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Baked goods oriented business was a hard thing to manage, Bugs would have just sold his inventions to live the rich cushion life, but he was bored and Porky had asked for help so now they were the CEOs of a very successful cake company, with Granny as their mascot, Bugs life couldn’t be any better.
Still, he found himself at an investors' party trying to get new collaborations with other companies. Usually Porky would handle this, but he had been busy teaching the new chef, so Bugs found himself here. He knew which CEOs to approach, as his company had prided itself on being organic, free, and green, so he just needed to approach a few indie brands to give them a boost and gain a better reputation.
He started talking to one of the CEOs of an ethical chocolate company when he saw Foghorn, he was the well-known CEO of Enormocorp. Bugs remembered reading about him getting married last month, so Bugs forced a smile. He knew the company had its own muffin man and had been looking for a new collaboration with a baked goods company, so making sure he got the contract would be a huge win for their company.
He came close to Foghorn to introduce himself, “Lovely to meet you, Mr Foghorn, I am Bugs Bunny, CEO of-”
“Pass, too short.” A black duck in a nice suit standing next to Foghorn said.
“I am sorry.” Bugs started.
“You heard what I said now scram.” The duck answered.
“Daffy, I say, Daffy, give the boy a chance.” Foghorn said, shaking Bugs' hand. “Boy, I heard so much about you. Your carrot cakes are to die for.”
“I still think you should cut back on the cake.” Daffy said point blank, pointing to Foghorn's guts, to Bugs' surprise, Foghorn laughed.
“That’s why I keep you around.” Foghorn said proudly.
Bugs could see the bickering, and he assumed this Daffy was Foghorn's new husband, so if Bugs wanted to play his cards right, he had to appeal to the crazy duck too for now. “Thank you, me and my friend are making sure every cake is the best it can be.”
“It is. I couldn’t keep the plate down, Daffy had to pray it from me.” Foghorn said.
“It was a massacre. Carol had to intervene.” Daffy looked annoyed, but Foghorn laughed so loud.
“Well in a matter of fact we are working on a few new flavors of cakes and I would like if you could attend the tasting this weekend. I know you had been looking to expand to the baked goods market, and I would love to make that dream come true.” He needed that contact and needed it fast, so he was desperate. The cakes were selling well, but he needed a repeating customer, and what is better than the customers of a huge company?
“That is a very tempting pitch son. Say I say That’s wonderful news, we would never miss it. Right, Daffy.” Foghorn smiled to both Bugs' and Daffy’s annoyance.
“Sure sounds like a blast, who wouldn’t like to spend their weekend tasting cakes instead of on a private beach in Italy like was planned?” Daffy said sarcastically.
“I am glad you understand.” Foghorn said warmly while Daffy just massaged his temple.
“I will be glad to have you both. I will send the details to Carol.” Bugs smiled, slipping away. Foghorn's new husband was a pain, and Bugs liked to avoid him, so inviting him wasn’t what he wanted, but it was at least a step in the good direction.
Bugs was waiting for Foghorn to appear, the guy was late. At least Daffy wasn’t here either, before he suddenly heard the footsteps of a small guy he embraced for the worst, which was what he received: Daffy was here.
“Hello, Daffy right?” Bugs said with a forced smile.
“Yeah, look, I don’t wanna be here either. Just Foghorn is now with his so-called ‘lover’.” Daffy spit it out like he didn’t like the person. “And poor old me is left alone as always.”
Bugs didn’t know Daffy’s life was so hard, just married and already being openly cheated on, he hoped at least they had an open relationship. he can see why Daffy would be upset all the time. He never knew that the rooster was capable of something like that. Does that mean Daffy is the trophy husband? He looked at Daffy, the duck was attractive for sure but not trophy husband level, maybe he was smart.
“So you sell carrot pies right? I am unsure why everyone would eat carrot pie sounds like an awful dessert.” Daffy added.
Or not, well, he sure doesn’t know what Foghorn saw in him because it sure isn’t the personality either.
“We sell cakes.” Bugs said flatly.
“Sounds too fattening. I am trying to keep my figure. I will pass.” Daffy said.
“It’s a tasting tour. You need to taste the cakes.” Bugs said, annoyed at the duck’s antics.
“You sound like Carol. But sure, work is work.” Daffy said, letting Bugs lead him through the factory. Bugs gave Daffy a tour of the place, but Daffy looked uninterested the whole time, trying to keep moving to Bugs’s annoyance. He and Daffy finally arrived at the test kitchen before a set of three flavors of mini cakes were laid in front of them.
