“Yeah so Ruben didn’t have a sleeping bag so we had to improvise” Carlos grabbed Rubens bag and tossed it at Noah. “Good luck with that!”.
Noah opened the bag and it seemed to be stuffed with a large teddy bear.
“I don’t get it, there is just a teddy bear in here.” Noah asked, confused.
“Oh that isn’t just a teddy bear! That is his Halloween costume from a couple years ago. Our Mom made it from a 4 foot teddy bear, it kept him warm and snug all night and we figured it would work in place of a sleeping bag.” Carlos explained with a huge grin on his face. “This way Ruben will use your sleeping bag and you can use the bear”
Noah was speechless and trying to figure out a way out of this situation, he can’t go upstairs because then his dad will know they swapped bodies and he asked him to leave him alone tonight and begged for the basement for privacy.
Ruben came out of the washroom wearing Noah’s pajamas. He looked at his open backpack. “Don’t worry about that, the costume is super comfortable, you will be snug and super warm and won’t need a blanket or a pillow.” He smiled genuinely.
Trevor just burst out laughing “Yeah Noah don’t worry Ruben has you covered!”
Noah just sighed and walked toward the washroom, brushed his teeth and went to the washroom in order to prolong putting it on.
When he came back out everyone else had changed and they were waiting for him to wear the bear.
“Here you are going to need a hand getting it on” Ruben got up and picked up the backpack and they went into the washroom together.
“Really it’s super soft, it’s better than a sleeping bag.” Ruben was still trying to convince Noah this wasn’t going to be the most embarrassing thing ever.
Ruben pulled out the costume proper. Noah could now see why Ruben said he would need a hand. There was only a zipper in the back of the costume and the arms and legs were fully enclosed to resemble a real teddy bear. The whole thing was stuffed to look and feel like a real plush bear.
“You are going to want to take off your clothes because you will overheat otherwise.”
Noah was apprehensive and asked one final time. “We can switch back if you want to sleep in your teddy bear.”
Ruben looked disappointed. “But I don’t want to, I want to spend the night in a big body. We can switch back in the morning”
Not wanting to cause a scene, he submitted and took off Ruben’s pants and his sweatshirt. He stuffed all of Ruben’s old clothes into his now empty backpack.
Noah stepped into the costume and it was insanely soft. His feet were in some kind of slipper like material, and everything was plush. After both his legs were in, Ruben told Noah to duck his head to get it into the bear head. He did so and Ruben pulled the bear head over Noah’s and at the same time the bear arms slid over his arms, he then zipped up the back.
Ruben adjusted the head of the costume until the eye holes lined up with Noah’s eyes, the only opening on the costume was in the face, just under the nose. Noah looked in the mirror and could see his eyes and mouth but everything else was a teddy bear. “This is so much worse then I thought it would be” Noah looked at his hands now encased in the teddy bear's arms.
Ignoring his last comment “See super comfortable, you will sleep so well!” Ruben was happy to see him in the outfit. Noah noticed with all the plush it was difficult to hear Ruben, muffed but not silent.
Ruben walked out of the washroom with his bag and left the door open for Noah. Noah slowly came out in his teddy bear outfit and waddled over to the sleeping area and sat down. Everyone was cracking up, mentioning how cute he looked and if he would be their teddy bear for the evening.
Noah was embarrassed and wanted to get the evening over as quickly as possible and asked if we could turn in. After a little more joking and a little more getting ready everyone was turning in. Noah noticed that the outfit really did make a great sleeping bag, even though Josh was snoring and people were turning in the night he got a great sleep, the inside of the teddy bear was warm and no matter where he was sitting or lying down it felt like he was wrapped up in a blanket.
The next morning he woke up.