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Soulmates, in Daffy’s humble opinion, were far-fetched. One person who is supposed to be there for you in thick and thin, love you effortlessly, and tolerate your every flaw? Yeash that’s too much to hope for anyone.
That’s not to say he didn’t want a soulmate, the idea of all that was nice but in execution? Who would actually want all that with him?
He might have felt better about the whole thing if it weren’t for the giant catch when it came to the soulmate situation. Having a little white tattooed looking bracelet wrapped around his wrist seemed like a hassle in general. Not that it could be removed, he and many others had tried, but it would not completely change into your ‘soul color’ until you the moment you fell truly, fully in love with your soulmate.
Soul colors, themselves, are annoying in Daffy’s fine opinion. The bracelet changes to the color of your soulmates hair when you realize that you are not only in love, but in love with your soulmate. For most of the population, the instant you realize you’re in love is a terrifying game of could they be?
No prewarning, no assistance, just blind hope that you would not only meet but fall in love with the one meant for you. Some people do say there is a spark, not in the literal sense of course, but you feel unbridled joy when you figure out the one you love is your official the one.
Daffy, while doubtful he would ever meet his soulmate, still had an underlying hope that maybe it would happen someday, eventually.
Many of the world’s population did not, in fact, meet their soulmate. Being in a romantic relationship with someone for months or years only to find out the one you love isn’t your soulmate has caused a tremendous raise in the need for psychiatrists. What’s worse is if one side of the soulmate pair falls in love and the other half is oblivious. Really soulmates are a waiting game of the worst kind.
Though Daffy would never admit it out loud, he did have someone he wanted to be his soulmate. Bugs, however, never once brought the very idea of soulmates up, or at least he never did to Daffy.
For years he had covered his tattoo with those large white gloves he wears. While everyone has a preference on covering their mark or not, Daffy had never once seen the rabbit without his gloves. Daffy himself wore a variety of stylish bracelets to hide his mark.
After years of this, Daffy has decided that enough is enough. Even if they’re not soulmates, he still feels like they’re close enough to discuss the concept. Yes, Daffy had decided, he would get to the bottom of Bugs’ soulmate.
____________________
Truthfully Daffy knew this endeavor would be difficult but for sure it should not have been this difficult.
“Bugs, Bugsy ol’ pal. Buddy. Partner. Friend for years, why won’t you tell me?” Daffy was stretched across Bugs’ bed as his friend went through his closet.
“Daff, why do you want to know so much? What’s it to ya?” Bugs holds up a red stripped dress in front of his body and at Daffy’s face places it in a box for donation.
“Because! We never talk about it. There has to be someone you’re interested in or someone you’ve found after all this time, so who is it?”
Bugs finds Daffy’s puppy dog eyes from his upside-down perch on the rabbit’s bed through the mirror, “Why don’t you start then doc? Tell me about your soulmate.”
The scarf that Daffy was fiddling with tangles in his fingers as he rolls upright. “My soulmate?”
A long-sleeved blue blouse falls to the floor as Bugs tugs it off the hanger, he stoops down to pick it up not making eye contact with the duck. “Usually if you start pushing something it’s cause you either made up or mind or still need advice. Did you find them or are you still lookin’?”
Bugs folds the blouse in his hand and places it on the bed next to Daffy. Daffy reaches for the rabbits’ hand to get his attention but Bugs draws his hand to his chest and readjusts his ever-present gloves.
“Bugs, I haven’t found my soulmate. I just wanted to know if you found yours.”
Bugs pauses from where he had turned to the closet, his back to Daffy. “You haven’t found your soulmate?”
The tone of Bugs’ voice was suddenly too calm, almost mollifying.
“Wait a second, are you saying you found yours?” Daffy leaps off the bed and spins Bugs around. “You found your soulmate and you never told me? Lemme see!”
Daffy begins to tug on the gloves to try and get a glimpse of the soul color but Bugs grabs his wrists.
“Now Daff, if I did or if I didn’t that’s a personal thing.”
“You did! Why won’t you show me?”
“I didn’t.”