Strawberry shortcake, lemon tart, and peach cobbler. Daffy looked uninterested and bored. He needed Daffy to like this if he wanted the contract. He offered Daffy a small plate to try, but Daffy still looked at him like he was offering him poison.
“They look awful, generic, uninspiring, and boring desserts. Is this the best you can offer?” Daffy said.
“I mean, it is different types of fruit cakes. What are they supposed to look like?” Bugs said, annoyed.
“I don’t know fruits. What even is this?” Daffy asked, holding the very obvious strawberry shortcake.
“It’s a strawberry shortcake.” Bugs answered.
“Well, it doesn’t look like it. What even is a strawberry?” Daffy announced, throwing the cake, which Bugs managed to catch. Bugs just looked done, at least he gets why Foghorn would cheat. The duck was a menace with no decorum. “It should look like fruit so the people can easily tell.”
“Like a trompe-l'œil cake?” Bugs aked.
“Didn’t know the president invented it?” Daffy said confused to Bugs face palm.
“It’s a French word.” Bugs said
“The president invented a French dessert. Didn’t know he was French? Does that mean I can be a president in France?” Bugs face palmed hard.
“Let’s just move on.” Bugs said, but now that he thinks about it. It is a good idea. Baking the cakes to look like the fruit they represent, it’s just cream covered with chocolate while keeping the recipe intact. Cakes that look like real things are huge online, so they can take advantage of that, and they have been trying to expand to a younger audience, so a trendy dessert will get their name everywhere. But on the other hand, it is a huge brand shift, their mascot is an old lady, so it won’t fit. They would need a division for it, maybe a collaboration or something with an upcoming young star, they could pull it off. Daffy was a genius. He can see why Foghorn kept him around. He could kiss him for the amazing idea he gave.
He looked at Daffy to thank him, but he noticed the guy had already taken a bite of every one of the mini cakes. “You were taking too long, so I got bored. These aren’t half bad. I just hate this part.” He said, pointing to the discarded fruit parts on the table. Bugs laughed, smart and funny, a killer combo.
“Thank you for the great feedback. I look forward to our collaboration then.” Bugs said, wiping away a tear. “If you need anything, I am here to help.”
“Thank you for the mini cakes, even though I still prefer the Italian private beach.” Daffy said to Bug’s warm smile.
The guy was special that is for sure.
Bugs and Porky had both loved Daffy’s idea, they met up multiple times with Daffy and Foghorn to smooth out the details before beginning to produce it with the support of Enormocorp, who, when they heard that it was Daffy’s idea, had two different reactions. Carol was skeptical, while Foghorn looked proud and immediately signed on to it. Bugs hated that Foghorn was leaving Daffy to go out with his mistress, so to make it up to him, he had to sign off on this. Yet he couldn’t risk speaking up, his company’s future was on the line, and Daffy seemed okay with it, at least as far as he could tell.
So there they were trying to find one of Enormocorp's upcoming young stars to represent their collaboration on this project. Bugs didn’t know they had this many stars. He was getting bored. This was his second binder, and if he read one more about another ambassadors who dreams of world peace he is gonna barf. He looked at Porky, who was over-researching the star he had, Foghorn had left for a lunch break while Daffy hadn’t joined. Carol explained, “he doesn’t know any of the stars, so he is useless,” she whispered, “as always.” That Foghorn didn’t hear, but Bugs, with his big ears, managed to catch, he understood why Daffy didn’t want to be here now.
The third ambassador with a pet that is her whole brand, and Bugs was starting to lose it. How can such a big company produce endless unremarkable stars with barely any personality? He looked at the pictures in front of him again in the binder. When he was thrown another set of binders in front and Bugs groaned, he needed an assistant to do this he hated how much Porky wanted to be very meticulous about everything going on with the brand.
“What are you looking at a girlfriend?” Daffy announced, looking at one of the binders.
“Daffy! We are g-g-gl-gla happy to have you,” Porky said, welcoming him. Bugs was happy to have another eye on this, but he had barely any hope they had been looking for hours.
“Of course you are. I am a thrill to have around,” Daffy said proudly.
“We need a face for the collaboration.” Bugs answered, taking another binder to look through.
“Sounds boring, but if it is just to look at a bunch of attractive women, it beats hanging out with Carol. Foghorn is too busy today.” Daffy said, taking one of the new binders, looking at just the pictures of the stars, before throwing it and taking another one, doing the same, then taking another.
