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Chapter 10 - Soulmate

Virgil stared at the back of his hand.

Which, under any other circumstances, with any other person in the world, it would have been fine. Acceptable. No reason to panic. None at all.

Except that his soul mark had disappeared. 

He flexed and turned his hand, wishing that it was just a trick of the light. The bones pushed against his skin - his bare, uniform skin - and he sighed quietly, not wanting to let Roman hear him even though he was probably listening to some Disney movie soundtrack on full blast in his room.

He reached for the mirror, swinging the medicine cabinet open and removing a small medical supplies box, opening it and fumbling through it. He finally settled on bandages, quickly wrapping them over his hand and covering where the soulmark should have been. He snapped it shut, pinching the bridge of his nose and fighting off another sigh.

He stuck his other hand under the stream of water, letting the goosebumps travel up his arm. Shower. Do it. You have to.

Virgil quickly stepped into the stream of water, figuring it was best to just get it over with as quick as possible. He let the warm water crawl over him, and he shut his eyes, his mind drifting.

He did not want a soulmate.

It was such a dumb system. Who said that if you liked someone for three months, they were supposed to be your love forever? And even then, it wasn't forever.

He felt the water drip down, making the bandages cold and heavy.

Still, all things considered, Logan was a decent one to have. He was smart, and funny, and the two had been dating for a little over a year and a half. Virgil couldn't think of anyone better.

Well. There was Roman.

He shook his head, pushing his wet hair away from his eyes and shutting them as water drizzled down his cheeks.

Fist things first. Figure out what it meant.

Well...Soulmarks appeared when you told someone you loved them, right? 

But he hadn't told Logan that he hadn't loved him. That wasn't something he would do. Ever.

But it was suspiciously close with all his...questioning.

So it was decided. He would tell Logan the truth. And pray that his boyfriend didn't get upset.

Half an hour later, the topic had completely left his mind. Roman asking about his hand before leaving for work had (sadly) reminded him about what he had to do.

He sighed and pulled out his phone.

You - hey lo

Logan - Are you alright?

You - i gotta talk to you

Logan - As do I.
Logan - Park in fifteen?

You - sure
You - see u then logan :|

He nodded a quick goodbye to Remy, shrugging on a jacket despite the warm weather and running a hand through his slightly-damp hair as he walked the short distance to the park.

He stood next to the bench, the one he'd always waited for Logan by. Exactly on cue, his supposed soulmate appeared next to him.

"Good day to you, Virgil. What was it that you wish to discuss?"

"Oh, nothing. You can go first," he defended.

There was a long, awkward silence, until finally the two blurted out in unison:

"The soulmark is gone."

Virgil slapped a hand over his mouth while Logan showed faint surprise. Quickly regaining control of himself, he continued smoothly. "I suppose this means we shall...break up?" he asked quietly.

"I'm so sorry, Lo," he said, starting to cry. "I'm so, so sorry."

Logan stepped forward, wrapping him in a hug. Virgil was so surprised that the tears stopped falling for just a second. "It is alright," he said quietly. "I still care for you, however I believe I have lost the romantic aspect of my feelings. Does that make sense?"

Virgil nodded, gasping quietly. "Me- Me too," he stuttered out. "I just...I don't know if I like you like that...anymore," he offered pathetically.

"So we are mutually reducing our relationship to a platonic level?" He thought for a second. "I suppose 'reducing' is incorrect, as platonic relationships can be and are just as fulfilling as romantic ones."

"Yeah, I- I'm good with that," he said quietly. "Maybe we can be platonic soulmates," he chuckled, voice wavering. He really did want to be close to Logan. Just...not romantically? It was all quite confusing.

"I would love that, Virgil," he said genuinely, stepping back and resting his hands on his friend's shoulders. "There is something else I must say before we may bid each other goodbye."

"...What's what?" he said nervously.

Logan looked away guiltily. "I...have identified romantic feelings towards another individual."

"Really?" he said, completely relived that Logan wasn't angry. "Who?"

Logan shifted his gaze up towards Virgil, and he understood.

Prince.

He liked Roman.

Shit.

"Oh," he said instead of the thousands of other thoughts bouncing around in his mind. 'Cool."

"Yes, I suppose it is...cool," he agreed. "I never tried to act on these feelings, though, despite my lessening romantic connection to you. I did not wish to make you sad or jealous, or any number of avoidable emotions. I do apologize for being attracted to someone else, Virgil-"

"No, no, it's fine," he countered, forcing a laugh. "I- I actually like someone else, too," he lied.

"Really? Who?" Logan's eyes sparked with curiosity.

Double shit.

"Janus," Virgil said, spouting the first name that came to mind.

All of the shit.

"Janus?" Logan said with a frown. "I thought you despised-"

"Ha! No. Of course not, silly," he said. Too far in to back down now. "I- I was just pretending to hate him so that he hates me back, and then Roman doesn't have to deal with his boyfriend possibly liking someone else."

"Oh," Logan said. Virgil could see a bit of pain in his eyes and realized how similar the imaginary situation he'd just crafted was similar to their own.

"No, that, y'know, I'd ever try to steal Janus from him or anything," he said quickly, immediately realizing that it sounded like a lied despite being the one true thing he'd said in the past thirty seconds. 

"Well, I wish you...good luck in your...uh, journey," Logan said, smiling warmly. "If you ever need to talk, you may of course come to me."

"Yeah. You too," Virgil said, wondering if the pit he'd just dug himself into was going to be worse than the one he'd gotten out of.

It was going to be worse, he guessed. So, so much worse.

And the worst thing was that he was right.