Let's Talk About Bears

It had been a bit since Valentine's Day and Richard had heard about the teddy bear assignment all of the students had. In some ways, he was glad that he wasn't in school for this. Being a guardian was good in that respect. Instead, he was on the other side of the assignment. He was supposed to make sure everything ran smoothly and that no one is seriously injured in case the bears blew up. But right now, he was mostly curious to know if Brailynn had gotten involved in it. Everyone was supposed to have been paired up and have a bear, but there were a few who had been able to slip through the system. He knew just where to find Brailynn, too.

Walking into the conservatory, he took a quick look around. She had a tendency of coming here to help the gardener do this thing by taking care of plants and making sure everything was good. If she wasn't here, he did know where she would be at this point. "Brailynn?" he called, hoping she would be here. "You in here?"

She hadn't known where Brendan was. Rumor had it that he was spending a little more time around the school's mirage master, but she hadn't heard a thing about it directly. The thought still left a smile on her face. And so, she was left with little to do but sit on the bench, several flowers set out on the glass table in front of her. One by one, she carefully strung them together, creating a chain of beautiful blossoms.

Besides her, wrapped up in a few light blankets, was her golden teddy bear. It had certainly been a fuss to her at first, but now she thought she was getting the hang for it, at least for the moment. It was hard to tell since it's eyes were always open, but since it was so quiet she simply figured it was asleep.

Brailynn had just finished tying a rose in when she'd heard someone step inside, calling her name, her boyfriend. After years of calling him 'just a friend' and 'roommate', the new term would take some getting used to, but she didn't mind.

Smiling, the Spring set down her things and checked on her bear before getting up and walking around the corner, seeing him standing now far off. "Who wants to know?" She called teasingly, taking a few steps forward. "Have I done something wrong, Mr. Guardian Sir?"

He heard her footsteps before he heard her voice, but both left a big, goofy grin on his face. He quickly turned to face Lynn as she rounded the corner and stopped, but he just started walking. Quickly closing the large gap between them leaving only a couple of inches of space, he smiled down at her and left a quick kiss on her forehead. "No, I'd say..." he paused for a moment, lost in thought as he brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. "You just look really pretty today, is all." He chuckled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Actually, I just wanted to see how you were doing today. I haven't seen you yet and wanted to check on you." That was true. He was curious to know what she'd been up to and how her day was going. It was a little weird still to say that out loud considering it hadn't been long since they started dating, but it was pleasant. His cheeks still turned a light shade of pink, however, as he asked.

He certainly didn't waste any time, she thought, his light kiss leaving a tender ghost on her skin and his hand sending chill down her back as he brushed the hair out if her eyes. Richard was so gentle with her, and so cheesy. Jeez. Was he trying to turn her face as red as a rose? She grinned, reaching her hand up and caressing his own for a moment. "Thank you... You're not looking too shabby yourself." For a moment, it was nice for the both of them to just stay like that. It was funny how just by finding her there her day was instantly made.

But as he went on, she realized she'd have a perfect opportunity here to intrude him to someone. And she had the best idea on how to go about it. Brailynn took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly and regaining her composure. "I've been meaning to talk to you too." She allowed her face to fall slightly, turning sullen. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."

Richard grinned as she gave him a quick compliment back. He felt silly being so happy and giddy around her but he couldn't help it and he didn't care. It was only when she looked down and turned serious did he pause. His brow furrowed as he tilteddy his head to the side, confused as to what she could be talking about. "What's up?" he asked before his mind began racing. Yet, he couldn't think of she could be so serious about. Oh, he screwed something up, didn't he? It hadn't even been that long, what could he have done? A small wave of concern washed over him. "Is everything okay?"

He had seemed so thrown off by her change of pace already, and she had hardly said a thing. It took a great deal of strength not to grin. It felt amazing how much trust he put in her, and how attentive he was to the way she felt. Brailynn had to be a horrible girlfriend to take advantage of it, but when she'd first thought of the idea, she'd reasoned that he was still one of her closest friends foremost. And friends were fair game to mess around with.

Lynn shifted around, feigning unease. She avoided his gaze, played with her arms, all sorts of little pick-ups that gave off the illusion that something was deeply wrong. "I'm - I'm not sure... I don't know how to say this." She bit her lip, finally casting a short glance up at him. "Promise you won't be upset?" For several moments after that, she stayed quiet, seemingly stumped as she looked towards the rows of plants and flowers again - unable to look at him. In reality, if she did, her facade might shatter.

