It was a warm evening in Florida. The sun had just started to set, painting the kitchen and parts of the living room with its orange and red splash of light. Virgil was too lazy to turn the lights on even though it was starting to get darker. He was feeling unusually calm. It was a Friday, so he can do whatever he wants tonight and the next two days, which meant he didn't have to think about stuff much.

Remy walked into the living room, with a cup of coffee from Starbucks in one hand—undoubtedly a crazy concoction mixed with a shot of vodka—and his ever-present sunglasses.

"Turn the lights on would you? People are gonna think your pale and skinny ass a vampire hiding in the shadows like that." Virgil looked up at his cousin and back down at his phone. Remy let out a long sigh and plopped himself next to Virgil. They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, doing their things separately on their phones.

Remy broke the silence with a question. "Virge, it's your nineteenth birthday soon. Aren't you, like, scared? Or something?"

"Am I scared? Why is that a question?And thank you, by the way, for reminding me about that. Now I won't be able to stop thinking about it." Virgil said with a hint of disbelief as if the answer should be obvious.

Remy could see that Virgil was scared and worried, and he probably had a million bad thoughts about the future, not just about love and relationship. Remy wasn't like Virgil. Remy was more carefree and he didn't really care about what people say about him. To him, what people see is what they get. If they want to know him, then they wouldn't judge him in a negative way. For Remy, acting this way prevents fake friendships and he would—sometimes—be extra irritating to test those around him if they're who they say they are.

"Oh girl, come on! It's not as scary as you think y'know. When I had my hour I wasn't even in the same country... and I was alright!" Remy paused and looked at Virgil. Seeing that Virgil was (somewhat) paying attention, he continued, "There's nothing for you to worry about. All you do is probably write notes, check them out and that's it." Remy finished, jerking his arms forward to emphasize the finality of his statement.

"We're different though. It's like you don't know what fear and anxiety is. It's not easy, okay?!" Virgil was a little frustrated to get his cousin to understand his point of view. He didn't like this conversation, so he tried to change the subject. "On the subject of age and birthdays, you're basically the same age as me. Why are you one year ahead?"

"I skipped a year during high school."

Before Remy had the chance to say anything more, Virgil cut in with another question, "How come? You don't seem that smart to me." Remy proceeded to look just a little offended at Virgil's words.

"Excuse me, I am much smarter than I look. I just don't act like it, because I like it when people underestimate me. Then, bam! I do something amazing and they would be shocked." Virgil thought he had successfully avoided the topic of his birthday, but Remy knew what he's doing. "Virge, you're changing the subject."

"Uuuugggghh... can we not talk about this, please. Not now at least. You never tell anyone about your hour . Not even totya and dyadya ." Virgil was eager to change the subject again. He really didn't want to talk about the prospects of soulmates and love and... ugh... relationships. Sure, he was never really bothered with the thought that there's someone who is supposedly his perfect match, but he was just scared.

Remy squinted behind his sunglasses. He didn't really understand why Virgil was scared or worried, but he knew what the anticipation felt like. As much as he wanted to convince his cousin that's it's going to be alright, he also didn't want anxiety and worry to consume Virgil. So, he dropped the subject altogether.

"No... I never tell anyone, because, like, I think it's more special if fewer people know about it. But like, if you want to know, then I'll tell you..." Remy paused, trailing off. Virgil thought Remy was going to start his story about his hour, but, "after your birthday. After you have yours, then I'll tell you mine."

"What if I don't get an hour ?" Virgil mumbled, although loud enough for Remy to hear. "What if I don't have a soulmate? What if I do have soulmate but they hate me?" Virgil was starting to get a little frantic as he continued muttering bad scenarios. For a second, Remy didn't know what to do, so he just listened to Virgil listing all the possibilities of bad things happening. "What if I'm the one who doesn't like them? What would happen then? What if we just don't-"

"Time out! Pump the brakes! Uspokoysya, dvoyurodnyy brat! If you keep thinking about all the 'what if' scenarios you can't have fun! True, there are endless possibilities of bad things happening," Virgil flinched a little, "but there are also endless possibilities of the good things happening. So, don't think about it too much."

"Remus ! I'm just scared okay? I'm-I just don't want things to go wrong..." Virgil was getting really uncomfortable, but he also knew that maybe he needed this conversation with Remy to convince his brain that things could go in good directions too.

Remy knew that Virgil was getting more frustrated when he had used Remy's Russian name instead of his English nickname. "Really? What could go wrong?!"

"Oh, khuy znáet. I can probably make a list!"

