Just something that's been dancing in my brain since watching the new Space Jam movie yesterday. I love me some fluffy angst!

This is a quick write up, which was proofread this morning on only one measly cup of coffee, so if I missed a typo then please forgive me (but don't be afraid to point it out so I can fix it).

Hope you all enjoy this!

Reviews are welcome, encouraged, and appreciated!

"This is all my fault..."

Bugs sat down heavily on the bench in the locker room, exhausted in more ways than one as the others freaked out over the beating they just took on the court. Without meaning to, he tuned them all out as anxiety-riddled thoughts of failure began to swarm in his mind.

The gravity of their situation was really beginning to weigh on him now. They were losing. Badly. And with the game winding down to the final quarter, the AI puppet master who had orchestrated this whole thing was only a handful of minutes away from wiping them all out of existence forever.

His co-stars, no, his family, were all going to die.

"All because I couldn't let them go..."

After the other Looney Tunes left Bugs and their Tune World behind to explore the rest of what the server-verse had to offer them, he had been deeply lonely in their absence. So when Lebron James crashed down into their little slice of paradise, Bugs gleefully seized the chance to utilize the man's dilemma to help him get them all back.

He didn't pause to think of the risks. That wasn't in his characterization. In his eagerness to see everyone again, and sweet talk them all into coming back home, he ran with the assumption that everything would work out in their favor in the end. That's what happened the first time they got roped into such a ridiculous, marketing-driven storyline. Why would he think otherwise?

Twenty-five years ago, the Looney Tunes enlisted the help of NBA star Michael Jordan to play in another basketball game to save themselves from enslavement in an alien amusement park. They had come together to become more than just co-stars. They learned to work together as a team. Playing off each others strengths and weaknesses, they ended up bonding in a way that none of them could have foreseen. And despite their freedom being at stake at the time, they had also had a lot of fun.

He knew the others wouldn't turn him down when he made the rounds to enlist their help for this new basketball game. When a challenge was presented to a Looney Tune, they rarely snubbed their nose at it. Even if the odds weren't in their favor; regardless of the role they were playing, they always gave it their all. And of course, with a kidnapped kid being dangled over their heads as the grand prize...they couldn't say no even if they wanted to.

They were paying things forward a little bit too, after all. Michael Jordan had helped them out when they were in a pinch back then, so Bugs thought it was only fair that they do the same when the help was being requested from them this time.

But he didn't realize going into it just how severe the stakes were going to be.

It was startling, how fast they were beaten down by the AI's enhanced team. And to make matters worse, Lebron still wouldn't let them try things their way. They were sitting ducks, prepping themselves for the awaiting oven.

Bugs was deeply regretting his headstrong decision to help now. It was about to cost him everything that ever mattered to him.

"If we could just go full on Looney on the Goon Squad, then maybe..."

"Bugs?"

Startled from his thoughts, the bunny straightened up on the bench. Everyone was staring at him, and Lebron was holding out his white board marker. Bugs got up and came forward, accepting it, and cast a questioning look up at the NBA star. Then it quickly became clear what Lebron was expecting him to do.

"It's about time!" Daffy screeched in the background as Bugs starting scribbling out a battle plan. And as the others whooped and hollered with excitement, he couldn't help the ecstatic grin that spread across his face too.

Maybe, just maybe, they stood a chance after all.

It had gone well at first. The tide had turned swiftly in their favor when they were finally given the all clear to be their looniest, and they immediately started to wipe the floor with the opposing team. Rapidly gaining points, they soon found themselves in the lead.

Bugs was giddy with joy over it. Even having fun.

But of course, bad guys have to be bad guys, and now they were right back where they started. With mere seconds to go, and their rival cheating his way to a potential win, the team was stumped over how they could keep their score ahead of his long enough to beat him.

When Lebron's son, Dom, offered up what sounded like a perfectly gift-wrapped solution to all of their problems, everyone was excited for it. But then the kid remembered the grim downside of his suggestion, and it looked like all was lost once more.

That is, until Lebron volunteered to be the one to make that potential sacrifice in order to win the game for them all.

Bugs felt a wave of guilty gratitude towards Lebron for being willing to take that risk. But then he saw the doubtful, frightened look on the boy's face in the response to his father's choice. Then he knew he couldn't let the NBA star go through with it. There had to be another way. For all they knew, maybe there was. But time was running out. The clock was ticking.

So, Bugs made a decision.

He flicked his eyes to each of his family members as they walked onto the court to take their positions, saying a silent goodbye to each of them. Feeling a little bit like he was sleepwalking as he claimed his spot on the playing field. Then he heard the whistle blow, and quickly made his way over to Lebron to steal away the ball as it was being passed to the man.

Bugs dribbled it nervously, reciting each move aloud as he made them to make sure he was getting it right. Until, finally, he made the fateful toss. Immediately feeling the painful computer glitch seize him as the ball flew from his fingertips.

And for a moment there, as he heard Lola, echoed by the others, call out his name, Bugs felt a wave of dreadful panic wash over him. Fearful that it would all go wrong at the last minute, and he was about to watch his sacrifice be in vain.

And then Lebron made the dunk.

The dreadful game was finally over. They won!

And as the others gathered around him in their bittersweet victory, Bugs couldn't help but smile lovingly up at at their sad faces.

The glitches hurt and were sapping the energy out of him more and more, but still he smiled. Because he didn't care about the pain he was in. All that mattered to him now was that they had won. The bad guy was defeated and got what he deserved. Lebron's family reunited just as they were all transported back to the physical world they had come from. The Looney Tunes own world was magically restored too, looking just as it did before this whole crazy adventure had started.

And most importantly: His family was safe.

The glitches were becoming less painful now. If he really was going to die, then he was more than happy to make peace with that.

"...Th-that's all, folks..." I love you.

For them, it was a price was worth paying.