Big Brother Will Always Be There

Desc: Grizz is having trouble sleeping and a trip to the kitchen results in a conversation with his youngest brother that he hadn’t expected. Grizz is reminded that no matter what, Ice Bear is still his little brother.

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Grizz hated nights like this. He couldn’t sleep, he kept thinking back to his brother. When dinner rolled around Ice had prepared a nice little feast for his older brothers, but Grizz noticed the absence of a third place set at the table. The chef sat with them as they ate, but he didn’t make anything for himself. Throughout the night all Grizz noticed him eat were a few small snacks, and those seemed to only be to keep himself from getting too hungry.

Dinner was what first made Grizz realize that something wasn’t right. Ice Bear didn’t skip meals often, and there were only a few reasons that he would. One would be if he was coming down with something, but Grizz had already counted that out; Aside from skipping dinner, Ice showed no other signs of illness. That meant that it was more than likely that something was bothering him.

Grizz knew he often missed signs that his baby brother wasn’t feeling normal. The polar bear was quiet about his feelings, always had been. Aside from knowing that his brother wasn’t quite able to find the words to express his feelings, Grizz was also well aware that Ice thought he would be bothering his brothers with his problems. Ice Bear saw himself as the domestic care taker of the group, and in his eyes he wasn’t supposed to depend on anyone else.

With Ice Bear sometimes Grizz didn’t know what to do anyway, and usually just chose to drop it and let Ice Bear handle things himself. On occasion, Ice would come to him if something was really eating at him, and that’s when Grizz would step in and help. When they were cubs it wasn’t uncommon for Ice Bear to silently reach out for comfort when something was wrong, but as they aged Grizz noticed the youngest brother becoming less open.

Compared to usual, though, something seemed more off this time. After the dinner that night, Grizz was paying closer attention to the way that his brother acted. Throughout the night Ice Bear had been very closed off, even for himself. He skipped watching movies to instead stay alone in his fridge, when he was out of the fridge Grizz noticed that he had been very jumpy, little things startled him more than usual, and that he seemed very nervous about something.

With no chance of sleep, the grizzly bear decided to get up and grab a water or something, maybe some snacks. If he was going to be awake, he may as well try to make it a tolerable night. Rubbing his eyes he walked into the kitchen, as he looked in he stopped in surprise. He was greeted to his youngest brother, sitting awake at the kitchen table.

“Hey,” Grizz said calmly as he walked to the table and sat next to his little brother, “What’s up? You’re up late.”

“Brother is up late, too,” Ice Bear replied, dodging Grizz’s question.

“I just couldn’t sleep,” Grizz told him, before asking again, “What about you? Why are you awake?” He knew his little brother would continue to ignore the question if he wasn’t direct.

Silence. A familiar sound when it came to Ice Bear, but this time the atmosphere wasn’t the same. It didn’t feel light and casual, to Grizz it felt tense; he could tell that Ice Bear was holding something back.

“Ice Bear also was having trouble sleeping,” the white bear said with his eyes slightly averted away from Grizz.

Grizz sighed, it was harder than he had anticipated to get Ice Bear to open up. Not that he didn’t know it would be difficult, but he was hoping it would be quick because it was late. He wanted sleep, but even more so he wanted his brother to get some rest, since it looked as if he’d been having sleeping problems for more than just this one night.

“Ice Bear will make brother warm milk,” the younger bear went to grab his apron hanging on the wall.

“No, man,” The other bear got up and grabbed it first, he continued with a small smile, “I’ll make some for you instead. Seems like you need it more than I do.” Grizz accepted that maybe Ice didn’t want to talk about his problems, but he wasn’t about to let his little brother take care of him when clearly the younger one needed it more.

“But-”

“No buts,” Grizz said, a bit on the stern side. He sighed lightly and sat back down with his brother when he saw that he looked a little surprised. He spoke more softly, “I can tell you haven’t been sleeping well, and that something’s bothering you. I know you don’t like to talk much to Panda and I about your problems, but will you at least let me take care of you?” The older brother smiled sympathetically, “I know you take care of us alot, but I am still your big brother. I want to help you, too.”

Ice Bear nodded. The white bear didn’t know what else to say to his brother. Grizz smiled triumphantly and got to warming up some milk and honey in a pan on the stove. Another tense silence over came the two of them. It felt very abnormal to the grizzly; he almost never felt this way with his brothers. Why was this silence so hard to handle this time?

“Ice Bear…” the polar bear spoke up, “Ice Bear having nightmares.”

