Centuries

by Izzyfandoms

Summary:

Prince Roman and his best friend, Logan, were cursed to be forever connected - their thoughts were shared, and hurting one would hurt the other. It didn't take too long for them to get used to that, and one day they were sharing a picnic with their boyfriends, Virgil and Patton, and their other friend, Remy, when Virgil's ex appeared out of nowhere, with a group of bandits, murdering all five of them.

But Logan and Roman came back, reincarnating again and again for centuries, never forgetting the ones they lost; they never stopped loving them, but there was nothing they could do about it.

That was until one day, everything changed.

(INCOMPLETE AND ABANDONED)

Chapter 1: Prologue

It had been a good day so far - the best he'd had in a long time. Prince Roman had finally had a free day to spend with his friends, and he was thoroughly enjoying the time he got to spend with them. He had also finally managed to get used to the irreversible curse which had affected both him and his best friend, Logan, and it had only taken a few months to do so.

Currently, the five friends were having a picnic (Patton's idea) in a forest not far from Roman's castle. He had been sitting next to his boyfriend, Virgil, an ex-thief who was currently engaged in conversation with Remy, one of the royal knights. And although he usually jumped at the opportunity to get involved in conversations and become the centre of attention, today he was content to just sit quietly and admire Virgil. He loved watching as his significant other absentmindedly ran a pale hand through his dark messy hair and adjusted his cloak so it more effectively protected him from the wind. These little actions and how they made his heartbeat increase proved to him just how absolutely in love he was with Virgil.

Logan, Roman's best friend and royal advisor, was quietly conversing with his partner, Patton, the court jester. He was constantly rolling his eyes at the non-stop puns that Patton was throwing at him. Logan did secretly quite enjoy the jokes that Patton made, but he would never admit it out loud (although he had previously admitted it through the telepathic connection which he shared with Roman). He adored every part of Patton: from the joyful sound of his goofy laughter to the smile he always wore and the freckles that covered his whole body. Times like these and how they made him feel proved to him just how absolutely in love he was with Patton.

The atmosphere was full of love and happiness. Everything was calm, everything was peaceful.

Until it wasn't.

Bandits arrived. Their faces were covered by hoods and masks and their eyes were full of malice. One pair of yellow eyes were oddly familiar, but the group didn't have the time to think about that. They didn't have the time to do anything: to properly fight back or flee. They lost.

Roman and Logan were the last to die; but once they saw the bloodstained bodies and dead eyes of their lovers, they didn't care what happened to them. And, due to the curse, when a blade pierced Logan's heart, they both quickly bled to death.

But something happened that no one could have expected.

They came back... they reincarnated.

Chapter 2: Chapter One

He opened his eyes, blinking a few times to try and clear the blurriness.

Where was he... who was he?

What was going on?

He spent a few disorientated minutes looking around, wondering why he didn’t have any control over his body - although, even if he did, he wouldn’t have been able to move due to the worn out blankets wrapped tightly around him. He didn’t know what was going on and he was at a loss as to what to do when, suddenly, a familiar voice spoke up in his head.

‘Roman, are you there?’

Roman... that name... it sounded familiar.

All of a sudden, memories began flooding back. He was Prince Roman of the Sanders Kingdom: eldest son of King Thomas and heir to the throne. He was Prince Roman: winner of hearts and the slayer of the dragon witch. He was... dead. He had died.

But, if he had died, what was he doing there? What was he doing alive and stuck in a tiny body he couldn’t control? And the voice in his head, it was familiar. It was... Logan!

‘Logan! Logan! Is that you?’

‘Yes!’

Roman had never heard Logan’s voice so desperate; he could feel the desperation and fear through the bond they felt. He would usually have been more concerned, but, instead, relief flooded through him. He and Logan had been connected for over a year, they no longer felt like separate people. If he lost Logan... it would be just like losing a part of himself.

‘Oh thank goodness! Logan, what happened? We died! We perished in a fight against bandits!’

‘I noticed, Roman. Unfortunately, I have no idea what’s happened either. I appear to have woken up in the body of an infant, about a week old at most. I presume that you’re in a similar situation?’

Roman glanced down at himself and, sure enough, his new body appeared to only be about a week old as well.

‘Yeah... it’s weird though, I don’t seem to be able to move at all! And it’s not just the blankets wrapped around me!’

‘No, I can’t either. Perhaps this is just what happens when you die? You’re reborn in the body of a child. Reincarnation. I believe that’s what it’s called.’

‘It could be... but it just doesn’t feel like it’s that. And why would our connection and memories remain?’

Logan was silent for a moment before responding with, ‘You do have a point there, Roman.’

Roman mock gasped inside his head, laughing slightly. ‘Did the great Logan just admit that I’m right?’

He could sense the groan coming from Logan before he heard it. ‘It won’t happen again.’

‘Rude.’

They continued to bicker telepathically for a few minutes until it was interrupted by Roman having a sudden realisation.

‘Wait, do you think the others came back too?’

The two held a deafening silence for a moment before Logan responded hesitantly, ‘I... we have no way to tell.’

Roman could feel Logan’s previous confusion (and annoyance) shift into something more pained. He could sense his own feelings shifting to match, but his were more desperate.

‘Of course they did, they had to.’

‘...Roman.’

‘We’ll have to wait to grow up, of course, but we’ll find them. We have to.’

‘Roman.’

‘All of them - Remy, Pat, Virge. We’ll see them again.’ His thoughts were becoming more rapid and desperate.

‘Roman!’

‘...’

‘Roman, we... we can’t just assume that they came back too. And, even if they did, we can’t assume that they’d even remember us. We’re an anomaly, connections like this are incredibly rare, we can’t expect for whatever’s happened to us to happen to them too.’

‘But...’

‘No, Roman. It will do us no good to just waste time hoping to somehow find them again. So, please, just... leave it.’

Roman stayed silent this time, but both of them could sense that he wasn’t going to let go of his hope. He had always been the dreamer of the group, the fanciful one with unattainable hopes and dreams, so he wasn’t going to let go of this.

Roman was going to find Virgil, they’d be together again in this new life, he just had to find him.

The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months and the months turned to years. Eventually, Roman and Logan had full control over their new bodies, fusing completely with the souls that originally had control.

They learnt that they had been reborn just after their first deaths, but in a kingdom far away from it. Logan was born into a rich family, Roman into a poor one. The two met up when they could and they searched for days and weeks at a time for their friend and lovers, but, unfortunately, they could never find them.

It wasn’t long before the duo died again, Roman caught an incurable disease and when he died of it, so did Logan.

And it happened again.

They reincarnated.

Again and again and again and again.

Sometimes they were born on opposite sides of the world, sometimes they were born as siblings. But they always had the connection.

And they never found the others.

This continued to happen until they reached modern day. Magic had almost died out, although Logan had learnt to practise bits of it, and they had become used to this constant reincarnation... and used to the knowledge that they’d never see Virgil, Patton or Remy again.

