It was normal, considering they were all living in the city and short on cash. They all answered the ad in search of roommates, the apartment was conveniently located for all of them as if the universe had handpicked them the perfect place.
Maybe it had.
All in their mid-twenties, they had stumbled upon an apartment for rent. Central location, decently priced, but the apartment housed four. That was how they all met. The day they moved in, Logan was the first there. Door unlocked and already moved into the smallest room tucked away in the back, Logan greeted Patton, the first to show up.
The third was Roman, entering introducing himself proudly. They went over designated areas and rooms, Roman needing extra space for some of the props he got to keep after plays he performed on the side and the others agreeing to share a little space in the decently sized living room as long as he kept his space.
Hours later, the sun had begun to set and pizza being ordered while the other two unpacked, Virgil showed up. He kept quiet and ducked into the last unclaimed room, second smallest only to Logan's. He hardly carried anything with him, all his materials fit in a backpack and duffle bag he had carried. They all sat quietly, introducing themselves while munching on pizza and garlic knots, getting to know their new roommates.
It had started with Patton a couple of weeks later.
Everyone was at work and Patton had been cleaning up the apartment. They all had day jobs that conflicted most of the time, but this particular afternoon left him alone in the slightly messy complex. Having nothing to do but wait for the others to get home for dinner, he spent part of his days to clean when he could and it was his turn. He never really minded, the others usually consolidated the messes to their rooms and he always had a knack for being able to clean rather quickly.
Which left Virgil confused as he watched two separate copies simultaneously cleaning the dishes in the kitchen and vacuuming the living room, looking back from one room to the other.
"Uhh... Pat?"
"Yeah, kiddo?" The Patton doing the dishes looked up at him and suddenly panicked, the one in the living room vacuuming not hearing over the noise. "Look, try not to freak out." He spoke, drying his hands on a towel and making his way over. "I can explain."
"Please... tell me you have a twin who has the same wardrobe as you."
"Not exactly."
"VIRGIL!" The other Patton shouted, turning off the vacuum. "You're... home early, how wonderful!" He made his way over and smiled, not hiding the panic from his face. "There's a perfectly understandable and not totally bizarre reason as to why there's two of me."
Virgil looked back and forth between the two, the one from doing the dishes shrugged as a response. "Uh... He's a burglar?" The second Patton shrugged, unsure.
The Patton from the kitchen put down the towel he dried his hands with. "That's not going to help, silly."
"Well I can't think of anything, can you?"
"I am you, so obviously not."
Virgil took a step back towards the front door, watching the man argue with his reflection.
"Maybe... could I?" The one who had come from the living room took a step towards the other and stretched out his hand to the one who had been doing dishes in the kitchen. The second one sighed and nodded, reaching out his hand.
In a flash of light, suddenly there was but one singular Patton in the room, and a very confused anxious Virgil. "What was that?!"
"Please don't tell the others but I... Can... duplicate myself?" Patton shrugged and smiled as if he hadn't just spouted nonsense.
Virgil rubbed his eyes with his hand, sighing and trying to convince his now growing headache to go away. "Patton... I had a rough day, can we talk about this later after I freak out?"
"Oh, s-sure! Let me know, okay?"
Virgil silently walked out of the room, leaving Patton truly alone this time. He looked panicked and looked down at his hands, before taking a deep breath.
The second time was Roman.
He worked at a themed restaurant playing a character, as he loved to tell people. Never actually saying what character and where, for most days led him into a mascot costume to attract customers, hiding away his beautiful face from the world, a true crime indeed.
On the side, he sang and performed at the local theater, but he needed money to pay the bills and he was too energetic and over the top for the normal desk job he used to have before he was laid off.
He wasn't home alone, but instead, he was in the living room trying to find a movie to put on in the background. Flipping through the channels was a fruitless endeavor and he was seriously considering steal-borrowing Virgil's DVD player and just putting something on himself.
"I thought the batteries were dead in that thing." Roman looked at Patton, who stood in the doorway with a single plastic bag in his hand. "I ran to the store to get batteries for it and everything!"
"Oh!" Roman looked down at the remote and smirked. "Uh. It started working suddenly?"
