Title: Make It a Hashtag
Summary: After a violent altercation between Grizz and a human, the bear brothers are reminded of the cruel reality that they aren't always seen as equals. With Grizz's freedom and possibly even his life hanging in the balance, the brothers try to bring attention to their plight but are unsuccessful. Desperate, Panda turns to the one person with an audience big enough to turn the tide.
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: "We Bare Bears" and all its characters are property of Daniel Chong and Cartoon Network. I make no profit from these writings.
"Why did this have to happen? This isn't fair! Grizz isn't a violent person! How can they do this?! They can't just keep him locked up like some sort of…some sort of…"
"Animal," came Ice Bear's quiet, monotone response, prompting Panda to look at him through tear-filled eyes. It was a hard pill to swallow, though the thought was always present at the back of Ice and Panda's minds. The fear of being treated differently, being treated as lesser than simply because they weren't human. And no one knew this more than Grizz, which was exactly why their eldest brother had always been so adamant about trying to fit in with human society. He knew of the species divide, and he wanted so desperately to bridge it.
"He was just trying to protect me," Panda sniffled. "If I wasn't such a helpless coward all the time, he wouldn't have had to step in!"
"Panda is not a coward," Ice countered.
"Yes, I am! I can never stand up for myself! I've always let people walk all over me!" Panda rushed to retrieve the laptop. "I'm not just going to stand idly by and let this happen! We need help!" Panda brought the laptop to the kitchen table and opened the browser. He searched online for stories about the incident, crinkling his nose in disgust as he managed to track down a few articles. 'Man Viciously Attacked by Grizzly Bear' and 'Brutal Grizzly Bear Attack' were just some of the damning titles he came across, sending his anger through the roof. The articles blew the story way out of proportion, making it seem as though Grizz had attacked unprovoked, when that had simply not been the case. The human 'victim' had become belligerent towards Panda, violently shoving him several times before Grizz lost it and struck the man. His claws tore through his jacket and shirt, slicing all the way through to his flesh, much to the horror of various bystanders. With blood spilt, there was no hesitation to call the local authorities. Given the fact that Grizz wasn't human, it was debated who should take custody of him. Animal Control inevitably took the call.
Every phone call that was made to their offices was met with the same response: Grizz was simply too dangerous to be released and had to remain locked up. The situation became more dire when talks of euthanasia became part of the discussion. Panda had become hysterical by that point, while Ice spent a good deal of his time pacing back and forth, his calm demeanor a stark contrast to the turmoil raging inside him. The thought of breaking into their facility and freeing his big brother himself had certainly crossed his mind a few times.
Taking to social media, Panda poured his heart out to all those who may care to listen. Of all the friends and followers he had, he knew only a small handful of them ever really interacted with him. He just hoped it would be enough to get the ball rolling and bring attention to the story.
Panda was met with appreciated sympathy and messages of encouragement. His followers condemned the situation and made declarations that they would write e-mails, which he couldn't be more grateful for. He spent a solid two hours online, Ice Bear occasionally meandering to and from the kitchen as he cleaned and tidied up the cave, the only thing he could do to keep his mind occupied. As the sun slowly descended behind the trees, Panda was on the verge of slumping against the table. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes tiredly, still undeterred from his mission. A steaming cup of tea was placed in front of him by his younger brother, which prompted him to straighten up in his chair.
"Thanks," he mumbled tiredly as he took the cup in his paw. He stared at the laptop screen as he sipped at his tea, noticing his brother take a seat beside him. His gaze shifted downward at his phone, and a new idea suddenly came to him. "We need to use every media outlet that we can," he said as he looked to Ice. "Grizz gave me the password to his Everyone's Tube channel in case of an emergency. Well…I'd say this qualifies as an emergency." Panda set his tea aside and snatched up his phone. "Here, we're gonna make a video," he said as he handed the phone off to his brother, who only nodded his head in understanding. They migrated into the living room, where Panda took a seat on the sofa, while Ice positioned himself directly in front of him with the phone poised and ready to start filming. "Ready?"
Ice nodded.
