A thunderous roar echoed across the forest and every creature fled the area as fast as it could, save for one. Birds bumped into Maxim's face as they flew by and he felt squirrles and mice skitter over and around his boots. Deer also sprinted past, some in his distant peripheral and some so close that he could've touched them. Instead, he stood at attention, upright with his hands behind his back as he stared unflincingly ahead.

"With all due respect, sir, I'm right here. I can hear you perfectly well, despite my meager human ears." As strange and tense as the situation was, Maxim smirked. He stared evenly into the big, black eyes of the fat grizzly bear lumbering to him. Soon, their noses were touching.

"Eew. Gross." Maxim deadpanned, voice slightly muffled by Captain's massive maw. Maxim squeezed his mouth shut tighter as he felt Captain's cold, slimy nose rubbing against his and he smelled something vaguely fishlike on the other man's—bear's—breath.

Oh, Captain. Maxim sighed internally and shook his head as Captain finally peeled his nose off of Maxim's face. This was a natural side effect of falling in love with, and marrying, a werebear, but catching said werebear-husband roaming the forests in the backyards of the residential suburbs was mildly concerning. Maxim wouldn't have come looking for his werebear-husband so urgently otherwise.

He's harmless, but, obviously, a normal person wouldn't know that. Animals still fled all around them. Captain hadn't roared to threaten, or even to scare, any of them, rather, he was simply enjoying the perks that being a bear gave him. He was already so big and loud as a human and it only became more extreme when he was in his bear body. For the most part, the transformations were smooth and controlled. Only once or twice a month did the moon force him to change regardless of what he or his partner wanted.

"Come on, Captain, let's go," Maxim sighed, finally reaching out to his fuzzy, furry husband.

"Rrrnngrrrnnr." Captain replied, ears twitching as Maxim's hands came closer.

"I don't speak Bear," Maxim deadpanned.

"Rrrrooww." Captain's giant, brown head swung slowly back and forth before he rose up on his hind paws, towering over Maxim even more than usual. He pointed his nose at the forest, even farther away from home. Everything just smelled so interesting as a bear!

It wasn't just entertainment, though. As stated before, Captain was a large man. That meant he was an even larger grizzly. Even though trasnformations never lasted longer than a couple days at time, that was still a long time to stay cooped up in a yard that suddenly seemed more like a patch of grass. It was even harder because although Captain kept his human wits and memories about him, the impulsitvity and shorter patience and attention of a bear were now also his. He could tell himself he didn't mind waiting it out, but then he'd absentminedly wander away anyway.

Keeping him chained never seemed right. Maxim thought. Even if he's prone to… going for strolls around the neighborhood, he's not vicious. Although, at least at present, he was acting rather bratty. He kept swinging his head back and forth between Maxim and forest, huffing.

"What are you, a cub?" Maxim teased and some of Captain's whines, moans, grunts, and huffs became louder. Maxim was the younger one here!

"I grew up. You only grew old," Maxim snorted. Now he would use a chain if only to use as a leash until they got back home! "And you know we're going one way or the other. I won't stop following you until you start following me, so you can either drag this out, or save us all some time, hmm?"

Maxim meant it quite literally that he would follow Captain until Captain followed him. Even if Captain could outpace him at the start, there weren't many places for a bear to hide around residental suburbs. Maxim would find him eventually, then Captain would again have to choose between following Maxim home, or risking detection if he kept moving out of the suburbs.

"Arrraaammpphhh!" Captain complained, ears swiveling on his head. Are you calling me senile?!

Maxim still never broke his gaze. Captain tried one last time to roar at him, but it was halfhearted at best. He knew Maxim wouldn't be scared, and frankly, Captain didn't want to scare him, not seriously, at least. After the final, halfhearted, sighing roar, Captain's head drooped until his nose was nearly in the grass. Maxim smirked and turned away. Captain scowled at him, but after several seconds, he started lumbering after the other man. He made sure to spend the whole walk home sighing as audibly as possible.

Overgrown manchild! Maxim thought still smirking. He was just glad that they made it—

"Rrraaoorr!" Captain suddenly gave a choking snarl-snore, the quietest roar he could muster.

"What?" Maxim turned around with a snort of his own. Captain swung his head up and down urgently, nose pointed at his and Maxim's house. Maxim turned around again, still skeptical, but a second later, his eyes shot open, and his heart stopped dead in his chest. "Iris Long?!"

She was a… coworker (Captain was affectionate enough to call her a friend), but what was she doing knocking on their porch?!

And today, of all days! Maxim thought despairingly. He looked over his shoulder pleadingly at Captain before jogging over to Iris. Meanwhile, Captain backed away and hid behind the nearest clump of trees and bushes, just barely able to fit all of his massive, furry body behind it.

"Iris! What are you doing here?" His voice was unusually tight. A normal person would be suspicious…

"Oh, hey, Maxim, have you seen Captain?" But Iris was already so used to Maxim being impossibly strict that she noticed no difference about him.

You can't be serious. "What do you need him for?"

"Silas just asked me to deliver a letter." Iris held out a small envelope while Maxim's eyes widened. It was evident from Iris' face that she didn't know what the letter was about, but like Maxim, she was desperately curious. That was even why she tried delivering the letter to Captain, in hopes that he might allow her to know what it was about.

Unfortunately, Maxim was the one she ran into, and after taking the letter from her distractedly, he bid her a good day, muttering something about Captain being away on an extra business meeting that day that none of them had known about until it happened. Iris hid her disappointment as she bade farewell to the other man and darted away. Maxim prayed she wouldn't see Captain on her way out…

At the same time, Captain had kept close eyes, ears, and nose on the conversation. As soon as he saw Iris leaving the porch, he skittered and scrambled away as fast as he could, claws scraping against asphalt as he tried to army-crawl away on his belly. He made it around the side of house with all its blinds closed and curtains drawn right as Iris walked by. She didn't notice a thing and it was all he could do not to sigh loudly.

It's funny, Maxim and I moved to this town because we knew it was one where we didn't have to be closeted about our marriage, and yet now I'm creeping around just because I still don't feel quite ready to tell them that I… He sighed, chuckled, and shook his furry head at the irony.

Once the coast was clear, he lumbered out of hiding and moved as quickly as he could back to his own backyard. Maxim met him there with a sigh.

I thought domestic, suburban life was supposed to be peaceful! Well, he's lucky I love him so much. Despite himself, he smiled tiredly and rubbed Captain's soft, fuzzy head. Captain growled appreciatively and nuzzled him, making his smile even bigger still.

AN: I know this is more slang than symbol, but it's based on the term "bear" in reference to a gay man who is "larger, often harier, and projects an image of rugged masculinity," (wiki). That's Captain while Maxim is the polished, clean-cut(shaven) one, both in terms of apperance and personality. Maxim is trim, slim, prim and proper while Captain is almost as hairy, heavy, and loud as a bear.