Lions and Bears
Dear House almighty! This horrible bastardization of Literature took far too long for the quality it turned out to be. You should have seen what it was before I took a chainsaw to it, ugh. I'm going to have nightmares from it. In any event, this story is mine, the characters are mine, and unless you ask first, I don't want you using them. Capiche?
A case of wizards doing things
King Willie, that was who he was. It was more than a mere play on his name: William Kings, it was a title. He was the golden-boy of the school. Never in trouble, could charm all the teachers, have anything and anyone he wanted with an imperious snap. For a time, that had defined Willie; he needed nothing beyond the ceaseless adoration of the school and its denizens, and his frequent, pointless celebrations.
As a show of this, he altered his appearance, growing out his mane to nearly half his body length, and sporting various piercings. Both of which conflicted directly with school rules and in some cases safety protocols. He was King, who could tell him no?
That all changed when Robert Calling moved to town.
When Willie first saw him getting on the bus, he grinned a bit. Robert was a brown bear, large, possibly family size. He had his head bowed slightly to avoid hitting the ceiling and carried a dufflebag slung over his shoulder with a strap, in place of a backpack.
A tomcat by the name of Saul, a freshman at the time, tried to call out some derisive remark. Before the feline had even opened his mouth all the way the bear had stopped, and given Saul a look so hateful the cat backed down immediately. Willie had been intrigued by this. Thus far, only Mac the bus driver had been able to control Saul's wicked tongue, and the bear had done so with no virtual effort.
From then on, Robert, or Robbie as Willie called him, didn't so much as acknowledge the existence of his fellow bus riders, not even the seniors who at times threatened the bear with violence. It never came to blows when Willie was around, much to the lion's disappointment, but the seniors all ended up with bruises, cuts, and casts while Rob went unscathed. Or maybe he'd just hidden it well.
Either way, it became clear that Willie would have to confront him directly if he was to learn anything of the bear. So, some time around March, Willie made it a point to sit next to Rob in every class they had together (Geometry, History, and Foods) as well as lunch, and on the bus. It took so long for the bear to open up to him that Willie was afraid Rob actually was that reclusive, but on the last day of April, the bear looked up from glaring a hole in the seat in front of him, and spoke.
"If you won't leave me alone, let's talk." Willie had been surprised by the bear's voice, it wasn't as deep as he'd imagined it, not even as deep as Willie's and it wasn't a monotone as he'd expected but resigned.
It was actually Willie who did the talking, but the lion was pleased enough by his success that he didn't mind. However, as the bear was about to get off at his stop, he commented: "If you don't have anything genuine to say, please leave me be. I refuse to associate with you just to satisfy your narcissistic personality disorder."
Willie had been stunned with the bear's bluntness. He had been called worse, sure, but no one had ever said anything to the effect of, "You're not worth my time." and actually mean it. Then he was angry, for a time he bent his whole life into punishing Rob for his disrespect. But the bear never acknowledged him, or his efforts, regardless of the severity or humiliation inflicted by them.
When school let out for summer break, Willie was left to stew. Soon enough the indignation boiled away, and Willie was forced to admit Robert was right.
However he had refused to admit he was wrong to the bear, afraid Rob would capitalize on it as Willie would. So Willie simply ignored it, and enjoyed his summer. But when summer ended, and Willie was forced to see Rob every day if only for a total of an hour and a half, Willie's conscience forced his hand.
One day, some time in October, when Rob got up to leave the bus and go home, Willie got up with him. Neither Rob nor the bus driver, Mac, said anything. Rob lived in an apartment complex, dingy gray and obviously shabby, but Willie didn't let his resolve waver. When the bus had gone and Rob was just standing, starring at the shorter lion, Willie spoke.
"I'm sorry." Willie told him, dropping his usual Jamaican accent.
Rob returned in his resigned tone, "For what?"
"For putting you through a lot of hell when I didn't have to." He snorted. The brown bear actually snorted with a suppressed laugh.
"If that was it, you'd have done it in front of the sheep to make yourself look like a big man. Now what is it?"
Willie winced, having hoped the bear wouldn't be that observant. "I want to talk...for real this time."
"That so?" Rob's tone clearly implied skepticism.
"Yeah." A silence spread between them.
"I believe you. Don't know why, but I do. Come on."
