"There you go," Benny said gently as he removed the bandages off of the mother's paw. "You're all healed now, so you won't be needing these bandages anymore." He then placed a hand affectionately on top of the bear's head and gave her a nice scratch. "Now just be a little bit more careful with avoiding all of the traps and everything should be fine, okay?" The bear nodded before she and her cubs went on their merry way back into the forest, with Benny and Ananias waving goodbye behind them.

"Hope to see you guys around!" Ananias called.

"I'll try to visit as soon as I can!" Benny promised before the three of them disappeared from view.

Ananias sighed and placed his hands onto his sides. "Nursing a bear back to health and taking care of her cubs," he shook his head incredulously, "never thought I'd do that in a million years."

Benny chuckled. "Is it really that surreal for you?"

Ananias nodded. "Pretty much. What? Is doing all that a regular day in the life of Benny or something? Because if it is, then that's a lot of injured bears you've taken care of."

Benny laughed at this. "No, no it isn't, thankfully. But now that I think about it, I guess hanging out amicably with wild animals IS pretty incredible, isn't it?"

"Well, now you're just bragging," Ananias muttered, earning him another laugh from the giant of a man standing next to him.

"You joking around like this, I never thought I'd see the day."

"Yeah, you and a lot of people I reckon. Just like I would've never thought I'd get to see you being so excited about something, but here we both are."

Benny chuckled and nodded. "Yeah." The two of them then stood around awkwardly before Benny embarrassingly blushed, scratched the back of his head, and meekly said, "You know, in a strange way, I'm actually kind of glad that this happened."

Ananias raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh?"

Benny nodded. "Yeah. I know that, coming from me, this may sound ridiculous, but I was actually kind of afraid of you before all of this happened."

Ananias at Benny in utter disbelief. "You?! Afraid of me?! How?!"

Benny sheepishly shrugged. "I guess it was just how strange you were. Your face was always so expressionless and you never seemed to be able to express emotions the same way other people did. I didn't know what to think of you and that scared me a little, you know?"

Ananias nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I guess that's kind of fair." He then shook his head in disbelief again and added, "But man, to think that me being me was enough to freak the great Benny out. I must've reached a new form of low for myself."

Benny shook his head. "You shouldn't think that," he kindly reassured him. "If tending to the bear alongside you has taught me anything, it's that underneath that emotionless exterior is a man with a good heart. And that good heart only becomes more apparent the more you've warmed up to someone, kind of like how you warmed up to that bear."

Ananias chuckled at this. "Same. You may look like a scary monster of a man, but," he pinched Benny playfully on the shoulder, "deep down, you really are just one big softie, aren't you?"

Benny blushed. "Heh, well, I..."

"And yet, I've never seen you talk that much to anyone."

Benny averted his eyes to the side in embarrassment. "Ha... well... I... I guess despite all of my talk about warming up to other people, I guess I haven't been doing that myself, huh?"

Ananias amiably shrugged. "Maybe." The two of them were then silent for a moment before Ananias said, "So, you want to... work on our social skills together or something? I mean, I know that I might not exactly be the best learning partner to have or anything, but I think that we could help each other, don't you think?"

Benny thought it over for a bit before nodding and saying, "Well, I guess we can't get any worse than we already are, right?"

Ananias nodded. "That's the spirit. Now," he crossed his arms and looked at Benny solemnly, "how exactly are we going to go about this?"

"Well, we could start trying to have a conversation with the bears and try to go from there," Benny suggested.

"Or," Ananias said, "considering the fact that people are already getting suspicious about is constantly sneaking off to do who knows where, why don't I just ask my mom to send us a couple of stuffed teddy bears to talk to instead?"

Benny's eyes couldn't help but light up upon hearing that. "Aw, your mother sells teddy bears?" he gushed.

"How else do you think I'd have such a soft spot for bears?"


Author's Note: Welp, there ends Benny's supports with Ananias. Consider these a belated Christmas present. I hope you liked them! Next will be Anna, followed by Ophelia, Camilla, Gunther, Setsuna, Kanna, Selena, Beruka, Xander, Azura, Flora, Odin, Laslow, Rinkah, Arthur, Silas, and Leo. Got someone else you want to support with Ananias that isn't on this list yet? Request it. Remember, all Nohr first generation characters, Soliel, Ophelia, Anna, Kanna, Rinkah, Subaki, and Setsuna are allowed to support with him as well and it is a first come, first serve system.