The Beary Best Holiday Party Ever (8 page)

“W-Well, I dare say you’re going to get some of that.” It was better than “Is your ass bare?”

Paddy grinned that grin that made Ron’s heart race. He couldn’t tell if Paddy’s eyes were twinkling. They were hidden by those Arnold Schwarzenegger
Terminator
sunglasses. Except then he took them off.

His eyes were twinkling.

“Am I getting
your
attention?” he asked.

What?
“Y-You want my attention?”

Paddy rolled his eyes and laughed. “For God’s sake, Ron. I am always trying to get your attention.”

What?

“W-What would Wilbur think about that?” he asked, mind whirling.

“Wilbur? Why would I care what he thinks?” Paddy looked as confused as Ron felt.

“Aren’t—aren’t you two seeing each other?”

“Wilbur and me?” He laughed again. “I haven’t seen Wilbur in weeks. He was too… jealous. You know the day of the bake sale? When we left and went to camp? All he could talk about was you. On and on and on and on. And not in a good way. I couldn’t believe it. You were too this and you were too that and why did I like you?”

Like me?
“Like me?”
What?
What did he say?

Paddy took another step. They were so close they could kiss.

Ron’s heart was pounding so hard he could feel it—hear it in his ears.

Paddy trembled. “Yes,” he said. “I like you, Ron. I have from the moment we met.”

“You called me
fatass
!” Ron barked, and quite suddenly there were tears stinging his eyes.

Paddy’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Ron remembered the evening clearly. The
moment
clearly. Seeing the ad on Craigslist. Being shocked he was looking at Craigslist in the first place. At least the hookup part. He’d been looking at the arts and crafts for sale section and then, just to the left, he’d spotted the personals. Then somehow he was looking at the ads for sex instead. And he’d seen the one from a cub. Seen Paddy’s picture. Seen he was versatile and liked big men. Ron had been more shocked when he’d had the balls to answer it, and even more shocked when Paddy wanted to meet.

Then he was doing it.

Driving over to Paddy’s apartment.

And then they talked. They had a couple of beers—nasty as he thought Guinness was—and they talked. They had chocolate cake so chocolate that Ron thought he’d cum—and hadn’t he read once that chocolate causes the same chemical reaction in the brain as an orgasm? So what if chocolate didn’t go all that well with beer.

They both liked superhero movies. They both hated sports movies—especially boxer and football movies.

“They’re all the same!” they both agreed.

They both liked Obama. They both hated Trump.

“Did you see that hilarious tweet,” Paddy cried, “that said that Trump’s popularity with Latino voters was somewhere between dollar-store salsa and the woman who killed Selena?” Oh, they had laughed at that!

They both liked chocolate. They both hated shortbread.

“It has no flavor at all!” Ron had said while Paddy nodded vigorously. “I have decided that the way they make it is they have this big vat of dough, then they grab one of those little sugar packets that you put in your coffee? They open it up and turn around and throw the sugar over their shoulder and what lands in the dough is what gets mixed in!”

Then suddenly they were kissing. Taking off each other’s shirts. Oh, and Paddy’s chest was so perfect. Nice padded pecs covered in a smooth, soft, silky layer of hair that traveled down and over a plump little belly.

Ron’s cock was so hard it hurt.

With trembling hands and fingers, Ron unbuckled and unzipped Paddy’s pants, and just like that they slipped to the floor, and God, he was commando, and his thick cock sprang up and it was one of the hottest moments of Ron’s entire life. He was amazed he didn’t shoot off in his pants.

Then Paddy sat on the edge of his bed, legs spread, big balls hanging low, so fucking sexy. Ron stepped back just so he could take all of the man in. Hardly daring to believe something like this was happening to him!

And then he stepped back more and turned around and undid his own pants, and they slid down as well, and he was bent over, untying his tennis shoes, when Paddy said it.

“Look at that fat ass.”

“
What
?” Paddy asked again.

“That’s what you
said
.” He was fighting back tears. He couldn’t cry. Not in front of this man. Not here.

“N-No!” Paddy objected. “
Never
!”

“You
did
. I was bending over to untie my shoes, and I guess my ass was pointed right at you, and you said, ‘Look at that
fat
ass.’”

