2.03

The last time Anton had seen the bunnyboy was when the latter bit his neck. It was also his first day of experiencing how strong a bunny rabbit demihuman could actually bite. To this day, he still felt as though a good chunk of his neck was bitten off, nevermind how gruesome that sounded.

It was both annoying and thrilling at the same time, to be a predator at the mercy of a little prey. It didn't even sink in to him that he'd passed out and only realized it when he came to hours after the bunnyboy had sunk his teeth into the side of his neck.

He had woken up alone in his office, three minutes late for his nightly pills. He had to rush over to the emergency cabinet at the side and hurriedly take two round, brown pills, one darker than the other.

That's what he gets for teasing a bunny too much. He silently chuckled at his predicament.

It's been two whole weeks, and the most he could see the bunnyboy was behind his… pet, being protected for some reason. Camilius was being too paranoid, Anton concluded. He's just a runt wolf. A harmless creature. The most damage he could deal was a measly bite that's not even half as painful as his other black wolf peers.

See, the two of them were the runts of the Selvan family, both Aleister and him. Aleister was soon accepted for his strange genius, followed by Anton after two years for being the only one bold enough to go beyond what's morally right. Err… socially right.

He wasn't even morally sound to begin with. Well, his existence wasn't, at the very least.

So to find the perfect prey and suddenly have it bite back was both frustrating and amusing.

He drank the blood sample from the vial. Once emptied, he threw it to the side, it shattering into bits and pieces as he did his mad scientist laughter. He thought he sounded nice and suave, so at least that's something.

Feeling a little better about himself, he ordered his twin henchmen to abduct the bunny rabbit for him. Such is the way of an evil wolf who everyone calls a "runt".

He's not a runt. He's beautiful, thank you very much.

But nothing could match his disappointment when the bunny finally sat tied up in front of him. The bunny was prettier, that much was true, but why wasn't he moving like how Anton had pictured it?

His hands were tied together behind him, and so were his ankles, leaving him vulnerable to whoever's around him. He had a blindfold on so he may not see whoever's in front of him. A perfect trap.

Anton carefully peeled the blindfold to peer at the bunny's eyes. They're closed. He'd forgotten the twins had drugged Jinx.

My bad.

He re-tied the cloth around the bunnyboy's eyes. Still, without an audience to his embarrassing mistake, he felt more confident and sat up straight in front of the bunnyboy. He also controlled his tail to remain still, because a wagging tail is a dog's behavior, not a wolf's. He waited for Jinx to wake up.

And waited.

And waited…

And… waited…

…so much so that his back was almost hunched over, sore, when the bunny finally woke up.

As an abducted target, the first sensible question from him was, "why am I here again..?"

Nah, that sounded too.. unconvincing. But Anton, immersing himself in the role of a savior, so he still said his next line,

"Don't move too much. You'll only hurt yourself..!"

Even though Jinx wasn't struggling at all.

"If.. if you knew I'm Aleister Selvan's son, you should know it was a mistake to kidnap me..!" the bunnyboy cried and tugged at the ropes around his wrists for dramatics. It earned an amused laugh from the other person.

"Relax," Anton said as he approached the bunnyboy with quiet footsteps across the floor. "I'm trying to save you here."

"Not the kidnapper? Where are they?? No.. who are you???"

Jinx's blindfold was carefully pulled off him, the sudden lighting striking his eyes. As he blinked away the blur, he came face to face with the ever elegant Anton. Only this time, the frail man looked riddled with concern.

Anton made sure to put on his best acting hat on.

"Uncle Anton..?"

But so did Jinx. He made sure to seem scared like the small bunny he was. "Uncle Anton.. w-why am I here?"

He tried to tug at his restraints again. Anton gently grabbed Jinx's chin to tilt his head upwards. "Calm down, Jiji," he cooed with an assuring smile, however stark its contrast was against the dim lighting of the room. "I'm here to save you now..~"

"Please.. untie me now, Uncle.." He murmured, pouting right after.

