Chapter Text
VISUALS OF THE CHARACTERS:
Gomer: A 9 foot tall, smokey cinnamon bear that wears a white collar and a blue bowtie. He’s the jamboree’s pianist and Henry’s right-hand man.
Ernest: A 6 foot tall, cinnamon bear with dark ginger hair. He wears a polka-dotted bowtie and a beige bowler hat with a blue ribbon around it. He’s a secondary fiddle player of the jamboree.
Ted: A 7 foot tall, smokey brown bear with dark brunette hair. He's very thin and wears a beige vest. His hair covers his eyes and he wears a tall cowboy hat.
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In between shows, it never came to mind what Gomer wanted to be called as a parent. He knew right away that the cubs would call Henry dad, but what about him? He for sure did not want to be called mom, or anything of the sort, so it left him pondering.
After a while of sitting at his desk, it finally came to Gomer on what he should do: Ask the others for ideas! He got up and made his way to the door, being met with Ernest standing there. The smaller bear seemed to be holding a box with a yellow ribbon on it. “Umm- Uhh.. Howdy Gomer!”, Ernest says with a stutter. “I brought you some things a-”, before he could continue, Gomer put up a paw for him to stop, stepping out into the lobby.
Taking a seat and with his paws on his belly, he watches as Ernest sits next to him, placing the box on the floor in front of them. “Why’d ya stop me? Somethin’ the matter?”, The ginger-furred bear asks. Gomer responded by giving a shrug.
Knowing that ‘The Dude’ has a flimsy grasp on sign language, he gets up and heads to his room again to get a pen and a note-pad. After he comes back, he writes on a page, presenting to Ernest. It reads the following:
“I don’t want to be called mom, or mommy, or even mama. I’m a man, but Henry already claimed to be called dad. I need help finding a new title that sounds close to dad.”
Ernest is left confused, tilting his head. He asks insensitively “Well, if you don’t wanna be called mama, then why are ya pregnant?”. Gomer groans, facepalming himself. He knew that the bear that cared about himself the most wouldn’t understand his predicament.
Gomer flips a page in his note-pad and writes:
“Ernest: Lost cause.”
He was NOT willing to argue, especially with someone as thick-headed as Ernest. After a second show, Gomer wrote down the results some of the other bears gave him:
“Zeke: Dad number 2.
Tennessee: Paw-Paw.
Zeb: Dadada(?)
(Trixie said something along the lines of father..)”
Despite these, and other title suggestions, nothing was clicking. And it was leaving him overwhelmed. While the rest of the jamboree wait for the next show, Ted comes along and taps Gomer on the shoulder. “Hey. Heard you were havin’ naming problems.”, Ted rarely ever spoke outside of the shows, but when he does, most bears know he’s about to say something smart (or witty). Gomer turns around and nods his head, presenting the list with the results that the others had given him. He taps on the page and signs to Ted:
“None of these titles are working for me.”
Ted nods, sighing. “Well. I know one thing. I used to call my dad papa.” The rangy bear says with a giggle. That was when a bulb went off in Gomer’s head… Papa… Yes.. YES! His eyes widened and his ears fluttered from excitement! Papa, now that’s a title!
Ted notices the gravid bear’s excitement. He looks over and asks, “Hey, what’s gotten ya jumpy bud?”. Gomer signs to him once more:
“Papa! I want to be called Papa!”
Gomer’s motions were a bit shaky from excitement, especially from trying to suppress his stims while doing sign language. Ted giggles again upon witnessing his band partner’s joy, but was finding it a bit difficult to read Gomer’s language. “I’m sorry bud, could you write that down?”, he asks. And so, still excited, Gomer writes down:
“I wanna be called Papa! Thank you so much Ted!”.
Ted smirks, snickering, “You’re welcome dear fella.”.