Title: The Boy in the Bottle
Pairing: Vlad Masters/Danny Fenton (Maybe more…?)
Summary: Vlad Masters is marooned on a deserted island, that is until he finds a strange bottle. And what should be inside but a teenage boy? Alternate universe to the tune of I Dream of Jeannie.
Warning: Slash.
Rating: T
Update! At last! And it's the longest chapter yet! Yay!
Has it really been more than a year? Waiting for motivation is such a pain. Ugh. But even if it takes me years, I really want to finish this fic. Mostly because I've never finished anything this long, but also because some of the notes I have for future plot points are so GOOD. And silly. I can't not finish.
I was rereading some past chapters for inspiration, and… Oh, goodness. How embarrassing. Had to go back and edit. A lot.
Chapter Eight: Lazy Afternoons
Vlad was genuinely surprised when he arrived home that evening to find his room completely deserted of all boxes and box related materials. Even his victimized door had been restored to its place in the frame, hinges and all attached. He gave it a little swing back and forth to test it.
Maybe the boy was learning his place, he supposed. Really though, he was too tired to think of any other theory. He had ended up spending quite a late night at work, only going out to have dinner with Riter and Skulker before returning right back to the office. His back ached from bending over his desk, his eyes burned from reading, and his body felt like lead from the exhaustion of it all. It was grueling, but companies didn't just oversee, merge, and expand themselves all on their own. The good news was that the next day was Saturday, and as head of the company, he allowed himself to observe weekends.
He doffed his suit jacket and dropped it in the floor. Immediately, he thought better of himself than to let such an expensive suit garner a nice collection of wrinkles on the carpet, and bent down to pick it up.
"Ahh!" he cried, affixing a hand to his back following the feel of an unpleasant pop. Vlad tried to stand back up, but found the sting rather unbearable. "I suppose I need to slow down some, for health's sake," he reasoned with himself through gritted teeth. He stood doubled over in the middle of the room for a minute before hobbling over to his bed and slowly lying down.
"Ge…" He paused. Did he really want to bother the boy over something so trivial, especially with him being so quiet and good? Vlad pulled his legs over onto the bed and felt a stab of pain. Ow, yes. He did. "Ge— Danny," he amended, switching to the other's name halfway through, "could you come out here please?"
Vlad didn't see any smoke, but all at once there was a pair of green eyes looking down at him. The white hair fell around the boy's face, obeying the laws of gravity that he so blatantly defied as he hovered above him. "Yes?"
"I've hurt my back. You wouldn't know anything about fixing that, would you?" How pathetic he felt in that moment, asking a little boy for help.
"No, Master. But I guess I could try." He blinked his eyes, and Vlad yelped in surprise when he felt himself being lifted off of the bed, floating just above it.
He got over the shock of it quickly enough and instead began to mentally document the sensation. It was odd, not touching anything but air. He imagined relating it to falling, but without any of the fear or wind resistance rushing around him. Vlad found it very… freeing.
There was a quick dizzying sensation when he felt himself being flipped over with no control of the process. He glanced down at his bed sheets before looking over at the genie who was sitting in the air, legs crossed around each other. "Where does it hurt?" he asked. "Here?" He jabbed at Vlad's back with a bony finger.
"No," the man groaned. Danny went on to prod him several more times until Vlad yelled directions at him. "Right there, yes."
"Hmm, all right," the teen said, poking him again, no less gentle than all of the others. However, when the pain invoking digit pulled back that time, Vlad felt all of his soreness gone.
"Wonderful," he muttered, thankful for the boy's powers. He felt himself being lowered back onto the mattress and had the sudden overwhelming urge to prevent it. "Wait, I… I think I wouldn't mind levitating here for a moment more."
"Nice, hmm?" Danny smiled, stretching himself out next to the other.
"Yes, quite. I suppose I can see why you like it so much." Not another word was spoken while he enjoyed lying comfortably in the air.
Vlad didn't even notice having fallen asleep until he fell down on the bed an hour or so later. It was then he learned that the genie's power of levitation did not transcend his slumber, at least not for long. And what had startled him seemed to leave the boy unaffected as he slept on in Vlad's bed like he owned it.
