"What. The heck. Is that thing?"

Ven looked up from the screen in his hands and towards his boyfriend, who was peering over his shoulder. "Oh, hey," he greeted, leaning up from where he lounged on his bed to kiss his boyfriend. "I didn't hear you come in. You're early." Their date plans was to go out and have dinner, and Vanitas's schedule should have been full all afternoon, courtesy of his father—although, his father was prone to canceling on his son last minute, so it wasn't exactly a surprise.

"Your brother let me in," Vanitas said absently. "But seriously. What is that?"

When he saw the odd look in Vanitas's eyes, Ven's smile faded, and he blinked slowly, surprised at his reaction. "Animal Crossing?" he offered, though it didn't seem like the right answer to Vanitas's question. He'd watched Ven play; Ven had almost convinced him to get the game as well so they could visit each other's islands.

"I mean that." Vanitas pointed at the yellow rabbit on the screen.

"Oh. Yeah, he's part of the Easter event. His name's Zipper."

"And he looks like he belongs in a horror game because—"

"A horror game?" Ven frowned. "He just really wants to spread the magic of Bunny Day. Or—something like that. He also shows up on April 1st to set things up."

"There's gotta be more to it than that," Vanitas insisted. "He's creepy."

Ven shrugged. "Eh, I think he's cute. Kinda like a mall Santa."

"Mall Santas are also creepy, but—what do you mean?"

"Oh! Yeah, he's actually another character in a bunny costume. I think that's the idea, anyway. You can see the zipper on his back if you get him to turn around." To demonstrate, Ven moved his villager behind Zipper's…well, zipper, and talked to him, getting one of the usual lines. "See? He's uncomfortable if you acknowledge it, because it might ruin the magic."

But while Ven had thought his explanation would clear things up, Vanitas was just squirming in place, his face turning ashen as he looked at Ven's screen. "Yeah. Of course."

Ven frowned. "Vanitas—are you okay? He's just a character in a video game."

"He's wearing a suit," Vanitas said slowly. Was it just Ven's mind playing tricks on him, or was he getting paler?

"Y-yeah?"

"You don't think it's weird? The game has sentient animals and he's wearing a bunny suit? I told you he was creepy."

"You're definitely overthinking this," Ven said, but Vanitas shook his head.

"Am not," he said, petulant. "There's something wrong about this guy."

Ven looked up from his game again, and caught the strange look in Vanitas's eyes. "Vanitas," he said, slow and tentative. "Are you—afraid of mascot suits?"

"Come on! He's just creepy! It's got nothing to do with me!" He paused mid-outburst. "Now, the guy who made Five Nights at Freddy's, he got it. These things only belong in horror."

"Weren't those animatronics?" Ven pointed out.

"Besides the point, but some of them were suits in later games."

Ven stared at him silently for a second. "Vanitas?" he said. "Should we—talk about this?"

"Definitely not. You keep playing your game, I'll—wait downstairs for you to get ready for our date," he said, starting to back away towards the door.

"Hey now," Ven said, setting his console down. "You don't have to go—I can just put the game down." He got up and caught up with Vanitas before he could leave, catching him gently by his wrist. "Come on," he added with a teasing smile. "Don't you want to watch me get dressed for tonight?"

Vanitas stared at him, still pouting, but he quickly broke into a smirk. "Only if you know that means you won't be getting dressed for quite some time."

"I should never have let you do this," Ven said. "This is a horrible idea."

"Aw come on," Roxas said. "It's gonna be fun! You'll see!"

The fact that his brother's order had arrived so quickly was nothing short of a miracle—or a cosmic joke of some kind. It had arrived right on time for Easter, just a few days after Ven's discussion with his boyfriend.

"You know you were supposed to get the pranks out on the first, right?" Ven asked. "Easter's more about—"

"It's about chocolate!" Sora offered.

"Well, yeah, that. A fun egg hunt, presents, having fun together as a family. Right?"

"Oh, believe me," Roxas said with a mischievous grin, "this'll be plenty fun."

"Ro—"

In spite of Ven's protest, by the time the doorbell rang, Roxas was out in the backyard, wearing a full-body bunny suit. He hadn't managed to push his craftiness to the point of getting a Zipper suit from the game, but still. It was impressive—and mildly terrifying—that he'd gotten anything at all.

