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Bugs dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples as the door closed behind Aaron and his parents leaving. Thankfully the parents had been suitably furious at their son, and agreed with his one week suspension. Aaron had looked haunted, like this was the first time he was realising his actions had consequences- like his actions could hurt people.
And it was only his first month.
A knock sounded and he lifted his head again.
“Come in.” He relaxed a little as Lola opened the door. “Hey, how are ya?”
“Me? Oh I’m fine. I came to check on you.” She smiled, sitting across from him. “Ambulance called during your first month has to be rattling.” The man groaned and rubbed his face.
“I’ll be fine, but jeez. How hard does someone have to throw a ball for glasses to shatter like that?”
Lola nodded, tutting a little.
“Pretty friggin hard.”
“You’re telling me.”
“You wanna come do paperwork in our marking group?” She offered, leaning against his desk. Bugs thought for a moment, and let out a long sigh.
“You know what? Yeah, yeah I would. Thanks, doll.” He smiled over at her, gathering up his folders and laptop.
“There you are!” Lola laughed, clapping her hands once in delight. “You just needed a little company.”
“What are you talking about?” He asked in amusement, picking up his bundle.
“When you’re actually in a good mood you call me those cute little old timey nicknames.” She beamed, standing up and grabbing his free arm. “Doll and toots, ooh! I love it.”
Bugs laughed, letting the woman lead him towards the teachers lounge.
“Guess who I got!” Lola called as she slammed the door open. None of the teachers even jumped, which went to show how often she was like this.
“Hey Bugs.” Daffy offered, saluting him lazily.
“Hiya, Daff.” He sat next to the other man. “So eh, what are you workin’ on?”
“If you must know, I’m planning out how many rehearsals we’ll need and how many shows we’ll have.” The man sighed, but there wasn’t any real bite to it, he even held up his notebook to show his planning.
“How many shows do you normally run?” He asked, genuinely curious.
“Depends on the play or musical and who I think will most likely get the parts. Don’t wanna overwork the kids but you don’t want them disappointed either.”
“Aw yeah, that’s nice. What did you end up choosing?”
“You can find out with the rest of the children tomorrow.” Daffy smirked, going back to his notebook.
What a little shit.
Well, no one was gonna out do Bugs Bunny at being a little shit.
“Aw, c’mon doc, you won’t even tell little ol’ me?” He pouted, batting his eyes. Daffy’s mouth twitched upwards, but he schooled his expression.
“Not even little old you.”
“Y- you ah- you won’t get it out of him.” Patrick snickered. “We’ve all tried over the years.”
“Not even Marvin can get him pissed enough to accidentally spill.” Taz also laughed.
“So, you can get flustered by Marvin, huh?” Bugs teased, raising an eyebrow at Daffy.
“Oh please. I’ve successfully held in what play we're doing every year since I started.” Daffy scoffed. “I doubt there’s anything you could do to change that.”
“Oh yeah?” Bugs smirked, an idea already fully formed. “Do I have your permission to try?”
“Go right ahead! Do your worst.”
“You asked for it.” He grinned sharply.
Bugs ran his hands through his hair and shook it out so the long bits fell and framed his face. He undid two of his buttons and flipped his collar inside of his shirt, creating a shitty illusion of a v-neck (he was in a rush, okay?). She slipped into her more feminine body language, and scrubbed at her face for a few moments to make her cheeks red.
She smiled over at Daffy, leaning over to get close to him.
“Hi Daffy,” she cooed, using her ‘Marilyn’ voice.
“What the fuck.” She heard someone whisper, but it was too soft for her to make out who.
“Uhh…” the man had short circuited, mouth dropping open as he stared at her. Perfect.
“I need your help.” She continued, keeping her lips just a little pouted.
“My… my help?” Daffy asked blankly.
“Uh-huh. It’s really important, Daff.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Daffy gulped, and she bat her eyes again.
“Umm…”
“I really, really, need to know what musical you’re putting on. My boss needs to know!” She said, making it sound stressed and anxious.
“Your boss? Oh- it’s uh- HEY WAIT A MINUTE!”
Bugs laughed as Daffy pushed her off, kicking her legs in delight.
“Ooh, I got you so close!” She cackled, clutching her stomach.
“What the hell was that?!” Daffy demanded, and Bugs was slammed back into the reality that she had moved to a very small town. She- he cleared his throat and sat up, fixing his shirt.
“You gave me permission to do my worst.” He said, trying for teasing and falling a little flat.
