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Remy had called Roman to meet him at the library. The quiet, no food or drink environment was kind of an abnormal spot for the loud coffee lover, but Roman didn’t put much thought into it. He settled down with a book on Shakespeare and waited for his friend to arrive.
Roman’s heartbeat started to pick up speed. Like always, he looked around. He knew it wasn’t likely going to get him anywhere, but he was ever the romantic, he always hoped it was him that caused his true love’s heart to skip a beat.
What he did see was a beautiful man sitting on the phone a few tables over. Heartbeat forgotten, Roman was transfixed with him. The striped tie that gave him a professional look, the perfectly pressed polo shirt that hugged his biceps in all the right places, his breathtaking blue eyes filling with tears behind his black-framed glasses.
Wait tears?
The stranger’s face was getting red and the tears started to fall. He dropped his phone and covered his face with his hands and started to shake with silent sobs.
Roman, who was never one to leave anyone in distress, stood up to comfort the lone stranger.
“Hello, there my good sir!” He bowed to the stranger, who looked up slightly as other patrons of the library turned to shush Roman for his boisterous introduction. Roman didn’t seem to notice.
“Roman Prince at your service” He held out his hand, the stranger just stared at it, tears still falling. His breath still coming out in rapid succession. “Are you alright?”
That, apparently, was not the right thing to say, as it caused the stranger to start breathing even faster, which was impressive with how fast he was already breathing and started to pull his hair.
Roman recognized the signs of a panic attack, having to help Remus through a number of them, so he was quick to jump into action, with a slight stumble. “Shit, okay, is it okay if I touch you?”
The stranger hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Roman lightly grabbed his hands and pulled them away from his hair. “You’re hyperventilating,” his voice was low and smooth. He put the stranger’s hand up to his chest, “Try to match my breathing. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight.”
The stranger followed the breathing exercise a couple of times before his eyes widened. He pulled Roman’s hands off his chest to put them on his own.
“What are you-” Roman was confused at first but soon realized.
He could feel the stranger’s heart beating in his chest.
“Oh” Roman froze for a moment, locking eyes with the scared ones of his soulmate before his face broke into the biggest grin.
“Can I hug you?” He asked the stranger, his Soulmate, his excitement barely contained.
His soulmate gave a small smile and nod in response, and in a flash, Roman had him in a hug and was twirling around laughing, quite loudly in the opinions of the others in the library, who let it go just this once as they had caught on to what was happening.
“I don’t even know your name yet, Specs,” Roman said setting him back down.
The stranger laughed lightly, “Logan,” he said “Logan Berry.” They sat in silence staring into each other’s eyes.
Their trance was broken by a wolf whistle, followed by many shushes from annoyed patrons. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything babe.”
Logan stiffened as Roman rolled his eyes, “Actually Remy, you are-” before he could continue, Remy flopped into the seat next to him.
“And who is this fine young thing?” They looked at Logan over their sunglasses.
“Remy, this is my soulmate, Logan, Logan, this is my cousin, Remy.” Roman gestured at each of them when he said their names.
“Soulmates?” Remy whistled again, this time some people decided to leave, realizing there would be no peace. “You’re lucky, girl. Roman is a catch.”
Logan flinched and sat up straighter. “I’m not a girl and I would appreciate it if you would refrain from calling me that.”
Remy kicked their feet up on the table, “No problem babe, I call everyone girl, but I totally get not wanting to be called something.” They gestured to the pins on their jacket reading “They/Them” and the nonbinary flag.
Logan visibly relaxed and was about to speak when someone came over and pushed Remy’s feet off the table.
“You’ve been here for what? Five minutes? And you already got everyone complaining about you?”
Remy’s face lit up as they jumped up to hug the man. “Emile! This is the Roman I was talking about! Oh! And he just met his soulmate, Logan!” At that point, everyone in the library had given up hope of the group being quiet.