Bugs massaged his temple. Daffy is no help, he and Porky will have to go through the binders Daffy was throwing. His idea was probably a fluke, like Carol probably thought. When he heard the duck laugh, he stared at him.
“What is it?” Bugs said, looking at Daffy, who kept pointing at a picture in the binders.
“She looks so much like your mascot, look at this hideous hair and old-timey clothes.” Daffy said, shoving the picture in Bugs' face.
Bugs didn’t want to see someone that Daffy was mocking, but when he looked at the picture, he saw what Daffy was talking about, the girl was perfect. She looked like she could be their mascot’s granddaughter with her cottage core aesthetic. Bugs snatched the photo from Daffy’s hand and turned it around to read the info about her: she loved baking, and her brand is healthy baking, she baked old recipes, some even from a very old book, and then refined them for a new palate to taste more modern. Bugs read all this and yelled, “She is perfect! Daffy, you are the best!!” Bugs said, hugging Daffy for sparing him from another week of looking through binders.
Porky snapped his head and looked at Bugs, who was hugging Daffy very tightly, while Bugs couldn’t see. Porky did see the blush creeping on Daffy’s face.
“What you would have done without me?” Daffy said as Bugs showed Porky the picture of who celebrated alongside him.
After the two times that Daffy had been a great help, Daffy was invited to every meeting. Bugs heard Daffy use the word ‘forced’ instead as he sat annoyed and bored in every meeting about the collaboration. Foghorn had given Daffy full control of the collaboration while he was out vacationing. Bugs bet he was probably with his mistress while Daffy sat bored at endless meetings, but it was a good opportunity for him to get to know Daffy.
The duck kept surprising him whenever he said something in the meeting, which he rarely did. It was very insightful, he could see why Foghorn married him: a smart, capable business guy who would sometimes say a joke to lighten the mood, and the worst part was Bugs was falling for him.
Daffy had visited the factory multiple times, and despite Porky being available and more than capable of explaining everything to Daffy, Bugs always volunteered, to the point Porky looked at him suspiciously.
In his last visit, Bugs had been showing Daffy the design boxes, which looked like a cute toy box, as was decided on, collectibles Daffy had said at the time. He was right, they looked very fancy. But Daffy by mistake had stepped on something and ended up with a sprained ankle, which forced Bugs to go with him back to Foghorn’s villa.
The villa was huge bigger than anything Bugs had imagined, he could see why Daffy put up with the cheating. The place was huge but somehow cold and deserted, upon entering, there were some awards for Enormocorp and Foghorn, nothing was here about Daffy. Bugs felt sorry for him.
He took Daffy’s arm as he led him to the kitchen, looking for an ice pack in the fridge, he barely found anything there.
“You don’t have any food?” Bugs said, looking worried, giving him an ice pack and putting it on his leg.
“No one is home but me, so Carol doesn’t order food, and the chef doesn’t come, I just eat in the company’s lunchroom.” Daffy said casually, like this wasn’t the most cruel thing ever for someone to do to their husband.
“What about dinner?” Bugs asked.
“I usually eat pizza alone.” He said, pointing to the garbage filled with pizza boxes.
Bugs felt bad, all this time, he could have invited Daffy to eat with him. He remembered that sometimes Daffy stayed with him until late evening nevertheless, Bugs never invited him to have dinner with him as a thank you.
“Do you want to have dinner together from now on?” Bugs suggested, “I hate to see you eating alone after you spend all day with me. I will pay for it, of course.”
Daffy smiled “Really!” He tried to stand up but immediately fell down, luckily Bugs caught him with ease, looking at his eyes, Bugs realized they were too close, way too close.
He could feel the warm breath of Daffy on his fur, the piercing eyes staring into his, and he could feel himself still getting closer to Daffy, until he finally did what he always had imagined for the past few months and kissed Daffy.
The kiss was sweet, like nothing Bugs had ever experienced. He held tightly to the duck, deepening the kiss, their bodies finally feeling the warmth of each other, he didn’t want to break the kiss. When he heard the soft hum of a car getting closer to the entrance, he parted from Daffy, who looked upset, before he finally heard what Bugs had been hearing. Daffy looked at Bugs, then at the door, before saying, “It’s Foghorn…You need to leave.”
Bugs didn’t need to be asked twice, he sat Daffy down on the chair, giving him a quick peck before he left.
Ever since that, Daffy hadn’t been in any meeting, every time he asked about him, Foghorn looked upset and angry before asking to drop it. So Bugs did, guilt eating at him.
