I like working on this story every now and then because the chapters are short and they're easy to get out (because it's usually only one or two scenes, which is so unlike the rest of my stories). Anyway, I hope you enjoy. It's still a bit slow, but it'll get there eventually, I promise. I was planning on having this a bit longer, but I kinda liked it as it was. The next chapter will be a little better.

As soon as Lucy had left for work, Bickslow slowly emerged from his lamp, cautiously checking the room to make sure it was empty before he finally settled in his form. He'd never really had a master who had a day job, or at least he'd never had a master who had kept their day job after entering a contract with him. With Lucy gone for the day, Bickslow just didn't really know what to do with himself. He was used to shadowing his master, being at their every beck and call no matter the time, but it was a little hard to be a faithful servant to a master that wasn't even there.

If he'd had his full strength and his power back, then he might've just followed her, but Bickslow had never really been able to go far from his lamp for very long. Only the elders could travel where they pleased. Ordinary jinn like him were merely house slaves, nothing more and nothing less.

He knew from the day before that it would be hours before Lucy returned home, but that was about it. He usually learned everything there was to know about his master fairly quickly, but with Lucy… With Lucy, things hadn't been quite so simple. It didn't help that she'd been hesitant to enter the contract with him anyway, but still, even being connected to her thoughts, Bickslow had found that Lucy really wasn't all that she appeared to be. And that annoyed the living hell out of him, because that meant he'd have to work to figure out all of her painfully embarrassing secrets, and Bickslow really didn't want to have to do that. His job was technically supposed to be easy, damn it.

In any case, with Lucy gone for the day, Bickslow needed something to do. And he needed to learn more about his new master so he could be her faithful servant, so Bickslow couldn't think of anything better than snooping through Lucy's house. There was no such thing as privacy once you entered a contract with a genie. If Lucy had a problem with him going through her belongings to see if she had puppy-print underwear as well, then he'd merely need to point out the fact that it was exactly what she'd agreed to. She'd just need to accept that there was now an immortal, magical being at her beck and call - one that had no respect for boundaries.

Boundaries were overrated anyway. He'd tell Lucy anything she wanted to know about him if she asked, not that he really had anything to tell anyway. He may be a genie, but he wasn't a complete heathen. He had some understanding of morals and basic human principles, but for the most part, he thought they were overrated too. Humans were just so prickly at times.

Bickslow remembered the house from his last master, but it had been far nicer then, and in a far better shape, too. The paint was faded and peeling in some places, and the floral wallpaper in the hall was just beginning to fall off the walls, exposing the original faded pattern from when Bickslow had last seen it. The floorboards creaked throughout the kitchen and living room, and the fireplace in front of the lounge was crumbling and filled with more broken tiles and ash than anything else. The white tiles in the kitchen were stained from all the years of neglect, and the wooden cupboards were scuffed and scratched. And in the bathroom… Bickslow didn't even want to think about just how long Lucy had been forced to stand in that tub for a shower. It was the stuff of nightmares.

Outside didn't look much better either, at least as far as Bickslow could see through the windows - apparently he was weaker than he thought after lying dormant for so long, and he couldn't even go outside yet. The rose bushes by the fence that his last master had tended to every morning were long gone, and the grass in the large yard was dry and dead. He wouldn't be surprised if the odd shingle had fallen off the roof, too. The place was in shambles. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Lucy had moved into the dump.

After exploring the house and looking inside every drawer and cupboard he could find, Bickslow found himself searching for something to do. He was used to being assigned menial tasks like cleaning, and while he would've had no problems doing the same for Lucy, he wasn't going to when it hadn't even been her wish. He didn't do anything unless it was what his master wished for, and, well… Lucy hadn't wished for anything so far other than a ridiculous sundae.

But, he did still need to regain his power, and with nothing else to do, Bickslow decided to just return to his lamp and sleep until Lucy returned home.

Except it wasn't long before Bickslow grew bored of that, too. And as much as he probably needed to sleep, after six decades of it, sleeping was the last thing he wanted to do. So with nothing else to do, Bickslow merely left his lamp once more and sat himself right in the middle of his master's lounge, and waited.

