The Beach Bear
The sun was bright and hot over the crowded beach. Rainbow pride flags were waving in the salty breeze. It was “Gay Day” at Brine Beach and people from across the state came to celebrate and party.
Sean was holding his boyfriend’s hand as they walked through the crowd, looking for a place to lay their towels. Sean couldn’t help but think his boyfriend, Aaron, looked cute in his bright yellow swim trunks - even though he was sporting a new mustache that he disapproved.
Aaron, in his blue trunks, and Sean showed off their fit bodies proudly. Their smooth skin shimmered with sunscreen under the shinning sun.
“Sean, this spot looks good,” Aaron said as he stopped and unfolded his towel.
“Yeah, just as good as anywhere else. Never seen the beach this crowded for Gay Day before,” Sean agreed as he unfolded his towel.
“That spot is taken,” a gruff voice said behind them.
The two young men turned around. There was an overweight, hairy, older man who was bald and had a bushy, greying goatee. He was sitting in a foldable beach chair while wearing nothing but pink swim trunks that were tight around his gut. A bear pride flag waved above him, set on his sun umbrella.
“Oh, sorry,” Aaron apologized, “It didn’t look like anyone was set up here.”
“They ain’t yet. I’m saving it for my buddies,” the older man said.
Sean, who was not as passive as his boyfriend, snarked, “Well if they ain’t here, they ain’t here. The rest of the beach is full.”
“Babe, we can move,” Aaron whispered to his boyfriend.
“Aaron, this old fat fuck doesn’t own the beach,” Sean responded, just loud enough for the man to hear, “We don’t have to move.”
Sean was more assertive, and sometimes short tempered, than Aaron. It sometimes made Aaron uncomfortable, but he also admired how Sean had no problem standing up for them. Aaron also found it attractive.
The old man huffed as the two young men sat on their beach towels. Sean and Aaron sat in the sun in silence. There were a bunch of hot guys walking around, which both Aaron and Sean admired together.
They were people watching and enjoying the fresh air, until the two of them caught a whiff of something pungent. They both turned around to see the old man smoking a fat cigar. The bearish man looked at them, grinned and then winked.
“Hey, do you mind?” Sean asked in an annoyed tone.
“No,” the man said flatly and continued to puff away at his cigar.
“Are you looking for trouble?” Sean aggressively asked, almost standing up.
“Babe, just ignore him,” Aaron whispered as he touched Sean’s arm, stopping him.
“Hard to with all that smoke,” Sean sneered as he was getting even angrier
“Let go stand by the water for a bit and take a pic,” Aaron suggested, trying to calm down his boyfriend.
“Sure, okay,” Sean agreed as the two of them stood up.
“Shit, I left my phone in the car,” Aaron frantically said as he checked his trunk pockets.
“It’s okay, I have mine,” Sean said as he pulled his out.
“Yeah, but yours is like three iPhone models behind. Mine takes better photos,” Aaron said as he was backing away, “I’m going to run to the car. Be right back.” He turned around and jogged through the crowd, dodging the beach goers.
Sean stood there and looked at the old man still smoking his cigar in disgust. The old man waved to him in a snarky way.
“Old fat fuck,” Sean whispered to himself as he walked away. He hated the smell of smoke, especially from a cigar. As a fitness and health nut, he didn’t understand why anyone would put something so putrid and harmful into their body.
As he marched across the sand, he saw the restrooms in the distance. He figured he might as well use it while he was near them.
The restrooms were not busy and not maintained. They were dirty and old. People were avoiding them and peeing in the ocean instead, which Sean realized was the better choice after opening the door to the men’s room.
Sean walked in with the door slamming shut behind him. There was graffiti on the walls and the light was dim and flickered. The smell of piss and shit filled the air. There were a few urinals and stalls.
“Yeah, fuck this,” Sean said allowed. The door slammed shut behind him, causing him to jump.
He quickly turned around and saw the old, bearish man standing behind him. He had his fat cigar still placed firmly in his jaw as he puffed away at it. The smoke was overpowering the smell of the dirty bathroom.
“Looks like ya found trouble,” the cigar smoking man said over the cigar in his mouth.
Sean, being alone and away from the crowd, started to feel intimidated. Seeing the man not sitting down, he was march larger than he appeared. Sean was not defending himself from this man if he had to.
“Look, we’ll move so your friends can sit there. Just leave me alone,” Sean sheepishly pleaded.
The man took his large cigar out of his mouth. “Not as tough as you make out to be,” the man said, speaking more clearly without the cigar in his teeth, as he approached Sean.
“Stay back you fat fu-” Sean yelled, only to be silenced by the man shoving the fat cigar in his open mouth.
