Rating:

Teen

Category:

Gen

Fandom:

One Direction

Relationship:

OT5 (1D)

Tags:

animal transformation

Stats:

Posted on:

2014-06-27

Words:

3,088

Liam wakes up as a bear on a Tuesday, although his first thoughts are, when did I buy this blanket and why is it attached to me?

Everything makes much more sense when he looks at his claws, and then into the mirror.

*

He feels stupidly trapped in his flat because there’s no way he’s going out in public looking like this – the paps will be all over him. Well, if they realized that the black bear roaming the streets was actually him.

He’s pretty worried about it, actually, until only thirty minutes after he’s woken up and he hears someone slam his flat door open.

“Liam!” Louis calls in sing-song. “Where are you?”

Liam has never been more relieved to hear Louis’s voice in his life.

“Here!” he tries to say, but it comes out as an aggressive growl instead. Mortified, he covers his weird new bear mouth with his weird new bear hands.

“Liam?” Louis asks concernedly.

He opens Liam’s bedroom door and yelps and jumps back.

“Who are you!” he exclaims, and then, “You’re a bear. What are you doing here and what have you done with Liam?”

Louis grabs a trophy nearby from one of Liam’s dressers. Liam’s not sure on how to tell him except to bow his head down and make a small and sort of pathetic whine.

“Did you eat him? Oh my god.” Louis nears him, the bottom of Liam’s basketball trophy wielded as a sword. “I’m gonna kill you, bear. For eating one of my best mates.”

Liam shakes his big head wildly and the noise that comes out of his mouth seems to throw Louis off. Liam waves his paws, too, until he accidentally smashes the lamp on his bedside.

“You’re a pretty weird bear,” Louis comments. “Kind of cute, actually, but bears are cute in general I guess. Maybe you’re a cub. Are bear cubs very big?”

Liam groans and puts his head in his paws again.

“Wait,” Louis says. “…Liam?”

Liam peeks out from behind his claws.

*

“It says here that black bears are harmless,” Niall says from his laptop. “They eat mostly fish and fruit.”

“I’m not sure about this,” Zayn says.

They’ve all gathered in Liam’s flat, after Louis contacted the others with two second calls of “Liam’s a bear!” and then hanging up.

“What do you mean? Look at this Zayn.” Louis is scratching behind Liam’s ear and Liam can’t help it – he preens and lets out a small growl of pleasure. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s an animal now or just because Louis has nice fingers. Both ideas kind of disturb him.

Harry scratches at a perfect place at his neck and Liam stretches in delight.

Zayn smiles at Liam. “Okay, that is pretty cute,” he says, and joins Louis and Harry in giving Liam some sort of animal massage.

Niall strokes Liam’s face absentmindedly, still focused on his computer. “Okay, so black bears eat berries,” he says. “And… raw fish…”

“Easier than cooking,” Louis says, and Harry nods.

“D’you think I should tweet about it,” says Niall, and then, “I’m gonna tweet about it. Come over here for a selfie, Liam.”

Liam kind of wants to see himself as a bear again, but Zayn says, “No! D’you know how much trouble we’d get in? Also,” he looks at Liam, “how’d this happen?”

Liam shrugs his big bear shoulders and waves his paws, accidentally hitting Harry in the face. Harry laughs and nuzzles into Liam’s fur.

“It’s like we have a pet bear,” he says. “Except it’s really just Liam. Who’s a bear.”

“Well we think it’s Liam, anyways,” says Zayn.

“Even if he did eat Liam, we’ve a new pet,” says Louis. “That might be even better.”

Liam knocks him off the couch and the others start, and then laugh.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Liam,” Niall says.

*

Harry says, “We should put One Direction on an indefinite hiatus.”

“What,” Louis says and Niall says, “No!”

Even Liam growls a little, though he knows that Harry’s right.

“Yeah, because we’re going to sing with Liam the bear,” says Zayn. “That ought to go well.”

“I’m sure he can still sing,” says Louis. “Give us a few bars there, Payne.”

Liam does his best to make out some intelligible English words, or at least manage to hit the keys of “Midnight Memories.” It doesn’t go over well.

“Better than the original,” says Louis.