“You did!”
“I didn’t.”
“You did!”
“I did.”
“You didn’t! Ha!” Daffy does a dramatic spin, “You didn’t and you’ve just trying to trick me into thinking you did! We’ve done this song and dance so many times that I know when you’re lying!”
“Yeah Daff, you sure do. Now did you want the pink dress that I wore a couple months ago or was it the yellow?”
Daffy lets Bugs try and distract him. It is true, they have done the same song and dance for years now. Which means Daffy does know when the rabbit is lying and trying to distract him.
Bugs has a soulmate that he hasn’t told Daffy about.
Daffy lounges back on his hands while his friend digs through his massive closet.
Bugs has a soulmate and Daffy is going to be the lucky duck who finds out who it is.
____________________
Really with how their conversations went Daffy thought that his next course of action would be so much easier.
His binoculars bob as he tries to adjust his grip on the branches.
Bugs doesn’t want Daffy to know the color of his soulmate mark, so in that course of action, Daffy will have to wait until bugs removes the gloves.
Daffy bats at a blue jay as it dives towards his head.
“Shoo! Shoo! Can’t you see I’m on an important mission?!” The bird either doesn’t understand him or ignores him completely, but it does fluff up its feathers and fly back to settle in its nest.
If he was being honest, perching in a tree and using binoculars to try to see into a rabbit hole of all things is probably not the best course of action. But, this is only the first step to his mini step master plan to figure out who the rabbit’s soulmate really is.
The door to the rabbit hole is still closed, but Daffy supervises for the exact moment that Bugs will leave.
Daffy looks at the bird, the bird looks back at Daffy. “Don’t look at me like that. I do have a plan. And it’s a good plan. The best plan if you will.”
The bird turns its head away and huffs. Daffy continues to speak to an entirely uncaptured audience, “Once he leaves, I will sneak into his house, using the key he gave me to then search for clues.”
The branch under him creeks ominously and the bird glances from where Daffy is perched at the top of the tree about 10 feet in the air to the hard ground below.
As another slight groan and splinter come from the branch, the bird settles back down, knowing it will soon get peace once again.
Meanwhile, Daffy has continued to speak to his reluctant audience, he leans his body forward, almost slipping off of branch to see better. “-once I figure out who it is that I can go about removing them from his life. Not in a bad way necessarily, but there can’t be room in his life for two important people, and I am definitely the most important person in his life ever. And this isn’t even about jealousy! I’m not jealous! Why would I ever be jealous of-”
“Eh…I’d say what’s up duck but you’re up, huh duck?”
The branch then snaps under the weight of Daffy and for one perilous second everything freezes before the binoculars in his hand drop from gravity, and finally Daffy looks down. Immediately time restarts and Daffy begins plummeting to the ground.
Too shocked to make a quip under his breath, Daffy embraces his very quickly nearing death. He feels his body make impact as he closes his eyes and is sure this is the end.
“Well look at that. Now you’re a down duck.”
Daffy is sure this is the end now because if not then the cocky tone vibrating from that chest is real and wouldn’t that just be the icing on the branch breaking cake.
A finger pokes his face while Daffy continues to play dead. “Daff, I know you’re fine. Come on, open your eyes or I’ll drop you.”
Oh, the rumbling voice is real. He opens his eyes and many things begin to take shape at once. Bugs’ face being very close to his is one of them, his arms holding the duck in a bridal style carry is another.
Bugs rolls his very close to Daffy’s eyes, and then Daffy lets out a shriek as the bunny drops him to the ground.
“Hey what’s the deal bub? This is priceless merchandise here!”
Bugs rolls his wrist and a carrot appears crunching down as he stares at Daffy. “So, are you gonna say why you were standing in a tree right next to my house staring at the door or are we ignorin’ that?”
“I’ll have you know I am free to do many things, the why is in the name. Having the name Daffy means I can do many eccentric things with no one questioning me.” Brushing off twigs he looks up as Bugs crunches down on the carrot.
The staring match lasts a while.
“Are you inviting me in or are we just going to stare at each other?”
