Prompt 3: shared pain

College au

Background logince!

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"Virgil, should you not try to concentrate? The point of taking this lecture was to learn, was it not?" His friend asked, giving him a rather smug look as he caught him looking across the sea of eighty-ish students seated in the hall, taking notes and listening to the professor speak.

Logan knew very well Virgil didn't care much for this lecture at all, he just had nothing better to do than go with Logan and, which was definitely about sixty percent of why Virgil was not at home in his bed right now; his crush was there.

"Shut up." Virgil said weakly, unable to defend himself. Logan shook his head and went back to his notes while Virgil went back to staring across the room, watching Patton Hart as he sat with his chin resting in his hands, staring in the general direction of the professor.

He sighed a little, looking down into his blank notebook and trying to take some notes, frequently glancing up, wondering if Patton knew that he was there and if he cared.

They'd only spoken a few times, it was unavoidable as Patton was best friends with Roman, and Roman was Logan's soulmate and the two of them were Virgil's best friends.

But the fact that Virgil had a stupidly huge crush on Patton had kept him from ever joining when Logan, Roman, and Patton were hanging out. He was awkward enough around people he didn't have feelings for, imagine what a disaster he would be if he was actually hanging out with Patton?

Patton was probably the sweetest and nicest person to have ever existed, Virgil would bet. And he was so incredibly cute too with his fluffy hair dyed brightly blue, freckled face and arms, round glasses, absolutely adorable smile and the prettiest brown eyes...

How was Virgil supposed to not fall for him? He had probably managed to develop this stupid crush the first time Patton had talked to him, and he had definitely been screwed when he heard Patton sing in that theatre play that Roman had made Patton join. How was it even possible that one person could be so amazing? Virgil could probably sit and think about everything he loved about Patton for ages.

He really tried not to, though, even if the results weren't very impressive most of the times. He didn't want to fall too hard for Patton (although he was guessing that it was right about way too late for that), it would just be so useless to be head over heels for someone when it might not be who he was supposed to be with.

Who knew, with the whole soulmate business, this might just be a stupid crush on someone who didn't like him back or who he would lose feelings for in a few weeks, and he or Patton might have a soulmate out there waiting to meet him and be in a relationship with him, and getting into a relationship with someone who wasn't his soulmate might really complicate things later.

Not that Virgil thought that he would be doing any better if soulmates were not a thing, but sometimes he really wished he lived in a universe where soulmates were not a thing.

He looked Logan's way, seeing him quickly taking notes without a care in the world. He really envied his friend. Logan had met Roman almost a year ago and, Virgil really wouldn't have thought so at first, but they fit together great and they were obviously making each other very happy.

Except for when they managed to get themselves hurt in annoying or stupid ways, which happened quite frequently as Roman was easily distracted and forgot his surroundings and Logan kept walking around with his nose in books. Though the annoyance was mostly out of concern for the other.

It was always scary to feel that pain that meant his soulmate had gotten hurt. There was that split second of worry before he realized if his soulmate had, as an example, simply banged his leg into a sharp corner or if he had broken it. Thankfully it usually didn't hurt enough for Virgil to worry too much about his soulmate's survival.

"Ow, fuck." Virgil rubbed the top of his head despite the fact that he wasn't the one who had hit it. Great timing. Sometimes he wondered how his soulmate manage to get hurt so often. It kind of sucked. Though it was probably worse for his soulmate who was the clumsy one.

Logan raised his brows and looked Virgil right in his eyes and Virgil just gave him a confused stare. Did Logan think he should be actually taking the time to learn something?

"What?" He wondered, sure that it at least wasn't because of the swearing because Logan swore as much as he did. Logan gave him his famous you've-got-to-be-kidding-me stare and gestured towards the other side of the classroom where Patton was sitting.

"You've been looking Patton's way for fifteen minutes but didn't notice him hitting his head just now?" He said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Huh?"

