White Rabbit
[AN: So apparently this is what happens when you think about Haikyuu and Ever After High at the same time.]
'Wonderland... is real.' Yahaba embarrassedly told Kyoutani, confused and bewildered and awed. 'Stop staring!'
'I... can't.' Kyoutani replied.
Yahaba turned away with a stomp. He covered the top of his head and pulled down on his ears. 'And I was doing so well until you just had to barge in unexpectedly.' he murmured.
'Aw c'mon, don't be like that. It's kind of cute.' Kyoutani offered.
Yahaba violently turned back around. Kyoutani's eyes came back from where they had fallen and his cheeks were flushed with a faint scarlet tinge; he was terrified that Yahaba had noticed that he had been staring somewhere between his ass and his tailbone.
'I am not cute!' Yahaba snarled.
'Well I'm uncomfortable calling you sexy when, uh, you are, uh, are in this condition. But you could totally be welcome at Playboy Mansion with a get-up like this.' Kyoutani replied awkwardly.
Yahaba could not have been more scandalised by the statement. He turned a vibrant crimson and his lips twisted. 'Do! Not! Say! That!' he screeched.
'Well you wouldn't let me call you cute!' Kyoutani argued back, bulging eyes and a cracked voice.
'Fuck off!' Yahaba snapped.
This was a highly delicate and peculiar situation. It is a daily occurrence for members of the volleyball club to walk in on each other in and around the showers. They were all so casual about being nude, there were no bodily secrets. Everyone knew where everyone's secret tattoo or embarrassing freckle or scar was. It was also a daily occurrence for Yahaba to be the last person in and out of the showers. He was normally quick though but Oikawa had been worried since it was unusual for Yahaba to take longer than twenty minutes so he'd forced Kyoutani to go check up on him; just in case he hadn't tripped and died or something.
Instead, Kyoutani had walked in one what was possibly one of the most unusual sights: Yahaba bent down and a cottony, bobbed tail slipping into a hiding spot in a pair of boxers. Then Yahaba came up and the first thing Kyoutani then saw was his hair, pale and silvery like cinematic snow rather than its usual chestnut-like brown. His wet hair shifted and a pair of rabbit ears unfurled.
Yahaba turned around, screamed when he saw Kyoutani who also screamed, and the two boys were locked in a fight-or-flight response. Being who they were, they naturally chose fight so Yahaba attacked and Kyoutani quickly defended. Yahaba kicked and kicked only to be easily deflected by Kyoutani.
When the fright and adrenaline faded, Yahaba decided that since Kyoutani had seen unbelievable things then he deserved to know unbelievable things.
'So, these're real?' Kyoutani gathered from Yahaba's dramatics.
'Yes.' Yahaba replied. He pulled on his shirt and dried his hair and ears a bit more.
'It's... strange.' Kyoutani murmured, stunned and still looking for answers.
'I believe you mean "mad".' Yahaba corrected.
'Whaddya mean?' Kyoutani replied.
'Well, I am the son of the White Rabbit of Wonderland – and it's the common thing to say that "we're all mad down here in Wonderland" so, you must mean "mad" and not "strange".' Yahaba replied.
'Uh-huh.' Kyoutani replied slowly.
He really was sticking to this Wonderland thing. Kyoutani knew vaguely of it. There were some western films about it, weren't there? But obviously, it wasn't a real place. Kyoutani had paced geography a couple times throughout school and he could say with confidence that Wonderland was not a place near the Netherlands or Iceland or somewhere.
'I have fucking rabbit ears and a fucking rabbit tail and you don't believe me?' Yahaba replied; he sounded like he was chewing his words and his eyes shone. 'That's completely Wonderlanderful.'
'What?' Kyoutani replied.
'Oh I could kiss you! Actually I will!' Yahaba announced.
He grabbed Kyoutani's shoulders and got on his tip-toes. He pecked Kyoutani's cheeks twice. Kyoutani was too stunned to even try to stop Yahaba: besides, more importantly, his lips were kind of soft and that made these really random kisses kind of enjoyable. But at the same time, context and warning would also be nice!
Yahaba smiled and he looked kind of goofy because of how uncharacteristically happy he looked.
'What the fuck. Is this... like a new prank show?' Kyoutani asked.
'No but that would fuck us both over.' Yahaba replied.
'So can you tell me what the actual fuck is going on?' Kyoutani asked.
Yahaba's smile softened and his eyebrows knitted together. Even his freaking ears drooped. 'You just have to ruin everything, don't you?'
'Well excuse me, Mr Playboy Mansion if I don't believe in this Wonderland bullshit.' Kyoutani said. 'Because it is. I'm not an idiot; Wonderland is not an actual place.'
