Archive of Our Own ^beta

Now, Bunnymund thought that this Easter was going pretty well. Actually, the whole year had been going pretty well. There hadn’t been any disturbances in any way, shape, or form. It was a blessing, seeing as how almost every year - at least once - something would happen. Not necessarily something bad, but more often than not it wasn’t anything good for the large pooka.

That was why he was happy today. Apart from the fact that the day was Easter - his holiday! - it was also a very peaceful day. The sun was shining down, and that made it all the better. The sun just made sure that all the families came out - not just the children, but the parents as well. It was a nice enough day for it, so the ones that could manage went out with their loved ones to hunt for his little goodies.

The sun was the exact reason the Easter Bunny had decided not to move off yet. More often than not he went straight back to his warren after he had got done hiding his eggs. Not this year, however. Somehow the day just felt.. better to him than most other days. The grass was green, it was warm, and the air was full of hope.

“Jack, wait up!” His ears flicked as the feminine voice of a child reached his ears and he had the sudden urge to sit up and check his surroundings. However, he couldn’t just do that. It might have been instinct, but that didn’t mean it was smart. The little girl didn’t sound like she was too far off, and that meant, if he wasn’t careful, he could be seen.

And this is what happened when he decided to stay near a colony and sun himself.

“Haha! You’ve gotta keep up, Rosie!” Then there was a different voice. It was clearly male, and the person was obviously older, but not as old an adult. E. Aster Bunnymund didn’t want to admit it, but his curiosity was starting to get the better of him. Which, in turn, made him rise so that he was settled on his haunches and somewhat hidden behind the tree that he had been lying next to.

There was a young man - 16, maybe? It was hard to tell with certain humans - who was skipping along - okay, maybe it was more like gentle leaping, Bunny relented - and he was turning back every few moments and making these odd gestures with his hands. Almost like he was trying to imitate the antlers of a moose. The pooka doubted this was the case, seeing as it looked more like he was trying to egg someone on.

That theory proved to be true when Bunnymund watched a little girl around the age of 8 run after the teenager. She was smiling gleefully as she ran after her older brother. After all, what else could they be but siblings? The little girl looked like an exact copy of the older boy. The same brown hair; the same fair skin; and the same brown eyes - from what Bunny could see, they both had brown eyes. He would know, of course, seeing as he had better eyesight, and was able to see from that far off.

“Jackson, don’t lose your sister! And be careful!” A middle-aged woman was calling after the two children as they raced forward, and the pooka felt oddly compelled to follow them. They just looked so... cheerful. Even if the woman - who was obviously their mother, if her hair had anything to say about it - seemed to be slightly worried. She looked happy as well, however, and it brought a smile to Bunny’s own face as well.

Maybe the basket full of his eggs had something to do with it.

“Don’t worry, Mum! When am I not careful?” The question was rhetorical, but it had Bunnymund scoffing silently anyway. It was clear that this boy didn’t have enough common sense - and the pooka hadn’t even learned enough to go by much! The Easter Bunny glanced back at the woman once more as he hopped slowly behind the two humans.

He froze when he heard two sets of feet hitting the ground. The Easter Bunny flattened himself to the ground as two more young children ran passed his hiding place. He hadn’t minded that much with the parent - she couldn’t see him, so he hadn’t had to hide - but with the kids... He couldn’t risk being seen by them.

When he finally went to move again, he moved quickly. Bunny wasn’t sure why he wanted to keep an eye on these children so bad, but something was urging him to do so. He shoved it off as how happy they looked.

“Jack, get down from there!” The little girls voice rang out loudly; even more so the closer that the pooka got. “You’ll fall and hurt yourself!”

“Oh, come now!” Laughter seemed to float over the clearing and the Easter Bunny looked up towards the source to see the boy - Jack, he reminded himself - was hanging upside down on a thick branch of one of the trees. “You honestly think I’d fall? Where’s the faith?!”

“Just leave him at it, Rose.” One of the other children that had went passed him - a little blonde girl about the same age as the brunette - said. “You know he won’t do as you will.”

“Mary-Anne! He’s going to hurt himself.” Rose stated, looking at her friend and then at the other brunette boy - about the same age as the two girls, Bunny noticed, if not a little shorter. The boy shrugged, as if to say, ‘What do you expect me to do about it?’

“I think Mary-Anne’s right. Jack’s going to do what he wants... He’s Jack.”

“Exactly! Besides, this is pretty fun!” Jack was laughing, and Bunnymund couldn’t help but wonder if the kid had a death wish. Why was he laughing? He could just as easily have fallen and broken his neck.

That was when the pooka decided that he needed to sit up. Besides, the children weren’t looking at him - as long as they didn’t turn around, he should be fine. They seemed to be pretty occupied with the teenager, so he shouldn’t have needed to worry. That, and the boy swinging from the branch should’ve been old enough to not be able to see him.

Let ‘should’ve’ be the key word in that sentence, because, as soon as the Easter Bunny stood up, he watched the boys’ eyes widen. Of course he was still observing the three youngsters on the ground, but something was drawing him towards the growing boy in the tree as well.

“What the--!” The exclamation broke off, and, before anyone could realize what was going on, Jackson Overland was hitting the ground.

“Jack!” All three of the children ran over to him and Bunny couldn’t stop himself from staying behind. He knew that he needed to get going - still had to get started on the next Easter preparations - but he couldn’t help but hope the young man was okay. After all, he was good at hoping - besides, he couldn’t have hurt himself that much. The branch was maybe 15 feet up, at the most. It was still enough to injure himself, though.

And beneath this was his curiosity. This boy that shouldn’t be able to see him, had seen him.

“Little ones, calm down- Ow!” Jack was trying to laugh through his pain, the pooka saw. He was doing an okay job at hiding his pain, but his eyes gave it away.

“Jackson!” Bunnymund couldn’t help himself as he smiled at the scolding tone that the young girl took on. “I told you that you would hurt yourself!”

“Please! I didn’t hurt myself - like I said: where’s the faith?”

“Don’t you dare lie to me! You’re hurt!” And you could see that he was hurt. It was shown in how his arm was hanging limply at his side before he went to cradle it, hissing through his teeth when he touched it. Yet, he was smiling at his sister and the other two the whole time.

“Yeah, yeah. Let Mum do the worrying, will you?”

And that was when Aster decided that it was time to go. As long as he got help for that arm quickly, he would be fine. The large warrior tapped his foot twice against the ground and an hole that led to his warren opened up.

He’d had enough excitement for one day. He hadn’t even talked to the kid - not that he ever would - and that one boy had already given him a headache.