"Patton. He hit his head. Right when you felt your soulmate hurt his head. He dropped his pen, reached down to get it, hit his head on the table when sitting up again. Seriously, Virgil." Logan explained slowly and Virgil blinked repeatedly, struggling to actually understand what Logan was trying to say.

"If you're trying to tell me what I think you're trying to tell me then no way. That's just... not possible. That can't be possible." Virgil, who was absolutely not going to get his hopes up, said, shaking his head.

"I think it's very possible." Was all Logan said.

Logan was usually right about, well... everything, but why would the universe be so kind? No way Logan was right this time. No way Virgil was good enough to deserve Patton as his soulmate.

"As if I'd be lucky enough to have Patton as my soulmate." Virgil voiced his thoughts and scoffed, ignoring the aching in his chest at his words. He really wished he could believe Logan was right.

"You should try talking to him. I know he would really like to get to know you better, he said so to Roman and me last time you made an excuse to not spend time with us." Logan said with a sigh, words that made Virgil's heart skip a beat in his chest before he remembered that an attempt to get to know Patton likely would end in disaster.

"You know I'd like to get to know him better too, but can you see me doing that without being awkward and weird and messing the entire thing up? I'm an anxious mess, L, he might think he wants to get to know me but that will probably change pretty quick once he realizes how annoying I am." Virgil mumbled, again glancing in Patton's direction, watching him raise his hand to answer whatever question the professor had just asked.

"First of all, you are not annoying and your anxiety does not stop people from loving you. Do you see me or Roman struggling to be your friend? And, second of all, do you really think any of that would matter to Patton? You know he isn't the kind of person to let something like that stop him from making a friend, especially as he is actively trying to get to spend time with you. I think he already likes you a lot more than you would dare to believe." Logan told him, sounding incredibly sincere.

"Well... thank you, and yeah, I would really like to believe that. Anyway, I'm not capable of believing that Patton is my soulmate before I see proof myself." Virgil pointed out. It had to have something to do with his anxiety, even if he knew that Logan would never joke about something like this he still couldn't believe it. He could never really believe good things.

He spent the rest of the lecture paying even more attention to Patton's every move to see if he could find any proof that what Logan had said was true. Even if Patton had hit his head when Virgil's had hurt it didn't mean they were soulmates, it might have just happened at the exact time that Virgil's soulmate had hit his head. He had heard of misunderstandings like that happening and it sounded like the most embarrassing thing ever.

Of course Patton didn't manage to stub any toes or hit any elbows or whatever for the rest of the lecture, so Virgil was just as clueless as everyone started collecting their things and got up from their seats.

Virgil shoved his still empty notebook and his pen into his backpack and drummed with his fingertips on the cool surface of the table as he waited for Logan to neatly stack his things together and put them back in the right place in his backpack.

"By the way, I told Patton you had no plans this weekend. So you cannot get out of coming over to my house and watching a movie with the three of us." Logan said as he zipped his backpack shut and Virgil stopped his tapping with a gasp.

"Betrayed, betrayed by my own best friend!" Virgil sulked, giving Logan a glare that was only somewhat playful. Logan had known him pretty much all his life, he knew exactly how anxious Virgil would be about saturday now.

"It will go fine, it is just a movie or a few, I promised Patton to have the next movie night sometime when you could join us. Roman and I will be there, how are you going to have time to embarrass yourself in front of Patton when you'll be busy arguing with Roman about the meaning of the movies we are watching?" Which was a kind of good point, not that he would admit that.

"Uhuh, much comfort, as if you won't be all cuddly, and the two of you will only have eyes for each other." Virgil pouted, even if he knew that would not be the case. They would definitely be cuddly and distracted by each other, but they also always paid attention to Virgil when he was hanging out with them, he never really had to feel like too much of a third wheel or left out.

"I'll have you know it's Roman that is the cuddly one." Logan said, as if they both didn't know Logan loved to cuddle.

"Right."

"Right."

Virgil rolled his eyes, smiling just a little.

"Anyway, he'll go on one of those rambles about how amazing you are and you're gonna be too busy hiding your flustered face in Roman's shoulder to notice if I'm making a fool of myself in front of Patton. You can't tell me I'm wrong." Virgil said, glancing back out over the almost empty hall, noticing that Patton was still there.

