Happy Easter, lovely people! This chapter's short and kinda plot-less but I'm currently recovering from a nasty cold and don't feel up to thinking very hard, so please forgive me. (Akeri la malicieuse I managed to sneak in your request, though!)

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Counter-Dependency

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Easter – Bunny's busiest time of year. It would make sense to leave him to it, avoid distractions and so forth, but this was Jack Frost. And when you're Jack Frost, 'sense' is usually just a synonym for 'boring'. And so it was that he flew into the Warren with the intention of checking on Bunny's progress.

All the eggs Chuck had 'kidnapped' on Fool's day were back, waddling around like nothing had ever even happened. He couldn't see Bunny, though, and concluded the Pooka was somewhere further in.

"Well, looks like everything's going well," Jack smiled, watching the eggs navigate around him.

"Then why don't ya leave before ya freeze somethin'?"

Jack looked up to see Bunny bounding toward him, a displeased expression on his face.

"You're not still sore about Fool's day, are you?" Jack asked innocently. There were still green clumps in his fur. He probably wouldn't be able to get it all out for a long time. "I thought green was your colour."

Bunny glared at him. "Shoo. I don't have time to deal with ya right now."

"Ouch, Bunny," Jack placed a hand to his chest.

"That didn't hurt nearly as much as it will when I kick ya out on your sorry backside, mate."

"Someone's grouchy," Jack muttered. "Okay, okay, I'm going!" he surrendered, calling the wind to sweep him back to the tunnels. As soon as Bunny was out of sight, he took a detour and hid in a tree. He was just going to watch. From a distance. Just to make sure everything went well. Definitely not because Bunny wanted him to leave.

When enough time had passed that he was sure Bunny would suspect nothing, Jack carefully hedged his way through the branches and, when the coast was clear, leapt across to an adjacent tree. Perching there, he scanned his surroundings, noting the little eggs, the angry sentinels making their way towards him, the sounds of Bunny working somewhere out of sight…

Wait.

Jack's gaze snapped back to the sentinel eggs, their faces decidedly angry as they walked across the clearing, being careful not to step on any of the little eggs.

"No, no, no, no," Jack whisper yelled, making frantic hand gestures for the golems to stand down. From the looks of things, Bunny had told them he was a threat again.

The eggs ignored his pleas. Biting his lip, Jack spared the direction he knew Bunny to be in a brief glance, but it didn't seem like his position had been given away yet.

The eggs were really close now. Left with no choice, Jack heaved a huge sigh.

"Fine!" he whispered. "I'm going, see?" When he flew off, they didn't follow him.

Like I'm going to be thwarted by a couple of walking boulders, he snickered as he once again made a detour and slipped into a deeper part of the Warren – closer to the dye river. From his new position behind a large flowering shrub he scoped the area, quickly locating Bunny (whose back was to him) barely a few hundred metres away. He would have to be absolutely silent if he didn't want to be detected.

As it turned out (and really, he should have anticipated this), sitting still and silently while watching a giant rabbit paint eggs was really, really boring. Why was he even here, again? Oh yeah, counter-dependency. And to make matters worse, it felt like he was starting to get hay fever.

No. I will not sneeze. I have complete control over my body. And my eyes are definitely not itchy. Absolutely not. I am the master of– "ACHOO!"

And then half the shrub was nothing more than a few shattered icicles in the grass. Wincing, he looked up, completely unsurprised to see a displeased (but was that a small smirk he saw?) Bunny standing over him, arms crossed.

"Um, hi?"

"And, what, did ya really think I wouldn't know you were here?" Bunny asked, brow raised.

Jack stared in confusion. "You knew?"

"Why do ya think I made sure there was extra pollen?"

Jack gaped at him. "That's… you… what?"

"Why are ya still here, Frostbite?"

"I was just… wanting to make sure everything went smoothly?"

"A-huh. And this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I asked ya to leave, would it?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Right."

"Right," Jack sniffled. "Um… you wouldn't have happened to gotten any tissues since the last time, would you?"

"Nope."

"Damn," Jack sagged. He felt another sneeze coming on.

"You wanna get goin' before you obliterate any more of my plants?"

"Well, if you didn't sabotage me, you would still have a whole shrub," Jack pointed out.

"If you'd gone when I told ya to, you never would've gotten hay fever," Bunny countered.

"Touché." His hand flew up to cover his mouth and nose as he sneezed again. "I should probably go before I…"

"Before ya freeze everything?"

"Yeah," he rose to his feet. "Will you call off the sentinels?"

"Will ya stop comin' in uninvited?"

"No promises," Jack smirked, making his slow but steady way towards the tunnels.

"Yeah, yeah, just get lost already."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Oi!" Bunny's voice made him pause on the threshold of the American tunnel. "Here."

"An egg?" Jack replied, looking down at the white googie in question that the Pooka had practically shoved into his hand.

"If you're so interested in makin' sure Easter goes well, then you can help paint 'em. But not in here," he hastily added at the look Jack was giving him. "You're still a disaster zone."

"Your fault," Jack said pointedly whilst trying to withhold yet another sneeze and resist the urge to wipe his nose on his sleeve.

"Just get outta here, already."

"Yes mom," Jack rolled his eyes and shot off down the tunnel, trusting the wind not to fly him into any walls in his current semi-blind state. It wasn't until he'd reached the surface that he realised he didn't have any paint.

Guest Review Responses:

WEast: He did kinda beat them up, though... And maybe he was just lulling them into a false sense of security... ;) The picture is actually just my profile picture ^^; Miles to Go doesn't have its own cover. That's okay :3 April Fool's was rather uneventful for me - no pranks :)

Pippalina: Haha thank you! Goal achieved ;)

Painapple: (ch.76:) You're welcome XD Sexuality is so confusing _ Hehe she was really fun to write, too XD I think you have :P I don't personally ship it, as you probably know, but you're welcome to read into things what you will :) (ch.77:) *snorts* what were you doing up at that hour? Go to bed you crazy hooligan! I claim no responsibility ;) Thank you!

Guest: Are you the same guest from previous chapters and just haven't liked the names I've been giving you? It's so hard to tell... and I'm running out of ideas... Thank you! I had fun writing it XD