He looked down at himself and grimaced in distaste. He was wearing a ragged t-shirt, board shorts and flip flops. Even as a maddeningly familiar voice from downstairs berated him about his chores, he opened his closet to find something to wear. Frustratingly, all the clothes hanging neatly in his closet were the same variations on a theme. Ragged shirts and baggy pants were all that populated the closet. Evidently since he was Cinderella in this story, this was all he had to wear. Sighing in vexation, he headed downstairs. On the way, he entertained another fantasy. Technically Max was the cause of this predicament, but as always Alex had something to do with it. The only way Harper could have gotten her hands on those magic storybooks was if Alex had been careless with them. He imagined putting Alex across his lap and giving her the spanking she definitely deserved. Just when he started to truly enjoy the thought, multiple voices yelling out for "JUSTIN VINCENZO PEPÉ FELLA" forced him to concentrate on the crisis he was currently facing. His satisfaction would have to wait.

As soon as he made it downstairs and got a good look at the people in his living room, he immediately began grinding his teeth. Mason Greyback, Ronald Longcape, Jr., Stevie Nichols and Dean Moriarty were all sitting on his couch, watching TV like they owned the house. Mason was the first to speak up as Justin arrived in the room. "Justin, you haven't made me any tea yet. " Ronald quickly followed with "Justin, finish folding the laundry." "He hasn't made dinner" complained Stevie. "And he still has to clean my car", whined Dean. Obviously this was his evil stepfamily. Oddly appropriate considering how he felt about each of them. Justin wondered whether turning them all into turkey sandwiches and feeding them to the homeless would make the story run faster. With a strangled groan, he determined that it would be best not to try a shortcut and instead soldier his way through this. And then make Alex pay for each indignity. He decided to go about doing the chores. He was responsible for a majority of them anyway in his real life since his parents spent most of the day working at the Sub Station, Max was too unpredictable and Alex was too unreliable to entrust with anything important. He was about to head to the kitchen to start making tea for that British Arsehole as he called him in his mind, when he noticed what they were watching. All four of them were drooling, in Dean's case literally, over a racy music video by some singer named Mikayla. He paused to enjoy the video because she was beautiful and the pop song was ridiculously catchy.

After several hours of work that consisted of unnecessary chores mixed with ridiculous requests, he finally found a moment where none of them were near him demanding something pointless. He walked downstairs to the basement with the intent of starting another load of clothes in the washer. He grimaced over the wet dog smell emanating from what had to be Mason's clothes and started the machine. After the washer started through its cycle, he relaxed fractionally as he estimated that the noise would be sufficient to cover his actions. He immediately started calling for his Fairy Godmother imaging that in this situation it would be the storybook version of Professor Crumbs. He heard a familiar voice behind and quickly spun around to see…himself sitting on a rocking chair in the basement?

It was very disconcerting to see a three dimensional version that he was used to only seeing in the mirror, sitting in the chair wearing a full tuxedo calmly looking back at himself. The words "What the…?" escaped his mouth and immediately his double assumed a look he imagined had been seen by Alex more times than he could count. It was the "You need to think things through" look that was capable of irritating her instantly. The other Justin opened his mouth and started with "The reason for a godparent is…"

Justin replied with "To ensure a person's upbringing and personal development."

"Very good. And the only option to be a Fairy in this story would be…" OtherJustin said a condescending tone

"A wizard who could cast spells." Justin replied patiently.

"Again very good. So the only person you know who could both cast spells and be responsible enough to look out for you would be…" OtherJustin continued, his voice continuing to be insulting.

"Me. Dad and mom don't have magic. Everybody else I know who has magic is usually untrustworthy." Justin replied between gritted teeth, wondering if he sounded that derisive to others.

"This brings us to a problem which you better be aware of before it catches you by surprise.

"Which would entail?"

"Remember this is a story about love and romance between the main character, which would be you, and in this case a princess who falls madly in love with you, searches you out and kisses you."

"That really does not sound like a problem."

"Except the other person trapped in this tale is Alex, and we both know she's the suited to be play that part. Remember how many time we called her Daddy's little princess?

"I HAVE TO GET MY SISTER…" He shouted before he could control himself.

"Keep it down, or they'll hear you upstairs." OtherJustin interrupted hastily

Justin grudgingly modulated his tone. "I have to get my sister to fall in love with me, and make out with her?"

The other version of himself raised one eyebrow and stated emphatically "Please don't practice deception with yourself. Remember that I'm a portion of you split off by the magic of the storybook. So I know exactly every single memory you've had as well as every single thought. We want to make out with Alex and at the same time we are terrified of what will happen. I just wanted you to be forewarned because we do not react well when surprised. It's easier for us to prepare for every eventuality. Fortunately everyone else in this story will have no memory of this when we finish it."

Justin wondered if the feeling unsettling his stomach was fear or anticipation.