Finally, she took in a slow, shaky breath. "Richard, you're a father now."

At first, Richard was a little confused, but now he grew worried. He had never seen her act this way before. It had completely thrown him for a loop. He simply stood there dumbfounded as she spoke, telling him that she didn't know how to say whatever it was she had to say. Then she continued by asking him not to get upset. What on earth could he be upset about? Just five minutes ago, everything was great! He quickly began to panic and his brain began to buzz as different scenarios came to mind. He was able to rule out anything that he had done when she had asked him not to be mad, but he was at an utter loss as to what else could be going on. "No... No I won't get upset," he breathed, trying to keep himself contained. "Brailynn, what's going on?" he asked urgently. If nothing else, he wanted to know so he could try to help her with whatever it was she was going through. It was obviously something pretty serious. All he could do at the moment, though, was just stand there. That was, until she finally said what she needed to say.

In an instant, Richard's jaw dropped along with his stomach. Fear and confusion took place of the worry as the rest of his face practically radiated disbelief. His eyes widened as he tried to process what she had just said. His entire body tensed up and his gaze fell to the floor as he desperately tried to think of something to say, but he was left breathless and speechless. Nothing made sense for a few minutes. In the midst of his panic, he had completely forgotten about the stupid teddy bears and even forgotten how to speak for a second. There were too many emotions running through his head at once to try to discern any one feeling.

After several minutes of silence, Richard could finally compose himself enough to look back up at Lynn and breathe again... sort of. "Wait wait wait..." He breathed, trying to calm himself down a little bit. "You... You're, uh... I'm..." He couldn't get his thoughts clear enough to make any kind of coherent sentence. This was all too real. Sure, they had spent the night together, but he had been so careful. He made sure nothing like this would have come out of it. He had thought it through. This didn't make any sense! After a moment, Richard stumbled backwards, finding the first thing sturdy enough that he could sit on which so happened to be an upside down five-gallon bucket next to one of the long tables filled with plants. As soon as he sat down, he placed his elbows on his knees and his forehead in his hands.

More silence. Everything was blurry but he couldn't tell if it was because he felt light headed or if he had tears in his eyes. Thankfully, as his rubbed his face with his hands and looked back up at Lynn once again, it was the former. "Are you sure?" he asked. It was a stupid question, but for whatever reason, Richard couldn't bring himself to believe the news just yet. It was like everything within him was fighting against the knowledge that he could have a baby right now.

Brailynn had honestly never seen someone fall apart so incredibly fast.

It was as pitiful as it was funny to her. Despite feeling ashamed and saddened seeing him rapidly torn, she had to gather every ounce of strength she could to not crack a grin as he fumbled around, desperate to find anything to say. She had to bite her lip, staring down at the ground and folding her hands nimbly together as he stumbled back and found seating on old, unused plastic barrel. "Yes, I'm sure..." She answered him, her voice cracking, albeit not from being on the verge of tears exactly.

She couldn't let this go on too much longer. Poor Richard looked as if he were on the urge of a mental breakdown. The young woman walked up to him, leaning down and wrapping his arms around him, a light, maybe awkward hug, trying to provide him some comfort at least. "Hey, hey... It'll be alright. We're in this together." She cooed, finally allowing herself to smile - just enough to where it would seem she was trying to be reassuring. "There's something else I want to show you. You trust me, don't you?"

Her hands drifted back, reaching for his own that he hid his face away in and gently urged him up onto his feet. "It might make you feel a bit better..." Once he seemed ready, she took him by the hand, taking him back to the area of the conservatory from where she'd appeared. Sure enough, when the two of them arrived, seated not far off was a familiar bear with warm golden bear. "He has your looks, don't you think?"

How was he supposed to handle this? How was she so calm about this whole thing? It must have been because she found out sooner than he did. This was all on him right now, and as he sat there, all he could think about was how the school would react, how his family would react, the doctor's visits, the grocery store visits... He was certain he would get fired for this, and without a job, he couldn't make money and they were going to have to make those grocery visits with food stamps after his parents disown him and... and...

