Stormy Nights
Title: Stormy Nights
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Life wasn't the best for Jun, but at least it was simple. Satoshi changed that.
Notes: This story was created by three things coming together: a prompt by doctoggy for Ohno to pursue Jun (since I usually write it the other way around), a comment that I should write more fun/happy-go-lucky things like A Day in the Life, and recently reading “Castle in the Air” by Diana Wynne Jones and wanting to write something Aladdin-y. The basis for this was inspired by that book. Special thanks to yarukizero and r_tenou for looking it over for me.
Our story begins in a hot desert land, in a city inhabited by every class, poor beggars to wealthy merchants, orphans to majestic princes, surrounding the sultan’s palace, sparkling like a diamond in the endless sand. No building could match the brilliance of such a work of art, but many of the wealthier civilians tried to, with glittering ivory towers and thousand year old flowers in their gardens, hanging priceless tapestries off of balconies as if welcoming thieves to try their hand.
But alas, our group of heroes was not that stupid, and chose their thieving mark as something much less noticeable and much more necessary. Of course in any culture and in any story there are said to be various kinds of thieves, most of them villainous and thirsty for blood. But occasionally a more admirable thief can be found, stealing with only thoughts of helping others, less fortunate others, or simply because it is what has been demanded of them by their lot in life.
As expected our own protagonist is of the latter thread, although with two accomplices, and chose his marks with careful thought and planned with no room for error. Although, as we all know, there are always errors.
“Behind the meat vendor!” A muscular soldier, dressed only in a turban and flowing white pants made to survive in the hot desert air, pointed his curved sword in the same direction his words indicated, and Jun ran as fast as he could as he turned the corner.
The plan had been simple. Although it was their usual one, it was the one that always worked. The only reason it hadn’t today was because of an unlucky encounter Jun had with a city guard as he made his escape. He managed to avoid the large hands that grabbed for him and his obviously stolen melon, and darted towards their nearest tested escape route.
Which was right where he ran into another group of guards. They had come running at all the racket that was suddenly coming from the marketplace when the melon stand owner started yelling.
Somehow he managed to dodge again, this time using a storage barrel placed against the side of a worn building to boost himself up on to the top of a stall’s wooden roof, and took off above uneven tents and sturdy sun coverings. This was why Jun was always the one in the actual thieving position instead of a distraction like the others, because he was agile and he could run fast enough to make a getaway when it was called for.
Due to that, his pursuers were having a hard time keeping up with him, following on the ground because they were too muscular or fat to jump as effortlessly as Jun did and therefore could only hope he would fall before he was out of sight.
So Jun was careful because one misstep would be the end of him, but that didn’t mean that fate wasn’t going to just stick her noise in where it didn’t belong and urge him to step on this board instead of that one when he crossed over the top of a rickety old storeroom. It was one that he crossed a million times over the years, but today was different and he promptly noticed when the plank began to crumble under his barely moderate weight.
He fell clean through the roof and hit the floor hard, breaking several light boxes and clay barrels underneath him as well as sending up a cloud of dust into the air. Luckily enough, it was impossible for the guards to burst in and corner him, at least for another few minutes, because the entrance to this particular storeroom was at the end of an alley two streets over. The place had probably been altogether forgotten by the rich owner years and years ago, and therefore other buildings had been allowed to be built around it as closely as possible for efficiency’s sake.
It really wasn’t that bad of a situation, except his melon had cracked open, and Jun was stuck under the rubble and his knees hurt and he was already starving and now he had used up all of his energy too. But he wasn’t going to squabble his chance, so he immediately started working himself out of the wreckage. As expected, once he began pushing things out of the way, not really giving much thought to the items since he was pressed for time, one thing fell into another, causing another pile of rubble to collapse. Half of the room was on its precarious way to ruin, but he just let it go with nothing other than a soft curse and twitching eyebrow.
Self preservation was at the top of his list now, so Jun instead turned his energy to trying to remember how strong the lock on this door was, and wondering if he could make it back through the hole in the ceiling he had created instead. That route was much safer.
When he was finally able to pull one of his legs (uninjured, thankfully) from the remains of an oversized clay pot, he began struggling towards the cleared space by the door. It was only from there that he would be able to analyze the situation enough to see what would work.
Then without warning he was terrified with fright, frozen in place, as the swirling dust began to collect together to form a body, slightly blue and very very big.
“Who dares disturb my slumber?!” a booming voice exploded, shaking the walls of the rickety shack and making Jun lose what little footing he had gained in the mess and fall over again.
No, no, no, this wasn’t happening to him. Jun had stayed away from magic as much as he could for his entire life, knowing it would bring him nothing but trouble. Everyone knew that. Unless you were trained like the sultan’s magicians were, there was no way to control magic and it wasn’t even worth trying unless you wanted to end up dead, or worse than that.
The thing, whatever it was, materialized more, the dust coming together and forming a torso with an oversized chest that appeared to be bulging with muscles bigger than the guards that had been chasing Jun. They were unrealistic to say the least, and Jun certainly would have said that much if he wasn’t both terrified of whatever it was, as well as the lingering threat of the guards busting in at any second.
Momentarily the face became more defined: a sharp nose stuck out over a pair of perfectly shaped lips, and two eyes opened without warning, looking just as real as Jun’s own, brown and sparkling with power.
The eyes immediately found their target and zoned in on Jun in the corner even as he tried to become as small as possible. The blue dust moved together and came at him, its arms extended much farther than should have been possible and it was reaching out for him and…
Jun squeezed his eyes closed and tensed up, his arms wrapped protectively across his chest as he waited for the worst to happen.
And he continued to wait a few more seconds more before he opened his eyes and was met with a cute chubby face, not at all bigger than his own in size, and he took a short breath of relief. Then he saw that the normal (albeit tan) exposed torso faded into the bluish cloud that had been on the verge of attacking him, and tapered into a single strand not bigger than his finger that was spread across the floor to another pile of things that had come crashing down when Jun had.
“You’re very handsome,” the thing said to him with what Jun thought was curiosity, and Jun stared back in utter astonishment at the change in situation.
“Wh-what?” was all he could think of to stutter in reply as he stared at the brown, human-looking face. If only the bottom half wasn’t missing, he might have been able to pull himself together enough to escape before anything else happened. But no, he was still too terrified.
“My other masters have all been old, or fat, or completely rotted on the inside--you’d be surprised how gross that is after you’ve only been together for a few days,” came the casual reply. The thing seemed like it wanted to continue its explanation but Jun’s panic for the guards was rising now that he wasn’t completely dead and didn’t think he would be any time soon (at least if he could escape).
“Masters-“ he got out in a confused tone, suddenly wondering if he had bumped his head on the way down and was having a hallucination right now, his body incapacitated and just waiting for his pursuers to find him.
“That’s right. I’m a genie you know, we have-“
“Genie?” he replied quickly, finding his mind slowly unfreezing the more they talked. Finally he was able to adjust his weight and began to pull himself out of the mess of broken crates and half-crumbled dirt that had been a pot mere minutes before.
“That’s what I said isn’t it?” the voice became annoyed, an emotion that was mirrored by the slight quirk of eyebrows and down turned lips on the genie’s face.
“What the hell are you doing here, then?” Jun replied, wondering why he was even humoring his curiosity in this scenario. Genies were still magic and even if he didn’t know much about them, he was sure it would be nothing but trouble. But then again, since they were independent magic sources, unlike curses or enchantments, Jun could probably just walk out of here and not worry about any after effects, as long as he cut off the interaction soon.
He only struggled a little as he finally got on his feet and the genie just continued to watch him, slowly rising in the same instance as Jun did so that their faces remained at the same height. His lower half was still blue smoke, though.
