Page 35 of Bear With Me

Dennis patted the bed beside him. “You’ve had a long day, too. Take a load off, big guy.”

Bjorn didn’t mind if he did. He dropped immediately to the bed, scrambling up to plant his butt next to Dennis’s. “You sure you don’t want me to try the couch?”

Dennis rolled his eyes, then stood up and moved to his suitcase. “We both know neither of us will fit on that couch. I’m gonna go piss, brush my teeth, and put on my pajamas, then you can have your turn.” He snatched some clothing out of the suitcase and disappeared into the en suite bathroom.

Bjorn took the opportunity to change into his last remaining pair of his own pajama pants – he’d shifted in his sleep and ruined the two other pairs he’d packed. He’d need to run to the store tomorrow if he didn’t want to risk having to explain to Dennis why he was going to bed nude. He added that to his mental to-do list, which was growing rather long.

A minute later, Dennis re-appeared from the bathroom and settled himself into the bed. Bjorn got up to take his turn in the bathroom, reluctant to abandon the bed but also not wanting to go to bed with a fuzzy mouth. He brushed, used the toilet, and washed his hands. By the time he made it back into the bedroom, Dennis had turned out the overhead light and turned on the bedside lamps instead. It gave the room an intimate, maybe even sultry, atmosphere.

But that was probably just Bjorn. Mentally chastising himself for reading too much into it, Bjorn gingerly climbed into bed beside his mate. It was a double bed, and quarters were tight. They were unavoidably pressed up against each other, with very little wiggle room. As Dennis’s ass pressed into him, Bjorn was alarmed to feel his dick starting to perk up. Now was not a good time for a hard-on; he didn’t want to send his mate screaming into the night. But his dick didn’t listen and grew even harder as Dennis wiggled a little to get comfortable. Eventually Bjorn just held himself as stiffly as possible, hoping his overall posture would disguise the most particularly stiff part of him.

He should have known it wouldn’t work, though. After a minute of charged silence, Dennis snorted quietly. “I guess you’re happy to see me.”

Bjorn groaned and covered his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry. It has a mind of its own. Just ignore it.”

Instead of ignoring it as bidden, Dennis ground his ass back playfully. “I’m choosing to take it as being specific to me instead of just because of ‘mate’. I could use the ego boost.”

Bjorn dropped his hands and stared in shock at the back of Dennis’s head. “What? Of course it’s because of you!” He paused to contemplate the implications of what Dennis had said. “Wait, you understand that I like you for you, right? Not just because you’re my mate. You’re smart, and funny, and you’re kind enough to help a near-stranger who needed a ride. You’re beautiful. You offered to help coach the den in business even though you have no ties to them besides me, and I’m pretty much nothing to you.”

“Hey, wait,” Dennis protested, “you’re not nothing. I know there’s a…there’s some sort of thing between us. I’m not gonna deny the shifting thing is pretty indicative. You’re just also not the love of my life.” He paused. “At least, yet,” he added more softly, and Bjorn’s heart leapt. Was that…a sign of there being hope? He thought perhaps it was.

Still, he tried to explain: “I just mean, we’ve been at the den for less than a day, and you’ve had to endure my jerk parents, my foul-mouthed alpha, and my Gran who doesn’t believe the word ‘pushy’ can apply to her. It’s a lot, and it demonstrates something about you as a man that you’re still willing to offer the den help after all that even while there’s nothing tying you to me.”

Dennis turned over so he was facing Bjorn. His face was serious. “I mean, we’re not formally mated – and I’m not saying we’re going to be,” he added hastily, “– but I think I can at least say we’re getting to be friends. That’s a tie between us. There’s no reason not to help, anyway. We’re here while your Gran recovers; might as well make use of the time.”

Bjorn wasn’t fooled by his casual tone. Dennis was not the people-pleasing type of guy who’d normally grant just any request for help. On the other hand, it warmed Bjorn to hear that despite the angst between them, Dennis considered him a friend. “There is a tie,” he agreed neutrally, deciding discretion was the better part of valor. “And I certainly consider you my friend after everything you’ve done for me.”

Dennis smiled slightly, and so what if Bjorn was growing addicted to that smile? He threw a loose arm over Bjorn’s hip. “Look, big guy -”

And with the usual impeccable timing, Bjorn shifted. His form expanded to full bear size and promptly pushed Dennis off the bed, still trailing that arm.

Dennis hit the ground with an oof and sat up. “Really, Bjorn? Really?”

Bjorn could only groan regretfully. It was just his luck that just as his mate started touching him, he’d go furry.

With a sigh, Dennis climbed back onto the bed. He gave Bjorn a shove to try to make some room for himself, but Bjorn was half-hanging off his side of the bed as it was, and there was no further he could go. Finally, with a grumble, Dennis flung himself half-over Bjorn’s barrel chest. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered into it, then spat out a mouthful of fur.

Bjorn lifted a paw tentatively, and when Dennis didn’t flinch, he used it to pat his mate’s back, a bit more roughly than he would have as a human, but his bear muscles lacked the limitations of human ones.

Dennis coughed in surprise, lifting his head to meet Bjorn’s eyes. “Easy there, Hulk. Human bones break.”

Bjorn made what he hoped was an apologetic noise and gentled his touch as much as he could.

Dennis huffed, but lowered his head again, resting it in the hollow between Bjorn’s neck and shoulder. “Like I said, this is ridiculous. You can’t keep turning into a bear randomly for the rest of your life, and I don’t want you having to choose a form permanently, either. That would suck.” He paused and sighed. “Look, I’m not promising anything. Anything. But maybe we can…get to know each other while we’re here. See what we think.”

Bjorn’s entire body came to attention. Dennis was letting him in? Dennis was giving him a chance to win him? Oh hell yes. He whined, grumbled, and growled, hoping his noises adequately expressed his excitement with the idea but doubting that they did. Dennis wasn’t fluent in bear.

Bjorn was halfway through a rumbling growl when he abruptly shifted to human again. What came out of his human mouth was a much-less-pleasant eeee noise, which he stopped as quickly as he could. “Uh.”

Dennis regarded him with amusement. “That is not the noise I would have thought corresponded to a growl that low.” He rolled slightly away from Bjorn, taking back up the space that Bjorn’s bear had taken over, and started to put his hand on Bjorn’s hip again before drawing back in surprise. “Oh, your pants are…not there. Right.”

Bjorn could only facepalm. “That was my last pair of pajamas. Damn.” He looked down at where he was still mostly covered by the somewhat mussed sheet and tried to straighten it to cover more. “Sorry.”

Dennis sighed. “I guess we’re going shopping tomorrow, unless someone here has clothes in your size you can borrow.”

“I can ride along with you and the beta to town in the morning and hit the store while you’re at the cafe,” Bjorn offered. “You don’t have to suffer through clothes shopping with me.”

Dennis contemplated that for a few seconds. “Can you be trusted to buy normal clothes and not, I don’t know, chartreuse track pants and a hot-pink belly top?”