Paddy shook his head. “
Why
would I have said that?”

“I don’t know! I’ve been wondering that for months.
Why
did you say that?
You
tell
me
!”

He’d lost his hard-on after that. Couldn’t get it back up. Paddy had tried. Tried getting him hard with his hand and his mouth, and it was no good, and then Ron had had to get the fuck out of there.
I never wanted to see your face again.

“I didn’t!” Paddy protested.

 “And then out of the blue you started showing up at the meetings! And then you ran for president when I was running!” That’s the way it worked in the Bear Clan. Someone had decided a long time ago, for some stupid reason, that if both the president and vice president positions were open the same year, the man with the most votes became president and the man with the second most became vice president.

Recipe for disaster!

“That you would say that and then turn around buy me ice cream and shit. And make me cupcakes.”

“I did do that…,” Paddy agreed.

“And ask me to movies when we didn’t need to go to movies together to be on the board of the club.”

Paddy nodded. “Well, yes, I did that….”

“And lean over my shoulder pushing your cock against my ass….”

Paddy blushed—Paddy! Blushed! “Yeah. I did do that too. I couldn’t figure out how you didn’t notice.”

“I noticed, all right!” Ron cried.

“But I never said you had a fat ass….”

“You
did
! I was bending over and you said—” And Ron mimicked Paddy’s voice next, making it nasty. “‘
Look
at that
fat ass
…’!”

Paddy’s eyes went wide. “Oh fuck me, Ron. That’s not what I said! I said, ‘Look at that
big
ass’!”

Ron stopped for a second, shaking. Huh? What? “What’s the difference?” he blurted.

“Fuck, Ron! I like big butts!” He growled, “I fucking
love
big butts! You bent over, and I thought I would squirt right then and there. I wanted to fling myself down on my knees and just bury my
face
in your hot ass!”

Several people turned, and one raised his eyebrows and looked down at Ron’s rear end. Ron thought he would die of embarrassment.

He forced himself to look back at Paddy. Paddy’s face that was open with sincerity.

“What? You do?”

“My God, yes. If you somehow got the idea that….”

It was now all Ron could do not to cry.

Paddy took one step closer, and now their chests were touching. “Oh, Ron,” he said. “I’m so sorry you misunderstood me. God. I was
so
hot for you, and you thought I was making fun of you?” A light dawned in his eyes. “Of course you did. Your parents…. Your fucked-up parents.” Paddy leaned in, touching his forehead to Ron’s. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Ron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All this time he’d thought Paddy was making fun of him. Being cruel. And he’d been hot for him. Hot for his fat ass all these months. What should have been a night of incredibly hot sex—and Paddy said he wanted to rim him, and he’d never been rimmed before, but it was a fantasy—turned out to be a lousy night of sex that wasn’t even sex. Because Ron had left.

“Oh God, Paddy.”

“Ron…. Can we make up for it? Can we go back to my place? Hit Reset? We can even have some Death By Chocolate Cake, if you want.”

Ron shook his head. He just couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Five minutes ago he’d been a man who constantly heard the word “fatass” in his head. And now he was a man who might be on the edge of… of what? Just what was Paddy offering?

Well, at the very least, a life of not hearing
that
echo in his head anymore!

And then Paddy was kissing him.

It was soft and slow and gentle. Paddy put his arms around Ron and pulled him even closer. Ron wrapped his arms around Paddy and kissed back and ever so slightly opened his mouth, touching his tongue to Paddy’s full lips.

And felt Paddy’s hard cock against his own.

Then Paddy was standing back—looking, really looking at him.

“You have to understand, Ron. I like you. A lot. This can’t be a one-night stand. If we’re going to do this, we have to go all the way. I want you as my boyfriend.”

Ron thought his legs would go out from under him. But then suddenly strength flowed up through him so strongly he thought he could burst right out of his skin.

“Oh, Paddy! I’m in love with you!”

A radiant look came over Paddy’s face. “You are?”

Ron nodded. “I am.”

He was never sure who pulled whom into their arms first. He discovered when he dropped his hands to Paddy’s butt that the man’s ass was bare. It felt wonderful.

And then they were kissing again.

