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Scar woke up as the bed dipped, a familiar weight settling against his back. He didn't bother moving, knowing it must be the early hours of the morning - Cub had recently fallen back into his bad sleeping habits and tended to work through the night, going to bed as the sun was starting to rise.
As an arm carefully settled over Scar, he drifted back to sleep.
When he woke up again, it was to rays of sunshine dancing on his face. Squeezing his eyes closed he tried to nuzzle his face against his partner - only to be met with a faceful of what seemed like soft fur. For a second he thought it was Jellie trying to kill him in his sleep again, before he recognized the familiar weight of his cat over his legs.
Scar cracked one eye open and immediately his suspicions were confirmed right. Right there at the crook of his neck, leaning against his cheek, was a bunny - white with black dots, sleeping soundly at the warm spot.
Cub must have been properly tired then, Scar thought with a little laugh - the bunny briefly stirred, before relaxing again.
It had taken years for Scar to figure out why Cub never seemed fully human to him. He was good at hiding things and no one ever questioned if he suddenly disappeared - Cub simply was like that, a little mysterious and secretive, but not in a malicious way. Scar had been delighted when Cub had finally trusted him with his secret - what was better than having a partner that would occasionally turn into the cutest bunny Scar had ever seen?
They didn't talk about it much - Scar was fairly sure none of the other hermits knew, besides maybe Xisuma. But then again, Xisuma knew everyone's secrets.
Cub had explained the change seemed to often happen when he was tired. Apparently bunnies could sleep for 14 hours! Humans usually slept for maybe nine or ten, and Cub had never been able to manage more than six regularly - so what Scar had learned was that it was easier for Cub to rest when he wasn't in his human form.
Which explained the bunny currently sleeping where his partner had been mere hours ago.
"Good morning Cub," Scar whispered as he sat up, careful not to disturb the sleeping animals. "Good morning Jellie."
Jellie lifted up her head, looking up at Scar. Her gaze lingered briefly on Cub, before she pressed her face into her paws, like she was trying to get away from having to wake up. She had always seemed to love Cub in this form just as much as she loved him in his human form. Scar was very grateful for that - cats and bunnies weren't always the bestest of friends and he was glad he didn't have to separate the two when this happened.
"You two wait here while I eat breakfast," Scar said as he stood up, earning a small sound of displeasure from Jellie as she was forced to move. She made her way across the bed, flopping down right next to where Cub was on the pillows.
With a wide smile on his lips Scar got dressed in his elf robes, putting all his usual accessories on and brushing his hair before making his way to the kitchen. Sunlight was entering the tree through the little windows embedded in the trunk, little bright spots dancing on the surfaces making everything seem even more alive - it would be a wonderful day, and Scar would bring Cub along.
A few amazing cookies and a cup of milk later Scar started digging through his chests. He wasn't exactly sure where he had put it the last time, it had been a while, but it had to be here - aha! He pulled a pet sling bag out of the chest - this would allow him to keep Cub close while making it possible for him to see what was going on - or alternatively he could just curl up and sleep.
"Hello again," Scar greeted quietly as he made his way back to the bedroom. Jellie had moved, now actively cuddling the bunny that was lying on his side on the pillows. Moments like this made him wish he had a camera, but he had a bad history of breaking them and losing the photos made him sad - committing these moments to memory felt more special.
Jellie opened her eyes as Scar tried to carefully slide his hands under the sleeping bunny to pick him up. She made a small noise, like she was offended her cuddle buddy was being taken away. "Sorry princess, I need to steal him from you."
As much as Scar hated to disturb the adorable sight too, he knew he would have to if he wanted to leave the tree today. Even though in his usual form Cub was more than fine with being alone, in this state he craved company. And while Jellie was a great friend, she would not quite suffice. Something about instincts, Cub had once explained - being on his own like this made him stressed, and that was the opposite of what he needed right now.
He briefly stirred awake when Scar gently settled him in the bag, quickly falling back asleep when he realized what was happening - from what Scar knew, bunnies slept in naps rather than getting all the sleep at once, so hopefully he wasn't disturbing Cub too much. He seemed content though, simply dozing off in the bag that was deep enough to almost completely hide him, only the tips of his ears visible unless you looked from above.
Jellie meowed again and Scar gave her an apologetic look. "I know you would be a mighty guard for him but you know how it is! You can come along though, if you'd like to!"
He knew she wouldn't, she preferred going in and out as she pleased rather than following Scar around, even though most of the time she ended up coming to where he was anyway. Soon enough, she squinted at him briefly before pressing her head back into the pillow again.
Luckily today’s plans didn’t include any flying - Scar only needed to restock his cookie shop and do some planning for his theme park.
Scar easily made his way to the cookie shop, a bit slower than usual to not disturb the bunny that seemed to still be sleeping soundly in the safety of the bag secured against Scar’s side. The weather was amazing today - it was a shame Cub was sleeping, Scar would have loved to properly hang out with him today, but at the same time he was glad the other was resting.
Most of the chests seemed to still have a good amount of cookies in them, but he still decided to bake a few batches - it was always better to be prepared, you never know when someone needs ten stacks of cookies!
Scar carefully set the bag and the bunny inside it on the windowsill - the factory tended to get warm and that was a good cool spot, he didn’t want him to get overheated. Cub didn’t seem bothered, simply adjusting his position in the new spot and continuing his nap.
