Chapter Text
December 27th
"Viiiiiiirgiillllllllllll," Roman whined. He had that stupid look on his face that Virgil knew meant he would be giving in to Roman's stupid whims by the end of the conversation.
"No. No. Absolutely not," Virgil sighed and threw his hands up in the air. Maybe this time, he'd manage to resist Roman's antics. "I've already told you, there is no way in hell I'm going to your New Year's party."
"But Vi-"
"No buts." Virgil cut him off. "I don't do parties. I especially don't do your parties. It's going to be loud and crowded and hot and full of people I don't know and just no."
"But your timer ends on New Year's Eve at midnight! How are you supposed to meet your soulmate if you're hidden away in your room."
"Maybe my soulmate will break in and try to rob me." Virgil looked down at his wrist. The numbers that had seemed so high when he was a kid were now startlingly close to zero, and Virgil didn't want to think about what that meant. He was happy now. He didn't want to worry about meeting a soulmate who might end up hating his guts.
"Patton will be there," Roman pointed out. He'd met his soulmate a little over a year ago, and they were as disgustingly in love as all the rom-coms Roman forced him to watch portrayed soulmates.
"That's worse; Patton's cool and all, but if he comes, you'll ditch me to make out with him."
"I'll watch horror movies with you the night before," Roman suggested, pointedly not refuting Virgil's claim.
"We both know that you'll freak out ten minutes in, and we'll switch to watching Disney instead."
"I'll make sure the party has all your favorite snacks!" Roman offered.
"I could just raid your pantry right now. You always have my favorite snacks."
"And you can suggest half of the songs for the playlist!"
Virgil just raised an eyebrow.
Roman sighed, "And I'll buy you that creepy tarantula from the pet store you've been wanting."
"Wait, actually?" Virgil perked up. "You'll buy me Aragog!" They found Aragog when Roman dragged him to a nearby pet store to look at the animals. While Roman was distracted by the dogs, Virgil wandered around the isles until he found an enclosure with a fuzzy black tarantula. Ever since he'd joke about buying Aragog when he wanted to annoy Roman.
"Yes," Roman grumbled, "I don't know how I ended up with a spider-loving best friend, but I blame Remus."
"Deal. Also, you can't blame everything that doesn't go your way on Remus."
"I can, and I will."
*****************
December 31st, 9:57 p.m.
"I don't understand why I must accompany you to this," Logan complained as they walked down the street to Patton's soulmate's house.
"Because it's good for you to get out of the house every once in a while." Patton looped his arm through Logan's. "And besides, it's New Year's Eve; you shouldn't stay cooped up alone reading mystery novels. You can do that any other day."
"Or we could celebrate New Year on literally any other day. New Year marks the fact that the Earth made a complete revolution around the Sun. However, there is no reason why this specific day should be celebrated because, for one thing, January 1st was chosen to honor the Roman God of Beginnings, Janus. There is no scientific reason why our year should start tomorrow and not five weeks from today. And two, a revolution around the Sun takes approximately 365 days, 6 hours, and 9 minutes. If we started this current revolution last year at midnight, it wouldn't be complete until 6:09 a.m. tomorrow. Time is entirely a human construct, so, therefore, tonight is no less remarkable than any other day."
"Well, if that's the case, we'll just say that this current revolution started December 31st, 6 hours and 9 minutes away from midnight last year," Patton said, unphased. "Then the revolution will be complete at midnight! And even if we ignore all that, today's the day your timer hits zero, and that's definitely something to celebrate!"
"I suppose," Logan relented as they walked up Roman's driveway, "Also, don't tell Janus that January was named after his namesake; he doesn't need the ego boost."
Patton just laughed and knocked on the door. Roman answered, his face lighting up when he saw it was Patton. "You made it!" He said, pulling Patton in for a quick kiss. "Are you hungry? I made sure to have all your favorite snacks." He continued to ramble as he pulled Patton inside.
Logan sighed and walked into the house, shutting the door behind him. He knew Patton and Roman would go off on their own eventually, but that was faster than even Logan had predicted. He pulled out his air pods as he walked into the living room. The music was loud enough, so he didn't play anything; instead, he just used them to dampen the noise.
