"It's today..." Roman whispered to himself with slight concern. "Oh... holy crap, it's today."

The big day. Well, okay, to Roman it was a big day. The winner of the play-writing contest was going to be announced. It was supposed to be announced in classes next Monday, but it was posted on the bulletin board instead. Roman didn't know why they did that, but presumably because it would be too much work for the professors to read the same announcement over and over in the numerous classes they taught. He hoped his was going to place a prize. He'd be able to have the university sponsor him and it could perhaps be his first stepping stone towards his dream.

He rushed past the cluster of students in front of the board, pushing people aside to have a chance to take a look at the announcement. It was an ordinary paper with a table listing the top twenty winners and their play ideas on the next column. Roman traced his finger up and down the paper, trying to find his name.

"There it is!" He whispered to himself quietly in excitement. Number nine... He was the ninth... What a disappointment. The university won't sponsor him, then. He'll fail. He couldn't help but think what he could have done better. Roman walked away solemnly, repeating the thought in his head over and over. 'What a failure. You won't have a good future. Even in a small-scale competition like this you failed, how could you ever compete in the real world? Pathetic, you are.' He held a tight, white-knuckled grip on the hem of his t-shirt while his other hand fiddled distractedly with his backpack strap.

He kept walking, the tap of his shoes silenced by the wet pavement. It rained the previous night, making the sky look a pale blue and the air to be heavy. It was supposed to be a good day. He walked with no destination in mind. He thought if he could get far enough away from the damned announcement paper he could get rid of the foul thoughts in his head. His steps were interrupted when his shoulder brushed against another student's harshly, knocking their bag off of their shoulder. 'Geez, Roman, you're a mess. Get a grip!' Keeping his head bowed low, he murmured an apology and tried to walk past quickly.

"Oh, Roman?"

"Huh?" Roman looked up, his eyes meeting the other's mismatched eyes. He quickly tailored his expression into a beaming smile as if nothing had happened. "Ah, Damien! Damien, right? If I remember correctly, that is..."

"Uh, yeah." Damien gave a faint smile. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Um, right. Your, uh—I'm sorry for your loss. Condolences." Roman uttered quickly, cursing himself for his jumbled words. He did, however, manage to maintain a smile sitting on his lips. He prided himself for being a brilliant actor after all. "I forgot we went to the same university. I think Logan mentioned it once."

"Speaking of Logan, has he been doing the same thing as Patton recently?"

"Doing what exactly? Do I smell romance in here?" Roman flashed a genuine excited smile. Logan—the I-am-a-very-serious-person Logan—is dwelling in romance and—oh holy mother of god—feelings?

"Yeaaa... Patton's been geeking out about Logan. He's so obviously not into Logan. Like, at all." Damien slowly fell into step with Roman as they continued walking down the pavement path. Damien fixed his beanie and slung his backpack onto his shoulder.

"Logan hasn't said anything about Patton." Roman tried to remember the topic of his last conversation with his nerdy friend. "Wait, he might have actually said something... Quite a lot, actually."

-----------

"I met Virgil earlier this afternoon." Logan dropped his wallet on the table, walking past Roman who was sitting on the grey couch of Logan's apartment. The two routinely visited each other's apartment every Tuesday, and the tradition had been going on for almost two years. Why every Tuesday? Because it was the only day of the week when both of them were free. "He might have... expressed a few concerns."

"Not that I care, but... do these concerns have anything to do with me?"

"If not, would I mention it to you?"

"I swear I didn't do anything this time!" Roman almost shouted defensively. "That emo kid needs to stop messing with me and just mind his own business."

Logan heaved a heavy sigh and sat down next to Roman on the couch. How should he handle this? Right now, it seemed that neither Virgil nor Roman wanted to compromise. If only he could tell Roman everything that Virgil told him the other day. He rubbed his hands together in a steady circular motion while his best friend stared at the wall with a slight crease on his forehead. He knew he needed to make Roman and Virgil understand their situation without having to spell it out for them. But how?

"Roman, I do not understand why it is so difficult for you to have a civil conversation with Virgil. He is clearly trying, so I suggest you open up a little. It really isn't like you to close yourself like this, Roman."

"Of course you wouldn't understand. Patton's such an easy guy to talk to, unlike Virgil, you know," Roman said, pulling at the hem of his shirt. "Patton is like an angel and Virgil is the embodiment of a nightmare."

