A/N: Hey guys! For those of you who don't know me, my name is May, and this is my first Aladdin fanfic! I've written another fic for the tv series Ringer, so if you're into that, go check it out! I know this is rather short for a first chapter, but bear with me! Please read and review! I need the feedback!
Thanks a bunch,
Princess Maylin
Brother Dearest—Chapter One
Seven months after the wedding of Aladdin and Jasmine, the people of Agrabah—or at least, the royal family—found themselves celebrating again when Aladdin's best friend and jinni, named Genie, married his jinni girlfriend of almost two years, Eden. The wedding itself had been nearly as extravagant as that of the Princess and Prince, but with more jinn than anyone could count. When it came time for their honeymoon, they had chosen a vast array of places to visit, including the Grand Canyon, Fiji, and, to everyone's surprise, the rings of Saturn.
Before leaving on their trip, Eden had practically fussed over her twelve year old master, Dhandi, to the little girl's greatest annoyance, making sure everyone in the palace knew to give her her allergy medicine in the instance that she forgot. Dhandi had to reassure her no less than fifty times that she would not forget to take it.
After enduring about an hour of overbearing motherly antics from Eden, Genie had finally convinced his new wife that they were going to be late for their tour of the Canyon on the mules if they didn't get going.
"We'll bring back lots and lots of souvenirs and pictures!" he promised as he grabbed his bulging suitcase and took hold of Eden's hand.
"And don't do anything crazy while we're gone!" shouted Eden as the two disappeared from sight.
Aladdin didn't know whether to laugh at that or be worried about it. It seemed like nine times out of ten, he and his friends never did anything to make something crazy happen. It just happened…or, at least, that's what he liked to think.
Later that night, Abu and Carpet were locked in a game of chess, while Aladdin watched with more anticipation than he ever had with any chess match before. Surprisingly, Abu could really hold his own. For a little while, that is. When Carpet finally succeeded in getting his king to Abu's side of the board, the monkey sulked away in defeat.
"Oh, come on, Abu," Aladdin reassured him. "It's not that bad. You'll win next time." He tried to sound optimistic, but his voice ultimately betrayed him. After all, Carpet won almost every game he ever played. In fact, Aladdin could only think of one instance (that he knew of) where the rug had actually lost, and Genie, his opponent, had ended up getting upset anyway because Carpet had been such a good sport about it.
The monkey gave Aladdin an incredulous look and crossed his arms before settling down on a pillow on the window sill to sleep off his new-found feeling of loss. In front of him, Dhandi was curled up on the sofa, snoring lightly.
Aladdin yawned and decided to catch some sleep himself, so he headed back to the bedroom he shared with Jasmine, only to find her and her friend Sadira talking loudly and brushing each other's hair.
"I don't know," Sadira was saying as Jasmine ran her brush through her friend's frizzy locks. "This whole blind date thing you started me on is really getting on my nerves. I mean, I've been on five in the past two months and none of them were remotely my type. Where did you even meet those guys? I mean, one of them kept talking nonstop about his mother's pet goat! It was the weirdest thing I'd ever heard!"
"Well, to be fair, one of them was an old suitor that never really caught my eye, so I'm sorry about that one. But the others, well, they were Aladdin's friends, so if you want something less weird, you're probably better off finding a guy on your own," Jasmine said apologetically, not caring that Aladdin was in ear shot.
Honestly, though, Aladdin couldn't blame her or Sadira. Most of his acquaintances—he couldn't really call any of them "friends"—were weird. Most of them had agreed to go out with Sadira simply because Aladdin was the new Prince of Agrabah and they expected him to pay them large sums, which, of course, he had to do.
Not that Sadira knew that, anyway.
"I just have the feeling I'm going to die an old maid," the girl with the frizzy hair complained. "I mean, honestly, you guys are twenty and eighteen and you're already married and about to raise a family!"
"What?" Jasmine sounded offended. "I am not pregnant!" But, she blushed and gave a sheepish smile. "Not this month, anyway." Then, she started pinching her tiny waist, as if to inspect the fat that wasn't there. "Have I really gained that much weight in the passed few months? I know I've been eating pretty unhealthily lately, but-"
"No, you haven't," Sadira let out a laugh at her friend and then continued sulkily. "I just mean that you guys are ready to start a family! Your lives are going somewhere! Mine's not. I feel hopeless."
"You feel that way now, Sadira," Aladdin spoke for the first time since entering the room, "but in a few months, you'll find someone great! You'll see."
Sadira scoffed in disbelief.
"And until then, you have us!" Jasmine chimed in, ignoring her retort. Now, that was the truth. Even after she found the man of her dreams, Sadira would always have Jasmine and Aladdin to keep her company.
At that, Sadira smiled slightly. "Okay, I guess I could live with that. Thanks guys."
After Sadira left, Jasmine and Aladdin readied themselves for bed. However, neither of them could sleep.
"I guess things are going to be different around here now, huh?" said Aladdin, his head propped up on his elbow to look at his wife.
"I guess so," Jasmine replied. "I mean, Eden and Dhandi will be moving in, obviously, so we'll need to prepare for that."
"Yeah," he said thoughtfully. "Hopefully, though, we'll still have some peace and quiet."
He said the last bit sarcastically, and the couple started to laugh. Things were never quiet around there and there was almost never any peace. Something different went on every day and nothing was predictable.
"You know," Jasmine began entwining her fingers with her husband's absentmindedly, "speaking sarcastically of peace and quiet, I never thought I'd say this in a million years, but I'm actually starting to miss Iago."
Aladdin chuckled slightly, thinking of the squawking red parrot. "Actually…I wasn't going to say anything, but I miss him, too."
Iago may have been greedy, mischievous, annoying, and who knew what else, but they still loved him.
"I just hope he's not driving my father to insanity," Aladdin said lightly, wondering what his father and the parrot could be up to now.
