Insincere - Sequel to "Heartfelt" (Bunnymund x Reader)

Chapter 19

Bunny heeded your words. He didn't return to your castle, and you didn't see him for a week. Part of you was pleased about it; you didn't want to see him any time soon. But another part of you was lonely, longing for the company he was so skilled at bringing. You could feel the emptiness chipping away at you, and though you tried to cover it, you knew it was driving you deeper into the darkness.

Phaedrus visited often. He talked and you listened, but never replied. There wasn't a reason to. He only spoke of the Guardians and how he planned to defeat them. You knew he couldn't. He was on his last nerve, you could tell, but you would only speak to him if you deemed it necessary.

Aiden was the only person you had real contact with for that week. He would talk a lot and you would talk a little. He liked to draw, and you could often find him recreating a part of your castle inside his sketchpad. You thought his drawings were better than the real thing. He also took to making a kind of plant identification book, where he drew the elements of a plant and wrote all his observations on it. He was learning herbal medicine, and was becoming especially adept at making his own elixirs. He called this new project his "magnum opus", and you spent most of your time watching him perfect his work.

One day, Jack made an appearance, his grin evident as usual. You flashed him a genuine smile as the wind twirled him through the doors.

"Hey, (Y/N)," he said, a simper on his lips.

"Hi, Jack. What brings you here?"

"I, uh..." His cheeks flushed, and he rubbed the back of his neck - a habit, you'd realized, that was prominent when he was feeling insecure. "I have a bit of a predicament."

"What's wrong?" you asked, curious. It didn't seem serious, the way he acted embarrassed yet proud. You stifled a giggle as his dancing eyes met yours.

"Will you come?"

"Come where?"

"My little... House thingie," he replied.

You laughed. "What?"

"Like you have your castle and North his Workshop and Bunny his Warren." You tried not to grimace at the mention of Bunnymund. "I have this little cabin in the woods, where it's always snowing and there's a a big area for the kids to run around and stuff."

You cocked your head and smiled. "I wanna see this."

"Cool!" He jumped into the air. "No pun intended."

It was good to see Jack again - his carefree spirit, his unintentional charm, his quick wit. The way he was always happy-go-lucky. He was a good friend, someone you could talk to. His wild grin was a welcome sight, especially compared to having only seen Aiden's lively smile or I'm-working-on-something-big face, and Phaedrus's grotesque I'm-going-to-kill-everyone-you-love grin.

"I'm going out, Aiden!" you called.

The lanky brunette came scampering out from another room, still scribbling furiously. "Be careful. Phaedrus knows you're weaker when you're away from here." He tossed the pencil into the book and snapped it closed. He looked up then, and his eyes went wide. "Whoa."

You glanced up at Jack. "Oh, this is Jack. Um, Frost. Jack Frost."

Jack landed. "This is your new boyfriend?"

You looked at Aiden. "Boyfriend?"

"Bunny said... You had someone new."

"Aiden? Aiden's... My brother."

You tried to think of why Bunny would believe Aiden was anything more than a friend in the first place. He knew of your family, the new connection you'd made with the boy from Santoff Claussen. 

Jack ran his hand through his hair. "Talk about a misunderstanding."

"Wait, Bunny thought Aiden was my boyfriend?"

Jack's brow furrowed. "Yeah. He was really upset about it, too."

You'd known Bunny as a bit of a jealous creature, but never in a way that it could actually come between you two. Especially after everything you'd been through - did he really think that you would give him up so easily? For a moment, you had an intense calling to go to him, to explain. But before you could act on it, or even debate, a coldness swept into your heart an you crossed your arms.

"He should've known better," you said quietly, still not sure where the change of attitude had come from. "Come on, Jack. Let's go to your place."

He didn't protest, and you were grateful. Aiden waved goodbye as you formed a pillar of light and dark, the former still looking dumbfounded. You smiled to yourself. Even after spending his life with Ombric and learning the ways of the wizard, he still found wonder in everything.

Jack didn't really question the streaks of darkness in the pillar, and you wondered why. When he stepped into it, the pillar seemed to glow a little brighter. His very presence made the dark streaks fade. But you ignored it. With a big blast of light, you were swept out of the castle. When you landed in the middle of a forest, the area was covered in snow. A gentle melody seemed to play, but it was only from the minimal collection of things that Jack kept there. A swing set, a stream surrounded by snow but not frozen over, a lake with ice think enough for skating. There was a small cabin nestled in a thicker part of the woods. Some tunnels went beneath the snow and opened again a ways away. Children ran about and played, laughing and singing. You couldn't stop a smile from sliding onto your face. You hadn't left the area around your castle in days, and hardly even went outside, save for when you were helping Aiden with his book. It was refreshing.

After a moment, Jack's tentative voice asked a question that you didn't have an answer to: "You really think Bunny should have known better than to be angry?"

"I... I don't know." You hesitated, then continued, "I don't feel things the way I used to, the way I did before Phaedrus. It's like something inside of me is absorbing the emotions."

"You should talk to Bunny," Jack said quietly. "He's absolutely heartbroken."

You looked over at him. "If he thinks I cheated on him like that, why would he even listen to me? I wouldn't want to talk to him if I was in his position."

Jack smiled reassuringly. "Bunny is one Pooka you can always count on to have hope."

You smiled and looked back at the scene around you. Jack spoke words of wisdom: Bunny was always one to cling to hope. Maybe he believed that it was a simple misunderstanding, and maybe he wanted you to go back. You hoped so very passionately that that was the case...

SORRY THIS UPDATE TOOK SO LONG MY SISTER'S DOG THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO EAT MY COMPUTER CHARGER