"Well... Patton is... You are right, I suppose. About Patton, that is. I don't quite understand him, but I do not mind it. I don't mind having to find out more about him if I have to. And while I haven't known him for too long, I don't mind him like most people."

"Hey, Lo... I thought we were talking about me?" Roman smirked in amusement. This had happened more often, he noticed. Logan would lose track of whatever it was they were talking about, and it always lands on the same topic every single time. "Not that I mind anyway. What do you think will happen to you and Patton?"

"I, uh, am unsure." Logan hesitated, not quite sure what answer he should give to Roman's question. "I suppose we'll take our time. Personally, I'm not sure if we are supposed to be platonic or romantic soulmates, but Patton seems quite sure. Or maybe I made the wrong assumption."

Roman raised his eyebrows slowly, his eyes widening. He looked over at Logan who was staring distractedly at the ceiling, as if there was a puzzle he was supposed to solve up there. What's Logan implying here? Maybe he should invite Patton to some impromptu hangout sometimes, with just the two of them. Still, Roman couldn't imagine Logan with Patton in that way. Logan had always been so sure that he was content with being alone that Roman never even thought of seeing his friend with someone, let alone someone like Patton. However, he never back down from getting a chance to witness a wonderful romance take shape.

There were things Logan mentioned that Roman understood to be true. Yes, he needed to see eye-to-eye with the emo nightmare and maybe accept that he did, in fact, have a soulmate. Why did it have to be this way? The universe must have known that Roman didn't want anything to do with any of this soulmate business. So why did it even decide he needed a soulmate? Whoever ran the algorithm of the universe needed a tough punch to the jaw.

"Patton, well, he's very vibrant as you might already know. He is doing better now after his father's passing. He seemed to be quite well the last time I saw him. The first time Remy and I came for a visit, Patton and Damien had looked almost... lifeless." Logan paused, thinking back to the day he first paid the twins a visit. It was unsettling to see someone who's usually so bouncy and bubbly like Patton to literally stop functioning. "Don't you think it's unfortunate for anyone to have me as a soulmate? Romantic or otherwise."

"Logan... what are you even talking about? We both would have thought that I would be better at this thing, but look at us now. My soulmate hates me, while you and your soulmate are practically married." Roman stopped, trying to make sense of the string of sentence he just uttered. "Well, not married, but you get what I mean."

"Finally," Logan said with a satisfied smirk as he glanced over at Roman with a smug look.

"What?" Confusion took over Roman's mind. What's happening again?

"You finally admitted that you had a soulmate. You always refuse to acknowledge you even have one."

"What, no!" Roman crossed his arms defensively and furrowing his brows. "I didn't admit anything."

"Sure you did. Didn't you hear what you had just said before?" Logan gave Roman another smug smile as he saw the frown that was forming in his friend's face. He knew not to worry when Roman's pride is wounded, be it from losing an argument or making a mistake. "I know that face, Roman."

"Oh, come on!" Roman exclaimed, throwing a pillow at Logan who quickly ducked and swerved as an army of more pillows attacked him.

----------

"Did Logan seriously say all that?" Damien said with a skeptical look. He didn't take Logan as someone who cared much for emotional details and empathy. "If it's true, then I might have a plan."

Roman looked down at Damien who was biting his cheek with a hand holding the strap of his backpack. What kind of plan was Damien talking about? He gave the older a questioning look, silently urging him to reveal more.

"Well, I thought it would be fun to play matchmaking with those two."

"Ah, vale... " Roman said with a playful grin. "Sure thing, compañero. I'm so in. What are we gonna do?"

"Honestly, don't know. But we'll figure that out." The two continued walking down the pavement path until they were out of the campus ground. The street was busy with cars honking and pedestrians walking in a rush. "Wanna come along? I'm supposed to meet Patton in the coffee shop now."

"Okay," Roman gave a short response. "How are you, by the way? Haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm okay," Damien answered briefly, not too keen on explaining everything. Roman was practically a stranger to him despite Roman's somewhat-close relationship with his brother. He didn't feel the need to tell Roman anything. "Patton and Remy have been kinda helpful."

"Oh, right, Remy..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just that you guys kinda flirted a lot the last time I saw you both together."

"It's called having fun, pal."