Until one day, something changed.

 

Chapter 3: Chapter Two

It was just a normal day... at least, that’s what Roman had thought when he woke up.

Although it was a Saturday, so neither of them worked that day, Logan still got up bright and early, just like he did on every other day of the week. He had been sitting at their kitchen table, sipping coffee and reading a book about space, when Roman walked in. He was dressed in his pristine white prince outfit and gave Logan a wide grin when he stepped in the room.

"Morning, Nerd, did you make me coffee too?"

They both preferred to talk out loud to keep up the illusion of normality. That is, unless they had some reason not to.

Logan didn’t look up from his book or open his mouth to respond and he instead replied telepathically: ‘No, I didn’t think you’d be up so early. You’re not needed at the theatre today.’

Usually, Roman would complain over-dramatically in situations like this, but he could sense Logan building up an internal wall between them. He was hiding something. So, as Roman moved around their slightly cramped kitchen, making his coffee and humming a Disney song, he searched his brain for the reason as to why Logan felt this way.

When he realised, he nearly dropped his mug in shock.

Roman sent feelings of concern and sympathy to Logan as he spun around to face him, taking note of the way Logan’s hands clutched the book tightly, as if it would just disappear if he let go. "I’m so sorry."

‘It’s fine.’

"No, really, I should have realised it’s today."

Logan still didn’t look up. ‘It’s okay.’

"I should have remembered. How could I have forgotten? I always remember it! Just as you always remember mine!" Roman leaned back on the counter behind him and ran a hand through his hair. "I’m so sorry, Logan."

This seemed to be the last straw for Logan as he dropped the book and stood up, glaring at Roman as he snapped. "I said it’s fine, Roman." There was a beat of silence before his gaze and his voice softened. "I... I just..."

The wall he had built between the two crashed and Roman felt an almost overwhelming wave of grief and sadness hit him all at once.

Logan pushed his glasses up his nose, hoping they would hide the tears forming in his eyes. ‘I just miss him so much.’

Roman moved forward to pull him into a tight hug. ‘I know, so do I.’

They stayed like that for a few minutes, their connection more open than usual as feelings and memories of the past flowed freely between them and tears flowed freely down their faces.

"Happy anniversary. I just wish Patton was here to spend it with you."

A loud sob was heard, followed by a voice replying shakily. "Me too."

After a few moments, Logan pulled away, grabbing two tissues from the box on the table and giving one to Roman before drying his own eyes with the other. He then stood up straight and spoke again, trying to make his voice more serious and emotionless.

"It won’t do me any good to dwell on the past." He ignored the look Roman gave him. "I should just try to forget about him and move on. That’s the most logical thing to do."

"Logan..."

"No, Roman, you can’t change my mind."

Roman sighed, he knew that Logan wouldn’t give in easily, especially not on a day like today, so the best course of action seemed to be to leave the subject alone. He wouldn’t let Logan just give up, but this was a conversation for another day. So, he used his sleeve to wipe away any leftover tears and plastered the (fake) smile back onto his face.

"Well then, what are we doing today?" Roman began, and when Logan opened his mouth to answer, he continued. "And no, I’m not letting you stay home and mark homework all day. We’re going out. Let’s live this life to the fullest, who knows where we’ll end up next."

Logan looked like he was about to argue, and he usually would, but, instead, he just sighed and agreed. "Fine, just let me get dressed first." He gestured to the crumpled pyjamas he was currently wearing.

Roman laughed and joked. "No, you have to come on a walk dressed just like that."

It took Logan a few moments to realise that it was sarcasm and, when he did, he just rolled his eyes at Roman and turned away to walk back to his bedroom to change.

When he returned, he saw Roman laying on the couch, taking up the whole thing and typing something on his phone. Through the connection, he knew that Roman was texting one of his friends from work, someone named Valerie. They were probably just having a casual conversation that Logan had no interest in, so he didn’t pay the conversation itself much attention, but he did have one question for Roman.

"Why?"

Roman glanced over his phone at Logan. "What?"

"Why do you waste time making friends? We’re going to die soon anyway, there’s no point befriending people. You’ll just lose them in the end."

Normally, Roman would have gotten defensive, the duo bickered about things like this all the time. But, he knew that today wasn’t the day for that. So, instead, his voice softened and he put his phone down.

"You’re right. We will die soon and I will lose all my friends in the end, I know that. But that doesn’t mean I should stop making friends." All of a sudden, he leapt over the back of the couch to stand next to Logan and put his hands on the shorter man’s shoulders. "We can’t let this control our lives. No matter what’s happening to us, we can still live our lives. We can still pursue our dreams and make friends. We can’t let this stop us."

Logan paused for a second before sighing reluctantly. "I suppose you’re right-"

"I know I am." Roman smiled smugly and Logan almost wanted to take it back. "Now, we’re going to go on a walk to clear our heads, so go change and then we can go."

"Okay- wait... why do I have to change?" Logan looked down at himself, he was wearing a blue polo shirt, a black tie and black trousers. "I’m already dressed."

"You can’t go out like that! You look like a teacher."

A confused look was starting to form on Logan’s face as he looked up at Roman. "But, Roman, I am a teacher."

Roman gave a long exaggerated sigh. "Fine, but don’t blame me if you realise that that’s not the outfit to go on a walk in. People will judge you."

"Says the fully grown man dressed up like a Disney prince." Logan responded dryly, arms crossed.

It took fifteen minutes of bickering for them to finally leave the house and start walking. Eventually, they reached a small nearby park by a pond that reminded them of a pond in the courtyard of Roman’s old castle. The one from their first life. It was sometimes painful to visit there, considering how similar it looked to the original, but the happy memories it brought back made it worth it.

‘Patton and I had our first date by that pond.’

Roman turned to look at Logan and, when he saw the tears forming in the other man’s eyes, he grabbed his best friend’s hand and squeezed it. He already knew this story, but he listened anyway.

‘Remember? I had finally summoned enough courage to tell him how I felt, after months of you annoying me about it.’ Logan removed his glasses to wipe his eyes with his hand before replacing them back on his face. ‘I told him on this day, three years before we died. We spent the rest of that day by the pond together.’

Roman squeezed his hand again and was about to reply telepathically when they heard something behind them.

"Gurl, you will not believe what I just heard!" That voice... it sounded very familiar. "She was, like, totally cheating on him. But then he found out and cheated on her with, get this, her brother. I know! I know! TBH I would too if I was him, but I would, like, never have gotten together with someone like her in the first place. Cos, like, I’ve still got standards."

Roman and Logan glanced at each other in shock before Logan let go of Roman’s hand and they both spun around quickly. Pacing back and forth by a nearby tree was a very familiar looking man talking loudly on his phone. They hadn’t seen him in years, centuries even, and, even though he was clutching a Starbucks cup and wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses (instead of being dressed like a knight and holding a sword), they recognised him immediately.

