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Ever since Bugs was young, he had always questioned what it felt like to finally meet his soulmate, his parents had told him about how they had met and fallen in love with each other before finally seeing colours their minds couldn’t imagine.
"Your soulmate has to love you for you to see the colours," his mother said. His father had told him his favourite colour was the soft pink that painted his mother’s nose, but to him it just seemed like another shade of grey, nothing special about it.
He had always imagined what his soulmate would be like: someone sweet and beautiful. That was what he thought when he met Penelope, but she was not the one, he didn't care then. It broke him when they had broken up, she wanted to meet her soulmate and refused to stop him from meeting his.
"We owe it to ourselves to find them so we would never question if we missed out on our true love," she had said back then.
He sometimes questions if he had made the right decision of letting her go.
He dated many afterwards, feeling disconnected the more time went on, different faces, different genders, still the same thing kept happening. No amount of love he poured would make the grey go away, it just left him emptier and sadder. What killed him more was that many of his exes had found their soulmates afterwards, a few even invited him to the wedding. It felt like rubbing salt on the wound.
So he was once again sitting in a bar nursing a carrot martini while complaining to his best friend Daffy about his recent breakup. "So, like the usual, she wasn’t the one. I truly loved her too.”
"You're torturing yourself, bub. You have to start living the bachelor life like me. No soulmate to worry about, life full of babes, new one every day." Daffy said, taking a sip from his drink.
" And when was the last time you found any ‘babe’?"
"Hey, at least I don't date someone for months before I realize they aren't the one and have to break it up. Sounds miserable. No, thank you."
"The sad life you are leading sounds awful, no one to go home to, all alone in that cold apartment."
"I'd like you to know I have someone to go home to."
"Your fish don't count, Doc." Bugs replied.
"What fish?....oh, the sushi bar. That reminds me I am forbidden from entering the pet store, there was some issue with fish. I would love some for my birthday tomorrow."
"Your birthday is not until six months." Bugs said, raising an eyebrow.
"Our friendship anniversary?" Daffy said, thinking like he was going through a list.
"That's nine months," Bugs answered.
"My parents' birthday?" he said, running through all his options.
"Your mom in two, while your father in eight."
"Your birthday?" Daffy finally said hopefully.
"I am not getting you a gift on my birthday."
"Why not?" Daffy said, giving him puppy eyes.
"That's not how birthdays work, you're supposed to get me a gift." Bugs smiled, annoyed.
"Fine, I have Porky to go home to, we are roommates after all."
“That’s not what I meant. Don't you rather be spending your nights talking with someone you like to hang out with? Someone you enjoy going on a vacation with? Having dinner with? Making them laugh?"
Daffy started thinking about this. Bugs knew he would be his stubborn brat self as usual, declaring he needed no one but himself, he never knew what Tina saw in him when they dated. He at least was funny with every quip he added, always trying hard despite his bad luck and his sharp mind when he put his mind to something.
“You know, someone you like listening to? Joking with? Just seeing them makes your day better.”
"Someone like you?"
Bugs opened his mouth to retort about it being different, but suddenly everything around him was covered in colours. His eyes travelled around before landing on his companion, who looked almost the same except his bill, which was usually grey, had turned to a beautiful bright colour. He didn't know what the colour was, but it became his favourite at that instant, it was his soulmate colour. How could he dislike it?
Daffy had joined a new experiment Sisyphus, he had told him a very secret experiment only the best loons were there, he had said making Bugs proud of him, until Daffy started coming back injured, every time it was worst than the one before, he started losing his beautiful feathers that Bugs adored. Bugs hated this, he hated seeing his soulmate in pain, he hated that Daffy refused to talk about the experiments and, most importantly, he hated ACME.