After another few minutes, the two finally arrived in the coffee shop. Roman, ever the gentleman, held the door open for Damien. They spotted Patton sitting at one of the booths by the window. What they did not expect was for Virgil to be sitting next to Patton. Damien walked to the table and plopped himself right across his brother, flinging his backpack to the side where it fell to the floor.

"Sup, Virgil. Roman's over there." Damien pointed to Roman's general direction. Roman slowly approached the table and dropped his bag on the seat across from Virgil, but he didn't sit. He scanned the room, looking for something. "Roman, what are you doing?"

"Well, if there's Virgil, usually there's..." Roman trailed off before his eyes spotted what—or rather, who—he was looking for. He waved his hand in greeting before sitting down. "Ah, there you go. See, I wasn't wrong."

"Ey, gurls! " Remy came sauntering with a small plate of cookies. "Roman! Did'cha see the announcement in campus, hun? I saw it and honestly, not bad, sugar! "

"Yes, it is! They're not gonna sponsor me now..."

"What's this about?" Patton chimed into the conversation. He took the plate from Remy's hand and took a cookie for himself, offering one for Virgil who quietly refused. "What sponsor?"

"The university had a play-writing contest. The first winner will be sponsored by the university to be made into a real original play. I tried and got ninth place." Roman spoke quickly, not wanting to get into too much detail at the moment. He had tried his hardest, and he still couldn't be the best. What a shame. "Let's not talk about that now."

"Why not?!" Patton almost shouted. "I wanna read it! It must be really good if you got ninth place, Ro. What is it about?"

"Uh, I don't know, Pat..."

"Geez, you guys..." Virgil, who had been quiet the whole time, leaned back on his seat. "It's a Rapunzel retelling. The witch is protecting Rapunzel—or the character equivalent to Rapunzel at least—from the king, cus' he wanted to kill her."

Before Roman was able to comment about what Virgil said, the ringing of a phone was heard. Patton reached inside his pocket, taking out the ringing phone. When he saw the caller identification, he froze. His eyes were blown wide, looking over to his brother, still in a haze of shock.

"What?" Damien asked urgently before Patton passed his phone over.

He stood up and dragged Patton away from the others, silently telling them to wait. They stood in one corner of the room where they looked at each other in anticipation before Damien finally answered the phone. The twins had been waiting for this phone call for over a month and they didn't know what to expect.

"Mom?" Patton said faintly, almost whispering, afraid that the slightest noise would scare his mother away.

"Hello, dear?" Lily's voice was heard through the phone. It sounded as if she had been coughing a lot. "Is your brother there, too?"

Patton clutched his face to prevent a squeal from escaping his throat. He shook Damien's shoulder harshly while Damien himself looked as though he had become a statue. They missed that voice; their mother's comforting and warm voice that could always reassure them every moment of distress and hopelessness. Patton felt the overwhelming urge to crawl into the phone and give his mother a big hug—but even he knew that it was impossible.

"Uh, y-yeah, mom. I'm here," Damien answered Lily's question, ignoring the crack of his voice.

"How are you both doing?"

"We're fine, mom. How are you? You just—we haven't heard from you for so long. Are you okay?" Patton said frantically while his brother held his hand tightly.

"Oh, I'm doing better now," Lily said, sounding a little relieved. There were many things she wanted to say but couldn't. She needed to prepare her boys. She had not known a loss so big that it felt as though she was being ripped apart and put back together by some unknown force only to be ripped apart again. "I want you to come over tomorrow if that's okay with—"

"Yes! We'll come. We promise, mom," Damien interrupted, trying to reassure his mother as quick as he possibly could. It was quite a wonder he could stay calm considering the thundering heartbeat in his chest. "We'll bring anything you need. What do you want us to bring?"

"It's alright, dear. Just bring yourselves. Oh, maybe you should bring your friends over, too." Lily hoped her boys knew what she meant. She had wanted to see Logan and Remy again. She needed to talk with them. Not out of protectiveness; she only wanted to tell them what she thought they needed to know. "Do bring your soulmates. They seem like lovely people."

"Okay," Patton gripped Damien's hand tighter, though his brother didn't seem to be bothered. "Promise. Promise, promise a thousand times."

Lily let out a small huff of amusement. "Alright, I need to go now, okay. Tomorrow at two. Don't forget. If you have class, you have my permission to skip it."

