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Ever since Bugs got the new script, he had been pacing around his trailer. It was supposed to be a small short movie with Daffy, the studio had been bleeding money ever since a few projects kept bombing in the cinema, so they had to go back to the original recipe for a desperately needed quick cash-grab, and what better than putting their top two stars that hadn't worked together for the last decade in a new movie. Despite Bugs' protests and dragging his feet, he couldn't get out of it, the contract was very strong.
He breathed heavily. It's just a short job, say a few lines, drop a few anvils on his co-star, and he could go home and try to continue avoiding the warm feeling he gets every time the Toon comes near him. He didn’t know how he would react. It has been ages since he last saw him. he wished he could say his crush had disappeared, but it has grown somehow stronger.
This feeling he had been suppressing for so long, ever since they met. Daffy had been insufferable, egotistical, a true diva, and somehow he could read Bugs like the palm of his hand and did nothing but annoy Bugs. Bugs was shocked, being the mascot of the studio, he is used to people sucking up to him and worshiping him, but Daffy never did. He rather cut his own foot off than do that. And ever since he felt a pull towards him, someone he couldn’t read, someone who, despite everything, was genuinely himself. He tried burying the feeling of when Daffy brushed into him, and worst of all, the feeling of jealousy that started to arise, especially the last time he saw him.
He and Daffy were just done shooting the last scene together for the movie, and they were wrapping everything up. Bugs went around congratulating the team for a successful last day when he noticed that Daffy had already disappeared back to his trailer. He had a pang of longing. He shoved back. He would just invite Daffy to go with him to a party so they can hang out. Once he was finished, instead of heading back to his trailer, he wasted no time in stopping at Daffy’s trailer even though it was farther, and with no knock, he opened the door to be met with Daffy making out with one of the male extras.
Bugs' stomach dropped. He felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart stop for two seconds. He saw only green. He wanted to shove the extra off and declare his love for his co-star, wanted to kiss him so hard he forgot anyone but him. He felt his hands shake with a new feeling, raw anger, sadness, and deep, deep yearning intertwined together. He forced his hands to hold back all these feelings and simply closed the door and pretended like he never was there. Instead, he went back to his trailer to drink his sorrows away, skipping the party the cast had planned. Daffy had tried to call him, but after the third missed call the duck gave up.
Ever since that incident, he refused to work with the Toon or be in any place the Toon was supposed to appear in too, so he wouldn't do anything he regrets or jeopardize his public image.
The public and media had been speculating for years about a massive fallout between them, but both actors and the company denied that. If only the public knew how much he was yearning for the duck, to be near him. It was intoxicating and over-consuming, he couldn't think about anything but running his fingers through his feathers, being held by the duck and being so close to him they would become one, breathing the same air as him, basking in his scent. And he needs that feeling to go away. He was Bugs Bunny after all, he couldn't fall so hard for someone. No one should be consuming every moment of his thoughts.
Despite his need to pull away, he couldn't help, but he kept his eyes on Daffy's projects as he went back to be paired with Porky while he was paired with Lola. Despite the distance and his contracted relationship with Lola, he just grew more jealous seeing whoever Daffy was paired with.
All other actors felt something had happened between them, but not exactly what. He remembered even Wile being asked at one point if he knew. Bugs didn't care about what they thought, but when he heard Elmer whisper to others that he heard from Porky that Bugs was jealous of Daffy, that is why he refused to work with him, he was pissed. What does that Pig even know about him? He gets to work with Daffy all the time, gets to be in his presence. Even if Porky dated Daffy, it wouldn't be a huge scandal, he wasn’t the mascot who had to appeal to everyone. Bugs only has to suffer through his longing for the duck.
The worst part is, Bugs didn't know if Daffy even saw him that way, he kept torturing himself every night with what would have happened if he pulled the extra off Daffy and kissed him instead. He dreamed about Daffy kissing him back, but in his nightmares the dream grew sinister. Daffy pushed him off, disgusted that he rejected and mocked the rabbit. It would destroy him, and if he knew Daffy, he wouldn't stop bragging about the fact that Bugs had confessed to him.
