#dukemile

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Remus knew he was special. It was something that had to be explained to him early on; he wouldn’t have a soulmate like the other kids. His role was as plain as the mark on his wrist: an infinity sign. No, he was one of the rare ones who helped others find their destinies.

It just so happened that he would be helping his twin brother find his soulmates. Roman had four unique marks on his left wrist, each one denoting a separate soulmate. Looking at it from above was almost like looking at a compass; at least, that was what Remus’ instinct was. And so they decided to try out that theory. 

To the east, they followed the pale blue heart, and when the twins were in middle school, they met Patton. He was cheerful with curly hair and round glasses and Roman was smitten immediately with the cute boy. They’d snuggle and watch Disney films, Remus preparing popcorn and ensuring that the pair had enough blankets. 

To the north, they followed the indigo brain, and when the trio was in high school, they bumped into prodigy and genius Logan. He was a brainiac through and through, but he accepted his fate, and thus joined their little ragtag group; while Roman and Patton would snuggle during films, Logan was perfectly happy sitting in a reading chair, drinking peppermint tea and diving into mystery novels. That was how things always went, until Remus plucked the book from the nerd’s hands and pushed him over to be enveloped in hugs and cheek kisses by the other two.

It took a while longer for them to find the one leading south. They were almost completed with their university tenure when they found Virgil, an anxious and introverted fellow who was hesitant to allow the other four into his life. It was Remus, of course, who had convinced the man to live in their tiny apartment together. He used his words, albeit some odd ones thrown in there, to show Virgil that he deserved the love that the other three could provide to him. And so then there were four.

Years passed, and the five thought that maybe they’d never find their western soulmate. Remus scoured soulmate message boards, followed every instinct, and dedicated the better part of ten years to finding him. One afternoon, while doing grocery shopping for the household, he ran into Janus; a scarred man who typically never left the house but the grocery delivery wasn’t in service that week and he desperately needed milk. And that was where Remus found him, balled up against the milk aisle, tears in his eyes. Remus held out his hand, and the man took it.

Remus brought him home to the others, and he was welcomed with open arms and loving eyes. That night, Remus lay in bed, realizing that his work was done. He had found his twin brother all of his soulmates, and now they were all together to live out their destiny.

And Remus was fulfilled, yes. But he was lonely. He wasn’t needed anymore; if the others fought, it was resolved with Logan’s logical discourse, Janus’ psychological training, and Patton’s hugs.

Remus left the following morning, leaving only a note stating that he was heading to a community for soulmate finders to go once their duties were done. He found a family there, one that understood him more than even his brother ever could.

And there, he was free to choose. So he chose Emile Picani, the resident cartoon-lover who had acted as a psychiatrist for all entering the community of finders. With him, Remus found belonging, care, and the freedom that he needed to finally love and be loved, outside of society’s walls.

When he visited his brother, he found joy and love and care, but he always preferred staying with Emile. Emile made him feel wanted, not just needed. Emile listened to the intrusive thoughts and the couple worked through them together.

12th of May XX81

The noises of servants decorating the ballroom filled the halls of the castle. The newly ten year old princess ran after her older brothers with bows and they happily played along. The 15 year old twins ran opposite directions, hiding from their younger sister and panted softly in unison. The twins looked at each other from across the hall and laughed a little.

Ella ran down the hall, right past them, and kept looking for her brothers. Remus decided to run after her, so he abandoned his spot in the halfway and ran after his sister playfully. Roman sighed as he watched his brother and sister continue to run through the halls. The future king was beginning to find his siblings actions immature and he was nearly ashamed of his own actions when he joined in on their games.

Roman stepped out into the main hallway and took a breath, instead of following his siblings he walked to his own room, he had Ellas’ birthday party to get ready for after all. Roman could still hear Remus and Ella being their naturally loud selves as he stepped into his room, he began to take off his play clothes as he looked in the mirror.