Logan looked around, weaving through the crowd, until he spotted an open chair in the corner of the room. He settled into it and opened the Kindle app on his phone. Logan scrolled through the lists of books before opening A Study in Scarlet. He hadn't reread the Sherlock Holmes books in a while and now was as good a time as any.
*****************
December 31st, 11:04 p.m.
Virgil sat on the stairs. Roman had gone to answer the door over an hour ago and never returned, which most likely meant it was Patton at the door. He was already regretting agreeing to come. He knew what Roman's parties were like. Sighing, Virgil looked down at his wrist, running his thumb along the steadily counting numbers.
00:00:00:00:55:49
00:00:00:00:55:48
00:00:00:00:55:47
00:00:00:00:55:46
00:00:00:00:55:45
He looked away. Less than an hour until Virgil met his soulmate. He'd known he'd meet them eventually, but it was too soon. He wasn't ready. How could anyone ever be prepared for this? His life would change forever in less than an hour.
He needed some air.
He got up to go outside, breathing a sigh of relief when the crisp night air hit his face. He loved Florida in the Winter. It was too cold, and while he did occasionally wish they got snow, he was perfectly content without it. He looked up towards the sky. It was a clear night, and even with the light from the street lamps, he could clearly see the stars. They never failed to help him relax. In a universe this big, meeting his soulmate was practically nothing. He could do this.
He stayed there, looking up at the stars for a couple more minutes before heading back inside.
*****************
December 31st, 11:59 p.m.
"Ten!"
Logan's head snapped up. They were already counting down? Was it that close to midnight already?
"Nine!"
Virgil saw a man in the corner startle and up from his phone. He was cute in a nerdy way, with long dark hair and glasses. He idly wondered what he was doing on his phone that kept him so distracted from his surroundings.
"Eight!"
Logan's eyes met with those of a man on the other side of the room. His eyes seemed to flash purple from the dancing lights around them. He was breathtaking.
"Seven!"
Virgil panicked slightly as the man stood up and started walking towards him. He averted his eyes. He hadn't meant to stare. Was the guy going to yell at him?
"Six!"
Logan didn't even realize he was moving until he was halfway across the room. He hesitated momentarily before deciding it was too late to stop now.
"Five!"
Virgil watched him get closer. Around them, people started pairing up. He noticed Roman and Patton out of the corner of his eye. Of course, they show up now after disappearing for most of the night.
"Four!"
Logan followed the man's gaze and saw Patton and Roman. Instead of looking at each other, they were watching him. Odd. He figured they'd be too distracted with each other to notice much of anything else right now.
"Three!"
Virgil held his breath as the man got closer. He could almost reach out and touch him if he wanted to.
"Two!"
Logan took the final steps to reach the other man and held out his hand. The noise of the party seemed to fade away as their eyes met. "I'm Logan."
"One!"
"Virgil." He shook the man's hand, faintly registering a tingling sensation on his wrist as his timer hit zero. This was his soulmate. What did he do now? The ball dropped. Did that mean they were supposed to kiss? People kissed when the ball dropped. Especially if they were soulmates. But that felt too soon. They literally just met.
"I hope you don't mind if we skip the kissing part this year." Logan smiled.
Virgil nodded. "Yeah, I, I mean no, I don't mind. No kissing is good. Not that kissing you would be bad! But we just, we just met. So yeah, no is good." Oh god, he needed to shut up. He was already ruining it. Logan definitely hated him.
Logan laughed, and Virgil froze. It was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. He wanted to hear that laugh again. "I understand what you meant." Logan said.
"Right! That's good." Virgil wanted to hide. Why was he so bad at this? "Uh, so what now?"
"I'll give you my number, and we can get coffee sometime? That is if you want to, obviously. Or we can do something else. Whatever you want," Logan stammered, blushing slightly. Virgil relaxed. He wasn't the only one who was bad at this. They'd figure it out together.
"Coffee sounds great."
*****************
January 1st, 12:03 a.m.
On the other side of the room, Roman and Patton high-fived. "I knew it! I knew they were soulmates!"