He breathed heavily, dispelling his bad thoughts, he needed to focus on the script. It was the usual script, new material mixed with old beloved classics, the usual cash grab, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. He finally got to the third page when he heard a knock on the door. He invited the person in when he was met with the face of his long-time friend and contract girlfriend, Lola.
Despite his hatred for PR relationships, he was forced into a contract relationship by the studio, they said it would improve his general appeal, but he thought it would dispel the rumors about his sexuality. He and Lola had tried dating at one point, but Lola was too smart for him. Despite his great acting skills she immediately caught on that he was pinning for someone else and she refused to be second place for anyone. After their breakup, she stumbled into him once before another contracted outing they were supposed to attend and caught him drunk, crying his heart out after watching a press release of Daffy and Porky together, and she silently got everything. Ever since she had been his greatest confidant, friend, and shoulder to cry on.
“Lola! Whatchya doin’ here?” Bugs said with a smile and a carrot in his hand.
“You know, just trying to be the supportive ‘girlfriend’” she said sarcastically, with an emphasis on the last word. “And kinda wanted to see your meltdown.” She said, smiling widely.
“Sorry to disappoint you, ‘doll’, I can handle myself.” Bugs said sarcastically, he knew Lola hated being called a doll, and he wanted to irritate her so she could leave.
Lola was pissed, and to calm herself down, she looked at the page Bugs was on, when she suddenly had a devilish smile. “So I get you finished going over the script?”
Bugs was still on page three, but he refused to let his friend call him unprofessional. What if he had been just trying to get out of the contract in the morning and freaking out all evening about meeting Daffy? “For a matter of fact, I finished reading it a few days ago.”
Lola's eyebrow went higher. “And you had no issues with it?”
“It’s the usual script, nothing I hadn’t done before,” Bugs said, waving his hand in her direction.
“And I get it you are not confessing your feelings to him today?” To which she was shot a nasty look from Bugs. Lola responded with a smile of a cat who just got the mouse. “Right, well good luck. You are gonna need it.”
“I don’t need luck,” Bugs said sarcastically, before a knock came at the door.
He invited the person in, and the head of one of the assistants came to view. She apologized and told him they would start in a few minutes. Bugs nodded and started heading out with the script in his hand, Lola smiling behind.
“I thought you were leaving.” Bugs said with a nasty look towards Lola.
“Are you kidding me? This is better than everything on cable. I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Lola said with a huge smile.
Was she skipping? Bugs wondered before he could question her, he saw the familiar black figure with his iconic bill, his face turned immediately to gawk, his mind saving all small movements the duck did. He hadn't seen Daffy in real life in so long, and seeing him in real life was doing things to Bugs he couldn't repeat out loud. Damn! he forgot how beautiful the duck was with his elegant black feathers and nice long bill and white necklace, he wanted to get drunk on his presence. Just being near him was too much for him, that duck was a higher power, sweetest torture, and he was becoming a masochist. Lola tried pulling him with a cough and bumped his shoulder, but his eyes were transfixed on the duck like a moth to the flame. The duck laughed and put his hand on Porky, who was accompanying him, and Bugs was seeing red.
He began heading out when Lola touched his shoulder with a whispered “Chill.” Bugs stopped, but his eyes stayed glued to Daffy, studying every detail, every feather, every small movement. “Wow, you’re hopeless. How didn’t I see it before?” Lola said.
Bugs started saying something when Porky cut their conversation “H-H-Hello, Lola and Bugs. It had been s-s-so long since we l-last met.”
Bugs wanted to answer sarcastically with his usual quip before Lola felt the upcoming retort answer with “It’s been so long Porky. It is nice to finally run into each other.”
“I don’t remember you being in the script.” Bugs said, and Lola stared at him with daggers in her eyes.
“I think Bugs comes off wrong. He meant- ” Lola started.
“No, I-I don’t mind, I am h-h-here-” Porky started
Daffy appeared out of nowhere, Bugs felt his world shift, and his heart stop when Daffy stood beside Porky, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Porky is here for emotional support. Like Lola here.” Daffy said in a matter-of-fact tone with a challenging tone while Porky nodded. The challenge was obvious. If Bugs wanted to throw a tantrum about it, he would simply do the same.
