It's not supposed to be snowing...

The weather had taken an odd turn, and when Walker awoke the next morning and looked out the window, since a certain human-bear had his arms snuggly wrapped around his middle so that he couldn't actually get up to look, he realized that he hadn't added any extra straw or turned on the barn heaters.

We got them done.

Hearing Ranger's thought to him made him give a sigh of relief. He might not have heard from his brother since he'd gone back over to Heian's, but he knew that the guy would never let him, or their animals, down.

Thank you.

He felt his brother about to start a response when it was suddenly cut off. The only time he ever couldn't speak was if he was caught off guard by a distraction...

I'm fine. Just a lot of mosquitos out here.

Walker furrowed his brows as he glanced back outside at the falling snow.

Mosquitos?

He didn't send the thought to his brother, but he was quite curious as to where he was finding such a thing in the middle of such weather.

The quiet sound of Marsh opening and closing his mouth drew his attention away from his brother without a second thought. He always did that when he was about ready to wake up. It was especially adorable when in his bear form.

"Marsh?" he whispered quietly as he reached up to sift his fingers through the guy's soft hair.

Marsh gave a quiet grumble, then finally unwound his arms from around Walker's middle, only to stretch them high above his own head as he gave out an impressive yawn.

"Good morning to you, too," Walker said with a grin.

His words drew Marsh's attention immediately that time, waking him up the rest of the way. He sat up on Walker's chest, thankfully wearing his cartoon bear pajama pants. Not that Walker would have minded, too much, if he was naked, but he wasn't sure if his mind could quite handle that yet.

It wasn't that he hadn't slept with the guy naked before. He had, plenty of times, but things were changing and he was just uneasy about it now.

"Snow?"

Hearing Marsh speak, Walker slowly sat up, carefully moving him backward until he was sitting in his lap. The guy didn't seem to mind, because the moment he was settled he leaned over and stole a quick kiss.

"A little early for that, isn't it?" Walker teased.

He was a bit surprised to see Marsh's expression turn to one of confusion as he looked down, then back up with a head tilt.

"Isn't morning sex normal? Aren't you sometimes hard early?"

I should just never try to tease him. I really shouldn't.

"Walker, let's go play in the snow."

In the snow? That was an abrupt subject change.

"I suppose we could."

Marsh was off of him surprisingly fast, and had tossed his pants and shifted before his feet could even touch the floor. The guy let himself out of the room as Walker hurried to tug on some warmer clothing.

It took him a few minutes, and by the time he was downstairs and outside Marsh's bear was butt deep in an impressive mound of snow.

I'm not sure how that much snow can hold so much bear, but all I see are two stumpy legs and a wiggling stubby tail.

As he walked closer, he watched Marsh's bear do some sort of snow acrobatics to rotate itself within the snow mound, then he just turned into a mass of confused fur for a moment before a snow-caked head appeared, flicked one ear, and snorted at him.

There was no way he couldn't not smile at that bear. He was just about to join him when he noticed his brother's smilodon cat pace out of the barn, flicking its head several times as if frustrated by... a mosquito bite on its neck?

His curiosity quickly turned to humor when he saw a large black stallion prance after him, bobbing its head and darting about Ranger's cat in excitement.

I found your mosquito, but I don't think you really want me to squash it, do you?

Ranger's cat paused and glanced around, then flicked an ear when it noticed him standing by the snow pile. It appeared that it was, somehow, actually under his brother's control at the moment. Walker waved, making the feline draw its lips back and hiss before taking a swat at Heian's horse as it came a bit too close to its face with its flaring, sniffing nose.

How do I turn this thing off? Ranger grumbled into his mind, clearly talking about Heian's romping horse.

I mean, I have some ideas, but I don't think you guys are that far along in your relationship...

He earned another hiss for that response, which was a bit uncharacteristic for him to say, but he couldn't help poking fun at his brother.

I'm going for a run, was Ranger's response before his cat suddenly darted off into the surrounding forest.

Of course, Heian's horse wasn't far behind.

"I think both of them need to burn off some energy."

A run honestly sounded great, but...

He looked over toward Marsh, but to his surprise, he had walked over while he'd been distracted and was sitting on his fluffy backside a few feet away, glancing at him off and on as he swatted his massive paw at a fly.

"Hey Marsh, would you want to go for a run, too?"