----------

Damien was confused. It's been two weeks after Patton first met Logan and they've met about four times. They get along surprisingly nicely, considering how different those two are. However, Damien was confused about what he was feeling. He was both happy and sad. He was happy that his brother found his match and Patton is now much happier than usual. Even Damien at first a little surprised that a guy like Patton, who is blindly optimistic and is a literal sunshine, can get even happier than before. Damien was delighted to see his brother so bright.

Sometimes though, he would suddenly feel down for no apparent reason. He would feel somewhat dead, like he couldn't do anything. Actually, Damien knows why he was feeling that way, but he didn't want to admit it, even to himself. He didn't tell his brother about this either. But of course, Patton noticed that his brother was feeling down. He also could tell that Damien didn't want him to know, so Patton played dumb while still trying to lift his brother's spirits up.

Damien was sitting on the living room couch, staring out the window, enjoying the feel of warm sunlight hitting his skin. It was going to be dark soon. He was feeling okay earlier that day, but when he got back from class an hour ago, he didn't feel so okay anymore.

"Hey Dee! I was—" Patton exclaimed cheerfully, then stopped himself when he sensed that Damien was not in a cheerful mood.

"You were..." Damien prompted Patton to continue.

"I was thinking," Patton continued though much softer than before, his story forgotten and now he's focusing on cheering his brother up, "we should have a movie marathon tonight. Tomorrow's a weekend anyway right? And we could also make popcorn and hot chocolate. Oh! Or we could order pizza! Or both! How does that sound?"

"Um..." Damien knew that Patton knew how he was feeling at that moment. He also knew what Patton was trying to do. Damien considered lying to his brother about his feelings, because he didn't like talking about them. But he also knew that Patton will see through his lies. "It sounds like you're aware of something that I'm not." There. Lie of omission. He didn't say anything relating to how he was feeling so, he hoped that Patton wouldn't talk to him about them or at least understand that he didn't want to.

Patton's eyes soften hearing what his brother said. Damien was not detached with his feelings. Patton knew this. But, Damien often lies about his emotions (and other things too) to the people around him and even to himself. Damien would convince himself that he's okay, that he's fine even when he himself knows it's not true. Patton really wanted his brother to see that it's not healthy to do that. He tried to talk to his brother about it, but Damien would deflect the subject.

"Well..." Patton started but he was unsure of how to bring the subject around. "I just thought you seem really sad lately and—" Damien interrupted before Patton could finish his sentence.

"No. I'm fine, I swear." Damien said firmly, keeping eye contact to convince Patton. But eyes never lie. Patton saw that his eyes were dim. It didn't have its usual shine like it had before. He had a feeling he knew why Damien was feeling this way, but he wasn't sure. Patton looked at his brother, eyebrows low in a silent statement of "no you're not."

Damien lied anyway even though he knew his brother would see the truth. He really didn't like talking about his feelings. He didn't avoid his emotions, he just didn't like showing it because he didn't like to look vulnerable. "I swear, I'm okay. I'm perfectly fine." This time, Damien refused to look at Patton in the eyes.

"Alright, I'll go make some popcorn and hot chocolate. You go pick the movie."

"No!" Damien exclaimed, surprising Patton, then smiled, "You go put on the movie, I'll make the stuff. Don't want you to burn yourself again."

Patton smiled in relief and went to the small table next to the TV where they store all their movies. "I'm putting on your favorite, Dee." Damien hummed in response, already heading to the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting in the living room in dim lighting, surrounded with piles of blankets and pillows, plus two mugs of hot chocolate and a mountain of buttered popcorn, the opening of 'Now You See Me' playing. Damien have always been fascinated with magic tricks and illusions, he always thought that they're clever.

"Thanks," Damien whispered to Patton who was leaning against him.

"Anytime, bro."

Damien tried to forget everything and just focus on the movie, but he couldn't even do that. He felt tired. He felt drained and didn't have any energy. Not wanting to upset his brother, he sat in silence, looking at the movie without watching it, hearing the characters but not listening. 'Why am I like this?' he thought to himself. But of course, he knew why.

**********

Hi again, thank you for reading!! Can anyone guess why Damien is feeling shitty? We'll find out in the chapters to come.

For those who are wondering:
Remus is pronounced [REY-moos] and roll your 'r'
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These are some of the vocabs I used for Remy and Virgil in this chapter (I used the latin spelling because it's much easier to read rather than the Russian alphabets):

Uspokoysya, dvoyurodnyy brat
Успокойся, двоюродный брат
[Calm down, cousin]

Khuy znáet.
Хуй зна́ет.
[Fuck knows.]

Totya
Тётя
[Aunt]

Dyadya
Дядя
[Uncle]