'How much are you willing to bet on that? Also don't call me Mr Playboy Mansion, Mad Dog-chan!' Yahaba growled.
Kyoutani huffed. 'I'll stop calling you that if you stop call me Mad Dog-chan; it's bad enough Oikawa does. There's literally no need for you to be irritating like that too.'
'Deal.' Yahaba replied.
He sighed. 'So, answers, you must want them, huh?'
'Yes! Like you have rabbit ears and a tail! And...' Kyoutani trailed off as he caught Yahaba's glare. If looks could kill, there would definitely have been a gory homicide within the boys' showers.
'I told you – I am literally from Wonderland; I'm the son of the actual White Rabbit and not to make things weird or anything but also the current Alice of Wonderland... I ran away from home. I refused to go to that school for, well, slaves to their destiny. I just want to live a normal life which is, ironically, the most impossible thing when you come from Wonderland.' Yahaba replied.
Yahaba's tone of voice gradually became angrier and more frustrated. 'I wanted to be my own person; not a supporting character in someone else's story. I don't want to be perpetually late and accidentally lead my Alice to my Red Queen... I want to be my own person! So I ran away and with a pinch of magic, I had convinced literally fucking everyone that I am a normal Japanese high schooler but now you've ruined it for me but at the same time... you also made it worth it.'
Kyoutani blushed as Yahaba's tone became somewhat sheepish; even appreciative and perhaps even love struck. He was really hoping for love struck because this scenario was kind of like a masturbation fantasy: a lack of clothes, animal ears, and they were all alone.
'I mean, you bought it. You thought I was just a regular person. I'm glad that out of everyone on the team who could have learned my little secret, it was you. I can't believe I'm saying this but I trust you with it.' Yahaba said.
'Wow...' Kyoutani replied, breathless. That was something he never thought that he would ever hear in a thousand years.
Yahaba trusted him with a secret this big. It was shame that Kyoutani was still a tad unconvinced. His eyes were still locked onto those hilariously fluffy ears.
'M-May I touch them?' he asked.
'Why would you want to do such an intimate thing?' Yahaba asked.
'Because this is an intimate moment? So let me get this straight, you can kiss me four times but I can't touch your ears?' he asked.
'You make... a decent point. Alright but don't linger and be gentle. There are thousands of nerve endings in my ears. They're not like human ears.'
Kyoutani reached out. He looked as awed as a child. He tentatively stroked the back of Yahaba's ears. Yahaba's lips quivered and he looked nervous. His ears were very sensitive and Kyoutani had never touched something as soft or as warm as Yahaba's ears. He decided to try scratching the base of Yahaba's ears. He squeaked.
'Uh! Did I hurt you?' Kyoutani asked and he took his hand away.
Yahaba was bright pink and covered his mouth. 'I'm indecent; that's all. I'm not like most Rabbits; I detest being one. Thus, I am embarrassed to say I enjoyed it.' Yahaba explained, mumbled but indignant.
Kyoutani chuckled awkwardly. 'I kind of liked it too.'
'Say that again and I shall shank you!' Yahaba screeched, embarrassed.
'Just... Just please promise you'll keep it.' Yahaba asked, tearfully. His emotions were up and down; all over the place.
'For you, always.' Kyoutani replied.
Yahaba held out his hand and extended his pinkie. 'Promise me-promise me.' he begged.
'If you insist.' Kyoutani agreed.
'Finger cut off, ten thousand fist-punchings, whoever lies has to swallow a thousand needles.' the two murmured as they shook on their promise.
'Thank you.' Yahaba said.
'You're welcome.' Kyoutani replied quietly.
'I'll show you Wonderland one day, if you like.' Yahaba added, awkwardly.
'What?' Kyoutani asked.
'It's a nice place, really, once you get past all the madness because one day, I will have to go back. I can't run away from my problems forever. It is my fate to be late after all. We'll go for your Un-Birthday.' Yahaba said. 'You'll like it. I think you'll enjoy croquet... We should go for my Un-Birthday too; it'd be a good present I do believe.'
'What the fuck is an Un-Birthday?' Kyoutani asked.
Yahaba chuckled. He looked forlorn with melancholic dreams. 'I wonder how a Mad Dog chasing the White Rabbit being chased by a Little Girl could change the chase...' he mumbled, somewhat hopefully whilst Kyoutani stared bewildered.
But because of this strange moment, Yahaba now had to secretly admit. He didn't "detest" being a Rabbit as much as he did before. Somehow, Kyoutani had given him hope that he could change his story. He just felt bad because he was going to exploit the poor Mad Dog ; at least they would have fun along the way because Wonderland always was good at managing mischief.
