Virgil has three soulmate marks.

He has a clock that counts down until the day he meets his soulmate on his upper arm, he has a name written in neat letters on collarbone, and he has the first words he'll hear his soulmate say written across his inner thigh.

Two would have been normal (some people had two soul marks for one soulmate) but three?

There was something wrong with him. Something different that many people didn't like.

He learned this at a young age, when he was in kindergarten. Back then, Virgil could push himself to talking to people. That worked for him, he made friends. But as they learned more about each other, most people would turn away from him in disgust. So he learned how the world worked. He was wrong to most of society, and it would be hard making friends.

But that was okay.

Virgil could deal with it.

He made one friend in the second grade, someone who insisted on being his friend regardless of the rest of his class saying Virgil was weird. His name was Greggory, but his teachers called him Gregg. Gregg himself, however, told Virgil to call him Missy.

Virgil, since he was still so young at the time, giggled at that. He thought it was interesting how he wanted to be called something like that. Virgil did as Gregg wished, however.

One time, half way through the second grade, Virgil invited Gregg over for a birthday party. Gregg was his only friend so it wasn't supposed to be big or anything, but it did end up being a big day for Gregg. When Virgil opened the door for Gregg, Gregg was jumping up and down in front of his parents.

"Virge!" He had exclaimed. "Look at my counter!"

Virgil look at the other boys wrist in shock. On the time was 30 seconds going down every moment. But Virgil hadn't invited anyone but Gregg. It had clicked in Virgil's mind after a moment and he had smirked a little bit.

"Come with me," Virgil said, pulling Gregg into his living room and leaving the parents to discuss whatever in the doorway. Gregg dropped his sleepover bag in the hall. In the living room watching television and playing with toys, was Virgil's little brother. Gregg's counter had went down to 5 seconds as Virgil brought him in front of his brother. "Angus, this is Gregg."

Virgil was really happy for Gregg. Gregg was the only person who had ever actually been a friend to Virgil, so his happiness was important to Vigil.

If he was honest, it did suck to have your birthday party attention put on your little brother. Looking back, he's happy it was Gregg and not someone else.

His brother was only a year younger than Gregg and Virgil.

As they grew up, Gregg had nicknamed Angus 'Pranks' due to all the antics he got up to. Angus really wasn't bad, every prank he did was harmless and usually in the right setting. He never did any at school- in fact he was an A student.

Which really sucked for Virgil because by the time they were both in high school, Angus had better grades than Virgil ever did. Never was a grade on Angus's report card less than a ninety. Virgil, however, got mostly eighties and maybe a few low nineties.

Virgil truly wasn't too butt hurt about it- he was depressed and anxious. He had damn good grades for dealing with that and the stress of school. He was just happy not to be failing.

Now, he and Gregg were 17 while Angus was 15. Virgil grabbed his keys and checked the clock and shouted up the stairs, "Angus, we gotta go!"

He heard Angus run down the stairs and picked up his backpack, then walked outside. He hopped into his car and threw his backpack in the passenger seat. As he started up the car, Angus sat down in the back seat.

Virgil pulled out of the drive way and started their way to Gregg's house. As soon as he was in park on the side of the road, Gregg was out of his house and jogging to the car. He opened the back door and got in the car himself, giving Angus a quick kiss on the cheek and saying hello to Virgil.

Virgil said hello but rolled his eyes.

As he drove the three of them to school, he looked down at where he knew his timer was. He couldn't see it because he was wearing his sweatshirt but he knew what it generally said. It would be the same thing as when he checked it that morning. Nothing would change for at least half an hour, then the hour would go down one.

He loved Angus and Gregg, he really did, but sometimes he felt lonely.

They had found each other so early on in life, they never had to experience the anxiety he was surely going to have.

He snorted to himself. He had three soulmates, most likely, and that itself anxiety inducing enough. He wasn't ever going to be prepared for meeting them. But he couldn't help but want to meet at least one of them so he wasn't always the third wheel anymore.

He sighed and looked at the road. He didn't even have a first period class that he could distract himself with. Virgil didn't need to be at the school until it was nearing the end of first block. Senior privileges. He was going to be thinking about it for a while. As he pilled into his parking spot, he put his head on the steering wheel and groaned.

He heard Angus say I love you to Virgil before kissing Gregg on the cheek and getting out of the car. Virgil mumbled back and lifted his head up.

"Virge, you know you'll meet them sometime soon." Gregg said, grabbing Virgil's bag and throwing it to the back. He then wiggled his way through the two front seats and sat next to Virgil.

"I know that, Missy. It's just... Why couldn't I have met then earlier? Like you and Pranks met so early. Why couldn't that have been me?" Virgil asked, looking at Gregg.