The man stopped walking suddenly and went silent for a second, looking around himself suspiciously. His eyes passed over Logan and Roman as if they weren’t even there before he started talking again.

"I have like no idea where I am." He then continued to converse with whoever was on the other end of the phone like nothing had happened.

But something had happened. Logan and Roman recognised him and both of them had gone silent: questions and exclamations moving rapidly throughout their connected minds.

It was Remy.

 

Chapter 4: Chapter Three

Logan and Roman stood in shocked silence.

‘It can’t be... that’s impossible...’ Roman thought in disbelief. ‘That can’t be him, right? I thought they didn’t reincarnate with us. Does this mean... the others...’

‘He doesn’t remember us.’

‘What?’ Roman glanced quickly at Logan.

‘Look at him, he glanced over us like we’re just strangers.’ Logan adjusted his glasses. ‘And we both know that Remy was never one for subtlety; if he recognised us, we would know.’

Roman visibly deflated. ‘Which means...’

‘If Patton and Virgil reincarnated too, they wouldn’t remember us.’

The duo were too distracted with their conversation to notice Remy ending his phone call, despite the fact that they were staring right at him. He interrupted their thoughts with, "Take a picture, it’ll last longer."

"What?" Logan responded, a confused look on his face (that Roman matched).

Remy took a long sip from his Starbucks before continuing. "You were staring." He took another sip. "TBH I get why, I’m, like hot AF, but I have a boyfriend. His name is Emile and he’s like totally the best guy ever so-"

"No no no! I think you got the wrong idea, Remy, we weren’t staring to hit on you we were..." Roman looked helplessly at Logan, the two scrambling to come up with an excuse.

Remy glanced suspiciously at them over his sunglasses. "How did you know my name?"

‘Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.’ This repeated over and over in Roman’s head.

‘Calm down.’ Logan thought, before cutting off Roman’s thoughts from his own to help himself concentrate.

"We, uh..." Roman started as Remy continued to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"We overheard you say it on your phone."

Remy took another very long sip of his drink, not taking his eyes off of the two of them as he did so. When he was done, he paused for a painfully long moment and said, "I said my own name whilst on the phone to my boyfriend?"

"Uh... yes?"

He paused again. "Okay, I guess that makes sense." Remy then went to take another sip of his drink but pouted when he realised it was empty. "Damn, I guess I’m, like, gonna have to go get another one then."

He turned around, starting to walk off, and Logan and Roman gave each other panicked looks. They couldn’t lose him, not again. He could be their only key to finding Patton and Virgil.

Impulsively, Roman leapt forward and grabbed Remy’s shoulder, causing him to turn around, push the arm off of his shoulder and give Roman a slightly irritated look.

‘Well done, Roman, now he’s annoyed at us.’ Logan thought sarcastically.

‘Shh, I got this!’

"What?" Remy said, eyebrows raised.

"Uhh... I... I just wanted to... give you my number! Yeah, that’s it! I wanted to give you my number!"

Remy sighed, putting a hand on his hip. "Okay so, you’re, like, cute and all, but I have a boyfriend and he’s, like, a million times cuter than both of you combined."

"That’s not what I meant! I mean, you already told us that you have a boyfriend. I just thought that we should hang out sometime."

‘It’s not going to work.’

‘Shh! You’re distracting me!’

Logan crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as Roman smiled awkwardly at Remy.

"Hmm... okay." Remy pulled his phone out of his pocket. "What’s your number?"

Only just holding back a grin, Roman recited both his phone number and Logan’s and Remy typed them in one-handed before putting his phone back in his pocket and turning around to walk off.

"Later, girls!"

Roman turned to look at Logan, eyes shining. "We found him."

About an hour later, the two were back home. Logan was sitting on the couch as Roman paced back and forth in front of him.

"I just- I can’t believe it!" Roman grinned at Logan. "We found him! That means the others could be out there too. I could find Virgil and we could be together again; you could find Patton!"

"But they won’t remember us." Logan had his arms crossed. "Remy didn’t, so they won’t either."

"We don’t know that for sure! We can’t be certain that they won’t, we have to have hope!"

"But what’s the point of hoping. The outcome will be the same either way. It makes much more sense to think logically about this."

Roman began to start pacing again before freezing on the spot. "You’ve been relearning magic."

"What?"

He turned to face Logan, eyes shining. "You’ve been relearning magic, haven’t you?"

"I- well, yes. But I don’t see your point."

"You have magic, so you can cast a memory spell, right?"

A look of realisation appeared on Logan’s face. "So you’re saying that if we find them-"

"When we find them."

"If we find them, you’re saying I should cast a spell on them to restore their memories?"

"Yes!" Roman moved forward and put his hands on Logan’s shoulders. "Can you do it?"

"Well..." He looked in thought for a moment. "I suppose, but-"

"Yes!" Roman yelled, jumping up in excitement. "We can be reunited with our lost loves and live happily ever after! Finally, we’ve been waiting for this for so long-"

"Roman!" Logan snapped, making Roman look at him in surprise. He then sighed. "I would need to find the right spell book for a spell of that magnitude. It’s one thing to do a memory spell of an event that happened a couple years ago, which I can do relatively easily, but it’s another thing entirely to get someone to recall a past life from centuries ago."

"Well then we just have to find a spell book then! That shouldn’t be too hard!"

"No, Roman, you don’t seem to understand what I’m getting at here. Do you know how many spell books I’ve found in our last twelve lifetimes?"

"Uhh... many?"

"Six. I currently own three of them, two of them burnt in the apartment fire that killed us in our last life and one of them went missing in between the last life and this one. None of my current spell books have the right memory spell and who knows if one with the spell we’re looking for even still exists?"

Roman visibly deflated. "But it’s still possible, right?"

Logan paused, sighing, "Well, I guess, but-" he glared at Roman, who was about to interrupt, "We need to find them first."

"We can do it, I know we can!" Roman stood up straight. "We start tonight!"

He then walked quickly out of the room, a confident smile on his face, leaving Logan to sigh in exasperation before getting up to follow him.

 

Chapter 5: Chapter Four

It had been a few weeks since the day that they had first seen Remy and they hadn’t made any progress in finding Patton, Virgil or the right spell book. However, they had made progress in their new friendship with Remy, despite the slight disaster that was their first meeting.

Currently, Logan and Roman were in their kitchen, hanging out with Remy and his boyfriend, Emile.

"Then he, like, totally cheated on both of them with their other sister." Remy said, sitting on the kitchen counter and taking a break to sip his Starbucks. "And that’s why I had to save my 8-year-old neighbour from being attacked by three 7 to 9 year old girls last Tuesday."

"Well that’s, uh, interesting, Sweetheart." Emile smiled awkwardly at his boyfriend, before checking his watch and gasping. "I’m late!"

"Late for what?" Roman asked, watching Emile look around hurriedly for his cardigan before being handed it by Logan.

