"Dad! Hey Dad! I need to talk with you." Jeff called into the house.
"I'm watching tv, what do you want?"
Jeff burst into the room, several scenarios already playing out in his mind. "Dad, I'm going to sound crazy but I need you to take me seriously." Mike sighed heavily pausing his crime dramady as it seems he will be getting teen drama tonight instead.
"Alright, what's happening?" Mike tried to keep the bemused smirk from showing. Teens always feel like everything is the end of the world.
Jeff paced and gestured with his hands, talking until he was gasping for breath, not even looking a Mike for most of it, trying to describe the scenes he saw from his perspective so his dad would understand where he was coming from.
"Jeff, I see you're agitated but I need you to calm down and slow down. I can't follow with you doing this." Mike spasmed and looked in every direction muttering words he had caught. "I need you to calm down, sit down, and talk like an adult as opposed to a caffeinated squirrel. Can you do that?"
Jeff's irritation and apprehension skyrocketed before it plummeted. "Ah, sorry about that. Give me a moment to collect my thoughts." Jeff calmly took a seat. "Let me restate the situation starting from the relevant details from your perspective, rather than trying to address it chronologically. I think it would help you decide what details you should focus on and you can stop me if I'm getting into the weeds. Sound good."
Mike was taken aback by Jeff's complete shift in demeanor. "Uh, yeah?"
"Excellent. First, full disclosure, I'm very agitated and coming to you for guidance. Additionally, this is to inform you of the situation so you don't accidentally hurt me or our family. Finally, this will seem unbelievable, so at the very least, I ask that you play along and don't make any rash choices before we come up with a plan." Jeff said this matter of factly. "Congratulations Dad, you have gained a superpower. Unfortunately for me, from what I have been able to gather, you have supernatural control over my body, and to some significant extent my mind. Let this presentation be my first submission of evidence, though I wouldn't hold it against you for having lingering doubts."
"Okay." Mike just stared unsure if he should interject.
"I'll continue. We were having a breakdown in communication, you stated, you needed me to talk like an adult, and now I'm stuck talking like I'm wearing a suit in some board room somewhere. Additionally, I think you noticed, I look like I've been working out. I haven't. This is the result of me having not been strong enough to manage that big branch by myself. If you have a need, I will adapt to fill it. That's your superpower. You control me. There's more to explain and you may not believe me, but could you confirm that you understand what I'm saying."
"Uh, yeah but... yeah... I.. I guess so."
"Thank you, I expect you're wondering how this could have happened. I got a lamp, it had a genie, and I wished I could be useful to you. So again, any time you have a need or maybe even a strong want, I become able to fulfill it if I can't already. There is a lot I don't know about how it works, however, it was implied you can control people's awareness of my change, and make me old... Rephrasing, change my age if you wanted that, or it was necessary to fulfil your need. My, admittedly terrible and impulsive, phrasing of the wish opened up disastrous opportunities for the genie to destroy me in countless ways. It didn't, and insists that it is mischievous and not evil. I was inclined to wish to undo this first wish but hesitate because of phrasing loopholes, and honestly, it could be beneficial if you/we use it right."
Mike blinked a few times, "That's a lot for me to believe, but, a fun mind bender to consider at the very least."
Jeff chuckled, "Fair, I can work with that. I suppose I could have lied and posed the situation as a mind game, but if I had, you would be more inclined to make an 'I need you to' statement in jest. I really don't want that to happen without our prior discussion and agreement. Regardless, I guess the first question would be can we trust you with the power or should we focus on undoing it?"
"Well," Mike looked thoughtfully, "I suppose that depends on so many things. Again, pretending this is real, will you change if I think of a need I have, say a need I have, do you need to be close by, and do I have to be expecting you to try to fulfill it? "
Jeff winced, "I honestly don't know from the two experiments that occurred. We can do testing or try to ask the genie, but the genie already said he's disinclined to answer the questions as this is more fun for him."
"Hah," Mike chuckled, "Well, this genie character is fun. But it also would depend on safety.. Like, if I called you and said I needed you to be 300 lbs for some reason, would you be getting crushed and constrained while driving down the road? Or would you show up wearing XXXL clothing? Well... You said I could control other people's perception of your changes being normal which would be changing their reality through you... meaning,.. 'I need you to be wearing a fancy tailored business suit and for people who know you to not think it, or your new bulk, is out of the ordinary.' Yeah, that could..."
"Dad, you phrased that as a separate statement!" Jeff's clothing thickened turning into a grey suit with a grey tie and lilac colored shirt. "Why did you... You need to be more careful how you word those statements, but at least you saw, so you have to believe me now."
"Believe you?" Mike snickered incredulously, "Jeff, you like wearing suits and you are a muscular kid, why would putting 'I need' before existing facts convince me this is anything more than a game." Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Oh my god, you're people." Jeff was getting agitated but kept calm, "Apologies, I suspect that the subphrase 'people who know you' inadvertently included yourself when you excluded others from awareness... So now, you don't even realize that I wasn't this muscular before today and the only thing making my case is that I've been speaking and acting a little strange during this conversation. We, or at least I have learned that you have indirect control over reality through me which makes this really powerful and potentially dangerous, and like the wishes themselves, it seems to be based on meeting a stated need, even if you don't really need it. Me wearing a suit does nothing to improve your life. Could you do me one or two last favors? 1. Could you think the statement 'I need Jeff to talk and act like his normal self.' and 2. if that doesn't allow me to emote like normal I'll have to request you to say it aloud."
After a pause Mike sighed. "Okay."
"I'm really proud of ... nope, please say it out loud."
"I need Jeff to talk and act like his normal self." Mike muttered unenthusiastically.
"Oh DAD, did you hear how I managed that conversation, it was wild! I had all my thoughts but they just came out so, so... what's the word?"
Mike smirked, "Coherently? Organized for once? Intelligible?" Mike chuckled as Jeff pursed his lips. "It was a good act, you sounded pretty professional, but I'm gonna need a lot more evidence for you to convince me you have a genie upstairs. But please, let me get back to my show."
Jeff wasn't sure he wanted to show Dad the genie, but it would make his case. Since he already had solid evidence he could present, no transformation occurred. "Alright." Jeff said admitting defeat for now, "But please humor me and be really careful not to yell that you need fatherly advice, or you want me to go on a beer run for you. Oh, we didn't test want..."
Mike shuddered, "That ass hole? I need you to NOT turn into him. I just need you to be yourself."
Jeff smiled, the sentiment was appreciated but a slip of the tongue could change everything and as Jeff headed back upstairs he couldn't remember what his dad said, but it wasn't phrased directly as an "I need Jeff to' statement.
Jeff went upstairs to his closet and gazed upon his collection of beloved suits. He only had three and a growing collection of ties and shirts but... This isn't right... Dad just told me to be myself I should be... me, right? Why do I love formalwear?
Jeff eventually pieced together that he became himself, but from Mike's new perspective. Mike made it normal for Jeff to want to wear suits randomly, meaning, he now has quite the admiration for them. Jeff tried to be annoyed, Jeff wanted to be upset with the change, but suits look so good!