Chapter Text
Bod opened his patio door, breathed in the first cold air of fall, and felt an instant relief away from his stuffy apartment. His roommate, an old classmate of his, liked to keep the home warm and cozy, and even after two, almost three years away from the graveyard, Bod just wasn’t used to that. He wasn’t sure he ever would be. So he plopped himself into the available lawn chair and snagged a taffy from the bowl Jason liked to keep out there.
Bod was… happy? The past couple of years had been rough, but he was here now, with a place to call his own and a job just down the street. He may have learned a lot from the graveyard, but he couldn’t deny growing up there had hindered him a lot. Silas had made it easier for him, having given him a passport, money, and a birth certificate that put him at a measly 15 years old, but leaving the graveyard was hard in other ways- in learning to interact with the living, in finding a place to settle down, in taking care of himself.
So it was nice, finding an apartment with Jason and his daughter. They had met at the night school just last spring, when both were in tight situations. Now they were both more stable than either of them had been in a long time. So even if Jason kept the house too warm for Bod’s comfort, even if Hannah asked him a lot of questions he never wanted to answer, it was nice to finally know what his place was in the world, that he had a place to come back to when his day was rough, without worrying that the whole world would collapse at the blink of an eye.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of cracking wood- the patio door being opened- and Bod twisted his head around to see who it was.
“There you are,” Jason said, looking around the back yard. When his daughter showed her face beside him, he patted her on the head. “I’m taking her to school now. Can you pick her up?”
Bod nodded and swallowed the taffy. “Glad to,” he said.
“Thanks.” His roommate began to shiver and made a face. “Just be sure to grab a jacket.”
“Yeah,” Bod said, and gave Hannah a little wave goodbye. When the man shut the patio door once more, he turned back to watching the sky. He only had a few minutes left until he had to get ready for work, and he was going to spend those minutes taking in the fresh air.
Bod was at work when he noticed the giant rabbit. He had passed through the sliding doors of the store, just as any other person would, but his presence made Bod do a double take. No, that wasn’t just a tall man, and no, that wasn’t just a costume- there really was a giant kangaroo rabbit walking through his grocery store.
He snapped his jaw shut when he realised that no one else could see the creature (but he noted, curiously, how a toddler cried “bunny!”, stretching out of his seat in the grocery cart to touch him. He noticed how the kangaroo rabbit patted the child on the back, smiling gently, and the boy’s mother was none the wiser.)
After the mother and child had left for the produce section, the rabbit straightened himself and looked about the grocery store. He locked eyes with Bod, who was only half way through stocking the holiday aisle. He approached him, saying “You must be the man I’m looking for.”
Bod quickly glanced at the pack of candy corn in his hand and placed it… wherever. He didn’t really care about stocking anymore, so the candy was placed randomly on the shelf. He stared at the bunny suspiciously. “And who are you looking for?”
The bunny became uncomfortable then, grabbing one of the toy ghosts from the “to stock” cart. “Well, you wouldn’t have the misfortune of being named…” he hesitated. “Nobody… would you?”
Before continuing the conversation, Bod checked to see that no one besides the mythical man was watching, and he faded from sight. The man stared at Bod, or the place he seemed to be, in awe. “I would have that misfortune, actually, and I’m proud to have it.”
“Incredible,” the bunny whispered, waving a hand in front of the man’s face.
“Stop that,” Bod hissed. “You can see that I’m still here if you’d just focus your eyes.”
The bunny took his hand back, but insisted on speaking with Bod. “I need to talk to you.”
He would have said something along the lines of, “I’m a little busy right now,” but determined that whatever was happening was infinitely more important than work. Even if it wasn’t life or death, there was a giant rabbit talking to him and he figured that warranted at least a little concern. It was, at the very least, the stuff of fiction. “Wait here. I’ll take you to the break room in a second. We can talk there.”
The bunny raised an eyebrow, but crossed his arms and leaned against the shelves as Bod reversed his fading trick. Bod gave him a once over before stumbling off to the front desk of the store- the customer service counter, where the manager on duty liked to avoid work. He leaned on the desk, holding his temples in a feigned headache.
“Owens,” Margie said in surprised concern. But just as he was only pretending to be in pain, she was only pretending to care. “Is something wrong?”
