never find anyone. Much more, the person he wanted already had two soulmates and next year would be leaving to go be in college with one of them, the other joining them a year later since he was a year younger than them. Patton already had a lot of love, he didn't need him.

"Tell her I'm the same and ask her to just be platonic soulmates and not meet," Virgil said, doing his best to not sound defeated.

Later his parents would rejoice about the fact Virgil had multiple soulmates was likely just because he and one of the others were just platonic soulmates. Now they believe him to have no intention of ever being with anyone and thus had no reason to ever tell him about their lie. Meanwhile, out of guilt, Virgil made an internal promise to lose contact with Patton forever. In the next week they would have finals and after that Patton and Virgil would have no classes together. Patton was a senior, he'd leave to be with his soulmates very soon. Virgil didn't know why he felt such immense pain from making that decision. He'd heard that first love was hard to let go of, but he felt letting go of Patton was letting go a part of himself. He didn't think he'd ever be able to forget him.