Daffy had promised to get him the best gift for their anniversary, so he wanted to work hard to earn it, and it was just a few months away, so Bugs swallowed his complaints. Daffy was always stubborn, and he loved him for that, but seeing him walk every day to that job just to come home to Bugs sad and hurt broke Bugs's heart over and over again. Daffy was also slowly degrading mentally, he would flip suddenly at every move Bugs made, at some words, but despite begging, Daffy refused to quit. He couldn’t wait until their anniversary passed so this would finally end.
Slowly, the months passed and their anniversary crept in. As always, he was waiting for his soulmate after work with the usual first aid kit. he had planned a romantic dinner for the two of them. It was their anniversary after all, he was just making the finishing touches when it happened. The beautiful golden glow had turned into a soft grey colour. Bugs slowly realized the colours had drained from his world.
Bugs had thought of the worst, his soulmate Daffy was gone. He broke down for what felt like hours, numb to the world, he waited, expecting a call from them to inform him of his passing, but after a while he started thinking. What could kill a Toon? What was the goal of these experiments? Whatever it was, he realized they didn't want him knowing.
The silence finally broke with a whisper of someone saying, "Get rid of the bunny, no loose ends."
He knew it was time to go. He quickly put on a trench coat and pocketed a picture of him and Daffy, it was the only thing worth anything in this world right now. He couldn't see the colours of his soulmate again, but it was now engraved in his mind forever.
Even if he had to go to the end of the earth, he will burn ACME down. Whatever happened to Daffy, he will get to the bottom of it even if it costs him his life. He had already lost everything what is his lousy life worth now?
He finally found Daffy. It took so long to track him. When he saw him, he cried from relief, but Daffy didn't recognize him, his eyes glazed over like he was nothing to him, all the usual love and happy look replaced with indifference, it killed him.
Daffy was drawing with so many colours he couldn't see. If Daffy was painting, that meant he could still feel how much Bugs loved him still, with every colour change and every stroke of his paintbrush, he at least knew someone out there loved him and wanted him back, even if he didn’t know who it was, and it was comforting enough for Bugs.
Bugs had visited many times, sneaking in when no one was looking, watching Daffy paint. He watched in silence as Daffy painted, promising to avenge his lover for whatever they had done to him.
Bugs had once sneaked in after the trial had started, his heart had skipped a beat when Daffy asked him if he was the model, to which Bugs nodded. Daffy spent time painting while Bugs gave him small updates about the court case against ACME but refused to say the name. After he finished talking, he let Daffy rant about the place, the terrible quality of the food, the beds and the rude staff, reminding Bugs of old times, cuddling while Daffy complained about his work at ACME, he smiled softly at him, letting his ears droop to the side as he stared at his lover like a lovesick bunny.
"Now I have to change the whole painting. You can't hold a pose, you are a terrible model, even if you are awfully pretty." He said, throwing away the paper he was sketching on, and started sketching on another paper.
"You think I am pretty?" Bugs said, striking a pose.
"Pretty annoying if anything, another pose wonderful exactly what I needed," he said, throwing another paper, eliciting a small giggle from Bugs.
For a split second, his world was full of colour that quickly faded away, It reminded Bugs, Daffy was still there and he finally decided to help that second was enough for Bugs, he needed ACME to pay so he was no longer hiding. The moment ACME fell, he could finally spend the rest of his life next to his soulmate, even if no moment like this happened again, it didn't matter at all. He would do anything for Daffy.
ACME was finally getting what it deserved, and Bugs was happy, especially since Daffy was getting better. He couldn't believe that Daffy was finally discharged with him and safe. Daffy still didn't recognize him, but they were slowly working on it.
The day it finally happened was simple. Bugs was telling Daffy about how they needed to get sushi since they hadn't had it for some time, Daffy simply said, "You still owe me a fish."
Bugs laughed, and with that the colours flooded his vision, he couldn’t help but cry, Daffy smiled warmly, before being swallowed in the biggest hug Bugs could muster, Daffy was finally here, finally loved him and this time they won’t take him away.
It took so long, but he is finally here, despite how long it has been, orange remains his favourite colour. It is, after all, his soulmate colour.