But the genie’s face broke out in a grin as he replied (even though Jun turned away to survey the ceiling and anything surrounding him that he could use to climb back up with), and folded his arms across his chest in a conceited fashion. “Actually, my last master wished that ‘I would get the hell away from him’ and I ended up here. Seemed like a nice place.” The smile turned content as he continued to watch Jun with an unwavering gaze, and he floated closer, trying to catch Jun’s eyes even as Jun ignored him and continued to examine the room.
After a moment of thinking in silence, Jun managed to catch up with the explanation and replied, “It is. I hope you have a good time,” and then walked over to the wall of things that hadn’t been ruined and began pulling one of the boxes towards his hole.
It was pretty heavy, though, and the genie only watched in mild amusement as Jun struggled. There wasn’t nearly enough time. He could hear voices outside confirming that they had found the place he had fallen, and just as Jun turned to the door in a panic, it began to shake under the weight of the men on the other side.
He thought fast, shooting a glance over at the genie and wondering if he was going to regret this somehow.
“So, you can grant me a wish, then, great genie?”
A huge smile spread across those perfect lips, allowing the eyes to droop a little in what Jun would learn was the genie’s signature expression.
“Yes, but only one per day, although I’ve been known to give one a day or two in advance.”
The door was cracking under the pressure and he only had a few seconds to decide what to do. Best to keep it as simple as possible.
“I wish you’d make those men go away!” Jun said quickly, pointing towards the entrance of the storehouse and the genie turned slowly to look in that direction, although he didn’t stop smirking.
“Sure.”
The door finally caved and Jun dove behind one of the larger crates, where there was barely enough room for him, and waited, hoping that his wish would be followed properly because it was all he had now. It was common knowledge that genies were notorious for twisting words to their own whims, so Jun figured half of dealing with them was intelligence, and the other half pure luck.
“Who the hell are you?!” he heard a rough voice yell out. They must have seen the genie and stopped because the rest of them weren’t filing in, just the first three or four in line from what Jun could make out with hearing alone. When they didn’t come looking for him, he snuck a glance at the scene.
The genie no longer looked like a genie at all, but like a normal man, in a small blue vest and flowing white pants that wrapped around his ankles, sandals on his tanned feet and brown hair to match his brown skin. He looked completely ordinary in a completely unordinary way.
Without saying a word, he reached into the folds of his pants and pulled out a small drawstring bag, opening it up and displaying several gold coins before throwing it at the feet of the guard in front.
They froze and glanced down at the offered money before the head of the group motioned to the one behind him to pick it up. They took it and examined the coins before casually glancing around as if to make sure no one was looking, then headed back out the front, talking in hushed voices before the conversation settled. Jun closed his eyes and hoped.
Eventually one of them yelled that he had escaped and the group of them took off out of the alley, leaving behind a rather heavy silence.
Once again Jun wondered what he had gotten in to, cowering in the corner even as the genie turned to stare at him. He still looked like a regular man, his legs attached and planted firmly on the ground underneath him while his hands rested on his hips in satisfaction.
Jun knew very little about genies, but included in that knowledge was that they were tricky, and this one seemed especially bad if his smirk was anything to go by.
He had saved him, though, when Jun didn’t have a choice but to ask (even if he probably would have escaped had the genie not appeared in the first place, but that was in the past now).
Somehow Jun pulled himself together and came out from his hiding place, sighing and staring at the genie who actually looked completely pleased with himself. In this form he was just a bit shorter than Jun, and handsome in a very defined and almost plain way. Understandably, though, as he wouldn’t really stand out in a crowd or draw unwanted attention to himself.
“Was there some catch to that?” Jun asked resignedly, expecting the worst case situation. “Do I have to pay you back for that money a thousand times over or something?” He really hoped not, because he didn’t have anything more than what they needed for himself and his two close friends. And what would a genie need with money anyway?
“Oh no,” he replied in a soft voice, almost as if he had used all of his energy on that wish. His smile even mellowed out a little and his shoulders dropped. But he was watching Jun with his full attention, waiting for a reaction to his amazing powers. “It will just disappear in another minute or two.”
Jun’s mouth fell open and he was stuck like that while his mind processed the situation. Then he completely panicked again.
“Damn it, I need to go!” He would have cursed the trickster genie too, except he knew that they were that way by nature, and there were a lot of worse ways he could have gotten rid of those guards. Somehow he felt like the thing had gone easy on him.
“Aw, you’re going?” The genie actually sounded a little sad and that caught Jun off guard. “Take me with you,” he whined, his bottom half gradually melding back into the blue smoke of his earlier form, the same thin rope-shaped strand stretching across the floor to return to the same pile of things that it had earlier.
“Absolutely not.” Jun lost all pity he had for the genie in that second and started pushing his box back towards the hole in the ceiling. He could probably jump from there, since the front door was now just as dangerous as it had been in the first place. “You’ll only make my life complicated.”
“But, uhm…” he continued to stare at Jun shyly and drifted closer when he began pushing the box across the dirt floor again. “I can grant you another wish, tomorrow.”
Although he knew that would only cause more trouble, Jun couldn’t help but be tempted. He wasn’t greedy, but there were things that one needed in life--like food. Things that Jun was sorely lacking, and his friends weren’t any better off.
Well, maybe they would know what to do with him. If nothing else, Jun could get rid of him later, he supposed.
“Fine. But only if you help me get out of here!” Jun said in a frustrated voice, annoyed with himself for giving in when he really knew he shouldn’t. This was only going to be trouble.
The genie perked up right away, smiling again and floating directly next to him. “Well, I can do that right away! You just need to get my bottle out of that-“ he pointed to the pile that his blue wisp was leading to, and Jun, still frustrated, threw his hands up in the air and stomped over to it, pushing things out of the way without a second thought and breaking a few more pots.
Luckily enough he found the bottle without much problem, a plain looking blue thing with a narrow top, where the wisp was attached through the lip as if there was much more inside that couldn’t get out. Trying not to waste time, Jun pulled out a purple head scarf that was sticking out of the rumble (he had no qualms about stealing when he needed it, but he wouldn’t be taking anything else from the storage room, even if they could use it-he did indeed have a conscience about this sort of thing). It was the perfect size, so he wrapped it securely around the bottle and then looped it around his hip so it swung to his side, resting on his thigh, and turned back to the genie, who appeared to be completely delighted with the situation.
“Well, come on!” Jun ignored the pleased look and went back to stand under the hole as the genie floated closer.
Without warning he was easily picked up and lifted through the open ceiling. Before he could even squeak in surprise (as he was about to do, as much as he tried to stop himself), he was once again placed rather gently back on the ground, which was now the stable part of the roof.
Jun turned to the genie with his eyebrows raised and a harsh comment about warning people before you did things like that, but the words died when he saw how absolutely satisfied the thing was with himself. Obviously he had meant to do exactly what he had and that frustrated Jun enough that he reconsidered his offer to take the genie with him.
But the bottle was already attached and a wish for tomorrow would be nice and he couldn’t help but feel just a little tiny bit bad for leaving the genie alone. He swallowed his anger as much as he could and instead curtly demanded, “Now get back in your bottle and make sure you’re not seen until we get home!”
With a brightened smile, the genie followed the instructions, twirling around twice as he shrunk like he was a screw going back into its proper place.
“Don’t bump me around too much. I might get sick or something-“ the voice echoed slightly as if the inside of the bottle was actually a deep cave made of glass.
“Be quiet would you? Where’s your cork?” Jun shot back, glaring down at the innocent item dangling from his hip. His action made him feel a little ridiculous, because even though he knew the thing was in there, there was no physical indication that he existed anymore, and even when he looked inside, it was only a vague cloudy blue that could have easily been a play of the light as far as a normal person was concerned.