Grizz was convinced he heard a tremble in that low monotone voice. He turned the stove off and turned around completely. He was shocked to hear that his little brother had been suffering like that and keeping it to himself. The milk was done anyway, so he left it to cool a little bit and pulled up a chair at the table. He moved it closer to Ice’s seat before sitting down and putting an arm around the younger brother.

“Little bro, why didn’t you tell us?” Grizz asked him in a concerned voice, “If I had known, then I would have tried to help you deal with them. How long has this problem been bothering you?”

“Two weeks,” Ice Bear told him after a second or two of thinking back on it.

Two weeks. It had been two weeks of this and Grizz had only just picked up on it. He felt terrible. He knew part of it was just that Ice Bear was resilient and didn’t let his emotions show alot, none the less talk about them, but he was also worried that part if it was his own ignorance to his brother. What if he had been acting off that whole time and Grizz just missed the signs again? He was nervous about that possibility, but decided to drop it for the time being. There was time for him to think about that problem later, right now his little brother needed his support.

“What are they about?” The grizzly bear was almost afraid to ask this question. He wanted to know what Ice Bear was dealing with, but he was nervous that what it was might be too much for him to help with. He knew a few of the polar bear’s fears, but there weren’t many and he didn’t think any of them could cause his brother this much discomfort.

“Alone,” Ice Bear replied, “Ice Bear sees brothers leave. Ice Bear is small. Brothers leave Ice Bear alone in woods,” he looked down at his paws on the table, as if he were afraid of telling Grizz about it.

“That’s heavy,” Grizz told him as he pulled his younger brother closer in an attempt to assure him that he wasn’t alone, “Is that it? Or are there more?”

“Ice Bear remembers more but most afraid of that one,” Ice Bear admitted, still not looking up at Grizz.

Grizz was quiet for a few moments. This was unlike Ice Bear. He was opening up about his problems, fears no less, and even seemed like he was nervous to talk about them. These dreams must have been really messing with his head, Grizz concluded.

Another silent moment passed before Ice Bear spoke again, “Little Ice Bear gets hurt… Brothers don’t come to help.”

“In the same dream?” Grizz sounded more concerned now, the imagery of he little brother as a cub being alone in the woods, hurt and scared, now settling into his mind.

Ice Bear nodded. Grizz noticed that he opened his mouth again but then stopped without saying anything.

Was that it? That Ice Bear was afraid that Grizz and Panda wouldn’t be there for him? That they wouldn’t protect him? Grizz didn’t want his brother to feel like that; Grizz would give his life in a heartbeat to protect his brothers.

“Little brother, I’m sorry your dreams are scaring you like that,” Grizz pulled him into a full hug now, trying to protect him from his fear, “but they’re just dreams. Panda and I, we love you, man. I’d never leave you, and I’d never let something hurt you if I could stop it.”

Ice Bear silently accepted the hug and his big brother’s comforting words. Grizz also became silent and just appreciated the moment. He knew that Ice Bear didn’t like depending on his brothers too much; and Grizz knew he had his reasons for that, but that’s why these moments were special to the grizzly bear. Moments like these, he really got to feel like a big brother to the youngest of the family again.

After a minute or so, Grizz let his little brother out of the hug. He smiled comfortingly to Ice Bear, “Why don’t we move to the living room?” He suggested with a yawn, “The couch is more comfortable than these chairs.”

Ice Bear looked up at him and nodded. Grizz could have sworn he saw a tear in the younger bear’s eye, but the tired grizzly decided he was probably just seeing things.

Grizz got up and poured the warm milk into a cup for Ice Bear and moved to the couch with him. They stayed quiet, the only noise that could be heard was the relaxing sound of Ice Bear sipping the milk and honey Grizz had prepared him. This silence was peaceful though, not tense like it had been earlier; this was the type of silence that Grizz was used to with his little brother.

“Big brother,” Ice Bear leaned on Grizz’s shoulder as he spoke, “won’t leave Ice Bear, right?”

“Never,” Grizz told him with a warm smile on his face, “Big brother will always be there.”

A/N: Sorry if things got a little OOC. I just wanted to write a cute brother moment between these two, because I really love Grizz and Ice interaction. This whole thing kind of stems from headcanons I have about Ice Bear that I might add to future stories if I write anymore (I probably will because I kind of missed writing when I took a break from it.)

http://icebearisproudofyou.tumblr.com/post/144060269768/big-brother-will-always-be-there