The smoke filled Sean’s mouth as he bit down on it. He instantly grabbed it out of his mouth. He tossed it on the dirty floor and it rolled under the stalls. “What the fuck?” he yelled.
“Hey, that was a good cigar,” the man said in an annoyed tone, “But that’s okay, I have plenty more for us.”
Sean suddenly fell to the floor. His legs gave out, as if they were exhausted from holding up weight. He looked at his belly and noticed his abs were gone. A fatty gut was growing. Sean looked nervously at the man.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get use to the added weight,” the man smirked.
Sean struggled to stand with his new fat. He looked down at his belly as it hung below the waistband of his trunks. “What did you do to me?” he asked in a hurry.
“Turning you into…what did you call me? A fat old fuck?” the man answered with a grin.
“How? Why?” Sean asked as he watched all the hours he spent at the gym go to waste.
“My cigar,” the man said as he pulled out another large one from his swim trunks, “Just accept it. You’ll appreciate it soon enough.”
The man placed the cigar in his mouth and watched as Sean was transforming.
As Sean was touching his belly and man boobs, he felt hair sprouting from the skin. It was growing in thick and long. He then noticed it wasn’t only on his chest, but also his arms and legs. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel the itchiness of a short beard growing on his face.
The man lit his cigar. He took a hard puff as he his cheeks caved in, then blew the smoke towards Sean.
The smoke didn’t smell as rancid to him as it did before. A part of him found it pleasant. “You need to stop this!” he begged angrily, “I need to find Aaron.”
“I can’t stop it. This is who ya are now. Don’t ya worry about Aaron though. If he truly loved ya, he’ll love the ya even like this,” the man said as he approached Sean. During this exchange, Sean’s beard continued to grow even longer.
“No, he won’t. He is handsome and I look…like this…” Sean trailed off, sadness in his voice.
A few tears rolled down his cheeks. As they did, strands of hair were falling off from the dome of his head. His once thick hair was now sparse. Only a few individual hairs were on the top of his head, leaving a thick crown of hair on the sides and back.
Sean stood there, accepting his fate. His body was changing and there was nothing else that he could do. This was not only a punishment, but a lesson.
The man touched Sean’s long and thick beard, brushing it before grabbing it. Sean, defeated, didn’t fight back. He knew he couldn’t. It was his fate.
The man took a hard pull from his cigar once again, removed it from his mouth, and blew the smoke into Sean’s face.
The smoke now smelled nice to Sean. He breathed in the smoke and, as he did, he felt his back and right knee get a little sore. His body ached in ways he wasn’t use to.
He opened his eyes and saw the man looking back at him. He touched his face and felt that it was rougher with slight wrinkles. He touched his beard and lifted it enough to see slivers a grey in it.
“Guess I am an old fat fuck now,” Sean said aloud.
The man placed his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “Welcome to the club. It ain’t so bad,” he grinned.
Sean turned to look in the mirror above the only sink in the bathroom. He saw a 50 something year old man. A man who would be considered a bear in the community. A small smile appeared on his face. He actually liked what he saw.
He then looked at the man as he smoked his cigar. “Want one?” the man asked.
“Would love one,” Sean said. He never fully smoked a cigar before, but he desperately wanted one now. The man pulled out another cigar from his trunks and handed it to Sean.
He placed it in his mouth and the man flicked his lighter. Sean leaned in and started puffing while rotating the cigar, ensuring it was lit evenly. He had never done this before, but knew what he was doing. He took a hard pull and then exhaled the smoke. It tasted delightful.
“Looking good, Sean,” the man complimented on his fellow bear.
“Thanks. You too…umm…” Sean complimented back, not knowing the man’s name.
“Hank,” the man filled in the blank.
“Hank, you look good,” Sean said and fully meant it. He had never been attracted to bears before, especially older ones. Now, he thought Hank looked incredibly handsome.
“Now, let’s get back to the beach,” Hank suggested and the two bears left the smoky bathroom.
They moved through the crowds of the beach, not caring if their cigar smoke bothered the other beach goers.
The two cigar bears made it to their spot. Hank grabbed one of his folded up chairs and sat it next to him. Sean was looking at the two beach towels laid in front of him, remembering that Aaron would be coming back at anytime.
Hank sat down and cracked open a beer he had pulled from his ice chest. “Sit down, enjoy that cigar and relax old man,” Hank said, “I’m sure Aaron will still find you super attractive.”
“You think so?” Sean asked, hopeful.
“Oh yeah. We’ll make sure of it,” Hank assured his new bear buddy.
Sean smiled and the two men smoked their cigars under the summer sun.