—
It was the kicking that woke Vlad up. Apparently, the other liked to kick in his sleep. The second time it happened, the man kicked right back. He received a slap in retaliation and wasn't exactly positive that it hadn't been on purpose.
He gave up on sleep after that and looked at the watch on his wrist, having fallen asleep with virtually all of his clothing still on. While he didn't want to wake up at six o' clock on a Saturday, he didn't exactly see any reason in trying to resume his rest there.
After a shower and quick change into a more comfortable and laidback set of clothing, Vlad walked back into his room to see the teen still fast asleep on his bed. Now, however, Danny had spread out to claim the entire surface, one of his legs even dangling off on Vlad's side. Not… that he had a side and the boy had a side. The whole thing was his, of course. He had just allowed the other to sleep there last night because in his exhaustion and the genie's unwavering slumber, there was no way he could have carried him anywhere. At best, he might have accomplished knocking him into the floor.
"Wake up," he ordered, shaking the entire mattress with the firm hand he had on the other's shoulder. "If I can't sleep, then neither may you." The reply to his action was a few grumbled words, and then, next thing Vlad knew, he was suddenly out in the hallway on the other side of his bedroom door. "Fine," he conceded, walking off to breakfast.
Before he had even taken a sip of his coffee, Vlad was opening his newspaper like a child with a gift at Christmas. In his hurry to get to the business section, he almost gave himself three separate paper cuts. When he did reach it, his eyes sped over the whole thing. He briefly took in each headline before moving on to the next, in search of some news about his competitor having met with a horrible accident.
Upon finding nothing there, he went on to general news, then national. Still finding nothing, he at last gave up and flung the paper uncaringly onto the table. He ate his breakfast as if it had personally wronged him.
—
Food gone, Vlad walked back upstairs, having a hard time of trying to remember what it was that he did in his off time. He decided that he would try waking the genie up again, mostly so that he could yell at the boy for not having completed his wish from the previous day.
After shaking Danny again, he tried shouting in his ear and finally tearing the blankets off of the boy. That time he ended up being transported to the first floor.
Vlad threw his hands up in exasperation and decided he might as well go to his work out area around the corner and catch up on some exercise.
—
He was in the midst of a sit-up when he pulled forward and saw the grinning boy sitting right in front of him. Alarmed, Vlad fell heavily back down onto the mat.
"You are very good at that, Master," Danny commented, following the man as he stood up.
"I'm surprised you opened your eyes long enough to notice," Vlad replied snidely, dabbing at his neck with a towel. "I had decided at noon I was going to manually drag you out of the bed so the housekeeper could make it up. You still had an hour left to lounge about like a lazy cat."
Danny yawned and stretched upwards until he was standing just on the tips of his toes. "I have not slept right in days."
"You had two thousand years to sleep." Vlad started walking towards the door with the boy on his heels. As he threw the sullied towel into a laundry bin against the wall, he asked, "What are your plans for the day, my boy? Of course, I'm talking about more than just granting unfulfilling wishes, mind you."
"You mean the man you wished about yesterday."
"I mean the man I wished about yesterday," he spat, words full of his irritation. "What's the point of making you do anything if you warp my words or don't even grant the wish?"
"Master, I said that I would make it happen, and I will. But remember, I said it would take time," Danny huffed, following him out the door.
"Time for what? I'm sure he was in a vehicle of some sort last night. How hard is it to manage a car wreck?" Vlad stopped fast and shoved the teen behind him when a maid passed by an intersecting hallway. "You're not stalling for some reason, are you?"
After a moment of silence, he turned around— intent on staring the other down— and saw that the boy had disappeared. "Of course." Spinning back around, he saw Danny floating right in front of him, big smile on his face.
"What are your plans for the day, Master?" he questioned in a transparent deflection, mirroring the words Vlad had asked him a moment ago.
"I hadn't thought on it," Vlad answered, making his suspicion regarding the matter well known with the skeptical expression he sent the other's way. "Maybe picking up another book from the library to read."