Trying his best to stay relatively quiet, Scar started the very precise and long process of baking the best cookies in the world. Everything needed to be measured just right, the dough needed to be chilled just the right amount of time, they couldn’t be in the oven even for a minute too long or they would be ruined!
A familiar rustle of feathers and a light thump from someone landing greeted Scar as he finally managed to get the last tray of cookies into the oven. “Hey Scar,” came Grian’s voice as he stepped into the factory.
“Hello there!” Scar greeted with his best salesman smile, straightening up from where he had been crouching to put the tray into the oven. “Craving some amazing cookies on this fine day?”
“Something like that,” Grian hummed as he looked around, opening and closing the chests with cookies in them. He seemed to be in a good mood - Scar hoped he could trick him into buying some extra cookies.
It didn’t take long for the avian to stop the small bundle on the windowsill. “What’s with the bunny?”
He looked a bit too puzzled in Scar’s opinion - he often had Jellie here, it wasn’t that odd to have animals around!
“Oh that’s Cub, don’t worry about him,” Scar explained cheerfully as he put away the ingredients he had used for the cookies, picking up the paper he had his secret recipe written on and quickly pocketing it. “He’s resting.”
Grian gawked at him like he had just said something completely unfathomable. “That’s Cub?!”
“Shh!” Scar hushed. He glanced at the bunny that seemed to still be deep asleep - Scar thought bunnies were light sleepers, but it seemed Cub was different. “He’s sleeping, we have to be quiet! Besides, it’s not that weird! You’re a hybrid too!”
Grian blinked at him. “That’s not the same thing at all! I have bird features all the time, if anything, that seems like… a shapeshifter thing or something. I don’t know!”
Scar made his way over to the window, looking at the sleeping bunny. He was slightly moving in his sleep, nose and ears twitching - he must be dreaming. Scar let out a relieved sigh, if Cub was dreaming, he probably hadn’t been disturbed by their chatter.
Grian appeared next to him, staring at the sleeping animal with wide eyes, like he still didn’t quite believe what he had just learned. “It does kind of look like him,” he whispered, turning to look at Scar.
“Right?” Scar muttered excitedly, making sure to keep his voice down. “He gets like this when he’s really tired, which in Cub’s case has been pretty often recently. I woke up this morning and he was like this.”
“He doesn’t seem very… bunny-like usually,” the avian commented, watching intently as Cub shifted a bit. He was right - he didn’t have any constantly visible features like Grian and some other hermits did, nor did he seem to have any noticeable instincts or traits when he was in his human form.
“I was a bit surprised too when I found out, though that was years ago.” Scar smiled at the memory. Cub had seemed so reluctant at first, only for Scar to beam with excitement. He had relaxed almost immediately, like he had been stressing about Scar’s reaction - then he had shown Scar his other form and allowed him to pet him - it was one of Scar’s most cherished memories. “Jellie absolutely loves him.”
“Really?” Grian asked curiously. “You’d think cats and bunnies wouldn’t get along, especially considering Jellie’s… hunting hobby.” Scar and Cub weren’t the only people who had fallen victim to his cat’s rather gruesome gift-giving.
Scar laughed quietly. “Jellie likes to act like a bodyguard, she’s very protective of him. You should have seen the glare she gave me this morning when I took him away from her, she was basically glued to his side.”
“Aww, that’s sweet,” Grian hummed, slightly tilting his head to the side as he continued observing the bunny. A sudden beeping sound interrupted them and Grian quickly turned around to look at the rest of the factory, looking for the source of the noise. “Is that your timer for the cookies?”
It was indeed the timer - Scar had completely forgotten about the cookies, too enamored by the conversation. With wide eyes he darted back to the oven, quickly grabbing his oven mitts. A puff of hot air escaped the oven as he opened it, forcing him to look away before taking the tray out - luckily the cookies seemed to be fine.
“They’re all good, no worries!” Scar informed as he set the tray down on the counter before turning off the oven. It would have been a shame if he had to redo the whole process, though he would have if it came to that - he only sells the best products after all.
“Scar!” Grian hissed quietly from where he was still standing near the window. “He woke up!”
The avian stepped out of the way when Scar walked over, his wings slightly fluffing up like Scar knew they tended to do when he was in an unfamiliar situation. Scar gave him a small smile before turning to Cub.
The bunny was slowly blinking, like he was still half-asleep. He had managed to crawl further into the corner of the windowsill, pressing himself against the wall and the window. “Hey there,” Scar said gently, keeping a safe distance to the animal - he didn't want Cub to get spooked. "It's just me and Grian."
He seemed to relax a bit at that, though his ears were still up, a sign that he was alert. "We should head home, yeah? I've finished the cookies."
Scar gave Grian, who had taken a few more steps back but was looking at the situation curiously, a quick look. He seemed to understand, nodding at Scar before taking his leave - he could buy the cookies at any other time, though Scar doubted the avian purely came for cookies. There always seemed to be some shenanigans included when Grian was around.
Picking up the bag Cub had crawled out of, Scar draped it over his shoulder again. "Do you want to go in the bag again? Or I could just carry you?" Scar asked as he carefully lifted the bunny off the windowsill. He got his answer when the animal curled up in his arms, pressing his face against his shirt like he was hiding. Scar smiled as he felt him relax in his hold.
"Yeah? That's good?" he chuckled, gently petting the other’s head. "Let's go home then."