A/N: i have a head cold and have been in bed all day. I'm bored.
The idea is kinda from "Freaky Friday" (though I've never seen it) and "Like Father, Like Son" (Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron). Doesn't really follow either but kinda, maybe? (I think my cold medicine is finally kicking in)
This chapter feature the switch and anysubsequent chapters will follow Bart and Chuck in their adventures and misadventures. I'm sure I'll have Bart go to school at some point and Chuck get freaky with Lily. I don't know at this point.
The Switch
Chuck sat in his limo on his way home from school when he realized that the car was traveling in the wrong direction. Thinking the driver was just being a dick, he lowered the privacy glass to ask him what he thinks he is doing.
"Mrs. Bass said to take you to meet her right after school, Mr. Chuck." Chuck nodded and poured himself a drink. Whatever his stepmother wanted, it was sure to be bad.
Chuck had been expecting to be let off at his father's office so he was confused when he didn't recognize the building. "Where are we?" He asked the driver as he opened the door.
"Mrs. Bass didn't say. Just that I was to deliver you immediately after school, sir." Chuck nodded and walked into the building. He saw his father talking on his phone in the lobby. Seeing his son, he quickly ended the call and waited for his son to walk over to him.
"Chuck. Glad you could make it." He didn't look like he was happy to see his son.
"I didn't have much choice. What's this about?"
"Lily seems to think we should try to get along better. So, she decided to trick us into this."
Confused, Chuck asked, "What do you mean?"
Bart motioned for Chuck to follow him to the elevator. "Apparently she made an appointment with this hippy family therapist. Just go along with it. Honestly, I don't think it will make much difference if we try or not. Let's just do it and forget about it."
"Wait, are we going to have to do this more than once?"
Bart shook his head, "I don't know. I certainly don't have time for this nonsense. Don't look at me like that, Charles. You know what I mean." But Chuck didn't. He was hurt that his father wouldn't make time for him.
"Yes, father, I know." They walk into the doctor's office. A short man in a white shirt and tan pants greeted them and asked them to come into his office.
"Hello, gentlemen. I'm Dr. Corey. Now, Mrs. Bass says that you two haven't been getting along lately. Is that right?" Chuck and Bart looked at each other, both wondering if this man was serious. Bart eyed his credentials hanging from the wall. The "doctor" went to graduate school in Grenada. "Okay, don't feel like talking?" Silence.
Sensing that neither was willing to speak first, Dr. Corey started with Chuck. "Charles, how are you doing in school?" Chuck shrugged. "Care to extrapolate on that?"
"I'm acing every subject." Chuck said sarcastically. Bart nearly choked as he tried to contain his laughter.
"Okay, so I take it you're not a star student?" Chuck rolled his eyes. "Okay, here's my only rule: verbal answers. I don't appreciate shrugs and rolling of the eyes. Understand?"
Chuck stared at the man. The only person who had ever spoken to him like that was his father. And maybe Blair. "Yeah, I guess." Satisfied, the doctor turned to Bart.
"Your son isn't doing well in school, Bart. What are you doing in response to that?"
Startled, Bart thought a moment. He supposed he wasn't really doing anything. Any time he had ever tried, Chuck managed to evade somehow. "Nothing. Because every time I hire a tutor or a private teacher, he just finds a way to get out of it."
Chuck muttered something and the doctor asked him to repeat it. "I said, maybe you could help me yourself, you prick."
"Okay, now we're talking and communicating. Bart, your son brings up a good point. Maybe you could help him yourself. Do you spend a lot of time together?" The doctor knew the answer already. He had spoken to Mrs. Bass for hours about their relationship.
"No, he's too busy fucking models and working. And he wonders where I get it from."
"Bart, do you have anything to say?"
"Maybe if you weren't such a disappointment I wouldn't be ashamed of you."
"You know what, I don't need this. I'm leaving." Chuck got up and walked to the door. Just as he reached the elevator, the doctor caught up to him.