"And further taunt the genie who cannot read your English," the teen sulked, sticking his tongue out.
"No, it's merely something I enjoy doing." He began walking up the stairs and noticed after looking down that his feet weren't reaching the dark wooden steps. He was hovering just above them. "Down," he growled heatedly. Danny grinned and dropped him.
"I am bored," the teen complained.
"Watch your T.V.," Vlad countered, making a turn into his room to take, yet another, shower.
"Not to say I do not like watching it, but… I wanted something else today. Do you think we can do something together?"
He waited so patiently for an answer that eventually Vlad felt he just had to throw the boy a bone. "I suppose," he said, "we could figure out something normal and inconspicuous for you to wear tomorrow evening." It didn't look to be what Danny had in mind, but he seemed at least somewhat enthusiastic about it. "After I get out of the shower."
—
"No," Vlad said, dismissing the other's first choice in costume. He had been standing outside of the bathroom door, waiting for him to come out, wearing pounds of silk that surrounded him in many different layers and even more colors. "Two thousand years ago this might have been considered formal wear." Vlad picked at the sleeveless vest the boy wore, noting how it went down past his knees with its deep purple folds and gold trim. "But when I say 'normal,' I mean that you'll be dressing more like me." He knocked the headdress off of Danny's head, and it disappeared before ever touching the ground.
"Master," the teen replied, scoffing a little, "your clothes are so dull! Where is the color?"
"I didn't say you had to dress exactly like me," Vlad said defensively. He would take insult from the boy's words if he even understood the basics of current formal wear. As it was, he couldn't fault the other for his ignorance. He walked through the hall and into his room, sitting himself down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. "Men nowadays don't show much color. It distracts from the beautiful dresses that women wear." Danny nodded his head slowly as if thinking it through and agreeing that, somewhere, it made a little bit of sense. "Some other time, I might let you wear a bit of color in your tie or something, but given the somber nature of the event, I think black is the only way to go."
"Boring," Danny sighed.
"It's one of the conditions of you attending. Are you going to wear what I say, or can we cut this short now?" The teen shook his head slowly, eyes not looking at Vlad. "Good. Now, change into something a bit like one of my suits. You've seen me wearing them."
Danny rolled his eyes and then blinked them. When he was done, he wore an exact copy of Vlad's usual attire, only scaled down to fit his small build. "I do not like it," he complained. The thick fabric on his arms felt so confining and heavy, like he'd dressed in lead or some other heavy metal. "I want to take this off." He picked at the suit jacket.
The man released a noise stuck between a sigh and a groan. "Fine, fine. You're a boy, so I don't think anyone will care if you wear the jacket. Take it off." Quickly, he unbuttoned and tore it off, tossing the horrible thing on the ground and blinking it away before contact. Vlad appraised him for a minute, even making a motion for him to turn around in a circle once or twice, before deciding what should be done and standing up from his chair. "I think I know of a way we can both be pleased," he spoke, untying the bowtie from the boy's neck and throwing it down. "Shorten the shirt sleeves." He picked at the white cotton about halfway up Danny's upper arm. "To here."
The teen beamed, happy to be rid of the long sleeves, and blinked. The two of them watched as the sleeves shrunk in length until reaching the indicated measurement.
"Good," Vlad commented, placing his hand to his chin as he thought. "You'll need a tie."
"Does it have to be black?" Danny groaned, running a hand along his shirt collar. The man knocked his hand away before he could wrinkle it.
"If I allow the tie to be colored, will you go along with the rest of what I say?" Vlad asked, raising his eyebrow skeptically. The boy nodded in agreement, but he didn't believe it for one second. "All right then. I think I have just the one for you." He led the other into his clothes closet and hit a switch that began a rotation of a hundred or more ties on one of the shelves. His eyes scanned back and forth until he found the one he wanted and turned it off. "Here," he said, holding up a green tie with small diagonal stripes of white and black stitched through it. "Goes with your eyes."
"But my eyes will be blue," Danny said with a sad smile.