"That's strange." Patton walked into the living room and dug a hand into his pocket. "I thought I took the batteries with me to make sure I got the right ones." He pulled out two AAA batteries from his pocket and showed his roommate.
Roman sat up straight and popped open the back on the remote. It was empty. "AH! Uh, it seems... Our remote is haunted, Patton!" Roman dropped the remote on the couch and stood up backing away, feigning terror.
"That doesn't seem remotely possible!" Patton walked to the couch and picked up the remote. "Well, look at that!" He turned and smiled at Roman. "How'd that happen, you think?"
"What's going on?" Virgil walked into the room, wearily eyeing Patton.
"The apartment is haunted!"
Virgil huffed at Roman's statement. "They better start paying rent then." With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
"Come to think of it, Roman." Patton reached into the bag and removed the batteries. "Aren't you always shocking us with static? Maybe that's how it worked."
"Wha- me? No, must be my... positively charged personality! Nothing else!"
"Well unless you can generate electricity-" Patton looked at the slightly panicking man, a look of realization washing over his face. "Can... Roman, can you make electricity?"
Roman forced a laugh, thankful for his acting lessons. "Nonsense, Patton! That's not possible! You've been reading too many silly fiction novels at the library!"
"Your phone never loses a charge."
"It has a good battery!"
"You were drying your hair last week and I thought the hair dryer wasn't even plugged into the wall."
"Now that's not true! It was simply--!" Roman looked around panicked, thinking of an excuse. "It has a battery too, of course!"
"Roman, it's okay." Patton put down the remote, walking towards his roommate, holding his hands up carefully. "I'm not scared okay? Would it make you feel better if I told you a secret myself?"
"No offense, Patton." Roman stood up tall, dropping his act. "What secret could possibly be bigger than my static charm?"
"Aww, you admitted it!" Patton clapped, nearly jumping up and down. "And you made a pun out of it!"
"I admitted nothing!" Roman spun around and marched to his room, leaving a smirking Patton to replace the batteries, thinking about his dramatic roommate, and the two seemingly normal ones... Unless...
Then there was Virgil.
"Patton. Can we... talk?"
Virgil had heard Roman and Patton the day before, and Roman had shut himself in his room afterward. Virgil's mind started racing, he and Patton had never gotten around to their discussion a few days earlier, about how Patton wasn't super fast and good at cleaning, but could actually make physical duplicates of himself. Patton nodded and sat on the couch, motioning for Virgil to sit.
He shuffled his feet before sitting on the far side of the couch, curling in on himself.
"I scared you, huh?" Patton spoke softly and carefully. "The other day. I didn't mean to, that's why I keep it secret."
"You were afraid of scaring us because it's weird," Virgil spoke, looking down at his sleeves as he pulled on them over his hands. "You don't know why or how but you can do this... thing. And you're too scared to tell anyone."
"You've thought about this a lot, huh?"
"Patton, I..." Virgil turned and looked at the man staring at him worriedly. "I heard you talking to Roman." He looked down again. "I didn't mean to, but... It seems like he has this thing he can do too."
Silence fell over the room. The conversation with Roman wasn't solid proof, but Patton recognized the fear in Roman's face from one he felt just days ago. "Our family is a little weird, huh?"
"I wonder if Logan can do something," Virgil whispered just loud enough for someone to hear. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean, it would be weird that all of us somehow ended up in the same apartment and he was the only one who couldn't..." The words caught in his throat and he trailed off, but it was enough of a hint. He looked up and saw Patton's face bright with shock. Slowly, a smile spread across his face and Virgil couldn't help but smile back, just a little.
Suddenly Patton shot up with a gasp. "HOUSE MEETING! Quick, everyone! Living room now! We're having a house meeting!"
"We do not live in a house, Patton." Logan walked in from his room, a book in his hands that still held his attention. "Whatever it is, can it not wait for dinner?"
"Not this, no way. ROMAN!" Patton ran down the hallway, shouting. "You don't have a ghost of a chance of missing this, get out here!" Virgil smirked, understanding the comment Roman made the day before.