“Well, it’s back in that pile you pulled my bottle out of-“ the genie replied rather quickly, but before Jun could even consider going back for it, he continued in a pouting voice, “But please don’t use it. That’s a really mean thing to do, you know, covering my only means of escape and forcing me to stay in here. How would you like it if-“
“Okay, I got it.” Jun’s temper had simmered out, but he was still pressed for time and needed to get back to make sure the others had escaped without getting caught. “Just keep quiet and do what I say, then!”
There was a noise of irritation shot back at him, but after that the conversation ended, so Jun took off over the roofs again. Now that he had a moment to think, he was sad for his wasted melon that had cost them all so much to lose in such a mundane way. But he was also feeling like he had gotten something much better out of the deal… as long as the stupid genie decided to keep cooperating.
+++
Jun, being completely penniless and with no family to call his own other than his two close friends, lived in a pavilion on top of a mansion that he neither owned nor paid for. In fact, he had lived in the local slums until the age of ten, in which he had discovered that one of the lesser (but still incredibly wealthy) merchants had decided to display his wealth more obviously by building a new palace on the other side of town. Of course, if he sold his old apartments he would lose face because one should only sell if they are in need of the money… and that sort of rumor would be around town in days!
So, like most men of his class he simply moved the things he wished to move and left the rest as it was. But where other, wealthier lords could afford to keep guards or a family in their previous palace, this one could not and instead simply had an intricate gate built in front and then abandoned it.
And that was the state in which the three of them had found it. Of course they weren’t stupid enough to waltz right in and take the thing over, but after a thorough exploration they found the perfect new home: a moderately sized lounging pavilion on the roof of the tallest building with an overlook of not only the entire grounds of the empty palace, but the city’s skyline and all the way to the sultan’s palace too.
They had chosen it for several reasons. Firstly, it had been left with most of its furnishings, hammocks and decorative tables and pots, and a small pool in the corner that Jun insisted they use for bathing (as their class would be obvious if they walked around half caked in dirt all the time, and that made not only living but stealing especially that more difficult; one did not suspect a clean man as much as a dirty one). It also had tactical advantages, as there was only one entrance: a set of stairs leading down into the pleasure quarters. The only other way to enter the open room was across the roof, which is how they usually came and went. They could see everything and if someone started snooping around the grounds they would know long before trouble hit them (or at least that was the plan, but no one had bothered them in the last eleven years, so they figured their plan was holding out).
But since it was so open, built so that the most wind could be felt on the hottest days of summer, sometimes they were left to the elements with the occasional bad storm as well. On the other hand, it was never cold enough to need more shelter and there was a roof over their heads which was the important part, keeping them out of the rain and shielding them from the burning sun.
So when Jun came home, easily walking across a rope that was barely the thickness of his wrist as he had done a million times before--the one that connected their pavilion with the roof of the next building and had probably been used for laundry at one point in its earlier lifetime--Masaki and Kazu saw him right away and waited impatiently for him at the open balcony.
“Jun! I was so worried!” Masaki exclaimed promptly, his brownish hair sticking out all over the place, no doubt mussed as he nervously waited. When Jun jumped onto the familiar tiled floor, he was even pulled into a hug.
“I’m fine,” he replied, trying to sound annoyed when he could feel his own relief washing through his arms and legs. In fact, he was more than fine, which in and of itself was not quite right.
Kazu seemed to notice the same time that he did. Even after hurrying all the way back here he wasn’t even winded, and there weren’t any physical signs of him falling through the roof earlier. He really hoped this didn’t have anything to do with…
“You… don’t have a scratch on you. I’d thought you’d be roughed up from running at least…” Kazu said suspiciously, pushing Masaki away to examine Jun himself, looking pointedly at the bottle draped around his waist. “Did you lose the melon?”
At the mention of their target, Masaki’s expression immediately fell as he realized the lack of said item.
“Yes,” Jun sighed, rubbing his head and walking past them to plop down on the faded pillow he had claimed as his own when they had first come. They had a small setup near their hammocks and honestly, there was more than enough space for another fifty people to live here, so they had just picked a corner and made it cozy, leaving the rest of the area as it was. Their space included a plain table that was bare except for the remains of their planning this morning. “I made it as far as the fountain square using the rooftops, but one little misstep and I find myself in the middle of a half ruined storehouse and then-“
Just as he was about to relay the story of the guards and genie (more the guards, though), he was saved the effort by a smooth cloud of blue smoke slipping out of the bottle and forming the same face as earlier, half of a man’s tanned torso fading into a line of smoke that led back to the bottle.
“Jun! What’s that?!” Masaki yelled in surprise, pointing at the genie, his mouth half open.
Kazu also looked surprised, an expression that they hardly ever saw on his face, but he collected himself right away and narrowed his eyes while the genie gently floated down next to Jun, close enough that he could rest his head on Jun’s bare shoulder.
“A genie?” Kazu asked suspiciously. “Jun, you should know better than to mess with magic. You should have just left it there.”
“That would have been mean,” the genie replied simply, mimicking Jun and watching the other two men as they slowly started to come closer.
Not really sure where to start but knowing that he had to tell Kazu every detail that he could remember (because Kazu was the planner, and he would know how to use this thing without getting screwed over in the end), he started with the guards and then worked his way back. Surprisingly enough the genie didn’t add any commentary, except for when Jun forgot to mention that there had been exactly four guards and another two of them waiting outside.
When he was finished, Masaki and Kazu were seated across from him in their usual spots around the low table, both still staring at their new addition, although with very different intentions. Masaki looked curious and enthusiastic, but Kazu looked wary and suspicious; as if he was trying to figure out whether it was too good to be true or not.
As Jun had spoke, the genie had gone from simply resting his chin on his shoulder to wrapping his arms around Jun’s torso, and when Jun finally realized it, the thing was stuck to him like a pet monkey, still watching the other two with only half interest. He didn’t have any weight to him and Jun could barely tell when he moved at all, but he was warm with flesh just like the rest of them. When Jun noticed where his thoughts were going, he had to take a second to collect himself before he pried the arms off of him and shook the genie away with an embarrassed frown. “Don’t do that!” he chided and the genie only glared back, but floated away with his two arms folded over his chest, sticking out his perfect bottom lip as he turned to survey his surroundings with obvious boredom.
Jun faced Kazu again, hoping he had come up with something, and indeed that calculating look was embedded in his friend’s gaze as it followed the genie’s movements.
After licking his lips unconsciously, Kazu cleared his throat and said in a voice that was part respect and part sweetness-- a voice that he used for dealing with the authorities-- “What’s your name, great genie? You do have one right?”
“Of course I have one!” the genie snapped back, turning around and glaring at Kazu. Immediately his eyes caught Jun’s gaze and he relaxed just a little before promptly ignoring him, giving Kazu his full attention even if he didn’t act like it was worth it. “Everyone has a name, don’t they? You have a name.”
“Yes…” Kazu licked his dry lips again and forced his expression to stay the same. “What is it, then?”
“Satoshi.” He was still half pouting.
“O Great Genie Satoshi,” Kazu called him reverently, bowing a little and making Jun’s eyes grow wide, but the genie seemed to at least admire the effort he was putting into complimenting him, even if he apparently wasn’t affected otherwise. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long as it been since your last master wished you away?”
Satoshi shot Jun a glance as if to say, see, he cares, and turned back to Kazu before replying conversationally, “I guess it’s been about forty years by now.”
“Wow! Forty years!” Masaki broke in with a huge smile of admiration. “That’s a while! You must have been around for a long time!”
