Hello again and welcome back. Trigger warnings for this are mostly just a touch of constant anxiety and lying and insinuations of manipulation. As always take care of yourselves and thank you for reading.

"Patton seems really disappointed I'm not going to lunch with them today," Virgil hummed thoughtfully as he played with the cord of his headphones.

"Hmm?" Remy questioned, temporarily pausing the aggressive taps of his fingers against his phone as he texted.

"Patton just seems a bit upset about me spending the day with my family. I don't know, I think he might be upset about me turning them down for lunch again today," Virgil frowned in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm sure he really wanted to have lunch and that's why he's acting strange," Remy replied after a moment of hesitation. "Say, speaking of lunch, what exactly are you planning with your parents?"

"Don't know. Maybe the same place I went with the others? We'll probably decide in the car," Virgil shrugged dismissively, not caring much for the topic.

"Uhuh," Remy breathed out a moment before returning his focus to writing on his phone.

Virgil let out a breath as he shifted to face Remy, hoping he'd see his raised brow. Everyone was acting so strange today. Perhaps it was just his imagination. He was quite anxious about his parents' arrival; it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that he was shifting the guilt of his own abnormal behavior onto others and just magnifying their typical habits. Remy was always messaging his soulmates. Patton just really liked hanging out. There wasn't anything unusual, no one was upset but him. His parents didn't suspect he'd lied to them or know anything about his current crushes.

His phone chimed again and as per usual he made it read out the message he'd been sent by his mother. They'd already arrived. Virgil let out a long sigh to try to relieve the growing cloud of dread. He forced a soft smile and stood up.

"Alright my parents are here. I'll see you later, okay?" Virgil said.

"Have fun," Remy mumbled back dismissively, not sparing much of his focus towards his leaving roommate.

"Ember leash," Virgil called as he put on his own dark glasses and banged up walking stick.

Ember trotted over the leash jangling in her mouth. He bent down and carefully attached the leash to the service vest and harness he'd already preemptively put on her to avoid making his parents wait too long.

"Bye Rem," Virgil tried once more before walking out the door.

He counted his way down the halls, through the door to the lobby and out the front doors towards the parking lot. As he pushed open the doors he was greeted by arms rushing around his sides, pulling him into a hug. He let out a frightened squeak but instantly relaxed as he smelled his mother's familiar shampoo.

"What are you doing walking out here by yourself Honey? Where is your roommate? He's supposed to be guiding you around everywhere so you don't get lost or hurt. Have you even been here long enough to memorize everything?" She fretted running her fingers through Virgil's dark hair to comb it away from his face.

"Mom, I'm fine. I've been on campus over a month, I know how to navigate my dorms without Remy. I'm safe," Virgil chuckled, casting a smile towards his doting mother.

"What the heck happened to your walking cane though?" His father asked as he approached them, scratching at the back of his head.

"Huh? Oh…. That," Virgil inwardly hissed, trying to think quickly. "Yeah, I kinda left it in the wrong place when I was tired and then proceeded to step on and fall over it when I got up for water in the middle of the night."

Another lie. For someone who always does his best to never lie to his parents, he sure was lying a lot to them recently. Still his mother would quite literally have an aneurysm if she learned her son had nearly been hit by a car. She was protective enough already.

"Honey, you need to be more careful. Are you okay?" His mother asked, a frown clear in her voice.

"Mhm, just a minor tumble," Virgil chirped with fake cheer.

"Alright, I just worry about you, Baby. It's hard for me, not being there to make sure you're alright. I just never want to see you having to suffer from anything else ever again," she said with a furrowed brow.

"I know momma, that's why I have Remy to help and protect me. Trust me, he does a good job of it. Now come on, I'm sure you're just as hungry as I am, let's get some lunch," Virgil said, treading carefully to defuse his mother's worries.

"Well then, where does our grown up little boy want to go for lunch?" he father asked, ruffling his hair.

"Well my friends took me to this nice place. If you go down the road to downtown, it'll be the building on the left corner of the first intersection. It really does have some great food," Virgil directed.

His parents agreed and they made their way to the car and drove to the restaurant, chatting idly about Virgil's classes and how he was settling into his dorm. Before long they reached their destination and hopped out of the car. Virgil opened up the car door and let Ember hop out before him before following after her and his parent's footsteps. His phone made the sound of a trumpet in his pocket and he jumped slightly. He bit his lip nervously as he plugged in his headphones and listened to the message. Of course Roman had to be texting him right now, in front of his parents, who could very easily eavesdrop. He wouldn't put it past the drama queen to be the type to get upset if you didn't read and respond to their message and the last thing he wanted to do was upset any of the three of them, so simply ignoring it wasn't much of an option.

"One unread message from Princey: Greetings again, oh lord of Sunshine. Just wanted to let you know the three of us intend to spend most of the day together after we ourselves get lunch, if you have time to join us later."

Virgil nervously backed away from his parents in the little waiting area hoping to get some privacy before instructing his phone to write out the message for him.

"Don't know if I will yet, thanks for asking. Go spend time with your soulmates and enjoy your lunch."