"An appointment!" He pulled the cardigan on lopsided before quickly kissing Remy’s cheek and rushing out of the house.

The room was silent for a moment before Remy started laughing. At Roman and Logan’s confused looks, he explained. "Look," he pointed to the bag, Emile’s bag, that was laying next to him. "He left, like, all his things behind."

Roman snorted whilst Logan said, "Maybe you should go bring it to him; there could be something important in there that he may need for his appointment."

Remy hummed in thought for a moment before shaking his head and pulling out his phone. "Nah, I’ll just text him."

He put his sunglasses on his head and then began to text one-handed.

‘He seems happy.’ Roman thought, glancing at Logan with a slight smile on his face.

‘I agree, the two of them do make quite the happy couple.’

Roman’s smile turned slightly sadder and he sighed without meaning to.

"You good, girl?"

"Uhh..." Roman was about to make up some kind of excuse when he was saved by the bell, literally. At the sound of the doorbell, Roman perked up. "Ooh! The pizza’s here!"

He then searched his pockets, coming up with nothing. "Shit, I have no change."

"Neither." Remy replied.

The two then looked to Logan who sighed, grabbing his wallet off of the counter and saying, "I hate both of you," as he walked out of the kitchen and to the front door.

A few minutes later, Logan walked back into the room carrying a couple boxes of pizza.

"Yes, gimme!" Remy grinned, hopping off the counter and grabbing one of the pizza boxes and opening it.

‘You will pay me back this time.’ Logan thought, looking pointedly at Roman.

‘Why? We’re practically the same person now anyway. You know, with the connection and all that stuff.’ Roman responded, stuffing his face with a slice of pizza.

Logan raised his eyebrows at Roman. ‘I still want my money back.’

Roman sighed (which sounded quite odd with a mouth full of pizza) before thinking back to Logan, ‘Ugh, fine.’

Unbeknownst to them, Remy was leaning on the counter, watching them with an amused look on his face. "You know, sometimes you guys just stare at each other for a solid few minutes, like you’re having some kind of, I don’t know, mental conversation or something. It’s kinda funny actually."

Roman and Logan gave each other slight concerned looks before Roman laughed awkwardly. "I have no idea what you’re talking about." He then stuffed another slice of pizza in his mouth.

There was a moment of silence before Logan began to dig around in the cupboards and drawers, bringing out a plate and a knife and fork.

"Wait, girl, are you seriously about to eat pizza with a knife and fork."

With a mouth full of pizza, Roman attempted to say, "Yeah, he always does that." But the words came out more mangled than intended, and neither Remy nor Logan were able to really decipher them.

Picking up and placing a slice of pizza on his plate, Logan added. "It just makes sense; it’s easier to eat it this way and it makes a lot less mess, therefore making it a lot more practical.

Roman just rolled his eyes in response and, when he had finally finished his slice, replied with, "Whatever, nerd."

The trio ate mostly in silence for the next few minutes, with Roman and Remy occasionally saying a few short things, but no conversation really started.

However, everything changed when Roman’s phone went off, loudly playing one of his favourite Disney songs. The sudden music made Logan jump and the hand that was holding the knife jolted and accidentally stabbed his other hand. Blood started dripping from the wound immediately and, because of the connection, the same wound immediately appeared on Roman’s hand. They both then yelped in pain before giving each other alarmed looks.

Remy’s eyes widened as he looked between Logan and Roman. "Uh..."

Because of the panic, the connection between Roman and Logan opened wider than usual and they both spoke in unison. "Oh shit! I mean, uh..." They gave each other worried glances before turning back to Remy. "Surprise?"

Remy glanced at the door, a confused and panicked look apparent on his face. He started to edge slightly closer to the door.

"No, wait!" Roman and Logan stepped forward and spoke in unison again, before looking at each other and coming to some kind of silent agreement.

Logan stepped back as Roman calmly said, "Don’t freak out, okay? We can explain."

Remy didn’t say anything, so Roman continued. "So, uh," he paused for a moment to think. "Magic exists, but, like, barely anybody knows about it anymore. Also, Logan and I have this connection where we can read each other’s minds and get each other’s injuries. Oh, and we were born centuries ago we just keep reincarnating."

Logan rolled his eyes. ‘Eloquent as ever, Roman.’

Roman turned to glare at Logan. ‘Shut up, it’s not like you could do any better.’

‘I could have done so much better than that.’

‘I’d like to see you try.’

‘Well, now I can’t since you already messed this up.’

"Are you guys, like, talking right now? With that weird mental thing you talked about?"

"Wait, you believe us?" Roman said incredulously, and both he and Logan looked at Remy in confusion.

Remy just shrugged, "Eh, why not?"

"Huh, okay then." Roman hadn’t thought that this would be so easy. "Anyway, we hadn’t realised that you had been reincarnated too until we saw you in the park a couple weeks ago."

"Okay- wait, what?"

"What Roman failed to mention was that you were also alive in our first life and died around the same time that we did. We had just assumed that none of you guys had reincarnated with us as we never saw any of you."

"Wait, so, like, first of all, who else was there?" Remy looked surprisingly chill whilst saying this, and he was currently leaning back on the counter with his arms crossed.

Roman and Logan’s expressions turned slightly sadder. "Their names were Patton and Virgil. Patton and Logan were together, as were Virgil and I."

"Oh..."

There were a few beats of silence before Logan spoke up. "You know, I may be able to show you a few memories from the first life. I wouldn’t be able to return very many, unfortunately, but perhaps enough to be able to verify what he had just told you."

"Hmm... okay, sure."

Logan smiled slightly, adjusting his glasses. "Well then, let’s begin."

 

Chapter 6: Chapter Five

Almost half an hour had passed since the accidental reveal and the trio were now sitting in a circle on the living room floor. All the furniture had been pushed to the edges of the room and Logan was flipping through the pages of one of his spell books, muttering to himself quietly as he did.

Roman opened his mouth to ask something, but he was interrupted by Logan slamming the book to the floor and pointing at the page it was open to. "There! That’s the spell that we want. It will show you a few memories from our first life, provided that Roman and I were there too."

"Aren’t there any spells that, like, fully bring back memories?"

"Well, yes, those spells do exist, but, unfortunately, Roman and I haven’t come across any spell books that contain the right one." Logan adjusted his glasses and frowned. "Spell books are very much a rarity these days, so it may take some time to find the right one, if we ever do."

"Hmm... well maybe I could ask Emile. He’s got, like, so many different spell books in his house, it’s crazy." Remy said casually and after a beat of silence he noticed the shocked looks on their faces, he added. "What?"

"Emile has spell books?" Logan said incredulously. "Can he do magic? Why didn’t you tell us?!"

Remy shrugged. "IDK, I didn’t, like, think it was necessary. Plus he can’t really, like, do magic, but I think his grandparents could."

"So is that why you weren’t that shocked when we told you about our past?" Roman asked.