Jun hadn’t thought of it that way, and in fact he hadn’t really considered Satoshi’s age at all, since he barely looked any older than Jun himself was. But he supposed genies were a different breed of thing weren’t they?
The statement seemed to pacify him though, because the genie finally broke out in a small smile of his own and replied, “Yep, I’ve been a genie for going on seven thousand years now.”
“Seven thousand-“ Masaki started to reply, but Kazu cut him off, not surprised at all by the number.
“O Great Satoshi, does that mean you were something before you were a genie?” he asked casually, but they all froze and Kazu’s eye twitched as the atmosphere was lost and his probing question was laid out for exactly what it was.
“Sorry, I can’t talk about anything from before I was a genie. It’s part of the curse,” Satoshi explained, completely neutral about it and obviously losing interest in the conversation again.
“But you were something before you were a genie. What you said proves it!” Kazu accused.
“And… I can’t talk about it,” he replied in a dead-pan voice. Jun wondered why that even mattered in the first place. Who cared if he was something (obviously a human if the form he had used to get rid of the guards was anything to go by) before he was a genie? His eyes conveyed that exact message to Kazu with a glare, and he folded his arms again, not missing when Satoshi did the exact thing right after him.
“Kazu, we need to think about what to wish for, something he won’t mess up,” Jun led the conversation in a different direction, and the devious glint came back into his friend’s eyes.
“Actually, you said you can grant a wish a day, right? Although you’ve been known to grant one a day or two in advance…?”
Jun really felt like Kazu had lost his mind, making stupid statements about genies and asking questions that they had already gone over when usually he was so eloquent and, and brilliant.
“Yes…” Satoshi replied slowly, not getting what the other man was aiming at either.
“Well, I mean, you already granted Jun’s wish for today, right? Well, what about me and Masaki? I’m sure since it’s been forty years you have another two wishes you can pulls from those days you were waiting, don’t you?” he asked and Jun felt completely floored. He didn’t even know what he wanted to ask for next and Kazu was already trying to squeeze more wishes out of him.
“Hmm…” the genie make a sound to indicate he was considering the request, then turned pointedly to Jun and looked at him.
It was dead silent while Jun stole a glance back, wondering what he wanted. It was Kazu making the request; what did Jun have to do with any of it?
Kazu cleared his throat again, catching his friend’s eye and gesturing at him to get on with it. Jun rubbed his forehead first before he just gave up and decided to go along with the whole thing. At least it seemed like the other man had a plan.
“Satoshi,” he said in a half exasperated voice, turning to the genie, and already Satoshi was perking up, his lips twitching when he stopped himself from smiling as he waited in anticipation. “I think it’s only fair if you give both of them wishes too…” His voice was polite in a forced manner, and he tried his best to be pleasant about it, but that didn’t stop him from feeling annoyed that he had to be the one to take care of everything.
“I am a little tired you know. Granting wishes takes a lot out of me-“ he explained in a bargaining voice, floating a little closer to Jun, who sighed and closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress his urge to hit all of them over the head.
“Fine.” He didn’t even know what was being asked of him, but he was sick of this roundabout argument and clenched his fists while he waited for whatever Satoshi wanted to do to him to get his way.
And was relieved to find that the genie simply wrapped himself around him again, resting his warm chin on his shoulder almost weightlessly and loosely slipping his arms around Jun’s waist. It really wasn’t so bad, he tried to tell himself, and was definitely worth getting this whole thing over with.
“Okay, what’re your wishes?” he asked contently. Jun could feel the bare chest against his back as the genie began to relax even more, dropping his shoulders as if he was settling in for the long term. Even his blue wisp of a bottom half rested against Jun’s thigh where it was attached to the bottle still hanging off of his hips, tilted as it rested on the ground next to him.
Kazu, being the thinker that he was, remained silent and became dazed as he lost himself inside his own head, but only a few seconds later Masaki’s face lit up, and before either of his friends could stop him from saying anything stupid he had already gotten his request out.
“Oh, I know! I wish for some melons because I was really looking forward to eating those for dinner tonight! We haven’t eaten for two days you know, Satoshi, so we’re all really hungry-“ he was avidly narrating his reasons, but before he had gotten any farther, the genie simply smirked and raised his hand to snap his fingers before replacing them around Jun’s waist.
About ten melons fell out of the air, landing on the floor behind where Masaki and Kazu were sitting. Luckily they hadn’t been very high up and even though some of them on the bottom splattered, they could probably still be salvaged.
“Damn it, Masaki!” Kazu cursed first, smacking him on the head hard enough that Masaki cried out in surprise and rubbed the same spot with his hand.
“What?” he asked with a whiny voice, watching Kazu as he turned to Satoshi and Jun, looking pointedly at the genie.
“Okay, where did they come from?” he asked in a flat voice, knowing that something was the matter with the way the wish had been granted because there was always something the matter.
Even though he had been put on the spot, Satoshi smirked anyway, not moving at all as he explained. “From the stand you were stealing from earlier, where else? You should just be lucky that I didn’t bring the whole thing along with the owner, as I usually would have.” He emphasized the meaning of that statement by squeezing his arms tighter around Jun, and in that moment Jun really realized how much damage could be done by this thing he had so casually brought into their lives. Especially with Masaki’s big mouth and Jun stuck in between them all.
“Satoshi, you wouldn’t have! That’s mean!” Masaki seemed taken aback and Kazu beat Jun to the second whack on the back of the head for his stupidity.
“But look at how many melons you have now,” the genie replied easily, and Masaki actually looked thoughtfully at the pile of them for a second before half smiling. Actually, Jun was relieved to have a meal, even if he was already positive he would be sick of melons before tomorrow. Oh well, maybe Masaki would find a creative way to keep the rest of them before they went bad.
“I guess we should just count ourselves lucky and move on,” Kazu commented solemnly, staring at the genie again. “There’s no way they can trace those back here, right?” he added for good measure, pointing over his shoulder.
“No,” Satoshi replied confidently, meeting Kazu’s eyes with a bored expression. “What’s your wish? Better hurry up before I fall asleep.” He punctuated his statement with a wide yawn and slumped against Jun even more.
“Unlike this idiot,” Kazu replied tentatively, hitting Masaki on the head for the third time and making him wince, “I need time to think about it.” His expression turned just slightly smug, and Jun realized he had already planned this much, probably from the start. “Could you give me until tomorrow?”
Jun thought he was pushing it, but he felt Satoshi shrug against him and let out another yawn before explaining, “Sure. It’s easier for me anyway. I’m already really tired…”
“You should take a nap then,” Kazu replied, his tone overly sweet. Motioning behind him he added, “We appreciate all of the melons you brought us.” It was obvious he was trying to stay on the genie’s good side, but Jun could already tell none of that would work with Satoshi. Although, it was certainly better than the other side of Kazu’s personality, such as the scolding that Masaki was going to get in another five minutes.
“Hmm, I think I will.” Satoshi slid his arms up to Jun’s shoulders and peered around him to look into his face. He gave him a soft smile before requesting, “Could you keep my bottle in your lap while I’m sleeping? I think that’s the most comfortable place.”
Frowning, Jun felt a pang of annoyance, but Kazu caught his eye and motioned for him to comply. As much as it pained him to follow the whims of this genie, he also trusted Kazu’s judgment and certainly didn’t want to be subjected to more backlash than was necessary. Indeed it was better to keep on Satoshi’s good side and get one meaningful wish in-- hopefully one that wouldn’t get screwed up halfway through--before cutting off all ties with the thing and going back to their lives as they should be.
For the rest of the night, as the bottle lay in his lap looking just as innocent as ever, Jun amused himself with ways to get rid of it tomorrow while Kazu was busy yelling at Masaki and Masaki was busy stuffing his face with melon.