Panda cleared his throat and tried his best to force a smile. "Umm…hi, my name's Panda. I'm Grizz's little brother. You've probably seen me and my other brother, Ice in some of Grizz's videos. There's…a reason Grizz isn't here right now….and we really need your help..."
ooooooo
Once the video had been uploaded to Grizz's channel, the two brothers sat back and watched the video's activity with baited breath. They watched the minutes tick by on the clock, their video gaining roughly two views per hour and not a single comment. It didn't come as a surprise, seeing as how Grizz's following was almost nonexistent. He hadn't made any new updates to his channel in over a month, and he only had about three videos to start. Even so, they had hoped the video would grab the attention of at least one person who could share it amongst those who did have a larger following.
As eleven o' clock rolled around, Panda noticed the jerking movements of Ice out of the corner of his eye as he caught himself falling forward in his chair, sleep threatening to overtake him. "Maybe we should call it a night," Panda sighed. The polar bear turned to him and then back to the laptop screen. He refreshed the page for probably the twentieth time, disheartened to find no new views or comments. "We'll have to keep trying new strategies. Maybe…Maybe we can try calling the local news station and see if they'd do a story." Panda looked to his brother, who was staring at the floor now. "Look…why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll probably crash soon, too. We'll start back to work first thing tomorrow."
Without a single word, Ice Bear rose from his chair and slowly shuffled his way out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen. Looking back to the laptop screen, Panda hovered the cursor over the channel link and clicked on it. Propping his head up on his paw, Panda fought off fatigue as he scrolled through his brother's latest activity. He rewatched the videos they had made together, fighting back tears as he saw his eldest brother laughing and smiling on the screen. Not hearing his loud, energetic voice echoing throughout the cave was as strange as it was agonizing.
Panda glanced through Grizz's favorite videos, mildly curious. He tried watching a few, but his mood could not be swayed. Just as he was about to logout, a familiar face caught his attention. He stared at the thumbnail of the innocent-looking koala for a brief moment before clicking the video. The video only ran a few seconds, but it had managed to acquire over thirty million views in the month it had been uploaded to the channel. Panda straightened up in his chair as he clicked on the channel. Looking towards the top, right corner of the page, he took note of his total number of subscribers, which was nearing six million now, and he knew there were probably millions more who didn't subscribe or have a channel of their own but still watched his videos faithfully.
Finding the link to Nom Nom's main site, he eagerly clicked on it and began his search for new updates. The latest update had been posted just a week ago, stating that Nom Nom would be appearing at a popular bookstore just a mile from their home. The event was scheduled for ten o' clock tomorrow morning. After jotting down the name of the bookstore, Panda finally closed the laptop and shuffled over to his bed, where he collapsed with a tired sigh.
ooooooo
Nom Nom glanced at his watch for what had to be the tenth time today. He knew scheduling multiple events so close together was a bad idea, but he went ahead with it anyway, thinking he could pull it off easily. He knew if he didn't get moving soon, he was going to miss his flight, which was scheduled to take off in just over an hour. He had already exceeded the time he had originally planned to spend at the bookstore. With a forced smile, he hastily signed one last autograph before making a break for the exit, one of his security guards flanking his side to block anyone else from approaching the koala.
Stepping out into the bright sunlight, Nom Nom slipped his sunglasses onto his face and turned towards his limo, which was parallel parked just a few feet away.
"Nom Nom! Nom Nom!" a voice cried frantically. The koala halted suddenly, his ears perking as he heard the familiar voice calling to him. He lifted his sunglasses as he turned to glance at the panda rushing up to meet him. Nom Nom's security guard was quick to block his path.
"Not another step closer," he said sternly.
"No, please!" the panda pleaded desperately. "You don't understand! I need to talk to him! PLEASE! Just let me talk to him for one minute!" Panda tried maneuvering his way around the large human, but every attempt he made at sidestepping him was easily blocked. "Nom Nom, please!"
"I said get back!"
The koala sighed. "Eddie, let me handle this."
The man looked back at his charge skeptically. "Are you sure, sir?"
Nom Nom waved him off. "I know who he is. Really, it's fine. Wait for me in the limo. This will only take a second."
Eddie lowered his arms and stepped back to grant the panda access. He did as the koala instructed and took his place in the limousine, though he left the door open in case he needed to rush back out to come to his aid.
