V

Vincent came back a few moments later with a bowl of popcorn and two canned drinks placing the drinks on the table and the bowl of popcorn on the chair.

"You could have just asked me to fetch those, you know?" Jasper reminder Vincent.

"Fetch? You're not a dog." Vincent replied with a smirk. Jasper could tell what he meant, and didn't say anymore on the matter.

*

The night went on rather quickly. Vincent, so immersed in the movie, and engaging Jasper in a discussion about something he found interesting once in a while.

Jasper for once, felt like he could finally relax. They had chosen a movie series, and watched movie after movie, in a marathon, till the very last movie in the series.

The movies ended and Jasper stood up, stretching his limbs.

"Thank you... Thank you for today, Vincent." Jasper hesitated at first, almost slipping up and saying Your Majesty but correcting himself last minute.

Vincent smiled. His handsome visage lighting up. "You should spend more time with me rather than serving me. I never understood why you drew that line all those years ago. I'm the monarch and even I don't enforce it."

Jasper smiled. "Some lines must never blur, Your Majesty. However I'm making an effort to call you by your name. As for other things... Time will tell."

Vincent's smile had long since disappeared in disappointment as he tried to understand where Jasper was coming from, but it simply made no sense to him. If anything, he was meant to call the shots, so why is it that the one who was meant to call the shots had to obey the one who was meant to answer the call.

Why was he trying to oppose him at every turn? He was the only one he trusted in the world. His only friend. So why did he keep trying to avoid being identified as anything more than just a servant in Vincent's life?

Jasper bowed and turned around. Vincent only watched as he left. He didn't object or demand an explanation. He just watched as he left.

*

Things became rather awkward after that... Actually it wasn't awkward. It was more or less the way things were originally supposed to be, if Vincent had never considered Jasper his friend.

Vincent only spoke to Jasper when he needed him to do something. Jasper called Vincent down when it was time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Vincent ate his meals and went back to working in his study.

This continued for days, days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months.

Jasper decided to see a fortune teller to tell him if Vincent would find a way to break his curse at this rate. Vincent was obviously disinterested in finding a lover. He was more invested in his work than anything else nowadays.

The fortune teller listened to his story from beginning to end and looked Jasper top to bottom, then sighed, shaking her head at Jasper, as though she was saying, "This child..."

*

Jasper got back to the house, only to find it unusually quiet. No sound of typing or moving about. Nothing.

Feeling uneasy, he headed to the door of Vincent's study, knocked lightly once and not hearing an answer, he pushed the door open.

He walked in only to see Vincent unconscious at his desk.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Jasper called.

Vincent remained oblivious.

Jasper pulled out his phone, dialing an emergency number as he sat Vincent up in his chair.

He explained what he had seen as quickly as he could, then gave the address to whoever was on the other end.

He ended the call and stuffed the phone in his pocket, then moved Vincent around a bit before placing a hand behind his back, another beneath his knee and picking him up.

Jasper carried Vincent out, into the living room, dropping him gently on the sofa. He squatted down beside the sofa, watching Vincent intently, as well as occasionally pushing stray hairs out of Vincent's face, and massaging his temples nonstop. Vincent's face remained blank and indifferent.

Jasper watched him intently for a while before the doorbell rang. He stood up to open the front door, but a hand tightly gripping his forearm stopped him.

He looked down to see Vincent holding his arm with a slight frown on his previously stoic face. He calmly removed Vincent's arm, whispering softly and patting his arm. "I'll be back. I just need to get the door."

Vincent frowned a little, but didn't grab for Jasper anymore, and Jasper took the opportunity to answer the door.

*

Vincent lay unconscious in the hospital bed and Jasper sat on the chair by his bedside simply watching the unconscious man.

"He fainted from exhaustion. He'll be under observation for a while to make sure there's nothing else but you should monitor him from now on to make sure he doesn't overwork himself anymore." The doctor had told Jasper.

"Exhaustion?" Jasper turned it over and over in his mind but he just could not tell why Vincent would work himself into exhaustion. He didn't have a deadline or due date, so why was he working so hard?

The only other option was for him to have something on his mind, but if that was the case, he definitely didn't want Jasper knowing what it was, because if not, he would have asked Jasper's opinion a long time ago.

Vincent opened his eyes, squinting immediately, and taking in as much as he could about the room before raising his arm to rub his eyes. He stopped in his tracks the moment the catheter and thin flexible tube sticking out of his hand came into view.

He frowned slightly, then lifted his eyes to meet Jasper's.

He tried getting up, but Jasper held him down. "Don't. You still need to rest. Just lay there, your highness."

Vincent frowned deeper but said nothing.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Jasper asked Vincent.

"People like me... We don't deserve anything good. We only deserve what we get. Nothing more than lots of money in addition to loneliness and emptiness. But what's the point of being at the top, and having everything, when you can't even be happy. When the only person you care about doesn't even think you deserve them? What's the point?"