Nah, that was really too unconvincing. His boredom was unwittingly shown on his face. Anton's angelic signature smile contorted into a wry smirk at the realization that the bunny had been playing him all along. Now this new version of him fitted his looks better, like a wolf in sheep's clothing… but make it a snake hiding in a wolf's hide if that makes sense.

"I don't wanna~" Anton playfully hummed. "At least, not yet."

Not only did he reveal his antagonist face, but also his hidden unnatural strength beneath the helpless runt facade he'd built upon for years when he casually picked up the bunnyboy that was still strapped to the chair with ease.

"I was going to invite you today to hang out with me, but who knew you were so committed to that one-dimensional snake pup."

Rolling his eyes, he went on his merry way, carrying Jinx out of the room that was revealed to be a storage room inside his office. He placed the chair back down near his work table, where he sat behind and continued working.

And then it was quiet. So utterly quiet.

Anton had been thinking of ways to converse with the bunny rabbit, but now, none came to mind when he needed one most.

After a while, he gave up and sighed. He cleared his throat and gave the bunnyboy a sideways glance. "Not gonna speak, little pie?" If he can't be social, then let the bunny do it.

Jinx immediately made a 'what the fuck' face like he was offended by the nickname. "What, you expected me to chat like I'm not tied tightly to a chair?"

"That's vaguely relevant, don't you think?" Anton shot back with a gentle laugh. He rolled his swivel chair closer to the bunnyboy to pinch the tip of his nose, all while scrunching up his own as if he couldn't get enough of his cuteness. "Plus, aren't bunny rabbits naturally chatty?"

Pause.

Huh?

Anton noted how Jinx was looking at him like he was the dumb one. Maybe he was, in this context. "They're not.. chatty..?"

Jinx only blinked again with his deadpan. That confirmed it anyways.

"Uncle, why don't you untie me first and then maybe we can talk, hm?" Jinx offered, but by bringing that up, Anton's tail perked up along with his dog ears.

No, wait— we've established they were wolf ears. Wolf.

"No can do, little pie. You're here for a reason than just for company, you see."

As Anton inched closer again, the bunny rabbit could only push his back flat against the backrest of the chair he was tied to and raise his head — almost throwing it back just to show rejection. Of course, the socially inept wolf runt never got his signal.

He's in his villain role, remember?

"As you may know," Anton began, maybe deliberately ignoring the defeated sigh that escaped from the bunnyboy's lips, "rabbits are naturally dumb, as most of the smaller prey are."

Something that Jinx had probably heard before. Ehem.. chapter 1.5???

Anton stood up from his seat and leisurely walked towards a bookshelf at the side, from which he pulled out a book. It wasn't dusty as one might expect of a book that was obviously never used among all the other things in his immaculately spotless office.

He excitedly shuffled back to Jinx like a penguin that found a good pebble, only it was a thick textbook in his hands.

And as the rabbit had anticipated, it was Calculus for Dummihumans.

Jinx's eyes squinted, this time more unconvincing than the last. "What's… that for..?"

Obviously, the man wouldn't hit him with it. Jinx had known that from a past experience. Anton sat the book down onto the table before them and opened it to a random page.

"Can you answer this for me?" he asked, brimming with intrigue and slight excitement.

"Can't." Jinx dryly replied, matchinf a deadpanned stare with it.

"Why?"

The bunnyboy languidly shook himself, showing the runt wolf how he's tied up.

"Oh- pfft sorry.."

Anton easily untied the rope with a tug on one end. Well, his hands may be free, but unfortunately Anton didn't seem to want to untie his ankles yet. No.

Jinx knew Anton wouldn't untie it until he answered the questions in the book.

「 "Host, I suggest you still try to plead for your ankles to be untied." 」

「 "Why..?" 」

「 "Anton's an unpredictable character, unlike how you'd assumed Camilius would be. The latter has patterns, the former has none." 」

Furan Shi felt his hands run cold. "Uncle…" he pouted again, and this time his eyes started watering. "Untie me… please..?"

