THE TWELVE DAYS OF JACKRABBIT:
DAY ONE: PARTRIDGE IN A PARE TREE.
To start off the month with a gift, what are the gifts Bunny and Jack are planning to five each other. Or, is there still courting involved?
E. Aster Bunnymund was a man... rabbit of tradition. Pooka traditions were very specific when it came to courting mates, very specific. Thus, Bunny had done his best to follow these rules and ideas to a T to the best of his ability.
It had started with a simple circling motion around Jack that happened periodically. Aster'd been diligent as he'd hopped circles around his mate. Jack had an inkling of what he' been up to, but simply let Aster go about his business and court him the Pooka way.
Next had been the nuzzling, which was almost always followed by cuddling together. That had been Jack's particular favorite, actually.
Next, if Aster's correct, comes the gift giving.
But this was where things were breaking down for him.
Because nothing was good enough.
Every time Aster had an idea, and sometimes even once he'd started making his courting gift, he'd trash it under the pretence that it wasn't good enough for Jack. Jack, perfect, brilliant Jack.
Aster was so fucked at this point, because he is very quickly running out of ideas.
He'd though of painting Jack a picture, but every time he got even close to halfway the rabbit would toss it, knowing it would never be good enough.
Bunny'd tried to dye a thousand eggs in the exact colour of Jack's eyes, thinking that maybe a wider scale would be more impressive, but he was unable to get even close to the desired colour, the dull blues he'd come up with were all missing that Jack-like spark of mischief and joy.
Back to the drawing board, then.
He'd been trying to come up with something for a good three weeks, and nothing was turning out right.
And it was driving the rabbit up the wall.
Aster lets out a sigh from his position in his-their nest, looking down unhappily at the face of his sleeping mate. Aster's flat on his back, with Jack half-on-half-off his chest, the boy's face steadily burying itself into Aster's solar plexus.
He'd reached his breaking point, honestly, with the feeling of failure this was bringing on. If Aster couldn't even come up with a good idea for a present how was he ever going to be a good mate to someone as creative and amazing as Jack? What if he finally settled on something, and Jack hated it?
Oh god, what if Aster screwed up so bad Jack left?
Aster huffs in dismay. It's only early morning and he's already on a downwards spiral today.
Well, the sooner he got up, the sooner it was over and done with.
So it is with a heavy heart he pries Jack's thin fingers (so soft and long, delicate but powerful, just like his mate) from his grey fur, and tries to stand.
Jack's hands reach for him, and the white haired boy mumbles in his sleep when they don't find grey fur. It scares the living shit out of Aster when Jack bolts awake directly after, snapping upwards and almost off the bed from the force of it.
His pretty face is contorted into worry with a speck of fear, but as soon as his blue (gorgeous, original, un-copyable) eyes land on the Aster's shocked figure he visibly calms down.
"Aster?" He murmurs, snuggling back into the retreating warmth of the nest, looking at Aster even as sleep tries to reclaim him again. "Where are you going? Come back to bed."
He accents the command with a lazy arm reaching towards the rabbit, his eyes taking a mischievous glint.
But that look falls as Bunny just walking over and rubs his nose along the place where Jack's hair meets forehead and leaves, ignoring the more confused "Aster?" that follows him out the door and into the warren.
Aster's home is as lush and green as always, covered in exotic plants and Easter flora alike. This makes a perfect camouflage for Aster's multiple failed gift attempts, including the little grotto he'd stashed them in until he can figure out how to be rid of them without Jack finding out. The bottom of the ocean was looking pretty swell right about now.
But first, to business.
His current idea is to create a new type of chocolate for Jack, somehow combining Jack's favorite flavors into something that tasted awesome, or at least not terrible. It's by far something he's at least somewhat confident he might be able to pull off, which is better than his past few ideas.
It was just a matter of balancing the tastes into something delicious. Nothing but the best for Jack.
But how does one combine mint and apples into something worth eating?
Aster's damn determined to at least try.
He begins work, mixing a batch of simple chocolate, and then separating them into different bowls. He then begins to mix different combination sizes of the flavors in a hope that one at least tastes somewhat good.
Bunny's so engrossed in his work, he doesn't even notice the blue clad figure that lands behind him silently, and begins to look around in wonder with eyes a gorgeous shade of blue.
"What is all of this?" Jack asks in awe, wandering through the grotto, which was really nothing more than a niche of ten meters by twenty deep into the rock. Aster snaps to attention, flipping around in shock at his mate's voice and flailing to keep at least some things hidden.
"Nottin'!" He shouts, his voice echoing across the stone walls. "Nottin' at all, I thought ya were sleepin'?"
"I was." Jack snickers at the attempt at a topic change, "But something seemed a little off with my mate, so I decided to investigate. Seriously, what is all of this?"
Aster sighs in defeat, and moves so that Jack can see past him before explaining.
"Pooka's have a tradition, where ya give a gift you've made yerself to yer desired mate."
"So you decided to make over twenty?" Jack giggles, looking over one of many portraits of the boy. Aster's filled with mortification as he watches his mate look over all the failed presents, and is getting ready for the inevitable mocking that will come his way. Waiting for Jack to laugh in his face and walk away.
"Nah, I wanted to make one. But every time I finished one it wasn't good enough."
Jack's face drops, and he looks around at the mock graveyard of ideas around him.
"I think they're all wonderful." He says, looking sadly into Aster's eyes. Bunny perks at that, but remains somewhat despondent.
"Not wonderful enough for ya, mate. It needed to be special, and I just couldn't do it."
Jack smiles softly, and floats over to Bunny before throwing his arms around Aster and holding him tight. Bunny just sighs softly and wraps his own arms around his mate's waist, before feeling Jack's shoulders hitching softly.
It takes longer than it should for Aster to realize Jack's laughing.
"You silly rabbit." Jack chuckles into Aster's ear. "I don't need anything. You're a present enough for me."
Aster begins to laugh at that, wrapping around Jack tighter, before pulling him into a soft kiss. The boy smiles into it, his hands gripping tightly into Aster's back fur.
Jack is the one to break the kiss, already starting to pull Aster towards the burrow.
"Come on." He says with a glint in his eye, "The nest's getting cold."
And it's all Aster can do to follow him on the cloud of elation he's on.
He could work on the present tomorrow.
A/N ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: ONE BADLY WRITTEN ONESHOT WITH THE PROMISE OF MANY MORE TO COME IN THE FUTURE~ Howdy hey, needed something to do during vacation, thus, here we go. Short and sweet this time, but the others will probably be longer. Thanks for reading, and if you've got half a second I'd love to hear what you thought of it.
Adios my loves 3