A Grizzly Christmas Wish

It was a chilly weekend morning when I received the text from Kris. "Hey, Bobby and I are in town for the weekend! Let's do Christmas lunch so we can catch up!" They were my closest friends back in high school, but since I moved downtown, we barely see each other. It'd be nice to catch up, and god knows I have nothing better to do. But I just know they're going to be all lovey-dovey around each other, and I'll have to face the questions about my relationship, or lack of one. It's been one break-up after another for me. Not all of us can be high school sweethearts...

While I was busy decorating the apartment for Christmas, and debating whether I should pretend to be sick, I found a Santa hat buried at the very bottom of the box. Clearly a leftover from last year's office party. I remembered stories from when I was a kid, where making a wish while wearing Santa's hat would make them come true. It was a little silly, but I couldn't help myself. I pulled it on my head, closed my eyes, and spoke aloud. "I wish I had a date that I could take to lunch." Before I could even open my eyes again, a loud knocking jolted me back to reality. I wasn't expecting any deliveries, or even any visitors. There's no way...

The knock came again, louder. I tossed the hat onto the sofa and darted to the door, taking a quick peek in the peephole before opening it with a big grin. It was my neighbor, Sophia. She moved in a few months ago, and there was an immediate sexual tension between us, Anyone with common sense could see the sparks we had whenever we crossed paths. "Heeey," I growled, trying not to seem too excited by fate finally bringing us together. "What's up, Soph?"

"Oh Tom," she cooed. "I'm so glad you're home. Do you have any plans today?"

"Well, that depends. What did you have in mind?"

"I need to run some errands, and out of the blue, my babysitter called to say she couldn't make it." My heart dropped as she shuffled aside, and little Casey, her young son, popped into frame. "I don't suppose you could look after him for the day? Please?" Sophia pouted her lip a little, looking at me with expectant eyes. So much for that hot date... 

With a heavy sigh, I nodded my head and said, "sure. I can do that."

"Thank you so much!" She gave me a quick hug before waving me off. "I owe you big time, Tommy!"

"You sure do..." I mumbled under my breath before closing the door. Casey's cute and all, but this wasn't what I had in mind. Still, it was a great excuse to get out of this lunch. When I returned to the living room, I was surprised to find Casey with his hands on the Santa hat. "Why do you have one of these?" He asked. He squinted his eyes. "Are you Santa?"

"What? No! I've been decorating, and found it in one of the boxes." I sat down next to him. "You know, when I was your age, my mama told me that if you wear one and wish extra hard, Santa will grant your biggest wish."

He gasped, and yanked the hat onto his little head, quick as a dart. He scrunched up his face, and cried out, "I wish I was a bear!"

I let out a snort and asked, "A bear? Why would you want to be a bear?"

"Bears are so cool! They're really, really, big and fuzzy and cute, but they're also mean and scary too, and they live in the forest, and catch fish with their paws, and eat all the honey they want, and scratch their backs on trees, and they get to sleep all the time, and-"

I shook my head with a laugh. The kid was hilarious. But if the hat couldn't score me a date with Sophia, there was no way it was turning Casey into a bear. I let him babble on while I ducked into the kitchen to get us some snacks, and find a way to word babysitting duties into a well-meaning excuse.

I was only away for a minute when I heard a door slam shut. I rushed to the living room, and Casey was nowhere to be found. The front door was still locked, so he didn't escape, but I didn't want the kid snooping around the place. Who knew what he could dig up about me, and ruin any spark between his mom and I. My bedroom door was shut, so I gave a little knock. "Casey? You in there, buddy?"

"Stay away," he cried out. "My wish is coming true!"

I paused a minute. "Your wish?"

"I'm becoming a bear!" He yelled, his voice filled with excitement. "I'm gonna be a big grizzly bear and live in the woods, but I don't want to eat you, so I gotta stay away in case I don't remember you afterwards!"

I chuckled to myself and shook my head. Kids can have the wildest imaginations. "I'll be very careful," I said as I opened the door. "But I have a feeling you won't-" I paused mid-sentence as I saw Casey pacing back and forth in my room. Except he wasn't the precocious scamp I was familiar with, he was twice the height and still growing. He looked to be in his late teens, his clothes reduced to rags that scattered the floor.

"Go away!" He growled, his voice husky and booming as it dropped an octave. He stopped pacing and stood in a defensive pose, his newfound muscles flaring. I should have left or gotten help, but I was transfixed by what was happening. Even now, he was gaining a few more inches in height until he towered over me. And he was gaining a ton of mass, his previously meek frame was filling out with powerful muscle and fat with every passing second. 

Yet as he grew ever more bearish, I couldn't help but notice the things that weren't changing. His hands remained very human-like, not making the shift to a bear-like paw. His posture wasn't shifting to one of a quadruped, he remained very upright. His face wasn't lengthening into a muzzle, nor were his ears gaining the distictive roundness of a bear's. In fact, his jaw was getting more angular as a short, ginger beard spread across his cheeks. And while he was definitely getting hairier, a thick blanket sprouting up across his increasingly burly torso, it still looked like hair instead of the denser fur of a wild animal. In fact, the hair on his head was actually getting shorter and receding back into his scalp. 

Finally, as Casey's perpetual weight gain now focused on the fatter side of things, his pecs drooping slightly and his waistline expanding as his belly bloated outwards, it struck me. He wasn't becoming a bear, he was... I cracked a smile, which led to a small chuckle, which came to full blown laughter.

"Why are you laughing? You should be fearing me!" He growled as he bared his still human teeth.