It was as if a switch was flicked inside him that Anton was almost swayed. Almost.

Nonchalant and then crying? No way. "Why are you crying now?" He asked anyway, brows meeting slightly in the middle.

The bunnyboy's tears started flowing. Anton had no choice but to untie the ropes that bind his ankles together in a hurry. "Shit- I-I didn't mean to make you cry…"

He could feel some teardrops falling onto the crown of his head, but paid it no mind. His precious nephew was crying, and although he looked more scrumptious that way, Anton wasn't one to betray his brother's trust.

Jinx was finally free. He could let go of his crying skill, but the aftereffects were no joke. He has a mood-dependent personality, and once he's in a low mood, everything would feel like shit.

Anton pitied the bunnyboy with that sad look on his face. "I-I'm sorry, little pie…" he offered a hug, too, as he apologized, which Jinx took weakly.

He felt the bunnyboy hugging him back, and his tail couldn't help but do a little whip.

"Uncle, stop scaring me… wuuuwuuu…."

Ah, his scent. His tail did another whip. His nephew just smelled too good not to hug him a little tighter, and tighter, until he felt the bunnyboy gently tapping his back.

"Uncle… too tight.." the bunny shyly reminded him. He reluctantly let go and leaned away to stare at his prey- his nephew. He was saving himself from Aleister's month-long lecture about Jinx not being his food. In a literal way, sorry.

"Can you still do Calculus, my little pie?" Jinx meekly shook his head 'no'.

Anton settled into giving the smol creature a nice head pat, a warm hug, a kiss on each cheek, and some pocket money, too.

"For your personal use, baby bunny," Anton had said as he casually pushed towards him a stack of bills. And then Jinx found himself standing outside of the runt wolf's office, like he'd been here before and it wasn't just deja vu, but fate repeating itself.

Ahem- 1.5..

Strangely enough, Anton also felt as though he'd done this before, even if it was his first time conversing with the bunnyboy. He even had to resort to kidnapping him from those grubby Fontaines because the bunny just didn't have time to hang out with him.

Or maybe he was still shy about biting the runt wolf on the side of his neck. Anton subconsciously held up a hand and cupped the bandaged spot.

A strong bite. Definitely not an easy prey. Maybe he'd just have to buy one from the Juicy Bunny again.

It was then that he heard a certain python's voice yelling at him from outside. He quietly snuck out, only to witness the young Fontaine python hugging his prey tightly.

"You stup— master…" Camilius rasped, out of air from all the running that Jinx could feel his heavy breathing on the crown of his head. "I've been looking for you..!"

He watched the two interact for a bit more before butting in to answer Camilius' question to the bunnyboy.

"Where have you been-?"

"He was with me this whole time," Anton answered for him.

The two youngsters both turned to the door at the side to find Anton Selvan standing there with his arms crossed, leaning at the door frame. "If anything, Jinx here should be the one scolding you as his pet, no?" A corner of his lips tugged upwards in a small smirk. "What have you been doing, Camilius? Didn't you know Jinx was kidnapped?"

Anton was only known to be friendly to everybody because he's the only trusted pharmacist of some kind within the compound. More importantly, he was a runt wolf. Like, who else could he hurt with his feminine body..? He watched the young python fight against something inside his mind — his ego, probably — and suddenly crouch down. Anton was confused at first, until the young man suddenly hugged the bunnyboy's waist, the serpentine tail wagging and thumping against the hard floor beneath them.

The most unexpected part was Camilius slowly tilting his chin up to give Jinx an unusual kicked puppy look. The bunnyboy began to gently ruffle Camilius' white hair. The latter's tail shamelessly wiggled more in response.

This was actually a very ridiculous thing to watch until the end, yet the runt wolf couldn't help but feel bitter about the bond of the two.