"Wait, what?" The bear looked over his shoulder as he walked toward the building.
"Don't you watch the weather? It's going to rain in like half an hour. I'm not getting wet, so if you want to talk, I recommend following." Willie remained where he was for a minute, then jogged to catch up with the bear.
"That's it? You want to talk after all I did?"
"You were stupid then, and you still are. But now you know you're stupid, so you can improve. Let's hope I have enough Pepsi stocked to make a dent in that solid layer of dumb." Willie frowned at the bear's back. Jackass, the lion thought to himself. The inside of the apartment building was a courtyard of sorts, with multiple staircases and walkways to traverse to the apartments.
Rob led Willie to one toward the middle of the building's left wall, and unlocked it with a key the bear produced from his pocket. Rob unlocked the door, and opened it for Willie to go in first. The apartment, Willie observed was moderate; beige walls, white carpet, and sensible furniture. The kitchen was separated from the living room by a counter, and had obviously been used recently; evidenced by the dirty dishes in the sink.
Rob stepped in, gently pushing Willie forward so he could enter easily, and closed the door; then gestured to the pastel blue sofa while he went into the kitchen. In short order, the bear returned with a pair of blue soda cans, speckled with condensation from their change in temperature, and tossed one at Willie.
Not to; at.
Willie got the distinct impression, as he rubbed his now sore forehead, that Rob wasn't quite as forgiving as he had seemed. Rob sat down in a easy chair, and opened his soda with a delicate air, as if it were a well aged bottle of wine. "So," the bear all but ground out, "you wanted to talk, let's talk."
A year and a half passed. The two continued to have frequent chats, and Rob continued to dissect Willie's actions and expose motives, sometimes while barely listening. When Willie began doing the same to Rob, the bear seemed a bit happier overall. Rob drew Saul into their chats sometimes, informing Willie that Saul was also quite stupid, though not as stupid as Willie had been.
Which irked Willie immensely, at first anyway.
The cat didn't make the group a trio though, as he was more than willing to leave a discussion for something or other. And, in turn, Willie and Rob would carry on the discussion without Saul, even though Rob admitted the cat had a few good ideas.
Thus it was with absolutely no qualms that Rob inflicted the new guy on the bus, a doberman senior going by Kent, with Saul's company.
"Someone had to do it, and I'm too sleepy." Rob explained to Willie's inquiry while lounging in his seat during their study hall. The bear had a serious addiction to soft drinks and needed at least three daily to remain moderately pleasant and awake, which he'd been unable to feed lately with the vending machines in the school on the fritz.
"Then why not have me do it?" Willie questioned further, "I not going t'roo miniature witdraal."
"No, you're just slowly going insane for want of sex." Willie didn't so much as blink at Rob's waspish tone. He was used to it by now. "Saul needs to become less flighty, hopefully this Kent guy will be what the doctor ordered."
"Mr. Calling, please do not sit in the seat like that," barked Mrs. Cloudy, the study hall teacher for the day. Willie smirked as Rob had to forcibly adjust his bulk. In their time together, Willie had retained most of his status as 'King Willie' with the exception some people thought he had a holier than thou attitude and his parties were fewer and farther between.
People also questioned his orientation, sometimes to his face, due to his hardly ever being outside Rob's company, which Willie decided to comment on surreptitiously so Mrs. Cloudy wouldn't hear.
"Hah!" Rob snorted. "As if I'd do you."
"And what wrong wit me, family size?" Rob flicked one of Willie's dreads into his face.
"A twig like you? I'd break you before the foreplay was over." They shared a laugh, though Willie couldn't help feeling a mild pain in his chest.
The school day was proceeding as usual, until a disturbance known as Phil Suede, a burly bull 'so dumb there's no hope of repair', according to Rob. Willie only heard him by chance as they were passing the gym area after school, raging to his minions about how he'd 'had it with that punk-ass cat, and he was going to the teachers this time.'
Willie, familiar with the bull's nicknames for various thorns in his side, cast an arm out to stop Rob, then indicated Phil's direction with an extended finger. The two casually walked over, something Phil's minions noticed, but Phil himself did not, as his back was to them. The minions fled in terror from Rob's 'evil eye', leaving the three seniors to talk in peace. For a moment, Phil didn't understand why his 'friends' had run off, so Willie helped him by coughing slightly. The bull whirled around, and froze when he saw the other two seniors grinning at him.