Nom Nom glanced at his watch again and huffed. "Look, make this quick, all right? I've got a flight to L.A. that I need to catch, and I'm wasting precious time here," he quipped.
"Look, I'm sorry to bug you, but I need your help with something! This just isn't something we can do on our own. It's my brother. He was taken away by Animal Control after he attacked a human."
Nom Nom raised a brow. "Which one? The loud one or the quiet one?" he asked dryly.
"Grizz! But he didn't just go after the guy for no reason! The guy was pushing me around, and…Grizz just got mad. He was only trying to protect me, but people think he's dangerous!"
"And…how am I supposed to help, exactly?"
"We need to get the story out there! It's totally unethical what they're doing, and if more people knew about it, then maybe they could be swayed to let him go if they got enough public backlash. My brother and I posted a video about it last night, but it's just not getting the hits it needs."
Nom Nom sighed as he pulled his sunglasses back down over his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry about your situation, but this just isn't a good time for me. I really need to get to the airport," he said as he turned to walk towards the limo.
"Nom Nom, they're going to kill him!" Panda cried back to him desperately, prompting the marsupial to stop abruptly. He looked back at the panda, removing his sunglasses from his face entirely.
"Seriously?"
Panda looked down at the sidewalk as he held his paws against his chest, his bottom lip quivering. "They…They talked like they might," he said softly. "They said it was a possibility. They also said something about taking him out of the city and releasing him in the wild…far away from people."
Nom Nom shook his head as he waved his paw dismissively. "Nah…they can't do that. I mean, he's an animal, but he's not…" The koala paused, his gaze falling to the ground. "We're not…"
"Look, I'm not going to hold my breath, okay? I…I can't put it past them to do something like that. I don't trust them. The fact that Grizz can walk and talk like humans is probably the one thing that saved him from being shot dead right there on the spot, no questions asked…but I don't know how long that can save him. Even if they don't go to those extremes, they've still got him locked up, and I know he's probably terrified! Please, you have to help!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Nom Nom lifted his gaze up to meet Panda's. "I think you're giving me too much credit here. I really don't think there's anything I can say to sway these people. What can I say that you haven't said already? I'm just one voice."
"Yes…with an audience of millions, who have voices of their own. You can change this! Please."
Eddie suddenly leaned out of the limo. "Sir, our flight leaves in less than an hour. We really need to get moving."
Nom Nom glanced back and forth between Panda and the security guard, clearly conflicted. "Uhh…y-yeah, okay." He turned back to Panda. "Look…I'm sorry, I just can't. I need to go."
"But…"
Panda watched as the koala climbed into the limo, the door slamming shut behind him. As the vehicle pulled away from the curb and went on its way, Panda hung his head in defeat. He turned and slowly began the long walk back to his home, knowing he'd have to make up some excuse as for why he rushed out of the cave that morning with no explanation.
ooooooo
As the limo continued its way down the street, Nom Nom rose from his seat and peered out of the back window, seeing the panda becoming smaller and smaller as they drove away. He saw him hang his head before turning to leave. Nom Nom turned and slid back down into his carseat, frowning deeply as his thoughts ran wild.
"It'll take us about fifteen minutes to get to the airport," Eddie said suddenly, momentarily breaking the koala's chain of thought. "We should be able to make it, so long as getting checked through airport security doesn't take too long."
Nom Nom didn't utter a response as he reached for his phone, touching his claw to the screen and taking to the web. His curiosity piqued, he turned to Google and promptly started searching for any kind of article or video about the incident Panda had described. He managed to track down a couple of articles, which were very brief in their descriptions of the events. However, one of the articles had provided an embedded Everyone's Tube video of the attack, which ran just under two minutes and was rather shaky, but it showed the events as they happened. Plugging his earbuds into the phone, Nom Nom pulled the screen closer to his face as he watched the shaky footage, his attention zeroing in on a tall, lanky man who was shown to be antagonizing the panda bear. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was clear the human was the aggressor in this situation. How the confrontation had even started was unclear, but it hardly mattered. He couldn't imagine the timid panda would have done anything that warranted such a response.
