“Boo!” Kuroo shows himself in front of Bokuto in a supposedly lame attempt at surprising him. Supposedly because startled Bokuto goes stumbling against a huge antique-looking porcelain vase behind him.

        “Holy !” They both exclaim at the same time. And then Kuroo says, “Bokuto, you broke it!”

        “And whose fault is that, ?” Bokuto retorts, rubbing his elbow. The two stand there, looking dumbfoundedly at the porcelain scattered on the floor.

        Tsukishima rushes over to where they are. “What the hell did you do?” He asks, voice raising a little.

        “Kotaro broke the vase!” Kuroo points his index finger to the white-haired guy.

        “Shut up. It’s because you scared me!” Bokuto defends. “Do you think we should get outta here now?” He whispers even though no one else is in there. They’re at the infamous abandoned house trying to hunt for a ghost.

        “Hell ye-“ Too late, though. The pieces of porcelain before them is morphing into something else. Yes, the pieces seem to be flying all over and magically transforming into something right before their eyes. And when it’s done, a creature – no, a man – just a little shorter than Bokuto appears before them with black hair, slender body, and a skin so smooth just by looking at it. He seems exactly like the porcelain vase: so so delicate, in every sense of that word.

        “W-Who are you?” Bokuto once again finds himself stumbling, this time, over his words.

        “Greetings! My name is Keiji Akaashi. I’m a genie.”

        Bokuto mutters a weirded out, “A what?”

        While Kuroo says, “Wait, shouldn’t you be in a lamp or something?”

        The creature – no, the genie – no, Keiji Akaashi subtly rolls his eyes and goes back to speaking formally. “Thank you for giving me my salvation after hundreds of years! To extend my gratitude, I’m granting you five wishes.” He bows after.

        “Woah. I thought genies only granted three wishes!” Kuroo exclaims, making Akaashi mumble under his breath.

        “You also thought genies come out of lamps, and yet here we are.”

        “Five for each of us?” Bokuto asks, excitedly.

        Akaashi turns to Tsukishima, shedding all that’s left of his faux formality as he says, “He thinks he’s lucky.” Tsukki snorts.

        “You better take your time to think about your wishes.”

        “You’re not gonna explain the rules or anything?”

        “What rules?” Akaashi says. “What do you think I am, a ing fairy? We have no rules.”

        “So you mean we can wish for anything? Like unlimited wishes?” Bokuto asks.

        Akaashi gets taken aback. Of course. Humans. Greedy, greedy humans. “Mhm, I wouldn’t recommend that, though. My last master,” he spits the word in disgust, “tried that and ended up draining me that I just involuntarily morphed back into a vase. I swear that head wished for the most trivial . I wish my laundry’s all done, I wish my house was clean, I wish there’s food on the table. I used up all my magic for uncreative wishes.”

        “ to be you,” mocks Kei.

        “Tell me about it.” Akaashi rolls his eyes. “It was okay, though. Kinda. I love it here when I’m sorta living. Being a vase is boring.”

        “You don’t sound ancient at all.” Kuroo mutters more to himself than to the genie.

        “Of course, I don’t!” Akaashi answers, anyway. “I can hear the people that come here even when I’m a vase. Although, lately, all I hear are moans.  pieces of . I used that correctly, right?” Tsukki nods.

        “So you like your stay here as a somewhat human, am I right?” Bokuto confirms and Akaashi answers with an, “Uh-huh.”

        “That’s why, I’m saying... Take your time and think about your wishes carefully. And for god’s sake, please just do your own laundry. Did I use for god’s sake correctly?”

        “Yes, you did.”

---

 

        “So how do we make this work?” Kuroo asks. The four of them are seated on the floor of what seems to be the living room of the house.

        “What do you mean?”

        “Like, who gets to wish what or something.”

        “Shouldn’t I get the wishes? I was the one who broke the vase.” Bokuto says.

        “Yeah, but you wouldn’t if it wasn’t for me,” counters Kuroo.

        “Okay so I get three and you can have two.”

        “Hold on.” Kei joins their conversation, “It was my idea to come here in the first place.”

        “Then you and Tetsurou can share.”

        “No fair!”

        The friends continue arguing while Akaashi stands up and roams around the room. The furniture are mostly antiques, like they’ve been preserved or passed down right before the house was totally abandoned. He recognizes a few things here and there, like the big piano that his last master wished for but never played.

        He listens to the conversation without meaning to. Humans have always been amusing to him. Give a person one wish, and they would wish for another two. Give three persons five wishes? Everyone gets greedy and tries to monopolize everything. Of course, no one would admit that.

        “What if,” the black-haired guy with bangs unpleasantly covering half his face suggests, “Kotaro gets all the wishes now and then we just break the vase after he turns back?”

        Akaashi turns his head on impulse. “Absolutely not.” He says before he can think. “My intervals have been messed up since my last master.” The genie truly hated the word.

        “The one with unlimited wishes?”

        Akaashi nods. “I – the vase – had been broken countless times before you guys and instead of being in this form, I just morphed back into being a vase.”

        The three look at him intently, trying to take the information in. The blond is the first to come to, nodding. The other two takes awhile so Akaashi goes back to roaming around and examining the room.

        “Akashi,” the white, spiky-haired man whines, “Can’t you at least make it six so we all get two?”

        “First,” Akaashi turns to face them, “It’s Akaashi.”

        “That’s what I said.” Bokuto nods. “Akashi.”

