“You’re so sweet!” Xac said as he took another glass of his wine. He wasn’t keeping track of it, and Agalon seemed content to let him have as much as he wanted; they seemed to have an endless supply. And Xac had certainly developed a taste for it. He felt warm and fuzzy again; his head was floaty and all his problems and annoyances were a million miles away.

“You’re sweet, Honey Bunny,” Agalon said and plopped down on the sofa next to Xac.

“I mean it!” Xac was moving much more expressively than he meant to, standing on his knees on the couch, and he nearly spilled his wine before Agalon put a hand over his to steady it, “I didn’t know you could fix people!”

“I can’t,” Agalon said, “I’m a medic, not a vet. I mean, I guess I could, but I’m gonna farm this out to somebody, make sure they get it right, this first time. I can’t have half my stock crippled. She won’t do that again. I need somebody punished I’ll do it my damn self. That ain’t her call.”

“I don’t know who she thinks she is,” Xac agreed, “She was mean to me. An’ after that she called me a liar right straight to my face.”

“She did?” Agalon asked as he tried to guide Xac into a sitting position, and he fell into line easily as he drained the rest of his glass.

Agalon took it from him and refilled it.

“Yeah, she don’t think I’m a shifter,” Xac huffed, “Like a body’d lie about somethin like that.”

“I don’t reckon you know how to lie,” Agalon told him as he handed him the full glass, “Good boys don’t lie.”

“I dunno, Aggie,” Xac said, then paused to take another drink. “I think good boys lie to ugly folks. Somebody asks you how they look sometimes you can’t just tell um.”

Agalon burst out laughing, and Xac loved the sound of it, so he giggled along, though he hadn’t meant to tell a joke. This had been very practical advice given to him by his mother. He felt far more bold than he did sober, and after the loneliness he had endured for the past few days he took every opportunity he could for contact. Agalon seemed perfectly willing to cuddle with him, so he tried to climb into his lap again, but he was stopped as Agalon, once again, laid a hand over his.

“If you’re gonna move around, darlin, give me that before you spill it,” Agalon said as he took the glass from him. Xac whined at its absence so he promised, “You can have it back when you get where you’re goin. Where you goin?”

“I wanna cuddle!” Xac said, “I like it.”

Agalon smiled at him, then leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. He sat the glass on the coffee table and helped Xac slide into his lap, guiding him by the hips when he tried to change positions. Xac had meant to sit the way he had always sat before, with his little face pressed to Agalon’s chest and his legs spread out on the sofa, but Agalon guided him so that he was sitting on his knees, more straddling his lap than sitting on it, facing him. But he kept his arms around him, and pressed Xac into his chest, and he was able to lay his head on his shoulder, so it was good enough.

“You’re so cute,” Agalon said again as he ran a hand through Xac’s hair, almost as if he was petting some sort of animal.

“Thanks!” Xac said chipperly, “I am!”

He didn’t remember that ‘cute’ was a descriptor he would not have always used for himself, but he had heard it so much lately that it seemed to be true. He also had much more access to his own reflection, as it was the only other person he saw for most of the day, and he had come to find that he did quite enjoy it. He was cute, especially in fancy clothes surrounded by fancy things.

“Sit back,” Agalon guided him back a little, “I wanna look at you.”

Xac leaned back until he was actually sitting on his lap and gave what he thought was his cutest smile. His teeth were cute too, he thought, partially because they were unlike everyone else’s. His two front teeth were bigger in his mouth than they were on most people, and the uniqueness likely made it desirable.

“I want my drink,” Xac said, because it was true, and once again that was his only criteria for speaking. He tried to lean back to get it, but Agalon held him with a hand on either side of his face. He slowly ran his thumb across Xac’s bottom lip, and Xac wondered for a moment if he had cut it or chewed through it or something, because the only time anyone else had touched him like that was to check for a wound. He licked out of instinct, but tasted no blood. He seemed to be perfectly fine.

Whatever.

“Aggie,” Xac whined, “Can I have more wine?”

“No, darlin, you might get drunk, and I want you sober...ish for this. I want you to remember it. You can get drunk after, I promise.” Agalon explained, staring down at him, but not at his eyes, which Xac also didn’t understand.

“Oh,” Xac deflated a little, but did his best to pretend he wasn’t disappointed, “Ok! I’ll try! I don’t think I remember too good when I’m drunk.”

“You ain’t drunk, you’re tipsy,” Agalon explained, “There’s a pretty big difference. Are you happy, Honey Bunny? You like it here?”

“I love it here!” Xac said and grabbed at Agalon’s wrists.

“You’ll like it even more when I can take you out,” Agalon promised, “When I know I can trust you. I wanna get you a whole new wardrobe.”

“Is it gonna be cute?” Xac asked.