"I hate to break it to you, Cas, but I think your wish has gone a little awry."

"What do you mean? I'm big, I'm hairy, and, and-"

"And you're still human. You're not becoming a grizzly bear, you're becoming a gay bear." He gave me a blank stare, and there was an awkward silence. By now, it appeared his changes were slowing down, and coming to a halt. We were about a similar age now, give or take a few years. But we couldn't be more different in size. I'm a petite, slim, metrosexual kind of fella, and Casey was, well, it's self-explanatory really. "I'm sorry, you were a kid mere moments ago... Well, in the gay world, a man who is hairy and fat is generally referred as a bear. And, well..."

"So, I'm just an adult? A mere man?" He frowned, and stared down at his belly, before whining "But I wanted to be a bear! A real one, with lots of fur and paws and wiggly ears!" He sat in the chair by my dresser, his body jiggled with the impact, and groaned as he scratched at his beard, processing the reality of his situation. "I don't wanna be a grown up! I don't wanna be fat! I just wanted be a hibernating bear in the woods..."

 

I wanted to comfort him, but it was probably for the best. For me, at least. I don't know how I would cope with an actual bear in my bedroom. That would be a weird conversation with animal control... But this still presented a big problem. The kid I was babysitting was now a huggable, hairy man. How was I going to explain this to Sophia. She'd never give me a chance now, not when her only son looked more like he could be her big brother now, emphasis on big. I shouldn't have told Casey that stupid story. It's not like the hat even worked for me. Although, maybe if I took the hat and wished hard enough, I could turn him back into a child, and Sophia would be none the wiser!

Then again, he was quite handsome. There was something quite charming to his bulk. The way his belly hung, spilling over his waist and into his lap. And his body hair gathered in all the right places to emphasis his size. I don't normally find myself attracted to anyone bigger than myself, nor do I care for masculine looking men. Yet there was something alluring about Casey. A big ol' cuddly bear of a man. I bet he'd give the best bear hugs. And a soft belly like that would be perfect as a pillow to lay a weary head upon. Everything about him looked so comforting...

My phone pinged, and brought me back to reality. It was Kris asking if I was still coming. I stroked my chin, and it hit me. If Casey's wish didn't go quite right, despite being granted, then there's a chance mine may have also gotten twisted by the hat... It was a shot in the dark, but I sent a text back to Kris, and scurried to my wardrobe. I may be half the size of Casey, but I should be able to find something for him to wear...

"So I know you're wallowing about not being a wild animal and all," I spoke aloud while digging into my seldom worn collection of flannel. "But how's about I treat you to lunch?"

I tossed some clothes onto the bed, and Casey raised an eyebrow at me prodding the pile. "Aren't you supposed to be babysitting me?" He picked out a red lumberjack shirt and draped it over his shoulders. "Then again, I guess I'm not a baby anymore. There's no reason I should even stay here."

"C'mon, I have some old friends in town, and I may have just told them a few white lies about the two of us... I'll get you whatever you want to eat. Hell, I'll even get you whatever you want to drink. You're old enough now."

"Can I get chocolate cake?"

"You can have the whole damn dessert menu, if you want." He smiled, and nodded his head. "We'll need a cover story of course. How's about we met... At work. Simple enough."

"Okay... We work in different departments, but we'd always get on the same elevator. And I'd always think you were so cute with your multi-colored suits, and matching bow ties." He smiled at the thought, an adorable grin that lit up the room and left me gushing. How could he be so adorable? "Sometimes I'd even wait around for you to arrive so we could get the same elevator as always."

"Ah, that's cute. I like that."

"When we finally managed to get an elevator, just the two of us, I asked you out to dinner. And we've been together ever since."

"Yeah, that's a real good meet-cute." I threw an arm around his back, and squeezed him tight, my head rested against his chest, his belly pressed against my abs. He really was so cuddly, I couldn't help myself. "It's a little sappy, but I think they'll buy it!"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "That was how we met." He had gotten dressed by now. I thought the clothes I picked out might have been too small, but they were the perfect size. The jeans were even hemmed perfectly despite being several inches taller than me. He gave me a little kiss on the forehead, and grinned. "You know, I can't wait to meet Kris and Bobby. The legends themselves. It's almost like I'm meeting celebrities, the way you go on about them."

I froze, I never told Casey their names, or even how important they were to me. That elevator story was far too specific to make up. And now he's putting on a puffer jacket I've never owned, where did he get that!? Was my wish actually coming true, what about Sophia? Wouldn't she worry about me dating her brother when we- I mean, her brot- No, wait. What...

"Tommy!" I spun back, and Casey was smiling that dopey smile of his, the one that always made me melt. "Are you coming? We wouldn't want to be late."

"Hold on," I reached up and grabbed the hat off of his head, tossing it aside. "I know you're as big and cuddly as Santa, but let's save it for Christmas morning." It's funny, there was a story my mama used to tell me about Santa's hat, but I can't remember it, for the life of me. Oh well, it was a fairytale anyway.

"Okay," Casey laughed, rubbing a hand over his nude scalp. "I have plenty more hats where that came from." He grabbed a different beanie hat from our wardrobe and tugged it down over his head before scooping his arm out. "Shall we?" 

I looped my arm around his, and he pulled me in close, nuzzling his prickly bearded chin across the top of my head and down my cheek, making me quiver. I stood on my tiptoes as he leaned down further until we locked lips in a short, sweet kiss. I just couldn't wait to introduce my Casey-bear to Kris and Bobby. I just knew they were going to love him as much as I do!