Part two
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Life wasn't the best for Jun, but at least it was simple. Satoshi changed that.
Notes: This story was created by three things coming together: a prompt by doctoggy for Ohno to pursue Jun (since I usually write it the other way around), a comment that I should write more fun/happy-go-lucky things like A Day in the Life, and recently reading “Castle in the Air” by Diana Wynne Jones and wanting to write something Aladdin-y. The basis for this was inspired by that book. Special thanks to yarukizero and r_tenou for looking it over for me.
Our story begins in a hot desert land, in a city inhabited by every class, poor beggars to wealthy merchants, orphans to majestic princes, surrounding the sultan’s palace, sparkling like a diamond in the endless sand. No building could match the brilliance of such a work of art, but many of the wealthier civilians tried to, with glittering ivory towers and thousand year old flowers in their gardens, hanging priceless tapestries off of balconies as if welcoming thieves to try their hand.
But alas, our group of heroes was not that stupid, and chose their thieving mark as something much less noticeable and much more necessary. Of course in any culture and in any story there are said to be various kinds of thieves, most of them villainous and thirsty for blood. But occasionally a more admirable thief can be found, stealing with only thoughts of helping others, less fortunate others, or simply because it is what has been demanded of them by their lot in life.
As expected our own protagonist is of the latter thread, although with two accomplices, and chose his marks with careful thought and planned with no room for error. Although, as we all know, there are always errors.
“Behind the meat vendor!” A muscular soldier, dressed only in a turban and flowing white pants made to survive in the hot desert air, pointed his curved sword in the same direction his words indicated, and Jun ran as fast as he could as he turned the corner.
The plan had been simple. Although it was their usual one, it was the one that always worked. The only reason it hadn’t today was because of an unlucky encounter Jun had with a city guard as he made his escape. He managed to avoid the large hands that grabbed for him and his obviously stolen melon, and darted towards their nearest tested escape route.
Which was right where he ran into another group of guards. They had come running at all the racket that was suddenly coming from the marketplace when the melon stand owner started yelling.
Somehow he managed to dodge again, this time using a storage barrel placed against the side of a worn building to boost himself up on to the top of a stall’s wooden roof, and took off above uneven tents and sturdy sun coverings. This was why Jun was always the one in the actual thieving position instead of a distraction like the others, because he was agile and he could run fast enough to make a getaway when it was called for.
Due to that, his pursuers were having a hard time keeping up with him, following on the ground because they were too muscular or fat to jump as effortlessly as Jun did and therefore could only hope he would fall before he was out of sight.
So Jun was careful because one misstep would be the end of him, but that didn’t mean that fate wasn’t going to just stick her noise in where it didn’t belong and urge him to step on this board instead of that one when he crossed over the top of a rickety old storeroom. It was one that he crossed a million times over the years, but today was different and he promptly noticed when the plank began to crumble under his barely moderate weight.
He fell clean through the roof and hit the floor hard, breaking several light boxes and clay barrels underneath him as well as sending up a cloud of dust into the air. Luckily enough, it was impossible for the guards to burst in and corner him, at least for another few minutes, because the entrance to this particular storeroom was at the end of an alley two streets over. The place had probably been altogether forgotten by the rich owner years and years ago, and therefore other buildings had been allowed to be built around it as closely as possible for efficiency’s sake.
It really wasn’t that bad of a situation, except his melon had cracked open, and Jun was stuck under the rubble and his knees hurt and he was already starving and now he had used up all of his energy too. But he wasn’t going to squabble his chance, so he immediately started working himself out of the wreckage. As expected, once he began pushing things out of the way, not really giving much thought to the items since he was pressed for time, one thing fell into another, causing another pile of rubble to collapse. Half of the room was on its precarious way to ruin, but he just let it go with nothing other than a soft curse and twitching eyebrow.
Self preservation was at the top of his list now, so Jun instead turned his energy to trying to remember how strong the lock on this door was, and wondering if he could make it back through the hole in the ceiling he had created instead. That route was much safer.
When he was finally able to pull one of his legs (uninjured, thankfully) from the remains of an oversized clay pot, he began struggling towards the cleared space by the door. It was only from there that he would be able to analyze the situation enough to see what would work.
Then without warning he was terrified with fright, frozen in place, as the swirling dust began to collect together to form a body, slightly blue and very very big.
“Who dares disturb my slumber?!” a booming voice exploded, shaking the walls of the rickety shack and making Jun lose what little footing he had gained in the mess and fall over again.
No, no, no, this wasn’t happening to him. Jun had stayed away from magic as much as he could for his entire life, knowing it would bring him nothing but trouble. Everyone knew that. Unless you were trained like the sultan’s magicians were, there was no way to control magic and it wasn’t even worth trying unless you wanted to end up dead, or worse than that.
The thing, whatever it was, materialized more, the dust coming together and forming a torso with an oversized chest that appeared to be bulging with muscles bigger than the guards that had been chasing Jun. They were unrealistic to say the least, and Jun certainly would have said that much if he wasn’t both terrified of whatever it was, as well as the lingering threat of the guards busting in at any second.
Momentarily the face became more defined: a sharp nose stuck out over a pair of perfectly shaped lips, and two eyes opened without warning, looking just as real as Jun’s own, brown and sparkling with power.
The eyes immediately found their target and zoned in on Jun in the corner even as he tried to become as small as possible. The blue dust moved together and came at him, its arms extended much farther than should have been possible and it was reaching out for him and…
Jun squeezed his eyes closed and tensed up, his arms wrapped protectively across his chest as he waited for the worst to happen.
And he continued to wait a few more seconds more before he opened his eyes and was met with a cute chubby face, not at all bigger than his own in size, and he took a short breath of relief. Then he saw that the normal (albeit tan) exposed torso faded into the bluish cloud that had been on the verge of attacking him, and tapered into a single strand not bigger than his finger that was spread across the floor to another pile of things that had come crashing down when Jun had.
“You’re very handsome,” the thing said to him with what Jun thought was curiosity, and Jun stared back in utter astonishment at the change in situation.
“Wh-what?” was all he could think of to stutter in reply as he stared at the brown, human-looking face. If only the bottom half wasn’t missing, he might have been able to pull himself together enough to escape before anything else happened. But no, he was still too terrified.
“My other masters have all been old, or fat, or completely rotted on the inside--you’d be surprised how gross that is after you’ve only been together for a few days,” came the casual reply. The thing seemed like it wanted to continue its explanation but Jun’s panic for the guards was rising now that he wasn’t completely dead and didn’t think he would be any time soon (at least if he could escape).
“Masters-“ he got out in a confused tone, suddenly wondering if he had bumped his head on the way down and was having a hallucination right now, his body incapacitated and just waiting for his pursuers to find him.
“That’s right. I’m a genie you know, we have-“
“Genie?” he replied quickly, finding his mind slowly unfreezing the more they talked. Finally he was able to adjust his weight and began to pull himself out of the mess of broken crates and half-crumbled dirt that had been a pot mere minutes before.
“That’s what I said isn’t it?” the voice became annoyed, an emotion that was mirrored by the slight quirk of eyebrows and down turned lips on the genie’s face.
“What the hell are you doing here, then?” Jun replied, wondering why he was even humoring his curiosity in this scenario. Genies were still magic and even if he didn’t know much about them, he was sure it would be nothing but trouble. But then again, since they were independent magic sources, unlike curses or enchantments, Jun could probably just walk out of here and not worry about any after effects, as long as he cut off the interaction soon.
He only struggled a little as he finally got on his feet and the genie just continued to watch him, slowly rising in the same instance as Jun did so that their faces remained at the same height. His lower half was still blue smoke, though.
