Easter Bunny Terror

It was that time of year again, Easter. This meant that it was time for annual Easter egg hunts again. A time for parents to take their kids out to parks with baskets and help them hunt down colorful plastic eggs filled with treats. Magnus Bane surveyed the grassy park. Everywhere he looked there was a small child with a basket dressed up in their pastel Easter best, trying to find where the park employees and volunteers had hidden the eggs.

"Maggy! Look!" Magnus looked down at the little girl holding up a glittery blue egg.

"WOW! Good job, Elly!" Magnus exclaimed, stooping down to the 6-year-old's level while still being careful not to get his fabulous outfit dirty. "And look at that! It's blue and sparkly. Those are my favorite kind!" Elly nodded enthusiastically.

"I know Maggy! Everyone knows sparkle eggs are the best ones!"

"Let's go find some more sparkle eggs then!" Magnus said, taking the girl's hand after she'd carefully tucked her egg away in her basket.

Yes, even the fabulous Magnus Bane was taking part in the egg hunt extravaganza, not that it could compare with any of the bashes he threw. No, Elly was not his daughter. Elizabeth Lilan was his younger, adoptive sister. After the death of his mother, Magnus had been fortunate to be adopted by the very wealthy Lilan family from Brooklyn. Carl and Jeanine Lilan had raised Magnus as their own and had been more than supportive of his dreams to be a professional party planner and when he'd come out as gay. When Magnus had been 18 the Lilans had finally been able to have a child of their own, Elizabeth or Elly. Magnus had instantly fallen in love with his beautiful baby sister, with her beautiful chocolate curls and lavender eyes. He'd been constantly commuting between his own apartment and his family's home to spend as much time showering his beloved little sister with as much love as he possibly good. And fabulous clothes, of course.

Unfortunately, when Elly was 4 and Magnus was 22, just starting to gain a reputation as an outstanding party planner, the Lilans had been in a fatal car accident. In their will, they'd left the custody of Elly to Magnus along with dividing their numerous assets easily between the two of them. Magnus had immediately embraced his new role as Elly's primary caregiver, doing his best to make sure she had everything she needed from clothes to toys to all the hugs when she cried.

After two years they weren't perfect but they were pretty good. Elly was happy and doing well in school and Magnus was running a very successful party planning business. Magnus had even carried on some of the traditions that the Lilans had with Elly, like taking her to the local Easter egg hunt. That being said he did add his own flair to it, like making sure Elly had a new adorable and, of course, glittery lilac dress that just so happened to match his own new blazer. Amongst all the other parents and children, Elly and Magnus stood out but they did it so fabulously!

About 15 minutes later Elly had a basket about half full of glittery eggs. She'd been adamant that she only wanted the 'sparkle eggs' and whenever she found a plain-colored one she'd immediately hand them off to Magnus to re-hide or to give to another adult for a child. Magnus wondered whether he was rubbing off on her too much, she'd definitely gotten her passion for all things covered glitter and sequins from him.

"Maggy! Maggy!" She shouted, tugging on his sleeve and pointing, "Look! Down there!" Magnus saw it. At the bottom of the hill was big, yellow Easter egg covered in glitter, gleaming from a hole in a tree. Elly's favorite color was yellow and he could tell by the look in her eye that the 6-year-old had never seen anything more beautiful in her life. She had to have it.

"Let's go get it Lovebug," Magnus said, seriously. Elly flashed him a brilliant smile, handed him her basket, and dashed off in the direction of the tree. Despite her short legs, Elly was quite fast and much faster than Magnus who was trying not to lose the eggs or trip and break his neck coming down the uneven terrain of the hill while still keeping an eye on his little sister. Elly started jumping to try to get the egg out of the knothole which was far over her head. She was so focused on the glistening treasure that she didn't notice the tall figure behind her.

"Here let me get that for you." A long white arm reached into the hole and grabbed the egg bringing it down to her. "There you go kiddo." Elly turned to see a large costume rabbit head staring at her with large unblinking blue eyes and a smile made of plastic buck teeth and fabric. She let out an ear-splitting scream. The Easter Bunny fell back in surprise. Elly just kept screaming and crying. Magnus quickly came over, having seen the whole scene go down. The little girl immediately ran to her brother, hugging his legs from behind as she cried and hid from the monstrous Easter Bunny. The bunny stood there, bewildered as Magnus attempted to calm the crying child behind him and not fall over.

"EVIL BUNNY!"

"What's wrong? What'd I do?" asked the rabbit. Magnus looked at the concerned costumed character sympathetically.

"I'm sorry about this. It's not anything you did, she recently developed a fear of character costumes. We had a bad run-in with Elmo in Times Square." Magnus shuddered at the memory of how the police had tackled that man in the Elmo costume who turned out to have been a pedophile. Fortunately, Elly hadn't been involved (apparently the man in costume had propositioned some middle school girls on a class trip according to the officer Magnus had questioned about the incident) but still witnessing the police dragging off Elmo hadn't done much to instill trust of people in costumes for her. "She probably just got scared when she saw the costume, I'm sure if you weren't wearing it she'd be fine."

The Bunny seemed to understand this and shrugged off his head. Magnus stared at the revealed person underneath the head in awe. The man underneath had thick, wavy black hair and eyes the bright blue of a robin's egg. Magnus was a sucker for a hottie with dark hair and blue eyes and this guy was just his type. He briefly wondered how that bunny suit would look on his bedroom floor. No, that was too bizarre even for Magnus Bane. He'd have to change first and then THOSE clothes could adorn the floor around his bed.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you. I promise I'm not an evil bunny. My name is Alec, what's yours?" Elly looked up at Magnus nervously, who gave her a reassuring smile and nodded.