What Roman saw in the mirror, was no future king. No, Roman only saw a scrawny boy of fifteen years, with a small amount of stubble and unruly brunette hair. Roman felt as if he was staring at a peasant, and nothing about that felt right. He began looking through his vanity, searching for a razor. If he had to start changing his look, he was going to get rid of the stubble first.

After shaving, Roman still looked like a boy, but a cleaned up boy. His next mission was to put on his royal attire and pretend he had much more broad shoulders.

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Remus had eventually caught up with ella, and put the birthday girl on his shoulders. The two got along like leaves and trees, constantly attached to each other. Ella played with remus’ hair, occasionally adding a bow or two if it felt right. The two were very much so, still children. They had innocence sparkling in their eyes, well at least Ella did, Remus lost his twinkle when he had turned 5.

Remus walked up to his father's bedroom door, and set Ella down. They had barely seen him this morning and needed to be sure he was alright. 

Patton opened the door and smiled when he saw his daughter, he almost didn't notice remus standing beside her. He opened the door for the two to enter the room, calling a servant to bring them tea and cakes  while the door was still open.

Once the tea and cakes had arrived the three just sat and talked, laughing happily and enjoying the early afternoon. 

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Bells chimed outside as the princess bolted from her father's room to get dressed. Time had disappeared while she had sat in the window seat with her brother. She despised the dress she was set to wear, but wearing pants could cause unwanted attention. The young princess tripped as she ran into her room, and was lucky to be caught by a maid. 

There were about 6 maids already in the room when ella got there, each to help with something different. One young maid held Ellas’ silver and pale blue dress up, avoiding any wrinkles she could. The ballgown was much more fancy than ones Ella had previously worn, but then again she didn't often go to parties, only small appearances and carriage rides. Tonight, everything would change.

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Trumpets alerted the ballroom of the incoming presence of the royal family. Patton stood at the front of the group, with Roman to his right, and both Remus and Ella at his left. The large doors opened and they stepped onto the balcony. Patton took a deep breath as he looked over the mix of nobles, royalty, and occasionally a few servants. He noticed a pair of younger servants, they seemed to be new. Both had matching curly black hair, and the shorter one had quite a thick pair of glasses that nearly looked too large on him. He let the breath out and let his children run off into the party. He continues looking for a particular golden eyed noble.

Ella was the first to run off into the crowd, she was just happy to be there and couldn’t wait to enjoy a party that was thrown for her. She bumped into a boy, only a year or so older than her. His glasses looked to be too large on his face and he had a scattering of freckles like constellations in the sky.  The boys caramel toned skin, flushed with embarrassment as he noticed who he had just bumped into. The usually composed male nearly tripped into a bow.

“Your majesty, I nearly didn’t recognize you!” the boy exclaimed “Happy birthday”

“Thank you, there is no need to bow” she giggled “What’s your name?”

“My name is Logan, Logan dark.” He said, standing up again

“Are you a servant?” she asked, adjusting her dress. 

“No, but my brother is, he started yesterday,” Logan smiled at the younger girl. He debated asking her to dance, just as a friendly notion so that she could enjoy her birthday. In the end, he found more pros than cons, so he asked, and she said yes and soon they were dancing. Not well mind you, but dancing nonetheless.

The two danced for a few songs before ella decided to go find her father, or maybe her brothers. But that didn't really matter. What did matter was the fact that now Logan was alone on the dance floor. He stayed like that, until, a young prince from a foreign kingdom offered to dance.

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While Ella had run off just to have fun and enjoy her party, Prince Remus decided that from this party he was just going to look for a good time. He wasn’t sure what exactly that would mean but pretty much anything would probably assist. 

Remus walked around the room and most people avoided standing too close to the scrawny prince. He stopped paying attention to where he was walking and so him tripping was inevitable. He managed to keep himself upright though, and avoided his face clashing with the floor. He steadied himself against the wall as he noticed another male walking around the room. The other male wore brown glasses, and a servant's uniform and carried a tray of snacks the ella had picked a few days ago. 