But the genie’s face broke out in a grin as he replied (even though Jun turned away to survey the ceiling and anything surrounding him that he could use to climb back up with), and folded his arms across his chest in a conceited fashion. “Actually, my last master wished that ‘I would get the hell away from him’ and I ended up here. Seemed like a nice place.” The smile turned content as he continued to watch Jun with an unwavering gaze, and he floated closer, trying to catch Jun’s eyes even as Jun ignored him and continued to examine the room.
After a moment of thinking in silence, Jun managed to catch up with the explanation and replied, “It is. I hope you have a good time,” and then walked over to the wall of things that hadn’t been ruined and began pulling one of the boxes towards his hole.
It was pretty heavy, though, and the genie only watched in mild amusement as Jun struggled. There wasn’t nearly enough time. He could hear voices outside confirming that they had found the place he had fallen, and just as Jun turned to the door in a panic, it began to shake under the weight of the men on the other side.
He thought fast, shooting a glance over at the genie and wondering if he was going to regret this somehow.
“So, you can grant me a wish, then, great genie?”
A huge smile spread across those perfect lips, allowing the eyes to droop a little in what Jun would learn was the genie’s signature expression.
“Yes, but only one per day, although I’ve been known to give one a day or two in advance.”
The door was cracking under the pressure and he only had a few seconds to decide what to do. Best to keep it as simple as possible.
“I wish you’d make those men go away!” Jun said quickly, pointing towards the entrance of the storehouse and the genie turned slowly to look in that direction, although he didn’t stop smirking.
“Sure.”
The door finally caved and Jun dove behind one of the larger crates, where there was barely enough room for him, and waited, hoping that his wish would be followed properly because it was all he had now. It was common knowledge that genies were notorious for twisting words to their own whims, so Jun figured half of dealing with them was intelligence, and the other half pure luck.
“Who the hell are you?!” he heard a rough voice yell out. They must have seen the genie and stopped because the rest of them weren’t filing in, just the first three or four in line from what Jun could make out with hearing alone. When they didn’t come looking for him, he snuck a glance at the scene.
The genie no longer looked like a genie at all, but like a normal man, in a small blue vest and flowing white pants that wrapped around his ankles, sandals on his tanned feet and brown hair to match his brown skin. He looked completely ordinary in a completely unordinary way.
Without saying a word, he reached into the folds of his pants and pulled out a small drawstring bag, opening it up and displaying several gold coins before throwing it at the feet of the guard in front.
They froze and glanced down at the offered money before the head of the group motioned to the one behind him to pick it up. They took it and examined the coins before casually glancing around as if to make sure no one was looking, then headed back out the front, talking in hushed voices before the conversation settled. Jun closed his eyes and hoped.
Eventually one of them yelled that he had escaped and the group of them took off out of the alley, leaving behind a rather heavy silence.
Once again Jun wondered what he had gotten in to, cowering in the corner even as the genie turned to stare at him. He still looked like a regular man, his legs attached and planted firmly on the ground underneath him while his hands rested on his hips in satisfaction.
Jun knew very little about genies, but included in that knowledge was that they were tricky, and this one seemed especially bad if his smirk was anything to go by.
He had saved him, though, when Jun didn’t have a choice but to ask (even if he probably would have escaped had the genie not appeared in the first place, but that was in the past now).
Somehow Jun pulled himself together and came out from his hiding place, sighing and staring at the genie who actually looked completely pleased with himself. In this form he was just a bit shorter than Jun, and handsome in a very defined and almost plain way. Understandably, though, as he wouldn’t really stand out in a crowd or draw unwanted attention to himself.
“Was there some catch to that?” Jun asked resignedly, expecting the worst case situation. “Do I have to pay you back for that money a thousand times over or something?” He really hoped not, because he didn’t have anything more than what they needed for himself and his two close friends. And what would a genie need with money anyway?
“Oh no,” he replied in a soft voice, almost as if he had used all of his energy on that wish. His smile even mellowed out a little and his shoulders dropped. But he was watching Jun with his full attention, waiting for a reaction to his amazing powers. “It will just disappear in another minute or two.”
Jun’s mouth fell open and he was stuck like that while his mind processed the situation. Then he completely panicked again.
“Damn it, I need to go!” He would have cursed the trickster genie too, except he knew that they were that way by nature, and there were a lot of worse ways he could have gotten rid of those guards. Somehow he felt like the thing had gone easy on him.
“Aw, you’re going?” The genie actually sounded a little sad and that caught Jun off guard. “Take me with you,” he whined, his bottom half gradually melding back into the blue smoke of his earlier form, the same thin rope-shaped strand stretching across the floor to return to the same pile of things that it had earlier.
“Absolutely not.” Jun lost all pity he had for the genie in that second and started pushing his box back towards the hole in the ceiling. He could probably jump from there, since the front door was now just as dangerous as it had been in the first place. “You’ll only make my life complicated.”
“But, uhm…” he continued to stare at Jun shyly and drifted closer when he began pushing the box across the dirt floor again. “I can grant you another wish, tomorrow.”
Although he knew that would only cause more trouble, Jun couldn’t help but be tempted. He wasn’t greedy, but there were things that one needed in life--like food. Things that Jun was sorely lacking, and his friends weren’t any better off.
Well, maybe they would know what to do with him. If nothing else, Jun could get rid of him later, he supposed.
“Fine. But only if you help me get out of here!” Jun said in a frustrated voice, annoyed with himself for giving in when he really knew he shouldn’t. This was only going to be trouble.
The genie perked up right away, smiling again and floating directly next to him. “Well, I can do that right away! You just need to get my bottle out of that-“ he pointed to the pile that his blue wisp was leading to, and Jun, still frustrated, threw his hands up in the air and stomped over to it, pushing things out of the way without a second thought and breaking a few more pots.
Luckily enough he found the bottle without much problem, a plain looking blue thing with a narrow top, where the wisp was attached through the lip as if there was much more inside that couldn’t get out. Trying not to waste time, Jun pulled out a purple head scarf that was sticking out of the rumble (he had no qualms about stealing when he needed it, but he wouldn’t be taking anything else from the storage room, even if they could use it-he did indeed have a conscience about this sort of thing). It was the perfect size, so he wrapped it securely around the bottle and then looped it around his hip so it swung to his side, resting on his thigh, and turned back to the genie, who appeared to be completely delighted with the situation.
“Well, come on!” Jun ignored the pleased look and went back to stand under the hole as the genie floated closer.
Without warning he was easily picked up and lifted through the open ceiling. Before he could even squeak in surprise (as he was about to do, as much as he tried to stop himself), he was once again placed rather gently back on the ground, which was now the stable part of the roof.
Jun turned to the genie with his eyebrows raised and a harsh comment about warning people before you did things like that, but the words died when he saw how absolutely satisfied the thing was with himself. Obviously he had meant to do exactly what he had and that frustrated Jun enough that he reconsidered his offer to take the genie with him.
But the bottle was already attached and a wish for tomorrow would be nice and he couldn’t help but feel just a little tiny bit bad for leaving the genie alone. He swallowed his anger as much as he could and instead curtly demanded, “Now get back in your bottle and make sure you’re not seen until we get home!”
With a brightened smile, the genie followed the instructions, twirling around twice as he shrunk like he was a screw going back into its proper place.
“Don’t bump me around too much. I might get sick or something-“ the voice echoed slightly as if the inside of the bottle was actually a deep cave made of glass.
“Be quiet would you? Where’s your cork?” Jun shot back, glaring down at the innocent item dangling from his hip. His action made him feel a little ridiculous, because even though he knew the thing was in there, there was no physical indication that he existed anymore, and even when he looked inside, it was only a vague cloudy blue that could have easily been a play of the light as far as a normal person was concerned.
