Roman quickly brought his free hand down, pressing it flat against the cement. His ring was fading from black to pink. It had stopped flaking, leaving it mostly intact with a few areas that appeared to have been chipped.

It took Roman a moment to accept what his eyes were showing him. It seemed unreal. He always wanted to meet his soulmate, but not like this. Despite the horrific circumstances in which they met, Roman couldn't deny that his already racing heart felt like it was going to burst. He carefully and slowly put his ringed hand overtop of the freckled boy's. Roman turned his head to look at his soulmate's face, but his head was locked in place. Then Roman remembered his lifelong promise.

He sat up into a kneeling position and wrapped his arms around the quaking boy, pulling him into a close hug. Roman squeezed his watery eyes shut tightly, holding his entire life in his arms. It took a few seconds for the frail boy to relax, but once he did he broke down into sobs and clung to Roman like he was the only thing keeping him alive; and in some ways, he was.

"I-I'm sorry! I... I didn't-... I hadn't-... I'm sorry!" the boy choked out between sobs.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe." Roman soothed, running his fingers through the boy's hair comfortingly. He waited until the boy's breathing evened out more before continuing. "I'm Roman. What's your name?"

"I-I-I'm Pat-*hic*-ton." He said, hiccuping mid sentence from crying. Roman nodded and helped him sit up.

"Nice to meet you, Patton."

"Nice to m-m-meet you, t-too." Patton choked out, tears streaming down his face. Roman smiled sadly and used his sleeve to wipe Patton's cheek. He was finally getting a good look at his face. His hair was curly and a very dirty blonde. He had a bit of a babyface, round with slightly chubby cheeks. His face was peppered with freckles, and he had a lightly pink-tinted button nose. His cheeks were drained of color, but that was most likely an effect of the situation he was just in.

Lastly were his eyes, hidden behind the foggy lenses of his circular glasses resting on the end of his nose. As if on cue, Patton took off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt, giving Roman a good look at his eyes. God... Roman couldn't find the words couldn't describe Patton's eyes. They were deep, sensitive, vulnerable, and appeared to draw Roman into them. It took him a lot of effort to tear away from them.

"Do you need a ride home? I don't have my car nearby, but I can pay for a cab or something." Roman offered. Patton sucked in his cheeks and looked at the ground.

"N-No. I'm fine."

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you to be left alone right now."

"You're leaving?" Patton's eyebrows raised slightly, giving him a fearful and hurt expression. Roman knew immediately he'd made a mistake.

"N-No! I just want to make sure you have a way to get home safely." Roman explained quickly.

"I-." Patton cut himself off. Roman looked at him with concern, but Patton quickly mustered up a faux smile. "I know a great bakery a few blocks over. Would you want to check it out?"

"Uhhh..." Roman wasn't sure what to say. How was he supposed to handle a situation like this? His soulmate had just attempted, and was now acting like nothing was unusual about this at all! Was he supposed to just ignore the circumstance they were in a few minutes ago? Move past it? Should he try to get Patton to talk about what was bothering him? No... forcing him to talk wouldn't be a good idea. For now, Roman decided that he'd play along with whatever it was Patton was doing. "Sure. On one condition."

"What?"

"I pick up the check."