He tried to ignore his feelings, but since Daffy had been gone, he had seen Foghorn with a new person, a dog named Barnyard, who, unlike Daffy, always fought with Foghorn and stormed out before being seen again with him the next day. Bugs can see why Daffy didn’t think of him as a challenge.
Despite this, he still missed Daffy. Whatever joy he had in the project had become tedious work, no quips from Daffy, no smart remark or a sweet joke. He would have quit if not for the fact that Foghorn had said Daffy would attend the launch, so he worked hard for just his one chance to see Daffy one last time.
Bugs was tired, the product was launching today, but he couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing Foghorn’s arm around his duck tonight while he had been with the dog all the past month, he was pissed for Daffy’s sake. It was the launch party, the last time he would be seeing Daffy before he would be so far out of his reach. Foghorn had moved the division Daffy was managing to another state, and Bugs can’t take that.
Foghorn probably knew something had happened between them, so he was shipping Daffy off, he was probably intimidated by Bugs since, unlike the rooster, Bugs would never cheat on Daffy. Daffy would be with him everywhere if Daffy allowed it. Every fleeting second without him made his life seem dull and boring. If Foghorn only knew how much he was jealous of him at the moment, being able to kiss and hold Daffy.
He had to confess his feelings to Daffy, let him decide, at least he won’t regret it if Daffy rejected him. He was eighty percent sure Daffy was gonna laugh in his face. Foghorn had a lot of resources and power and provided Daffy with everything he could ever need, while Bugs had a decent company nowhere near as big and influential as Enormocorp, but he had more than enough love for the duck to last a lifetime.
He said, looking in the mirror, “You can do this!” straightening his suit and tie, before he exited the bathroom looking for Daffy, who was wearing a similar suit to what Foghorn usually wore, probably a couple outfit to seem more like a unit. He took a deep breath, gathering what was left of his courage to do what he craved for so long this past month. He headed towards Daffy, who was looking at which champagne glass to take. Bugs just took his hand, leading him down one of the empty office rooms before locking the door behind them.
“I only wanted a drink, you don’t need to be so-” Daffy started before he was cut off by Bugs' lips on him, giving him a long kiss that took his breath away. They finally parted, with both of them having a huge smile plastered on their face.
“I missed you.” Bugs whispered.
“Of course, you can’t have enough of me, rabbit.” Daffy answered, and when Bugs replied to him with another kiss, he answered with “I missed you too.”
“Run away with me” Bugs finally said, this was their best chance to live happily Foghorn had made it clear that Daffy was a precious thing to him he wouldn’t let go off, so this was their only chance to be happy. “We can go anywhere you want.”
“WHAT?” Daffy said, confused, “Good April joke, rabbit.”
“It’s December.” Bugs said, “It doesn’t matter. Your husband doesn’t love you, but I do. We should leave before he notices, take a plane somewhere together.”
“Husband? What husband? I didn’t know I was married. Did I sign something by mista-” Daffy started.
“Foghorn, your husband Foghorn?!” Bugs reminded him.
“Ewwww, Foghorn is very old and-” he looked like he would almost puke. “He is my godfather, I have known him since I was a duckling. He is like a father to me.”
Bugs stared “Then who is his husband?”
“Barnyard, you know the dog. He just hates me, so Foghorn makes sure we never interact.” Daffy said, “Foghorn tends to be very overprotective, I am his only godson, after all.”
Bugs face palmed, so that is why Daffy had asked him to leave, he probably was scared Foghorn would think the ankle injury was because of Bugs, and that is why he hadn’t seen Daffy in a while. Foghorn must have kept him in his room until he fully healed, the rooster must have been angry and upset at himself for letting that happen under his watch.
Bugs looked at Daffy, who was now smiling. “So you love me and want to run away with me?”
Bugs blushed hard, before mastering the courage to reply with “I do.” Before capturing Daffy in another strong kiss, when they finally parted, he asked: “How do you feel?”
“I mean you could be a bit taller. Maybe some muscles would help?” Daffy said, touching Bugs' biceps. Bugs replied with another kiss.
“I can’t believe I love you, the most annoying duck I have ever met.” Bugs said.
“I love you too, my short bunny.” Daffy said, receiving a kiss on the cheek. “I thought you would kiss me on the mouth again.”
“You need to earn it now.” Bugs said, running as Daffy chased him.
He probably needs to ask Foghorn for permission to date Daffy later, but now they need to celebrate their product launch, and Bugs couldn’t wait to have Daffy by his side in their future collaborations. He will make sure of that.