“Well, it’s back in that pile you pulled my bottle out of-“ the genie replied rather quickly, but before Jun could even consider going back for it, he continued in a pouting voice, “But please don’t use it. That’s a really mean thing to do, you know, covering my only means of escape and forcing me to stay in here. How would you like it if-“
“Okay, I got it.” Jun’s temper had simmered out, but he was still pressed for time and needed to get back to make sure the others had escaped without getting caught. “Just keep quiet and do what I say, then!”
There was a noise of irritation shot back at him, but after that the conversation ended, so Jun took off over the roofs again. Now that he had a moment to think, he was sad for his wasted melon that had cost them all so much to lose in such a mundane way. But he was also feeling like he had gotten something much better out of the deal… as long as the stupid genie decided to keep cooperating.
+++
Jun, being completely penniless and with no family to call his own other than his two close friends, lived in a pavilion on top of a mansion that he neither owned nor paid for. In fact, he had lived in the local slums until the age of ten, in which he had discovered that one of the lesser (but still incredibly wealthy) merchants had decided to display his wealth more obviously by building a new palace on the other side of town. Of course, if he sold his old apartments he would lose face because one should only sell if they are in need of the money… and that sort of rumor would be around town in days!
So, like most men of his class he simply moved the things he wished to move and left the rest as it was. But where other, wealthier lords could afford to keep guards or a family in their previous palace, this one could not and instead simply had an intricate gate built in front and then abandoned it.
And that was the state in which the three of them had found it. Of course they weren’t stupid enough to waltz right in and take the thing over, but after a thorough exploration they found the perfect new home: a moderately sized lounging pavilion on the roof of the tallest building with an overlook of not only the entire grounds of the empty palace, but the city’s skyline and all the way to the sultan’s palace too.
They had chosen it for several reasons. Firstly, it had been left with most of its furnishings, hammocks and decorative tables and pots, and a small pool in the corner that Jun insisted they use for bathing (as their class would be obvious if they walked around half caked in dirt all the time, and that made not only living but stealing especially that more difficult; one did not suspect a clean man as much as a dirty one). It also had tactical advantages, as there was only one entrance: a set of stairs leading down into the pleasure quarters. The only other way to enter the open room was across the roof, which is how they usually came and went. They could see everything and if someone started snooping around the grounds they would know long before trouble hit them (or at least that was the plan, but no one had bothered them in the last eleven years, so they figured their plan was holding out).
But since it was so open, built so that the most wind could be felt on the hottest days of summer, sometimes they were left to the elements with the occasional bad storm as well. On the other hand, it was never cold enough to need more shelter and there was a roof over their heads which was the important part, keeping them out of the rain and shielding them from the burning sun.
So when Jun came home, easily walking across a rope that was barely the thickness of his wrist as he had done a million times before--the one that connected their pavilion with the roof of the next building and had probably been used for laundry at one point in its earlier lifetime--Masaki and Kazu saw him right away and waited impatiently for him at the open balcony.
“Jun! I was so worried!” Masaki exclaimed promptly, his brownish hair sticking out all over the place, no doubt mussed as he nervously waited. When Jun jumped onto the familiar tiled floor, he was even pulled into a hug.
“I’m fine,” he replied, trying to sound annoyed when he could feel his own relief washing through his arms and legs. In fact, he was more than fine, which in and of itself was not quite right.
Kazu seemed to notice the same time that he did. Even after hurrying all the way back here he wasn’t even winded, and there weren’t any physical signs of him falling through the roof earlier. He really hoped this didn’t have anything to do with…
“You… don’t have a scratch on you. I’d thought you’d be roughed up from running at least…” Kazu said suspiciously, pushing Masaki away to examine Jun himself, looking pointedly at the bottle draped around his waist. “Did you lose the melon?”
At the mention of their target, Masaki’s expression immediately fell as he realized the lack of said item.
“Yes,” Jun sighed, rubbing his head and walking past them to plop down on the faded pillow he had claimed as his own when they had first come. They had a small setup near their hammocks and honestly, there was more than enough space for another fifty people to live here, so they had just picked a corner and made it cozy, leaving the rest of the area as it was. Their space included a plain table that was bare except for the remains of their planning this morning. “I made it as far as the fountain square using the rooftops, but one little misstep and I find myself in the middle of a half ruined storehouse and then-“
Just as he was about to relay the story of the guards and genie (more the guards, though), he was saved the effort by a smooth cloud of blue smoke slipping out of the bottle and forming the same face as earlier, half of a man’s tanned torso fading into a line of smoke that led back to the bottle.
“Jun! What’s that?!” Masaki yelled in surprise, pointing at the genie, his mouth half open.
Kazu also looked surprised, an expression that they hardly ever saw on his face, but he collected himself right away and narrowed his eyes while the genie gently floated down next to Jun, close enough that he could rest his head on Jun’s bare shoulder.
“A genie?” Kazu asked suspiciously. “Jun, you should know better than to mess with magic. You should have just left it there.”
“That would have been mean,” the genie replied simply, mimicking Jun and watching the other two men as they slowly started to come closer.
Not really sure where to start but knowing that he had to tell Kazu every detail that he could remember (because Kazu was the planner, and he would know how to use this thing without getting screwed over in the end), he started with the guards and then worked his way back. Surprisingly enough the genie didn’t add any commentary, except for when Jun forgot to mention that there had been exactly four guards and another two of them waiting outside.
When he was finished, Masaki and Kazu were seated across from him in their usual spots around the low table, both still staring at their new addition, although with very different intentions. Masaki looked curious and enthusiastic, but Kazu looked wary and suspicious; as if he was trying to figure out whether it was too good to be true or not.
As Jun had spoke, the genie had gone from simply resting his chin on his shoulder to wrapping his arms around Jun’s torso, and when Jun finally realized it, the thing was stuck to him like a pet monkey, still watching the other two with only half interest. He didn’t have any weight to him and Jun could barely tell when he moved at all, but he was warm with flesh just like the rest of them. When Jun noticed where his thoughts were going, he had to take a second to collect himself before he pried the arms off of him and shook the genie away with an embarrassed frown. “Don’t do that!” he chided and the genie only glared back, but floated away with his two arms folded over his chest, sticking out his perfect bottom lip as he turned to survey his surroundings with obvious boredom.
Jun faced Kazu again, hoping he had come up with something, and indeed that calculating look was embedded in his friend’s gaze as it followed the genie’s movements.
After licking his lips unconsciously, Kazu cleared his throat and said in a voice that was part respect and part sweetness-- a voice that he used for dealing with the authorities-- “What’s your name, great genie? You do have one right?”
“Of course I have one!” the genie snapped back, turning around and glaring at Kazu. Immediately his eyes caught Jun’s gaze and he relaxed just a little before promptly ignoring him, giving Kazu his full attention even if he didn’t act like it was worth it. “Everyone has a name, don’t they? You have a name.”
“Yes…” Kazu licked his dry lips again and forced his expression to stay the same. “What is it, then?”
“Satoshi.” He was still half pouting.
“O Great Genie Satoshi,” Kazu called him reverently, bowing a little and making Jun’s eyes grow wide, but the genie seemed to at least admire the effort he was putting into complimenting him, even if he apparently wasn’t affected otherwise. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long as it been since your last master wished you away?”
Satoshi shot Jun a glance as if to say, see, he cares, and turned back to Kazu before replying conversationally, “I guess it’s been about forty years by now.”
“Wow! Forty years!” Masaki broke in with a huge smile of admiration. “That’s a while! You must have been around for a long time!”
