Work Text:
Vincent was dozing off on his couch when he heard a knock at the door. He grumbled, thinking he made it clear as day that he couldn't be bothered today. “Echo!” Responding to her name, the young girl nodded and went to open the door. Vincent yawned and closed his eyes again.
The person at the door spoke in a hushed tone. “Oh Echo, um. Is Vincent here?” When Vincent heard his sweet brother's voice, his face lit up and he ran over, pushing Echo aside. “Gil! You didn't tell me you were coming!”
Echo squeezed past the two and left the room, knowing Vincent didn't want her present when his brother was with him. Vincent shook his hands in excitement and spoke again. “What brings you here? Are you… are you…. here to see me?” He gave Gil a big smile, unintentionally making his brother shudder.
Gilbert cleared his throat and looked away. “Erm. I.. thought I'd see you at the dinner table today… Why haven't you come to eat? Is something wrong?” Gilbert looked back and frowned slightly.
Vincent’s body went stiff. He blinked a few times and smiled again. “It’s past dinner time already?” He posed theatrically, as if he was grieving. “Ugh! I’ve slept through it.” Suddenly, as if coming up with an idea, he quit posing and smiled. “But you know what, why don’t you come inside, let us have a chat and I will eat after you’ve left, okay?” Vincent grabbed Gilbert's hand and tried to pull him inside.
Gilbert gasped at his brother’s ice cold hands, ripped his own hand away, looked at Vincent and shook his head. “No, dinner’s not over yet, and I haven't eaten myself.” Gilbert lowered his gaze to the ground and mumbled. “I.. I was just wondering why you didn't come to eat. It's your favorite so I didn't think you'd want to miss it…”
“Given that you’re so thin already, I’m afraid you’ve been skipping meals…”
Vincent panicked. Did Gil find out? No, no there's no way, he doesn't know the truth. He smiled weakly and quivered. “I-I don't!” SHIT!!!!. Why did I quiver?! Thankfully Gilbert didn't seem to notice his apprehensiveness. “Oh. That's good to hear.” Gilbert scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed to have made such an absurd assumption.
Vincent forced a smile and gave an exaggerated laugh. “Yes! Let’s go eat dinner together, Gil. I'm glad you were thinking about me!" He took hold of his brother's arm and leaned against him. Gilbert let it happen, despite hating the feeling.
The older man smiled, relieved to hear his brother was willing to eat after all, but he still had this… strange feeling about him. He brushed it aside as they sat down to eat.
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Vincent grabbed the toilet seat as he shoved his fingers in his mouth. It hurt like always, his knuckle grazing against his teeth and making them bruise and bleed, but he had no other choice. He vomited, disgusted at the amount he had eaten.
What are you, obese? Who eats that much? You better not think about eating any dessert ever again, and don't eat for two- no- three days at least! Vincent choked a little on his vomit and groaned.
Echo, who was writing in her diary in Vincent’s room, heard a knock at the door. She looked over, got up and opened the door.
To her surprise, it was Gilbert, again. He looked down at Echo, speaking in a worried tone. “Is…is Vincent here?” Echo shook her head. Gilbert raised his eyebrow, confused that his brother had left home right after dinner. He cleared his throat and continued “Oh well. Um. The dessert… It had apples in it. I just wanted to warn Vincent, since he has that mild allergy to it.”
Echo stared at him blankly. “I will let him know once he returns.” Gilbert felt worried his brother might feel symptoms of it while he's away, but felt there was nothing he could do about it. Either way, he nodded and smiled. “Right. Thanks, Echo.” He waved and left to go home.
After a few more minutes Vincent stumbled out of the bathroom. He held the door frame for support as he muttered in a silent voice. “Who was it?”
Echo turned her head and spoke back in a monotone voice. “It was Gilbert. He said the dessert had apples in it.” Vincent sighed and stumbled past Echo to lay on the sofa.
He struggled to fall asleep for a few minutes, until Echo got him a pillow. Once she brought it to him and he started hugging it, he fell asleep almost instantly. Echo sat down on the ground and wrote some more in her diary.
“18:59. I think Vincent might die if he keeps this up.”
-Two days later-
Vincent stood in front of a mirror as he got ready for bed. “Echo!” Vincent called for the girl on the other side of the room. She raised her head and looked over. Vincent had taken his heels and pants off, and was working on getting his dress off as well.
His hands were shaky due to low blood sugar from him not eating for the past two days, so it took quite some effort. Echo cleared her throat and answered. “Yes, Master Vincent?”