Liam shoves him again.

“I’d like to see the headlines after we announce it,” Zayn says with a smirk. “One Direction, done forever after three years.”

“Except we won’t be,” says Harry.

Niall turns to him. “We won’t?”

“Yeah, Liam,” says Louis. “When will this bear stuff wear off?”

Liam shrugs. And then the words sink in.

*

They manage to calm him down especially after Liam lets out a loud howl of despair. What if he’s stuck as a bear forever? How will he tell his family? What about his money and friends? Is he going to have to live in the wilderness?

“We won’t leave you if you don’t want us to,” Zayn assures him. “I promise.”

“I bet it’s more fun to have a bear around,” says Louis.

“Instead of Liam?” Niall asks.

Louis scoffs. “No, Niall, you menace. Why would I say that? Hit Niall for me, won’t you Liam?”

Liam glares at Louis.

“You make an awful pet,” says Louis. “Ow!”

“We need to buy him food,” Harry suggests. “Liam must be hungry. Aren’t you, Liam?”

“Unless he ate himself,” says Niall, who’s scratching behind Liam’s ear.

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” says Louis. “In most cases.”

“So we’re just gonna buy fruit and raw seafood,” says Zayn. “As if that’s completely normal.”

“And then we’re gonna cancel One Direction,” Harry says cheerfully.

*

They decide to take turns watching Liam while doing what they can to make sure his “new look” goes as undiscovered as possible. Harry calls Paul and the others while Niall tweets vague things like, “I can’t bear this morning!” and, “the sun is barely out today” and “everything is un BEAR able!!”

He cackles and Liam does knock him over the bed this time. Louis hollers.

Harry comes in and says, “Lou wants to see and style Liam’s bear hair.”

“Did you say yes?” Louis asks eagerly.

“‘Course not, you know what she’ll do to him. And we don’t want an angry bear on our hands.”

“I’m tweeting that,” Niall says, and Liam tackles him this time.

“Okay, okay, uncle!” Niall cries. “Ow! Christ! You’re heavy.”

“He’s a bear,” says Zayn.

“Unbearable,” Niall says, and Zayn flicks him upside the head.

“So we’re not One Direction now,” Harry continues. “All of us, not just Liam.”

“Because we’ve got to take care of him, obviously.” Louis wrestles Liam into a headlock which is more of an embrace considering Liam’s size. Liam does his best not to make a bear hug joke in his head.

“And because we can’t do much without one of our lead singers,” says Zayn. He’s on his phone.

“Are you taking pictures of Liam for Perrie?” Niall asks.

“No,” says Zayn; but Niall glances over his shoulder and cackles.

Then after that, Liam’s alone with Zayn while Louis, Harry, and Niall go out for food.

“I wonder if bears have accents.” Zayn taps something on his phone, probably that.

Liam lies down next to him and the bed collapses completely on his side. “Oops,” he tries to say, and it comes out as a snarl.

“Well that’s inconvenient,” says Zayn. “Let’s get you somewhere where you won’t destroy furniture.”

Liam puts his head in his hands.

“Oh it’s alright mate. C’mon.” Zayn tries to tug at his big black shoulder. “Don’t make me put a leash on you.”

Liam starts; then he realizes that Zayn’s only teasing, even though Liam does have a leash in the closet for when he and Sophia trade off on Loki. Zayn chuckles.

“Living room, maybe?”

*

They watch some television; worldwide news of One Direction going on hiatus, which is whatever. Liam had wanted to play some video games but when he had nudged his Xbox, Zayn had said, “You’ll break that too.”

Niall and Harry and Louis come back with three bags of groceries, all of which smell delicious as soon as they enter his flat.

“Liam!” says Louis, just as Liam goes toward the best-smelling bag. It’s in Louis’s hands of course, so he ends up tackling Louis to the ground.

“Well that’s the most enthusiastic you’ve ever been to see me,” laughs Louis, sounding strained. “Ow, Niall was right.”

Liam rips the plastic open with his mouth and out spills at least twenty large raw fish. Liam starts tearing at them immediately.

“Got you berries, too,” says Harry. “Bears like berries, right?”

“And an apple,” Niall says as Liam scarfs down the berries.

