"You're doing it again... Jasper... Hellooo? Idiot!?" Sophia snipped her fingers in front of him in an irritating way, which meant, she must have called his name at least three times already, Jasper realized. He threw her an unimpressed glowering look out of half-lidded eyes. Even though he towered over her by two heads, she glared back, just as unimpressed. She always had been feisty and a little spitfire. They were standing at the office front counter of the nurse station in general surgery. He leaned lazily on the counter; his elbow placed on the table, cheek resting in one of his hands and sighed relaxed as he took another sip from his cup. Innocent enough, he just wanted to stop by in the middle of his 24 hour shift and say hello to his best friend Sophia before he had to go back down to the emergency room, where the usual madness would await him. Sometimes he also liked to be up here at the 10th floor, to enjoy a few minutes of blissful silence. It was always so quiet up here. Nobody was screaming or crying, losing questionable body liquids (yes, plural) or complaining. The air condition was better, the furniture looked more modern and new and of course, the coffee. Or in Jasper's case, the cocoa from his favorite vending machine... he took another sip. Yes. It was heaven. However, the best part was that occasionally, he got to see the surgeons. Like right now. They were having a meeting like usual at this hour, standing together in white coats and dark blue scrubs and discussed patient files and operation plans in front of a big whiteboard on the wall. And there he was... Oliver Steele. Jasper smiled dreamily. Sophia flicked his ear.

  "What?", he snapped at her, pouting. His best friend shook her head, her short cut, brown hair whipping with the motion and made a face at him, crossing her arms. "Urgh. You are so embarrassing... At least be a bit more subtle about your pining." Jasper sighed, took the last sip of his cocoa and looked some more, while he enjoyed the lingering taste of sugar on his lips.

  "It's not my fault he's so hot... Look at him. He looks like a male fashion model instead of an actual human being. No scratch that, he looks like the Japanese version of a Ken doll. He's so... lickable", Jasper mumbled in a mix of desperation and admiration. He brushed strands of his much too long blond hair out of his forehead. As usual, he had tied it back into an unceremonious bun, but unruly strands always kept escaping.

  "She's right, you're hopeless", came the dry voice of his worst enemy drawling from behind them. Sadly, the guy was also a surgeon. Moreover, even worse... his flat mate. And he might also be his step-brother, after his father remarried a second time when he was twelve. But he would deny that fact to his death bed. It helped that Damian looked nothing like him, looking like a typical British posh rich kid in his mid-twenties. Jasper grimaced and threw the guy a withering look.

  "Tch...", he made in the back of his throat, as someone would, when he saw a rodent in their vicinity. "Hell spawn. Isn't it enough I have to see your stupid face at home? Also, don't you have to operate on some brains or something? Shoo. Go away." Jasper made a motion with his hand as if he wanted to swat away a fly. Damian just smirked and ignored him. Like always. The bastard.

  "You were practically drooling. It's pathetic", he drawled on. Jasper crossed his arms, glumly. He desperately regretted the day the stupid jerk had overheard them talking about this topic.

  "Was not." Damian snorted and just smirked even more.

  "You were. I could put you out of your misery, you know. I'll just go over there and tell him what you just said about him... That should put an end to it pretty fast", he suggested nonchalantly. Jasper glared daggers at him while his heart suddenly sped up in panic.

  "If you do that, I'll smother you in your sleep tonight. Then I'll put your body in the morgue and they'll burn you as a Joe Doe. They won't ever find your body and nobody will ever find out." A woman wheeled her elderly father by them right at this moment, giving them an extreme disturbed look, while the wheels of the chair squeaked awkwardly. Jasper cleared his throat. Well... maybe not one of his best moments.

  "Jasper", Sophia hissed chidingly and elbowed him. Hard. He probably deserved that.

  "Err... Ehehe, I was just joking... Almost? Just a little? You know he's really-", Jasper tried to laugh it off at the woman, but failed miserably.

