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
Chapter Nine: Party Planning
Sorry this took so long. I have had NO internet since March. Plus, I've been too lame to actually sit down and type. But yay, new chapter.
Vlad stared at the dark green canopy above his bed, arm ready to strike out and push the button when his alarm went off. He hated the mornings before a large event at his house. Everything was always so hectic and stressful. There were decorators running around, upsetting his Packers design; caterers demanding the use of his kitchen; and then his normal staff who walked around unsure of what to do. It was always a nightmare.
The reason he had woken up before his alarm that day, however, probably had something to do with the horrible news he had received from his fiancée the day before. Jack was coming. No, worse than that. Jack lived in Maddie's hometown and had been spending time with her the entire three months she'd been gone.
No, Vlad wouldn't let himself think along those lines. Maddie had chosen him. She had. And besides, she was coming back later that day. If there was anything going on with her and Jack, the last place they would be going was right to him. Although… the fact that she had neglected to tell him about Jack the entire time did raise a question or two…
Goodness, it was no wonder he hadn't gotten any sleep!
The alarm began beeping, and Vlad was ready for it. He hit the button, threw back his blanket, and tossed his legs over the side of the mattress to sit up. There was more stress than should be allowed in the fact that no less than three large things— and a million other small ones— had the chance to go wrong that day. Luckily, Riter would be taking most of the burden involved in ensuring that the planning for the event went well. Though Vlad might happily have switched for the chance to avoid what he would be spending his day doing.
"Rise and shine," he called in a somewhat callous tone. He grabbed the bottle from his nightstand by its neck and began shaking it a little. "Wake up."
There was a quick succession from inside of barely audible yelps, moans, and yawns. Then Vlad began to see the green smoke flowing out from the opening and sat the bottle back down.
"Master," Danny groaned once he had materialized beside the bed, his eyes still closed. "It is too early to be awake." Without waiting another second, he fell down face first onto Vlad's mattress beside him.
"Seven o' clock is late enough," the man chided. He flicked the teen's ear where it stood out from the white head of hair and smiled when the other flinched. "I could have gone earlier, but I think I can drill how to conduct oneself around people into even your head with the time we have."
"This is cruel and unusual," he mumbled into the sheets, refusing to turn his head.
"It's not my fault if you stayed up watching television all night. Again." The genie muttered something incoherent, and Vlad used the back of his hand to smack the boy's thigh and get him going. "Sit up. Do it now. We have a lot of ground to cover. Among other things, there will be a sit down dinner, and I have to teach you what utensil goes where before my attention becomes divided with other things." In other words, before Maddie and… Jack got there.
Danny made a big to-do about turning around and sitting up next to Vlad. He then lolled his head along his shoulder to look at the other for direction.
"Good," Vlad said. "We'll start with me wishing for our own little practice dining table right over there." He pointed to an empty spot of room, and the genie lazily blinked a table and chairs into existence. "Now let's have some breakfast and utensils. Yes, my boy, today you will be eating."
Danny already felt exasperated, and the day had only just begun.
—
The teen threw his head back and his arms forward. It had been so long since he had eaten, and the fruits and pastries on his plate were so delicious looking. It would have been nice if he could actually taste them. Vlad had secured him to his chair with a belt in order to help his 'slouching problem'. However, in his opinion all it did was give him the option of looking at the food or reaching it.
Vlad slapped his blindly groping hand and pushed his chair closer to the table. "You're like an animal."
Danny didn't even mind the insult because he was eating food for the first time in about… 1,700 years, by his tallying. The euphoric noises coming out of his mouth made the man cringe. "When I realized how pointless food was, I stopped eating. I forgot how good it tasted though." He stuck two whole strawberries into his mouth.
The genie's wrist was grabbed, and a fork was forced into the open palm. "Utensils, good. Stained red fingertips, bad." Danny looked at his pink fingers, caused by the dozen or so strawberries he had already eaten. He shrugged and began stabbing at the different foods with his fork.
"What is this?" he asked, brandishing a pastry whose flaky shell went flying in every conceivable direction.
"An apple turnover," Vlad answered, looking disinterestedly over the top of his newspaper. Once again he noticed no tragic news regarding his wished upon rival.
"And this?"
"A buttered biscuit."
"This?"
"Marmalade. For the toast."
"This?"
"The toast."
"And this?"
"Stop talking and eat your food," he growled. When he looked up again, he noticed how the boy had stuck a large piece of ham onto the end of his fork and was taking bites off of it. "No! No, no." Danny lowered the utensil while Vlad walked around the table, and when the man reached him, he gave the back of his hand a light slap until he dropped the fork completely. "This hand, fork," he edified with an overly simplistic explanation, thrusting the tool into the correct hand. "This hand, knife." He then grasped each of the teen's smaller hands in his own and made a sawing motion across the meat. "Honestly," Vlad sighed, walking back to his chair, "I can't believe your family had no cutlery."
