(Throwback photo of my big floof, Snowman. He's gone now, but his fur never will be.

The point of view switches around a bit in this without any notice, but it seems to flow fine, so I'm leaving it as is.)

I like you, Walker.

Marsh's bear waddled about the kitchen, constantly nudging its cold nose beneath Walker's T-shirt, making the guy jump every few moments.

Walker, pat my head.

Walker dodged him after the fifth nudge as he carried a plate over to the microwave and started it. The food smelled good, and he was hungry, but attention...

When he tried to use his nose to lift the guy's shirt again, Walker poked it with his own finger and leaned over.

"There's a certain bear here that's getting a little too nosy," he chided, making Marsh's bear drop its bum to the floor immediately and give a quiet, hesitant grumble.

Attention please.

He lifted a huge paw, and was ecstatic when Walker actually took it and sat down in front of him. As he began spreading out his claws calmly, seemingly checking them for something, and nothing, at the same time, he looked up with a knowing smile that made Marsh's bear's heart flip in its chest.

"I'm sorry. I know that you want attention but I'm still a little stressed out from what just happened," Walker said, making Marsh wish that he'd just chased the bastards off the property altogether instead of letting Walker slam the door in their faces.

Of course, he was super proud of his human for how he handled the situation, but there wasn't quite enough, or really any, bloodshed for him.

Next time. If I see them again.

Hands pressing against the side of his furry face drew Marsh's attention very quickly out of his own thoughts.

"You behaved very well, Marsh. I really appreciate you letting me handle the situation," Walker said, making Marsh feel like Mush in a bear suit.

Any time. I will let you do anything you want.

"I am a little curious about what is going on in that head of yours, honestly," Walker said before standing up, after giving Marsh a good head-pat first, of course.

He got the big plate he'd put in the microwave out and sat it down on the floor, since he figured that Marsh wasn't going to be able to shift back so quickly, then got himself one in the microwave.

As he waited for it to be done, he felt a light tap against his side and looked back down.

Sometimes you're far too cute to be that perverted human, Walker thought as he reached down and took the piece of crispy bacon from between Marsh's bears teeth that was being offered.

"Thank you, Marsh," he said before happily munching on it.

He really did love bacon, even though his normal preference was vegetables, but he made sure to give Marsh the bigger portion of everything since he could still use a few more pounds... at least, he thought so. When the microwave chimed a moment later, he took his own food out and headed toward the dining room table, but paused for a moment when he noticed his brother and Heian lying on the couch together. Ranger has his head tucked against the other man's chest and was clearly out cold, while Heian was grinning with an excitement that didn't quite match what he was seeing, but to each their own?

When he felt something tugging at his pant leg, he looked down at Marsh's bear, who then glanced back toward his plate of food on the floor, then looked up toward the stairs before hobbling in their direction.

Probably a good idea. Ranger gets pretty shy when he's nervous and waking up with both of us nonchalantly eating at the table while he's cuddling up against a guy... upstairs it is.

He turned and quickly grabbed Marsh's heavy plate, then hurried silently up the stairs with it and his own. Marsh was nowhere to been at the top of the steps, but when he got into their room, he was a bit surprised to see that he'd shifted back to his human form and was sitting, waiting on his bed. He even had a pair of loose sweatpants on with little chubby cartoon bears wandering about on them.

"Walker?"

Walker stepped forward and handed Marsh his meal, then sat down beside him on the bed with his own.

"Yeah, Marsh?"

"Is your friend that I attacked really okay?"

Walker blinked, a bit surprised that Marsh had actually asked.

"Yeah, he'll be okay. He'll have a nice scar, but he'll be fine in a bit," he said as he reached over and mussed up the guy' hair.

Still can't get used to him being taller.

"Walker," Marsh said, drawing his attention down to the fork that was gently nudging against his lips.

Isn't this your food?

He wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words when he looked into Marsh's hopeful eyes.

"Walker is too skinny," Marsh eventually said, making Walker grin as he obediently opened his mouth and accepted the bite of food. Little did he know that accepting that one morsel would lead to Marsh trying to feed him the entire platter of food he'd made for his bear.

He managed to get through half of it before he flopped over onto his back with a quiet groan. His stomach felt like it was going to burst. Whenever he got super full, he'd always fall asleep almost immediately, but he'd already slept really well earlier, and didn't want to pass out again so soon. Thus, he forced his eyes to stay open... only to see Marsh staring down at him with the most enthusiastic smile he'd seen on the guy so far.

"Did I do something?" he asked, confused.

Marsh looked about to burst, himself, but from happiness before he suddenly looked nervous, then darted for the door. His actions had Walker sitting up abruptly, then hesitantly getting out of bed and heading downstairs when he heard the door open a few moments later. He grabbed his heavy winter coat and slid on a pair of warm boots before stepping outside to see where Marsh had gone.

He wasn't sure what he expected, because he had no idea what had even happened, but when he saw the man's chubby bear running around in the pasture, but not really bothering the horses, he tilted his head, even more confused.

"Marsh?" he yelled, getting the big fluff's attention instantly.

It roared, but it was obvious that he didn't mean anything by it as he turned and hopped the fence, then ran over to him and began to do circles.

"Okay, I'm confused, big guy. What's wrong?"

Marsh continued to run around like a dog with the zoomies, keeping Walker's attention until he heard someone step out onto the porch with him, chuckling quietly.

Looking over his shoulder, he smiled as Heian walked up to him. The slightly taller man nodded as he watched Marsh suddenly skid to a stop and wobble up onto his hind legs in the tiny bit of snow still left on the ground.

