Hey guys! Sorry this is so late, it's been really hectic recently and I've been going through a bit of a depressive spurt but hey I finally finished it. Also I finally started the cover art so hopefully that will be finished soon. Happy kinda late Thanksgiving to those reading this who celebrate it. As always take care of yourself and thank you for reading.

He was well aware that it was well past noon, it wasn't like he had any plans anyways. Continuously rolling over and going back to sleep was something he was quite content with doing while he still had the chance before classes began in a few days.

"Guess what!" His hyper roommate exclaimed, plopping down heavily on the foot of his bed.

Virgil tensed at the sudden loud noises and movement on the bed. His breath caught in his throat causing him to choke a bit as his unseeing eyes went wide.

"I was trying to sleep," He complained, once his heart slowed a bit.

"Sleeping is for the weak," Remy replied, leaning back onto his hands.

"You slept until dinner time yesterday," Virgil countered.

"Never said I wasn't weak," Remy stated without missing a beat, casually fixing the dark brown swoop of hair that stuck out the front of his beanie.

Virgil let out a sigh and sat up.

"So what's got you all excited?" He asked.

"So you're not even going to try to guess?"

"Get me coffee and maybe I'll humor you."

"Well that's great because we are meeting them there anyways," Remy grinned as he jumped up from the bed again.

"Wait, wha-!"

Virgil's words were cut off by his own cry of surprise when he felt Remy grabbing onto his wrists and pulling him up out of bed. He stumbled on the ground and likely would have fallen if Remy wasn't holding him up until he gained his balance.

"What the fuck was that for?" Virgil snapped in annoyance as he pushed himself away from Remy, now more stable on his feet.

"Aww your cute when you're angry," Remy teased.

Virgil could hear him moving away towards his own half of the room.

"You talk too much," Virgil complained as he too walked away to the closet to find something to wear.

"Aww, but you love me," Remy countered.

"Bold of you to assume that when you barely know me yet," Virgil snorted.

"I can tell. You couldn't ever stay mad at me," Remy replied confidently.

Virgil smirked as he piled a random combination of a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie in his arms.

"I wouldn't test that if I were you. I will find a way to lock you in the bathroom all day if you do," Virgil said before entering the bathroom himself to go change.

Virgil didn't take long dressing himself and getting ready. He danced around the bathroom while he brushed his hair, clearly able to hear his upstairs neighbor singing along to Broadway music. Once he was done he entered the main area of the dorm room and let out a soft whistle.

"Ember," he called.

His dog got up and trotted over to Virgil who retrieved her vest and leash from the floor of his closet. He expertly got her ready with ease. He then gathered his remaining items around his area of the room including his wallet, keys, sunglasses and cane.

"Alright. I'm ready if you are," Virgil said, turning to face his roommate's bed where he could hear the sound of short nails clicking against a touchscreen phone.

"Great, I'll lead the way," Remy replied.

He could hear the shuffle of leather as Remy got out of bed to meet Virgil by the door.

"Haha, yeah no. Not with your sense of direction," Virgil replied as he walked out the door.

"Okay, but coffee is the one thing I can always find," Remy pointed out.

"Not taking chances, this early in the morning," Virgil said.

"It's one in the afternoon."

"My point exactly."

Remy laughed at the comment and threw his arm heavily over Virgil's shoulder as they walked.

"Girl, have I told you how awesome you are?" Remy asked, a smirk clear in his tone.

"I try," Virgil replied sarcastically

"Whoever I find for you is going to be a lucky fellow. I might even be jealous of them," Remy continued.

"What would your boyfriends say if they heard you saying things like this?" Virgil asked with a raised brow.

"Well that depends on which one we are talking about. You might have someone joining me in flirting, or someone apologizing to you for if you feel uncomfortable, or I could get hit over the head with a newspaper," Remy hummed thoughtfully.

"That's oddly specific answers. Has this happened before?" Virgil asked suspiciously.

"I'd never cheat on my boyfriends. But they are all mostly chill with me flirting with others; they just feel bad for the other person," Remy shrugged.

Virgil let out a small laugh-like breath through his nose.

"Sounds nice. You and your soulmates must get along pretty well," Virgil said, smiling as best he could through the sharp pang of jealousy of chest.

