A Bear in Town

He smiled softly as he watched his younger brother, the youngest, take the diploma in his hands and show it to him. He just completed college, a Doctor, a complete doctor who came from his family... His name was James Barew Jerny, a 29 years old man who was the proud older brother of four young siblings who he had the pleasure to see complete college when he had to leave high school to work to provide them the means to go to college and have a greater education than he had. His simple but charming brown eyes light up at the same time a smile appeared on his bearded, handsome face. Some of those who watched the interaction between the siblings smiled and even had tiny bits of lustful gazes directed towards them because they were hot by human standards.

Both were tall, his younger brother standing at 6'3 feet while he stood tall at 6'8 feet tall, while his younger brother had leaner muscles, he had a big, bulging body that together with his hair and beard made him look just like his internal animal.

A bear.

The sharp amber eyes of his younger brother locked in with the ones approaching them, they were his other siblings, two young ladies, and another older but shorter man. "Congratulations Nicky!" The tallest woman hugged Nick with all her strength, making the guy choke as he dramatically whispered: "Oh, the light is fading..." As he hugged his sister back: "Amanda... I'm fading to Elysium!" The others snickered at this dramatic play...

James was the oldest at 29 years old.

Amanda was the second oldest at 24 years old.

Brian was the middle child at 23 years old.

Jessica was the second youngest at 22 years old.

And Nick was the youngest sibling at 21 years old.

Their parents died when they were teens, lucky them that James was old enough to be their legal guardian, or else they would be taken by the government and they would be separated forever. Ever since he was 18, James dropped out of High School and quickly joined the Joja industry to make money for himself and his siblings, he had three different jobs that paid terribly but were the only ones willing to have him, he eventually worked so hard that his ranking rise and with it his salary raised as well, but only by a small amount, he never stopped working for the next 10 years that he repeated the same process:

Wake up at exactly 5 A.M.

Take a bath

Eat breakfast

Stretch

Exercise a little to keep his handsome body.

Go to work at 6:10 A.M

Lunch break at 4 P.M.

Leave work at 10 P.M

Go to sleep at 10:30 P.M

Rinse and Repeat for the next 10 years.

That was how he lived his life, he was tired of it of course, but he wanted to see his siblings succeed in their lives! And he was so proud to say that he helped them through it all, giving them emotional and financial support till they could fly with their wings...

Well, that is very funny to him because they are literal birds.

Yes, James is a bear and his siblings are birds.

Let me tell you a story... James's grandfather was a normal human that was born and raised in Stardew Valley on the Pelican Village or something, there he married a woman who later revealed to him about the supernatural world, how magic was real and that people could use it to do several things, how other races were real and a lot of labels were more than fables. Including Werewolves, in this case, Wolf Shifters...

Humans who have Wolves as their spirit animal and can physically change their bodies to match their inner animal. You can either be born one or become one through a lot of procedures and rituals, which made his grandfather interested and he became a shifter himself! His inner animal, or spirit animal, was a bear which made the woman he married very happy because she was also a bear, they had a son, who was his father... His grandmother and grandfather died a long time ago so he is not that sad anymore. So, their father met their mother and they got married, his mother was an Eagle Shifter, and they had him and his siblings, and 16 years ago they died in a tragic incident... Or so he told his siblings.

His parents were killed by human supernatural hunters, who were humans that hunted supernatural beings as the name says. They murdered his parents and wanted to kill him and his siblings, so he took on the responsibility and killed them. He doesn't regret it, but it did leave a mark on his body that he is quite proud of, a scar that made him even more handsome! Well, looking at his siblings he could see their spirit animals... That is one thing he can do, James was born with the ability to communicate with spirits, which made his childhood not that cheerful as he wanted it to be, dealing with dark spirits and all that. He can communicate with spirits and control them, using them to use magic, that to his siblings was different because they didn't need spirits to use magic since they could use it with their magical reserves.

He chuckled as he watched their spirit animals flying around the room, he also saw a few other spirit animals from other shifters and even some deceased human spirits that people called ghosts.

Amanda was an Eagle.

Brian was a Crow.

Jessica was an Owl.

And Nick was a Hawk.

They all took the bird genes from their mother, James thought as his spirit animal walked out of his body. A big brown Grizzly Bear who was even bigger than normal bears, with green eyes that would look unnatural on normal bears but looked extremely natural on his little bear, because even though he was a grumpy asshole, he was very protective and adorable! He helped him deal with dark spirits throughout his whole childhood when he was being attacked by them when he was at his weakest stage. Being possessed by dark spirits is not fun... Not fun at all.

