Life With Ice (An Ice Bear x Reader Story)

Chapter 10: Guests

Ever since the morning that you and Ice had questioned each other about Soren and Yana, things had been awkward. For some reason, you felt like things were slightly more your fault than his, and it was really hard to look Ice in the eye since that day. Today, though, you felt that you HAD to look at the polar bear and say SOMETHING to break the ice (no pun intended). After all, today was the day that Soren was coming to see you, and you wanted to introduce him to the Bears.

You spritzed the window pane in front of you with cleaner before thoroughly wiping it down with quick, firm, circular motions. Ice was right beside you, dusting a shelf with equal vigor; you felt his silent presence extra strong, today. You slowly moved your eyes in his direction, trying to steal a peak at the bear beside you without making it obvious that you wanted to talk to him like you usually did when the two of you cleaned. Your peripheral vision of Ice didn't satisfy you, though, and before you had time to stop yourself, your head was gradually turning in his direction.

Ice bear noticed you sneaking a peak at him and grunted, causing you to jerk your head back to the window you were cleaning. Sighing, Ice Bear laid the duster in his paw down and looked straight ahead before talking. "Ice Bear misses hearing Y/N talk too much." he informed you in a calm, flat tone. Your shoulders lost a bit of tension when he said this and you answered him quietly "I thought you wouldn't want me to talk to you, since you're mad at me and all..." Your voice trailed off and you bit your bottom lip as your eyes took in the view of the surrounding forest through the now sparkly, crystal clear window. You moved on to the next window to clean as Ice shook his head from his place by the shelves, steadily polishing his matryoshka dolls. "Ice Bear isn't mad at Y/N. Ice Bear is mad at Soren." Ice explained, suddenly seeming to focus extra hard on the tiny crevices of the middle doll's hair, now.

For some reason, this felt like news to you, and you turned your head in his direction to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Wait... Why are you mad at Soren instead of me? He's not the one who lashed out on you." you inquire, genuinely trying to understand Ice Bear at this s point. It was silent for a long time on Ice's end before he stacked his dolls inside one another and places them oh so neatly back on the shelf. "Ice Bear doesn't know why Ice Bear hates Soren." he answered, honestly just as lost for an answer to his prejudice towards Soren as you were.

The two of you finished cleaning in a slightly more comfortable aura before Grizz bust out of his room in giddy excitement, dumping chips into a big bowl that he set on the coffee table. "Guys, he's-here-he's-here he's-here!!!" Grizz exclaimed, rushing to open the door as Panda came out of his room more calmly but also excited to meet Soren. Looking out of the window, you see a yellow taxi cab parked in the Bear's front yard and Grizz rushing to help with luggage, already chatting and laughing with Soren.

Ice Bear moodily looked out of the window and you see his fur bristle in annoyance at the sight of the tall, muscular, naturally platinum blonde, conventionally handsome man in the front yard. Honestly, he kinda looked like what Ice would probably look like if he were a human lumbersexual social butterfly. You patted Ice on the arm apologetically before walking out the front door to greet your guest. As soon as you stepped foot on the front lawn, you heard a cheerful male voice boom "*Insert favorite/childhood nickname here*! How the FIZZNUCK have you been?!?" Soren yelled delightedly. Before you knew it, you were wrapped in the familiar feeling and warm snickerdoodle smell of his strong arms.

You couldn't help but laugh out loud as Soren lifted you off your feet and spun you around in greeting before he finally set you down. "Well, Soren, I was doing pretty damn good before YOU showed up!" you said, joking in your old way as you slugged him on his rock hard chest. Your ex chuckled slightly at your teasing and you looked down shyly before remembering about the bear brothers who had taken you in. "Soren, this is Grizz, that's my baby Panda, and... Ice is still inside. Grizz, Pan-Pan, this is Soren." you stated, cheerily introducing your childhood friend to your housemates.

You bend over to help pick up one of Soren's bags, but he cuts you off and grabs it himself. "No, you don't- ladies don't carry bags while I'm around." Soren says flirtatiously. You brush his statement off with a smirk but let him carry the heavy case anyways. "I thought you said you were staying at a hotel downtown; why all the bags?" you ask, hoping that he wasn't having one of his impulse sprees and deciding to stay his vacation out at the cave. Things were already cramped- and awkward- enough as it was.

The blonde-haired man looked at you over his broad shoulders with a broad, boyish grin. "Who said the contents of these bags were for me? I came bearing gifts for the queen!" Soren joked. " Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." you quipped with a simple quote and cheeky smile as you showed Soren into the living room. "Well, I'm not Greek or an enemy, so you've no need to look a Trojan horse in the mouth. " Soren jested back at you, winking before he set the bags down neatly on the living room floor and whistled. "This cave is pretty effin sweet." The Alaskan man complimented as he turned to Grizz and Panda. "Didja guys buy this from a broker, or?... How'd you come across this place?" he asked charismatically.

"Oh, we just, I dunno... Found it and fixed it up, I guess. " Panda answered feeling proud and a little bashful of Soren's compliments. Grizz grinned at Soren before excitedly turning on the TV and shoving the guest and possibly his new favorite person in the world onto the sofa. "We even set up cable and internet in here; see?!" Grizz boasted, flailing around like a hyperactive little kid. "Sick!" Soren answered, matching the grizzly bear's energy. Suddenly, something caught Soren's eye and he stood up politely with his arm outstretched, ready for a handshake. "You must be Ice Bear- I'm Soren." Soren stated, walking towards the grumpy pile of white fur in the corner of the living room.

Ice Bear looked at you before looking back at Soren's outstretched hand before saying "Ice Bear's hand shaking hand is broken." Soren looked down and noticed the cast before apologizing in his usual upbeat way. "My bad, brother- is it alright if I just hug ya?" he says, already bringing one in before Ice stepped back in a standoffish manner. "No. Don't touch Ice Bear." he monotones firmly, a perturbed expression on his face. Before Soren could say anything else, Ice quietly turned his back to him and stormed into the kitchen. You looked at Soren apologetically and were about to follow Ice into the kitchen when you heard a childlike voice come from the living room.

"Woah, did I come at a bad time, guys? If you have guests, I can come back later..." the childlike intruder stated politely. You turned to see a cute bespectacled little girl in the doorway of the cave looking at all the luggage that was neatly stacked against the living room wall. Before anyone could say anything, Ice Bear poked his head from the kitchen and waved at the little kid. "Chloe is Ice Bear's guest. Come in." he said, causing little Chloe to nervously make her way over to the kitchen, waving politely with one hand and tightly holding a backpack strap with her other hand.

Grizz quickly hopped up and began introducing you and Soren to Chloe, overjoyed that so many people were in his home, possibly becoming friends. Before you had even gotten a chance to say ''Hi" back to Chloe, though, another voice came from the doorway of the cave, but this time it was recognizable. "Pan-Pan! I'm so booored- let's play today!" Petra's voice cooed. You'd forgotten that your coworker and Panda had recently started dating, and you could tell that Panda wanted to hang out with her without being rude.

"I know! Since everybody here has a guest already, I'll just call a friend of mine up and we can have a party!" Grizz suggested, not really giving anybody a choice in the matter. To be completely honest, you didn't know that Grizz had many other friends outside of you, his brothers, and apparently Chloe, but he was so sweet and social that you weren't surprised. Grizz hurried over to the phone in the wall and dialed a number before waiting a few seconds. Finally, the person on the other end of the line picked up and Grizz gushed into the phone. "Hey, Yana, I've got a crap ton of people at my house, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out and party with us?"