"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky on that one I guess. With three soulmates, you'd probably think at least one of us would rebel against the usual system. Especially Remus. He hates rules. Maybe that's why he likes the idea of openly dating three men. I don't know," Remy hesitated a moment, seeming to notice the slight pain hidden in Virgil's expression. "But hey, look on the bright side, there are also a lot of beautiful relationships out there that have nothing to do with soulmates. I'll find you your perfect someone, or someones if you're into that."

Virgil remained silent for a moment.

"I mean I guess. I don't need it, but I remember when my friend got his soulmates and how jealous I felt because I felt like one soulmate is only lonely. But I don't really know. I'd be happy with just one person to love," Virgil replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Cute, gay, and potentially polyamorous. Maybe I should just convince my boos to adopt you into our relationship, then I wouldn't need to be jealous of anyone," Remy teased.

"Tempting, but no."

"Aww, but you haven't even met them."

"But I know you."

"I'll bribe you with Em's love of dogs."

"A lot of people love dogs."

"You still said it was a good quality. Plus all of them are pretty hot."

"You do realize I literally can't see what they look like, right? I don't have any visual attraction to people."

"But you can be happy in knowing that you are surrounded by beautiful individuals."

Virgil genuinely laughed, his cheeks aching from the smile that had been growing on his lips from how stupid their conversation was.

"You are ridiculous. Why are we even talking about this?" Virgil asked between his laughs.

"Because it's fun?" Remy replied, his voice surprisingly serious.

"Anyways, you never did tell me what you were so excited about this morning," Virgil said.

"Well-"

"Remy!"

Virgil didn't recognize the voice but he stepped further away from his roommate when footsteps rushed towards them. He could feel the air rush by and hear Remy getting the air knocked out of his chest as bodies collided.

"Remus, please do not murder people on the streets, especially one that I actually enjoy the company of," someone else called from further away, probably just outside the coffee shop they had been approaching.

"Remy?" Virgil asked, a bit confused about the situation.

"Well, I wanted to introduce you to my soulmates, they finally got moved in," Remy chuckled.

"Mmmm, yay, social interaction," Virgil replied sarcastically.

"Heh, I like you," the closest of the new individuals laughed. "Names Remus."

"I'm-"

"Virgil?"

The second person who had spoken spoke up again. He and another individual were approaching them, after speaking one of the sets of footsteps got faster.

"I'm sorry do I know you?" Virgil asked.

"Guess you can't really recognize me by my voice or scent anymore can you, haha. It's me, Janus, from elementary school, remember?" He replied.

"Seriously? God, I… I haven't seen you for ages," Virgil said, his head still reeling as it tried to process the new development.

"I mean you've never technically seen him," Remus pointed out.

Virgil heard Janus move away from him and someone else getting hit on the back of the head.

"Guys, knock it off. I'm so sorry for them. I swear that they aren't always like this," a new voice, likely the individual that had walked over with Janus, apologized.

"Lies," Janus called back.

"Okay, well maybe they are but you get used to it quickly. They've all been like this since essentially the very first time they started writing to each other," he explained. "My name is Emily by the way. You're Virgil, right?"

"Yeah, it's Virgil, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. While those three are fighting why don't we go sit down?" Emily suggested.

He seemed pretty nice, Virgil felt like he could trust him. He was a lot like Patton. Virgil mentally scolded himself for remembering his old crush. Instead he put on a smile and chose to trust the soulmate of his roommate and childhood friend.

"Sure," Virgil replied.

"Your service dog is beautiful, flat coated retriever right?" Emily guessed.

"Yep, not many people get that right. Her name is Ember by the way," Virgil said.

"She really is gorgeous, you could probably enter her in shows," Emily pointed out.

"What matters is that she's a sweet girl and she constantly helps me. Be it getting around town or anxiety she's really become my best friend this past year," Virgil smiled.

"Aww, I love dogs, they can be a bit excitable but they really do love their owners so much," Emily gushed as he pulled out the seats around one of the outside tables to sit.

Virgil followed suit and sat down, Ember laying on his feet.

"Yeah, I'm normally a cat person but she's really great," Virgil replied.

"So, enough about your dog. Tell me a bit about yourself? What's your major? What do you like to do? Anything?"