Daffy can tell the cogs are turning in Bugs’ head as a slight smirk settles across his face. “Nah, you have a key. Go on in if you want, I still have a few errands to run. See ya later doll.”
With that Bugs twirls around and heads off down the well-worn path to town.
“Doll? That’s a new one.”
____________________
Daffy has found nothing. No secret journal. No pictures of a mystery tune that he is definitely not jealous of. No information. Nada. Zip.
Bugs has plenty of pictures though. Pictures line the hallways of their friends, and Bugs’ family, and a very large amount of just him and Daffy.
With a huff, he collapses back into Bugs’ bed. He spreads his arms and legs and stares at the ceiling.
“There goes most of my plans.”
Daffy let out another dramatic sigh and rolls over on his stomach to stare into Bugs’ seemingly endless closet.
“What to do now? Where do I go from here? I have to know if he’s taken, for no reason of importance that is.”
His eyes roll along the multitude of garments as he thinks. Spying didn’t work, snooping didn’t work, what in the world could work?
Suddenly, a light bulb lights over his head. If snooping and spying didn’t work the first time, maybe they’ll work combined?
“Bugs doesn’t know if I went inside his house or not. So if I wait for him to come back and then just wait for him to take off the gloves I can see what color his soul mark is!”
Daffy leaps from the bed and ducks into the closet. He pushes around the dresses and adjust the many shoes to make sure he’s hidden. A manic giggle is stopped abruptly as door slams shut.
“Daff? Daffy?”
He hears Bugs walk around the house and bags rustle as they’re set down.
“Doll, I picked up some stuff for dinner. I was wanting to try out that new recipe Lola sent me-”
His voice cuts off as he walks into the bedroom. There’s a second of silence, then Bugs lets out a slight laugh. “Guess he left.”
Daffy tries to peek in between the clothes and sees Bugs’ back as he throws a purse on the bed. he sees Bugs mess with his hands, and then his right glove is being peeled off. The rabbit turns slightly away while taking off the left glove, covering Daffy’s view of his soulmate tattoo before walking off into the bathroom. He hears the shower start and scrambles out of the closet to pick up the gloves on the bed.
“He left his gloves. I have his gloves! His hands are free!” Daffy dances around with the gloves in his hands before pausing, “Wait I still need his hands, this doesn’t help!”
“And what do you need my hands for sweetheart?”
The voice behind him almost freezes and solid. In his excitement of having the gloves in his possession, he did not hear the shower turn off or the bathroom door open.
Daffy spins around and shoves the gloves behind him. “Hands? What hands? I didn’t say hands! I said hand! I need your hand in helping me with something!”
“Mhm,” Bugs hums along with his ranting, slowly walking closer. “Sure Daff, what do you need my help with?”
Daffy steps back as Bugs steps closer. “I need help with…”
Daffy’s voice trails off as his eyes frantically search around the room. Bugs is matching him step for step. The back of his knees bump into the bed and he falls backwards, landing with a bounce.
His eyes land on the closet as Bugs stops inches from his spread legs. “-an outfit! I need help picking out something to wear!”
Bugs’ arms cross as he leans over the duck in his bed. “Doll we both know your style is too eccentric for you to take any of my fashion advice. Now, what are you hidin’?”
Daffy scrambles farther up the bed as the rabbit’s knee settles next to his legs. “Nothing! I’m not hiding anything! There’s nothing to hide!”
Bugs pauses, his gaze calculating. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay. If it’s nothin’ then it’s nothin’.”
“Really?”
“Sure doll. But I want my gloves back.”
Bugs’ eyes settle on the white gloves that Daffy has clenched in his hands over his chest. Daffy’s eyes immediately search for his naked left hand. Just barely seeing something almost black looking settled in the gray fur before Bugs right hand snaps in front of his face.
“The gloves sweetheart? Unless there’s somethin’ you’d like to discuss?”
Daffy clutches the fabric tight, mind racing. Bugs reaches forward to grab the gloves but Daffy jumps from the bed and Bugs lands on his stomach instead. Bugs shakes himself out and rolls to the side, head propped up on his hand.