Richard's mind kept racing, his breaths becoming raspy and shallow. He kept trying to stop and focus on the present--the now-- but it was hard to do considering he now had to plan and live for three. His brain was already thinking ahead, trying to problem solve and create some kind of lifestyle before he finally paused at Lynn's comforting touch. He somewhat recognized that she had said something about being in this together, but he was going to be the man of the family. He had to get everything situated and it felt like he had to do it now, not later. However, through the insanity going on in his head, he found himself relaxing slightly as she reassured him, his breathing returning to normal as he shook his head to get himself back into reality. It worked, thankfully, even though he was still a little lightheaded from what just happened. Within a minute, he found himself being pulled to his feet by Lynn. She had asked him about trusting her, and he nodded as he found his footing but said nothing else. As she dragged him along, he was still in a bit of a daze, but he felt a little better about things.

As they arrived at the bench not too far off, Richard stopped dead in his tracks and simply stared at it. It took what felt like an eternity squished into about a minute but it all finally clicked. Instantly, everything he'd been worked up about and been panicking about crashed around him and was quickly replaced with complete embarrassment and disbelief. All he could do was stand there in silence and stare at this bear. This was definitely it. Brailynn was talking about the stupid bear. Never once did she mention anything about a child or pregnancy, but here he was jumping to conclusions and freaking out only to find that she was talking about the class assignment that was going on around campus. Honestly, Richard would be lying if he said he didn't feel weak in his knees. Rather, his entire body felt like it wanted to turn into a giant puddle right then and there from how hard it had crashed from the high caused by panic.

When he could finally breathe normally again, he simply blinked a couple of times, his eyes never leaving the stuffed animal in front of him. "You were talking about the bear..." he breathed, sheer incredulity coating his words as his brain was now trying to process a whole new scenario. He couldn't really figured out how to feel at the moment, so he just went with dumbfounded. And embarrassed. And stupid. Yes, how he felt stupid... "So... you're not pregnant."

Poor Richard looked as if he were either going to implode or faint at any second, or perhaps both, and yet she couldn't hold back her smile any longer. The Spring broke into laughter, covering her face with the back of her hand and almost keeling over. She had to grab at her stomach from the slight pain. Was she crying? Lynn took a moment to try and straighten herself out.

She probably shouldn't have found it so funny, but the look on his face was priceless. "Yeah, isn't he cute?" Brailynn said through the giggles, looking over the little bear again as it stared back listlessly in their direction. "His name is Lynard." It was a name she'd picked on a whim at the time, but the more she'd thought about it, the more clever she'd thought herself. Brailynn. Richard. Lynard. It was genius!

The blonde wiped away a tear, reaching out to give him a hug. Whether he would accept it or not had yet to be said, but she tried all the same. "No, I'm not. I had you pretty worried though, didn't I?" She grinned, beaming up at him. "You are still a father though, in a way."

After what felt like forever of just staring at the stupid teddy bear, the guardian could only close his eyes and sigh loudly, feeling stupid to have believed that she was pregnant. Rubbing his hands down his face trying to clear his head followed by more deep breaths, he glanced over at Brailynn who had this point was doubled over with laughter. He wanted to be mad. He wanted to be so mad at her for pulling this crazy stunt, but instead, all he could feel was relief that this wasn't real. Richard certainly was a father, but thankfully not in the way he originally thought and that's what mattered in his head.

As he watched her, he found himself laughing with her, even though he wasn't nearly as amused as she was. Instead, he was coming off of his adrenaline high as his body relaxed and he shook his head, only listening to her again when she had told him the bear's name. "Lynard? Really?" he asked her with a smirk on his face. It sounded stupid to him but if she liked the name then he wasn't going to argue. "He's about as cute as he can get for a bear." When he finally looked her way again, he raised an eyebrow at her request for a hug. At first, he flat-out didn't accept it and even crossed his arms in front of him to show it. "'Pretty worried?' Ha, that's an understatement. You'd scared me shitless!" But after a moment, he rolled his eyes and accepted her hug anyway, pulling her in and wrapping his arms around her tight. "You realize that now I'm going to have to get you back for this, right?"

The Spring wiped away another tear as he stared the bear over. He didn't sound all that enthusiastic about her choice of name, but that was alright with her. "Yeah! Obviously, I had to choose the cutest name for the cutest bear." And Lynard was obviously the more adorable and dearest name of all. Thankfully, even despite her laughter at his pain, he seemed to be loosening quickly up. Or at least, he didn't look entirely cross with her.