Liam looks at the apple he pulled out and shakes his head.

“No? Oh well.” Niall bites it instead.

Harry’s palm is filled with blueberries and cherries and Liam eats them right out of his hand. When that’s done, too, he looks toward the bag Niall’s still holding.

“We weren’t sure if bears liked honey,” Louis says as Liam sticks his head in. The plastic ruffles over his ears, and he shakes his head and scrunches his nose.

“Well not processed honey, surely,” says Zayn.

Liam brings up one big claw and rips the bag open. Several golden bear shaped bottles full of honey, as well as a few more fish spill out.

Liam starts on the fish right away. Harry says, “Let’s see.”

It takes only a few seconds for Liam to finish the fish – he’s less starving but still hungry, plus has larger teeth. When he turns back around, Harry’s got a tube of honey open and Niall’s saying, “Here, Liam, Liam, Liam.”

“He’s not a dog, don’t talk to him like that,” says Louis. When Liam starts toward them, he says, “Good boy.”

“He’s an animal. Sort of,” says Zayn. “Animal but still human in the head. I think.”

Liam licks the honey, howls in anguish, and then goes back to lick the fish juice off the plastic bags. (He doesn’t know why but raw fish tastes so good.)

“Yeah,” Harry agrees. “Just a la Brave and all that.” When Liam glances back Harry’s looking at him fondly.

“Does that mean we’ll have to worry about him turning wild then?” asks Niall.

“Liam’s already the wildest he can be,” Louis jokes.

Liam spits a cherry pit still sitting in his cheek at Louis.

Zayn says, “Oh right, so Liam broke his bed. And he’ll probably break more things if he stays here. So we should probably put him in place for bears for a while.”

“Y’mean the zoo?” says Niall.

Liam doesn’t want to be in a zoo, especially if miraculously he turns human again and a hundred pair of eyes end up staring at him naked. He whimpers.

“Well obviously not then,” says Louis, scratching behind Liam’s ear. “Nearest woods then.”

“That’s like an hour from here,” says Harry.

“Well we’re on hiatus now,” says Niall. “What else do we have to do today?”

*

The ride to the nearest patch of wood does take over an hour, and Zayn called Paul this time to ask for a van and a cage. Liam’s very uncomfortable in the cage, but the others attempt to shout things at him once in a while. He can’t really understand them because they’re all muffled, but he has a fun time trying to decipher what they’re saying. (He’s pretty sure Louis asks him how big his bear dick is, but that could be Liam imposing.)

Several people who pass do recognize them as One Direction, though hopefully the van blocks enough that no one can realize it’s four-fifths plus a bear. They take pictures of Liam, though. Maybe everyone’ll think they’re on hiatus because they adopted a bear.

When they’re far away enough from the city and then most of civilization, Louis parks the van by a small crook outside the woods and the boys get out.

“You’re free now, Liam!” calls Niall, opening Liam’s cage.

Liam gets out hesitantly. The air is fresher here, more pleasant for his snout. He sniffs, paws the ground.

“Is he a baby bear?” Zayn’s got his head tilted to the side. “Are baby bears Liam’s age?”

“Liam’s always a baby, no matter what form,” says Louis. “C’mon, let’s find you a nice house in the forest.”

“And if any wild animals attack us, Liam can defend us,” Harry says cheerfully. He scratches at Liam’s shoulder.

Liam hasn’t really had much experience walking as a bear so he attempts to on his hind legs. It’s not easy nor balanced, but doable.

“You’re terrifying,” says Niall, patting Liam’s back.

Liam automatically gets on all fours.

“Good boy,” says Niall, which Liam would protest to – but then Niall’s digging his nails in a stroke down his back, and a deep purr starts in Liam’s throat.

The forest isn’t very big; they encounter nothing but trees and birds and gnats for a bit. Then Harry calls from up ahead, “There’s a clearing!” and the rest rush up to see.

“Nice,” says Louis.

Liam flops down and rolls in the grass.

“I wonder what happened to his clothes when he changed,” says Harry.

“And we still don’t know why he did,” says Zayn. “Hey, what’s that on his arm?”

Liam stops at the sound of that; the rest of them run over to look.