“It was fucking brilliant!” Taz crowed.
“Yeah! You did that sooo fast!” Lola beamed.
“I- I really felt like you we- were a g- a g- a woman.” Patrick said. Bugs relaxed a little, smiling up at them all.
“Am I a pretty girl?” He asked teasingly, running his hands through his hair.
“Beautiful.” Daffy murmured next to him, before catching himself and scoffing. “You’re a pretty annoying girl, that’s what you are.”
“Wow. Mysonginistic, much.”
“Wh- I didn’t- that’s not- I am not! All my favourite women are girls!”
“Riiiiight.” Bugs smirked, holding in a laugh as Daffy scrunched up his face and glared at him.
“Now listen here, buster!” He said, jamming a finger into Bugs’ chest. Bugs just smiled serenely as Daffy ranted at him.
Oh yeah. The chase was on.
—
Bugs had come out to join Daffy on duty in order to flirt with annoy him.
“Come on, Daff. What if I helped out the little techies?” He prodded. “I know how to rig a lighting gig.”
“I don’t need- do you actually?” Daffy cut himself off, giving Bugs a curious look.
“Oh yeah, I use’ta do it all the time.” He shrugged.
“Hmm… fine. Fine! You can help the techies, but if you come near my creative vision I’m kicking you out!” The man insisted. Bugs beamed, resisting the urge to literally jump for joy.
“You won’t regret it.”
“I already do.”
Bugs stuck his tongue out at the man, snickering a little as Daffy rolled his eyes. He looked back out at the yard to check on the kids when he noticed Rhodes stalking through. He went straight over to Wile and shoved a drink bottle in his face. Wile kept trying to push it away, but Rhodes kept pushing it back up. Wile started signing to the man, but the angle meant Bugs couldn’t see what was being said. He was also too far to hear what Rhodes said in reply, and watched as he shoved the bottle back in Wile’s face. He was just about to go intervene because what the hell, when Wile snatched the bottle.
Rhodes kept standing there, hands on his hips and foot tapping until Wile rolled his eyes and took a sip. He gave Rhodes a Look that to Bugs read are you happy now? before he looked back down at the bottle and drank more. Rhodes beamed and actually did a little hop like Bugs had wanted to do before, blowing a raspberry and going back to his classroom.
“That was weird.”
“Those two are always weird, don’t worry about it.”
That’s what everyone kept saying… but he was worried.
—
Bugs sat down between Daffy and Lola as he finished his piece at the staff meeting, ‘accidentally’ kicking Daffy’s foot as he settled.
“Sorry.” He whispered with a smirk, before paying attention as Rhodes jumped up to the front of the room.
“Alrighty guys, teachers day is coming up in a few weeks. We need to assign teams and get volunteers for events.” He said, holding up a notebook.
“Events?” Bugs asked with a frown.
“Oh, right. This is a little something we run for the kids. Once or twice a year we’ll give them a day off lessons, and us teachers will play games. Soccer, races, tag, stuff like that.” Rhodes explained.
“Oh, that sounds like fun. Sign me up for whatever needs a spot filled, eh doc?”
“Sure thing, Bennett.” Rhodes smiled, scribbling in his notebook.
Aw, he said his name as a name, and not as a thinly veiled insult. Rhodes must be warming up to him.
“Are we still doing basketball this year?” Lola asked, perking up in her seat.
“If enough of us sign up to do either a 3v3 or a 5v5, yup.”
“Put me down, R-man! You know I’m keen!”
“Lola for basketball… tag… anything else?”
“Ooh… yeah, soccer!”
“You got it. Wile, I’ve already signed you up for what you’ll be doing. Who’s next?”
Wile rolled his eyes and knocked once on the table to get Rhodes’ attention.
“And why would you choose what I do?” He asked.
“Because you always choose the same things, and the kids love to see us play against each other.” Rhodes grinned. Wile glared for a moment until his eyes sparkled.
“I want Daffy on my team.” He said. Rhodes froze for a moment, blinking.
“You want… Daffy… on your team?” He questioned slowly. Wile nodded.
“That’s… great. That’s great. Any teams Daffy signs up for I’ll make sure you guys are on the same team.” The man looked down at his notebook, scribbling. “And I… will be with Bennett.”
Oop, there was the insult again.
“Just put me down for all the same things I did last year.” Daffy sighed dismissively. “This is, like, the only time of year I exercise anyway.”
