Have you ever had the feeling something has gone really bad? Like, that moment when you wake up on your own before your alarm clock sounds or when that last piece of cake you've been saving since ever for a special occasion gets eaten by someone else? Don't you ever feel like someone up there is trying to play a joke on you, when you can't explain why things are so weird? That's exactly how a certain Easter Bunny was feeling right now, as if he was the victim of a prank soon to be played.

Because really, what the hell was Jack Frost doing in his library?

Oh, he got his suspicions alright, maybe the kid was trying to find a way to catch him off-guard, freeze his feet to the floor and mess up with his holiday, or maybe he wanted to find one of his spell books so he could beat Bunny in a race, or it could be a way to spoil his chocolate recipes for next Easter and—oh, forget it, Aster, he wouldn't do that, not now at least.

Jack had been living in his Warren for the last couple of months, and has been quite helpful, actually; the seedlings got taken care of, the Burrow was clean and tidy, the helpers were feed and even groomed (Frost has asked Jamie for a brush) and he must have done something for the egglets too since they were so keen on following everywhere when he was with both feet on solid ground. All in all he couldn't think of the Snowflake getting himself into any mischief involving himself or the Warren, and there was again the question of what exactly was he doing with a bunch of his book settled in piles all around him.

And being the straight forward guy he was, he just decided to ask.

Marching forward, he made his way into the room, hopping over a few books laying haphazardly on the ground, and reaching the teen at the other end of the place, who didn't seem to notice him, he was so focused on whatever he was looking for in that book. Bunny crossed his arms over his chest and started tapping the ground with his foot, clearing his throat loudly so the winter sprite would notice his damn presence.

Jack jumped in his place at the sudden noise, looking up to find the Pooka watching him with one raised eyebrow. "Oh, hey Bunny" he said "umm…sorry about the mess, just got bored and wanted to know about what this books where about because they don't really have titles or anything so-" he cut himself at the slightly stronger tapping of the furry foot. "…I'll leave everything as it was, I swear!"

As Jack said this, Bunny had moved over and was now sitting down next to Jack, his long furry legs stretched awkwardly on the floor. Turning his head he tried to get a look at the book the teen was holding. "A botanical book? Whatever are you reading that for, Snowflake?" he asked with a small amused smile. Well, Jack thought, at least he wasn't mad over the mess or anything.

That was good.

"Umm…nothing really, just tried to figure which book was about what to put them in order, almost none of these have covers or titles, y'know, must be easy for you to recognize them though, so maybe I should just leave them as they are…" he trailed off a bit, eyes focusing on the detailed drawing of a Water Lily on the page he was into, thumb lightly fiddling with the corner of the page. "…Ah! But don't worry, like I said, I'll leave everything just as it was, so you can, uh, go out and

paint some eggs or groom your fur or whatever you do at this time of year, yep, soooo" Jack's sudden jump from the floor almost made Aster topple backwards, if it weren't for the wall holding his back. He didn't even have time to mutter a reply when Jack called the wind and all but blew Bunny out of his own library, shutting the door with a loud "THUD".

Aster stood there, back to the door and fur on end from the chilly wind, and the only thing that came to his mind was:

"What the heck just happened?"

The event in the library wasn't the only time Aster noticed how weird Jack was behaving. Suddenly he was really well behaved, keeping everything in order and, for some reason, spending a lot of time in the library, and if he wasn't there, he would disappear somewhere out of the warren and come back with leaves in his air and dirt in his hands. Every time Bunny asked him just what on earth was he doing, the winter sprite would smile brightly and him and pinch his nose—'That's not of your business, Kangaroo'—he would say, and then he would go play with the helpers.

Aster tried talking to the others to see if they knew what was going on with his newest addition, but North didn't have the slightest idea, Tooth would only shake her head(strangely more in a condescending way than unknowing one) and ask if Jack was doing good down there—'All that chocolate! Oh, I hope he is flossing'—, and Sandy, the smug little know-it-all would grin at him and nod, but then he'd refused to tell him what was going on with the teen.

Upon returning to the Warren, he was shocked to find Jack, broom in hand, dusting every surface of his burrow, even the ceiling which not even Bunny could reach jumping. Apparently the boy had heard him coming in, because as soon as he caught the oversized rabbit form the corner of his eye, he dropped the broom and flew down to stand on the ground in front of him, picking up the discarded broom and holding it close to his torso, in the exact same way he would his staff. "Bunny! Hey, I was just cleaning a bit, I swear, no peeking at anything and I didn't break anything either, was planning to leave before you arrived but I'll just do it now so I won't bother you, ok?" everything was said in a fast line of words and, once again, Jack left before Aster could as much as lift his paw to stop him.

Instead he moved over to a chair and flopped down on it, wondering just why his stomach was flipping like if he'd eaten a flock of butterflies.

Things just kept on going weirder and weirder.

Jack not only had swept his burrow all over, but also had taken down the leaves of the trees that were changing foliage, flying over them at such a speed not even one was left standing, and then he would use the wind to pick them all and take dispose them; he also kept on leaving behind a series of small ice sculptures: flowers, little animals, eggs covered in complicated designs, everything that Aster found charming in some way or another. And for some even weirder reason, he had stopped playing with the little bunnies, or even getting near them, and for some reason it didn't seem to bother them, even though Aster knew just how much they loved to mess with him.

But Bunny also found out that, since Jack had stopped rolling around the fuzzy fur balls, his natural scent was kind of everywhere, he just hadn't noticed the kid had almost always smelled like his helpers since he had moved in. Now he could smell the strange—but no less enjoyable—mix of the scent of ice and clean snow intertwined with moist soil.

Why did Jack smell of soil, anyway?

Well, he thought, which was by far the less strange thing about him right now. Apart from everything he had done around the place, his behavior towards Aster himself was getting weird.

Jack had taken the habit of following him, hiding between the tree tops or behind boulders or sentinels, thinking Bunny hadn't noticed him, or he would follow beside him, jumping around him playfully, and even once he suddenly tackled him to the ground, where he proceeded to run his cold hands all over his scruff and part of his chest, leaving the Pooka like a pile of goo on the floor, leg twitching madly and paws curled under his chin, then he would leave again, leaving Aster with a fuzzy and warm feeling spreading all over his body.

And suddenly he started to get worried.

All this should have been just games to Jack, little things to have fun at his expenses, but it was starting to affect him in a completely different way. He had started to wander around the forest, following the crisp scent Jack left wherever he stood for more than a minute, and if he found a particularly strong smelling spot, he would flop down and roll over the grass, getting the scent over his own fur. He would also stay awake at night, hopping right outside the teen's assigned room, until he heard the distinctive sound of the even breathing of the sleeping, and then he would calmly go to his own nest, assured that Frostbite would have enough rest. And even one time he had taken Jack a basket full of fresh fruit as a gift and, after giving it to him, he had sat next to him and cleaned all the dirt spread over his hair, hands and clothes, grooming and shaking wherever it was necessary, and mind you, Jack didn't seem to be bothered at all, if the content sigh he got in response was anything to go by.

Fucking hell.

He was courting the damn kid.