Emile smiled and shook his head fondly. He stuck out his hand for Roman to shake. “I’m Emile Picani, I’m Remy’s soulmate.” Roman took his hand and smiled. Emile then turned to Logan. “Do you how do, Lo?”
“I’m good Emile” Logan was much more relaxed now than when Remy showed up.
Roman looked from Logan to Emile, then back to Logan, and asked, “Do you guys know each other?”
Logan smiled and nodded, “I’ve known him for as long as I can remember.”
Emile made a noise of agreement, “He could be my brother, with how much he hangs around my actual brother.”
At the mention of Emile’s brother Logan paled. “Patton.” Roman felt his heart speed up, he was about to reach out for Logan, but Emile was already there. “Emile we have to- Patton- he’s hurt- Emile!” He couldn’t get a full thought out and was hyperventilating again, though Emile seemed to already know what was happening.
“He’s fine, I got a call, he’s okay,” Emile was making a big show of how he was breathing, trying to get Logan to breathe along with him. Logan looked like he was having a hard time getting any breath in at all, he looked up at Emile with pleading eyes. He didn’t say a word but still, Emile knew what to do. He helped Logan stand up and looked back to Remy and Roman and said “We’ll be right back.”
“Wonder why they had to leave,” Roman pondered aloud as he and Remy watched them leave.
“You really haven’t put it together have you?” Remy asked, putting their feet back on the table.
“Put what together?” Roman asked, genuinely confused.
“Not wanting to be called ‘girl’, having trouble breathing” Remy listed out, but Roman continued to look confused. Remy rolled their eyes before explaining, “He’s wearing a binder.”
“Wait, he’s trans? You shouldn’t have told me! He might have wanted to come out on his own!” Roman looked distressed while Remy nonchalantly reached across the table to Logan’s discarded phone.
“He wasn’t hiding it, babe,” They said, sliding the phone over. The case had the trans flag on it. Roman sighed and leaned his head on the table. Remy laughed at him and shook their head.
“I still think you shouldn’t have told me” Roman groaned, head still pressed into the table.
“And I still think you need to be more observant,” Remy countered, swinging their legs back onto the table. “You get so caught up in the eyes of a pretty boy you miss what’s right in front of you.”
“I think I have an excuse this time considering he’s my soulmate,” Roman grumbled out before shooting upright. “Oh my God, he’s my soulmate! Remy! I met my soulmate!” The weight of the events finally hit him making it impossible to remove the smile from his face.
Roman continued to gush to Remy about his soulmate until Logan and Emile returned.
Instead of sitting back down, Logan shoved his binder into his bag before cleaning up all his papers, forcing them haphazardly into his bag in a manner that seemed uncharacteristic to Roman even though they had just met.
“It was great meeting you Roman and I can't wait to get to know you more, but I have to go visit my friend in the hospital” Logan rushed out, panic from before still lingering.
“Is everything all right?” Roman asked.
“Patton is all right now,” Emile answered, placing a comforting hand on Logan’s shoulder. “The call Logan received was pretty unprofessional, and he panicked before they could inform him that everything was fine.”
“I’m glad everything is okay,” Remy said, getting up to give Emile a kiss on the cheek. “Now, don’t keep your brother waiting.”
“Yes let’s get going,” Logan urged, almost pulling Emile towards the door.
“Wait! Can I get your number?” Roman called after him.
“You can get it from Emile from Remy!” Logan didn’t even look back from drugging Emile.
Emile just laughed as he waved, finally starting to walk with Logan, “I’ll text you. See you soon.” And they were out the door.
“Do you think he likes me?” Roman turned to Remy as they sat back down.
“From what Emile has told me, I don’t think Logan is going to fall head over heels in love with you right after your first meeting, but I do think you guys are gonna hit it off great,” Remy smiled at him.
“Right, yeah, who would fall in love that quick,” Roman’s face began turning red.
“You’re already whipped, aren’t you?”
“He’s my soulmate!” Roman became an even darker shade of red as Remy laughed at him. The other patrons of the library returned to shushing them in hopes of some quiet.