"Soulmates?"

Virgil winced as he heard his mother approaching, clearly having listened in. He quickly shoved his phone and headphones into his pocket and turned back towards her.

"Yeah… Guess I forgot to tell you in any of my messages to you. I, uh, met Janus again. He and his three soulmates attend college here," Virgil fibbed nervously.

It wasn't a lie. It just had no relevance to his current conversation.

"Oh, how nice, I'm sure you're very glad to see him again. It's nice you two can pick up where you left off," She hummed cheerfully before guiding Virgil after the hostess that'd arrived to seat them. "How is that lovely boy doing with those three friends of his."

Virgil raised a brow at her word choice but shook it off. She didn't know anything about Janus, it was pretty respectful to not label their relationship without any context in a way. He took his seat at the table, sitting across from both of his parents, folding his hands on top of each other on the tabletop. Ember hopped up to lay down on the bench like seat beside him.

"Oh, yeah, they are all really happy together. If they aren't together physically they're always texting. Kinda envy them in a way," Virgil chuckled wryly as he rubbed his wrist.

"Is something bothering you. You know you can always talk to us right? Even if you're growing up on us, we still are your parents and we are always gonna be there for you," his father pointed out kindly, reaching across the table to rest his hand on top of Virgil's.

He paused for a moment wondering if he could be truthful with his family. They might be mad at him. Remy was nice and unconventional, he'd never say anything about his issues. His parents might be less restricted about telling him how incredibly wrong it was for him to be attracted to males and be particularly interested in joining a particular group of soulmates when his own soulmate was one singular woman. Everyone always says, fate doesn't make mistakes, he was sure his parents felt the same way.

"It's nothing, forget it. I just kinda envy how close they all are. Didn't have many friends growing up, you know? I'm just the quiet kid," Virgil replied.

"Honey-"

"We shouldn't be here."

"Shut up. I didn't ask you to come."

"You'll do something even stupider if I wasn't."

Virgil was distracted from his father's voice as he heard the familiar voices being seated behind him.

"Remy? Jan?" Virgil questioned, shifting his head to listen to the table behind him.

"Eyo Batty!" Remus chipped happily upon them being discovered.

"Oh… Hahaha… Hey, Virgil. Didn't realize this was the place you were going to with your parents. Emile was really craving their potato skins, sooo… Haha," Remy laughed awkwardly.

"I was?"

"He indeed was," Janus confirmed without missing a beat.

Virgil shrank deeper into his seat with discomfort, feeling people staring at him from both directions.

"Oh, uh, well, Remy, Janus, you've both met my parent's at some point before. Mom, Dad, these are the other two soulmates, Emile and Remus. Emile, Remus, my parents," Virgil said, trying to normalize the situation as best as he could.

"Well hello to all of you, it's nice to meet you. I'm glad you've all come to be friends with my son, he was just telling us about you four," his father replied.

"Oh, uh, really? W-what, ehem, what kind of things?" Remy asked, Virgil detecting a strange level of anxiety coming from him.

"Oh nothing bad. He was just talking about how closely bonded you all were," he replied.

"Well, that is typically normal behavior of soulmates," Emile piped in.

"Soulmates are very special. I can't even imagine how incomplete I'd have felt if I'd never gotten to meet any of them, even just one not being around would feel wrong," Remy stated, his voice turning unusually cold.

"Well, you all got to be together so, all's well that ends well, right?" Virgil replied in an attempt to comfort him from whatever was disturbing him.

"Yeah, just imagine being like you and 'Lisa'. Never even thought of meeting," Remus grinned from where he sat typing on his phone.

"I…"

Virgil paused for a moment to contemplate. He had never thought of it. After he'd grown up a bit he never really had the need to have Lisa even be part of his life.

"Well, I guess not every soulmate situation is the same. I mean you brought up that whole situation with your parents when we first met, right? I'm not weird for not wanting her to be in my life, right? It's not like it's strange to have a soulmate that you treat like that awkward friend you don't actually want to hang out with. Am I that strange friend she doesn't want to actually hang out with? I mean, I'm sure it's a bit awkward knowing she can never write anything personal to me because I always have to have someone else read it. And I'm not a very good conversationalist…" Virgil continued to mutter and spiral until he felt Ember pushing her way onto his lap, letting out a soft whine.

A hand rested on his shoulder, reaching over the bench dividing the two tables.

"Take a breath Virgil. You're brain taking a ride on a slip n' slide down a bad path," Emile said, kneading the tense muscles of his shoulder gently and rhythmically.

"Oh, come now Honey, you and Lisa are great friends. She's just a busy adult now. It's perfectly common for non-romantic soulmates to not meet up," Virgil's mother cut in.

Janus choked on air and slammed his hand against the table as he coughed.

"Uh, you good there Jan? Not dying?" Virgil questioned with a concerned laugh.

"Just peachy. Nothing more than a frog in my throat," Janus replied.

"You know what else could be in your throat?" Remus grinned.

