Work Text:
"I hate you so much."
Jack didn't seem to hear Rhys at all, he was too busy staring at the matching pair of brown rabbit ears protruding from the top of Rhys' head. The ears twitched under Jack's stare, then folded in the middle and dropped down. They were stupidly large too, and long enough Rhys could almost touch his own shoulder with the fuzzy tips.
"Do you feel any different?" Jack asked.
"No."
Jack raised an eyebrow and picked up a scalpel from the examination table. He held it in his hand for a moment, then whipped it around and sent it flying, the sharp tip aimed at Rhys'. The brunet shrieked and leapt to the side just in time for it to go whistling past his shoulder.
"Holy fuck, you even move with the reflexes of a freaking bunny!" Jack crowed. "This was such a good idea. I'm a god-damn genius."
Rhys could hardly believe how fast his heart was going, he couldn't even count the individual beats, just an overwhelming rush of blood and adrenaline. His whole body felt like a spring tightened to the point of braking, while at the same time, every bit of him from his fingers to his toes was trembling.
His ears stood straight up, listening out for any signs of a follow-up attack, while his eyes scanned the laboratory looking for an escape route. But all the doors had been sealed after Jack threw the scientists out to test the results of their experiment himself.
Rhys forced himself to take long, soothing breaths, as he wrestled control back from the bunny side of his brain to the human side.
"O-okay, we know it works now. Can we change me back?" He asked.
"What? Come on Rhysie, baby, I haven't even gotten a chance to enjoy this yet!"
Rhys groaned aloud, he honestly couldn't remember why he had agreed to help with this project in the first place. He must have known it would end exactly like this.
"For starters, I think we should test if that old saying has any merit. You know the one, right? Fucking like rabbits?... Or maybe it was breeding like bunnies?" Jack paused to think about this for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Eh, whatever. Clothes off, kiddo."
Rhys hopped backwards, the spry movement felt completely natural even though he knew he probably looked ridiculous.
"Um... Much as I would like to. I'm not exactly sure the uh... New parts, are going to cooperate," Rhys admitted. Even as he was speaking, he was backing away slowly, his new instincts had firmly decided that Jack was a predator and were screaming at him to get as far away as possible.
"Aww, the little bunny wabbit is scared of me, huh? Are you going to make me catch you first?"
Jack took five small steps towards Rhys. Moving slowly so as not to spook him. Rhys watched with wide eyes, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, his higher brain functions cut off completely as he braced himself to make a break for it.
Jack lunged at Rhys. His fingers closed around empty air as Rhys dodged and leapt up onto the nearest table. Test tubes and graduated cylinders went flying and shattered on the laboratory floor in an ear-splitting aria.
Rhys made to run along the table, but in a jumble of mixed up signals he tried to move on four legs instead of two. He ended up launching himself headfirst into the nearest wall and crashing to the floor. Pain forked like lightning down from his temple and Rhys clutched at his head in a vain attempt to soothe it. He curled up against the wall, waiting for it to stop hurting.
He could faintly hear Jack laughing at him over the ringing in his ears.
"Hahaha- oh my god, you're so stupid! Come here, you better not have hurt yourself."
Hands closed over his wrists and pulled Rhys' fingers away from his eyes. His bunny ears dropped as he looked up into Jack's eyes. Blue on the right and green on the left just like usual, so he wasn't seeing double. That was probably a good sign?
Jack looked over Rhys' temple. There was an angry red mark there that was going to start bruising soon.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Jack asked, as he released Rhys' wrist and held up his hand.
"Um… three? W-why?"
"Checking for concussion. You seem alright, but we better strap you down so we don't have any more accidents."
"W-what?"
Jack wrapped both arms around Rhys and hefted the younger male up over his shoulder. Rhys started trying to wriggle free, but once Jack stood up, he realized that plan was as good as a one-way ticket to bruising his butt next.
Jack deposited his prize on the exam table and wrestled Rhys' mismatched wrist into the arm restraints on either side of the backrest. The stainless steel manacles snapped tight, metal clicking against metal in the case of his cybernetic one.
Jack exhaled and stood back to admire his handiwork. The exam table was bent at a forty-degree angle around the three quarter mark, so it propped Rhys up into a half sitting position. He was still trembling, especially his bunny ears, which seemed to be going haywire now there was nowhere to run.
"Now, let's have a look at this crazy shit," Jack purred, as he rounded the table to get closer to Rhys' head.
His fingers curled around the mid section of one of Rhys' ears. His fur was incredibly soft and silky, setting it apart as completely different to his hair. Jack ran a thumb along the inside of one ear, delighted to find the fur there was even softer.
Rhys whined at a pitch that you wouldn't have thought a grown man capable of. Jack lifted his other hand and started petting along both of Rhys' ears.
After a few moments Rhys started to relax. His eyelids drooped, braking the unblinking stare he had been training on Jack.
"That calms you right down, doesn't it?" Jack observed. He pulled Rhys' right ear down to his lips and kissed the tip. "Shhh, it's okay. Your handsome boyfriend has got you."
"This feels really strange…" Rhys murmured.
"I bet it does. How's your libido doing? Feeling sufficiently bunny-like?"
"Considering you just scared me half to death, no."
"Hey, it gets the blood pumping doesn't it?" Jack said with a shrug. He jumped up on the table so quickly it was hard to believe he wasn't the one with 10% bunny DNA. He straddled Rhys' hips and pulled the younger man into a kiss by the front of his half-striped shirt.
Jack pet Rhys' ears with his other hand the entire time, enjoying how Rhys quivered underneath him whenever he found a sensitive spot on his new appendages.
When they broke apart Jack sat back on Rhys' lap and was pleasantly surprised to find something hard pressing against his backside. So far the saying was proving to be totally correct.
"Wanna bet on how many rounds you can last? I'm hoping for at least like, five."
"Jack, I don't think that's how it works…"
"Eh, what the hell do you know," Jack snapped back, as he started to undo the buttons on Rhys' shirt.