"Phillie, mon." Willie cheerfully greeted. "So nice to see you 'gain."
"Hey, Willie, Rob." Phil mumbled in his low voice, typical of bovines, while steadily backing away from them. The duo kept the distance between them and Phil constant by walking with him.
"Not see you anymore, mon. You not come to my parties anymore."
"Yeah, too many people for my tastes."
"Mkay, mkay. Now what dis I hearin' bout you tellin' teachers someting little Saul do?" Phil developed tiny beads of sweat at his forehead as Willie unsheathed a claw and trimmed a few hairs off a dread.
"Yeah, little punk ganged up on me with that new guy in the locker room. Not like that!" The bull added at the raised eyebrows of Willie and Rob. "Little prick distracted me, while this dog guy came up and decked me!"
Rob exchanged a glance with Willie. Phil was the poster boy for the dumb jock stereotype, added that sometimes he was so dumb he didn't realize he couldn't win a fight and thus won through sheer persistence. It wasn't unlikely that the bull could be distracted and dealt a suckerpunch easily. But that the puncher would retain use of the arm afterwords was suspect.
"And? That different from what you jock-men do to each ot'er, how?" Phil's face turned red, and he would likely have charged if Willie hadn't drawn out another claw, reminding him whom was predator and whom was prey.
"It just is. Anyway, what's it to you? The new guy's a new guy: easily replaced, and that cat's not even a senior."
Rob piped up this time, "You don't need to know our motives. You just need to tell us what can be done to make this situation go away." The bull stopped backing away and considered. Willie could almost hear the rusty gears screaming as they turned in the idiot's mind.
"Alright, I'll forget it, if I get to pay back those two pricks how I want, and they won't tell."
"Can't guarantee dat, Phillie." Willie informed the bull. "Try fer someting else." For a second, Phil looked like he was going to object; a third claw fixed that.
"Okay, I get to suckerpunch one of you two then." Phil's tone was obviously sullen. Willie rolled his eyes at the simple-minded bull, but consented.
"Agreet." A silence stretched on, and when neither of them jumped forward to be punched by Phil, he turned to leave. Predictably, the bull lashed out at that instant, delivering a solid blow to Rob's jaw. The bear's head turned a bit, and gave Phil a look that quite frankly said 'That it?' Phil seemed pleased though, and trotted off with a smile. As soon as he was out of sight, Rob spat out a pearly white tooth, and rubbed his jaw tenderly.
"Next time, you take the punch." Rob growled, suddenly snippy.
Willie grinned and handed the bear his tooth back.
Willie's house, unlike Rob's homey apartment, was positively beautiful. Not a sprawling manor like some of Willie's richer neighbors, but a nonetheless splendorous Victorian house. Painted a virgin white to contrast the black-shingled roof and gray curtains framing the windows from the inside. In Willie's opinion, the house had the feel of being cold and lonely.
This was possibly due to Willie frequently being left alone by his parents, and ignored by them when they were present. His birth mother had long divorced his father, and had wanted nothing to do with her offspring, leaving Willie with his father, a line of stepmothers, and the servants.
The latest in the line of stepmothers, a snow-white mouse named Nina, reminded Willie heavily of Rob. They were both incredibly intelligent, somewhat intolerant of stupidity, and coldly logical. He naturally liked her a bit better than the previous stepmothers, something his father seemed to notice from time to time and comment upon.
If it had been summer, Willie would have spent the remainder of the day sunbathing in the well-maintained garden out back, if he didn't have homework that could be talked away. Since it was winter, he spent a few minutes in the foyer, neatly putting away his winter coat, and hand knitted scarf; a gift from the maid, then prowled off the the living room to enjoy a few hours in front of the fire.
His plans were abolished swiftly when he arrived and saw Nina sitting in a high-backed chair by an open window. Nina was a creature of winter, reveling in the cold, wind, and ice of a blizzard while hiding away from a spring shower, or summer breeze. In autumn, the cold was almost pleasant, but this was not autumn. It was winter.
And it was fucking freezing.