"And we are ending that conversation right there and that is not just because there is a waitress coming over that most certainly doesn't get paid enough to be mortified by whatever you were about to say," Emile shut him down.

"Party pooper," Remus pouted.

"My… how lively our friends are," Virgil's mother commented after taking a moment to clear her throat.

"Heh, tell me about it."

"What?"

"What?"

Virgil chuckled awkwardly and fiddled with Ember's service vest as the waitress approached to take their orders, temporarily bringing a bit of peace to the groups that had gone on to their own separate conversations. However, nothing peaceful lasts forever, at least not in Virgil's life. Not with his luck.

"Oh my goodness, Virgil, is that you? I totally didn't expect you to be here. We just so happened to decide to come here for lunch as well. Potato skins, am I right?" the familiar theatrical voice of Roman unexpectedly cut into their conversations.

"Uh, hey, Princy… you're here too? A-all of you are here too?" Virgil said, his voice pinching with increased nerves.

Of course everyone he knew would coincidentally come to the same restaurant at the same time as him. He drew in on himself trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible, tuning out the bickering going on behind and beside him.

"Remus, I'm going to fucking murder your ass," Remy growled.

"First of all, Kinky. Second of all, you've got no proof," Remus replied dismissively.

"You're the only one who's been on their phone and we all know you're a chaos monger," Remy snapped. "And you three aren't supposed to be here. I am the only one that was supposed to be here."

"Like hell I'm missing the chance to greet our sightless prince's parents," Roman replied.

"Ah, I see, this was your reason for suddenly deciding to come here for lunch," Logan sighed.

"Hey Kiddo, are you doing okay?" Patton asked worriedly, noticing Virgil's tense body.

"Huh? Y-yeah, it's just loud and there's a lot going on, you know?" Virgil rushed to explain, trying to dismiss the idea that he was five seconds from a panic attack about the possibility of any of the numerous people slipping up or causing him to slip up in front of his parents.

"It seems you've picked quite the popular hang out for lunch," his father stated.

"Didn't really realize it was that popular myself," Virgil muttered.

"So I take it you know these people, Virgil?" his mother assumed.

"Yeah, they're some friends. From class. We had mutual friends," he replied curtly.

"Mhm, yes, class. Your son left quite the impression, madam" Roman said, leaning against the table as he spoke.

"Are you patronizing me?" Virgil growled.

"Me? How dare? I would never. I'm just trying to tell your mother she did a great job raising an independent, capable young man that is more than able to make his own decisions and handle- Ow!" Roman yelped as something yanked him back from the table.

"And that will be quite enough out of you, you are distressing Remy enough as it is. We'll be going to our own table now and leaving you three to have a wonderful lunch. My apologies for our disturbance," Logan said sincerely as he and Patton pulled Roman away before he could make any more disturbances.

Virgil covered his head embarrassedly as the situation cooled down again.

"So," his father chimed into the growing silence. "It seems like people really like potato skins here. Should I place an order for some when the waitress returns?"

He laughed softly at his father's tension break.

"Yeah, that sounds great."

The rest of lunch went by without much incident in his opinion. Of course there was no way of preventing the occasional screaming of profanities from Remus but the group left him and his parents alone for the most part. He didn't hear much from Roman, Patton, or Logan besides just some incoherent complaints from boisterous, carrying voices of Roman that Virgil didn't care to listen into. They finished their lunches and made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a few items for Virgil, then they dropped him back off at the dorms.

"It really was nice having you guys come up to see me. It was fun," Virgil said as he hugged them both goodbye.

"It was so nice seeing you too, Bud," his father replied.

"I love getting a chance to spend time with you. I wish your classes let us do it more often. Let us know if there is ever a weekend you're willing to come home, alright?" his mother requested.

"Of course Momma. And sorry again for how crazy all of my friends are. I don't know what got into them, especially Roman, he's obnoxious but not typically that much," Virgil sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Roman?" His mother quickly asked.

His face flushed with embarrassment. He really intended to not tell his parents as much as possible about them so his parents wouldn't ask anything in the future that'd cause him to slip up. He supposed one name couldn't hurt though.

"Yeah, the one from the second group that talked the most, really loud, dramatic, and theatrical. That's Roman. He's Remus's twin. That's the mutual friend of a friend I mentioned earlier," Virgil explained.

"Oh… How very nice," his mother mused, her voice sounding a bit tight.

"Yeah, they are a lot alike if you think about it. Well, anyways, I better get back into my dorm to put away the milk you bought for me and you guys better get on the road before the sun goes down," Virgil said.

"Alright, bye, Pumpkin. We'll text you when we get home," his dad said.

"Bye! Love you both!" Virgil called over his shoulder as he scampered off.

"Roman?" His mother muttered again once he'd left. "You don't think it's the same one, do you?"

"I would say what'd be the chances but that was how soulmates supposedly originally met was through chance circumstances. Still it's not like any of them will ever know. He's never written and he thinks 'Lisa' is his soulmate," his father replied with a shrug.

"As long as that Remy keeps his mouth shut," she added, turning to stalk away towards their car, chewing on her thumb nail nervously.