"Charles, why don't you come back in? We're getting a lot of feelings out and we can make progress if we work at it."
"Yeah I'm perfectly fine with my father hating me. I turn eighteen in a few weeks and I'll be at college soon. I won't even have to deal with him anymore."
"Charles, you don't deal with you parents. You love them and learn from them and care about them. And they care about you. Your father cares about you. If he didn't then he wouldn't be here."
"He doesn't want to be here any more than I do. My stepmother conned us both into coming here."
"What if I told you that I have a surefire way to fix your relationship with your father?"
Chuck wasn't so sure, but he followed the tiny man back into his office. His father was checking his email on his phone. "Okay, we're going to try something different now. Bart, Charles, let's all sit on the floor-"
"On the floor? Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much these pants cost?!"
"Shut up, Chuck. Just do what he says." Bart was bored and wanted to go home and get obliterated. The doctor walked to his desk and picked up a statue that reminded him of something he'd seen in the Captain's porn stash. It had given him wet dreams for weeks.
"This is an ancient ritual that goes back to the eighties. Both of you place your hands on the statue and close your eyes. This is an exercise in trust and cooperation. Each of you must trust the other not to let go." Skeptical, Bart and Chuck exchanged glances but comply with doctor's request.
Eyes closed, they did not see what the doctor was doing. When told to open their eyes, they were both confused. Chuck was looking into his own eyes while Bart was looking into his own eyes.
"What the hell?" They said in unison.
After their therapy session, Bart and Chuck rode home in silence. Chuck stared at his father who now inhabited his seventeen year old body. Bart hasn't felt this good in forty years. Chuck, on the other hand, wondered vaguely if his father's body gave out while he was trapped inside, if he would die too or if he would return to his own body.
As the limo came to a stop, Bart in Chuck's body turned to his son. "We need to have a plan. I don't think we should tell anyone. I don't want anyone to try to take advantage of the situation and in the process destroy the company."
"Okay, I agree, but do you think we can pull this off?"
Bart shook his head. "We have to. I think we know each other well enough to do this." Chuck nodded, not entirely sure. They step out of the limo. Chuck imitated his father's glare perfectly and Bart put on a face of teenaged boredom. As they rode the elevator up to the apartment, Bart felt Chuck's phone vibrating. "It's Nathaniel. Should I answer it?"
Chuck shrugged. He couldn't answer it, he had Bart's voice. "Answer it."
"Hello? Nathaniel, how are you? Fine. No, I, uh, didn't forget. I had to meet my father after school. Okay I'll see you then. Where am I meeting him and when?"
"Wait, you're going out with Nate? I don't know if that's a good idea." Chuck knew exactly what they were going to do that night, and he didn't want his father to know or be involved with it.
"We have to keep up appearances. This is what that quack wants us to do anyway. Walk a mile in the other's shoes." Chuck shook his head.
"Dad, I don't know about this. Or should I call you Chuck?" Bart shook his head, not knowing what to do.
"We should get used to it. We might be this way for a while." Chuck nodded. "Do me a favor though. Keep Lily happy." Chuck didn't quite know what his father meant by that. Before he could ask, the elevator opened and they were greeted by the sight of Serena and Eric waiting at the elevator door ready to head out for dinner.
"Chuck! Bart! We left a note. Eric and I need some sister-brother time. Chuck, you are welcome to come although I know you won't." She smiles at Bart in Chuck's body.
"Uh, I have plans with Nathaniel but thanks?" Serena looked confused at the questioning tone but ignored it as Chuck and Bart exited the elevator and Serena and Eric entered.
"Okay, have a good night guys!" Eric said as the doors closed.
Chuck sighed. "This is a disaster waiting to happen." Bart agreed.
Bart turned to his son to finally ask the one thing he had wanted to know since his son was five. "Why do you wear so much purple?"
A/N: Reviews are appreciated and I look forward to them!!