"Elly," she squeaked out. Alec gave her a smile that took Magnus's breath away. Never had Magnus been more jealous of his 6-year-old sister. She was getting a smile from this beautiful angel and he wasn't.

"That's a great name. I'm really sorry I scared you, Elly. Do you think you could come out from behind your Daddy's legs so I can give you this egg and we can be friends?" Elly laughed and came out from behind Magnus's legs and took the egg.

"Silly Bunny Man! Maggy isn't my daddy!" Alec glanced at Magnus suspiciously.

"Oh really?"

"Really! My daddy is in heaven with Mommy."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay cause I have Maggy and Maggy makes sure I look pretty like him! See!" She twirled in her dress for Alec who smiled.

"Very pretty."

"Pretty like Maggy?" Alec looked up at Magnus and it took all of his control for Magnus not to blush.

"Maggy is very pretty, just like you." Damn, his girl was good. Magnus made a mental note to pick up an extra special present for Emmy on the way home to take her for being his tiny wing woman.

"I'm Magnus. I don't believe we've been formally introduced. Magnus Bane, adoptive brother."

"Alexander. Alec, I go by Alec. Apparently terrifying Easter Bunny."

"Nice to meet you, Alexander. Tell me, how does someone like you end up dressed in a bunny suit scaring my little sister?" Alec looked sheepish.

"My mom kinda forced me. She helps organize this and told me I was coming here to help my younger brother, Max, hunt for eggs. But apparently She had my sister for that and she needed some sucker to dress up in the bunny suit after the guy who was supposed to do it backed out. I told her I'd probably just end up scaring kids. This thing just looks creepy no matter how many times she tells me it's supposed to be cute." Magnus looked at the bunny head and cringed.

"Yes, there does seem to be something rather… unsettling about the eyes."

"Honestly I think that if I just took it off and ditched out here everyone would be a lot happier."

"Well then, how about you lose the rabbit monstrosity and join us in hunting for Easter eggs?"

"I don't know."

"Come now.."

"Yeah! Come on Alec! Come find eggs with us!" Emmy chimed in, having very quickly warmed up to Alec like her brother. For once Magnus was appreciative of Elly's affection for handsome strangers. Elly was making her adorably pathetic baby kitten eyes at Alec. Magnus could see Elly working her magic and making Alec's resolve crumble.

"Alexander, how can you say no to that face?" Magnus joined in, making his own puppy dog eyes. It was too much for Alec and he caved.

"Oh… Alright. Give me a minute to change." Alec jogged off in the direction of the field house. Magnus looked down at his bright-eyed sister.

"What do you think of our new friend Elly?"

"I like Alec, Maggy! Do you like him?" Magnus looked off in the direct Alec had jogged off to.

"I really do." Elly gave him a knowing look. She leaned in close and motioned for Magnus to come closer like she was sharing a secret.

"Do you love him, Maggy?"

"Uhh…"

"YOU DO! MAGGY HE CAN BE YOUR PRINCE!" She started jumped up and down, clearly excited.

"Calm down, he might not even like me." Elly stopped jumping and looked into Magnus's eyes with the most serious expression he'd ever seen on her face.

"He will. He has to. You're Maggy!" Magnus smiled and hugged Elly. He knew his sister loved him and couldn't imagine anyone not loving him as much as she did. It only made him love her even more.

"I hope you're right Lovebug." A few minutes later Alec returned in an oversized sweater and black jeans. Not the most stylish outfit but to Magnus it helped draw focus to Alec's amazing face. Not to mention he was dying to see what was underneath that sweater. Alexander was like a diamond in the rough and he was dying to be the one to polish him.

"YAY! Look, Maggy! Alec is back!" Alec smiled down at Elly then turned that gorgeous grin to Magnus.

"Yes, he is," Magnus said, returning Alec's smiled. He could see a light flush on Alec's face.

"Come on Alec! We need to find the eggs!" Elly said, grabbing Alec's hand and pulling him along with her. "We're only looking for the sparkle eggs!"

"Oh really? Why?" Alec asked, his smile never fading as he looked at the little girl.

"Cause they're the best! Right, Maggy!"

"Right!" Elly smiled and handed her basket to Magnus before reaching her hand out for his. He happily took it, smiling over at Alec. Right then, each of them holding the little girl's hand walking off together to find easter eggs Magnus knew they looked like so much more than they were. They looked like a family and Magnus really hoped that they could be.

A few weeks later Alec's phone rang as he was practicing archery. Alec fired a shot, hitting the dead center of the bullseye, and turned to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Alexander! I received an interesting call from Elly's teacher today at school and thought you'd like to hear about it." Alec was confused.

"Okay?"

"Apparently there was an altercation at school between her and another student."

"Is Elly okay!"

"Oh yes, she's fine. Apparently, she was bragging and one of the other students became jealous and upset and decided it was a good idea to start a fight with her. The other child has a black eye but Elly is not in too much trouble as she was merely defending herself, of course." Alec smiled. Elly was a little firecracker and she took what she always fought back ten times harder.

"That's good but what was she bragging about?" Magnus started chuckling.

"She was telling her classmates that her brother's boyfriend is the Easter Bunny and that he's always sleeping over her house." Alec burst out laughing!

"I guess that's what I get for meeting my boyfriend in a bunny suit."

"Yes, but I was very thankful when you took it off."

"You and about 30 little kids."

"Yes, but the difference is that I get to enjoy you taking off your clothes every night."

"MAGNUS!"