Gregg paused and turned more to face Virgil in his seat. "Well, it just wasn't meant to work out that way, I guess. Either way, you are destined to meet these people. If it happens later on, so be it. You'll eventually fall in love with each other."

Virgil scoffed slightly. "That's not what I'm worried about. I know I'm going to love them. I fall in love with people who I know aren't my soulmate easy enough, I'm going to love them immediately. It's about how they'll feel about me. I'm just so... anxious now. And not to mention depressed. When I was younger I was nothing like that, ya know? I miss that. Feeling free. Not really caring. Now I care too much. About everything. I can't stop caring."

"I know it must suck feeling like that, Virge. I wish I could help you with that, but what I can say is this: when you meet them, they're gonna love you. No matter what. They'll notice the little smiles you crack when you think something is funny but don't actually laugh, and they'll love that," Gregg said, obviously trying his best to make Virgil feel better.

"I do that?" Virgil questioned.

"Yeah, buddy."

"I mean, that's nice of you to say and all, and it did help me feel a little better I'll tell you that but... I can't help but to feel like I would have been different now if I met them sooner. Maybe I'd have a better self image, or better grades, or maybe I would be going to something other than a crappy community college. Just if I met them sooner," Virgil explained, starting to use his hands a little bit as emphasis.

Gregg nodded. "Maybe, but I'm really glad you are who you are. You may try to play off as the emo kid that will fight you if you so much as look at him wrong-"

"Hey! Missy-"

"But secretly I know you wouldn't hurt anyone unless they did something to Angus."

"...Don't forget about you. I'd fight someone for you, Missy."

— - —

Virgil groaned in annoyance as he was dragged into the roller rink. Today, Angus turned 16 today and he decided that they should all go do something. Angus, of course, wanted to rollerblade. So here Virgil was. Waiting in line to take off his shoes and put on a pair of roller skates.

Angus and Gregg had a lot of experience together because for some reason they loved going there for dates. Virgil had gone once or twice when he was younger but decided he didn't like it enough. He'd rather stay in his room and do nothing.

Virgil looked at Gregg, who was now giving his shoes to the girl at the counter and telling her his shoe size. Virgil started to unlace his own shoes and pull them off. When he had them off he noticed Gregg had his skates but was still standing there, waiting for Virgil. He appreciated that.

Virgil took a step forward and put his shoes on the counter.

"What size? And skates or blades?" The worker asked.

"Skates and Eights." Virgil said, looking anywhere but her. She came back after a moment with his skates and he muttered a thank you before walking with Gregg over to Angus. Gregg immediately started talking to him about god knows what as Virgil racked his memory for anything about rollerskating.

He tugged on the laces, because the one thing he remembered was the skates being tied really tight. When he finished putting them on, he looked up to see Gregg and Angus, who were both standing up just fine on blades. He hated them. He cautiously stood up, which was just the easy part, he knew. Hopefully muscle memory or whatever it was would kick in and he wouldn't make fool of himself. As he shuffled forward, he almost fell and reached out for Angus's arm.

"Virge, you're gonna be alright. You got this! I believe in you," Angus exclaimed, a little too loudly for Virgil's liking. He straightened up and let go of Angus.

"Shut up," he mumbled, shuffling away from the two of them and towards the rink. He saw the two roll to his side, practically like experts. He muttered something along the lines of not wanting to be there. But he wouldn't leave because not only was he everyone's ride, but it was Angus's birthday. He wouldn't do that to his little brother.

Angus and Gregg got onto the rink in front of him and then went to the side to make sure he was okay getting on. As soon as his skates were on the rink he cringed. The rink was nothing like the carpet, which he felt gave him more stability. He was not going to enjoy this what-so-ever.

Virgil looked up at Angus who extended his hand to him to bring him forward and out of the way of anyone trying to get on too. He looked into the crowd of people going in circles and gulped. There was a lot of people that were a lot better than him and it didn't help that a three-year-old was already showing him up. He looked over at Gregg, who gave him a thumbs up and a smile. He took a deep breath. Virgil could do this.

"Okay, well you don't need to worry about balance all that much since you have the skates, but posture is a little bit important here. You should lean a little bit forward but not too much forward, otherwise, you'll fall," Angus said, demonstrating it a little bit.

Virgil nodded, but he wasn't really worried about that. He was more worried about actually going somewhere.

Gregg chimed in, "And to push off, you just kinda... I always used the brakes in the front to push off."

"Okay," Virgil said, and did as he was told before reaching his hand out for the wall immediately as he almost fell.

"That was good, Virge! Just work on your posture a little bit. Maybe squat a little bit? Kinda like skiing, if you remember that better."

