Kyle thought the date seemed to be going pretty well.

The slightly burly rabbit sat and smiled across the table at the handsome young polar bear named Charles as he spooned the last of the tiramisu dessert into his muzzle. The ursine let out an appreciative rumble.

“That was delicious!” The bear said. “The whole meal was fantastic.”

“Indeed it was.” Kyle agreed. “I can see why this is your favourite restaurant.”

“I still don’t know how you managed to guess that when you brought us here…” Charles chuckled.

“It was just a lucky guess!” Kyle said. “As I said, I’d heard a lot of good things about this place.”

Charles reached across the table and took Kyle’s paw in his. “So, any other plans for our first date?”

A thoughtful look crossed the rabbit’s face. He suddenly glanced about at their surroundings, a private booth tucked away at the back of the restaurant.

“Something wrong?” Charles asked.

“No.” Said Kyle. “Just checking to make sure we’re not likely to be disturbed for a few minutes.”

“What do you…?”

The rabbit interrupted the bear by snapping his fingers and saying “Sleep.”

The reaction was immediate. The polar bear slumped in his seat, eyes closing and head dropping to his chest. He was in a deep hypnotic trance.

Kyle smiled at this, enjoying the fact that the polar bear had no idea the rabbit had managed to surreptitiously hypnotize him when they first met. Which was a little surprising, given that they had met online on a forum for lovers of hypnosis. But then, Kyle hadn’t told him just how talented a hypnotist he really was…

“That’s right, just relax.” Kyle said, speaking quickly, keeping an eye on his surroundings, to make sure the waiter wasn’t going to make an appearance before he was done. “Deeper and deeper into the trance…”

“Deeper and deeper…” Charles murmured.

“Now, we’ve visited your favourite restaurant.” Kyle said. “What would you like to do next for this to be a perfect romantic date for you? Relax and answer honestly…”

“Take a walk…” The hypnotized polar bear replied. “Through the park… cuddled up against you… loving you more and more, want to be close to you…”

An explosion of warm emotion washed over the rabbit at that confession, overwhelming any lingering guilt at using hypnosis to give him an advantage like this. After all, he was making the polar bear happy…

“When I snap my fingers again, you will awaken.” Kyle said, spotting the waiter approaching. “And you will not remember being in a trance.” He snapped his fingers with a few moments to spare before the waiter arrived to deposit the cheque on their table.

As the waiter departed again, Charles was blinking and shaking his head a little. “Huh? What were we talking about just now?”

“Just trying to decide what we should do next.” Kyle smiled. “And I think we should take a walk through the park. While cuddled up together.”

Charles was surprised. “That’s just what I was thinking! That would be great!” He noticed the cheque and immediately reached for it. “I’ll just take care of this…”

“No, I said this would be my treat.” Kyle said, also reaching for it, his paw meeting the bears on top of the cheque.

“You paid for the theatre tickets earlier.” Charles insisted. “This one is on me.” He sighed and clicked his fingers. “Sleep.”

Kyle slumped where he was sitting, paw slipping away from the cheque, head bowing, as he slipped into a deep hypnotic trance.

“That’s right, my cute bunny,” Charles said as he scooped up the cheque. “Listen to my voice, sink deeper and deeper…”

The polar bear ran his eyes over the hypnotized rabbit, smiling gently. He just loved seeing him like this, even since he had managed to hypnotize him without Kyle realizing during their first meeting. He had made very sure he had no idea and counted himself lucky the rabbit hadn’t done likewise.

“Now tell me,” The polar bear said. “Have you put me in a trance since last time?”

“Yes,” Kyle said, sleepily. “Just now, to find out what you would like to do next… Want to make you happy…”

Charles let out a low chuckle. He found it adorable that the rabbit actually thought he had managed to hypnotize Charles without being noticed. But the polar bear was too experienced a hypnotist not to realize, not to notice the signs and clues. And then it had just been a matter of asking him about it under hypnosis for confirmation.

He’d also kept a close regular check on what Kyle was using hypnosis for, and so far, he’d only been giving himself an advantage in making Charles happy, which he saw as kind of sweet. And so, the polar bear was happy to play along for now. After all, he was doing exactly the same thing…

“Very good.” Charles said, soothingly. “Now, you are going to let me pay for the meal as it will make me happy for you to let me do so…”

“Let you pay…” the rabbit murmured.

After a moment’s thought, Charles asked. “Do you know any good coffee shops in the area? Any place you might like in particular?”

“McCoy’s Coffee…” The rabbit replied instantly. “Great little place… very good coffee…”

It only took a few seconds for Charles to look up the place on his phone. It wasn’t too far away. A nice last stop on a great date, hopefully the first of many. And where he’d probably let Kyle know he knew about the hypnosis he was getting up to...

But for now… “When I snap my fingers, you will wake up and not remember being in a trance.” He said, before snapping his fingers.

Kyle blinked, looking momentarily confused.

“Thank you letting me take care of the cheque.” Charles said, taking out his wallet.

The confusion on the rabbit’s face disappeared. “Of course, if that makes you happy.”

“It does.” Charles nodded, fishing out a credit card. “Hey, I was thinking, after our walk in the park, how about we grab a coffee before calling it a night? There’s this place I’ve heard good things about and been meaning to try, McCoy’s Coffee.”

“I know the place.” Kyle said, with a broad smile. “They have great coffee.”

“Then it’s a plan!”

The two of them looked adoringly into each other’s eyes, each thinking how lucky they were to have met, and each looking forward to all the love and hypnosis they hoped would be their future together…