The human shoved Panda once, who made no move to fight back, clearly too intimidated to allow himself to be defensive. After the second shove, Grizz entered the frame, stepping in front of his brother and drawing back a paw before violently striking the man with an angry snarl. He had to admit, it was startling.
"Oh my god, that guy's bleeding," he heard a woman comment offscreen. Nom Nom watched as the man staggered to his feet, clutching his shoulder as he tried backing away, while Grizz confronted him verbally this time, Ice Bear taking a hold of his arm. The video only continued for a few seconds after that before it cut off with a click.
Remembering that Panda had mentioned making a video, Nom Nom went straight to Everyone's Tube and started looking for said video, though he didn't know where to begin exactly. He didn't know the name of the channel the video had been uploaded to, nor did he know the title of the video. He only had one keyword to go by: Grizz.
Nom Nom typed the bear's name into the search bar and clicked the icon to begin the search. Knowing he wasn't going to find what he was looking for fast enough, he clicked the 'Filter' icon. Choosing to filter the videos that had been uploaded within the last twenty-four hours resulted in just one video popping up on the screen, Panda's face gracing the thumbnail. He clicked it hastily.
Panda handled himself fairly well though out the first few minutes of the video, but his composure began to falter about halfway through. His voice began to crack and he started fumbling with his words.
"Grizz is probably the most selfless person I know. He might not always think things through, and he might mess up sometimes…but I don't know where we'd be if he weren't with us. He…We would…" The dam finally crumbled and the panda broke down, burying his face in his paws as his entire frame shook with his sobs. "Please…to anyone out there who might be watching….please help us! Please share this video and help us get our message out there." Panda paused to wipe at his eyes. "Please help us get our brother back."
As the video finally ended, Nom Nom slumped back in his seat, tugging the earbuds from his ears.
"Are you feeling all right, sir?" he heard Eddie ask, though the question didn't really register with him. "Sir?"
Nom Nom suddenly looked up. "Tony, take us back to the studio!" he called to the limo driver, who glanced at him curiously through the rearview mirror. "There's been a change in plans." He suddenly looked to his security guard. "Call the convention organizers and cancel my appearance."
Eddie looked taken aback by the order. "Are you…sure about that? What should I tell them?"
"Tell them something's come up," Nom Nom replied with a shrug.
The man started dialing a number on his phone, though he still looked skeptical over the sudden change in plans. "People aren't going to be too happy about this," he warned as he placed the phone to his ear.
Nom Nom slipped his sunglasses back over his eyes. "They'll get over it. There'll always be another convention. Let 'em fawn over some other internet celeb for a day. I could use a break from all that mess. You start feeling smothered after a while."
ooooooo
The following morning…
Panda had managed to drag himself out of bed when the smell of Ice Bear's cooking stirred him from his restless slumber. He stumbled out of bed, fully aware that he hadn't gotten nearly as much rest as he needed. He left his phone on the nightstand, something he almost never did, and shuffled his way into the kitchen. There he found Ice Bear placing two plates onto the table, and it was clear to see his youngest brother hadn't gotten much sleep either. Panda momentarily glanced at the empty chair beside him before pulling his breakfast closer. Though he could hear his stomach growling, he couldn't bring himself to do anything more than just poke the food on his plate.
Ice Bear took a seat across from his brother. He looked down at his own plate and then over at the empty seat beside him. The two bears made eye contact, both of them sensing each other's grief. "I don't know if the video's gotten anymore feedback since last night. I finally had enough and just turned off the computer." Panda sighed heavily. "I hate feeling this helpless."
Panda was just about to take his first bite of food when he heard a loud knock at the door. He paused, mouth hanging open. "Who'd be coming here this early?" he said as he lowered his fork back down to his plate. There was a very short pause before the knocking started up again, much louder this time.
"GUYS! OPEN UP! IT'S ME!" a familiar voice shouted from outside the cave.
"Chloe?!"
Panda rushed from his chair and went to open the door, jumping out of the way as the child darted right past him, her laptop clutched closely to her chest. "Did you see it?!" she asked excitedly as she made a break for the kitchen.
"What? See what?" Panda followed her quickly, highly curious now.
"The video!" Chloe nearly stumbled and fell as she rushed into the kitchen and climbed atop a chair to place her laptop on the table. "I sent you a text but you didn't answer!"
