#bearshipping

Itwas so sudden. This feeling of longing after someone. For someone whohe spended nearly every day with. Somehow seeing Grizz laughing,excitedly shouting like a child no longer annoyed the polar bear. Hefound it endearing.

At first, Ice hatedhimself for feeling this way, for succumbing to an emotion he thoughtmade him weak. This was his brother, he always took pride in beinghis older brother, there was no chance that Grizz would ever like himback that way. Ice Bear knew his limitations, and while he had knownhe was gifted in various ways, he believed that Grizz would prefer tobe with someone more verbal, more lively, someone who could actuallymatch his level of energy and excitement.

Ice Bear beganavoiding Grizz, telling himself that these feelings would pass. Yetwherever he went, the grizzly bear followed. To the store, to thekitchen, to the city, through the forest, even his fridge at somepoint. Grizz would talk to him through the closed door, and wouldnever leave until very late. Ice Bear never had the heart to tell himto leave. He even popped up in the bathroom onetime.“Ice Bear is bathing.” Ice said, covering hisbody with the shower curtain.

“Yeah, I know. Ijust… wanted to let you know that meat con is coming around nextThursday.”

Grizz was actinginsufferably bashful. Ice Bear should’ve been the one feelingembarrassed, but Grizz was unorthodox in every way you could thinkof. The polar bear somehow wasn’t surprised at this, just annoyed.

“Ice Bearknows. And Ice Bear was already convinced to go.” Against hisbetter judgment, Ice Bear had agreed to go with Grizz to meat conweeks ago. It was like Grizz had robbed him of his ability to say no.

“Ahhh, yeah,right, totally. It’s just, I wanted to make sure you were still onboard.”

“Leave.”

“Are you for realabout going with me? Like, are you reeeeeally sure? I bought thetickets.” He shoved the tickets just inches away from Ice Bear’swet snout. Ice saw Grizz’s desperate eyes poke out from behind thetwo tickets, seemingly tiny compared to the giant pieces of paper inhis face.

“Ice Bear knowsyou bought the tickets.”

“… Bro?”

“Sigh… Yes.”

“Awesome! This isgonna be so-” And Ice Bear kicked his body through the closed door.They had to get it replaced. Grizz followed him to the departmentstore and back all the way home, to the bathroom door frame. Grizzchattered away at him the whole time while trying to take care offixing everything. Screwing the hinges, holding the door, etc, allbecause he was the big brother, so he should be the one to take careof everything. Despite how haughty that sounded, Ice Bear couldn’tstay mad at him for very long, and Grizz took notice of that. Darnhim. Darn him and his boyish smile.

Meat con was fun,and it made Ice feel nervous, mostly because of the dozens of selfiesthat Grizz wanted to take with him in the same frame. Dozens ofpictures were taken that day. At some point they slammeda rude jerk in the face with a hanging ham and caught it on video.Grizz knew it would go viral, he just knew it. He was exhilarated.When they heard the announcement that there would be acook off, Grizz grabbed Ice Bear and dragged him to the stage. Hedeclared that there was no one he knew who could cook better than his“awesome little bro,” raising his arm above his head in earlyvictory. It garnered a lot of hateful looks, but Ice Bear didn’tmind. He was simply happy to be held in such high esteem by Grizz.And he knew he was right. There wasn’t anyone who could cook betterthan Ice Bear, he knew.

The firedepartment’s sirens could be heard throughout the neighborhoodlater that day. Apparently it was just unseemly for a human to bedefeated by a bear when it comes to cuisine, so one of thecontestants tried to cheat by sabotaging the bear. Unfortunately forhim his plan backfired, literally, and meat con ended in adeliciously scented blaze.

Grizz’s bellyrumbled fiercely as they set off toward the bus, the scent of roastedpork bacon and steak permeating into that characteristic SanFrancisco smog. Grizz told Ice Bear how much fun it was to spend timewith him.

“You’re like thebest person to spend time with. Nothing is ever not exciting with youaround.”

Ice Bear was takenaback. “Ice Bear doesn’t understand.”

“What’s that?”He asked, quirking his head to the side in a very cat-like manner,his boyish smile never fading.

“Ice Bear is…”And for a moment he stopped to take a deep breath to ready what hewas about to say, but Grizz was always quicker to speak.“What’sup, bro? You feeling alright? You’re never this… You never notknow what to say. I mean, you always know what you wanna say. Howcome you’re breathing all weird?”Now it was IceBear’s turn to be confused. He never knew what to say to people.The polar bear had very few words he could ever share with hisbrothers, not to mention strangers. He was quiet because he knew helacked a quality that others took for granted, the ability to havelong conversations with each other. Granted, he felt that mostconversations never really got to the point, and Ice Bear was nothingif not quick and methodical.

But being told healways knew what to say? Him? Silent shadowy Ice Bear? “Ice Bear isalways quiet.”

“Hey, that’strue, but,” he said that last word at length, putting a paw to hischin as though thinking a very deep thought. “when you do talk, youalways say what you mean to say like reeeally fast. I mean, sometimesit doesn’t make any sense, but I like that about you.” He shoutedthat last bit. His smile was wider than usual, and that was sayingsomething. “You’re just… so so sooo cool, dude. Everything thatwe do together is exciting. We take pictures in front of pigs wearinghats, we totally get to wail on jerks who try to pick on you, and weenter cook offs and win! It’s awesome!”

“Ice Bear is…quiet. Is that okay?”

Grizz tilted hishead in confusion. “Whaddya mean?”

“Is it alright forIce Bear to be… silent?”

“Well sure it is!Why wouldn’t it be? People are different, and that’s what’s sofun about life! And it’s what makes you fun too!” He side huggedIce Bear tightly, and when Ice looked down, he thought he saw abright red blush lining Grizz’ snout, but then he thought that itmust’ve been his own and nothing else. “I love spending time with you bro.”

“Really?” “Yeah! Of course it’s true! I like spending time with you more than anything.” He gasped and let go of Ice. “Don’t tell Pan Pan I said that, it would kill him. Ohhh, I can’t pick favorites! I’m the older brother!” Throughout all this he dramatically threw his arms in the air and buried his head in his paws.

And soon IceBear began to feel stupid for feeling so defeatist. That was unlikehim. It was like he forgot how amazing Ice Bear actually was. Ice Bear had a certain suspicion for months by then. Why was Grizz acting more clingy than usual around him, and him alone? Maybe it was a false hope he was feeding himself, but Ice Bear wanted to believe that Grizz’s feelings dug deeper than just a familial bond.

When they got offthe bus and walked toward the cave, Ice hugged Grizz from behind,surprising the big bear.

And unable tocontain himself: “Ice Bear likes Grizz.”

“What? Oh, uh. Ilike you too bro.”

“No… Ice Bear…Likes… Grizz.”

Grizz was quick topick up on what he meant.

“Ohmygosh! Youlike me!?”

Ice Bear felt readyto die before he realized that his brother was excited, not angry.  

Grizz tackled him tothe ground, hugging him and nuzzling his chest, telling him how muchhe liked him back.