Stress Relief (Grizz x Nom Nom)

Chapter 8

Grizz and Nom Nom sat on the couch once again watching reality TV. Grizz was very invested in the plot of the episode while Nom Nom had seen the episode before. He didn't see a point in spoiling the episode for the bear, so he sat mostly in silence scrolling through the feed on his phone.

"Hey, Grizz. We're gonna go off to that opening!", Panda called from the front door.

"Okay!", Grizz called back.

"You sure you don't want to go with us?", Panda called back. The show cut to commercial so Grizz stood up to meet with his brothers.

"No, I'm good here. Besides, there's always a chance someone's gonna come here looking for Nom Nom", Grizz cautioned.

"Yeah. Sure", Ice Bear shrugged.

"Alright, fine. We'll be back later", Panda chuckled, he and Ice Bear left Grizz out the door.

"Hey, Grizz. It's back on!", Nom Nom called. Grizz turned and ran back, not wanting to miss a single minute of it. Grizz rushed back in and plopped back down on the couch. The sudden drop of weight startled Nom Nom. He looked at Grizz for a second then went back to the words scrolled across his phone's screen.

"Did I miss anything?", Grizz asked, watching the TV intently.

"Uh, I wasn't really paying attention. Sorry", Nom Nom shrugged. Grizz glanced at the koala for a second and noticed that something seemed to be bothering him. Even though the show was interesting, he wanted to help Nom Nom.

"Something bothering you?", Grizz asked, turning to the frowning koala. Nom Nom lowered his phone and gave a groan.

"No, Grizz. I'm fine", Nom Nom put his phone down and began tapping the arm of the couch with a claw.

"You sure? I'm only asking because I want to help. Even after what you said last night, I still want to be your friend. And friends helps friends", Grizz started to ramble on when Nom Nom raised his paw and pointed at the TV. Grizz looked at the screen that was now playing a commercial for paper towels.

"What about it?", Grizz asked curiously. On the TV was an ad consisting of a lady advertising paper towels.

"You see that smile on the lady's face? I know that smile, I've probably put it on more than a million times. And each time it was just for the camera", Nom Nom explained. "At the start of my career it was easy to smile. But later down the line with more cameras in my face... Constant filming...The fame, the mansion, and even despite the money.....I found it harder and harder to smile and mean it. Now everything just makes me so annoyed now...", Nom Nom admitted, staring up at the ceiling.

Grizz did not saying anything in response, but nodded his head to let the koala know he was listening.

"And even though this job is killing me....I don't think I'm gonna stop. I'll just keep waking up every morning with a migraine, facing bright lights, putting on fake smiles for the paparazzi", Nom Nom paused, took a deep breath and continued. "I should have figured that this would have happened, after all anything that isn't a smile has to buried deep down. It only makes since that all this anger is coming back for me.... I just never thought it would kill me... I don't even know how long I'm gonna be able to hide like this...", Nom Nom groaned. Nom Nom's ear twitched in anticipation for Grizz to say something, maybe something overly positive or just plain silly. But no, the grizzly bear just remained silent.

"You alright, Grizz?", Nom Nom dared to ask. The next thing that the koala knew he was scooped up from his position on the couch and pulled into one of Grizz's soft hugs. Nom Nom had no idea what to do at first, but found himself pressing close to the bear's warm soft body.

"Dude, why didn't you tell me sooner?", Grizz asked, still holding onto Nom Nom. "I would have helped you out a long time ago."

But why? You have no reason to...., Nom Nom thought to himself. Nom Nom began to think back to all the times he was rude or angry towards Grizz and all the terrible things he said to the bear. And despite all of that Grizz is still wants to help me?

Nom Nom looked up at Grizz, who said nothing and pulled him in closer. Nom Nom let Grizz hold him tight, pressing his face into the soft fur and spread his arms wide to hug the bear back. Nom Nom realized that it was just him and Grizz in the cave. He realized that there was no reason for him to act anymore. Grizz held onto Nom Nom gently, his ear twitched when he heard a strange sound. He opened his eyes and looked around for the source. He heard the sound again, looked down and realized that Nom Nom was crying.

"Nom? Are you alright?", Grizz asked softly.

"Yeah", Nom Nom sniffed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Grizz put Nom Nom down and the koala quickly wiped his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Uh, thanks Grizz", Nom Nom said sheepishly. He glanced up the Grizzly and felt a strange feeling looking up at him again. Nom Nom climbed on the couch and cleared his throat. Grizz sat down beside him and smiled. Nom Nom felt an embarrassing blush creeping across his face.  He cleared his throat and thankfully he and Grizz returned to their show.