“Problem duck?”
Daffy keeps the bed between them as his every thought crashes together like an out-of-control roller coaster.
“Yes! No.” Daffy lets out a theatrical groan and then points at the bunny with his free hand. “You have to tell me who your soulmate is!”
“I have to huh?” Bugs rolls onto his back and settles against his arms. Daffy tries not to look too hard at the rabbit’s body laid against the sheets.
“Yes! Yes, you do so I can have a piece of mind!”
“Why does my having a soulmate bother you so much?”
“So you do have one! You admit it! Who is it? Do I know them? Are you close? When do you see them? You’re always with me?” Questions spew from the duck’s mouth as he begins to pace, completly missing Bugs rolling his eyes.
“Yeah doll. I am always with you.”
“There’s no way I haven’t met them! It has to be someone we know then because you’ve never introduced me to anyone new!”
Bugs stretches out his body and settles more comfortably against his pillows. “I’d say you know them pretty well.”
“Oh well then I do know them! Who is it? You have to tell me! I have to know!”
“Sweetheart, sit down. You’re pacing a hole in the carpet.”
Daffy, suddenly out of steam collapses in a heap at the end of the bed. Playing with the gloves in his hands and not meeting Bugs’ eyes his voice comes out in a whisper. “Is it me? Do you just not want them to meet me?”
He hears Bugs sigh as he sits up and stops Daffy’s twiddling hands. Bugs rests his left hand in between their bodies. “Doll it is you. You’re my one. You always were.”
There, in between gray fur is a soul mark the same color as Daffy’s black feathers.
“You’re in love with me?” Daffy grips Bugs arm, bringing it closer to his face. He looks between the loving look in Bugs’ eyes and the proof forever cemented on his body.
“Yes Daffy, I’ve known it was you since we met.”
“But my tattoo never changed!” Daffy clutches his fingers around Bugs tighter. “This isn’t fair! You’ve had to wait for so long and now you’ll have to wait longer!”
“Daff, we both know I’d wait forever for you.” He runs his fingers against the bracelet covering Daffy’s mark.
They hold each other for a second, just breathing.
In Bugs’ fiddling, the bracelet falls off revealing a stretch of black over the smooth feathers. “Doll do you have multiple bracelets on?”
Daffy looks up from where he was tracing the mark on his lovers’ arm. “Huh? Oh yeah I’ve had it covered up for years. I haven’t look at it in forever.”
Bugs’ ears perk up. “Years? How longs it been?”
“Since we met I think. I thought it was because I didn’t like seeing a blank spot but now I think it might have been from how scared I was about the mark not being yours.”
“Daffy, doll, sweetheart, what do you feel for me?”
“I love you, you have to know that.” He barely lets Daffy finish his sentence before he grabs the duck by the hips and drags him onto his lap, squeezing him tight.
“I love you. You can see that already but doll my mark changed after a month of knowing each other. Take off the bracelet.”
Daffy’s eyes were still wide from being hugged by the tune he loves so much. “But Bugsy what if it’s not changed?”
Bugs leans his forehead to gently press against Daffy’s. “Then I will spend every day for the rest of our lives lovin’ you while we wait.”
Daffy couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. Bugs couldn’t help himself, he has to kiss that smile off of Daffy’s face.
Daffy lets out a noise not unlike a squeal as their mouths meet. Kissing your almost soulmate is better than anything else. The passion behind Bugs’ moves reaffirm to Daffy that even if his mark is blank, Bugs will still be there and will still love him until his soul mark catches up with the love he feels inside for his rabbit.
Bugs is smiling when he pulls back. Before he can kiss him again, Daffy thrusts his wrist into Bugs’ face. “Take it off! Take it off! I wanna see1”
A laugh rings out of the rabbit as he tugs the bracelet off the duck while they locked eyes. They both look down at the same time to see Bugs the arm displaying his love for Daffy clasped with Daffy’s own left hand.
The color of Bugs’ own gray fur interrupts Daffy’s slick black feathers in a matching soul mark.