        “Akaashi.” The genie says, emphasizing each syllable. “Second, I can try but there’s no telling whether I’d morph back into a vase the instant I allow it.”

        Bokuto pouts before facing his friends again. “Should we just rock-paper-scissors this?”

---

 

        “NOOOO!!!”

        Akaashi jumps a little when a loud, dramatic voice erupted from behind him. “What? What is it?”

        “Life is unfair, that’s what!” Bokuto cries out, and the genie realizes he won’t gain anything by talking to the man so he turns to the blond.

        “He lost and got one wish,” explains Tsukishima. Akaashi chuckles lightly. He walks over to the group.

        “Inequality isn’t a funny thing!”

        Kuroo drapes an arm over his friend’s shoulder. “Just think of it like this,” he starts. “Your wish is the most important one.”

        Bokuto looks at his friend with questioning eyes. “Huh?”

        “You don’t have any wish to waste, so you have to think about what you reeeaaally want. It can be life-changing, and then...”

        Bokuto seems more engrossed now. “And then?”

        “And then you can say that you turned your whole life upside down with just one wish!”

        The white-haired man’s face lights up and his posture straightens. “You’re right! It’s gonna be just like a miracle!”

        The genie is left confused. Just how fast does this man’s mood change? “That literally does not make any sense.” He murmurs.

        “Well, Bokuto is a little...” Tsukishima pauses. “Simple-minded.”

        “So an airhead.”

        Tsukishima laughs. “Yea.”

---

The First Wish

        “A unicorn?” Bokuto talks to himself as he paces around the room. “But how am I gonna take care of that? Waterbending skills? That would be so cool! Hold on, paper, pen, I need to write this down...”

        “So the both of you have to wishes each.” The genie confirms and Kuroo and Tsukishima nods. “Okay. Have you thought about what to wish for?”

        “Not yet.” Kuroo shakes his head.

        “Good. You should take your time.”

        If Akaashi was being honest, he would suggest that they wish for more wishes. That way, he gets to spend more time as, well, this. If only the last time went well... Akaashi wants nothing more than to be in this form. He likes moving around. He likes his feet touching the ground. He likes talking, and laughing, and just expressing himself. He likes the way his face can convey emotions without the need for words or anything else, really. He likes being alive.

        “I got it!”

        Akaashi looks up as Tsukishima stands. “Already?” He asks, tone failing to hide his surprise. He just said they should take their time!

        But Tsukishima nods, and the genie knows he has to listen.

        “This house is huge. It’s completely abandoned, right?”

        “Yes.”

        “So no one really owns it?”

        “Uh-huh.”

        “Okay then. I wish this house, and the lot it’s on, and everything in it is legally mine!”

        Legally. Akaashi is amused despite of himself. He’s a meticulous one, isn’t he?

        “Wait, wait!” The other two interjects. “We want a share of it!”

        “Then wish for it.” Tsukishima says.

        “No way!” This time, Akaashi’s voice mixed with the two. Wish for it? That’s three wishes down the drain just for one thing!

        “That’s a waste of wishes!” Akaashi says.

        “So?” Tsukishima raises his brows. “What’s it to you?”

        Jerk. “Nothing.” Akaashi says with a straight face. “I’m saying it for the three of you. You’re going to waste two more wishes for something that one could do.” The genie shrugs. “But if there’s nothing else that you want, then I guess it’s fine.”

        “Tsukki!” Bokuto and Kuroo whines.

        “You might also benefit from our future wishes.” Kuroo says. “Let’s share as much as we can.”

        “Please?” Bokuto adds with pleading eyes. See? Expressions.

        Tsukishima rolls his eyes, “Fine. I wish this house, lot, and everything in it is legally mine, Kuroo’s, and Bokuto’s. With documents and all!”

        Akaashi shakes his head, smiling. Tsukishima’s scrupulousness is really amusing. He puts both his hands on his abdomen, left over right, bows 45 degrees, and says, “Your wish is my command.”

        Seconds later, countless papers fly in the room. “What are these?”

        “You said you wanted documents.”

        Tsukishima picks one paper up from the floor. Indeed, it’s a document for the ownership of the house. “You couldn’t have put them in a single envelope?”

        Akaashi shrugs. “You didn’t wish for it.”

 

---

 

        “Finally!” Bokuto exclaims as he lies down the carpeted floor.

         It took them over two weeks of cleaning up and getting the house up and running – water, electricity, and all. There had also been a lot of fixing that needed to be done before they can successfully move in. What’s more was that everytime they complain to Akaashi, the genie would always reply, “Well, you didn’t wish for it,” and then continue watching them without helping.

        Meanwhile, Tetsurou finds Kei on the poolside, feet dipped in the water. He sits beside his friend and dipped his feet too. “What are you doing here?”

        Tsukki shrugs. “It’s beautiful in here.”

        Tetsurou looks around. On their right is the pool house, and surrounding the pool are bushes and plants. What stands out the most, though, are the flowers, their fragrance delivered by the light breeze. “Yeah.” Kuroo absent-mindedly agrees.

        They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of water under their feet. They take in the afternoon glow and the fact that starting today, they’re officially opening a new chapter in their lives. Three friends (and a genie) living together in a huge house, rent-free. There’s so much that they will discover about each other, and they don’t know whether they’re ready for it or not.

        “Say,” Kuroo breaks the silence, a sudden thought coming to mind. “How about we go to the beach?”