"No, we did," Danny stated. He raised a smaller bite on the fork and began talking again, only to have himself quieted by the man's hand and disgusted face at the thought of him speaking with his mouth full of food. "We actually had several sets. I have just never had good manners." He smirked and stuffed another bite of food in, making a point to chew noisily and with his mouth open.
Vlad cringed at the display but said nothing, hoping the boy would straighten up for the actual dinner. He would have to. After all, that night was a test. He would have to prove himself if he ever wanted to step outside again. At the current moment, however, he simply gave the boy a fierce look until he closed his mouth.
Just then, there was a repetitious banging on the door, and Skulker walked into the room.
"Skulker!" Vlad yelled at the bodyguard. When he looked across the table, though, he saw that Danny had disappeared, so he took a calming breath before saying, "Knocking is pointless if you don't wait for me to permit your entrance first."
"I… apologize. I was just wondering…" He paused and looked at the table, which had never been there before that day. He noticed its two chairs, two plates, two pairs of utensils, and… shrugged it off. "I was wondering what your plans were."
"My plans?" Vlad questioned. He put his paper down and turned to look at the other. That was when he noticed his maddening genie hovering just on the other side of the opened door, less than a foot from Skulker. He only hoped the murderous outrage he felt didn't show on his face.
"Yes, for picking Maddie up from the airport. Are you coming along?"
"Of course— No!" Skulker was right for staring at him so strangely, no matter how justified Vlad was in his outburst. The teen had floated higher and higher in the air until he was looking over the door and hovering in plain sight.
"Uh, what?" the other man asked, clearly confused.
"I mean… I always— Don't!" He yelled out again when the boy went back for a second look. He was going to kill him!
"So… that would be a no?"
Vlad ignored Skulker— barely even heard him— as he glared daggers at the genie behind the door. Apparently his bodyguard thought the look for him, however, and slowly began stepping out into the hall. "I'll let you know when I'm on my way back then." He closed the door behind him, and Danny disappeared, going back to his seat.
The man stood up and made to follow after Skulker, only turning back to give the other a warning. "If you keep acting like that, I'm only going to let you out of your bottle when I—" Danny shoved a pastry into Vlad's unsuspecting mouth and laughed overzealously as the man spat it back out, nearly choking. He coughed a few times before collecting himself. "That wasn't funny," he said, trying to talk over the still snickering genie. "And consider yourself on your last chance. One more act of disobedience, and you can stay upstairs for the evening."
"Fine," he groaned, sobering almost instantly. "You have to admit, that man is very odd looking."
"That's why I hired him. To look 'odd' and intimidating." Vlad went to the door and opened it, only to see that Skulker was long gone. He would simply have to wait and see Maddie when they got back.
"He has green hair."
"You're a sixteen-year-old with white hair. I think you're both weird."
They finished their breakfast in relative silence, Vlad only speaking up when Danny was doing something wrong, most likely on purpose.
—
"Riter!" Vlad yelled, avoiding the numerous strangers running around as he looked for his assistant. He finally found him in the dining room, sitting at the table with a pen and paper while a woman beside him worked on a floral arrangement. "Riter," he called again, getting the other's attention.
"Yes?" He looked up and straightened out his oval-shaped glasses.
"Whatever you're doing, stop." Vlad stood angrily with his arms crossed.
"I was working on a short speech for you to say tonight, but sure, I'll stop." He put his pen down and stood up, looking slightly irritated at having been interrupted.
"There's a container of seafood outside in the sun, and everyone I tell to get it promptly lets me know that it isn't their job. Make a note that we're never using this company again."
Riter picked up a clipboard from the table and wrote a quick message down. He then flipped through the papers fixed to it and ran his finger down a list. "Yes, I know exactly who's responsible for it. I've been yelling at him all morning."
"Well, see that you find him and have him bring it in. Or do it yourself. Either way, I don't care, but the last thing I want is for mourners to go home with food poisoning." Vlad stomped away from the room and into the hall where he saw in his peripheral vision two large figures standing in the open door on either side of a third, smaller one.
"Vlad." He heard his name and turned to look at the three. Maddie was standing there between Skulker and Jack. Beaming happily, he practically ran over and was seconds away from embracing her when Jack stepped in the way and grabbed him.
"Vladdy, my man!" he yelled, giving a crushing bear hug. "How ya been?"
"I'd be better if I could breathe," he gasped out.
"Oh," Jack realized. "Right." He dropped him, and the man took a deep, coughing breath in and out. Vlad felt a gentle hand rubbing his back and turned around to see Maddie. She already looked apologetic on Jack's behalf. It was like college all over again, her always making excuses for him.
"I've missed you so, my dear." He hugged her at last before pulling back to give her a loving kiss. Even when they parted, he kept a hand on her, to assure himself that she was really there before him, back after so many months. It had only been three, but to him it felt like a lifetime almost. "How was your trip?"
