Chapter Text
“We’ll see each other again soon, right?”
“Of course we will. Soulmates forever.”
“Yeah. Soulmates forever.”
~
“Virgil! Are you even listening?”
“Uh, yeah, sure, Mrs Erickson. I’m absolutely riveted.”
Virgil couldn’t help but be rather sardonic with his teacher. Was it his fault that chemistry was the last thing he wanted to think about right now? Was it his fault that he had more pressing matters on his mind than electronegativity and the periodic table?
Coco jumped up into his lap and began purring, forcing a smile onto his face. He couldn’t help but scratch his black cat animalis behind the ear, which she thoroughly appreciated.
Everyone was born with an animalis, a unique creature that contained a fraction of one’s soul. That animalis also contained a fraction of that person’s soulmate’s soul, uniting them for eternity. Animali helped people find their soulmates.
People could also see a vague form of their soulmate’s animalis — often referred to as a “quasianimalis” or an “animalis vision” — as a way of helping them identify their soulmates. The only ones able to see animalis visions were the ones whose soul they shared.
In Virgil’s case, well, he was practically surrounded by fluff, feathers, and scales, and he was the only one suffering as a result.
He had four soulmates, their animali each being a rattlesnake, a Labrador retriever, a raven, and a white tailed buck. Living with all these animals, even just in a ghost-like form, was absolutely exhausting and Virgil felt as though he deserved a damn medal.
It wasn’t long before the school bell rang, though it felt as though centuries had passed before the sound signalled freedom. Virgil packed up his belongings and went to his locker, Coco riding on his shoulder. His friend Thomas seemed to have been waiting for him with his own animalis; a desert cottontail named Smoky.
“Hey,” he greeted. “So, my friend Davi is having a party tonight, and I want you to come with me. Please say yes?”
“Nice to see you too,” Virgil replied with a smirk, Thomas rolling his eyes with a smile.
“Dude, I’m serious. I really, really, really want you to be there! I… think it’d be fun, ya know? So how about it?”
“Why? You know I hate parties. Actually, don’t you hate parties too?”
“Aw, c’mon, Virge, isn’t hate kind of a… strong word?” he asked a bit awkwardly, Virgil raising an eyebrow. “C’mon, Joan will be there! Really, it’s just gonna be a… little get-together. It’s not gonna be too crowded, I promise.”
“As much as I appreciate the invite, I doubt Davi wants a stranger to show up at their party.”
“I already asked them if I could invite a friend, and they said yes. So how about it?”
Virgil sighed softly, thinking it over for a bit. He may not like parties, but he did like Thomas and Joan. Would his love for them outweigh his hatred towards parties? Maybe, especially if it’s as small as Thomas made it sound. Even still, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to test the waters.
“I don’t know, you know I don’t—”
Coco suddenly bit his ear, causing him to yell out in pain as he jerked his head away and grabbed her off his shoulders. He rubbed his ear and glared down at her.
“Coco, what the hell?” he snapped.
“That’s weird,” Thomas noted, as if it wasn’t obvious. “Does she usually act up like that?”
“No, she’s never bitten anyone before, especially not me.” She seemed to be fine now, content in Virgil’s arms as he held her. “So, uh… yeah, the party, I really don’t think I—”
Coco suddenly bit him again, this time on the hand. He instinctively dropped her, crying out once more as he inspected the bite. It wasn’t that bad and wasn’t even bleeding, but it still hurt.
“Jesus, Coco, what’s your problem?”
She only meowed annoyedly up at him, walking in circles around his feet. What was up with her?
“She seems to only bite when you’re talking about the party,” Thomas observed, Virgil realising he was right. “You know, animali do help soulmates get together; maybe one of your soulmates will be there?”
The thought of one of his soulmates being there made his stomach churn. He didn’t want to meet a soulmate until he moved out on his own. He couldn’t do this to himself right now, or possibly ever . Would it even be worth meeting his soulmate here, anyway?
His father never seemed satisfied with staying in one place at a time, which put him through enough pain once before, and he just couldn’t go through it again. They’d been here for six months, which Virgil was pretty sure was a damn record. Maybe that meant… well, he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
“I guess there’s a possibility, but how would Coco know that?”