They had only been together for less than a month, and yet somehow they looked like they'd already met in a distant past.

"Don't forget to come visit me again, little pie," he found himself saying when he sensed the two were about to leave. Jinx turned to him and offered a smile so sincere, Anton forgot about wanting to eat the bunny rabbit (literally).

"I will come visit again, uncle," the bunny confirmed as he held the python's hand — something the runt wolf's eyes didn't miss, "and by then, maybe I can answer the problem sets in your textbook."

The two departed, leaving Anton Selvan sighing heavily by the doorway to his office. He continued to gaze at them longingly, until he remembered to look at his watch and curse under his breath when he saw he needed to take his pills. He hurriedly went back inside.

That's what he gets for wanting a bunny too much. He silently cursed again at his predicament.

——————————

「 Completed mission: "Meet Uncle Anton Selvan"! 」 

「 Reward: Added 1000 C points to system wallet 」

He was, again, resting against Camilius' chest in a hidden spot in the garden, his phone in hand. Camilius couldn't separate him today from it, but now, seeing the bunnyboy's unusually drooping ears — who knows how Camilius could tell when the bunny's ears were naturally drooping? — he just let Jinx have it.

He was browsing for products in the system store, but on the outside, it only looked like he was browsing on Nozama. It was an effective way to inject more dopamine into his system, and by extension, improve his overall mood.

The more he scrolled, the more his mood soured.

Camilius fished the phone out of his hands and flipped the bunnyboy. He laid on top of him, an arm supporting his upper body. His long tail slithered around Jinx's waist, effectively trapping the bunnyboy. This was so Jinx could focus on something else.

"Master, I told you I can buy anything for you," he softly spoke with a trying smile, caressing the side of Jinx's face.

Can you buy me a fucking "Scenario fixer (perverse ver.)", a "Pet slime (spicy)", or "Skill: Zeus' Touch (lvl 1)"?? No???

Outside, Jinx gave back a small, embarrassed smile. "I-I don't need anything, thank you.."

Camilius looked at the phone screen anyways, but his eyes widened at the product displayed. "Master… you don't need this. I have two of them."

Ah, hell.

「 "Raum… don't tell me that product is displayed?" 」

「 "Unfortunately, it is." 」

Jinx closed his eyes and played dead. Camilius chuckled at the cute sight of his embarrassed master. He playfully nudged his cheek with a finger. "Master, it's okay. We're connected intimately. No need to be shy about things like this with me..~"

"Shut upp… ughh.."

「 "What was it about Anton again?" 」

「 "Averting the topic about that product, are we?" 」

「 "OTL" 」

「 "Ahaha. Anyways, the NPC Anton Selvan just seemed like an interesting individual. He reminds me of someone. Mind observing him for me?" 」

「 "Raum von Corvus corone, surely you are a capable system agent for that simple task, no? 」

「 "Oh, but Jinx von Lepus, it is more fun watching everything through your point of view, rather than a bird's eye view." 」

The two had a little more polite bickering before Furan Shi eventually agreed for the rewards. That was so he could buy the skill "Zeus' Touch (lvl 1)".

And to Camilius, he shyly batted his lashes to distract the young python from the shameful product displayed on his phone screen. "I will give you a kiss if you let me visit my uncle again."

"Anton?" Camilius' face immediately darkened at the thought, his tail subconsciously coiling tighter around the bunnyboy like a new corset. "Why?"

"He seems cool," was Jinx's casual reply, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible about it, even though it was getting harder to breathe. As a last resort, he pecked the python's lips. He felt the effects immediately as Camilius suddenly loosened his tail.

"Sorry about that."

Jinx kissed his lips again. "That's alright." He felt the other grabbing his tail, making him giggle and squirm slightly. "Ah, but what do you say?"

And, leaning a little closer, which made Camilius blush, he added, "can I??"

Camilius had to give him a small nod. Jinx kissed him again as his thanks.

「 "New! Mission: Isn't it time to join the mafia?" 」