Bear Witness

Leo felt like a zombie. Not the cool Netflix kind — the exhausted, barely-functional kind that came from pulling three shifts at Uncle Jerry's Zombie Apocalypse Mini Golf in one weekend.

"You're up, Leo," his uncle called, tossing him the bear costume head. "Big birthday party. Group of eighth graders. Don't mess it up."

The polyester bear head smelled like middle schooler dreams and industrial disinfectant. Leo groaned inwardly but pulled it on. Through the mesh eyes, the world became a grainy filter, like social media posts that claimed to be "no filter" but absolutely were.

He saw them immediately. The bull of the group — Jason, whose Instagram stories were mostly him shirtless at the gym. Jason held court near the windmill, surrounded by orbiters desperate for his approval like he was the sun and they were planets caught in his gravitational field of charisma.

And there she was. Maya. The girl Leo had been lowkey spy-ing on since seventh period algebra, when he'd learned her birthday (March 3rd) and favorite color (sage green) through strategic eavesdropping that definitely wasn't creepy if you didn't think about it too hard.

Jason grabbed Maya's phone from her hands. "Let's see what we've got here."

Maya's face flushed. "Give it back."

"What's this?" Jason laughed, reading something aloud. "Maya thinks Leo in bear costume is actually kinda cute —"

Leo's heart stopped. Or maybe it started beating so hard it felt stopped.

Maya grabbed her phone back, face burning. "You're such an asshole."

"What?" Jason smirked at his orbiters. "It's just a joke. You're not actually into the bear, right?"

The bear suit's mesh eyes suddenly felt like armor. Leo stepped forward, the oversized bear feet somehow making him feel bigger instead of ridiculous. He grabbed Jason's shoulder with a paw covered in brown faux fur.

Everyone went silent.

"Leave her alone," Leo growled through the mesh, not recognizing his own voice. "Actually, Jason? Your fly's been down since hole four. Everyone saw. They just didn't say anything."

Jason looked down. The orbiters erupted.

Later, behind the arcade, Maya found Leo unzipping the bear suit. "So," she said, "you're not exactly a zombie after all."

Leo's face burned. "I heard what you wrote on your notes app."

"Good," Maya said, "because I meant it. The bear look? Honestly working for you."