"I have found out a way to combat that, actually. I figured, if you can't beat them, join them. Yesterday when Roman was being horrendously sappy, I called him something sappy and, you would not believe it, but it completely threw him off, I have never seen him so flustered and speechless before. It was him that hid his red face in my shirt! It was incredibly cute and I have to admit I somewhat understand why he keeps complimenting me." Logan said, leaning back in his chair and smiling to himself. Then he glanced at Virgil.

"...What was it we were talking about?" Logan said and Virgil groaned and gave Logan a little shove.

"Whatever. Fine. I'll just let myself be a mess and make Patton think I'm awkward, saturday will be a blast. It's fine." Virgil crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. Logan patted his shoulder a little.

"Perfect." He said, putting his backpack on, then looking over Virgil's shoulder and smiling.

"Hello there, Patton." He said and Virgil quickly turned around to see Patton walking towards them from across the room. Thankfully he had been too far away to have heard anything Virgil or Logan had said.

"Hi guys! Verge, I didn't know you were going to this lecture too, wasn't it interesting? I'm not sure I understood everything though." He said with a small chuckle as Virgil panicked slightly over the fact that his crush was speaking to him.

"It was a bit difficult to follow, yeah." Virgil said, leaving out the part where he hadn't cared or even tried to listen to a word the professor had said. Thank god this was not a mandatory lecture or anything he actually needed to pass any of his classes.

"Anyway, you're coming over on saturday, right?" Patton wondered and Virgil avoided the very tempting urge to glare at his best friend.

"Yeah, pretty sure I am." He said as he had yet to figure out a way to get out of it. Even if he did want to spend time with Patton, Virgil would really rather put off the inevitable of Patton realizing that Virgil was not all that fun to be around.

"Great, I look forward to it." Patton said, smiling at them both but looking at Virgil for just a second or two longer, and Virgil really wondered how he was supposed to function in conditions as these.

"Yeah." Virgil said and they both went quiet, which made Virgil feel really awkward after just a few seconds.

"Anyway, um, I gotta go." He said, trying to turn away and escape this now empty hall, except for the three of them, but was stopped by Logan's arm.

"Forgive me for this." Logan said, not sounding remorseful at all. Virgil turned to look at him, feeling vaguely alarmed by his words.

"Huh? For wha- L, the fuck!" Virgil exclaimed, rubbing his arm where Logan had just pinched him really hard. He was going to get a damn bruise now. He knew he was annoying sometimes, but he didn't deserve to be assaulted by his friend.

"I'll leave you two to it, Roman should be waiting outside." Logan said, giving Virgil's shoulder a little squeeze before walking past them with a satisfied smile. Virgil turned his attention back to Patton, his nerves immediately skyrocketing as Patton was staring at him with wide eyes. Virgil swallowed.

"Uh. You alright, Patton?" He asked carefully asked as Patton just kept staring.

"We're soulmates." He breathed, his own words seeming to wake him from his shock because he gasped a little and then grinned widely.

"I felt that pinch! We're soulmates! You're my soulmate!" He continued, looking absolutely awestruck and hiding parts of his flustered face in his sweater paws (could he be cuter?) while Virgil barely comprehended what was happening.

"Oh my gosh! It's you! I had hoped- oh, it's really you." Patton rambled, bouncing a little and flapping his hands in excitement and then, before Virgil really had the chance to prepare himself, tackled him in a tight hug.

He stood frozen for a second before wrapping his arms around Patton, somewhat struggling to actually fathom that he was hugging Patton and even more so that they were soulmates.

Oh shit. Oh fuck.

Patton pulled away from the hug, still flustered and still smiling and still so cute that Virgil really didn't know what to do with himself. That last one was a constant thing, though.

"Sorry, shouldn't have just jumped you, I know you aren't big on sudden things, I got a bit excited." Patton apologized but Virgil shook his head.

