Yeah...

With his father's death, Guy returns to the house where he spent his entire childhood, living like a porcelain doll – exposed, yet untouchable, too fragile for others, precious, beautiful.

Guy doesn't grieve as he probably should; he'd never been particularly close to his father, leaving home to forge his own path as soon as he turned 18 – knowing he'd need to return to take over the family business once both his mother and father passed away. That was, after all, why he was adopted.

Now he's back in a house filled with monotonous, lifeless, and lonely memories, until the moment his mother is well enough to be alone. The time he doesn't spend with her, he wanders through the house, more of a mansion than anything else, discovering what has changed, if the secret passages are still there. He likes the garden. The few blue roses are new, as are the different types of flowers that weren't there before. From what his mother had told him, a new gardener had been hired a few months after Guy left, nine years ago. Guy can at least say that he is competent, based on what he has seen so far.

He will see much more still.

In 2012, Jasper is discharged from the army due to a minor injury affecting his vision, leaving him unable to continue as a sniper. He turns to a hobby recommended by his trauma counselor: gardening. And because he was never good at hobbies, he turned it into a job, hired by a wealthy family, earning a good salary with good working hours.

He cares little for the death of one of his boss, more than he worries about being fired. When that doesn't happen, Jasper gets over it immediately, feeling only pity for the widow and the son who, from what he's heard, will return to the mansion for a while to stay with his mother. Jasper isn't at all anxious about this. Perhaps a little curious, because in nine years he hasn't seen him even once, nor has he visited his parents once. He's not very enthusiastic about the idea of having to deal, even briefly, with a spoiled brat. Worse, his fear is that this son will be like his father. This might make Jasper consider resigning, without a doubt.

Guy, he quickly discovers is not just a spoiled brat – no matter what Jasper calls him.

Guy, Jasper discovers when he finds him trembling and sweating one night in the garden, is a former addict with eight years of sobriety and a troubled family background. As well as a boy, a man, with an apathy stemming from his father's death. This makes him spectacularly interesting and, in the eyes of a man who has faced something worse than death, strong. Guy, looking at him with those bright eyes, seems grateful that Jasper sees the sober side of him and not just the addict. But it takes them a while to get to that point. It takes them a while to even get to know each other.

At first, Guy barely leaves the house, constantly by his mother's side, who is going through a deep depression due to grief. And Jasper never enters the mansion, having his own workspace in addition to the gardens where he rests. But Guy notices, through the windows, how the flowers grow and researches them. Curious for the first time about the blue ones, his favorite color. And Jasper can't help but notice the blur of short curls and pale skin when he glimpses him through the windows, nor the suggestions scribbled on a white piece of paper left in his shack of possible plants to cultivate. Guy respects the gardener for his excellent work. Jasper detests the brat who immediately starts meddling in his garden, even though he is technically the owner.

Guy feels disappointed when Jasper doesn't seem to like his suggestions – given the lack of new seedlings growing. He understands, of course. He has no right to tell the man how to do his job, but the idea of bushes covered in blue forget-me-nots comforts him, reminds him of a time when living in that house was good and not a haunting.

The first time he truly sees Guy, he's wandering aimlessly through the garden, disregarding the off-limits areas. Or at least, that's what Jasper thinks when he first sees him. Then he reaches a bush wall taller than himself and stares at it for two seconds before pressing and pushing. Jasper just watches in shock as he passes through a secret passage Jasper had never discovered. Then he turns around and refuses to get involved in anything related to Guy. It's stupid and petty, but Jasper grew up fighting for survival, against hunger and misery; he fought for his own life dozens of times and feels resentment towards heirs who don't understand the meaning of hardship in life.

But it's becoming increasingly difficult for Guy to stay put in the house where everything reminds him of the years he spent being abused by his father, learning to "be a real man." Seeing his mother needing sleeping pills is hard, and the thought of the relief it used to bring makes his hands tremble. He spends the night in the garden, using the cold as punishment for the longing he felt. It's there that Jasper finds him, about to finish his night shift, and takes him to his shack, wrapping him in his coat and making a mug of coffee. It's obvious, now seeing the man in front of him, that Jasper doesn't like Guy. That he seems to see him only as a spoiled heir. Guy pretends that the trembling is from the cold and not from his displeasure at being seen as something like his father.

Jasper still sees him that way, but now there's more respect for his story, for his strength. Jasper can admit that he misjudged the boy, a little. Or a lot, he says as they grow closer each time Guy finds him in the garden.

