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If there’s an animal that he loves with all his kid heart, it’s rabbits.
First time Ben ever had the chance to see some was in a farm that him and his siblings saved from someone he doesn’t remember - probably someone with enough free time to pick a farm as a target. The owners then offered them to spend a bit of time with the animals, and Sir Reginald Hargreeves lost the battle against his six kids desperately begging him to let them, more united than ever. Teamwork at its finest.
Ben’s attention wasn’t caught by any animal until they reached the rabbits. The bunnies. His eyes sparkled when he saw them, his little hands clenching against the fence protecting their enclosures. Rabbits, he was discovering, had the fluffiest coat he had ever seen, made the cutest faces when they stood on their back paws to look at him in half-fear, half-curiosity, and moved in the most adorable way back and forth in their enclosure. Little things. Delicate beings. The farm lady offered him to hold one, and he followed her instructions carefully: sitting on the floor, calm gestures, soft petting and no loud noises.
It only felt real when he had the tiny body of the bunny in his arms, tense with fear but still impossibly soft, and Ben ran his fingers through the fluffy fur until he felt the bunny relaxing more and more beneath his hands. Trusting. Accepting. Enjoying.
Like Ben.
For once in his only starting life, Ben felt like a normal child. No saving the world, no beating bad guys, no heroics - just petting a bunny. Just enjoying simple things. Just being a kid.
When they had to leave, he was heartbroken to give back the little animal. He lifted his head to the farm lady, sadness showing on his face. "Will the bunny be happy? Is it going to have a long life?”
The lady chuckled a bit at his question and ruffled his hair. “It’ll be killed in few days so we can eat it. We raise them for consummation.”
Ben’s heart missed a beat. It felt like being struck by lightning. The shock sent the eldritch being under his skin crawl close to the surface, curious, lazy, and he swallowed it all back along with his distress. He didn’t manage to answer the lady. Didn’t even manage to say goodbye. He just nodded, once, and left as fast as he could, then joined his siblings with a bitter taste in his mouth.
He decided to stop eating meat, starting from this day.