Jack walked along the stone path in the garden. The sun warmed his back, a cool breeze drifted over him every so often, and the air was heavy with the scent of exotic flowers. He loved days like this. Being stuck indoors listening to lectures drove him crazy. Of course he knew he had to learn all the rules that went with nobility, but as nobles went, the Vessalius family wasn't regarded very highly.

In fact, they were sort of a joke among the other families.

He didn't mind that much anymore. Many of his friends, although higher in rank than he was, wished that they were even higher on the food chain. But not him. Jack found his life pleasant enough, especially now that he was eighteen and free from tutoring. Besides, wealth couldn't buy happiness.

The Baskervilles were enough proof of that.

Normally, a family like his couldn't get anywhere near such high ranking members of society like the Baskervilles, but his father had been friends with Lord Baskerville when they had been children. Now the Vessalius family visited the Baskervilles every spring.

Even so, Jack didn't know any more about them than a commoner did.

Something red caught his attention, disrupting his thoughts on how unfair the class system was. An apple loomed up above him. All of the fruit had already been picked weeks ago, or so he had thought. Interesting. Even the Baskervilles didn't have perfect servants.

Not thinking twice, he began to climb the tree. The bark scratched his palms as he shimmied up the trunk, but it didn't hurt. Jack loved being in high places. Sitting up in a tree and watching unsuspecting people walk by, then scaring them by laughing suddenly, was always fun.

He perched on a branch and reached up for the apple.

Damn. Missed it by centimetres. Just needed to stretch a little further...

"What are you doing?"

A man Jack had never seen before stared up at him. He felt like this man—no, maybe not quite a man, in his late teens— looked more like a painting than a human being. Violet eyes, dark hair, the palest skin he had ever seen. The black overcoat he wore seemed old fashioned.

Jack forced himself to look away from that arresting gaze.

Of course the guy was human, not a watercolour illusion.

He had gotten way too much sun.

Jack gestured at the red fruit. "I'm getting that."

"You climbed up there to get an apple?"

"Don't say it like that," Jack huffed. "You're making my mission seem stupid."

"It is stupid. You can easily buy all the apples you want at the market."

"I want this one."

"Five year olds shouldn't be allowed to run around unsupervised."

"I'm eighteen, smartass," Jack retorted. "Who are you, anyway?"

"You must be a new servant. I'm Glen."

Jack nearly fell out of the tree, but managed to keep his balance.

"Servant?" He felt his temperature rising. "You're the one who looks like you stole that coat from a beggar. I'll have you know that I'm Jack Vessalius. I'm a noble, and maybe my family isn't that well-known, but don't you dare call me a ser—"

Glen laughed.

Jack didn't know how to react, but he knew he hadn't said anything funny. Had he?

"You need to lose that superior attitude of yours," Glen said. "There is nothing wrong with being a servant. I have nothing but the highest respect for mine."

Jack flushed crimson.

God, now that he thought about it, he had sounded pretentious.

"You're right." He held his hands up. "Sometimes I speak without thinking."

The dark haired man didn't say anything.

"It's just that, I've been made fun of a lot for being a Vessalius, which people said is no better than being a servant, really, and—" Jack felt his voice waver slightly and he told himself to shut up, but the words continued tumbling out of him. "God, I really thought this didn't bother me anymore. But I guess it does. I mean, I'm just here for a visit. I'll never have the same status as the Baskervilles. Sometimes...I think it would be easier if I had been born into their family instead."

At Glen's continued silence, he immediately wanted to take it all back or make a joke.

But some old wound inside him still festered.

He couldn't bring himself to smile.

"Jack..."

He jerked his head up in surprise and bashed his skull on a branch in the process.

This time he couldn't keep his balance.

Instead of slamming into the ground, breaking every bone in his body in the process, he found the impact shielded by something. By someone. Glen had ended up as Jack's mattress. He gawked at him, vaguely feeling a throbbing pain on top of his head.

"God, I'm sorry! I'm a tree climbing expert, really! This is my first time fall—"

Glen smiled, and in that moment, became fully human.

He was beautiful.

"I think you protest way too much," Glen said. "Can I get up?"

Jack practically catapulted to his feet, feeling a curious blend of embarrassment and something that he couldn't quite place. He offered Glen a hand but was declined with a small shake of the head. At this close distance, Jack could see that the jacket was made of some expensive looking fabric.

And it was torn along the side.

"I'll pay for it," Jack said. "I'm really sorry."

"Why? It's just a homeless man's jacket, after all."

Jack laughed despite himself. So the guy could make jokes. And smile.

"Seriously, I will." He gritted his teeth. "H...how much is it worth?"

"Everything the Vessalius family owns. It's an heirloom."

Jack didn't have time to wonder why Glen possessed such an item. If he had, he would have been able to put two and two together. But panic overtook him, shutting down all the problem solving skills of his brain.

"Oh. Oh, sh—"

Glen pointed at the apple. "But I'd like that instead."

"Got it!" Jack leaped on this chance. "Give me a second."

He never knew, but Glen smiled the whole time Jack was getting the apple for him.

The seed of friendship had been planted.

A/N: Goddamn, this was supposed to be a oneshot but there will probably be a couple more chapters. I have plans for what is supposed to happen. These involve my theories...haha. But, yay? My first time writing about Jack and Glen. These two characters are ~mysterious~! Especially a certain Baskerville. D: So their personalities are loosely based on what I've seen in the manga more than anything concrete. As you see here, they behaved somewhat differently in their teens. If you enjoyed it, I'm glad~ Review/critique if you're up to it, but I'm satisfied with people simply reading. :)