One night, Jasper asks about the secret passage, and Guy takes him there. A smaller area, a glass-covered room with a cozy seating area on benches along the wall. There are children's toys, an old, worn stuffed animal, arranged on one of them. Vines grow above the glass, and small flowers grow in the grout of the floor. It's almost fantastical. It was Guy's refuge after being beaten by his father until he nearly passed out. He confesses this to Jasper, sensing the older man tense. They spend the night there. Guy opens up, Jasper listens, and for him, it's perfect. It feels like a date. He feels a little flushed, hugging his knees and staring at the man as he talks about a small bar, his own comfort zone, a few blocks away. Guy doesn't dare invite himself there. Jasper does it for him, surprising even himself.

One Saturday, Jasper fulfills his promise to take Guy to this little bar. He almost regrets making the invitation, but seeing Guy in a place that's special to him warms his heart and makes his throat dry, watching him shine among the cozy lights and country decor. Then they run into members of Jasper's old battalion, and things go a little awry. In the sense that Jasper finds himself thrown unprepared into his past and also has to endure seeing his former intelligence operative flirting with Guy – and not being rejected.

Jasper kisses him that night. He takes him to his house. He takes Guy to his bed. And he doesn't let him sleep until Guy is sobbing with pleasure and clinging to him with all his might, his face buried in his neck and his legs spread open, pressed against the mattress, testing his flexibility. It's a perfect night. Guy always had a childlike desire to be loved, truly loved, not for status or money, and he knows Jasper doesn't care about those things. Guy dreamed of being loved, of having his first time taken by the person he loves. Of course, he then reached adulthood, college, and, drugged up on medication, didn't need love to open his legs or mouth. But he always longed for it. And now there was Jasper, right there, snuggled beside him and holding him as they slept.

Jasper, that in the next morning blames the alcohol and says it was a mistake. He hates himself a little for it, seeing the sparkle in Guy's eyes – something so rare to find – fading. But it's what needs to be done. Jasper is too old, traumatized, and flawed for someone like Guy. The sex had been incredible. God, it had been perfect. But a mistake that won't be repeated.

He still relives every detail whenever he sees Guy. He plants blue forget-me-nots. He buys books about flowers and leaves them on Guy's balcony because he remembers him confessing that night in the "secret room" about being curious about them. He knows Guy's stay there is coming to an end. He knows why the room, when he sneaks onto the balcony to leave gifts, is becoming increasingly empty. He knows why the pain in his chest grows stronger with longing each day. It's ridiculous. Like a lovestruck teenager suffering again for someone who will never be his.

The closest he gets to Guy is to go through that secret passage and sit in the place where Guy had sat, probably countless times, and imagine what it would be like to have him all to himself. A lover again. A partner.

He makes small adjustments. Cleaning the floors and countertop upholstery, placing potted plants, trimming the vines through a skylight. Like a small, fantastical place. Like a token of his love. Guy, however resentful he may be, is clever enough to enter, notice the changes, and understand what they mean. Guy, precisely because he is irritated and stressed, waits for nightfall, until Jasper appears with another potted plant, and demands an explanation for the changes. Guy, despite his fear, kisses him again. How could he not? When Jasper admits to having made the changes because he remembered Guy that night there, talking about how he always imagined that place as something magical and wanted to make it as close to reality as possible.

They argue. Of course they do. Guy calls him many things – a jerk, stupid, blind, and very, very idiotic. Jasper calls him the man of his impossible dreams. Obviously, they kiss again. It's inevitable that Jasper lays him down on one of the upholstered benches and holds him in his kisses. It's inevitable that they make love. Even if the next day Guy expects another excuse for how they were a mistake. Even if Jasper has doubts. In the early morning, before Guy lay on his back having his face caressed by Jasper, the latter gets up. Guy thinks he won't come back. But he still waits. Until he returns with cushions and two blankets. One he spreads on the floor, where he places the cushions, and the other on top, for them to use. Guy's heart races, because this, the love and the scene, are like a dream.

They'll figure out how to make it work. Jasper may not be the charming prince Guy once dreamed of, but he won't complain about his knight and the flowers he gives him.

Guy's mother doesn't approve, of course not. But anyway, so consumed by grief and not wanting her son to distance himself, she doesn't dare fire Jasper. And even though Guy never wants to set foot in that house again, he quite likes London. Especially the country house where he and Jasper end up living together, where Jasper builds a replica of his "magic room," and where Jasper proposes to him. Of course, Guy says yes.

Scene Ideas

Jasper teaching Guy the language of flowers.

Problems arising from differences in social class.

Jasper feeling inadequate for Guy – age, mental status, social class.

Getting with Jasper old battalion.

Guy having a breakdown due to grief – or the fact that he doesn't feel it, because his father wasn't a good man.

Exploring Jasper's distress at disliking Guy's desire for Jasper's friendship.

To portray Guy's loneliness.

Their first time, detailed and intimate.

Age difference being pointed.

Jasper PTSD showing up.

"Magic room" scenes.