It has been so long since he was challenged, and Bugs is gonna enjoy winning this one, his eyes shone with mischief, mirroring Daffy’s, but before he could do anything, the director interrupted with a greeting to them both, and with that, the shooting day began.
The day was going smoothly for Bugs. So far, most of the shots were individual shots of each of them alone, so Bugs had time to sit down and enjoy watching his co-star while reading what he didn’t finish in the script, but he knew he just pretended to read while he stared deeply at Daffy as he acted.
Lola got closer to him to whisper, “Why not take a picture? It lasts longer,” causing Bugs to blush and getting her to be shoved back to her seat, with her smiling with her annoying knowing grin.
The director finally said, “Cut, that was perfect. Great job, Daffy.”
Daffy replied with a cocky smile, “As always, my skills are second to none.” This gave Bugs a pang of jealousy. He wanted to be the only one to paint that cocky smile on his face. “In your face, buck-tooth,” Daffy said, sitting down next to Bugs.
Bugs opened his mouth to reply before his eyes were blessed with Daffy drowning down a water bottle, which his brain played it for him in slow motion, with some of the water dripping down Daffy’s throat, causing Bugs to swallow heavily. He wanted to trace the droplets with his tongue, taste the cold water mixed with the duck's feathers and sweat, he want-
“Ouch” He yelled His head was suddenly hit on the head by Lola, everyone was now staring, Daffy included.
“You had a fly on your head.” Lola answered. Bugs ran his hand over his head, shooting Lola some hateful looks while she mouthed ‘Stop staring at him and pay attention’.
He looked at the director, who continued, “So, as I was saying, next we will do the meeting scene, remember the highlights, a greeting kiss and escape. Let’s start from the top”.
KISS? WHAT? There must be a mistake. He looked at Daffy, who was on page four of the script, and he immediately flipped to the page.
Right there, he stared at one phrase 'Bugs kisses Daffy on the mouth to confuse him', it was even highlighted by Lola, who had read the whole script. That is why she came to warn him at the start, before his ego took over. His breath caught up and his heart skipped a beat. He couldn't do that- have his first kiss with Daffy in front of others, what if he enjoyed it too much? What if he couldn’t pull away? He was a parched rabbit, and finally they were giving him water. He couldn’t let that happen. He needs to change that scene, he couldn't do that without melting into the kiss, not without losing himself in the kiss.
How could he even explain to the director to go in a different direction? It's not like Bugs hadn't kissed anyone before. He had kissed Elmer and Yosemite, even Wile received a kiss in their short, but he started talking, “I actually have some suggestions, a small alteration.”
Daffy looked annoyed, Porky looked confused and Lola smiled with a knowing grin. The director didn’t look happy, but Bugs continued, “How about changing the kiss into something else, like a pie in the face, for example.”
The Director started considering it and called the writer. Despite how much his suggestion might not be the best direction, he knew his words held weight, he was the company’s top talent after all.
When they were done discussing the changes, he looked back to his co-star who had disappeared along with Porky, Lola mouthed ‘Dressing room’, and Bugs immediately started heading there. He didn’t want a repeat of that year, finding Porky in Daffy’s arms would kill him. He had to get there to figure out.
That is why he found himself opening the dressing room without knocking when he heard muffled sounds “- assume the best in pe-” Daffy’s voice died down, with Porky’s gaze also pointing to him.
“Don’t you ever knock?” Daffy said, annoyed.
Bugs didn’t understand what he meant by that. “If you didn’t want anyone here, you could have locked the door.” Bugs said, “So, What’s up, duck?” he said casually, which got him the iciest look from Daffy and a starstruck look from Porky.
“Don’t start with me buck-tooth. What do you want?” Daffy said, looking angry, which caused Bugs to grin. He remembered why he fell for the duck in the first place, Daffy took no crap from him.