And with that, the call ended. The twins were left standing in the corner of the room with blank faces. Damien, still with a blank expression took Patton's hand and led him back to the table. Roman and Virgil were looking at them with confusion while Remy was paying attention with a flash of concern in his eyes.

"Everything good, moy milyy? " Remy asked when the twins stood by the table unmoving.

"Did that really just happen?" Damien asked his brother, ignoring Remy's question. "Or did I imagine that whole thing?"

"I might explode..." Patton murmured, finally letting go of Damien's hand. In an instant, his face morphed into a bright grin, so bright it rivaled the sun. "Oh my god... Oh my god! Dee! Oh my god, she's alright!" He placed both his hands on Damien's shoulder and shook his brother violently in excitement, causing Damien's head to flop around uncontrollably.

"O-o-kay... Calm down, Pat." Damien himself couldn't help the smile that crept its way onto his face. "Tomorrow... two p.m... You need to call Logan."

As Patton walked a little off to the side, Damien sat down again on his seat next to Roman. "You're all coming with me tomorrow," Damien told them. "Virgil, Roman, you don't have to come, but you better get your ass with me if you can. "

"And Remy?" Virgil asked blankly.

"Well," Damien glanced across his seat where Remy sat, still with a concerned gaze, "you have to come with me no matter what. And before you say anything, mom is the one who asked you to come."

"Wait, that was your mom? Guuurrrrrl, what?!"

"I know," Damien said calmly with joy in his mismatched eyes.

"I thought she went—"

"I know!"

"I am... so lost right now," Roman looked at Damien and Remy alternately, hoping one of them would explain.

"Oh, wait yeah, you guys don't know," Damien said in realization. "Just... Remy, tell them. Not too much, though."

"Aight, so—" Remy started before he was interrupted.

"Do try to not be so loud. Your loudness is so not gonna rupture someone's eardrum one day." Damien leaned his head down on the table in a sudden rush of relief. He let out an inaudible chuckle when he saw Remy's offended expression. "Also, try not waving your hands like a maniac. You're gonna chop someone's head off."

"It's gonna be your head, 'suka! "

Virgil, who had been relatively quiet, burst into laughter. Virgil himself didn't know what he found funny, but he felt the need to laugh. He hadn't expect Remy to so quickly retorted Damien's snarky comment with his feisty tongue. Virgil clutched his stomach, doubling over in his seat. Remy looked at him with confusion while Damien and Roman looked at him with surprise and astonishment respectively. "This should be like a daily thing. Like, you two—" he pointed at Remy and Damien— "should like record your conversations."

"I really didn't know you could laugh," Roman squinted, not sure of what to think. He thought Virgil was only capable of anger and all-things-angsty, but it seemed he was mistaken.

"Wait, what's so funny?" Damien asked, directing his question to Remy and a still-snickering Virgil.

"Remy just—" Virgil huffed another laughter before slowly composing himself. "He called you 'suka."

"What's that?"

"It means—"

"Don't spoil the fun, brateyek," Remy shushed his cousin with a smirk.

"Uuuuhhh..." Virgil let out a long sigh after a few moments. "I think we strayed away from the topic there."

"Right, what was it? Oh, Day's mom."

Remy started his brief explanation all the while Damien pulled his beanie off and pulled on the loose strings. He flashed a small smile at Damien when their eyes met. He'd need to ask Damien a few things later, but for now he'll enjoy the moment.

**********

Hey there! So, after three weeks of absence, here I am with another chapter. Sorry for this massive delay. For those who don't know, I had two weeks of exams and I had to do a university entrance exam the following weekend after school exam. It was exhausting. But now I'm back! The language in this chapter isn't as good as the other ones, so I might do some editing later. Though I hope it's still a nice read. Please, please, leave me some feedback if you have any.

What do you think will happen to the twins? Also, what do you notice about Roman and Virgil throughout this and last chapter?

Do let me know if you think there's anything I could fix. Hope you come back for more on Sunday. See ya in the next one!
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Russian stuff:
мой милый
Moy milyy
[my precious; my dear]

сука
suka
[bitch]

Brateyek
Братик
[brother (in diminutive form)]
---
Spanish stuff (keep in mind that I use the traditional Spanish, not the Latin-American Spanish):
Ah, vale
[Oh, I see}

compañero
[buddy; pal]