“Honey Bunny, you could make a tater sack cute,” Agalon giggled. “You know I love you, right?”

He had said this once before, and it had been strange then; it was a little less strange now that Xac knew to expect it, now that he understood what he meant. Xac was a cute pet, and as long as he kept being a cute pet, he was going to get a pretty cushy ride. Agalon was staring at him as if he expected an answer, but his brain was clouded and it took him a moment to remember that he had been asked a question.

“Right!” He agreed enthusiastically.

Agalon still looked as if he expected more, some sort of elaboration, but Xac couldn’t imagine what else he expected him to say, so he smiled up at him and tilted his head in what he hoped was an adorable manner.

“Do you love me?” Agalon asked, quietly, “After everything I’ve done for you, everything I’m going to do for you, do you love me back?”

Xac… did not want to answer this question, not with the truth. He loved his parents; he loved his sister; he knew what that emotion felt like.

This wasn’t it. This was something different. Agalon took care of him, but… he also left him locked up all day, kept him away from his family. But he had told Xac he was doing that because rabbits were skittish and needed to be contained, and he thought Xac would be happier locked up. And for the moment it was good to let him think that. If Agalon thought he was emotionally weak and easily frightened, he would keep treating him like the fragile little flower he thought he was.

Besides, he was drunk, not stupid.

He knew a good thing when he saw it. He had already figured out that he could make things happen. He had spoken ill of Mrs OfAgalon and now she was gone. If he could play his cards right, he suspected he could figure out how to make good things happen for people as easily as he had made this bad thing happen to Mrs OfAgalon.

And right now he had cards to play.

“I love you so much!” he exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around Agalon’s neck and buried his face in his shoulder to squeeze, “Thank you for being so nice to me!”

“Good,” Agalon smiled as he hugged back, then tugged Xac gently by the waist to get him to sit in his lap again, “then… I’m gonna start showing you some things, Honey Bunny, things you’re really gonna like.”

“Like the wine?” Xac asked, wishing with all his might that they would get through whatever this was so that he would be able to drink again.

“Better than wine,” Agalon promised, and took Xac by the chin to tilt his head up, “just relax.”

Agalon closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together, and Xac tried his best not to tilt his head as he often did when he was this confused; Agalon obviously wanted it exactly where it was. But this was… strange. He had never done anything like this before, and he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it; very much like how he had felt when he had taken his first drink of wine. And now he really, really loved wine. So… just because whatever this was made him feel a little strange, made the effects of the alcohol wear off a little, didn’t mean that he wouldn’t love it eventually.

He thought, going by the pattern of the wine and this kiss, that Agalon may show him a great many things that he didn’t like at first, but which he would come to love. Agalon obviously knew more than he did about pretty much everything- and Xac wanted to know things.

It felt even stranger to have Agalon’s tongue inside of him, pressing against his soft palate in a way that tickled, so he had to end it because he was running out of breath, and because he had to giggle at the sensation.

“That tickles,” he said.

“You’re so cute,” Agalon stared down at him and ran his thumb along his bottom lip again, “Have another drink, darlin.”

“I love being drunk!” Xac squealed as Agalon carried him to bed.

“I’m glad you’re happy, Honey Bunny,” he playfully bounced him, and Xac wrapped his arms more securely around his neck. Whenever he moved at all the whole world felt floaty, and going up and down was even more fun than walking had been- but Agalon wouldn’t let him do that because the floor kept coming up and hitting him right in the face. Which made no sense because he could do it perfectly fine. He thought he may actually be more graceful drunk than he was sober, which was hard to conceive because he was already so graceful sober. He was amazing. He was good at everything!

“Do that again!” he giggled, “Throw me!”

“I ain’t gonna throw you,” Agalon said with a giggle.

“Throw meeeee!” Xac whined, and attempted to bounce himself in Agalon’s arms.

“How about I throw you on the bed?” Agalon asked.

“Aggie!” Xac squirmed, and he had a very good reason for doing so, he just couldn’t remember what it was, “Throw me! Throw me!”

“Let go of me then,” Agalon chuckled, but Xaxac didn’t understand what he meant. He didn’t think he was holding onto- oh wait, yes he was. That was his neck. Still, that made no sense. He had tossed him once. He should be perfectly capable of throwing him again even if he was holding onto him.

“What?” He asked in genuine confusion.

“Let go of me and I’ll throw you onto the bed,” Agalon explained as if this was perfectly obvious, but still Xac had no idea what he was talking about.

“Honey Bunny, that’s my neck,” Agalon explained slowly, “If I throw you with that death grip, you’ll choke the hell outta me.”

“Throw you too!” Xac said, and couldn’t believe he had to explain something so simple to someone so intelligent.

“So… jump?” Agalon asked, “Just kinda… jump on top of you?”