P
ADDY
WAS
in the bathroom, and Ron was at the bar getting them both a drink when Jon said, “
Heeeeeyyyy
.”

He was obviously very drunk. Thank goodness he wasn’t driving.

“Hello, Jon.” Ron laughed—he wasn’t even sure why. Joy. That was it. Pure joy.

“I saw you two
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
!” Jon said and giggled.

Ron blushed.

But it felt good.

“I am so glad you two finally got together!”

Ron nodded. “Me too,” he gushed.

“I am so glad ol’ Paddington Bear talked us into fixing the vote.” Jon giggled again.

Ron stiffened. “Fixing the vote? What vote?”

“Yeah. So you could be president and he could be vice president. He so wanted to work with you. He had a crush on you way back then.”

“Fixed the vote?” Ron cried. “He didn’t win? You guys fucked the vote so he could be vice president?”

A look of surprise spread over Jon’s face. “Uh-oh….”

Anger flashed through Ron. Fixed the vote! How could Paddy have done it? It was wrong! He’d cheated the club, cheated the members. Who had he pushed out of the slot? Someone who desperately wanted it? “Come with me!” he growled and grabbed Jon’s upper arm and dragged him away from the bar.

“Hey, man, that hurts.”

It didn’t take Ron long to find the board, even with the hundreds of men in the room. He just looked for the incredibly tall pointed gnome hat and the chef’s hat that was nearly as tall. That’s how he found Harvey and Gary.

“
Outside
!” he practically shouted.

Then he turned and marched out, daring them not to follow.

They did.

“What’s up, man?” asked Harvey.

“Yeah, Ron,” said Gary. “What’s the problem?”

Ron spun on Jon. “
Tell them
!”

Jon sighed and slumped his big bare shoulders. “I kind of accidentally told him that we fixed the vote.”

Gary winced and Harvey groaned.

“How could you!” Now Ron was shouting. “How
could
you? The club
depends
on you. The members trust you! How could you fix the vote?”

“We didn’t see any harm in it,” Gary said. “And he liked you so much. We just wanted to give you a shot. You were so lonely—”

“Screw me being lonely! It doesn’t matter. Who out there was
supposed
to be vice president? Was he someone who wanted to be on the board as badly as me?”

The board looked at him in total surprise.

Which surprised Ron.

“What?”

“
Oooooohhhh
,” Jon drawled. “You don’t get it, Ron! Don’t you see?
You
were sup—”

“Hush,” said Gary.

But it was too late.

“—posed to be vice president.”

Ron’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“Jon,
don’t
,” Harvey said.

“Don’t what?” Ron cried.

“Paddy won president,” Jon continued on, oblivious. “You were going to be
vice
president. And Paddy accidentally walked in on us and heard the tally, and he begged us to make
you
president instead.”

The sky fell.

“What?” Ron whispered. He looked at Harvey. At Gary.

Then Harvey said, “Yeah, buddy. I’m sorry. It’s true. He won. And he said if we made him president, he would resign.”

“He did?”

All three of them nodded.

And now Ron was feeling like the biggest ass on the planet. Here he had been furious when he thought Paddy had fixed the vote to get on the board, and instead what he’d done was fix it so he
wasn’t
their leader. That Ron was instead.

God! He’d been so wrong about Paddy….

Just like he’d thought all these months and months that Paddy had called him a fatass when instead he’d complimented him.

What kind of man am I?

“He said you would be a better leader,” Harvey said. “And, Ron? He was right. You’ve been an incredible leader.”

“Then I have to resign…,” Ron said, tears now running down his cheeks.

“No, you don’t,” said Jon. “Gary is right. Look at what we’ve done. Look at what we’re going to do. We are going to have the best damned Christmas—”

“Holiday,” Gary corrected.

“—party ever! And it’s all due to you!”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not right. I have to resign. Or at least we have to make Paddy the president.”

“But I don’t want to be president.”

They all turned as one, and there was Paddy.

“All I wanted was to be on the board with you. I’ve been crazy about you from the moment I opened my apartment door and saw you standing there in the hall. I wanted a chance to serve with you. I knew then maybe I could make up for whatever I’d done wrong and get you to like me.”