  "Don't mind him, my step-brother is just an idiot", Damian smiled reassuringly, showing way too much teeth and acted charming like he had done since they were kids, mostly whenever he had blamed him for something. Jasper growled at him and the woman wheeled away faster, looking unsure again. Damian just laughed at him then, patting him sloppily on his head like a puppy (he barely suppressed the urge to bite his hand...), before he walked over there to the group of surgeons, like he didn't have a death wish.

  "Hey Steele, long time no see. How is it going? Wanna hear something funny?", he asked loudly in a false cheery tone. Jasper ground his teeth and fumed. Damian even threw back a maliciously look at him, still smirking like the absolute bastard he was and Jasper glared darkly back at him. He quickly made a move across his neck, with a stolen pen from the nurse station to get the meaning across. Unfortunately, that was the moment Steele looked over at him too and looked unsure between them two. Jasper winced and went from getting pale, to blushing furiously, then going green in under sixty seconds. He could feel how his stomach did a weird flip. Urgh. He knew Damian wouldn't actually do it... but still. Steele looked more confused at him by the second. Shit.

  "I think I'm going to throw up now", he mumbled miserably to Sophia, before he dashed for the next restroom. Jasper hated his life sometimes. And Damian. He definitely hated Damian more...

  "Do you think they are in a passionate love affair? With lots and lots of gay sex?", Jasper asked in a sulky voice. An older man beside him and Genevieve spat his food out right there on the cafeteria table before him, because he was so offended apparently by Jasper's blunt comment. Or his sexual preferences. Probably both. Jasper really didn't care to be honest. The guy coughed and wheezed, but Jasper just scrunched up his nose and ignored him. He would live... Genevieve didn't even look in his direction though or acted as if she heard them both. She was apparently reading a weird, old looking magic book of sorts behind a curtain of her long, black hair and flicked absentmindedly through it with her manicured fingers as if it was the newest fashion catalogue. Jasper sighed, he poked through his cup of cheap noodles in his lap as if they personally offended him. In some way they did. It was sad, really, thinking how often he had preached to patients to eat healthier, while all he did was surviving on cheap fast food from Styrofoam cups, energy drinks and chocolate bars out of vending machines. Well, life was ironic that way... The older man beside them still cleared his throat a bit, but Jasper had seen worse all night to be honest. A young student had come in at five am, claiming he 'fell' on a newly bought dog toy by accident (naked - yeah, right... like he hadn't heard that one before) and another one, a drunk teenager, had puked right in front of him in a spray-fountain (only barely missing him) and then there was that guy that had bled like crazy, because he was high as a kite and had jumped through a window, trying to catch a cat that was 'mocking' him apparently. Working the graveyard shift was always 'fun' in it‘s own way... He slurped his instant noodles and kept watching Steele and his best friend Harrison chat animatedly on a table further away in the cafeteria.

  "I really think they are having sex. I would have sex with him. Lot's and lot's of sex. That's for sure... if I was Harrison", Jasper mumbled into his cup of noodles. He knew he wasn‘t making much sense, but at this point he was very, very tired, so his sleep deprived brain did what it could, really. Genevieve, already way past the stage of caring, just ignored him it seemed and Jasper, somewhat thankful for that, continued his observations like usual. Steele was clutching the biggest coffee to go cup against his chest the cafeteria would offer, as if it was his special prize. However, Jasper already knew from excessive observation (Damian called it stalking, but it was not, thank you very much...) that he just really, really loved coffee. No wonder, Jasper thought, the guy worked insanely long shifts and collected hours like it was nothing. He really had made a name for himself though, being one of the youngest, most successful heart surgeons in one of London's more historic hospitals, which happened to be the St. Thomas right now. Therefore, it was no wonder Steele sometimes looked like a zombie in his opinion. A zombie Jasper wanted to kiss and have his wicked way with... But still. What bothered him a bit was the way Harrison made Steele laugh as they talked. And it was a real laugh too. He looked so pretty as he smirked and talked and gestured, but really, Steele looked always attractive, whatever he did. You could throw the guy into a janitor outfit, cleaning up blood with a mop and he still would manage to make that look sexy... Jasper realized then, right at this moment, he actually might have a bit of an obsession problem... Yep. He could at least admit that much to himself, right? So he might be hopelessly in love with the handsome, talented heart surgeon of St. Thomas hospital... and sometimes he liked to watch him or fantasized about bending him over various objects, screwing him senseless... So what? Sue him. And maybe, only maybe, he was also a bit jealous of Harrison right now. Harrison Locke was the easygoing sunny boy and orthopedics transfer-surgeon from Phoenix, Arizona, with dark tanned skin, floppy dark brown hair and perfect white teeth. Steele and he were practically best friends from day one since he had transferred. Genevieve beside him snorted, pulling him out of his thoughts. So she did listen to him before.

