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It was closing time at the Polar Bear's Café, with the orange beams of light flowing in through the glass panels. Shirokuma was just finishing up tidying the area with Sasako, all that was left to do was to wipe the last dozen of glasses and he could leave the café for the day.

"Shirokuma-san, do you have another glass towel?" Sasako asked after sweeping up the cafe, placing down the broom and dustpan and walking towards Shirokuma.

"S-Shirokuma-san?" Sasako asked again, as the polar bear seemed to have not heard her.

Shirokuma snapped out of his daze, looking away from the glass and towel in his large white paws.

"Yes, Sasako-san?" he asked.

"Do you have another glass towel?" she asked.

"Ah," Shirokuma replied, "It is fine, Sasako-san, there are not many glasses left to wipe, I can finish up from here. You can head home first."

Sasako frowned a little, unsure whether to ask Shirokuma if everything was alright. The café owner has been a little... distracted lately. She has caught him not focusing a few times while relaying the orders, but luckily Shirokuma never mixed up any orders. It was worrying to Sasako, since they were more of a friend relationship rather than a working relationship. Shirokuma was a great café owner, if not the best, and rarely let his personal matters get to him. After all, Shirokuma said that Sasako can always talk to him about anything... right?

"Sasako-san?" the polar bear asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Eh? Uh-" she looked up shyly, "Nothing... It's just that I was worried about you; you were distracted lately."

Shirokuma paused for a moment before picking up another glass to dry, "I'm sorry. I hope that I did not affect the orders and cause you more trouble."

"No, you didn't cause any trouble," Sasako replied immediately, raising her hands, "I was just wondering..."

Shirokuma chuckled, "I am thankful for your concern, Sasako-san. I was just thinking about new recipes for the café."

Sasako smiled in return, not really sure if Shirokuma was being honest. The polar bear has always been a difficult person to read. Usually the bear would share things with her, but this time... Well, it is rude to pry into his privacy, so Sasako decided to change the topic.

"I see," Sasako said, "By the way, it has been quite a while since Grizzly-san visited the café, isn't it? He just finished his hibernating cycle, but I was told for the past few days he had been working in his bar."

Upon mentioning Grizzly, the grip on the last glass that Shirokuma was drying tightened. The paw was covered by the towel, however, so Sasako never noticed.

"Hmm, I heard about that too. That's why I am going to the bar tonight," Shirokuma replied before placing the last glass back on the rack, "Looks like we are done here today, Sasako-san."

-

Sasako left while Shirokuma made sure that the café was locked securely. He pondered about Sasako's words, replaying them in his mind.

So Grizzly has been awake? It was never the case without the polar bear waking him during the hibernation cycle. Shirokuma thought Grizzly would be sleeping, so the lack of his presence was reasonable. To see Grizzly awake on his own was rare, but the most curious part was that even though Grizzly was awake, he never contacted the polar bear. That was what the polar bear was worried about. Grizzly was never like that, not in their many years of friendship. Did Grizzly have something bothering him? Even if so, why didn't he tell Shirokuma?

Shirokuma swallowed as he locked up the main doors. Could it be that Grizzly... doesn't want to be friends with him anymore? The polar bear shook his head, clearing that thought. Grizzly isn't like that.

Shirokuma usually almost never drop his composure, but the idea of losing Grizzly scared him. The polar bear somewhat dreaded meeting Grizzly as he walked down the streets towards Bar the Grizzly. Everything is fine, Shirokuma told himself, and Grizzly will greet him as usual and bring him a glass of single malt scotch.

He stopped at the door looked at the bar sign and took a deep breath before stepping into the bar. The door chimed upon entering and the polar bear walked in towards the stairs. It was quite crowded today; Gorilla was throwing darts as usual, and other furs playing billiard. The bar still smelled the same as before, and Grizzly... Grizzly was working today.

Just as his black nose told him, Grizzly was mixing drinks beside Kawauso for a few furs who were sitting at the bar top. He looked a little tired, as though he hasn't been sleeping well.

"Good evening, Grizzly-kun," Shirokuma said as he sat on one of the seat.

Grizzly jumped at Shirokuma's voice, before turning back to acknowledge the polar bear. "Yo, Shirokuma," he said weakly, "Scotch?"

"Yes, please."

During the whole time Grizzly back faced Shirokuma, not wanting to give any eye contact. Even upon serving his glass of scotch, Kawauso was the one who gave Shirokuma his glass, who raised his eyebrow as the otter approached.

"Good evening, Shirokuma-san," the otter said quietly, "I'm worried for Grizzly. Usually after his hibernation period I won't be working here, but apparently he hasn't been sleeping well... so I decided to extend my stay here."

"I've heard about it too, Kawauso-san," the polar bear replied, "It must be hard on you. Thank you."

The otter smiled with a bow before returning to his work.

Shirokuma cleared his throat, "Grizzly-kun, can we talk?"

Grizzly gulped as the polar bear called for him. There's no way Grizzly could run from Shirokuma; the polar bear knew him too well. Dragging the problem would only embarrass him further... so... might as well be clear with his best friend. Grizzly put down the glass of alcohol in his brown paw and faced Shirokuma for the first time in his chain of sleepless hibernation nights.

"Shirokuma, let's take a walk," he said before turning to his assistant, "Kawauso, take care of the bar for me?"

The otter simply nodded with a smile, "Yes, Grizzly-san."