Ven stayed in his room, pressing his eyes shut and mildly feeling like a coward for not going down to warn his boyfriend of what awaited him outside. Instead, he looked out the window, waiting for the moment Xion would get her brother to follow her outside.

It didn't take long. "Hi kids!" Roxas's voice came clear through the costume, and Vanitas shrieked in response. Still, Roxas finished his speech, though his voice came distorted from laughing inside the suit. "I'm the Easter Bunny! Ready to share the magic of Easter with me?"

"What the fuck?" Vanitas shouted.

There was a crash, but they were all too close to the house for Ven to see them out the window. His responsible nature got the better of him: he rushed downstairs and into the backyard to check on his boyfriend and his brother.

Roxas was on his back; the head of his suit had fallen off, and he twitched uselessly, like a turtle tipped on its back that couldn't get back on its feet, though he was too busy laughing to seem to mind. As for Vanitas, he was on the ground too, having clearly fallen on his butt in his panic, boxes of chocolate scattered around him on the grass. He kept staring at Roxas, his face deathly pale and his breathing quick and shallow.

"Oh, man," Roxas said, still struggling to catch his breath. "I got you so good! You should see the look on your face!"

Ven was looking at Vanitas's face, and he could see his eyes filling up with storm clouds. He decided to step in. "Um, hey," he said awkwardly. "Happy Easter?" He couldn't help an uncertain note from seeping into his voice.

Vanitas cast him a scornful look. "Did you put him up to it?"

"Oh, no," Ven said, raising his hands in surrender. Just because he didn't want his boyfriend to murder his brother didn't mean he was willing to sacrifice himself instead. "He overheard us the other day. I found out about this this morning."

"And you didn't think to give me a heads-up?" Vanitas groaned and pushed himself up to his feet, brushing dirt from his clothes. "My outfit's ruined."

"Who even wears nice clothes for an outside Easter egg hunt?" Xion chimed in with a smug, pointed look for her brother.

Vanitas scoffed. "I hate all of you." His words were more petulant than angry.

"You do?" Ven asked in a weak voice, turning up the drama. Vanitas looked away, so Ven leaned in around Vanitas to look up at him with a pout and full-on puppy dog eyes. "I think I'm gonna cry." When he saw the glare Vanitas returned, however, Ven's composure slipped. "Come on," he said, gently taking Vanitas by the hand. "I'll get you something of mine to wear."

Vanitas followed him up to his room, and by the time they were alone and Ven offered him a change of clothes, the anger had faded from his face. He took off his pants—the only piece of clothing that had really suffered, and even then, it was just some dirt and grass—and sat on Ven's bed with a long sigh.

It didn't sound like Vanitas was being merely dramatic, so Ven sat down at his side, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Or tried to, anyway; Vanitas slumped just then, resting his chin on his hands, so Ven's lips landed on his temple instead, but it was close enough.

"I'm sorry, Vanitas," Ven said, pleading. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad." Ven raised a dubious eyebrow, and he sighed. "Okay, I'm a little mad. It was just embarrassing."

"You know, it's okay," Ven said. Then he couldn't help but tease, "I still love you, even if you're afraid of mascot suits."

"I'm not." Vanitas huffed and cast Ven a sidelong glance.

"Sure you aren't," Ven retorted, amused. He leaned forward, and managed to land a kiss on Vanitas's cheek for real this time. "So—are we going to talk about this? Because I was hoping we'd go to Disneyland as a couple at some point, and if I have to plan around panic attacks—"

Vanitas shoved him back on the mattress. "Shut up. They just creep me out, and your brother literally ambushed me from behind."

Ven fought back a smile. "Yeah, he was really mad nobody was around him much on April Fools."

"He should be glad," Vanitas said with a ferocious smirk. "Because now I know he takes it seriously, it means I can do it too. And my revenge will be terrible."

"As long as you keep me out of it," Ven said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh no. You let him do this. You'll get your comeuppance too."

Ven gulped nervously. "Even if I still love you in spite of the mascot thing?"

Vanitas rolled his eyes, but he chuckled. "I guess we'll see, then."