"Um, it's okay. I don't mind." He said, and then blanked entirely when trying to figure out what to do or say next. He was still kind of stuck on the part where Patton was his soulmate and definitely had no idea what to follow up with. What did they do now? He really hadn't thought this would ever happen, no matter what Logan had said.

"Okay good," Patton said and his smile turned much more nervous as he tugged at his cat hoodie sleeves, "so... would you want to maybe hang out or something? It's fine if you don't, I know you haven't really wanted to before and I don't want you to feel forced-"

"I want to! I just... I'm sorry I've been kind of avoiding you, I just really like you and I was nervous I'd fuck things up and make things awkward." Virgil said. Now in hindsight it kind of seemed really stupid, but it wouldn't have been if Patton hadn't been his soulmate. Patton blinked, then showed a wonderful little smile.

"You like me?" He said, sounding hopeful, and Virgil wondered who could possibly not like Patton.

"Of course I like you, like, a lot." He said, with 'I've had a massive crush on you for months' on the tip of his tongue, but that would be even more embarrassing to say than what he had just said, even if he was sounding more like a middle schooler rather than a college student.

"I really like you too, and I'm really excited to get to know you. I had hoped you were my soulmate." Patton said, reaching out and taking one of Virgil's hands between his both as Virgil struggled to believe what Patton had just said. He really hoped his hands weren't as sweaty as he thought they were.

"I hoped so too." He found himself saying, smiling at Patton because, Patton had wished he was his soulmate. And if he had wished Virgil was his soulmate, did that mean he liked Virgil the same way Virgil liked Patton? Yet another thing or two to add to Virgil's list of things he could not fathom and maybe never would.

The door to the hall opened again and Virgil wondered for a brief second if it was a professor who wanted to chase them out of there so they could lock the door before seeing Logan entering the room again.

"Roman isn't here yet." Logan said, then glancing down at Patton's hands. "So, how are things working out?"

"Absolutely fantastic!" Patton beamed, still holding Virgil's hand.

"How did you know we were soulmates?" He then added and Logan shrugged.

"It made sense. Virgil texted a week ago complaining about the unfortune of being alive after stubbing the same toe three times in one hour and it was while you and I were at Roman's place, and you were telling us about your soulmate stubbing his toe. And just today I saw you hit your head when Virgil felt his soulmate hit his head. There were a few more things but, as you can see, the evidence was overwhelming." Logan said and Virgil wondered for how long his friend had been suspecting this.

It probably didn't matter though, as Virgil wouldn't have believed him before anyway. Hell, he still wasn't truly processing that Patton was his soulmate.

Said soulmate tugged a little on Virgil's hand, pointing at the doorway to the lecture hall where Roman was poking his head inside and waving to them all before stepping inside.

"Logan! My love, my darling nerd, the love of my life." Roman said, walking towards Logan with open arms and a wide smile. Virgil wondered if either of them were capable of looking at each other without looking absolutely smitten, because so far it was a no.

"Yes, my star?" Logan said and the effect was immediate, just as he had said earlier. Roman turned bright red and almost stumbled before wrapping his arm around Logan, mumbling something with an indignated tone as he pulled Logan into a big hug. Logan seemed wonderfully pleased with himself and placed a little kiss on Roman's jaw.

Virgil watched as the two of them waved him and Patton goodbye before walking out of the hall hand in hand, likely on their way to Roman's dorm. He turned his attention back to Patton who was still holding his hand.

"So, do you want to go get ice cream or something?" Patton wondered, setting off that little voice in Virgil's head that was persistently warning him he was going to somehow majorly fuck up, but he found himself nodding anyway.

"Alright, I know the perfect place, every ice cream flavor name is a pun!" He said excitedly and pulled Virgil along.

For once Virgil took a breath and let Patton lead the way without too much anxiety, because it was really hard to worry too much when Patton kept smiling so brightly.

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Written: 9th, 10th, 11th September 2021
Published: 12th September 2021
Words: 3435

Logan loves his friend very much but is also so done with his bullshit