"Ah, yes. Of course," Vlad remembered, taken aback by the fact that seeing the boy's extraordinary appearance had already become second nature to him. "Feel free to change it to blue then. You're to turn it back before returning it though." The teen nodded and took the tie. He touched one of the green stripes and it turned blue, as did all the others until the ends were met and the whole thing had been converted. He held it up and grinned. "How about you go ahead and change?" Vlad asked. "It would be easier to plan your outfit."
Danny blinked his eyes, and, just as before, when they opened again, they were that bright but natural looking blue. While his hair was turning black at the roots, he held the tie up to his eyes. "How is that?"
"Very nice," the man said, taking the length of silk from him and turning up his collar. He threw it around the boy's neck and began tying it. "Since you aren't wearing a jacket, you're at least going to put a vest on. That isn't debatable."
"I will allow it," Danny agreed. Vlad had a feeling the teen didn't care what happened anymore as long as he didn't have to wear long sleeves. Probably another wonderful point of stubbornness that came from wearing only a vest that barely went past his shoulders for so many years.
As he went to fold the shirt collar back over the completed tie, Vlad's thumb hit the gold of a hoop earring. "Have you… Have you had those in this entire time?" he asked dumbly, looking back and forth from either side of the other's face and seeing that Danny had an earring in each ear. Against the black hair and normal clothing they were horribly obvious.
"You do not notice things very well, do you?" the teen questioned with a smirk. "I actually like them, but you will not hear me thanking the Blue Djinn anytime soon." He tapped one of them while admiring his reflection in Vlad's mirror.
"You're taking them out," the man demanded.
Danny looked disappointed. "What if I make them smaller?" Vlad narrowed his eyes. "A different color?" At the worsening look of irritation on the other's face, he conceded. "Fine." He fiddled with them until he could find the long unused opening and placed them in Vlad's waiting palm. "But I want them back after the party."
"I'll think about it." He was simply happy that the large holes left in the boy's ears grew back in after a second, no doubt by magic. "Now," he continued, pocketing the gold hoops, "a vest." He browsed through his own collection of vests and three piece suits until he found one he liked and pulled it out. "Nice gray pinstripe double-breasted vest with a black satin backing. It should do well." Vlad motioned for Danny to pick up his arms, and he put the vest on him and buttoned it. "Of course, you'll want to size that to yourself," he said, looking at how it swallowed the boy.
Danny nodded, blinked, and watched as the material pulled in until it hugged him tightly— but comfortably— showing off his unfortunately lean form. "You were right, Master. I think we can both agree on this." He gazed at himself in the mirror and adjusted the tie's knot, obviously liking what he saw and unable to hide it. "But I think I will go back to dressing as I usually do until the party."
Before Vlad could stop him, he blinked and the outfit disappeared, replaced by his normal harem costume. "Where did my clothes go?" the man asked, already thinking he may as well count that particular tie and vest gone forever.
"Hanging up," Danny responded, straightening the strip of cloth that ran across his chest. "In my bottle." He gave Vlad a smile before asking, "What do you want to do now, Master?"
"I…" He looked at his watch and saw that it was barely noon. He could ditch the boy and go have lunch, but he wasn't very hungry at the moment. "I don't—"
"What is that?" the teen interrupted. Although, Vlad really had no idea how he would have finished that sentence anyway. What was there to do?
Instead of trying to figure it out, he looked up to where Danny was pointing and saw a box sitting on one of the topmost shelves. "Oh, that," he grinned, stepping on his toes and reaching up high for it. The box was a thick wood and when he finally convinced it to fall into his hands, it fell hard. He grunted as the thing slammed into his chest, but he ignored that and began brushing the dust off the top. "My old chess set."
"Chess set?" Danny asked, tilting his head quizzically to get a better look at the plain, wooden box.
"Yes, it was a gift from my father before he died. I couldn't have been more than five or six at the time." Vlad smiled fondly at it before looking up. "Would you… like to play, my boy?"
"I would like that very much," the genie answered with a grin.