"What de hell wrong wit you, woman?!" Willie asked her in a half outraged half amused voice. Not waiting for an answer he rushed over and closed the window, thus stopping the influx of wind and cold. Nina didn't even comment about Willie's swearing, something out of the norm for her, so he turned to look at her questioningly. It was then he noticed a guest in the house, sitting on the couch in such a way that Willie hadn't seen him when he'd entered.
The guest was a burly bear, much larger than Rob, probably a Kodiak, dressed in a sports jacket, gold polo, and slacks. Willie assumed the window had been open for his comfort, as well as Nina's
"When last I looked, William," Willie flinched at the cold reproach in Nina's voice, "making a guest feel more comfortable was not considered 'something wrong.' And please drop that idiotic accent, we have company." Willie quickly apologized to both his stepmother and their guest, while opening the window again.
"It is all right, Nina," the bear told her in a surprisingly high voice, much like Rob's, Willie noticed. "If the cub cannot bear the cold, I do not want him to freeze on my account." The lion couldn't help but feel a little stung at the thinly veiled insult, but held his tongue.
"No, William is hardy enough. Sit, William, and say hello to Rene Rousseau, an old friend of mine." Willie did as he was told, exchanged greetings with the Kodiak bear, and shook hands with him. "Rene will be staying here for a period of time, so I hope you will be more polite than you were just now." Willie cast a look from Nina, who was as stony-faced as ever, then to Rene
"I'm having a bit of financial trouble at the moment," Rene explained. "Nina was kind enough to offer me room and board while I settle this...unpleasantness."
Willie nodded, catching a sideways glance from Nina, who flicked her eyes toward the stairs. Taking the subtle gesture as a command, Willie politely excused himself, then left the room for the upstairs, and his own bedroom.
Willie's room was, contrast to his popular image as a laid-back partier, very neat and organized. It was also spartan, with a simple single bed, dresser, and desk with a wheeled swivel-chair. In fact, the only item in his room that didn't serve a practical purpose was a framed picture on his desk, of himself and Rob.
Willie went to it, and brought it closer to his face. It was spring in the picture, and Rob was leaning against a tree in the park, with Willie further up in the tree, sitting on a branch. They were both laughing, at what exactly Willie couldn't remember. Saul had taken the photo with Willie's camera which he'd pilfered. When Willie got it back, he had found the picture on its memory and forgotten to give Saul the scolding he'd intended.
Rob didn't laugh a lot. He chuckled, snorted, and giggled hysterically from time to time. But laughter, real laughter, wasn't something Willie found Rob doing more than once in a blue moon.
Willie replaced the picture on the desk, and launched into his bed, rolling onto his side to try and ignore a tight feeling in his chest.
Willie, the King, was gay. And not just gay, but gay for his best friend, fitting the old cliche marvelously. It had happened so gradually, Willie only became truly aware of it after a wet dream involved him and the bear doing things that would have driven a nun to fainting. As far as Willie was concerned, no needed to know about it, and so he'd taken the time to isolate what specifically attracted him to the bear, so he could begin to ignore those qualities.
It wasn't so much Rob's looks, because at his best, the bear was plain looking: Not letting his hair grow out beyond hints of it in his headfur. His large brown eyes were typical of bears, and it was rare that Rob wore any clothing other than a solid-color shirt and cargo shorts with his plain white sneakers.
Willie believed it was more Rob's bearing, pardon the pun. Rob wasn't calm, cool, and collected, like Willie played at being. He was snarky, cold at times, irritable, and nosey. Efforts of the mind came easy to Rob, with only the most complex of information needing explained to him. The bear was also, Willie noticed, highly observant, capable of noticing tiny variations in a person's carrying of themselves, tone, and manner of speaking.
When the lion had considered this information, he deduced, to his horror, that Rob would probably notice immediately the change in Willie's attitude toward him, and over time figure the whole picture out. Thus far, the bear hadn't commented, or let on that he noticed anything wrong with Willie. Probably because he expects me to bring it up, Willie thought to himself, that would be just like him.
Eager to take his mind off the subject, the lion turned his thoughts to his newest housemate. Rene Rousseau. A French name, and from what he knew of Nina, she wasn't French, nor had any French co-workers or clients. Which meant the bear was likely a fling on the part of Nina that had gotten out of hand.
Willie sighed. His father wouldn't like that, but he wasn't due home for several months, so Nina had time to sweep it under the rug. But something troubled Willie.