He grimaced. “I think I’m having a migraine. Can I sit in the breakroom for a little bit?”
She hesitated, as she always did when even slightly inconvenienced, but after determining that the store wasn’t terribly busy, she agreed. “Take the expired cart back with you.” Of course she had more work for him, but Bod wasn’t going to complain.
He nodded, and when he got back to his new friend in the holiday section, he grabbed one of the carts full of expired junk food. "So what's your name?" he asked, relaxed now that he was away from his boss, but still uneasy about talking to such a stranger.
The rabbit slowed his pace so that Bod was in lead. "I'm E. Aster Bunnymund, but everyone just calls me Bunny."
"Bod," the man said, stopping to show Bunny his nametag.
"Oh, goody. I'm not sure what I would do, calling you Nobody all day."
"I understand. I don't mind my name, but," he stopped again when he almost ran into a customer whose cart was parked between him and the back room. He smiled at the customer and when she moved on, he continued, pushing the cart through the double doors. "But calling me Bod or Owens makes people a lot more comfortable."
Bod abandoned the cart near the trash, and led Bunny to an adjacent room with the lights out. After closing the door behind him (and turning on the lights), Bod sat in one of the rolling chairs. He faded again, in case someone were to walk by and see him talking to himself. Bunny remained standing.
"So," Bod said, surprised by how calm he was. "Who are you and what do you need from me?"
It was then that Bunny decided to sit. "My name is Bunnymund," he said again, "And I've come to ask for your help on behalf of the Guardians of Childhood."
"I'm afraid I don't know what that is," Bod confessed.
"That's okay. I'll tell you."
Bod listened carefully as Bunny described the group, which might have been even more unbelievable than he. The gist, Bod was told, was that figures from children's stories were not only real, but also protecting children and the concept of childhood from whatever might be a danger. After Bunny was sure Bod understood this, he continued to say that there was a crisis concerning children which required specialized help- specialized help in the form of a young man named Nobody Owens.
Bod laughed, not in amusement really, but in disbelief. "I don't think I can help you guys. I'm just a kid in retail."
Bunny raised his eyebrow again. "But you're not just a kid in retail. Manny, he's told us of you. We know how powerful you are."
"Powerful?" he asked. He wasn't very powerful, not since he lost the freedom of the graveyard. While he could still fade, and he could pass through the walls of his apartment (something he discovered only recently), he had lost a great deal of his power since he had left home. Seeing ghosts, for one thing, was a no go without their permission, and he had never been very talented at haunting or dream walking or invoking fear (let alone terror).
But Bunnymund did not seem doubtful at all. "Of course," he affirmed. "A mortal like yourself with your ability…" He backtracked. "Look, it may not seem like a lot to you, but it's something, and right now, we need that."
He supposed Bunny was right about having significant power nonetheless, but it wasn't only his lack of power that worried him. There were just some things that he couldn't handle, no matter his experience with the supernatural. He asked, "What kind of crisis is it?"
Again, Bunny became quiet, his voice only a whisper. "The children are being possessed and haunted by the hundreds," he began. "We've always had one or two cases like this in the past, but never this many, and never so strongly."
Bod listened, horrified by what he heard. The ghosts he knew would never do such atrocities, but then, his expectations of ghosts were limited to those from his home. "You're kidding," he tried.
"I'm not."
Bod covered his face in order to think more clearly. "And what is it that you want me to do? I can't exercise them and it's not like some guy is just going to convince them to leave."
"It wouldn't be like that, we don't think. In the past we would handle it ourselves, but it's too much this year and we're afraid it will get worse. There has to be a reason that so many ghosts are possessing the children now so we'll need your help discovering the cause and putting a stop to it."
Bod huffed, but couldn't deny that it was a logical plan. It was pretty empty, sure, but the process Bunny was describing was the best way to go about such a situation.
Still, that sounded time consuming, and Bod didn't have time anymore. He had a job, bills to pay, and people who depended on him. Bunny wasn't saying how long this was going to take, but it definitely wasn't just a day's work.
He groaned. "Is there a way I can contact you so that we can talk more later?"
At his words, Bunny reached into his bag. "North thought you might say that," he said, while handing him a snowglobe.