“Honestly, how do animali know anything about… anything?”
“I guess that’s fair. Even if one of them is there, I just… don’t know if it’s worth it.”
“What do you mean- dude, this is your soulmate we’re talking about here! Why wouldn’t it be worth it?”
“You know what happened, Thomas!” That was enough to silence him for a moment. “If my dad decides to pack up and leave again, and I have to leave people behind like I always do… I don’t want one of those people to be my soulmate. Not again. It’s bad enough I’m leaving you and Joan behind, but my soulmate too? I can’t.”
There was a long stretch of silence between them. Coco rubbed her face against Virgil’s leg in an effort to placate him, which only worked a small bit.
“I know you… got hurt,” Thomas began carefully. “But it can be different this time. You can keep in touch with each other, make it long distance, right?”
“It just doesn’t feel worth it,” he murmured. “I’ve tried long distance before, you know how well that worked out.”
“Maybe you won’t need to do long distance! You’re almost eighteen, right? You turn eighteen, you move out of your dad’s house, you can stay with your soulmate forever!”
“If I’m still here when I turn eighteen. I might not be.”
“C’mon, Virge. Maybe… it will be worth it. I mean… you can’t just hide from the world and let everything pass you by ‘cause you’re afraid of getting hurt. It’s not healthy. I mean, who knows, maybe your soulmate will be the best thing that ever happened to you! Will you at least give it a chance?”
Virgil gave it some thought. It was hard to say no to Thomas. Especially when he gave the look he was giving at that moment. It’s like he was the human embodiment of a puppy. Virgil sighed as he finally conceded.
“Okay… I guess … it couldn’t hurt to go to the party for a little while. Especially if it gets Coco to stop fucking biting me.”
Thomas seemed quite proud of himself at succeeding in getting Virgil out of the house for once in his life. They formed a plan to meet up later that evening. The two of them headed out of the building and Virgil walked home as he always did.
He was dreading the idea of going out tonight. But for Thomas, he would give it a chance.
~
Janus rushed out the door that evening without a second thought. Their rattlesnake animalis stayed wrapped around their arm as they walked down the sidewalk, giving a gentle squeeze in an effort to soothe them.
Nothing could soothe Janus right now besides a glass of Jim Beam. Hopefully there would be alcohol at this party. Maybe then it would actually be worth going to.
They went as swiftly as they could to the house, hoping to drown their emotions in hard liquor and ear-damaging music. Of course, what they got was apple juice and Karkalicious. Typical Davi.
They were a bit early, so there weren’t a lot of people here. Still more people than they cared to be surrounded by. They always felt surrounded, like the walls were constantly closing in.
They downed a cup of apple juice, pretending it was alcohol. It did nothing for them, but at least it tasted good. Maybe once more people showed up, someone would bring the good stuff. Janus could only hope.
“Got something on your mind?” Davi asked as they approached them with a smile, their ragdoll cat animalis perched on their shoulders.
“Thinking of ditching town,” was the deadpan reply.
“Again?” they asked, their smile becoming a sympathetic frown. “Do you need to talk about anything, Jay?”
“No, I’m fine,” they lied. “I just… need to get out of this damn town.”
“I… I know things have been rough for you lately, but maybe you should think this through.”
“I don’t need to think anything through,” they snapped more harshly than they had intended. “I can’t stay here, Davi, I just can’t.”
Davi silently sighed as they rested a hand on Janus’s bicep. Their animalis Thomas slithered up their arm to wrap loosely around their neck, pressing his head against Janus’s cheek.
“You know I’m always here to help you, right?” Davi asked softly.
“I know,” they murmured. “And I appreciate that. But… I don’t think I can be helped.”
“Yes you can, don’t say that. Whatever’s going on, it can get better. I’m more than willing to help you, Jay, just let me know what’s going on.”
Janus took a deep, shaky breath. They didn’t want to talk about it. Not even a little bit. If they did, they knew they would be punished. They always were.
“I need to get some air,” they muttered, walking away from Davi with tears in their eyes.
They ignored Davi calling after them and went out to the balcony so that they could be alone.