“Just stopped by to say, get you back to the shoot,” Bugs said. He looked at the deepening frown on Daffy’s face and for a second imagined kissing it away.
“The great Bugs Bunny graced us with his presence to humbly ask me to get back to work.” Daffy forced a smile. “Don’t make me laugh; you could have sent one of the assistants.” He said, with the smile immediately disappearing.
“Wow, Duck, you are being so hostile; you wound me. I am just a fragile little bunny after all.” Bugs said flattering his eyelashes.
“The only thing that would wound you is a bullet to the face.” Daffy replied tiredly, “Look, if you are here to rub it in that you got the script changed and, as always, got your way. I don’t care.”
Bugs looked confused “Whatever do you mean? It just a kiss.”
“I can see the headlines, ‘Bugs Bunny disgusted by his co-star, removes a joke kiss’. Great thing for my reputation.” Daffy said, annoyed with a clap, but despite how much time had passed, he could still recognize the hurt in his voice.
Disgusted? Why would Bugs be disgusted by his co-star. He removed the kiss to his benefit so he doesn’t have to face his deep feelings for Daffy. “Wh-” Bugs started talking but swallowed the rest of his sentence. what did Daffy think of him?
Porky had finally broke the silence “I th-th-think I should leave”.
Bugs and Daffy each answered contradictorily, with Bugs saying, with a dead-eyed look, “Leave,” while Daffy yelled angrily, “STAY!!” The toon looked between them, assessing who he wouldn’t like to anger more, before falling on Bugs, who was shooting daggers.
“I will see you in th-th-” the toon gave up with the rest of the sentence and headed out, Bugs know he could win that challenge without even trying.
“Are you happy now?” Daffy said angrily, and to be honest, it did make Bugs happy. “I can’t believe I have to work with you again. An egotistical rabbit with a power trip. Do you even know how much I tried to get out of this short?”
“I heard you had an unfortunate accident,” Bugs answered, he refused to admit he was worried sick hearing about the accident.
“Still didn’t work. Last time we were supposed to work together, you refused to be in the short. I didn’t get a new job for three years. So thanks for almost getting me banned from Hollywood for offending the studio's golden rabbit.” Daffy said fuming.
“I am sorry, didn’t know that happened to you. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” Bugs said genuinely. Now that he thinks about it, the first few years Daffy barely had any jobs lining up, Bugs had breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he wouldn’t run into Daffy at any of the big parties, but he didn’t know he caused this.
“I don’t care about your pity apology. You can shove it.” Daffy said angrily, “For someone who appears so free-spirited on camera, wearing women's clothes and kissing many different actors with no regard to gender. I didn’t imagine you would be so homophobic, you had me fooled for sure.”
“WHAT?” Bugs' brain was short-circuiting; slowly, the gears in his brain started turning, and he finally saw the full picture. Daffy had seen him that day when he entered his trailer, and Bugs put up a wall, refusing to answer him or talk to him, and even working with him meant one thing for Daffy: Bugs was disgusted by his sexuality, and the change of the script was the final nail in the coffin. “No, I am not-”
“Look, lie to yourself however you want,” Daffy said, annoyed. “I should go back to work since I might not have one tomorrow.”
Bugs stopped Daffy, who seemed more annoyed, and with all his frustration and yearning, he captured Daffy’s lips in a kiss. Daffy's eyes flew wide open in confusion mixed with realization before he finally melted into the kiss.
The kiss was sweet and electric. Bugs poured all his love and longing into it, and it was rewarded with curiosity and excitement on Daffy’s part, who, to his credit, chased Bugs' lips whenever he tried to break the kiss to breathe, only to deepen it.
They finally broke away when Lola's voice came with the opening of the door, “You idiots, at least lock the door.” Lola smiled fondly. “You both owe me one,” she said before heading out. “Enjoy the rest of your evening. Try not to be on front page news tomorrow.” She called out
Bugs blushed heavily when Daffy replied, “Can’t make promises. Now where were we?” before Daffy dipped him back into a kiss.
Bugs didn’t know what happened, but no one came again looking for them, and if they ended the night in Bugs bed, who would blame them.