Life With Ice (An Ice Bear x Reader Story)

Chapter 1: A Fish Out of Water

   "Damn it, I'm not going to make it to this audition!" you moaned out loud as you turned around on the sidewalk and jogged in the opposite direction of where you were originally heading. You looked back down at the directions on your phone, hoping that your GPS wasn't leading you in the wrong direction, again. This was one of the problems with not being a native of San Francisco, in your opinion; you didn't know where ANYTHING was located. In the past three weeks since you've moved to the Bay Area, you'd discovered that getting lost was one of your hidden talents.

   This time, though, you couldn't afford to be lost; you had a side job to audition for, and if you weren't there by four, the opportunity to make extra money would be out of the window. San Fran was a lot more expensive than you'd thought it would be (you were already working at a full time internship at Googs, part time job at an Apple store at the mall, and living off of three hours of sleep a day) , which was one of the reasons why you didn't just order a ride from the Ride Buddy app- they charged WAAAY too much! You stopped to catch your breath and finished chugging down your highly caffeinated iced black coffee, when something weird caught your eye.

Across the street, you saw three bears running at break neck speed (well, technically ONE bear was running, since the other two bears were stacked on top of him) with a human casually sitting on their back. They stopped abruptly in front of the bookstore across from you and the human- a guy in his mid to late 20s, it seemed- climbed off before paying the bears with his cellphone. "Wow, you guys are SO much cheaper than the other ride shares around here, and faster, too. Thanks a lot, and keep the extra tip!" the man said, smiling.

    "Good job, guys! We made $45 in tips, this time! All we need are about two more customers before we meet our goal!" the grizzly bear at the top exclaimed.  You crossed your fingers, hoping that their rides were as affordable as their last customer had said, and ran across the street, waving to them. "Hey! I'm sorry to bother you guys, but can you guys give me a ride?I'm in a hurry!" you informed them, out of breath and desperate. You had only twenty minutes to get to your job audition and you didn't know where you were. Like, at all.

   "Yep, we sure can, ma'am!" (or whichever pronouns you prefer) the grizzly bear exclaimed. You finally got close enough to notice that the polar bear at the bottom had on pink eye lashes, and it was the cutest thing you've ever seen. The three bears helped you up on top and the panda bear in the middle asked "Alright, ma'am, where to?" as he waited to put the coordinates into his phone.

   "I need to be at the Black-Pink Karaoke Lounge in Korea Town in twenty minutes!" you tell them, a little bit worried that you might not make it on time. These were three bears stacked on top of each other going on foot, after all. The panda bear typed the address into the phone and showed it to the polar bear with the pink lashes. "You got it, Ice?" he asked, and the quiet bear nodded before say "Ice Bear knows a shorter way." And began running towards your destination.

   "Thank you guys so much! I hope I don't end up late..." You say gently, and the grizzly, who you've noticed to be the most talkative out of the group smiled up at you reassuringly. "Don't worry, ma'am! Ice is the quickest, most reliable ride in the entire city. Just leave it to us!" You smiled at the bear's confidence and calmed down a bit. "I'm (Y/N), by the way" you say, introducing yourself. "I moved here to the Bay Area a little less than a month ago, and I don't know where anything is. Thanks so much for helping me out, guys." The grizzly bear grins in a friendly manner and says "Nice to meet you, Y/N! I'm Grizz, and these-" Before Grizz could finish his sentence, the other two bears interrupted "I'm Panda" the panda bear informed you "Ice Bear is...Ice Bear." the polar bear monotoned, speaking in third person for the second time. Grizz chuckled "Yep. And we're all bros!"

You finally start to relax in the company of these strange brothers, who were all different breeds of bear, and began having a conversation with the three of them. Hey, who were you to judge, anyways? All of a sudden, Ice Bear stopped and you noticed that all of the signs on the buildings around you were in Korean. The building that you were in front of said 'Black-Pink Karaoke' in magenta neon lights beneath the bigger Korean lettering. "This is it, guys!" you exclaimed gratefully as you climbed down off of the bears and payed them their dues, plus a little extra on their tip You had so much fun talking to the bears, that you didn't exactly know what time it was. You checked the watch on your phone and realized that you still had five minutes before being called in to audition.

   "Holy smokes, Ice Bear! You got me here so fast! I still have five minutes to spare before I have to go in!" you said, looking at him in awe. Ice Bear avoided eye contact with you before shrugging "Ice bear said he knew a short cut". You thought that maybe you saw a slight bashful smile playing in the corners of his eyes, but you weren't sure.

  "So, Y/N, are you meeting up here to have karaoke with friends?" Panda asked. "Yeah, you're really dressed up- is there a special occasion- a party with cool people here, maybe?!" Grizz chimed in, trying to hide his excitement. You shook your head, deciding that you would tell your new acquaintances the truth. "I'm auditioning for a job, here", you tell them. You decided not to inform them that you were answering to an ad online to work here as a doumi ( a hostess paid to entertain and flirt with men at karaoke clubs for pay).

   " Oh!" Panda said, brightly. "Well, I really hope you get the job, Y/N! Is it ok if maybe one day we can stop by here and visit you  if you get the job. Korean karaoke sounds like it would be fun.😃" You smiled warmly at Panda before grabbing his phone and putting your number in it. "You bet; I'd love to hang out with you guys, some more!" you say, tossing his phone back to him, watching as he fumbled to grab it. You smiled at Grizz and gave him a high-five, before turning to Ice Bear and giving him a big hug and a thank-you kiss on the nose. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and his fur bristled before you turned around and headed into the karaoke lounge.

You didn't know that Ice watched you all the way until you disappeared into the dim lights and smoke that filled the bar, the door swinging shut behind you. At that, moment, Ice Bear made up his mind that you would become an important person in his life. "What a nice person." Grizz said, pleased that he'd made a new friend who might let them get into karaoke for free. "Y/N does seem pretty cool, huh?" Pan-Pan agreed thoughtfully. "All right, little bro, let's go finish earning this money so we can help Daryl keep his shop!". With that, the quiet polar bear turned around and strolled along the sidewalk, waiting for new customers....