-

The two bears walked silently under the moonlight. Shirokuma was waiting for Grizzly to start a conversation, but it seemed that Grizzly wasn't going to say anything. It wasn't the lack of trying though, Grizzly was opening and closing his muzzle, but no words were formed. They were walking into the playground and Shirokuma let out a sigh, which made Grizzly step in front of him and shouted with a bow, "I'm sorry!"

"Grizzly-kun?"

"I know you must have noticed that I've been distant lately," Grizzly said, still facing the ground, "Shirokuma... I'm sorry. It's my entire fault."

"Grizzly-kun, what is wrong?" Shirokuma asked and bit his lip, not sure whether he wanted to hear the answer. Grizzly grabbed hold of Shirokuma's shoulder all of a sudden, shocking the white polar bear.

"Griz-"

"Shut up, Shirokuma," Grizzly cut him, "I have a confession to make."

"Confession(Kokuhaku)?" Shirokuma asked before pulling out his usual pun pranks out of habit.

"That's he-" Grizzly retorted out of habit too before shaking his head and shouting at the polar bear, "Now is not the time for your freaking puns, Shirokuma!"

Shirokuma took a step back, unsure what to do. His white paws went limp as he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end of their friendship. Grizzly must have gotten tired of him, and he had to make it worse with his puns.

Grizzly supressed a whimper as Shirokuma stepped back. But there's no such thing as giving up in Grizzly's dictionary.

"I like you very much, Shirokuma! I-I have feelings for you!" Grizzly roared.

Shirokuma's eyes widen in surprise before turning into a smile, "I see. I'm relieved."

Grizzly peeked at the polar bear with his right eye, unsure what is going on.

"Aren't you freaked out?" Grizzly asked quietly, "We're both males..."

Shirokuma shook his head, "Nope. I'm glad it is like this. I was afraid that you didn't want to be my friend anymore. Anything else would be better than losing you, Grizzly-kun."

"D-Don't be ridiculous," the brown bear stammered with a blush, "I will always be stuck with you."

"I'm happy to hear that, Grizzly-kun," Shirokuma said, "Though... how did things ended up this way?"

Grizzly guided Shirokuma to sit on a nearby bench before looking up at the starry sky. "I got into thinking as during my hibernation period. You know, times where you woke me up and I needed some time to cool down before I could go back to sleep?"

Shirokuma chuckled while Grizzly continued, "I was counting my years of hibernation... And frankly speaking, we are not as young as we were anymore, Shirokuma. You could say that I want to settle down... But who is there to be with me? The answer came into my head almost immediately, which is you, Shirokuma."

"You know me best, and you have always been there for me, to take care of me. You are one of the very few people that would tolerate me... It is as though my entire life is revolving around you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Shirokuma."

Shirokuma thought for a moment, "But Grizzly-kun... I thought you liked other girls. Remember Tsukiko-san?"

Grizzly frowned, "It's not the same... I just thought she was cute. But you... you got me thinking about you even in my hibernating nights. And I knew you liked me too."

Shirokuma scratched his head, laughing, "When did you realise that?"

"I guess it's just subtle hints during our times together," Grizzly said, "You were waiting with an umbrella for me when I gave the badge back to Tsukiko. You would cook for me and play with me even though I'm a rude person. You would help defend me in front of our teachers too. And I know you like to wake me up during the winter to spend more festive time with me..."

Shirokuma smiled and sighed, "Looks like I've been found out, Grizzly-kun."

"I was just guessing though," Grizzly confessed, "You are a strange bear after all... you tend to do things for no reason. I was just afraid to tell you, in case... But I was asking myself, who would like a rough bear like me?"

"You know how I'm like, Shirokuma," Grizzly added, "Rude, uncouth and wild. I can't study well on my own and people are afraid of me. I thought that I'm gonna stay lonely, you know? Who would like a barbarian? Compared to you? You have so much better traits than I do. You're handsome, popular and smart. People are never afraid of you and you have always been famous... be it as 469MA or a café owner. All I have is a humble bar, Shirokuma."

"And you have so much more, Grizzly-kun," Shirokuma said, "You're a kind bear even though you may be a little rude and scary. You never mean harm to anyone. You may be rough, but your work is never sloppy. You are dedicated in your work, Grizzly-kun. And you have great tolerance, of course... to tolerate me even though I irritate you by acting dumb with my puns and wake you up in winter to help me do some manual labour."

"I cannot be this great without you, Grizzly-kun," the polar bear continued, looking at Grizzly, "Even as 469MA, you were the DJ. You could say that I made that track record because I wanted to be more like you. Grizzly-kun... you have always been special to me. I envy that you live your life to the fullest, not caring how people think of you. Let's not forget how cute you are when I tease you too."

Shirokuma stuck out his tongue at his confession while Grizzly blushed red, avoiding eye contact.

"So... where do we go from here, Grizzly-kun?" Shirokuma asked.

Grizzly coughed and moved his paw to cover over Shirokuma's white one. Grizzly was still too shy to face Shirokuma and mumbled, "We will spend the rest of our life together."

Shirokuma chuckled at Grizzly's gesture and interlocked their hands together. Shirokuma leaned onto Grizzly's brown body, giving a low growl of satisfaction at the warmth between them. Grizzly returned the gesture by placing his other paw on Shirokuma's shoulders, pulling him even closer. Grizzly put his head over Shirokuma's and closed his eyes, savouring the moment.

Shirokuma buried his muzzle into Grizzly's chest, listening to the brown bear's strong heartbeat.

"Yes, Grizzly-kun."