(Marsh and Heian are so much fun XD)

It was extremely hard to pretend that he wasn't hearing Ranger's thoughts now. He'd most definitely heard the revolutionary one when the guy was upstairs, but when he came back down afterward, he was cool and collected, though albeit a little nervous.

So adorable.

"What are you staring at?" Ranger grumbled as he started hand washing the dishes that hadn't fit in the dishwasher.

The boys were great at farm work, but when it came to inside the home... some things were lacking. Ranger had pulled his hair back into a tiny ponytail to keep it out of his eyes while he was looking down to wash, but seeing him differently so suddenly was making it hard for Heian to focus. On one side, he couldn't just randomly run his fingers through his hair while it was tightly tied... but on the other, it was freaking adorable.

He blinked when the end of a damp ladle abruptly poked the end of his nose.

"Don't get any pervy ideas just because I kissed you for making me breakfast. I was starving this morning," Ranger said, his tone scolding but his face tinting pink at the memory.

Heian bit his tongue on a verbal and physical response. He wanted to slip his tongue out and lick the item poking him, but he didn't want to push his love too far. Today had already been a miracle for them. No need to mess it up with perverted jokes and fooling around. Besides, he didn't always have to be thinking about Ranger in that way. The guy was amazing in his own right, and even looking past his gorgeous appearance and work ethic, he was a nice guy who had a rare and beautiful shift, liked to ride horses and sleep, and was perfectly happy just chilling on the couch watching movies on his down time or spending some extra time with his animals.

I can do all of those things, too. Nia would also love to spend some time with you, as well.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he finally replied with a growing smile as he turned toward the counter and continued wiping off the clean dishes that were beginning to pile up on a towel they'd spread out.

Of course you haven't, because you haven't gone to sleep yet since it had happened, he heard Ranger think to him, unintentionally, he was sure.

He was one hundred percent guilty there, though.

"Not that it really matters, though," Ranger muttered as he focused exceedingly hard on scrubbing a cup that didn't really seem all that dirty.

I love you.

The man suddenly stopped scrubbing and looked up, his cheeks now a soft red color. Heian lifted his eyebrows, pursing his lips and shrugging at what he knew must have happened.

"Sorry, I'm trying not to overload you," he said, watching as Ranger just took a deep breath and turned back to his task. Having overheard that one thought still seemed to be bothering him, though, so Heian hurried to dry most of the remaining dishes, then made his way into the living room area so that he could give the other man some space.

He was just about to sit down on the sofa and turn on the TV when he heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs at the same time a different person knocked on the front door. They'd called Walker and Marsh down a few times, but after a while the food had gotten cold. Figuring they could just heat it up, they'd called them one last time about ten minutes ago.

Walker paused at the bottom of the stairs, then slowly walked toward the door, seemingly nervous.

Is he expecting someone?

A quiet growl sounded from the top of the stares, but he couldn't see its owner yet. The sound had Walker pausing with his hand on the door, however, and turning to glance back toward Marsh.

"Don't worry, I can handle them. You stay up there and be good."

Telling a bear who is defensive of you and evidently doesn't like who is on the other side of that door to be good? Best of luck, my friend.

Of course, if there really was an altercation, he would definitely step in, especially if Ranger got directly involved, but he wasn't sure what the situation was yet, so he just decided to sit down on the sofa and observe for the time being.

When Walker finally did open the door, Heian tilted his head, surprised to see that it wasn't just one person behind the barrier, but three. His stallion immediately pressed itself closer to the surface, not happy to see so many males in the house he was beginning to associate with his own territory. Of course, he would always be submissive to the true owners of the house and land, but to anyone else that steps foot on the property, and especially if they might have bad intentions?

Don't like them.

He felt a faint tug against his long hair and glanced to his left, a bit surprised to see Ranger holding onto a length of it.

Behave.

Biting back a chuckle, he nudged his horse back, then refocused on what was going on with the group of intruders.

"You really took that crazy guy here? Why didn't you hand him over to the police?" one of the young men said who appeared to be around twenty-two.

A second one stepped forward, inciting a growl from the top of the stairs that had the whole group fidgeting in response.

"You can't think that you're safe with that thing. He might be more bear than person, but if that's true, then he needs to go to a rehab facility or one of the refuges so that he can live as a bear away from people," a slightly older, brown-haired man said, his tone slightly more stern than the last one who'd spoken.

What he said seemed to have struck a nerve with Walker, however, because he straightened to his full height and took a step forward, making the group automatically step back.

"He was away from people! We were the ones who walked into his home, so don't give me that bullshit, Brian."

Wow, he's got some claws. Who would have thought.

He'd always considered Ranger the more aggressive one, who would stand and fight over Walker. Granted, Walker didn't have a shift, and that was probably why he thought that, to a point, but he was glad to have his horizon's broadened. Walker clearly didn't need his brother, or his brother's cat, to stand up for him.

Hearing something behind Ranger, Heian couldn't help but grin.

He can stand up for himself... but he can't really stop his bear from coming to his rescue, either, even if he doesn't quite need it yet.

"We were hunting, bro! That's what happens when you hunt!" one of them yelled, raising his voice enough to make Heian lean forward. The only thing that kept him from standing up was the hand grasping his lock of hair.