Nina had been stiffer than her usual stiffness. Like a rock was stiffer than a tree. The only thing capable of that was an unexpected 'surprise' which Willie had observed when the mouse's parents dropped by unannounced. If Rene was a fling, wouldn't Nina, with her sometimes scary intellect, have foreseen his becoming a problem?
Rob waited patiently for Stripes to get down to business.
The two were seated in a booth, at the local fast-food restaurant, Rob had only remembered the name long enough to meet Stripes there, and order some mozzarella sticks, his favorite appetizer. Stripes, a tiger, obviously, had ordered the steak.
"You're behind on your payments, Stripes," Rob told the carnivore, sipping from the tall glass of cola which had come with his food. "Very behind, I might add."
"Now listen, I know I'm a little late but I just need some more time." The tiger's defense was pathetic, obviously a lie, and it irritated Rob very much.
"You said that the last three times we discussed this topic, Stripes. I told you last time that neither I nor the King were going to be waiting for you to win big at the race tracks. He wants his money, Stripes." Rob frowned at the steady drooping of the tiger's ears; apparently he hadn't quite mastered intimidation yet. Aw well.
Stripes, was one of many people under Rob's thumb. He was an early project, from when the bear was just starting his machinations, when he purposefully targeted the weak-willed and stupid. When he hadn't the skill to control people with self-worth.
Stripes was a codename, given to the tiger so that Rob's then infant organization seemed professional, and because doing so allowed the bear to vent some latent racism. Letting such sentiments build up would be terrible for business.
"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't got his money."
"Have."
"What?"
"'I don't got his money' is incorrect grammar. The correct sentence is 'I do not have his money.' It's been two years now, Stripes; I would have thought you'd learn something from my mercilessly mocking your ineptitude."
Okay, the sentiment of pressuring deadbeats to pay their debts was good for business. "Regardless," Rob continued, "you're four months behind on your payments, and if you don't have the means to pay, you now what I have to do." Ah, there it was.
That ears flat, eyes wide, look of terror and rage he'd been shooting for the entire time. "You wouldn't." The tiger's tone indicated he knew very well the bear would carry out his threat.
"I'm afraid the gears are already turning." Robert downed the last of his soda, and gobbled up the last few cheese sticks. "See you later, Stripes."
As the bear exited the restaurant, two large dogs in convincing police uniforms entered into the establishment, and promptly arrested Stripes under false charges. As Robert turned the corner of the block, they were now driving away with Stripes in the backseat of a replica police cruiser.
And all within ten minutes of talking, not bad for a school day.
Robert Calling was not the average highschool senior, to feed the cliché. He had befriended the King of the school, and used the lion's power to spread his influence like a cancer. Rob used Willie's parties to recruit people into his budding organization, conduct meetings, and other such unpleasant things. Robert had even set himself up in the organization as the Viceroy, ruling in place of the King, setting the stage for the possibility of capture or infiltration.
His organization was built upon favors. A member of the organization would do a customer a favor, and in turn be paid back in currency, or another favor. What exactly the organization could do for the customers depended upon their ability to pay it back, with interest. Given this, it wasn't a big time affair, but slowly growing. The whole setup was less than two years old, and Rob felt good about its progress.
That didn't mean he allowed deadbeats to go freely, though.
The organization had a premises, what appeared to be a hovel in the slummy side of town. It was a place where deadbeats were...re-purposed.
Robert was not going to that place, however. It had been three days since Stripes had been taken by the false police, and now Rob had to review their assessment of the tiger.
Assessment took place in a rented apartment, clear on the other side of town from the slums, and was done through observing video files through leaching an unsecured network. No live-feeds, no direct links. The building's Supervisor didn't even know Rob's face, due to his wardrobe consisting of baggy hoodies and pants, with gloves and a false tail.
Cliché, but it worked.
The apartment was furnished nicely enough, though the bulk of it never saw use. The only room that ever saw long-term visitation was a soundproof office which only housed a desk, an office chair, and a laptop computer.
He had started the process of booting the computer up, when he realized he wasn't alone in the room. Rob froze, and waited. Whomever was also present didn't seem to care overmuch, as from what Rob could hear, they hadn't moved from the place behind the door.
This can't possibly end well, Robert thought to himself, as the door was pushed aside.