  "No. I already laid my cards on this question and they told me they are just friends. However, I think you're right. If push comes to shove, Harrison wouldn't say no. It's a bit of a bromance, if you ask me", she replied absentmindedly. He contemplated her answer. Genevieve Lux was a bit older than him and worked at the morgue and was really weird sometimes. Most of the time, she liked talking about voodoo, magic and other weird stuff like that. But she was also his friend. Well, kind of.

  "Hmm...", Jasper made noncommittal. He stabbed a noodle with his bamboo spoon-fork. He also might have imagined Harrison's face while doing so. At least Genevieve endured his moods at days like this, when he was tired as hell, feeling like hell turned over twice and probably looked like it too (he really needed a shower to be honest). She also always listened to his weird thoughts and complaints and his whining about Steele, while Sophia unceremoniously had told him last week 'to get fucking over it already' and leave her alone with this particular topic. She even threatened to tell Steele about his never-ending crush if she had to hear one more word about it... That was why he rather spent his lunch breaks with Genevieve now.

  "If I were you, I would be more concerned about the head nurse", she said out of the blue. Jasper looked up as if she had slapped him right now.

  "What nurse?", he asked alarmed. She finally looked up again and smirked, raising an eyebrow at him, as if she thought he was really stupid. That was her resting face most of the time, so he wasn‘t offended. Much.

  "The cute one?", she replied nonchalantly, took one look at his face and squinted eyes, before rolling her own eyes and pulled out her cell phone, revealing a profile picture after a quick search, which showed a pretty brown-haired young woman smiling at the camera. Jasper barely held himself back from taking the phone out of her hands, so he could look her up more for himself, but Genevieve continued, as if she had read his thoughts already.

  "Isabella Wren. She works in pediatrics on fourth floor, where you do your magic shows on the weekends. Have you really never seen her? Apparently they even grew up together and are really good friends. I heard from Lillian Montgomery last week, her best friend by the way, she visits him a lot at home and sometimes even brings him lunch. Montgomery even teases her a lot, about her, being his future wife." Oh, Jasper thought, suddenly feeling numb. He allowed himself a moment to process all of this new information, before the maelstrom of doom started, spiraling him down the drain of irrational jealousy.

  "I hate you...", Jasper grumbled miserable, but really, his mood had more to do with the news than with her. Of course, the guy was practically engaged to a pretty and cute girl already. He sighed. Something inside his chest began to hurt, but mostly his stomach was in knots at the thought of Oliver and Isabella together. Genevieve shook her head, completely unperturbed by his words and flicked through the book again with petite fingers.

  "No you don't. I'm just looking out for you. I don't want you to be heartbroken over someone who has probably an interest in someone else. And to be honest, this has been going on for a long time now. Don‘t you think you should be more realistic by now?" Jasper's heart sank even more at her sincere words and couldn‘t help but sigh miserably again at her reality check. That was the thing though, wasn‘t it? He hated feeling like this. The truth was, he knew for months now he was not his usual carefree self anymore. He had always loved to play pranks on his friends for example or tried out magic tricks and had been an easygoing person, joking around and laughing easily. And then he laid eyes on one Oliver Steele and something had changed... For months now, it had become harder and harder for him to put on his poker face and act as if everything was alright. Being in unrequited love was a really shitty state of mind he wouldn‘t even wish on Damian. Jasper looked to the ground.