Heel, Heian, Ranger thought to him, clearly partially joking as he used his length of hair as a makeshift set of reigns, but also not.

Heian rolled his eyes but stayed seated and quiet, but not before he blew out a breath of air that would remind anyone of a frustrated horse more than a person.

"Well, then what right do you have to come here and yell at him? You just said that he should be somewhere where he can be a bear. He was in the forest. Is that not where bears live?" Walker said, his anger clearly rising.

The group hesitated for a moment, but then the third man stepped forward. He was bald, with a few tattoos on the left side of his face and neck. That seemed to push Marsh past his willingness to listen to Walker, because there was soon a large, fluffy bear fumbling down the stairs. It grumbled the entire way to the door, then started standing up on its back legs to, no doubt, let out an intimidating roar, but he still seemed to be unable to figure out his bears new added weight when going up on his back legs, because instead of doing what he'd intended, he partially straightened, then flopped backwards onto his bum and grunted.

For what it was worth, though, the guys did look terrified until Marsh had lost his balance.

Oh, wait. Wait a second...

Marsh grumbled a few times before wiggling himself forward back onto his four paws. He then shook out his coat, sniffed the air as he glared at the group of intruders, then slowly leaned back onto his hind legs. He nearly flopped back down twice, but to everyone's newfound awe, he managed to straighten to his full height.

Seemingly proud, as he should be, Marsh looked down at the group of nervous men and twitched his nose, then leaned forward slightly and let out an impressive roar.

Okay, he's kind of cute in his bear form.

Heian's head jerked back as the length of hair in Ranger's hand was abruptly yanked. When he turned his head and gave the man a look, Ranger was pretending he'd done nothing.

Going to play it that way, hmm?

A faint pink growing on the right side of the man's face told Heian what the guy refused to say, or show intentionally.

"Dude, that thing is seriously dangerous," one of the guys warned as Marsh looked down at Walker, who stared up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You dangerous, Marsh?"

Marsh's bear smacked its lips a few times, then gave a stern nod that nearly made him off-balance himself again.

"Are you going to hurt me?" Walker asked.

Marsh immediately shook his big fuzzy head and twitched an ear.

Neither of Walker's hunting buddies seemed happy with the bear's answers, but Walker didn't seem to care anymore as he grabbed the side of the door and looked them over.

"Well, that's that, then. I'm sorry that things turned out the way they had for our group, and I do regret not being able to stop his attack completely, but I'm not going to let you guys get rid of him just because he was being a bear where bears live. He's a great guy, and his bear has even calmed down a lot. I'm not worried about my safety around him, but if you guys are, you don't need to come over anymore. I wouldn't want to make you guys feel uncomfortable."

Hell yeah, you tell them. Get them away from my man's territory.

He felt Ranger poke the side of his head, but he pretended to have not noticed and just kept staring at the ground as they conversed a bit more. Walker was easily holding his ground, though, especially with Marsh still standing high beside him.

Heian...

Fighting back a smile, Heian continued to ignore Ranger, curious to see what he would do about it.

He really is a cute bear. At first I thought that he was a bit too vicious to safely be here, but Walker has him wrapped around his finger, even though he doesn't seem to reali— Heian's thought was broken when he felt himself being shoved over onto the couch before Ranger promptly settled his backside in the middle of his chest. He was growling just loud enough for the two of them to hear, but he refused to look at him, and was, instead, glaring at the closed door his brother had just shut and locked before walking with Marsh over to the kitchen to heat up the leftovers.

Heian let him have his way for a few minutes before he abruptly jerked his body onto its side, making Ranger flop over onto the cushions between Heian and the back of the couch. He wrapped his arms around his grumbling man once he was settled and squeezed him tightly, then reached up with one hand and slipped his fingers into his hair, easily tugging out the tie there. After his fingers got a few good run-through's of soft hair, he settled his palm against the back of Ranger's head and pressed him closer so that their lips could briefly brush together.

"If I'm going to be held down, I want a kiss first."

Ranger immediately turned cherry red and tucked his head against Heian's chest. Chuckling quietly, Heian buried his nose in his love's soft hair and sighed, closing his eyes. They could still hear Walker and Marsh nearby, but neither seemed to pay them any mind, which he was sure Ranger appreciated. He hadn't intended to just hug him on the couch, but he didn't mind it at all. He could tell, however, that Ranger was nervous, and he doubted that having his brother's attention at the moment would help at all.

"Stop overthinking things. I'm not a kid," Ranger mumbled after a few minutes or quiet.

Heian wanted to say a few things to that, but he felt like Ranger was just trying to defend his nervousness, and didn't need his unease to be pointed out any further. Besides, he loved his caution. He was testing the waters with him, and he was more than okay with that. Ranger was the first man he'd ever been attracted to, as well. There was nothing he wanted the guy to change about himself just to try and make him happy, either. He already liked the man exactly how he was.

Eventually, he settled with a one word response that he felt summed up their situation at the moment.

"Alright."

Because everything would be. Lots of things were going to change in the future, but he felt confident that no matter what happened, everything would eventually be alright... and if it wasn't, he'd try his hardest to make sure that at least Ranger and Nia were safe and happy.