Jun hadn’t thought of it that way, and in fact he hadn’t really considered Satoshi’s age at all, since he barely looked any older than Jun himself was. But he supposed genies were a different breed of thing weren’t they?
The statement seemed to pacify him though, because the genie finally broke out in a small smile of his own and replied, “Yep, I’ve been a genie for going on seven thousand years now.”
“Seven thousand-“ Masaki started to reply, but Kazu cut him off, not surprised at all by the number.
“O Great Satoshi, does that mean you were something before you were a genie?” he asked casually, but they all froze and Kazu’s eye twitched as the atmosphere was lost and his probing question was laid out for exactly what it was.
“Sorry, I can’t talk about anything from before I was a genie. It’s part of the curse,” Satoshi explained, completely neutral about it and obviously losing interest in the conversation again.
“But you were something before you were a genie. What you said proves it!” Kazu accused.
“And… I can’t talk about it,” he replied in a dead-pan voice. Jun wondered why that even mattered in the first place. Who cared if he was something (obviously a human if the form he had used to get rid of the guards was anything to go by) before he was a genie? His eyes conveyed that exact message to Kazu with a glare, and he folded his arms again, not missing when Satoshi did the exact thing right after him.
“Kazu, we need to think about what to wish for, something he won’t mess up,” Jun led the conversation in a different direction, and the devious glint came back into his friend’s eyes.
“Actually, you said you can grant a wish a day, right? Although you’ve been known to grant one a day or two in advance…?”
Jun really felt like Kazu had lost his mind, making stupid statements about genies and asking questions that they had already gone over when usually he was so eloquent and, and brilliant.
“Yes…” Satoshi replied slowly, not getting what the other man was aiming at either.
“Well, I mean, you already granted Jun’s wish for today, right? Well, what about me and Masaki? I’m sure since it’s been forty years you have another two wishes you can pulls from those days you were waiting, don’t you?” he asked and Jun felt completely floored. He didn’t even know what he wanted to ask for next and Kazu was already trying to squeeze more wishes out of him.
“Hmm…” the genie make a sound to indicate he was considering the request, then turned pointedly to Jun and looked at him.
It was dead silent while Jun stole a glance back, wondering what he wanted. It was Kazu making the request; what did Jun have to do with any of it?
Kazu cleared his throat again, catching his friend’s eye and gesturing at him to get on with it. Jun rubbed his forehead first before he just gave up and decided to go along with the whole thing. At least it seemed like the other man had a plan.
“Satoshi,” he said in a half exasperated voice, turning to the genie, and already Satoshi was perking up, his lips twitching when he stopped himself from smiling as he waited in anticipation. “I think it’s only fair if you give both of them wishes too…” His voice was polite in a forced manner, and he tried his best to be pleasant about it, but that didn’t stop him from feeling annoyed that he had to be the one to take care of everything.
“I am a little tired you know. Granting wishes takes a lot out of me-“ he explained in a bargaining voice, floating a little closer to Jun, who sighed and closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress his urge to hit all of them over the head.
“Fine.” He didn’t even know what was being asked of him, but he was sick of this roundabout argument and clenched his fists while he waited for whatever Satoshi wanted to do to him to get his way.
And was relieved to find that the genie simply wrapped himself around him again, resting his warm chin on his shoulder almost weightlessly and loosely slipping his arms around Jun’s waist. It really wasn’t so bad, he tried to tell himself, and was definitely worth getting this whole thing over with.
“Okay, what’re your wishes?” he asked contently. Jun could feel the bare chest against his back as the genie began to relax even more, dropping his shoulders as if he was settling in for the long term. Even his blue wisp of a bottom half rested against Jun’s thigh where it was attached to the bottle still hanging off of his hips, tilted as it rested on the ground next to him.
Kazu, being the thinker that he was, remained silent and became dazed as he lost himself inside his own head, but only a few seconds later Masaki’s face lit up, and before either of his friends could stop him from saying anything stupid he had already gotten his request out.
“Oh, I know! I wish for some melons because I was really looking forward to eating those for dinner tonight! We haven’t eaten for two days you know, Satoshi, so we’re all really hungry-“ he was avidly narrating his reasons, but before he had gotten any farther, the genie simply smirked and raised his hand to snap his fingers before replacing them around Jun’s waist.
About ten melons fell out of the air, landing on the floor behind where Masaki and Kazu were sitting. Luckily they hadn’t been very high up and even though some of them on the bottom splattered, they could probably still be salvaged.
“Damn it, Masaki!” Kazu cursed first, smacking him on the head hard enough that Masaki cried out in surprise and rubbed the same spot with his hand.
“What?” he asked with a whiny voice, watching Kazu as he turned to Satoshi and Jun, looking pointedly at the genie.
“Okay, where did they come from?” he asked in a flat voice, knowing that something was the matter with the way the wish had been granted because there was always something the matter.
Even though he had been put on the spot, Satoshi smirked anyway, not moving at all as he explained. “From the stand you were stealing from earlier, where else? You should just be lucky that I didn’t bring the whole thing along with the owner, as I usually would have.” He emphasized the meaning of that statement by squeezing his arms tighter around Jun, and in that moment Jun really realized how much damage could be done by this thing he had so casually brought into their lives. Especially with Masaki’s big mouth and Jun stuck in between them all.
“Satoshi, you wouldn’t have! That’s mean!” Masaki seemed taken aback and Kazu beat Jun to the second whack on the back of the head for his stupidity.
“But look at how many melons you have now,” the genie replied easily, and Masaki actually looked thoughtfully at the pile of them for a second before half smiling. Actually, Jun was relieved to have a meal, even if he was already positive he would be sick of melons before tomorrow. Oh well, maybe Masaki would find a creative way to keep the rest of them before they went bad.
“I guess we should just count ourselves lucky and move on,” Kazu commented solemnly, staring at the genie again. “There’s no way they can trace those back here, right?” he added for good measure, pointing over his shoulder.
“No,” Satoshi replied confidently, meeting Kazu’s eyes with a bored expression. “What’s your wish? Better hurry up before I fall asleep.” He punctuated his statement with a wide yawn and slumped against Jun even more.
“Unlike this idiot,” Kazu replied tentatively, hitting Masaki on the head for the third time and making him wince, “I need time to think about it.” His expression turned just slightly smug, and Jun realized he had already planned this much, probably from the start. “Could you give me until tomorrow?”
Jun thought he was pushing it, but he felt Satoshi shrug against him and let out another yawn before explaining, “Sure. It’s easier for me anyway. I’m already really tired…”
“You should take a nap then,” Kazu replied, his tone overly sweet. Motioning behind him he added, “We appreciate all of the melons you brought us.” It was obvious he was trying to stay on the genie’s good side, but Jun could already tell none of that would work with Satoshi. Although, it was certainly better than the other side of Kazu’s personality, such as the scolding that Masaki was going to get in another five minutes.
“Hmm, I think I will.” Satoshi slid his arms up to Jun’s shoulders and peered around him to look into his face. He gave him a soft smile before requesting, “Could you keep my bottle in your lap while I’m sleeping? I think that’s the most comfortable place.”
Frowning, Jun felt a pang of annoyance, but Kazu caught his eye and motioned for him to comply. As much as it pained him to follow the whims of this genie, he also trusted Kazu’s judgment and certainly didn’t want to be subjected to more backlash than was necessary. Indeed it was better to keep on Satoshi’s good side and get one meaningful wish in-- hopefully one that wouldn’t get screwed up halfway through--before cutting off all ties with the thing and going back to their lives as they should be.
For the rest of the night, as the bottle lay in his lap looking just as innocent as ever, Jun amused himself with ways to get rid of it tomorrow while Kazu was busy yelling at Masaki and Masaki was busy stuffing his face with melon.
Part two