“Sure Daff.” Rhodes snorted. “I’ve seen you run around on stage before.”
“That’s different!”
“Uh-huh. Anyway, Marvin, what am I signing you up for?”
Bugs sat through the rest of the meeting, thinking so hard about why Rhodes would automatically sign Wile up that he didn’t even think to question why he was automatically in a team against Daffy.
—
Bugs was heading downtown to pick up a little after dinner treat, the route happening to take him past the school. He glanced over out of habit and nearly crashed his car when he saw a light still on. He managed to park and sprinted over, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw Daffy working through the window.
Wait, Daffy was still working? What the hell?
He grabbed his keychain and went inside, knocking on the open door of the teachers lounge. Daffy yelped and jumped out of his seat.
“You scared the shit outta me! I thought everyone else had gone home!”
“They had, and I happened to be going past and saw you still workin’. Daff, it’s nearly nine pm. I know you’re working out the audition schedule, but it will still be here tomorrow. Come on, let me drive you home.”
Daffy looked down at his paperwork, frowning.
“I need to…”
“I’ll buy you a tub of Ben and Jerry’s.” Bugs offered, ready to offer almost anything to get him out of here. Daffy blinked, looking up at him a little blankly. One more blink and his eyes cleared.
“Yeah, alright. Ice cream sounds good.”
Bugs grabbed the ice cream from a gas station, and Daffy directed them to a cute little lookout. They sat on the hood of the car and dug into their tubs.
“Okay, so I’ve been wondering.” Daffy said, sticking his spoon in his ice cream. “The other week when you did the bit where you hit on me… how the hell did you do that? Like, one minute I was looking at you, and the next second I was looking at this gorgeous lady! You totally transformed!”
“Ha! You wanna see transformed.” Bugs pulled out his phone and found a photo of his drag persona. “Meet Minty Fresh.”
“Holy smokes!” Daffy’s jaw dropped. He grabbed the phone and started zooming in on the picture. “This is really you?!”
“Yes-siree.” Bugs chuckled. “Been playing her since college. I could pay rent for mine and Wile’s apartment in one night sometimes.”
“Damn, I can see why. You’re a killer!”
“Well thank you.” He preened, feeling his cheeks start to flush.
“Do you have any videos?”
He found some videos of his performances, and watched Daffy watch them. The other was so captivated by them, by him, he could feel his heart beating out of his chest.
“Wow, you’re really good.” Daffy said after a few videos.
“Aw, you’re a sweetheart.” Bugs smiled.
“But the other day was different.” Daffy continued, looking over at Bugs again.
Bugs tried not to stiffen, and took another bite of ice cream to distract himself.
“Whaddya mean?”
“I don’t really know, but there was a difference. This is Drag, with a capital D,” he said, holding up the phone. “and before was like… like you were really a woman- or something.” Daffy shook his head. “Sorry, I probably sound-“
“And what if I was?” Bugs asked, looking out at the view.
“Huh?”
“What if I was? A woman?”
“Oh… are you?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Hm… well, I think it would suit you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Bugs felt her face flush again, and she smiled down into her ice cream.
“How long have you been thinking about it?” Daffy asked.
“Ugh. Months.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. Daffy tilted his head a little, watching her.
“What’s making you doubt?”
“I just- I don’t always feel it, y’know?”
“Eh- kinda but not really.” Daffy said. He reached under his collar and started playing with a string of pearls. “I’ve never thought about my gender like that, but I did question myself for a while until I decided that it was okay if I liked both, y’know?”
“Yeah, that one I know.”
“Don’t see why the same answer couldn’t work for your question.”
She sighed, laying back against her windshield.
“Don’t get me wrong, I have thought about it, but… there’s a part of me that just wants to leave it all as whatever.” She said.
“Is that part of you making you happy?” Daffy asked, making Bugs blink.
“Oh.”
Daffy yawned, and she remembered that it was late and he’d been working himself to death.
“Come on, let’s get you home.” She said, patting his shoulder.
“Bugs, I…” They both paused, staring at each other for a moment. “You do make a very pretty girl… as well as a pretty annoying one.”
Bugs giggled, shoving him a little.
“Jerk.”
“Smart ass.” Daffy snickered back. They both climbed back into the car, and Daffy directed her back to his place.
“Have a good night, Daff. Get some real rest, okay?”
“You too, Bugs. Hope you work it out.”
—
She got home and put on the dress she’d bought while out with Wile, just existing for a while.
Both could work…