"Well, yeah, but I don’t think I would have been THAT surprised anyway. I’ve seen all kinds of crazy shit before, magic wouldn’t have been THAT had to believe."

"Okay... but you said he has spell books?"

"Yeah, he’s got, like, shelves of them. Why?"

"One of those spell books could have a full memory restoration spell!" Roman said excitedly. "And that would mean that we can fully restore your memory and Virgil’s and Patton’s when we find them!"

"If we find them." Logan mumbled, but he stopped when Roman glared at him. He cleared his throat and sat up properly. "We’ll talk to Emile about this when we see him next. Now, Remy, are you ready to see some of our old memories?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay." Logan held out his hands to Remy, on his left, and Roman, on his right. "We must be making physical contact for this spell to work, and holding hands is the easiest way to do that. Then, everyone must close their eyes as I recite the words. I’ll focus on retrieving the memories, so all you’ll need to do is keep your mind clear."

Roman and Remy did as instructed, taking the hands on their left and right and closing their eyes. As soon as Logan said the words, they were pulled into the first memory: the memory of the first time Roman and Remy met Logan.

The duo had been waiting for the new royal advisor to arrive for the past half hour and they were getting quite bored.

"Why am I even here? You don’t even need me to meet the new advisor. I’m bored." Remy whined, leaning against the wall and fiddling with his sword.

"That’s why I need you here! Royal advisors are always just so BORING, so I need you here so I don’t get bored to death by this guy."

"Well, I apologise if I bore you to death, your highness." A new voice said dryly, and both Remy and Roman spun around to face him. Standing there was Logan, watching them with his arms crossed. He then sighed and held out his hand for Roman to shake. "My name is Logan Abbott, your new royal advisor."

Roman paused for a moment in surprise, before taking and roughly shaking Logan’s hand. "Well, I’m sure you already know who I am, but this is my best friend Remy, one of the royal knights." He then dropped Logan’s hand, making him stumble, almost falling over, and grinned. "You seem pretty cool for a nerd."

"Uh, thank you? I think?" Logan said, looking a bit confused but going along with it.

There was a moment of silence before the door opened and someone stepped into the room, jumping in surprise when he saw that there were already three people there.

"Oh, sorry! I didn’t know anyone else was in here, I’ll go!

"Patton!" Roman exclaimed, grabbing Patton’s hand and pulling him further into the room to introduce him to Logan.

"This is one of my other best friends, Patton, he’s one of the court jesters. Pat, this is the new royal advisor, Logan."

"Hi! It’s nice to meet you!" Patton said, waving.

A slight blush had formed on Logan’s face as he said, "Uh, h-hello."

Patton smiled at him before his eyes widened and he turned to Roman. "Oh no! I have to go! I need to practise for the big event next week!"

He rushed over the door, pulling it open and turning to give Logan one last smile before leaving.

There was a second of silence before Remy snorted. Logan and Roman turned to him and he said, "Looks like the nerd’s got a crush on Patton."

"What?" He exclaimed, his blush increasing. "N-no I don’t!"

"Oh my god, he totally does!"

The memory faded away and Remy, Roman and Logan opened their eyes.

"Wow..." Remy said. "So I guess that was Patton?"

Logan nodded, frowning.

"Okay..." The trio was quiet for a few moments before Remy turned to look at Roman. "What about Virgil? How did we meet him?"

"Well, it’s a long story, but I suppose that that would be a good memory to look at next." Logan said. "Both of you, close your eyes again."

They did as they were told and they were all soon swept up into another memory. This one was set quite a few months after the last.

Roman, Remy, Logan and Patton were on a walk. The latter two had just recently gotten into a relationship and were holding hands, a slight blush apparent on both of their faces. They were wandering through the woods nearby the local village, when they heard movement behind a nearby tree.

They all turned to look at it and Logan looked to Remy and said, "You should go check that out."

"What? Why me?"

"You’re the knight, Remy."

Remy sighed in annoyance, unsheathing his sword and stepped towards the tree. "Show yourself!"

A moment later, someone stepped out from behind the tree, both hands up in surrender, one of which clutching a half-full sack. His face was hidden by a dark cloak.

"Who are you?" Roman said loudly, moving forward to stand next to Remy. "Show us your face!"

Slowly, the man reached up with his free hand and pushed the hood of the cloak back, revealing a pale face and a head of messy dark brown hair. "My name is Virgil Prince."

Roman was silent for a moment, experiencing a minor crisis at how attractive this guy was. Remy glanced at him, smirking slightly when he realised what was happening. Logan and Patton also realised what was going on, Logan rolling his eyes in response and Patton giggling.

Roman glared at his friends and stood up straighter, putting on his princely voice again. "And what’s in the bag, Virgil?"

"Stuff."

Roman narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Hand it over."

Eyeing the sword that Remy was pointing at him, Virgil reluctantly handed up over. Roman reached inside, pulling out handfuls of jewellery and gold coins.

"Did you steal this?" He asked accusingly.

Virgil stayed silent, just glaring at the group with his hands still up in surrender.

"So you did steal them! You’re a thief!" Roman exclaimed.

"What should we do with him?" Logan said, subconsciously moving in front of Patton to protect him. "Perhaps we should bring him to the castle?"

Virgil’s eyes widened. "Please don’t! I- I can’t..."

"Can’t what?”

He hesitated for a moment, before sighing. "Look, I’ll return what I stole, just, please, let me go."

"And why should we do that?" Roman exclaimed, stepping forward.

"I just- I don’t want HIM to find me."

"Him?"

"My fiancé." Virgil said, and at the confused looks of the others, he sighed and continued. "My parents were, well, they used to be quite well known and rich in my kingdom. But then, my father lost most of our money, we owed a lot to a lot of people. So, their solution was to marry me off to someone rich. I ran away a couple months ago, the day before the wedding."

"But, how-" Logan started.

"It’s legal in my kingdom, that’s why I ran to this one, where things like that aren’t allowed. I’ve stayed hidden because I know he’s looking for me."

"And what’s your fiancé’s name?"

"Janus Faux."

A look of recognition appeared on all of their faces. He was quite well known across the nearby kingdoms, and not for very good reasons (not that anything could ever be proved). Remy lowered his sword, but said nothing. He, Logan and Patton all looked to Roman for what to do.

"Please... let me go, you can return the items. I just don’t want him to find me."

"Well, we just can’t let that happen." Roman said, using his princely voice once again. "We’ll hide you in the palace!"

"Are you sure that’s-" Logan started, only to be interrupted by Patton stepping out from behind him.

"That’s a great idea! There’s so many rooms, I’m sure we could find one for you!"

Virgil’s eyes widened. "You... why?"

"Well, why not?" Roman stepped forward and put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder, grinning at him.

Logan sighed. "What will your father think of this?"

Roman shrugged, not looking away from Virgil. "We just won’t tell him."