Virgil did remember skiing better, but probably because he crashed so many times. He assumed a posture that felt just a little bit more comfortable and tried again, letting go of the wall and allowing himself to move forward. He tried a couple more times before he met the edge of the wall and sopped. He looked behind him for Gregg and Angus. They were talking and noticed Virgil's turned head. They both rolled to him and Gregg, being the one next to Virgil, gave him his hand.

"We'll be by your side until we reach the wall again, okay?" Gregg said slightly pulling Virgil away from the wall. Virgil looked up to see a full grown man fall on his butt, which made him snort. He covered his smile that he knew was appearing on his face and shook his head.

He almost fell a few times as they made it around, and about halfway through Gregg let go of his hand and held Angus's instead. Virgil panicked immediately but took a deep breath and pushed off on his own with his right foot and let himself glide. He could maybe do this. He then pushed off with his left foot and watched as Gregg backward skated in front of him.

"C'mon, man! You got it!" He said, looking behind him.

"You're such a show-off, Missy," Virgil insulted, then put his arms out to steady himself as he almost fell again. He definitely felt better than when he started- and by some miracle hadn't fallen just yet. They went around a couple more times as a group before Virgil felt like he should let the couple go on his own. He didn't need them puppy-guarding him any longer, as comforting as it was to have them there with him.

"You guys can go off on your own, I think I can manage now. Go be a gross couple somewhere else," Virgil said as he pushed off on his left foot. He wasn't going too fast- there was no way he was doing that today- and he knew at least Angus was dying to be going faster.

"Okay, let's go Pranks!" Gregg said, smiling a little bit. Virgil watched their backs as they sped away. He pushed off a little bit harder than before and when he thought it wasn't too fast he decided to stick at that speed. He wasn't going any faster. It was definitely enough for him. He watched as Angus and Gregg lapped him a few times. Gregg at random times would backward skate in front of Angus and Angus would laugh. Virgil sighed to himself and continued to skate on.

They had been there for a while, probably an hour and a half when someone fell in front of him. Virgil fell backwards trying to stop himself from falling on top fo the person in front of him. Somehow, that was the first time he had fallen while they were there. The person stood up and offered Virgil a hand. Virgil cautiously took the help up, knowing he wouldn't be able to get up himself. He saw Angus and Gregg come to a stop next to him. As Virgil got off the ground, he almost fell right back down. He heard someone muttering something as they skated around the group. Virgil let go of the stranger's hand and wiped off his surely sweaty hand on his pants.

"My apologies, are you alright?" The man in front of him asked.

Virgil froze. He panicked. He couldn't breath and looked at Gregg and Angus for help.

"Woah, woah Virgil buddy are you okay?" Gregg asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Virgil shook his head no.

"Wait- Virgil? Your name is Virgil?" The stranger asked, pulling up his shirt just enough to reveal Virgil's name written in his handwriting above his hip.

"Are you- Wait, Virge did you just- Is this one of them?" Angus asked.

Virgil couldn't speak.

"Okay, I think we need to get off the rink, okay? Let's, uhm, go sit at that table over there," Gregg said, pointing at an empty table that was right off the rink. Gregg lead Virgil to off, and looked behind them to make sure Angus and the stranger were following. Gregg sat himself on the inside of the table that connected to the wall, and told Virgil to sit next to him.

"Alright, Virge, deep breaths. In and out, like this okay? Do it with me," Gregg lead by example, trying to help him the best he could. "Keep your eyes on me, okay? Deep breaths."

After a few minutes of doing that, Virgil began to feel grounded. He continued breathing deeply, but now looked at the other side of the table at who was supposed to be his soulmate. He adjust his glasses awkwardly and looked at Virgil.

"Well," The other man cleared his throat. "Virgil? My name is Logan."

Virgil looked at Logan and nodded slowly. He continued to breath as he was before. "I- I'm sorry for panicking at you I just-"

"No, that's completely okay. Many people panic when they meet their soulmates, it's perfectly normal."

"Okay, well, uhm... Should we get each others numbers or something?" Virgil asked, pulling his sweatshirt sleeves over his hands and fiddling with them.

"Ah, yes." Logan pulled out his phone and handed it to Virgil. "If you could just enter your number, and if you'd like I can put my number in your phone as well."

Virgil nodded, typed in his number and gave Logan both of their phones. As Logan handed the phone back to Virgil he gave him a soft smile. He checked the time.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go home. I could text you later if you'd like?" Logan offered, standing up. Virgil looked up at him and nodded.

"That would- That would be nice, yeah," Virgil said, gulping after he said that.

Logan nodded and left. Virgil watched as he rolled away. When he was out of sight Virgil put his head on the table and groaned.

Of course he panics like that when he meets his first soulmate.