VII

"I would like to try at least and if it works out, that's good." Vincent told him.

"Why did you move my stuff to your room?"

"Didn't we stay together many times? All the years we never had money and even when we were younger in this life."

"That's different, Your Majesty."

"Not it isn't. Are you shy?" Vincent teased.

Jasper blushed to the tips of his ears in embarrassment. "No, I'm not." He defended.

"You definitely are. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. No need to be scared." Vincent told him with a smirk. "Such fun to tease."

Jasper frowned slightly. "It's not fair for you tease me, while knowing my feelings for you."

"I'm not teasing you though. I genuinely want this to work out. I want to try dating you and see where it'll take us."

"Your Majesty, are you even sure of what you're saying?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, I know very well what I'm saying. How about this? Let's go on a date today and see how it goes. No calling me Your Majesty. No nagging. No being formal. Just call me Vincent and talk to me like I'm your lover."

Jasper sighed.

Before he could say anything, Vincent spoke. "Jasper. I agree that I was king in some of my lifetimes. More than four times for that matter. However, you're the only one I've ever and will ever be the closest to in my entire life. The only one I trust and the only one I genuinely care about. I mean it when I tell you to just talk to me like your best friend... On second thought, that doesn't sound as appealing as being called your lover. No. Talk to me like I'm your 'boyfriend'." he said. "The deity must have designed our fates specifically for things to happen this way. You liked me from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Not from our first lifetime together. I started liking you in our third lifetime together." Jasper explained.

"Exactly. The deity must have known we'd be the only ones for each other and so they tied our fates together and for that I'm highly grateful to the deity. I'd always considered you my best friend but you never even considered me anything close. You always drew that line. I'm human too, you know? I have feelings too. I get lonely too. I'm not all powerful and emotionless. I wanted a friend. And now I don't anymore. I want you as my boyfriend. Even if you keep rejecting me, I'll keep asking. Even if you get fed up with me. If you leave this house today to hide from me, I'm going to go after you." Vincent informed Jasper.

"Your Majesty, if you really want this to work then I'm willing to try with you. But I don't know much about relationships as I've never been in one, so please forgive my incompetence." Jasper replied.

"I've never been in an actual relationship either, so we're even. Let's take it one step at a time. Starting now, you can call me Vincent again."

"Vincent." Jasper called with a slight smile.

"Say, we haven't taken a picture in years . How about we take some pictures to commemorate today? The day we agreed to be boyfriends." Vincent turned around with a hidden smile on his face and went back into his study where he came from earlier.

""Um...Your Ma- Vincent, when did I agree to be your boyfriend?" Jasper asked with his left brow raised.

"Now?" Vincent replied innocently as though he didn't understand what he meant as he walked around his desk and took out a phone tripod from beside one of the bookshelves.

"You never even asked me, you know?" Jasper decided to sound him out.

"But then again, isn't that your job? I mean... You're the one who liked me first..." Vincent asked with a smirk, turning around tripod in hand, to look at Jasper who stood a few paces away from the front of the desk.

He came back around the desk. Bringing with him the tripod in one hand, and picking his phone from his desk with the other.

He set up the camera and went to stand beside Jasper. Jasper simply looked him bottom to top before settling on staring at the side of Vincent's face.

There was a click and Vincent moved forward to change the settings of the camera again.

"Smile this time." He reminded Jasper as he came back to stand beside him.

He leaned closer to Jasper's side, hands in pockets, facing the camera with a smile as Jasper did the same.

There was a click and Vincent went round to change the settings once more, Jasper's eyes following Vincent's every movement, before Vincent stood beside Jasper finally. Jasper turned his attention to the camera with a smile. Vincent turned to stare at Jasper's side profile for a few seconds, seemingly studying his profile before smiling softly and turning back to the camera just in time.

The phone made a click sound.

Vincent walked over to the tripod, detaching his phone, then walked back to Jasper's side. "Let's take a selfie. Smile, Jasper." He called, raising his phone to take the selfie. They both smiled and he took the picture. "Let's take another picture. It'll be the last one for today." He said smiling at Jasper, then went to set the phone back on the tripod to capture them both.

"Ok then." Jasper agreed. He posed in a very relaxed manner, but with a honest smile on his face while he stared straight at the camera, as though he was saying, 'I don't mind what we're doing. I'm just happy to be doing it with you.'

Vincent watched him for a moment, before smiling suddenly, then planting a soft kiss on Jasper's cheek, right as the camera took the shot.

Jasper remained standing there in shock, with zero trace of the smile he wore and relaxed posture from earlier. He looked like he'd just been zinged by a bolt of thunder and didn't quite know what to make of it.

Vincent on the other hand went to get the phone, folding the tripod in order to store it where he got it from as he looked at the pictures they took. Looking at the pictures, he saw Jasper looking intently at him on the first one, he saw their genuine smiles in the second one. He saw their cute smiles in the third. His eyes met Jasper's very surprised ones, as he suddenly gave him a kiss, in the last picture.

"Your- Vincent, why would you... Why would you do something like that?" He heard Jasper call out suddenly from behind him.

"We're boyfriends, aren't we? Oh right. You haven't asked me yet. I'm still waiting, you know. And to answer your question, I just felt like it. Be prepared. That's only the beginning." Vincent replied.

Jasper stayed silent for such a long while, that Vincent turned back to be sure the person he was talking to was actually listening.

Jasper, on the other hand was just standing aside thinking about the situation.

Seeing Jasper like that, he went back to going through the pictures.