Stress Relief (Grizz x Nom Nom)

Chapter 7

Grizz was starting to worry as he sat on the couch, watching TV. Nom Nom hadn't come out of his bedroom for hours. The grizzly wanted to check on him, but at the same time he wanted to give the koala some space. He thought about his interactions with Nom Nom before. It seemed that Nom Nom's attitude was different than before. He was still a bit snappy sometimes, but it seemed that Nom Nom was, in a sense, more chill. More polite and a bit more calm....sometimes.

He considered getting up from the couch and going to see Nom Nom. Sure he wasn't the most outgoing or even the friendliest of animals. But Nom Nom told Grizz himself that he was his friend. That he...loved him. And as his friend, Grizz felt that he need to help Nom Nom out of whatever was troubling him.

Grizz stood up from the couch and took a deep breath. Come on, Grizz. You can do this. Be the friend that Nom Nom needs to you to be. As bravely that he could, Grizz strode over to the bedroom and knocked slowly on the door.

"Hey, Nom? You alright in there?", Grizz asked gently. On the other side of the door, Nom Nom jumped in surprise.

"Uh, uh, yeah. I'm just fine!", Nom Nom called.

"You mind if I come in?", Grizz asked. Nom Nom gasped and hid his phone underneath the pillow.

"Y-yeah! Come in!", Nom Nom called. Grizzly opened the door and stepped in with a gentle smile on his face.

"You alright in here, buddy?", Grizz asked, sitting down on the bed next to the koala.

"Uh, yeah. I'm alright", Nom Nom sniffed and wiped an eye. Grizz turned to him in concern, "Hey, Nom Nom? Are you sure you're alright?"

Nom Nom just nodded his head and cleared his throat.He didn't want the bear to him him in a state like this. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He laid back on the bed and clutched a pillow, putting it over his embarrassed face, revealing the hidden phone underneath.

"Hey, what's this?", Grizz asked curiously. He picked up the phone and looked on the text across the screen. Nom Nom noticed that Grizz wasn't saying anything anymore. He peeked from behind the pillow and nearly screamed at what he saw: Grizz scrolling through the messages on his account.

"Nom.... This is crazy...", was all the Grizz could say at such a thing. He was looking at Nom Nom's social media account that had over 700 direct messages. Some of them were positive and few of them were supportive, but a good number of them were strange, creepy and were clearly threats.

"All I want to do is take some time for myself. And how do my 'fans' thank me? By sending me all these horrible things", Nom Nom muttered.

"Well, there not all bad like that. Like....Oh, here's a pretty nice message from a guy named Farmer", Grizz put on a smile, drawing attention to the message.

"Yeah, he works for me. It's kind of expected", Nom Nom sighed, sitting up. "I'm just....Just not really sure what I should do anymore."

"Hey, you said that Farmer guy works for you. What about everyone else who works for you? The cooks, the bodyguards, what about the mansion itself?", Grizz asked.

"Eh, I sent them all off for the week. As for the mansion and everything in it, it's all insured", the koala shrugged.

"Do you miss any of them, your staff I mean?", the bear continued.

"Grizz, I barely know any of their names", the koala chuckled dryly. He took a deep breat hand turned to Grizz. "You know, Grizz. I'm kinda glad to be here right now. Even that vacation wasn't enough to being my stress back to normal. But this fame is all I've ever known. I don't know what to do besides this. I don't know how to do anything besides this."

Grizz leaned a bit closer and gave Nom Nom a sign that he was ready to listen if the koala wanted him to. Nom Nom continued on, "It's kinda funny, the thing I wanted to do will probably end up killing me. Heh. I know that it looks all amazing and glamorous on TV, but in reality every morning I'm just swarmed by all these people I don't even know. All they ever want is an autograph or an interview and even then it's about my latest project rather than anything about me.."

"..Eventually I'll have to go back out there and put on another smile for them", Nom Nom groaned.

"Are any of those fans friends?", Grizz dared to ask.

"Friends? Friends?", Nom Nom snickered. "It's either another photoshoot or it's filming. I don't really have the time for friends. I can't make friends, they'll only end up distracting me."

"Oh...", Grizz said dejectedly."So I guess that means were aren't friends then?"

"Well, Grizz, you're different. I mean, we're friends. But the only reason we're 'hanging out' in the first place is because I'm dodging my career. The truth is my fame and our friendship can't exist at the same time." Nom Nom turned to see the utter look of defeat on Grizz's face and he instantly felt bad about what he said, but he couldn't let the naive bear get his hopes up for a friendship that would never develop.

Suddenly, Grizz perked up as he remembered something. "While we were out I managed to get some eucalyptus leaves. I know they're probably not the kind that you usually help, but I..."

"No, it's fine. Thanks, Grizz", the koala cut off.

"Uh, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?", Grizz asked.

"I don't think so, I think I'll just sit in here for a little while longer", Nom Nom shook his head and laid back on the bed.

Grizz just left him to it and closed the door behind him.