Although he had not a drop of nobility, Remus still found him the most beautiful man to have ever graced the world. His skin, warm ivory in color, had almost an unnatural glow that radiated from it. His dirty blond hair had loose curls coming from every angle, so much so to where a few strands of hair rested above his eyebrows. But below his eyebrows, were the most beautiful eyes remus had ever seen.  A pair of cornflower blue eyes, looking around with more curiosity and wonder than anyone Remus had ever seen. Staring at this boy, no, this man, Remus determined he was in love.

But along with being in love, Remus felt the unwavering urge to harm the servant. Remus ran out of the ballroom, and into the garden in an attempt to clear his head. What he didn’t notice though, was that the servant he had had his eyes on, noticed the prince's distress, and followed him out to the garden.

“Your highness, are you alright?” the servant asked. To remus he sounded like an angel, he turned to see the blue eyed servant and couldn’t help but frown at him from the thoughts going through his mind.

“I wish I could ever say I was” he responded, stepping away subtly.

“Do you need to talk? I’d be here to listen?’ he offered, stepping towards Remus

“No, because I’m afraid you’d never want to see me again if you heard the going on’s of my mind. Do you have a name?”

“Emile Picani” he bowed slightly to Remus “And you don’t have to introduce yourself prince Remus. But I wouldn’t be frightened of what goes on inside your head, I would continue to listen for however long you needed” His eyes continued to sparkle with what could be mistaken for innocence.

“Then I guess you could sit, Emile, and I’ll tell you about what ails me tonight”

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When his children went off their various ways, the king stayed up on the balcony opposite the guest entrance. He had been looking for a noble man with golden eyes who was born to the 4th high house Hiamoe. All Patton wanted was to dance with this man, to be held by him, and to wake up in his arms. But that was not realistic, so he would settle for talking. 

After a bit of searching, he found a man with dark hair wearing the house Hiamoe colors, Patton made his way down the stairs and through the crowd over to the man he had loved for years.

Remy stood, talking with his sisters when the King came up beside him. He couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face. He turned to the king and lowered his sunglasses that he was still wearing though it was night time and he was inside. 

“Good evening your highness, how has your night been?”

“It's been uneventful mostly, but I blame that on the fact that I only just found you,” Patton chuckled “How has your evening been? Have you annoyed your sisters yet?” 

“I don’t believe I have had enough time to annoy them, so it’s been quite boring.”  Patton let out a hearty laugh. 

For a moment, Patton nearly felt as if it was just them in the room, but was brought back to reality when Ella hugged him from behind. He let out a subtle sigh and turned to hug his daughter back. His fantasy was gone, and replaced with what he had. Reality sucked sometimes, even in fiction.

After a few moments, Ella let go and ran off again, leaving Patton with Remy again.

Remy offered a gentle smile and asked Patton if he wanted to leave the ballroom. Patton simply nodded and they started walking into the garden. It was a rather large garden, so they went for a walk around the trees.

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Roman, as much as he loved parties, was not very entertained. He danced around with plenty of people, but none of them seemed to spark his interest. Least of all any women. He felt wrong anytime he would see a tan servant with curly black hair and would immediately feel his face flush. He needed to find a noble wife, not a servant for a husband! He felt so conflicted now. A scrawny boy for king? A homosexual king? He just could not bring himself to do it. So he would dance with young daughters of noble families until the night ended. No matter how much that hurt his soul.

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When Ella had left Logan, he had been approached by a foriegn prince. The two danced for hours without even knowing the other's name. The two were practically silent but it was a comfortable silence.  By the end of the night both were exhausted, but smiling as if they were dorky teenagers, which they were. 

“Might I ask your name before I retire for the night?” the mysterious prince asked as he took off his hat, which removed the shadow from his scarred face.

“Logan Dark, and what is your’s handsome stranger?”  

“Prince Janus Pithon,” he smiled “I hope to see you around, but now I must be off to bed.” and with that, Janus made his way off to his guest room in the palace. 

Logan smiled to himself before running off to tell his brother about the night he had.

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