September 8th, 2019
Requested by ItsXandraaa
There was nothing more confusing than being taught one thing and being the exception to the rule. For example, when Virgil was in kindergarten, his teacher had done a small lesson on the subject of soulmates.
They were taught that everyone had a little colored line on their wrist that matched the eye color of their soulmate.
Living in a monochrome until you've met your soulmate, most people cherish being able to see the little line of color. It gives them something to look forward to when they met their soulmate. They know who's eyes they'll be looking into for the rest of their lives.
Virgil has two lines on his wrist.
He's never been sure what it meant. Did it mean he had two different soulmates? That's been known to happen on a rare occasion, leading to poly relationships. Did his soulmate have heterochromia? Were the soulmate markings so accurate to account for that? If they did have heterochromia, how would they react to having such a boring soulmate?
Virgil is absolutely terrified of meeting his soulmate. There is no doubt of that.
He spends many days staring at the two different lines. One was a caramel brown and the other was a blue that was a shade darker than the sky.
Both were beautiful colors and in the grey scale world around him, they stuck out. He just hopes his soulmate won't be disappointed.
Virgil let out a sigh as he sat down at a table. He always went to the same cafe every morning. It was run by a young man who never asked questions about his somber moods and had pride flag pins on his hat; at least that's what he told him.
The world to him was still black and white apart from his soulmate lines. The young man had explained that he'd met his transgender soulmate in high school, hence why he wore the flag pins.
Virgil wasn't against chatting with him, but today he just wasn't feeling it. The barista could tell that that was the case and didn't push him to talk. He just brought him his order and gave him a sympathetic smile, wishing him a good day.
He sighed heavily as he stared down at his drink. He swirled the foam with the tiny spoon that was included with his order, wondering what he should do about the bouts of depression he had been experiencing for a long time now. Most people would probably tell him to see a therapist but he'd been down that road. The last person he'd seen had continuously told him to make friends and establish connections with people. He'd yet to do that and he imagined that any other therapist would say the same thing.
A person clearing their throat broke him from his thoughts. A young man about his age was standing in front of him with a messenger bag over one shoulder and a smile on his face. "Excuse me, I was wondering if you would mind sharing your booth?" he asked, nodding to the table. "There's no other available seats that have a power outlet and my laptop is about to die."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Virgil said, shrugging a little as he looked down.
"Thank you, I greatly appreciate it." The young man sat down across from him and pulled his laptop from his messenger bag, along with his charger cord. Once he'd plugged it in, he began to type away with a determined expression on his face. It was about two minutes later when he looked up at him and opened his mouth again. "Sorry to bother you again, but would you mind reading this?"
He turned his laptop toward him and pushed it across the table. The darkly dressed man blinked in surprise but nodded anyway, leaning forward to read the from the colorless screen. It was a lovely little short story about a knight and a princess and a dragon.
"I mean, it's good? What am I looking for?" he asked awkwardly as he looked up at the man.
"What do you think of it? Is it good? Is it terrible? Is it missing something? Just give me you honest opinion," the young man said, smiling charmingly.
Virgil bit down on his lip and took a deep breath. "Well, if I'm honest, it's good, but there's nothing special about it," he told him. He earned a frown but he quickly pressed on. "I mean, there's nothing unique about the princess or the knight and the dragon. The story is tired. It's been done so much that not bringing something new to the table will make it feel boring."
"I see what you mean, thanks," he replied, pulling the laptop back toward him. He blinked and began writing again as Virgil sat in a comfortable quiet, listening to the taps of his keyboard. The laptop was suddenly pushed back in front of him. "How is it now?"
He read through it again, eyes widening as he read about a witch with dragon's wings and a tail; it was a dragon witch of some kind. She cursed the princess and the knight set off to save her, but fell in love with his male companion instead. He blinked a couple times as he leaned back from the laptop. "Wow, that's... that's a lot better," he said, offering a smile to the man.
"Heck yes, Logan was totally wrong," he said to himself as he pulled the laptop back toward him. "Isn't the dragon witch a cool idea?"
Virgil nodded, smile growing a bit. A gasp suddenly escaped the other man's lips. "Oh! Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself," he exclaimed. He smiled wide and reached across the table in an offer to shake hands. "I'm Roman, Roman Prince."
"I'm-" he began to reply, taking his hand. He cut himself off upon getting a little jolt through his body. He blinked.
Suddenly, everything looked different. Everything was... colorful. His eyes widened as he took in the pastels of the coffee shop that he'd never even thought about before. The light shining through the curtains was creating a tinted light in part of the room. He looked toward the barista, seeing the flags on his hat in full color. It could only mean one thing.
He looked back toward Roman with an astonished gaze. His dark brown ones stared into two very different colored eyes. "I'm Virgil Black," he finished in a whisper as his cheeks grew warm.
"We're soulmates, huh?" the charming young man replied.
"Yeah, I guess we are," he said, swallowing nervously. "Your eyes-"
Roman's face fell into one of uncertainty. "They're not hideous are they?" he asked. "I've only ever seen them as two different shades of grey and it was barely noticeable. Are they really ugly with the two different colors?"
"No, no, they're really pretty," Virgil reassured him.
"Thank you, Virgil," he said with a wide smile and slight blush in his own cheeks. He then flashed a smirk. "I look forward to getting to know you, soulmate."
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