"I turned my phone off when I went to bed last night and just didn't bother checking it this morning. And what are you talking about? What video?"
"The one Nom Nom posted to his channel last night!"
Panda's eyes widened slightly, while Ice Bear suppressed the urge to roll his.
"He…posted a new video?"
Chloe nodded, opening her laptop. "It's about Grizz!"
Panda immediately rushed over and peered over the top of Chloe's head as she pulled up Nom Nom's channel. Unable to ignore his own curiosity, Ice Bear went to stand next to his brother as Chloe clicked the video in question, which was simply titled 'PSA'. The video opened to just a black screen, but the koala soon faded into view, perched atop a wooden stool. Panda clutched the back of the chair tightly, his breath hitching.
"Hi," Nom Nom greeted with a half-hearted wave, a seriousness in his tone. "I should apologize in advance since….well, this isn't going to be one of my usual videos. But I ask that you please resist the urge to go look up cat videos and just stick around for the next five minutes, because it's kind of important. Also…for those who were expecting to see me at VidCon this weekend….yeah, sorry. This was brought to my attention earlier today and well…I felt like I needed to say something about it since it's really not being talked about. For those living in the San Francisco area, you might have heard about this already. A couple days ago, there was an incident involving a man and a grizzly bear." The video suddenly cut to the shaky camera phone footage of the incident. Nom Nom's voice continued over the footage. "The guy you see there in the clip was struck and injured by the bear, which resulted in Animal Control being called to the scene."
The video cut back to Nom Nom. "But there's more to it than that. If you watch the video in full, which I will link to at the end of this video, you will see two other bears in the clip, one of whom was being harassed by the man in that video. It wasn't until the man started shoving his brother that the grizzly bear actually attacked him." Nom Nom paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, cupping his hands together. Panda had to admit he was rather surprised by just how calm and professional the koala could be. "I know these bears. I've met them myself. They're a close-knit family who look out for each other and keep each other safe." Nom Nom avoided looking directly into the camera as he added, "I've seen it firsthand myself. They do for each other what any one of you would do for someone you cared about. And I can safely say that Grizz is about as far from vicious as you can possibly get. I mean, honestly…does this look like a vicious animal to you?"
The video suddenly cut away to a shot of Grizz, which both Ice Bear and Panda immediately recognized. "Wow! Look at this cute small box! Would it not be cute if I were to sit in it?!" the brown bear exclaimed as he tried to squeeze his large frame into the small, cardboard box, which inevitably fell apart under his weight. The bear cupped his face in his paws in his best effort to appear adorable, wiggling his tiny stub of a tail. The video quickly cut back to a deadpanned Nom Nom.
"Truly the stuff of nightmares," he said sarcastically, earning tearful giggles from Panda. "If you still aren't convinced, just ask yourself….what would you do in that situation? What if that was your brother, or sister, or just someone you cared about? What would you do? Ignore the fact that he's a bear, because that doesn't matter here." Nom Nom closed his eyes and sighed. "But that is the issue, isn't it? He's not human. And right now it's being debated on whether or not he should be euthanized or banished to some wilderness. I have to say…I'm kind of amazed this is even being debated. We're not talking about some feral creature that's incapable of reason or rational thought here! Why am I getting so worked up over this? Because I'm no different than he is. Yes, I've made a name for myself online, and yes, that gives me privilege. But what if I didn't have that? Could I be in a situation like this where I was treated differently because of the mere fact that I'm not human? And does having all this fame really matter when we get right down to it? Am I equal? Are we equal?"
Panda and Ice Bear glanced at each other.
"I really don't think there's anymore I can add here, but this message bears repeating. No pun intended. I've given my voice, now I need all of you to give yours. I've provided the contact information for the Animal Control facility in the description below, including their street address. I've already taken the liberty of contacting them, and I urge you to do this same. Call them, write them an e-mail, or go talk to them in person. Let them know how you feel about this. And this might be hypocritical of me to say, but I ask that you please be productive with your anger. Don't be hostile. Please share this story, make it a hashtag, do whatever you can to make this story known. Don't let it get swept under the rug. Click the annotation above to view the video I referenced earlier. Oh, and…I would give this video a quick look as well," Nom Nom said as he pointed downward, an annotation suddenly appearing just below his claw with a link in the box. "If my words couldn't sway you…maybe his will. Anyway…that's all from me today. Thank you for your time." Nom Nom made a cutting motion across his neck with his paw.