Vincent spoke as he took his earrings off and started cleaning them. “I want you to make sure that Xerxes Break isn't near my precious Gilbert. If he is, make a report about what they're up to.” He yawned and covered his mouth. “And tell Gilbert I want to talk to him tomorrow about what foster father told me.”
Echo stood up and bowed. “Yes master Vincent. Leave it to me.” She hastily left the room and started walking to the third floor, where the offices were. Vincent sighed as his day dress fell to the ground.
He smiled at himself in the mirror. The meal two days prior hadn't had any effect on his weight, to his relief. He had a long way to go to reach his goal.
Vincent noted his scars had already healed completely, due to his Baskerville healing. He would have preferred to see his beautiful marks for longer, but if he had to be undressed due to an accident or some such, his body being spotless would be better.
He considered bathing before bed, but didn't want to risk falling asleep in the bathtub. His skin would get all wrinkly and ugly, and he read in a book that long baths might make him fat too. (Which is completely false, where is he getting this info from???)
Vincent picked up his white night dress and slipped it on. He giggled and twirled while he looked at himself in the mirror. He smiled and picked up his hairbrush from the side table and started grooming his hair. He frowned as he saw his hair had started to fall out again. He sighed and tossed the clump of hair in a trash can.
When he was done he put his hairbrush back on the side table and walked over to his bed. He took one last glance at himself in the mirror and decided he needed to work even harder for his looks.
If you think you're doing well, that means you're being way too lenient on yourself! If you're not careful you might end up even fatter than you already are, you know that, right?!
Yeah. That's true. He sighed as he slipped under his warm blanket. He lazily felt around for his hugging pillow and when he didn't find it, he opened his eyes and looked around. It was nowhere to be found. Vincent growled. “Echo! Go get my-”
…
Upon realizing he sent her off already, Vincent hit his thigh in anger. He groaned in pain but shakily got up and walked over to the cabinets in the room, screaming weakly when he realized that they did not contain any extra pillows. He didn't usually spend any time at Pandora anyway, let alone sleep in his bed there, so the cabinets not having items he would keep in them at home made sense. He was mad anyway.
Vincent gripped at his hair, wishing he was asleep already. He couldn't sleep well without a pillow. He would get nightmares that would plague him for the whole week. But he was so tired and he just had to go look for one.
He stumbled towards the door and cussed when he almost dropped a vase on the way there. He angrily opened his door and looked around. Which way is the damn bedding closet? Vincent neglected to put on any shoes, needing to be done with the errand as soon as possible.
Ugh... If only Break didn't exist… Echo would be getting the pillow instead of me.
He held onto the wall for support as he walked, trying his hardest not to doze off. His eyelids felt like they were strapped to anchors, weighing them down. Despite his efforts, he fell asleep while standing, hitting the ground, already in deep sleep.
Upon seeing him on the ground, somebody scooped him up and took him to bed.
Once Echo returned to Vincent's room and saw that he had gone out temporarily (based on him not taking his shoes with him), she took the opportunity to write in her diary.
“00:35 Echo watched as Vincent got ready for bed. He looked proud of himself. Echo doesn't agree.”
“00:42 Order to eavesdrop on Xerxes Break was given. Echo left the room for Gilbert's office.”
“00:45, Echo arrived at the office entrance. Echo heard Xerxes Break talk with Gilbert about Oz. (Echo almost forgot to write because she was thinking intently about Oz) Echo started writing the transcripts as she listened.”
“NOTES: Echo wrote the full report about the conversation in a separate paper for Vincent.“
“Summary: Gilbert is worried about Oz's health. Discussed symptoms and causes. Discussed loosening the work load for Gilbert.”
“01:22 Echo hid in a storage closet as Xerxes Break got out of the room. When he was gone, Echo got out to talk to Gilbert. She told him Vincent needed to talk to him about Bernard Nightray tomorrow morning. Gilbert agreed but he looked terribly tired.”
“01:27 Echo returned to Vincent's room. Before going inside, Echo spotted Xerxes Break watching her behind a corner.“
When ten minutes passed and Vincent hadn't come back, she got up and looked both ways in the hallway. Vincent wasn't on the floor sleeping, so he must have left to go sleep in Gilbert's room while she was away.
Echo dropped the transcripts on Vincent's bed, believing he would not come back until morning. She did her nighttime routine and laid down on her bed. Tucked in, she wrote her final note of the day.
“02:17 Echo is going to sleep. Vincent left to sleep with Gilbert(?) will report in the morning.”