Prompt -- Secret Admirer

Prompt – Secret Admirer

I watched him from a distance. As usual, he was starting a snowball fight with a bunch of local children, laughing and having fun. Now, this was nothing unusual, of course; he was the Guardian of Fun, after all. I just liked to see him so happy.

After about half an hour, the kids started going into their homes, laughing and shivering, ready for a nice, hot cup of cocoa. Eventually, only he was left outside, smiling fondly at their retreating backs. A moment later, he sighed, looking down at his unclad feet, smile becoming self-depreciating, instead of joyful. I frowned, not liking the change one bit.

"Alone again, huh?" He murmured to himself, huffing softly. My frown deepened, shoulders slumping. /You're not alone…/ I wanted so bad to reach out to him, but… I sighed. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I was afraid. There was just /no way/ he would ever return my feelings. It just wasn't possible, but a small part of me still hoped that maybe,/just maybe,/ he wouldn't completely reject me, perhaps even /return/ my feelings, but the larger, stronger part of me knew that he never could.

/Wow, I sound like a girl,/ I thought, rolling my eyes and scoffing slightly at myself. Apparently hearing me, he looked in my direction. Panicking slightly, I ducked down, hiding in the underbrush, holding my long ears down with my paws to make sure that they didn't perk up and give me away.

This action made it all the more obvious to me why he would never like me, at least not in /that/ way. I mean, I'm a 7-foot tall rabbit, for the Moon's sake! Not to mention, our… less than ideal past meetings. Sure, we'd worked together to defeat Pitch, but we still weren't really on very good terms.

I'd never been very good at showing affection to others. Besides, to him, I'd always be the grumpy kangaroo. I'd stopped getting mad at him for calling me that, and I /knew/ that he'd noticed my lack of reaction to the nickname. He seemed a bit concerned by it, but didn't question it.

"Bunny?" I was snapped out of my thoughts by the star of them, himself; /Jack Frost./ He gave me a questioning look, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head. It was kind of… /cute./ "Bunny, what are you doing?" Now he seemed amused. Well, I can understand why; I probably looked pretty ridiculous, hiding in the bushes during winter, pinning my ears flat on my head.

"I-I, uh, I—" I stammered, stumbling to my feet, making an even bigger fool of myself. I removed my front paws from my head, though my long ears remained folded back in an embarrassed gesture that I couldn't control. Believe me, I've tried. Trying to ignore the overly expressive appendages, I cleared my throat. "Err, see, tha' 's 'n excellen' ques'n, mate." He looked a bit confused, making me wince in embarrassment. /Great, now my accent is thickening! What's next, my tail folding between my legs?!/

"So? Are you gonna answer?" Jack asked, snapping me out of the thoughts once again. /Well, at least he managed to decipher the words… maybe./ I sighed, kicking at the ground with my large feet, and mumbled unintelligibly. "Huh? I didn't quite catch that, Bunny." He leaned closer, smirking at me. I scoffed.

"I /wou'd,/ 'cep' ya pro'ly wou'n' un'stan'…" I muttered, wincing, growing more and more embarrassed every moment, which only made my speech even /less/ intelligible.

As I expected, Jack just looked more confused, trying to make sense of what had come out of my mouth. "Wow, Bunny," he murmured absently, "I think your accent's getting thicker…" I flinched. He noticed this and gave me an odd look.

"Ya th'nk Ah di'n' /no'ice?"/ I mumbled resentfully. Strong emotion always did this sort of thing to me. Which caused extreme embarrassment, which is an emotion, and it only got worse once the cycle started. So, yeah, it was always a very humiliating experience for me, even more so now that it was in front of /Jack,/ of all people.

"Hey, cheer up." I glanced at his smiling face, wondering what he was going on about. "I can still understand you!" He grinned up at me. I raised an eyebrow skeptically, not believing him. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's /true!"/ He told me, indignant. I scoffed.

"Yea', righ'. Ah b'lieve ya, ma'e." I muttered sarcastically. Jack pouted, slumping his shoulders forward. Suddenly, he brightened up again, and snapped his fingers, apparently getting an idea.

"I know! I'll prove it to you!" My ears perked up at this, my interest piqued. "Say something, anything!" If I could have blushed, I would've been redder than lava. As it were, my ears flattened themselves once again. I was sorely tempted to tell him that I loved him, since there was a fairly high chance that he wouldn't understand me, anyway. Still, there was always the slight possibility that he /would/ be able to decipher my words, and I definitely didn't want that.

"Uh…" I took a deep breath, deciding that I had nothing to lose. Except, you know, the possibility of ever being even just friends with the teenager. I shook my head, saying in a rush, "Ahth'nkAh'm'nl'v'w'thya!" /There. I said it./ Hearing a sharp intake of breath, I looked at the young man before me. He was staring at me in complete shock at my confession. /Oh,/ I noted absently, /apparently he did understand me./

"Y-you… what?" He questioned, furrowing his dark eyebrows. "Did you just say… You—you /love/ me?" Ears folded back as far as they would go, I nodded slowly, refusing to meet the other's gaze. "But… /why?"/ My eyes darted to his face for half a second, before turning back down to continue staring at my feet.

"Ah dunno." I mumbled, shrugging. "Look, mate, I /comple'ly/ unde'stan' if ya don' lahke me back, bu' please, /please,/ don't hate me fo' it." I begged, finally meeting his eyes, unable to keep the hope out of them. Jack seemed shocked by my actions, and even a bit hurt. I didn't have long to wonder about that, though, as the frost sprite quickly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my furry torso in a hug. For a moment, I could only stand there, stunned. When it finally sunk in just what was happening, I hesitantly returned the embrace. "Frostbite? Wha're ya doin'?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"I love you, too, Bunny," Was his response. My eyes widened almost comically. I looked down at the form in my arms, hardly daring to believe my own ears.

"Y-ya do? Really?" Jack nodded, nuzzling further into my fur. "Bu'—/how?/ We're no' e'en the same /species!"/ He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I thought the same thing. That's why I was so surprised when /you/ said it." I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

"But, Jack, mate, I'm a /rabbit./ I have fur, an' long ears, an' a /tail,/ for the Moon's sake!" I nearly shouted at him. He only nodded, still smiling. I sighed. "How are you not disgusted by this?" The white haired young man seemed insulted by the question.

"Bunny! How can you think like that?!" Yep, definitely insulted. "You're nice, and warm, and you give people hope." He began rubbing the sensitive area at the base of my ear, smiling softly, lovingly. "Besides, you're just /so/ adorable."

"Ohhh, tha' feels /niiiice."/ I practically moaned, leaning into his touch. He chuckled, which turned to giggling when my leg began a furious 'thumping' rhythm, further proving my joy.

"Hm, I wonder what /else/ can go that fast." He grinned at me suggestively. That was where I lost whatever remained of my self-control. I grabbed onto the boy and pressed my lips against his passionately. He returned the kiss with just as much vigor.

This was going to be an /excellent/ evening.