Yeah lmao most of you guys knew exactly who I was talking about, glad a lot of you agree on who's the most important character haha. Also, so sorry for the slow updates!! I actually have a good reason for this though-I've been writing another book, which I've just started uploading today! It's called Christmas Competition, an Analogical fanfiction, and it's going to be updated every day leading up to Christmas. You should check it out, if you're interested!! Anyways, since I've gotten that done now I'm going to try and get back to updating in this book a lot and hopefully have it finished pretty soon. So, sorry again, and just know that I'm truly trying my best. Thank you for your patience.

Roman woke up to something nudging his hand. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, at first. It was soft and fuzzy, and a few moments later he felt something wet and cold against his hand and he flinched. Opening his eyes Roman immediately smiled, waking up a little more and realizing what was going on.

"Marshmallow," Roman breathed out softly, laughing quietly. Marshmallow nudged his hand with his head again, and Roman smiled as he pet him. He hadn't realized just how much he missed Patton's dog until just then.

Remembering Patton, and where he was Roman glanced over at the couch beside of him. It was empty, but after hearing quiet noise from the kitchen and smelling food it was obvious where his friends and boyfriend had gone. Roman pet Marshmallow one more time before slowly rising from the couch, stretching out and sighing in relief. They really had to stop sleeping on the uncomfortable couch.

He made his way into the kitchen quietly, standing behind for a minute and looking at the three of them. He remembered a time a while before Roman had left for vacation, before all of this confusing tally mark drama, where Roman had woken up to find Logan hugging Patton while he had cooked and joined the two of them. They were doing the same thing now, Patton making food and instead of Logan hugging him from behind it was Virgil, and Logan was standing behind him.

Roman smiled a little, finding it nice to hear them talking and laughing. He considered doing the same thing he had done what seemed like forever ago, but ignored the thought quickly. It was probably best if he didn't joke like that anymore. It was always just fun teasing before, but he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable now.

Roman jumped a little at the soft bark that came from beside of him, drawing his attention and everyone else's. Marshmallow nudged Roman's hand again, apparently not happy that he had been left behind. Roman laughed, shaking his head at the dog and going back to petting him. "Alright, alright. You must have really missed me."

"He did." Patton said from where he had resumed making them breakfast. Roman looked over at him after Marshmallow finally seemed satisfied and didn't force Roman to give him more attention. "He looked for you every time Logan and Virgil came over."

"That's... oh. I didn't think he liked me that much." Roman laughed a little awkwardly, not wanting to think too much about that. It was sad. He made his way over to where the other three were, standing beside of them all and leaning against the counter.

"Marshmallow loves everyone! Especially all of you guys." Patton smiled over at him, and Roman smiled back. He looked behind Patton at Virgil, who was leaning his head against Patton's shoulder and looking like he could fall asleep at any second. Logan looked just as tired as he did, also leaning heavily into Virgil.

Roman felt awkward, watching the three of them together. He was happy to be with all of them again, he couldn't even begin to explain just how happy, but it was still weird. He couldn't help but feel a little like he was intruding, despite Virgil being his boyfriend first. It was obvious the three of them had gotten used to being together, without him, and Roman felt like him being there was just throwing everything off.

Roman tore his gaze away from Virgil with the two of them, looking over at Patton. He felt like he needed something to do, so he wasn't just standing beside of them all awkwardly. "Uh, do you... need any help, Patton?"

"I'm finished making food now, if you could just get plates down for us?" Patton said, Roman nodding quickly. He immediately turned away from them to get plates, feeling a little relieved when he turned back to find that they had all separated. They each took a plate from Roman, getting their own food before going to the table to sit down.

No one said anything for a while, sitting in silence as they ate. Roman was the only one who felt a little uncomfortable in the silence, but he made sure to keep his discomfort to himself. He would get used to everything. It was just new, he told himself.

"Y'know," Patton spoke up after a few minutes, glancing around at everyone. "Since it's the weekend, and we all haven't been together in a while... Why don't we go out somewhere together? Maybe walk around the park, or something."

Logan and Virgil were quick to agree, and Roman felt like it would be rude for him to refuse. He didn't even know why he was feeling so hesitant. He had missed them. He missed spending time with them. It just felt so... weird.