He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, pulling away slightly when she'd went in for her hug, but then Lynn had been expecting that. She supposed she deserved a bit of the cold shoulder. "I suppose that's what I was going for?" She broke into another fit of giggles and trying to catch her breath again. "Oh man, I wish I'd taken a few pictures." The look that was on his face once he'd realized what was actually going on was priceless.

Sooner than she'd thought, he pulled her quickly into a hug, which she gratefully accepted - squeezing him back just as tightly. "You think so?" The blonde mused, backing away just enough to where she could lean up and pushed her lips to his, still grinning despite herself. "You're welcome to try, Sir." He looked so sweet in that moment, she'd thought, and counted herself so dearly lucky that she had someone as forgiving as him.

Of course, it was then that Lynard began to sound off an ugly, high-pitched wail.

"I'm so glad you didn't get pictures," he responded quickly. "I don't need to give you anything for blackmail." Like she would use it. Then again, after this stunt, he wasn't too sure. With a loud and exaggerated sigh, he broke into a small laugh before taking one of his hands and rubbing it through her hair real fast and kind of hard, messing it up. Then he laughed harder. It was only a bit of payback. Not a good one, but it was enough for now. "Actually I do think so," he teased with a smirk as he let go of her to give her space to fix her hair because he certainly wasn't going to do it. "That's a good look for you, by the way."

Suddenly, as if on cue, the bear began to cry and be obnoxiously loud. He quickly turned to look at Lynard with a confused look mixed with a bit of annoyance. "Does it do that a lot?" he asked, suddenly pondering whether or not he should try to soothe it. Maybe for the rest of the payback, Lynn could do that part too. He couldn't really decide, but it needed to be quick. That cry was getting on his nerves quickly.

Brailynn had actually gotten quite comfortable in his arms, letting her guard down and unknowingly in prime positioning for her hair to be tussled. One moment, she was thinking of giving him another kiss or two, and the next her hair was quickly becoming a ruffled, frazzled mess. "H-Hey!" The Spring ducked out of his grasp, quickly yanking herself away and taking a few steps back. It was too late. Her hair was already a mess. "That's not fair!" She insisted, catching a glance of herself in a nearby mirror.

At least he was laughing again. Despite the bad hair day, she found herself cracking a smile of her own, quickly combing through her locks with her fingertips. "You'll have to do better than that..."

She hadn't gotten quite used to Lynard's cries yet. The girl instinctively cringed, her grin turned wary as she slowly turned her head in the bears direction. "Yeah, all the time." Lynn sighed. Well, she supposed it was great timing. Now she didn't have to be stuck as the single parent anymore. "Ready for your introduction?" Eyes gleaming, she reached out and grabbed for his hand, tugging him over to the small bench the bear rested on.

"Go ahead and comfort him a little. He's probably lonely." Probably. She had no idea what was wrong with him.

Richard couldn't help but laugh more at Lynn as she tried to fix her hair. He should have felt a little bad, but he didn't. Not after what she pulled on him. He crossed his arms in front of him again as he just looked at her for a minute, taking in his masterpiece before she turned back around and tried to play it off. "Oh, Brailynn..." he started. "This is only the beginning. That was a pretty nasty trick you pulled on me. Do you think that only messing up your hair would make me feel like we're even?" He was just getting started. After he had finished asking her, though, he suddenly felt himself being pulled along by her hand towards the wailing bear. When he got closer, he simply sat there and watched it for a minute. It was weird trying to pretend that a stuffed animal was a baby. The thing didn't move and the cry sounded annoyingly fake.

"I dunno..." he sighed with a smirk. "I could just let him sit there and cry and cry. Maybe if he cries long enough, he'll explode and you'll get an F. I only see that as fair." Even though he teased her about it, he wasn't going to let that happen. Not yet at least. With a small chuckle to himself, he leaned down and picked Lynard up, and cradled the crying bear in his arms, trying to figure out what the heck could be wrong with it. He wasn't quite sure how the students were supposed to figure out what it needed; he only knew that the assignment was something everyone had to do. He technically wasn't supposed to be involved. "Have you fed him lately? What about a diaper change?"