Lucy let her bag slip down from her shoulder as she turned her key in the lock, letting out a sigh as she pushed the door open. All she wanted to do was fix up something for dinner, go soak in a warm bubble bath, and sleep. It had been a long day and she'd had a headache all afternoon.

"Hi! You're back! How was your day? Can I get you something?"

Lucy couldn't help but let out a little scream, dropping her keys and her bag as she clutched a hand to her chest. How she'd forgotten she had a damn genie living with her now, Lucy had no idea. I'm really going to have to get used to that. She only hoped Bickslow wouldn't be making a habit of doing that whenever she got home, because she wasn't sure her heart would be able to handle it, and she wasn't too fond of having a heart-attack in her twenties.

"Damn it," she hissed, scowling at the genie standing just behind her and letting out a tired sigh again as she turned slowly and picked up her things after closing the door behind herself. "Why did you have to do that? That wasn't very nice!"

Bickslow blinked and followed his master through the small house. "What? Do what? What did I do?"

"Scare me like that!"

"Oh…" He hadn't really wanted to scare her. Not really, anyway. "Well… Well I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Lucy scoffed. She highly doubted that Bickslow was actually sorry. The genie just didn't seem like the type to apologise, at least as far as she knew. She couldn't help but glance curiously over her shoulder, and of course seeing the genie still trailing behind her, she couldn't but feel a little uncomfortable. She was so used to living alone that having an immortal fucking being shadowing her was more than a little unnerving. She really hoped he wasn't going to be making a habit of doing that either. She could accept that he existed, but she sure as hell couldn't deal with him annoying the living hell out of her by greeting her the second she got through the door and then trailing behind her like a lost soul.

And if she thought about it, it was just a little amusing, too. Weird, but amusing.

"Are you okay there?" she asked, a hint of a smile on her lips as she glanced over her shoulder again and set her bag down on the kitchen counter.

"Hm? Yes, of course." Bickslow nodded quickly as he came to a sudden stop behind her. It was probably a good thing he couldn't actually walk into her or objects - at least not while he was in that form anyway. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you're shadowing me like an annoying little puppy."

"I'm not... I'm not an annoying puppy, thank you." He found that rather insulting, too, to be compared to such a miserable little creature. Him, a magical and intelligent being, being equated to a four-legged fiend that chased its own tail. Bickslow wasn't sure he'd ever been called something so horrendous. He was almost inclined to retreat to his lamp to sulk, but it was boring in there and he wasn't interested in being that petty.

"Well, you're sure acting like one," she muttered. Sighing, Lucy kicked off the canvas shoes in the middle of the kitchen, making a mental note to put them away later, and turned to her fridge, swinging the door open to stare at the contents of it. She'd been so busy cleaning on the weekend that she hadn't had the chance to pick up more groceries. And while she had a few things left that she could make, like spaghetti or some packet soup or even scrambled eggs on toast, none of those sounded at all appetising to her right then. She didn't even have any microwave meals left in her freezer since she'd taken the last one to work for lunch that day. "I really need to go shopping…" Lucy sighed to herself again, eyes darting to the side when she saw movement in the corner of her eyes and found the genie creeping closer again, only stopping once he realised he'd been caught. Her parents had always told her food fairies didn't exist and that food didn't magically appear in the fridge if she stared at it long enough, but that still didn't stop her from wishing. A self-stocking fridge would be a godsend. "I have nothing to eat…"

Bickslow was sure that if he was a dog, then his ears would've pricked up. He wasn't a dog, thankfully, but he did lean forward slightly just to peek over Lucy's shoulder and into her bare fridge. He had to admit that he found the idea of magical fridge fairies just a little odd, especially since he'd never heard it before, but technically he was capable of giving his master a self-stocking fridge. Sort of. He could be her magical fridge fairy - well, magical fridge genie. "I can make you food," he said.

Lucy flinched again. She already knew for certain the genie was going to be the death of her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Bickslow gave a small shrug, continuing to peer over his master's shoulder curiously. "You want food, don't you? I can make whatever you wish for. I can even be your little fridge fairy if you so desire it."

"That's not… Get out of my head!"

"I can't exactly help it…" Bickslow said quietly. "And I'm not exactly in your head."