"Just fine," she smiled. She went to sit her bag down, but Vlad grabbed it and threw it at Skulker.
"And your mother?" he asked, walking them out of the entryway. "How is she?"
"The same," Maddie sighed. "She still hates you but loves your money."
"Oh, that woman," Vlad chuckled. "She'll have to warm up to me eventual… ly." His eyes widened when he looked over and saw Danny in the ballroom through the open archway. Thankfully, he had turned his appearance and clothing to something more normal, but he was still not allowed to go around without permission. "Would you excuse me? Just a moment, my dear. When I get back, I want to hear all about your trip."
He dashed across the hall. "What are you doing?!" he yelled at the boy in the quietest way possible.
"I only wanted to see her." The teen looked over at the group standing in the hall, and Vlad grabbed him roughly by the arm, leading him away.
"That doesn't changed the fact that you are not allowed out unless I say otherwise. Do I have to stuff you in your bottle until this evening?"
"No!" Danny was quick to object.
"Then go back upstairs," Vlad commanded.
"I will, but…" he trailed off.
"But what?" the man asked heatedly.
"Who is that man? The one standing by her?" The teen leaned as far as Vlad's grip would allow him, trying to see back into the foyer.
"Him?" Vlad questioned skeptically. "The big oaf in the orange jumpsuit? That's Jack, our old college friend. The sooner I can get him out of here, the better. There's no telling how he's going to ruin tonight."
"Jack," the boy said pensively. Then Vlad's grip went lax, and Danny was gone. He looked around quickly and was grateful to see that no one had noticed.
"Maddie," he called, walking back to the group, "why don't you go upstairs and rest?"
"Sounds great, Vlad, but I thought we were going to talk first." She looked ill at ease, and Vlad tried to console her.
"We will, we will. I only have a few things to take care of first. So why don't you go on up, and I'll be there shortly?" He put a hand to the small of her back and pushed her gently towards the stairs.
"Vladdy," Jack boomed, causing him to jump. "I'm digging the décor. Packers stuff everywhere and— is that a football?" He started right for Vlad's autographed Ray Nitschke ball. "We should go out back before the stuffed shirts get here and throw the ol' pigskin."
Vlad ran ahead and threw himself in front of the ball. "No, Jack. No. I have things to do and… Skulker," he called, "why don't you go show Jack to one of the guestrooms? I'm sure he'd like to get settled in."
"Great thinking, Vlad. I'll need to be well rested if we're gonna play." Jack grabbed his bags and headed up the stairs, Skulker quick to follow.
"We're not playing football!" Vlad yelled. He walked to an empty room and called for Danny so that the teen might explain his fascination with Maddie. When he didn't show, however, Vlad sighed and forgot about it. "That boy will be the death of me."
—
"You look lovely, dear," Vlad praised, looking Maddie over in the new dress he had gotten her. The color was a plain gray for the solemn occasion, but it was cut in such a way— and had such nice accents— that it was hardly plain itself. "One last touch," he said, brushing his hands over her one bare shoulder and the slight sleeve of the other as he clasped a necklace around her. He turned her around and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to take care of."
"Vlad," she sighed, grabbing onto his sleeve. "I thought we were going to have a chance to talk."
"We will," he promised. "Things are simply very busy tonight. But we have the rest of our lives to talk, starting tomorrow." He grabbed her hand, gave it a kiss, then walked out into the hall.
Looking around to make sure no one was watching him, Vlad walked to the next door down and unlocked it with the key he had. "Danny?" he called as he entered the boy's room. "Come out now. It's time to get ready, and I'm in no mood for games."
The genie appeared before him, wearing his usual attire. Vlad raised an eyebrow, and Danny groaned before blinking his agreed upon formal wear on. "And I am allowed to talk to people."
"As long as they talk to you first," the man reiterated, straightening the boy's tie out. "I don't want you bothering these people. They've been through enough. The first time you cause a scene—"
"I get kicked out. I know." He swatted Vlad's hand away and stepped back. "Can I go downstairs yet?"
"Not yet," Vlad answered, trying to catch the teen again and fix his vest. "No one's arrived, and you'd stick out too much. I have to go now. You can follow me down in about half an hour. And while I don't want you clinging on me, I want you in my sights at all times. Are we clear?"
"That is a new rule, Master. It is not fair, and I hate it." He scoffed and began sulking like a child.
"And yet those are my terms. Accept them or stay in your room."
Danny rolled his eyes, but eventually nodded his assent. "I will see you downstairs."
"Good." Vlad left and walked back to his room to get Maddie, hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong and feeling in his gut that at least one thing would.
I feel like I've been writing forever trying to get to this memorial "party" thing. Soon. Like next chapter actually. Hopefully then things will pick up and this will be easier to write.
I already have the next chapter written, but I'm going to read over it about a million times. So… soon… ish.