Vlad walked into his room and sat the box on his coffee table before turning the chairs so that they both faced it. He took the lid off and pulled out the board, a very old piece of intricately carved wood that folded in the middle with two small, golden hinges. In the bottom were two smaller boxes— one stained dark, almost black, the other a lighter shade of wood— which he also took out. He opened the dark one and began setting the pieces from inside up on his end of the board, occasionally examining one of the elaborately shaped pieces. "I forgot how many scratches were on some of these pieces. It was old when I got it," he muttered, almost embarrassed by the state of the set.
"I like old things," Danny smiled warmly.
—
It ended up taking over an hour to explain the game, and then six rounds of play before the boy became even a vague challenge.
"I'm going to have to take a break," Vlad said, capturing one of the other's bishops, "and go eat my dinner soon."
Danny groaned in objection. "But, Master, I think I am finally getting how to play. This is fun. Do not stop now." He moved a knight blatantly into the line of fire, and the man was tempted to spare it because of the teen's admittance to enjoying the game. But how would he learn if Vlad didn't teach?
"You know something, Danny?" He took the knight. "You've been here a couple of days now, and I don't think I've seen you eat anything."
"Pointless." Danny sulked at the loss of his knight and tried to think his next move out more carefully. "Genies cannot die, apparently. But I think if we could, it would not be over something stupid like not eating."
"Interesting." Vlad watched the intense look of concentration on the other as he stared at the pieces. The boy probably wouldn't prosper at timed chess. "And I suppose now you simply don't eat because you feel no want?"
"I cannot remember the last time I did." Eventually, Danny chickened out and simply moved a pawn one space.
"Unable to die…" Vlad thought aloud, strategically moving his queen one space diagonally. Checkmate was imminent. "Tell me, to what lengths have you tested this presumption?"
"That is…" The genie's hand stopped short, hit off guard by the question. His fingertip gently touched the top of one of his rooks. "That is not something I want to talk about, Master." He looked to the floor, but Vlad could still just barely make out the distress and panic in his eyes. "Please do not ask me again." He grabbed the rook in his hand and clutched it so tight the man thought it might break. But then he released his hold, and put it down two spaces to the right. "Please."
Vlad could tell there was obviously a dark story there. Anyone more emotionally equipped might have made the teen talk it out, but what advice or consolation could he possibly offer? "I—"
He was cut off by the melodic ringing of his cellphone. Danny looked up swiftly, absolutely baffled by the sound, and Vlad merely held up a finger telling him to wait.
"Maddie," he grinned as he answered the phone. "So nice you called, my dear. I was going to buzz you myself later this evening." Vlad was hyperaware of the genie circling him, examining the device a mere three inches from his face and at every other available angle. "You don't say." He pulled the phone from his ear for a quick second and grit his teeth in anger, his other fist clenching. The rage was nowhere in his voice when he went on talking, though. "So Jack has been living in your hometown all this time? What are the odds?" Vlad pushed Danny away callously when he got too close again. "No, you're right." He scrunched his eyes together in exasperation and massaged them with his free hand. "It has been a long time since I've seen him. I'm glad you invited him over tomorrow. As I always say, the more the merrier." He never said that. "Hmm?" The teen touched the phone, and Vlad slapped his hand away with a loud smack. "No, I understand you have to go. Busy with packing and all of that. I miss you so much, Maddie. I can't wait to see you… both tomorrow. I love you."
Vlad ended the call and clenched the phone tightly in his hand. His fingers went white where he gripped it and red around the nails. Suddenly, he released a fierce yell and threw the phone on the table, scattering the pieces of the game. When that destruction didn't make him content enough, he turned the board over and the chess pieces went everywhere.
"I'm going to eat," he growled, paying no mind to the boy as he left the room.
Danny stared after him for awhile and then began to set the board back up to the best of his ability.
I put the levitating thing in there just because of it happening in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie. The two of them just relaxing in the air like that. Makes me envious because it looks like fun. =3= Plus, I was thinking, "Well, Plasmius likes to fly. I bet AU Vlad does too."
I just really love when stuff from the show gives me ideas for this. Like how it's mentioned in one episode that Tony and Jeannie play chess together, and I was all, "Vlad likes chess." And many other things, but… you'll have to wait to see those. Hehe.