I'm Not That Mad

5

"Rose, you don't have to be so cruel to them," Carroll said, watching as Kanin tugged on one of their drooped down ears, "You scared them."

The three of them sat at one of the picnic tables in the courtyard, waiting for Ozzy to hopefully show up. Well, Carroll and Rose were sitting at the table, Kanin had decided that they'd prefer to sit on the grass beside the twins. Their ears were drooped on either side of their head, reminding Carroll of just how big they actually were. They almost covered the front of his body completely. The twins both noted that Kanin was leaning heavily towards Carroll, his head practically being in his lap.

"They'll be fine," She said, rolling her eyes, "You're fine, aren't you  bunny?"

She reached over, running a hand through their hair, and rubbing gently onto one of their ears, causing a flinch.

"Your majesty, please don't touch me," They mumbled, moving their h"ead away from her.

"Your majesty?" Carroll asked, raising an eyebrow, "Rose, you've broken them. They haven't called us that in months."

"I don't see the problem here," Rose hummed, shrugging, "Finally relearned some respect."

Her brother sighed, scratching gently behind one of Kanin's ears as they leaned their head into Carroll's lap. Rose had never been as particularly kind as her brother was, especially when it came to the servants.

"Because that's what you are," She had told them one day, her hand forcing their head up, "And that is all you are ever going to be."

Carroll had been mad at her after that, scolded her for an hour. Kanin couldn't even remember what they had done, but she was mad at them. They were covering bruises up for almost two weeks afterwards.

"This isn't Wonderland, Rose," Carroll snapped, "And Kanin is our friend."

"Carroll, they're a servant," Rose sighed, rolling her eyes at hi, "Mother always said you were too soft."

"I think you're wonderful," Kanin mumbled, quiet enough for Rose to not hear them, "You're not soft at all."

"Oh, you really think so?" Carroll asked, running a hand through their hair, "That's very kind of you, bunny."

---------

Ozzy wasn't quite sure what he enjoyed more. Watching Kanin stumble through an apology, or watching the way Rose's grip tightened on their upper arm whenever they stumbled through their words. He knew that the sight most likely shouldn't be bringing him any joy and deep down, they did feel a little bad for them. 

But they got themselves into that, no one asked them to act like that.

"So what you're saying," Ozzy said, cutting off the rest of the frankly pathetic, attempt, "Is that you're sorry?"

Kanin gulped, nodding a bit as Ozzy tilted his head, studying them for a moment.

"Have you never apologized to someone before?" Ozzy asked, "I would have thought you'd be good at that by now, since everyone's so desperate to remind me that you grew up in the queen's court."

"I didn't mean to make up upset," Kanin said, shrinking back a bit, "I didn't know that would make you mad."

If their ears could droop any lower, they'd be touching the ground by now.

"You don't know a lot of things, do you?" He asked, "Maybe you should have stayed in Wonderland, bunny."

"I really am sorry, Ozzy," they said, not quite bringing themselves to look him in the eyes, "I didn't mean it."

"Yeah, you seem to 'not mean' a lot of things," Ozzy said, rolling his eyes, "And I don't forgive you. Think of a better apology, and maybe I'll reconsider it."

"They really didn't know, Ozzy," Carroll tried.

"No, don't give me that," Ozzy scoffed, "They called me feral. They've told me I should be put down."

"You said what to him?" Rose demanded, reeling on them.

Kanin flinched back, getting closer to Carroll in what Ozzy guessed was a way of seeking some kind of protection.

Ozzy almost felt bad.

"They really didn't-"

"No they meant it," Ozzy said, cutting him off, "They meant every word, I'm sorry, but this forced apology has been a massive waste of my time and I have homework to do."

"Ozzy-"

"I'll see you later, Kanin."