"Oops, made him jealous," Heian said as he took a step to the side, putting some distance between himself and Walker. It was clear that he wasn't afraid of the bear, and he really didn't need to be since his horse was taller and might even be able to match his weight.

"Do you know why he's running around so much? He just fed me half of his meal, then looked disturbingly happy before bolting out here," Walker said, honestly wondering if Heian understood.

He got another chuckle in response as Heian nodded.

"He just provided a meal for you, someone he considers his mate. I can understand how he feels. He probably just didn't want to scare you by jumping you upstairs, so he ran out here to burn off his excitement and extra energy," Heian said, then tilted his head back to look up at the cloudy sky, a smile on his own lips.

"I remember when Ranger first accepted something that I had made for him. It was the best feeling in the world."

Walker returned his attention to Marsh, except he nearly jumped back when he noticed that his bear had come much closer and was struggling to get its hefty self up and over the railing in front of them instead of simply registering that he could walk around to the step. He was clearly not pleased about Heian being next to him, even though the guy had distanced himself a bit.

Shaking his head, Walker stepped forward and as Marsh's bear looked up, seemingly stuck in the railing a bit, he poked its nose until it slowly began to lean back. It got so far that it actually lost its grip on the railing and flopped down onto the dead grass with a grunt.

"You have quite a jealous mammal there, my friend," Heian noted as he looked over the railing with an intrigued expression.

Marsh's bear sat up and grunted toward the two, then huffed and began hobbling toward the barn. Walker looked at Heian, who shrugged one shoulder and nodded toward Marsh.

"Gonna go comfort your bear and tell him that he's the only one for you, or let him sulk it off?"

Walker pressed a palm to his forehead and sighed.

"What have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself as he started walking toward the barn.

He felt eyes on his back for only a brief moment before he heard Heian go back inside and shut the door. No doubt he'd only gotten up to check on them, and had no intention of losing anymore time cuddling with his brother... while he still let him.

Stepping into the barn a few moments later, Walker noticed that the ladder leading up to the hay loft was slightly askew and grinned.

"Wonder where my bear could go, hmm?" he said as he nonchalantly walked over and, after readjusting it, climbed up.

He was just getting off of it in the loft when he was suddenly tackled into a pile of loose hay. Thankfully, he could tell that Marsh had shifted back to his human form, because there was definitely not three hundred plus pounds on him. He'd also wrapped his arms around the guy when he'd been tackled, not wanting him to accidentally fall through the hole.

Right as he began to ask what had gotten into him, again, he felt chilled lips seal over his own. Since Marsh didn't push it further, he let him have his kiss for as long he wanted, then, once he finally relented, he smiled and spoke.

"So, are you going to tell me what that was all about now?"

Marsh leaned back to sit in Walker's lap, a look of slight embarrassment on his face before he shook it off and and leaned forward again. Walker quickly blocked the kiss with a finger to Marsh's lips, making the man lean back again with a quiet grumble.

"My question first, please."

He sulked for only a moment before getting serious, then grinning.

"Walker let me feed him."

He looked down after speaking, clearly a little shy, then looked back up abruptly.

"I can't cook like that, yet, but it meant a lot that you trusted me to feed you. I can hunt for you whenever you want meat, though! And I can... used to be able to find berries really well with my good sniffer nose."

Ah, I did injure his nose when I first met him. I guess he can't smell as well now.

Reaching up, Walker pulled Marsh back down into a hug, which the young man gladly melted into.

"I would very much love to see you hunt one day, and don't worry. I'm a master at hunting for berries in the grocery store, so leave those to me, hmm?" Walker said, a bit of humor to his words.

He expected Marsh to try and kiss him again, but when he just heard the guy sniffing, then saw him sit up and continue, he tilted his head on the hay.

"Smell something interesting?" he asked as Marsh moved off of him and began sniffing at the floor.

Walker sat up after a moment, watching as the guy circled an area nearby, then sat back and looked over at him.

"Something delicious was up here."

Something delicious?

Walker thought for a moment before realizing that Marsh would likely consider only one thing outright delicious, besides berries, which weren't as likely to find their way up into the hay loft.

"I think my brother was up here with Heian the other day. Heian can cook really well, so maybe he brought some meat up to share with Ranger?"

He wasn't quite sure if that was how it went, but that was his best guess.

Marsh seemed to consider his words before licking his lips.

"That horse can cook meat well?"

Maybe I should keep him around, but the other predator...

Walker reached out and grabbed Marsh's jaw, guiding him closer until their noses were almost touching. He wanted to say something, because for some reason, he was seriously annoyed after he heard Marsh say that he wanted Heian to basically cook for him, but when Marsh's expression went from confusion, to shock, to a massive, mischievous smirk, he realized what had happened.

"I was joking about the yet part when I was talking about us forming a bond," he mumbled sheepishly, turning his head to look away as his nerves caught up with him.

Unfortunately, he was loved by a bear, and that bear was very forward with his attentions. Thus, he soon had a hungry mouth covering his own and eager hands wandering a little too quickly beneath his coat and pants.

At least go in one direction!

Marsh stopped both of his hands abruptly and leaned back to sit on Walker's abdomen.

"Okay."

Okay...? Okay what?

It took him a minute. A long minute, of deep thought.

"Oh," he eventually whispered, to which Marsh replied with a wide smile and a yelled "yes!" at the top of his lungs before jumping him.

Walker might not have tried his best to fend him off, but at the same time, he couldn't help but laugh at his predicament. Eventually, they both ended up panting with hay tossed about all around them. Walker was missing his jacket and his shirt was pushed up precariously high on his chest, but Marsh didn't seem to mind since his head rested happily against the warm flesh there.

There might have been a few nibble marks about that area, too, but Walker decided that he didn't mind... this time.