Again, the memory faded away and the trio opened their eyes. Remy glanced at Roman and Logan, who were both looking down and Roman was smiling sadly.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we’re okay. We’re just... tired." Roman sighed.

"Did your father ever find out about Virgil?" Remy asked, and Roman laughed.

"Of course he did. It was only a few weeks after we met him, too." His sad smile returned. "But my father was a kind man and he let Virgil stay. He was also immediately accepting of us when we got together." Roman sighed. "I miss them."

There was a beat of silence before Logan looked up at Remy. "Is there anything else you would like to see? I have just enough energy for one more memory."

Remy thought about it, before saying, "How did we die?"

Logan and Roman glanced at each other, before Logan asked, "Is that what you want to see."

Remy nodded, so they all closed their eyes again, and were soon pulled into the memory.

It was a few years after the last memory, and the group was sitting in a small clearing in the woods, close to where they first met Virgil, having a picnic. It was Patton’s idea, of course, but the others didn’t take much convincing to go along with it.

"We can’t stay here for too long, Patton, we do all still have work to do." Logan said; he was about to continue but Patton had picked up and stuffed a piece of cake into Logan’s mouth.

"Shh, let us have a few hours to relax. Your work will still be there when you return." Patton smiled, brushing off a few crumbs from Logan’s face. "And I’m sure you’ll get through it all quickly, it’ll be a PIECE OF CAKE!" Patton giggled.

Logan rolled his eyes and mock glared at him for the joke.

"Quiet, nerd. As your prince, I order you to stop complaining." Roman exclaimed, throwing his arm around Virgil’s shoulders. "We deserve a break. Don’t you agree, my love?"

Virgil rolled his eyes and shrugged, absent-mindedly leaning on Roman. He put his chin on Virgil’s head in response, pulling him into a proper hug.

"Yeah, you should just, like, chill out." Remy said, leaning back on one hand and picking up a sandwich with the other.

When Logan finished his mouthful of cake, he sighed. "Fine."

For the next hour or so, the group just relaxed, talking about a range of topics as they snacked on the food that they had brought.

Remy and Virgil had just started a conversation about all of the gossip that Remy had heard from the other knights and Roman was just quietly admiring Virgil.

After a few minutes, Virgil looked up at Roman. "What are you looking at?"

"You."

Roman then pulled his now-blushing boyfriend into a kiss, but they were RUDELY interrupted by Remy speaking up.

"Eww, affection."

"I walked in on you making out with three separate guards on three separate occasions yesterday alone, Remy. You can’t talk." Logan said; he would have had his arms crossed, but they were currently wrapped around Patton’s waist, who was half-sitting in his lap.

"Yeah, but I wasn’t, like, cute about it."

"I’m not cute..." mumbled Virgil as he put his head on Roman’s shoulder.

Roman laughed, and was about to disagree, when they heard someone behind them.

"I’d have to agree." A smooth unfamiliar voice said.

They all spun around to look at the owner of the voice. It was a tall man with dark hair, oddly familiar yellow eyes and black mask covering most of his face. Behind him were a dozen more masked men; all of them were holding weapons.

The group all immediately jumped up, Remy and Roman standing protectively in front of the other three, unsheathing their swords.

"Who are you?" Roman growled, glaring at the man.

"Does it matter?" The man grinned, before saying to the people behind him. "Kill them."

He stepped back as the others moved forward and Roman’s eyes widened as he quickly turned to Logan.

‘Run. Take Virgil and Patton with you. Get them to the castle.’ He thought to Logan.

‘No , we can’t leave you!’

‘Just go!’

Roman turned to face the enemies again and his eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

It was Remy.

There was a sword through his throat.

The man who stabbed him pulled it out with a sickening squelch and Remy collapsed to the ground. The blood and the life drained out of his body.

"No..." Roman whispered, feeling bile build up in the back of his throat.

His best friend... dead.

His horror turned to anger as he looked up at the men with a menacing glare on his face. "You killed him."

"Yes, I would have thought that that would have been obvious." The leader smirked, not a trace of guilt on his face.

"You’ll pay for that." He ran forward and began to fight. He didn’t know if Virgil, Patton and Logan were still there, but he hoped that they weren’t. He hoped that they were safe. Roman couldn’t hear them, so he had assumed that they had left.

That was until he heard a scream behind him. He turned to look and nearly threw up when he saw the knife through Patton’s chest.

Patton fell forwards onto Logan, getting blood all over both of them. He grabbed Logan’s face, kissing him hard before breaking away and whispering, "I love you," and collapsing to the ground.

Logan fell to his knees, clutching Patton’s now-lifeless body to his chest. Virgil stood there in horror, slowly stepping back until his back suddenly hit someone’s chest. It was the yellow-eyed man. Before Virgil could escape, the man was holding a knife to his throat.

Roman was surrounded, unable to do anything as the man he loved had something whispered in his ear (that made his eyes widen with fear). Virgil looked at Roman and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’, before his throat was slit and he too collapsed to the ground.

The overwhelming emotional pain moving through the connection was too much. They both gave in.

The yellow-eyed man got to Logan first and, due to the curse, when the blade pierced his heart, they both bled to death.

They were pulled out of the memory when the two died. Their eyes all snapped open; all three of them were crying.

They were all silent, nothing could be heard apart from the occasional sob. After a minute of this, Remy reached up and wiped his tears with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Well, that was fun." He joked, his voice still thick from crying.

"At least now you know about your past." Logan said, taking off his glasses to brush away his own tears.

"Yeah..."

They all went quiet again, lost in thought, until the silence was suddenly broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. They all jumped up, still tense from the memories of their deaths.

The three glanced at each other, unsure of what to do until Logan said. "It’s probably Emile, he left his bag here, remember?"

They all then visibly relaxed and made their way towards the front door. Roman opened it and, as Logan had suspected, it was Emile.

"Hey, I think I lef- wait, are you guys crying?" Emile’s eyes widened. He stepped inside and grabbed Remy’s hand, looking at all three of them in concern.

"It’s a long story."

 

Chapter 7: Chapter Six

A few months had passed since Remy and Emile had discovered the big secret, and the group had started spending a lot more time together since then.

Logan and Emile had been searching through spell books, but so far they had only made it halfway through Emile’s collection. There were dozens and dozens of books, many of which were in foreign languages that they needed to translate, so this was taking up a large chunk of their time.

Meanwhile, Roman and Remy were searching for Virgil and Patton. They had spent hours looking around online and even longer just wandering around the area. But nothing worked, they couldn’t find anything.

They had spent the whole day searching, but they couldn’t find anything, and Roman was starting to lose faith. Emile and Logan were sitting at their kitchen table, slowing working their way through translating a spell, and Remy was scrolling through his phone, looking for any social media accounts that could belong to the missing pair.

Roman sighed, standing up and attracting the attention of the others. "I’m going out."