Everyone was silent in the moments after the video had ended. Panda sniffled quietly as he wiped at the corners of his eyes. "I can't believe he did it." Feeling Ice Bear's gaze out of the corner of his eye, he turned to look at him. "I went to see him yesterday. That was why I rushed out of the cave in such a hurry. I thought he might be able to help. I seriously didn't think he was going to do it. He was about to get on a plane to leave town."
Chloe glanced over her shoulder at the two bears. "The video already has over fifteen million views, and someone actually did start the hashtag 'savegrizz' on Twitter like an hour after he posted it."
"Really?! How many tweets does it have?!" Panda asked, his eyes bulging.
"Over twenty thousand so far."
Panda almost felt light-headed at hearing this. He turned to his younger brother and threw his arms around his neck, hugging him tightly as his tears flowed freely. He knew they couldn't fully celebrate until Grizz was released and allowed to return to them, but they could see the light at the end of the tunnel now, and it was getting brighter. "Wait a second!" Panda exclaimed as he suddenly pulled away from his brother and rushed to grab the laptop. "I wanna see something." He went back to the very end of Nom Nom's video and clicked the annotation he had provided, which linked him back to the video he and his brother had posted the night before last. The video had jumped from thirty-five views to over nine hundred thousand. "Our video has almost a million views now….I can't believe it."
"I watched the news early this morning. They've actually had protestors outside the building where they're keeping Grizz."
"Seriously?"
The child nodded, smiling. The three exchanged hopeful glances with each other.
"Ice Bear thinks this will work."
ooooooo
Nom Nom's video was now on the front page of Everyone's Tube and was closing in on twenty million views. The video didn't go without getting backlash of its own, though it was minuscule compared to the outpouring of support it received. People who were already staunch Nom Nom haters after his previous controversy were hardly convinced, stating he was only doing it to make himself look good. And of course there were the usual trolls who never had anything nice to say about any video. The 'Go back to Australia' comments always made him laugh out loud considering he wasn't even born in Australia. And of course there were the messages that weren't as easy to laugh off as others, like the one he had received from someone stating that they would hunt the koala down and euthanize him. Nom Nom had to wonder if some of these messages were from disgruntled employees who worked for Animal Control. It certainly wasn't the first death threat he had ever received, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. He knew it came with the territory.
The situation almost felt like a standoff. Everything was up in the air, and Panda could no longer make any calls to Animal Control, as they had stopped answering the phone after getting a massive influx of calls. Both Ice Bear and Panda spent the rest of the day tuning into the news and monitoring the activity on Nom Nom's video, as well as their own, which had grown to well over a million views now. Other internet celebs started getting in on the conversation, posting response videos to Nom Nom's. Panda honestly didn't foresee their story getting this amount of attention. It was more than he could have hoped for.
They made several more attempts to get through to Animal Control, which produced no results, but they both knew something had to give, and it was only a matter of time now. They were under a magnifying glass, and they were on fire at this point.
They finally got the news they had been hoping for the following day when they received a call early in the morning, stating that Grizz would be allowed to go free. The two wasted no time and immediately rushed out of the cave, Panda sending out a quick message to his favorite social media hubs on his phone as they went. There was a small group of people gathered outside the facility, but they hardly paid them any attention. As they saw Grizz exit out of the building, Panda raced ahead of his brother. He rushed to grab Grizz in a tight embrace, sobbing loudly as onlookers clapped for them.
Grizz wasn't his usual joyful self, as he was pretty shaken by the ordeal, but he still returned his brother's embrace with equal force. Ice Bear soon joined them, gently wrapping both arms around the two bears and resting his head on top of Grizz's. "Ice Bear is happy you're okay."
"I missed you guys so much," Grizz uttered tiredly. "I know it's only been a few days, but it felt like an eternity in that place. I heard about all the protests and everything. How'd all this happen? How'd word get out so fast?"
Panda pulled away, rubbing at his eyes. "Nom Nom posted a video that went viral overnight and created a firestorm."