  "I know. I know it's unrequited, stupid, a bit childish and... yeah... Damnit. I just- I can't help it, all right? The heart wants whom it wants. When I saw him for the first time, it just... clicked. I can‘t even explain it! Whenever I see him, my stomach flips over and I feel as if I‘m on a sugar high. It‘s not even pleasant most of the time. Sometimes I feel like getting a hard attack. But, well... I can‘t control it. I mean, of course he‘s attractive, sure, just look at him. But it‘s also his personality. I really think we would be a good fit character-wise and I‘m just so interested in getting to know more about him or spending time with him, if he wanted to - even if he isn‘t interested in a relationship or has the same preferences as me. The chances for that are really slim and practically nonexistent anyway. I know that, trust me and it doesn‘t make me feel any better about this whole... chaotic bunch of unwelcome feelings. It‘s really distracting at work and studying too. I sometimes even wish I could turn them off completely, but I can‘t", he admitted bitterly. When he looked up again after his embarrassing outburst of emotions, she eyed him as if he was a lost, pathetic puppy. He had to turn away, so he could wipe roughly over his eyes with the back of his hand, sniffing. He should really sleep more, he was a wreck.

  "I'll help you out." He sniffed again and turned back to squint at her.

  "Huh?" The determined look on her face was a bit scary, but to be fair, she often looked like that. Sometimes it was as if she was the incarnation of Wednesday Addams. So nobody could blame him if he had serious doubts about her intentions, right?

  "I'll help you win the prince of light over", she clarified. He ignored her comment about Steele being a prince of light. She often talked weird like that and he knew by now that it was her nickname for him, for whatever reason he didn't even want to know.

  "H-how? Wait- you mean with your- like a love spell or something?", he asked unsure, whispering. She began to smile but it was a bit mad. Jasper felt like he was about to make a deal with the devil right now. Maybe he was. She called herself a witch often enough after all. Whatever the hell that meant... he had never asked and sure as hell wasn't going to now. She shrugged mysteriously, still smiling.

  "Don't worry about it. But only under one condition." Aha, there it was. He paused and frowned at her in suspicion.

  "If you suggest an animal sacrifice or me drinking blood and stuffing needles in puppets or something like that, I will get up right now and storm away...", he drawled. "So... which one?", he asked slowly, wondering in the back of his mind, if he should even ask and secondly, if he would regret it someday. But then, he didn‘t actually believe Genevieve was a witch. The thought alone was ridiculous... right? So what was the harm in agreeing to something like that anyway? Even if it was childish and stupid. If the sole purpose of this was to temporarily cheer him up a bit, where was the harm in it? So he decided to humor her. She giggled like the idea of animal sacrifices and drinking blood was amusing to her. The hair on the back of his neck bristled a bit and the corner of his mouth twitched without humor. Sometimes, at moments like this, he wondered if he should reconsider being friends with her. The guy beside them on the table suddenly got up, thinking obviously the same, since he kept throwing them suspicious and disturbed looks while he walked away. Huh. That happened to him more and more these days... Jasper snorted under his breath and shook his head. He didn't blame the guy, really. He probably looked like a creep with his red-rimmed eyes, the dark eye bags and the way he held his bamboo spoon-fork, as if he wanted to rule the underworld with it.

  "Nothing like that. But I'll tell you when it comes to it", Genevieve said full of underlying meaning and smiled saccharin sweetly.

  "Okay...", was the only thing he said after a long pause. And that settled it. If only he knew, what he was agreeing to.

  "He's doing it again", Oliver said in a hushed tone, blushing a bit. He even leaned forward, as if they were in elementary school again, sharing a secret. Harrison looked up from eating his lunch, his mouth still full of his favorite meal. He also looked a bit like a hamster with his stuffed cheeks. He gulped and wiped over his mouth with the back of his hand.

  "Huh?", he asked, clearly not following about whatever his friend was talking about all of a sudden. Oliver grimaced, he made a hopefully subtle move with his head in the other direction of the cafeteria area behind Harrison.

  "The blonde intern... He's looking over again", he said, still in this half whispering tone, which was actually ridiculous, since there were at least fifty people in the cafeteria area right now. Harrison frowned, then almost turned around and Oliver stopped him like a panicked deer, grabbing his arm.

 

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