“Looks like dirt or something,” says Louis.

Niall runs a finger over Liam’s fur. “Not dirt,” he says.

Harry angles his head to the side. “Hey, it looks like the… I think it’s Liam’s tattoo!”

“None of his other tattoos stayed.” Louis immediately goes for Liam’s ankle. “Unless this one’s too small for us to see.”

“You can only see this one in the sunlight.” Harry touches Liam’s arm. “And only barely.”

“So we know what happened to his tattoos,” says Zayn. “Are we going to figure out what happened to his clothes?”

“Oh, who cares about his clothes.” Louis shoves Zayn and Zayn shoves back, none too harsh. “Liam, do you like this place?”

Liam nods. The grass is lush and he’s pretty sure he can smell berries as well as some fresh water nearby, where fish is bound to be.

“Then we’ve found your home for now,” Louis says brightly. “Mission accomplished.”

*

They stay with him until Niall complains about eating lunch, even though it’s the afternoon already so it ends up being their dinner too. Liam knows this because Harry had told him when they came back and stayed for another several hours.

Liam makes shelter with large branches he wouldn’t have been able to reach if he were human. He knows he doesn’t really need a roof, as a bear, but it makes him feel better.

The boys offer to help until they realize he doesn’t need it, after Liam snaps a twenty foot long branch in half.

It works, Liam supposes, and when he sleeps he peeks out of his makeshift den up at the sky.

He’d still prefer not being a bear, though.

*

He lives in the woods for about a week, although not quite by himself because the boys visit every day, and not all together at once too, so Liam gets a little bit of each for longer. They bring him store bought fish and fruit (Harry even tries to bring him his favorite cakes even though they all taste disgusting with his bear tongue) but he prefers everything he finds for himself.

About a week later he wakes up in the middle of the night, freezing. He gets up and feels much smaller.

When he looks down, he sees his hairless hands and clothes, though they’re only his pyjama pants.

“Oh my god,” Liam says immediately; he jumps at the sound.

He considers walking back, but he’s cold, shirtless, and probably has been noticed to be missing that showing himself to anyone would be asking for too much attention. He could wait it out for the morning whenever one of the boys visits. But that would take forever and he doesn’t even know what time it is.

Then he hears, “Liam. Hey, Liam,” and jumps, again. Zayn appears in the alcove of the entrance, and then stumbles back. A bag of groceries fall from his hands.

“I know,” says Liam.

“You’re back man!” Zayn leaps up and hugs him. Liam shudders gratefully from Zayn’s body heat almost immediately.

Zayn pulls back and rubs Liam’s arms. “And cold,” he says. “It’s only midnight, so I’ll call the others.”

He does and then Harry, Louis, and Niall are here, Harry with a jumper and Niall with a blanket.

“How did this happen?” Harry asks.

“How did this happen in the first place, though.” Zayn’s rubbing even more warmth into Liam’s shoulders. The food he’d brought for Liam are tossed in the car trunk.

“Who cares, we had a pet bear and now Liam’s back!” says Louis brightly from the front seat.. “Everyone wins.”

Harry says, “Now we have nothing but good news for everyone!”

“Better learn how to explain this to your family,” says Niall.

“I wasn’t planning on telling my family.”

“Well,” says Zayn, and they all look at each other surreptitiously.

“It was Harry’s idea, though,” says Niall.

“On the bright side,” Harry says loudly. “You’re back and that’s what’s important.”

“I don’t know, I think I’d much rather be a bear.”

“Don’t joke about things like that,” says Louis. “Or else you’ll become unbearable.”

Liam throws a stray magazine from the backseat at him. It occurs to him a second later that he can talk now, but, “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

“Hey can you turn on the music to paws it?” says Harry.

“Oh my god.”

Zayn says, “I think we’re becoming overbearing to Liam.”

“Not you too!”

“Liam’s just the cutest little cub scout,” says Niall, which is even worse than Harry’s.

“That’s it,” says Liam. “I disown all of you. I want to be a bear again.”

But he doesn’t, not even a week later.

Liam supposes he should be worried if he turns into a bear again. But he’s okay with believing it won’t happen again, for now.