Lucy didn't care what it was. The point was that he was hearing her thoughts and there were certain things that she would really love to keep to herself. She liked her privacy, that's all. She huffed and slammed the fridge door shut, then turned to rummage in one of the drawers to pull out the crinkled delivery menu. She couldn't really afford it, but she couldn't be bothered getting back into her car and driving back into town to get anything, so she would splurge instead. She'd just have to remember to go grocery shopping after work tomorrow. "Well, still, I don't want you reading my every thought," Lucy mumbled, scanning the menu for something that tickled her fancy. There were plenty of things she hadn't tried since moving there, so she just didn't quite know what to order. "And I don't want you making me anything, or being my fridge fairy, thank you."

Bickslow stood back quickly, opening his mouth as if to say something then shutting it just as quickly when he realised he didn't actually know what to say. Did she just… Bickslow was certain his master had just said she didn't want him getting her anything to eat, and that was just strange. He knew Lucy was different to all his other masters, but he'd still assumed that she'd want to use his powers at some point. He was there to serve, to make things easier and more convenient, but Bickslow almost wondered if Lucy had actually realised that.

"Are… Are you sure?" he asked skeptically. No one really said no to him. He wasn't used to it. And after being left to his own devices for the whole day, all Bickslow wanted to do grant some stupid wishes. That was just what he did, and he couldn't even do that it seemed. "You don't want one of those stupid ice-creams again?" He rushed forward, coming to stand at the end of the counter next to where Lucy was still reading the menu, and formed the ridiculously indulgent dessert in his outstretched palms. "Or… Or maybe a roast? Do people still eat those this century?" The dessert was replaced by a plate laden with roast vegetables a perfectly roasted chicken. "Or! Or maybe some spaghetti instead? You can't tell me you don't want that."

Lucy finally looked up from her menu and to the genie with the hopeful yet panicked look on his face. It wasn't like she had much to compare it to, but she still thought that he was acting rather strangely right then. And admittedly, the plate piled high with spaghetti that he was holding out to her smelled really good, but that wasn't enough for her to actually take it. She just didn't really want it. She didn't really want anything from him, if she was honest. Lucy just hadn't had a chance to figure out what her genie's purpose would actually be, since she didn't really have anything to wish for right then.

Still, he was acting strange, and Lucy felt an inkling of worry creep up inside her. "Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.

Bickslow nodded quickly once more. "Yes, of course I am. You asked me that before." He'd be better if his damn master would just fucking wish for something, but that was beside the point. Sort of. "Why would I be okay? I'm perfectly okay. There's never anything wrong with my kind."

"Right… Sure…" Lucy mumbled. Like that's not suspicious. "Because you're acting kinda weird… Or at least weirder than you were yesterday…"

"No I'm not."

"Um, yeah… You kinda are. I mean, you're kinda invading my personal bubble here…" She waved a hand up and down in the space between them for effect, with Bickslow's eyes following the movement. "And now you're trying to feed me…"

Bickslow shrugged. "Humans require food to survive."

"Okay, fine, that's fair," Lucy mumbled. She supposed she had to give him that one, but that really hadn't been her point. "But I just… don't want you to, okay? Just, you know, following me around and trying to help me and whatnot - because I guess that's what you're trying to do. Am I right?" Perhaps the following hadn't made it obvious, but his apparent need to give her food sure did, and really, Lucy just didn't want it. She didn't need it. And when the genie remained silent, his mouth turning down into a slight frown and making a point of looking away, Lucy figured she'd been right. She had to admit she felt a little guilty for it, too. "I just really don't need anything, so you can just… go and do whatever it is you do," she added softly.

Bickslow didn't know what else to do, other than give a simple nod as he emptied his hands of the plate. "As you wish," he mumbled, taking his leave back to his lamp. He got the message loud and clear - she didn't want or need his services. And actually hearing it, Bickslow couldn't help but wonder if it really was always going to be like that, right up until their contract had ended. He still hoped that Lucy would require him at some point, and that she'd come to her sense and realise how fucking lucky she was to have a being like him at her beck and call, but his doubt was already beginning to outweigh his hope.

Perhaps Lucy was more different than he'd thought. Perhaps he really would've been better off staying in his lamp and just waiting for the next person to come along and find him, because as far as Bickslow could tell, he wasn't going to be of service for a while yet.

He couldn't even bear to think what the elders would think of him right then, but he knew they'd be at least a little ashamed.