As he looked at his four siblings, only pride could be felt in his heart.

He felt like he just completed a mission like he made his parents proud of what he was able to accomplish... He worked his ass out for 10 straight years, getting enough money for four colleges! Four! One is already enough to destroy someone's life, but he worked for the first few years accumulating the money in his bank account so that he could use it later, and use it he did. They never felt how it is to not have food, even though the food was a little bland, their apartment was a little cramped but only he lived there now since his siblings moved out to live their lives! They had the right to do so. He spent 10 years of his life rotting on jobs, he quit the other two jobs he had and only worked at Joja, where he got the highest salary at least.

It was stressful yes, he had a few psychological scars that he couldn't help but hide from his siblings... After all. he was THEIR support! If he can't even support himself, how can he be the support of his siblings? So he stood tall and strong while hiding his weaknesses, such as his complete lack of a sexual or emotional relationship! He knew for sure that none of his siblings were virgins, he could smell it from them the day they lost their virginity and came back to the apartment as if nothing had happened. He remembers how he used that to embarrass them to the point where they couldn't help but run away from their teasing older brother, sometimes they would try to turn the tables on him but he could use the same card over and over again!

The [I can't have a relationship if I work 10 hours a day 24/7!] The card that saved him from many awkward conversations he could have had with his siblings about the many crushes he had on many small guys. Yes, James was gay, but none of his siblings even knew about it! I mean, while Amanda and Brian were gay, Nick and Jessica... he was not sure about those, but he would support them and be happy even if they are straight!

"James?" His brother's voice woke him up from his daydreaming, that was what he did when he was distracted, he would daydream. That was his coping mechanism for all the stress he would put on himself, for all the times that he broke down far away from home so that his siblings wouldn't see how pathetic he was, for all the times he wanted to cry but no tears would fell out of his face... He looked at his brother, Brian, who was instantly shocked to see tears flowing down James's face, he had a smile on his lips as he chuckled at the quarrel between his younger siblings. "Oh," James said as he didn't notice that tears were running down his face, his hoarse, husky voice vibrated when he chuckled, making the more sensible listeners blush. Some shifters have great hearing, such as the Rabbit Shifter who could hear a lot.

"Hm..." James sighed deeply as his hands pulled his younger siblings into a strong hug, he closed his eyes as to not let the tears leave his eyes, but that didn't stop it. The tears flowed from his eyes as he subconsciously and consciously knew that he was free from the work he worked on for 10 years, that he made his parents proud of him by successfully helping his siblings have a greater education than him. "Nothing." He whispered when his siblings asked what happened to him, they always try to be the older sibling and help him, but he doesn't accept their help, he can't bother others with his problems after all. "I'm just happy..." He whispered as his hands brushed against their hair lovingly... The pain of knowing that they didn't need him anymore made his heart bleed... They would live their lives, and now he needed to live his.

But how...?

All he knows is how to work!

He never did anything but work for 10 whole years of his life. He did not drink his problems away because he knew very well that a drunken bear cannot result in anything good, but this did not mean he can't drink! He can drink, and a lot of it too! He has a very great constitution, he looks more of a lumberjack than a guy who stays behind a computer all day doing his work...

After the party, he returned to his apartment that was painfully empty. He can remember the laughter of his siblings, the angry yells, the fights, the cries of sadness and pain, and the happiness they had on this very building that was now painfully empty of people and full of emotions and memories that he would every day remember for the rest of his life. He walked to his room and sat down at his bed, closing his eyes to sleep peacefully...

He woke up the very next day at 6 A.M. as an instinct, he sighed and got up.

He would quit Joja today.

He quickly got dressed and went for a jog as he always did, ate his bland breakfast that he cooked like always, he needed to learn how to cook when he was younger and he cooked every day since so he is very confident in his cooking. He looked down at his wrists and frowned, putting his wrist clock again to cover up the scar that was from a darker time, a scar he was ashamed of and didn't want others to see... He took his bicycle and rode it to work, as he always did, and entered the building after parking it at the same spot he parked for 10 years.

He took the elevator, got off on the 20th floor, went directly to his desk, and started to take his items. The items that were his and he brought for his table, he started to take them. He opened the drawer to take a few other items when he saw the letter, the slightly yellow envelope that contained the letter his grandfather gave him on the day of his death... It was given to him because he was there, the whole family was there to say goodbye to their grandfather. He remembered that old man's words about he should just open the letter when he was ready, and he forgot about this envelop for so long... He wonders, what is in the letter?