"Oh, uh, well I'm here to get an English major and a Creative Writing minor. I really want to be a writer, even though it's basically impossible without the right connections," Virgil replied awkwardly, not having expected to be put on the spot so suddenly. "I like music. I brought my guitar with me here to school. I don't know. I didn't do much growing up. I didn't have many long term friends."

"Writing and music both take a lot of talent, it's really cool that you are skilled in both. I'm going for a psychology major since I'm planning to become a therapist. Took me a while to pick out what I wanted to be though. I went to college for the first time two years ago back when I still lived back up in Canada but I dropped out after the first semester since I didn't know what I was doing with my life yet and I didn't want to waste money so I took a gap year to work, find myself, and eventually move her to attend school at the same time as everyone else since they all only graduated last year," Emily explained.

While he had been talking Virgil could hear the other three beginning to approach but he didn't care to acknowledge them, instead just continuing to listen to Emily speak.

"You had to wait two years to see their messages, that's rough," Virgil mused.

"It could have been worse. There was someone in my grade that thought they didn't even have a soulmate because it wasn't until a few days before graduation that their soulmate finally wrote saying it was their tenth birthday," Emily replied.

"An eight year gap?"

"Mhm, he was fairly frustrated by that news but I'm sure they still managed to at least be friends," Emily chuckled.

"Speaking of soulmates, how's that soulmate of yours doing," Janus asked, plopping down in a seat next to Virgil.

Virgil's former smile faded and he looked down, his voice unable to come out at the moment.

"Ohh, bad topic," Remy warned.

"Why? Did something happen?" Janus asked worriedly.

"Well, it's just… She's a female who isn't interested in a romantic relationship, and I kinda might possibly be gay," Virgil mumbled, holding his arm.

"Well Buddy, that's not anything to feel badly about. Some soulmates are just meant to be friends. You can have a beautiful relationship without your soulmate," Emily replied.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Remy pointed out.

"I know. I just know it might be hard to find someone and it was hard to accept the fact I didn't have a built in life partner like most people did," Virgil replied sheepishly.

"You should be glad, you get to pick and choose who you want to be with, most people don't even think twice about being with their soulmate and let me tell you that can get hella messy. Exhibit A, my parents," Remus said casually.

"Really? Growing up I thought all soulmates, even if not romantic were still best friends," Virgil countered.

"That's over exaggerated. They can still hold resentment towards each other for things that the other does. For example, having a girl they met at a bar while drunk write their number on their hand and then having both of them resent the fact they chose to get married and have children instead of staying friends," Remus shrugged.

"Am I missing something in your tone or are you just very nonchalant about saying those sort of things?" Virgil asked worriedly.

"You're not missing anything, unlike his brother Remus stopped caring about his parents a long time ago," Janus replied.

"Which doesn't always seem the most healthy, but at least he talks about it," Emily added, a tinge of concern creeping into his voice.

"Chill, I'm fine. I just don't need to waste my energy on them when I have you guys," Remus replied, his voice showing a bit of distance from the situation.

"So you have a brother?" Virgil jumped in, hoping to help him change the topic.

"Yeah, I have an older twin brother named Roman. He attends this college too. Total drama queen and theater nerd. Kinda the walking definition of a himbo, but I guess he's cool," Remus replied.

"No offense but he sounds like someone who would annoy me."

"Yeah, emo, he probably would," Remus agreed cheekily.

"Emo?" Virgil questioned.

"Well you do wear mostly black," Remy pointed out.

"Less chance of having horrible color combinations if most of my clothing is black," Virgil reasoned. "Plus it matches my dog."

Remy snapped his fingers and let out a hum of agreement.

"You right girl," he replied. "Now, how long am I going to have to wait to go in and get my coffee, hm?"

"Heh, go on ahead and order, don't forget my coffee is on you today," Virgil reminded him.

"Shit, forgot about that. Uhg, oh well. Let me guess, iced seasonal spiced depression?" Remy assumed.

"Aww, you already know my fall favorite, maybe you really are a good friend," Virgil teased.

"Ahg, you doubted my friendship? How dare?"

"Aww, but you love me."

"Is it my turn to threaten to lock you in the bathroom?"

"Heh, shut up and go get my coffee," Virgil laughed.

Remy got up and messed with Virgil's hair as he walked by, heading inside the shop.

"Do I even want to ask what that conversation was?" Janus asked.

Virgil smirked and leaned back in his chair.

"Probably not."