“Yes! Jump! Throw me and jump!” Xac agreed.

Agalon stared down at his cute little face with his blown-out pupils and could not suppress his laughter.

“Darlin, I don’t think that’ll work the way you think it will, but we’ll give it a try.”

Then Xac was weightless again as the world moved around him, until he was lying on the most comfortable surface imaginable. The bed rocked hard as Agalon landed on top of him, but the motion was fun, and Agalon felt like a comfortable weight, so Xac tightened his grip even further and pulled him down like a blanket.

“Thesis, Xaxac,” Agalon said in a strange voice that Xac didn’t understand. He sounded almost injured, and he forcefully ripped Xac’s arms away from his neck and pinned them to the bed, “calm down. That hurt!”

“I hurt you?” Xac asked in confusion, staring up at Agalon’s flustered face. There was a noticeable size difference between them, so that didn’t make sense. Nothing Agalon had said in the past few minutes made sense. But that was alright, because Xac was drunk, and drunk people didn’t need things to make sense. Still, he would feel terrible if he had actually hurt him, so he added, “I’m sorry, Aggie, I didn’t know I could. You’re so much bigger than me…”

“I… didn’t know you could either,” Agalon admitted, “Good to know, I reckon. I read somethin about shifters bein real strong but I didn’t think… hmm…”

“I got bunny strength!” Xac giggled and tested to see if he could lift the wrists Agalon was holding down, notsomuch because he wanted to be strong, but because he wanted to cuddle up like he always did at home when it was time for bed, and he couldn’t do that without his hands. When he lifted his hands from the bed, despite Agalon bearing down on him, something came over Agalon’s face, an emotion Xaxac didn’t understand beyond it being negative, so he stopped.

“Somethin wrong?” He asked, “You look mad. Are you mad? Did I do somethin? I’m sorry. Aggie, I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to hurt you! If it’s a shifter thing I can’t… I ain’t able to… I’m sorry! I’m cursed!”

“Shss,” Agalon spread his legs to straddle Xac the way Xac had straddled him on the couch and lowered himself until their faces were nearly touching. “Don’t cry, Honey Bunny.”

Then he kissed him again, and it was much better the second time. Everything was better when he was drunk! Why was anyone ever sober if they could avoid it? Agalon tasted like the wine, and this time Xac knew what to expect and could experience it. That unsettling wrongness that he had had before was gone; now everything was floaty and fuzzy and fun.

Agalon pulled away and stared down at him with a smile.

“You’re gettin better, darlin,” he said in a voice deeper than he normally had, and there was something in his eyes that made Xaxac feel something he could not place. Something, somewhere, deep in a part of his brain usually reserved for nights the moons were full, tried to tell him something, but he wasn’t a rabbit, and therefore didn’t understand it.

A prey animal knows a predator when they see one, knows the look in the eyes of someone about to eat them up. Time to decide, little bunny: flight, fight, or freeze.

Xac froze.

“Thank you,” he said softly, because he could not get his lungs to inflate enough to be audible.

Agalon had to have mistaken his fear for something else, because that silence, that lack of a struggle, that rapid heart rate, seemed to make him believe he had done something good, that Xac was enjoying himself.

“Honey Bunny, you’re gonna have all kinds of fun,” Agalon promised, “But not tonight, not all at once.” He released Xac’s hands, but still Xac could not will himself to move, and just kept them where they were as Agalon leaned heavily on one hand and drug the other down Xac’s chest.

“But soon. I want you ready to travel with me by the time the season starts,” Agalon explained, “I can’t do that if you might hurt somebody. I can’t have you out here hurtin folks. You don’t know your own strength.”

“I’m sorry,” Xaxac said, and he didn’t know what was wrong. Agalon wasn’t acting as if he was angry, but something was wrong, some kind of wrong that Xac had never felt before and did not understand. It was scaring him, and his body shook as he stared up at the man leaning over him.

“Just don’t do it again,” Agalon whispered, “And everything will be alright.” He began to unbutton Xac’s shirt, but gave up quickly and said, “Sit up for me. Let’s get you outta these clothes and ready for bed.”

“I’m scared,” Xac said, because it was true and he was drunk.

“What’re you scared of, Honey Bunny?” Agalon asked.

“I dunno,” Xac said, knowing it was stupid, but hoping Agalon would help him, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I swear!”

“You won’t do it again,” Agalon assured him, “I trust you. I don’t think you done it on purpose that time.”

“I didn’t!” Xac begged.

“Hey,” Agalon said soothingly, “calm down. Take a deep breath. You’re thinkin too hard. You don’t need to think. Just feel. Where’s my cute little bunny?”

“Right here?” Xac asked.

“Right,” Agalon told him, “Now let’s get you outta these clothes so you can relax, then I’m gonna go get ready for bed.”