🐼🐻Hopeless Romantic (A Grizz x Panda)

Chapter 34

"This looks great, Panda", Grizz complimented, looking down at the plate of freshly steamed vegetables. Of course this kind of food wasn't was he usually ate, but he wanted to try more greens with Panda. Plus he had a secret box of peanut butter cookies in the cabinet. It was one hes stashed away. Panda's cravings has toned down a lot, but he still has the appetite of a bear; last week alone he ate 4 whole thin mints. 

As the ursine couple ate together, Grizz couldn't help but admire his mate. 

Panda, looking down at his plate felt the grizzly across the table stare at him. 

"Uh, Grizz? Is there something wrong?", Panda whimpered.

"No, I just wanted to look at you", Grizz admitted, sticking his fork in a soft carrot. 

Panda just smiled a bit and looked back at his food. Honestly he wasn't in the mood to eat. But he knew he had to for their cub. This week in particular had been difficult for him. His emotions where all over the place, he had random cramps and this morning in particular the first thing he felt after waking up was an intense wave of nausea.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just feeling a bit self-conscious right now", Panda pushed his plate away and sat up.  "I'm not really hungry"

Grizz watched in surprise as Panda walked over to the living room couch and laid down. 

"You sure? I can get you something if you need it", Grizz offered. 

"Thanks, Grizz. But I'm just feeling tired. This pregnant stuff is hard. I wonder how the cub is feeling", he wondered aloud, rubbing his stomach. He smiled a bit as he felt the cub kick.

"Hey, Grizz. Can I talk to about something?", Panda sighed.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I've been having these dreams often", he admitted, still staring into the television. It was at this moment, Panda realized he never told Grizz about his reoccurring dreams. "They just show up. And it's like I'm aware what's around me in these dreams"

"What? Like some kind of lucid dream?", Grizz asked, not fully understanding. 

"Not exactly. See...In these dreams I see Ice Bear....And he talks to me. Sometimes he says things I don't really understand. But he says he's watching over the both of us", Panda explained.

Grizz walked over to Panda's side and sat down next to him. "Actually, Panda. I never told you this, but I've had dreams like that. I talked to Ice Bear. He told me to take care of you for as long as I can. Yeah...Ice Bear says weird things"

Panda nodded and looked up at Grizz. "Yeah, but I still miss him. But if he's talking to both of us. Then he's watching over us"

"That's true", Grizz smiled. "Look, I know what'll make you feel better. How about we spend the whole night binge watching that show you really like" 

"Hmmm, okay", Panda nodded. It had been a while since the both of them actually sat down and watched something together. Of course they were always in each others presence, but this was them actually sitting down together and sharing a moment.

Panda curled up close to Grizz, laying his head on his lap.

"Is this okay?", Panda blushed.

"Uh, yeah", Grizz chuckled, blushing also.

After about 5 minutes of cycling through thumbnails and reading reviews of each individual show, they eventually decided on this action type anime show. To Panda the first episode already seemed to be pretty basic. Just the basic character introduction and establishing thier quirks. By episode 3 Panda already had lost most interest in the show, his anime experience causing him to involuntary point out all kinds of clichés and character stereotypes. But Grizz seemed to be really into it. He was laughing at all the comedy and was on edge during a not-so-dramatic fight scene. Even though the show wasn't much, sitting with Grizz and watching his face light up in amazement at the color scenes made his heart swell. When the episode was over Panda looked up at Grizz and smiled.