"I don't know how he made a dad joke, but I am still upset none the less." Logan walked forward and sat on the couch where Patton had just gotten up from, never lowering the book.
"I'm coming, no need to shove!" Ignoring Roman's protests, Patton had shoved him on the couch between the other two and stood on the other side of the coffee table with his hands on his hips proudly. "What's gotten you all excited, huh?" Roman fixed his hair as if being bossed around by Patton had ruined it.
"I have some shocking news to share!" Roman groaned and Virgil hid his smirk in his hand, resting his elbow on the couch.
"Is this about our so-called 'superpowers' we seem to possess?"
"I think we all have--" All eyes shot to Logan, who flipped a page in his book and continued reading. "Wha-when... How did you find out?" Patton was more confused and shocked than anything.
"Observation, recognizing aspects and mannerisms I have with ones I've seen in you." He turned his head to read the next page.
"Can you read minds?" Roman whispered.
"I believe I have what is called Psychokinesis but yes, I can also read minds."
"That's so cool, Logan!" Patton practically jumped up and down where he stood. "Wowie, we all have powers and we all share the same apartment! What are the odds? I mean, I guess--"
"Patton, I know where you're going with that sentence, please just--"
"--the odds are infinitesimal?"
"You are the bane of my sanity." Logan finally puts the book down and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Next time we play Scrabble, I promise you'll regret it."
"Wait, all of us have some power?" Roman suddenly stood up. "Here I thought I was the misunderstood outcast, but we've turned this apartment building into a secret hideout!" Roman's dismayed look quickly turned back to his bright and cheerful, yet overdramatic personality.
"Do you know what all of us can do, bookworm?" Virgil spoke from his end of the couch, muttering into his sleeve.
Logan had replaced his glasses back on his face, adjusting them unnecessarily. "Yes, I do. You and Patton have just discovered Roman's attunement to electricity, based on the shouts I heard yesterday."
"How do you know that?" Roman looked down with a slight sneer. "You read our minds about that, too?"
"No, I simply connected the dots. Patton told me he went to get batteries for the remote and I heard you flipping channels, then your incessant yelling leads me to believe you finally figured it out."
"What about me?" Virgil spoke, and uncurled himself, leaning forward to look at Logan. "You have me figured out yet?"
Logan sighed and closed his book. "Look, when I use my powers, there's this..." He waved his hand around as he decided on the word he was looking for. "A luminous shine if you will. From-"
"Your eyes glow! Like Rudolph's nose!" Patton giggled at the realization.
"That... is accurate, I suppose."
Roman turned and leaned closer to Logan, a grin growing on his face. "Care to demonstrate, Cyclops? Is that why you wear glasses?"
"I do not use my powers, you needn't worry." He picked up his book and resumed where he had left off. "No need to do something I can do myself, after all."
"Aww, why wouldn't you want to use your psy-super... I don't remember what you said." Patton admitted with a shrug.
"Psychokinesis. He can move things without touching them." Roman and Patton turned towards Virgil, who looked away blushing. "I read comic books, okay?"
"Well, what about you, storm drain? What power do you have? Mind sharing with the class?"
Patton perked up. "No, mind sharing is what Logan does!"
Virgil smirked, looking up at Roman, but made to attempt to move. "Want to take a guess?"
"Oh! Is it your super smile? Oh, no your shining personality!" Roman flashed a big smile towards the darker man on the couch. "I get it right?"
Virgil sighed and leaned back on the couch. "For someone whose powers are pretty bright, you are pretty lacking." Ignoring the protest from Roman, Virgil looked back down at his hands. "I can stop and start time, but I can move around when I do."
"Is that why you always beat me to the last slice of pizza?" Patton spoke, jokingly.
"Don't have to race you if I can come up behind you and take it without you knowing."
"That is unfair, you owe me so many slices of pizza!" Roman stood up staring down the darker side, sneering at the grin that shone back at him.
"Hey, sometimes I let Patton have them."
"Aww, Virge, that's so sweet!"
Logan looked down and flipped the page in his book, listening to his roommates argue on. This time, however, playful banter filled the living room and he couldn't help but smirk.