Grizz's tired eyes seemed to gain a flicker of life at hearing this. "Really? I mean…I knew they were getting backlash, but I didn't know how the story got out." Grizz appeared stunned as he looked down at the ground. "He seriously did all that?"
Panda nodded. "We tried doing it ourselves, but we don't have a big enough audience. I asked him to help us…which I knew was kind of a long shot, but I didn't know where else to turn. He almost didn't do it, but he changed his mind for some reason."
Grizz couldn't even form a proper response.
"We gotta celebrate!" Panda said excitedly. "We'll invite Chloe over and everything! It'll be great!"
Grizz chuckled lightly. "I can't believe I'm saying this…but I think I'll put off celebrating for today. Right now I feel like I could sleep for a week."
Panda nodded in understanding. "No biggie. We can celebrate tomorrow."
Smiling, Grizz threw an arm around Ice Bear's neck. "You're gonna cook all your best dishes, right?" he asked hopefully. The faintest smile graced the polar bear's face.
"Ice Bear is always happy to serve."
ooooooo
"Sir, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Eddie asked for the umpteenth time as the limo slowed to a stop by the edge of the woods.
"I'll be fine. I know my way there," the koala insisted as he hopped out of the limo and began the slow trek to the cave.
Nom Nom had almost said no to Panda's invitation, feeling that there was too much bad history, but he had reluctantly agreed when the bear kept insisting. His anxiety swelled when the familiar cave came into view, and he almost considered turning back right then and there. It wasn't Panda or Grizz who concerned him, it was the quiet, stoic polar bear who made him slightly uneasy. Ice Bear had disliked him from the get go, and after the reckless stunt he had pulled just a few months ago, which could have very easily resulted in tragedy for his brothers, the polar bear had likely already dug a grave for the koala and was just waiting for a golden opportunity to stick him in it.
As he drew closer to the cave, Nom Nom looked towards the living room window and noticed the curtain twitch. He snorted in amusement, watching the front door swing open seconds later to reveal a joyous Grizzly. "Hey, man, you made it!" he said excitedly as he waved.
"Were you seriously waiting by that window this whole time to see when I'd get here?"
"What? No! I just happened to be looking out the window right as you were walking up!" the bear lied as he rubbed his arm.
"Mmhm."
Grizz was only able to restrain himself for a few seconds before he bolted from the doorway and rushed to meet the marsupial, who stood and watched with an expression akin to someone watching as a train was barreling towards them. Grizz scooped him up effortlessly and hugged him tightly to his chest, much to the koala's displeasure, though he didn't have the heart to snap at him. "Panda showed me the video. I can't believe you did that."
"It's not a big deal," Nom Nom replied quietly, looking towards the ground.
"It is to me!" Grizz blinked away his welling tears. "No one…No one other than my bros has ever done anything that nice for me."
Nom Nom sighed irritably as he wiggled his way out of Grizz's grip, dropping to the ground with a light plop. "Seriously, don't mention it," he said as he smoothed out his now ruffled fur. He crossed his arms and stared at his feet, awkwardness setting in.
"Look…let's just forget everything that happened and move forward. It's all we can do, right?" Grizz said, tilting his head as he smiled hopefully. Nom Nom glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah…I guess."
"Hey, my bros and I were gonna do a video together later. You know….to thank everyone for their support and everything. You should totally do the video with us!"
Nom Nom dismissed the offer with a wave of his paw. "I'll pass. It's your moment, not mine." The koala shifted his gaze towards the doorway as he noticed Panda emerge from the cave.
"Cool, you made it. You haven't eaten already, have you?"
Ice Bear appeared beside the panda just seconds later, donning a light blue apron. Nom Nom locked eyes with him for a brief moment before quickly looking away. "No," he murmured.
Grizz beamed down at the koala as he motioned for him to follow him into the cave. "Hey, c'mon! You need to meet our friend, Chloe! She's really nice and crazy smart!" The brown bear turned and rushed inside, Panda quickly following after him. Only Ice Bear remained in the doorway now, staring blankly at the awkward marsupial, who nervously rubbed his arm as he tried to figure out a way to break the tense silence.