"It’s late: even if either of them lived nearby, I doubt they would be wandering the streets at this time of night." Logan didn’t even look up from the book as he said this. He instead turned another page, his eyebrows furrowing as he read whatever was on it.

"I’m not going out to look for them, I’m getting a drink."

This did make Logan look up in slight concern.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’ Roman walked out of the room, pulling his coat and boots on, before stepping out of the front door.

A few minutes later, he was walking down the street, hands in his pockets, lost in thought. He had blocked his feelings off from Logan’s, making sure the other man’s mood didn’t get negatively affected by his own. Eventually, he reached the place he was looking for, and he stepped inside.

There was chatter everywhere and the air smelled faintly of alcohol. Roman took a deep breath and walked over to the bar, sitting down on one of the empty stools. He ordered a drink and once he got it, he began to drink it slowly, once again lost in thoughts about Virgil, Patton and their first life.

He was so lost and distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone approaching the bar and sitting down next to him. That was, until the man spoke up, getting his own drink from the bartender. Roman’s eyes widened, he recognised that voice.

His head shot up and his jaw dropped when he saw the man’s face.

It was Virgil.

Roman had been staring for a few seconds, before Virgil looked up at him and said harshly, "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, uh, nothing." He stammered, his face turning red.

"Uh, okay then." Virgil said, picking up his drink and taking a sip.

Roman could feel his heartbeat increasing and he was having trouble keeping a grin off of his face.

‘Roman? What happened? I can sense your heartbeat increasing, did something happen?’ He heard Logan’s concerned voice ringing in his head.

‘It’s Virgil.’

‘What?!’

‘I found him. He doesn’t recognise me, but I found him!’

‘I... wow... well, you’d better go talk to him then. Keep me updated.’

‘Of course!’

"Okay, seriously, why are you staring at me?" Roman snapped out of his daze and found Virgil glaring at him.

"Oh, uh..." Roman scrambled to find some kind of excuse, using the first thing that came to mind. "It’s... your hair! Yes, your hair! It’s just, uh, really cool."

Virgil looked at him sceptically. "Okay... thanks, I guess?"

It was partially true, at least. Virgil’s hair did look cool: similar to what it used to be, but more styled and with the front hair dyed purple. The hair, along with the multiple piercings in Virgil’s ears, made Roman even more flustered. Virgil was attractive before, but damn, that look suited him.

There was a moment of silence, before Roman reached out his right hand for Virgil to shake. "I’m Roman."

Virgil hesitated for a moment before slowly shaking Roman’s hand. "Virgil."

"So, uh, Virgil, what are you doing here?"

"Getting a drink." He said, with a ‘duh’ tone of voice.

"Oh, and are you... waiting for anyone?" Roman ran a hand through his hair anxiously. Maybe... just maybe... he knew Patton?

"Yeah, I’m waiting for my husband."

Roman froze. Husband? Virgil was in love with someone else?

A sickly feeling suddenly built up in the pit of his stomach as he realised something. This husband... could it be the one Virgil had been engaged to in their first life? Janus Faux?

He blocked off the connection with Logan. He couldn’t tell him this... not yet, not until he knew anything for sure.

Roman shakily took a deep breath. If this was true, Janus had reincarnated too and had married Virgil, what should he do? He had to save him. Janus was the reason they had all died in their first life, Roman couldn’t just leave Virgil with him now.

He was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn’t hear someone enter the bar and sit down next to Virgil until Virgil spoke up.

"Hey, Roman, this is my husband, the one I was telling you about."

His head shot up and his heart stopped when he saw who Virgil’s husband really was.

"Hi! I’m Patton!"

 

Chapter 8: Chapter Seven

“Hi! I’m Patton!”

What? Did that mean that... Virgil... and Patton... were married? This... this couldn’t be real.

Roman’s heart was thumping loudly in his chest, and he blocked off the connection with Logan. He couldn’t let him know about this, not yet. He was only just holding himself together as it was; if Logan fell apart on the other end of the connection, Roman would too.

"Oh, it’s... nice to meet you, Patton. I’m Roman." Roman held out his hand for Patton to shake, smiling at him. He’d perfected faking smiles a few lifetimes ago; it was a skill that came in handy nowadays.

Patton took his hand, shaking it enthusiastically and smiling back. "That’s a cool name!"

"Thanks." Roman said, letting go of Patton’s hand and picking up his glass to drink the rest in one go.

He slammed the glass back on the counter, keeping his hand wrapped around it in an attempt to hide the shaking.

There were a few seconds of awkward silence before Patton turned to Virgil and smiled. "So, how was work today, honey?"

Roman tensed up. Although he knew that that was a very common nickname amongst couples, it didn’t mean it hurt any less that Patton used to call Logan that.

"It was okay, I guess." Virgil replied, shrugging.

"That’s better than yesterday! That’s great!" Patton smiled, before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Virgil’s lips.

The kiss was only quick, but it was enough to make Roman’s heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Roman stood up suddenly, pulling money out of his pocket and slamming it onto the bar to pay for his drink. "I’ve got to go."

He then stormed out of the bar, finally letting the tears stream freely down his face.

Roman walked down the streets, hands stuffed in his pockets. He was glad that it was dark, no one would see him crying. When he finally arrived home, he roughly opened the front door, slamming it shut behind him. Logan stepped into the hallway almost immediately, a concerned look appearing on his face when he saw the state Roman was in.

"Roman, what happened?"

Roman just gave him a blank stare before saying quietly, "Are Remy and Emile here?"

"No, they left soon after you did, why? What happened with Virgil?" Logan stepped closer to Roman, putting his hand on his shoulder.

He stared at Logan silently for a moment before his eyes filled with tears again. "He’s married."

"What?" Logan exclaimed, and his eyes widened as he asked. "Was it Janus? Did he come back too?"

"No..." Roman started, his voice shaking. "It’s Patton."

Logan’s eyes widened in disbelief. "But... no... it can’t be."

"Yes."

Roman opened the connection, closing his eyes as he showed Logan the memory of what had just happened. He kept his eyes screwed shut until he heard a shaky sob from in front of him.

He opened his eyes; Logan was crying. He wasn’t even trying to stop the tears like he usually would.

"We- we’ve spent so long just- just missing them and-" Logan took a deep shaky breath, taking his glasses off and starting to wipe them with his sleeve. "-and just... ever since we found Remy, we thought... we hoped that we’d see them again. We hoped that everything would- would go back to normal, that we could all be happy again." He put his glasses back on his face. "We’d never considered the fact that... the fact that they were already happy and that... that not only are they in a relationship, but that they seem so... so... happy together." Logan’s voice got quieter and quieter as he reached the end of his sentence.

He shifted on the spot, but stumbled, falling forwards. Roman immediately moved and caught him, wrapping his arms around Logan and pulling him into a tight hug.

They stood like that for a few minutes, crying quietly together. Once five minutes had passed, Logan spoke up again, his voice still trembling.

