VII

Norm began waking up. He sat up on the bed and looked around. He paused when he saw a figure in Jack's computer chair. "Red?" He called.

Jack swiveled in the chair. "Well, hello there," he grinned. "Have a nice nap?"

The genie nodded and smiled. "When did you get back?"

"About an hour after you crashed, I guess. Speaking of crashed… You owe me a new robot."

Norm sweatdropped and scratched his head. "Oh… You saw that, huh?" He sighed when Jack nodded. "Well, it tried to kill me. So I busted it."

The albino smirked. "It wouldn't have gone into Security Mode if you hadn't turned it on in the first place."

Norm glared at his master. "Maybe you should find better hiding places for your Psycho-Bots!" He crossed his arms with a huff. "Seriously... Why do you have so many?"

Jack stood and walked over to the bed and sat beside Norm. "My mom said I needed a hobby." He shrugged. "Plus, the monks kept busting them up, so I fixed the ones I could and made new ones to replace what I lost. Now, they've just accumulated into a sort of collection… I have no use for them anymore, so they're all in Shut Down until further notice."

"You built all of them?" Norm asked, a bit surprised. His master had said he built most of what Norm saw in the lab, but the genie was skeptical.

"Yeah. I told you I did."

Norm draped an arm across Jack's shoulders in a playful manner. "You really are a genius!!" He laughed.

Jack smiled. "I know I am. You said something about a former master that had a lab?"

The genie twitched slightly. "Yeah well… Can we not talk about him? I still get migraines thinking about that fairy-obsessed hunchback…"

"Well, I do have an IQ of 187!!" Jack stated proudly.

"That's good?" Norm queried. He grinned when Jack face-palmed. "I'm kidding. I know it's a good score." The albino raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean it." Norm defended himself.

Jack shrugged and fell back on the bed, dragging his genie with since the latter still had an arm around the boy.

"…………" Norm blushed very lightly. "So… What did your pals want?"

Jack made no movement except raising his arm to point at a brown staff with a monkey decoration that was leaning against the computer desk. "They gave me the Monkey Staff."

Norm blinked in confusion. "What does it do?"

"It gives you the strength and agility of a monkey. However, the more you use it, the more monkey-like you become. I used it so often that I started looking like one," the red head explained.

The genie smiled. "At least you got your looks are back. Or did the monkey thing improve you?" He snickered.

His master blushed and growled. "No! For your information, I've always been drop dead gorgeous, Shades." Jack stood up and placed a hand on his hip. He narrowed his eyes at the genie. "How about you? Did you spend all that time in your lamp primping?"

Norm stood and lightly punched Jack's arm. "And if I did?" He shook his head. "I'm a God of Sexiness. I got all the dames falling over me."

Guys, too. Jack thought. He thwacked Norm's forehead and walked over to the stairs.

"Where are you going, Red?"

"I'm going to get something out of the attic. Wait here."

Jack disappeared from view. Norm started to realize that the conversations between his master and himself were random. It was hard to talk to Jack. Why was it so hard? It's never been difficult to talk to a guy before. It wasn't even hard to talk to dames. But it was hard to talk to Jack. Was that what people call love?


Jack opened the attic door and stepped inside. "Now, where is it?" He glanced around at all of the boxes that had stacked up over the years. He was looking for a gift Kimiko had given him to give to someone he cared about.

He pulled a box down and sat it on the attic table. He opened it and rummaged for a good five minutes. "A-ha! There you are!" Jack grinned in triumph. He pulled out a bracelet that had a wing charm on it.


Jack walked back downstairs and found Norm sitting on the couch. "Hey, Shades. What's wrong?" He asked, sitting beside the genie. "You okay?" He waved a hand in front of Norm, trying to illicit a response.

Norm blinked and looked at Jack. "What? I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." He glanced down at Jack's hand. "What's that?"

"What I was looking for," Jack replied, holding it up. "I want to give it to you. It's a good luck charm." He lied.

Norm raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe you, but okay. I'll take it." He took the bracelet from Jack and put it on. It was girly in a way, but it was cool, in Norm's opinion. "Okay, Red, so when does the luck start?" He smirked.

Jack just smiled. "The monks suggested I tell you something….." He looked down at his lap.

"And what would that be?" Norm asked, noting that Jack looked nervous.

Jack looked up at Norm and blushed. "They told me to tell you that… That I…" He blushed a darker shade and turned his head. "Nevermind…"

The genie sighed and forced Jack to look at him. "You got me curious. What is it?"

The albino blushed. Instead of responding verbally, Jack kissed Norm.

Norm blinked in surprise. He pulled away. "Red…"

"That's the physical action of what they suggested I tell you…"