"Uh…look, I understand if you don't want me here. I probably wouldn't want me here, either. So…just say the word and I'll leave. I can easily make up an excuse." Hearing no response from the bear, Nom Nom forced himself to look his way again. He was still staring at him with that same blank expression. "Any word. Just say it, and I'm gone." Still no response. "Or just blink twice if you want. Something." Nom Nom started wringing his hands now, feeling himself beginning to sweat as the polar bear continued staring at him. Without a single word, Ice Bear stepped out of the doorway and began approaching the koala, who immediately went rigid with fear. He took a cautious step back, his heart accelerating as the bear drew closer. In the few short seconds it took him to close the distance between them, Nom Nom imagined every horrific, bloody scenario in which the bear exacted his revenge, making him wish he had just turned and fled the scene when he had the chance. It was too late now, however, as the polar bear was standing directly over him, eclipsing him with his shadow. Nom Nom looked down and shut his eyes tightly, hoping he'd make it quick.
The pain never came, however. Much to his surprise, Nom Nom suddenly felt himself being gently lifted off the ground and pulled to the larger animal's chest, arms wrapping themselves around him in an embrace much gentler than his brother's. For that brief moment, he couldn't even breathe, nor could he utter even a single, solitary word. It was over before he knew it, and the bear was placing him back down on the ground before turning to head inside, still never saying a word. After managing to overcome his shock, Nom Nom finally willed himself to move and followed the bear inside the cave, shutting the door behind him.
Author's Note: Well….this happened. This is something I've often thought about regarding human/animal relations in the WBB universe. I mean, we have animals like what we saw in "Food Truck" and then we have the Bears and Nom Nom, who clearly have a different level of intelligence than most animals. People don't seem phased by this, but…I sometimes wonder whether they would get the same equal treatment in certain situations. Honestly though….I kinda hope we don't see anything like this in canon. I just thought it might be interesting to write about, even though I don't really believe this situation is plausible. But we DO know from watching the pilot that Grizz doesn't hold back when it comes to defending his bros.
And let me just take a moment to talk about Nom Nom for a sec here. I miiiiiight have taken a few creative liberties with his character in this story. And by creative liberties, I mean TOTALLY FUCKING HIS CHARACTER UP!1 Yep, I really can't imagine that Nom Nom would go out of his way to do something like this, but I can dream, can't I? But we've literally only seen him in 2 episodes, and he has another coming up in about a month or so. It's possible he could grow as a character, and I personally hope he does. I don't want Nom Nom to be another cartoon villain whose only purpose is to fuck shit up for the heroes and never learns or betters themselves. We've seen this trope a thousand times over for decades and it's getting old. I mean, if they keep Nom Nom as a villain, I definitely won't be surprised, but I WILL be disappointed, only because WBB really stands out against other cartoons and seems like it's capable of thinking outside the box. I definitely think his character can evolve without totally sacrificing his core personality. One example I can use to illustrate this is Cleo de Nile from Monster High. Anyone who's watched the webisodes knows that she started out as the show's main antagonist but gradually became nicer and showed a better side of herself as the show progressed, but she still remained pretty vain and self-centered. I would like to see a similar route taken with Nom Nom.
I WILL say this, though. I do think Nom Nom would have to do something like this in order to get in Ice Bear's good graces. Like…he would legitimately have to save their lives before Ice would ever be willing to trust him. It's very clear Ice Bear doesn't forgive easily and Nom Nom messed up big time, though I'm not even sure he'd be okay with Nom Nom hanging around even after doing what he did here. It's hard to say, really. But at the very least, I do think he'd gain some respect for him. And plus, I just really wanted to write that last scene because feels. As far as canon goes, if Nom Nom were to ever become part of the Bears' crew, I can seriously picture Ice Bear constantly picking on him whenever he's around, like tripping him as he walks by or putting salt in his coffee when he's not looking, but like…he slowly starts getting attached to him, even though he never lets on. I really want this to happen, like you don't even know.
I don't know if this will be my last WBB fanfic. I really hope it isn't. I've been having lots of ideas since I started watching the show, but this is the first one to actually take root. I really hope we see more awesome fanfics in this category. I know the show just started, but I had hoped there'd be more stories by this point.
I hope you enjoyed!