"Roman?"

"Yeah, Lo?"

"What should we do?" Roman had never heard Logan with his voice so helpless.

"I... I don’t know..." His voice trailed off, and he was silent for a moment before continuing with, "But we’ll figure this out. We... we have to."

 

Chapter 9: Chapter Eight

A few days had passed since the incident with Virgil and Patton. Neither Roman nor Logan had left the house or even answered the phone since then. They had at least a dozen missed calls from Remy alone, but they ignored them. 

It was almost 1pm when Roman finally crawled out of bed, making his way to his kitchen. The room was dark when he stepped inside, which felt strange, as Logan was always the first one up, and he was usually already in the kitchen, drinking coffee, when Roman got there.  

Roman sighed, slowly making his way over to the counter, to make himself some coffee. As he reached to grab his favourite mug, he paused. Should he make Logan something? Was he even awake? 

‘Lo?’ Roman thought, ‘Are you awake?’ 

There was no solid reply, but Roman could sense a few vague thoughts and feelings from Logan’s end of the connection, indicating that he was awake. 

‘Okay, I’m gonna make you coffee anyway. Come get it if you want.’ Roman thought, as he grabbed his mug and Logan’s, continuing to prepare the coffee and softly humming a Disney song under his breath. 

When the coffee was done, he walked over to the fridge and opened it, wrinkling his nose in annoyance when he saw it was almost empty. 

"Hey, Logan!" Roman yelled. It was the first time either of them had spoken out loud in days. "There’s, like, nothing in the fridge. We need-" 

"You don’t need to shout, I’m right here." 

Roman jumped and spun around in surprise. Somehow, in the ten seconds that he had been staring into the fridge, Logan had ventured out of his room and walked up behind Roman.

"Oh, Logan!" Roman exclaimed. "Sorry, I didn’t see you there!"

"Obviously." Logan said, before turning around and picking up his coffee mug. 

With Logan’s back turned, Roman had the opportunity to take a proper look at him.

To put it simply, Logan looked like a mess. His hair hadn’t been brushed in days, there were bags under his eyes and his glasses were lopsided. Even his pyjamas were all wrinkled. Roman’s brow creased, Logan didn’t seem to be doing too great. Well, Roman wasn’t either, really, but he preferred hiding his feelings. He was a good actor, especially when it came to thinks like this, and usually Logan was too. But, perhaps, he didn’t feel like putting on a brave face this time.

"Stop staring." 

Roman snapped out of his daze to find that Logan was now staring back at him, leaning against the counter as he took another slow sip of his coffee.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Lo." Roman picked up his coffee, curling his fingers around the warm mug as he took a sip.

Just as he did so, the doorbell rang, making them jump, spilling a few drops of coffee on both sets of pyjamas. The duo glanced at each other, coming to a silent, mental decision to answer it together, and putting their mugs back down on the counter. Roman and Logan then made their way over to the front door, and when they got they, Roman slowly pulled it open, revealing Remy and Emile standing in front of them.

Remy’s eyebrows raised and Emile’s eyes widened when they saw them.

"Uh, freaking finally. You guys weren’t, like, answering your phones or anything. Emile was getting worried."

Emile glanced at Remy for a second. "Hey, don’t act like you weren’t worried too." 

Remy just shrugged, before turning back to Roman and Logan. "So, like, what happened? Last I heard, something happened with Virgil, right? What happened? You guys, like, disappeared."

Both Roman and Logan flinched at the mention of Virgil, and Emile and Remy gave each other concerned glances.  

"Did... did something happen?" Emile asked softly. 

"I guess you could say that." Roman gave a short awkward laugh, before stepping back and opening the door wider. "Come on in."

Emile and Remy stepped inside, and Roman shut the door behind them.

Roman sighed. "Okay, so-"

"Virgil and Patton are married."

Remy and Emile spun around to look at Logan, who was standing with a blank expression and his arms crossed.  

"Wait, what?" Remy exclaimed, both he and Emile looking quite shocked. 

"Virgil and Patton are married." Logan repeated in a monotonous voice. "When Roman found Virgil, Patton was introduced as his husband. Roman left the bar and came home almost immediately. He told me what happened, and... well, that’s the story." 

There was a short moment of silence as Remy and Emile took it all in.

"Are you guys... okay?" Emile asked softly, looking between Logan and Roman slowly.

"Of course!" Roman exclaimed, trying to smile. "Why wouldn’t we be?" 

Remy glanced at Roman, with his messed up hair and strained smile, and glanced at Logan, with his messed up clothes and blank expression. He sighed, before standing up straighter and putting his sunglasses on the top of his head. "Okay, gurls, it’s cheer up time. Logan, Roman, shower and get dressed. Change into comfy clothes, but just fix-" He gestured vaguely at both of them. "-that." Remy then turned to Emile. "Em, sweetheart, go get ice cream. We’re gonna talk this shit out." 

Emile nodded, giving Roman and Logan a small smile before leaving. The remaining three stood in silence for a few seconds, before Remy spoke up again.

"Uh, like, what are you waiting for? Go change, both of you!"

Roman and Logan glanced at each other, before shrugging, deciding that things couldn’t really get much worse, and doing what Remy said.

About an hour later, the four of them were sitting in the living room, eating ice cream, and Logan and Roman in comfier (and cleaner) clothes. 

"It just doesn’t make any sense!" Logan complained angrily, stabbing his ice cream with his spoon. "Why did you guys reincarnate too? Like, I can almost understand why it happens to Roman and me. We were, like, cursed or something. I don’t even know!" He glanced up at Remy who was looking at him and nodding slowly, but supportively. "I’m supposed to know all of the answers, but I don’t even fully get this stupid curse!" 

Meanwhile, on the other sofa, Roman was talking to Emile whilst stuffing ice cream in his mouth and crying. 

"He doesn’t remember me!" Roman sobbed, as he finished his mouthful of ice cream. "And that’s terrible! But, I had almost prepared for that. What I was not prepared for was for them to be married!" Roman scooped another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into his mouth, continuing to sob with his mouth full. "Why won’t he love me?" 

"Well, he doesn’t exactly know you yet." Emile reasoned, putting his hand on Roman’s shoulder sympathetically.

"But he’s married! He could never love me if he’s already in love with another!" Roman’s brow furrowed and he used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. "Is this our fate? To forever be in love with two who will never love us again?" 

As Roman’s sobs turned into passionate shouts, Logan’s anger simultaneously turned into tears. Remy and Emile glanced at each other, holding a quick, silent conversation, and switching places almost immediately, Emile moving to allow Logan to cry on his shoulder, and Remy moving to listen to Roman rant. 

Neither Remy nor Emile really knew what to do here. How exactly were you supposed to help someone in a situation like this? 

They glanced at each other for a moment, silently questioning whether there was anything else they should do, anything else they could do, but nothing came to mind. So, for now, they just sat there, comforting and listening to their friends.