"That sounds nice," Roman said despite his feelings. They all seemed happy to hear that he wanted to go, and the one thing he didn't want to do again was upset any of them. Roman decided to forget his own feelings for now, something odd for someone who usually wanted to be the center of attention, and just put up with it for now. Why should it matter how he was feeling? He finally had his friends back, his boyfriend back. He just needed to ignore the voice in his head asking if that was even true.

****

Roman lingered awkwardly beside of Virgil as they walked, glancing every once in a while over at the three of them. The park was mostly empty aside from them, so they were all holding hands as they walked. All except for Roman, anyways.

Roman tried to remind himself that it wasn't like they were purposefully excluding him or anything. In fact they kept looking to him to join in their conversations, making sure he was included somehow, but that didn't stop him feeling awkward. He was out of place beside the three of them. He tried not to let it show that he was feeling bad.

At some point he glanced down at Virgil's hand, wanting to take it in his own. He felt stupid for not just doing it, but it just felt weird. He was reminded of the first date the pair had ever been on, last year. He had been awkward and hesitant then too, although at that time he was able to get over it quickly.

Roman had obviously been staring too long, because Virgil had looked over and noticed him. He reached out to take Romans hand, squeezing it as Roman looked up at him. Virgil grinned over at him, and Roman smiled back softly. His worries were pushed to the back of his mind then, as he held Virgil's hand and walked just a little bit closer to him and the rest of their group. He was reminded that he was lucky, just the be there by Virgil's side, to still be his boyfriend. Nothing else really mattered that much, because at least he was there.

He knew this peaceful moment wouldn't last. He knew it would be strange still, being with Virgil while he was dating their two other friends. He chose, for this moment, to just ignore it all and have fun with his boyfriend and his friends.

Later on that day, after they had gone back to Patton's house and the three of them were getting ready to head back to their own homes, Roman stopped Virgil before he could start to walk back to his house.

"Hey, Virgil." He said, gaining his attention. "I was just wondering if... well, if maybe you'd want to hang out tomorrow? Just... just the two of us, is that's okay with you."

"Of course, Roman. I'd love to." Virgil's response made Roman sigh in relief. He wasn't sure if the two of them would still do that, some days. Hang out together, just the two of them. He was worried that Virgil might even be offended by him asking, as if he didn't want to hang out with Patton and Logan.

Roman did love being friends with the two of them, and he was glad to be spending time with them again. However, he didn't want to always have them there, when he just wanted to go on a date with his boyfriend.

"Good, that's... I'm glad." He breathed, smiling widely at him. He glanced around, noticing that Logan had already left, and Patton had gone inside after saying goodbye to the two of them. He looked back to Virgil, looking a little nervous as he took one of his hands, squeezing it a little. "I can still kiss you, right?"

Virgil didn't say anything, instead leaning up to press his lips to Roman's in a soft and sweet kiss, free hand resting on his cheek. They didn't pull away for a while, Roman pulling him even closer to him. When they did finally part they were both smiling at each other, Roman pulled Virgil's hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it and holding it in both of his hands, keeping it close to his chest as he smiled widely at Virgil.

"I missed you so much." He mumbled, looking down as tears began to gather in his eyes. Happy tears. "I love you."

"I love you too," Virgil whispered back, stepping closer to Roman, a little concerned. He smiled back at him a little teasingly. "Don't cry, dude. You get to see me again tomorrow."

"I know," Roman smiled back, taking back one of his hands to swipe at his eyes. "I'll miss you every second we're apart, though."

Virgil rolled his eyes, leaning up to kiss him shortly one more time before he pulled his hand away from Roman, still smiling over at him. "You're so over dramatic. The sooner you let us both go home, the sooner the day will be over, and we can get some sleep so that we can hang out earlier in the morning."

"Alright, alright." Roman sighed. "I suppose I'll see you in the morning, then. Have a good night, Virgil."

"You too," Virgil returned as he started walking in the direction of his house, Roman lingering for a moment as he watched him go. He still felt so happy, knowing that they were going to meet tomorrow.

He walked home that night without a single worry in his mind, knowing the next day spent with his boyfriend would be a great day.