It had been quite a while since he'd stretched his legs, and even with the snow coming down, it was still pleasant with his winter coat and pants on.

Marsh's bear paused mid-swipe at the fly and turned its head, looking as if it were volunteering. After a few moments of thought it lowered both of its paws to the ground, then rocked itself forward to stand on all fours.

Looks like you might need a few runs, too.

Marsh hobbled over to him, but to Walker's surprise, he didn't stop until he had pushed him over with a gentle headbutt.

"Got it. You're absolutely perfect. That's just extra fluff from winter," he said before he saw Marsh slowly slide his front paws forward in the snow on one side of his waist, and his back paws backwards on the other.

"Oh no..."

He was soon pancaked beneath a quite heavy brown bear.

Walker...

Pausing in his pointless fumbling to get Marsh's bear off of him, Walker let his arms fall to the side in the snow and looked up at the gray sky.

"Yeah, Marsh?"

Will Walker marry me one day? I can keep being a good bear... and I can even be a better bear, if you show me how.

Feeling the left side of his lips tilt up, Walker opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of a truck coming down their driveway took his attention away from the question. Marsh seemed to get distracted by it, too, because he was soon up and off of Walker. Another moment later and he was up on his hind legs, balancing quite well considering his previous issues.

Practice makes perfect, I suppose.

He slowly got himself up off the ground, too, then dusted the snow from his pants before looking up to see who was getting out of the truck.

Wait a minute. That truck actually looks familiar.

With a hesitant smile, Walker hurried ahead of Marsh and gestured for him to wait. Of course, he clearly didn't want to, and let it be known with a small roar, but he did drop back down to his front paws and stayed there.

"Chase? Holy crap man!" Walker yelled as he ran up to the guy.

He hadn't seen him since the incident with Marsh in the forest, but they had texted often during the time he'd been recovering. The guy hadn't really wanted people around him while he'd been in the hospital, and while he'd felt bad about not visiting at all, the smile on his friend's face made him feel much better about his decision.

"Hey man. Thanks for not suffocating me like the other guys," Chase said as he accepted Walker's hug, then looked over his shoulder with a whistle.

"You really do have him here. I'm surprised that Brian wasn't lying just to get me to come out and make you feel guilty about respecting my wishes," he said with a hint of humor to his words as Walker turned to face Marsh, too.

"I did feel bad about not coming by, but you did say you wanted time to rest and with the storms and all, I had plenty to keep me busy," Walker said, then gestured toward Marsh.

"He also has been keeping me quite busy. Marsh, can you come over here?" he asked, making his bear immediately bound over to them.

He honestly expected his friend to freak out, or even pull the gun he knew he had concealed beneath the waistband of his pants, but Chase didn't even flinch as Marsh stopped a few feet away and snorted.

Walker was going to ask Marsh to shift and apologize, but to his surprise, Marsh was already human before he could get the words out.

"I'm sorry I attacked you... but you smelled delicious."

That... is an apology, and maybe a compliment?

He looked sideways at his friend, but to his surprise, the guy looked like he was about to crack up. Instead of laughing out loud, which he suspected might still cause him a bit of pain, the guy managed to swallow his laughter and reached out his hand.

"It's all good, bud. I was in your territory and my girlfriend had sprayed me with her honeysuckle perfume as a joke before we headed out. I'll be glad to report back to her that it is quite a great bear attractant," he said as Marsh observed his hand for a long moment, then awkwardly reached forward and barely tapped it before retracting his arm and shifting back to his bear form.

"Well, Ranger ran off for a bit but he'll probably be back a little later, possibly with a friend. Would you like to come in for some early lunch and chat?" Walker asked as he and Chase already started heading for the house.

"Of course, man. I'd love to hear what you and your brother have been up to. I wonder how many girls he's had since I last saw him three months ago," Chase said with a careful chuckle that Walker smirked at.

"You'll love the stories," he said as he let Chase inside, but then hesitated and turned toward Marsh before running back down the stairs to him.

When he got close enough, he wrapped his arms around his fuzzy neck and whispered in his little stubby ear.

"You were a great bear. A fantastic bear. Come inside and have some honey berries while I make lunch and talk with a friend?"

He didn't have to say anything besides great, fantastic, and honey before Marsh was tromping into the house, ready to continue being a fantastic bear and also add a few more pounds to his winter fluff.