Being out in the country was different. The alpine woods were so open, quiet, yet alive with a million soft sounds from the local wildlife. The way the sun danced through the oak leaves made its light look even prettier.

	It would’ve been fun if Frankie’s bladder wasn’t full to bursting. 

	The ursine boy lagged after his sister on the disused forest trail. Anna, at nine, was one year her brother’s senior, but she treated that year like a championship trophy. Though both were used to flat sidewalks and public transit, her time spent playing soccer after school served her far better when wandering through the woods than Frankie’s afternoons with the school band. She set a brisk pace, and her brother struggled to keep up, given his pudgy tummy. 

	Anna stopped briefly, letting Frankie catch his breath, and the other cubs catch up. Another three grizzlies, younger than the two in front, came up over the small hill, reforming their sleuth. James, Frankie’s rail-thin cousin, led the way for his two twin sisters, Jenny and Ellie. The family had celebrated James’ seventh birthday a few days prior, which allowed Frankie and Anna visit his countryside home for the first time. “Which way to the treehouse, James?” Anna asked.

	“I think it’s that way?” James mumbled, rubbing his arm as he pointed towards a surprisingly steep hill. When Frankie’s parents had suggested that the cubs check out the hilly trail at the back of the property, James had offered to show them the old treehouse, where his mom had played when she was just a cub. That said, with every direction the boy gave, he sounded less and less certain.

	“Anna, do you think we could stop for a second?” Frankie whispered, discreetly pressing his thighs together. “We’ve been walking for a while and, um, maybe someone needs a bathroom break? With the younger cubs and everything.”

	Anna rolled her eyes. “They’re fine, dork. See?” She gestured to the twins, prancing from tree to tree in their matching pink overalls with the energy of cubs too young to know true fatigue. Supposedly Jenny was wearing purple hairclips and Ellie blue, though Frankie strongly suspected they’d swapped when he wasn’t looking. “There’s no way you have a smaller bladder than a pair of 5-year-olds, right?” Anna winked at him before continuing in the direction James had pointed, forcing Frankie to keep walking despite the urgent need in his groin. All of the cubs had been gulping down Auntie Eleanor's homemade lemonade an hour prior, but Anna seemed completely unaffected.

	Anna led the group onward, up toward a rocky vertical scramble. The twins darted about the trail, picking at tree bark and screaming in delight whenever they found a particularly large bug. Frankie, shuffling to keep up without drenching his shorts and starting to pant in the summer heat, decided that he was out of his element. His shaggy brown fur and heavyset frame weren’t doing him any favors out in the country. Bears, Frankie decided, weren’t meant to be traipsing about in the woods. His parents’ downtown apartment block, with its elevators, aircon, and indoor plumbing, was a much better habitat for a self-respecting bear.

	Frankie struggled up the slabs of rock, being particularly slow on each foothold. Anna took the Jenny and Ellie with her in front, the twins’ boundless energy making their progress fairly quick. Frankie took his time, making sure each movement was stable enough to keep him upright, sphincter intact. Stretching his legs across such steep steps made his waistband push uncomfortably against his bladder. He needed to stop several times to offer James a helping paw upward, while desperately clenching down surges of pee that were more than ready to come out.

	Frankie made a short jump over open air, nearly catching up with the girls where the path had opened back up. Behind him, James eyed the gap, wringing his paws on the bottom of his shirt.

	“It looks really far… what if I fall?”

	Frankie shimmied back toward the edge, holding his arms out for his cousin, though his legs were starting to quiver. “Don’t worry, you can make it. I’ll catch you.” The gap couldn’t have been more than two feet wide, a jump that even Frankie had been able to cross easily. Still, he wasn’t going to leave James in the lurch. 

	James took a step back, brow furrowed in concentration, before striding forward into a short hop. James, perhaps unwilling to step so close to the edge, jumped a step’s length before he probably should have. Frankie watched his cousin start to drop, heading for a very painful reunion with the ground. The older boy reached out, grabbing James by the paw and attempting to pull him the rest of the way. The tip of James’ shoe managed to reach the other side, but not enough to give purchase, leaving him teetering while Frankie’s grip fought with gravity for possession of the cub.

	To Frankie’s horror, he found himself losing. He was pulled forward by James’ weight, and his own footpaws weren’t able to keep a steady grip. He felt himself start to fall, his stomach lurching in terror as he felt his bladder start to relea-

	“Gotcha!”

	Anna grabbed her brother’s waist, throwing her body weight backwards to keep the two boys upright. Frankie stabilized, and the siblings used their newfound leverage to heave James across with them. The younger boy fell into his cousins’ arms, shaking like a leaf after his near-fall.

	“You’re safe, see? Told ya I’d catch you.” Frankie patted James’ head, trying to reassure his cousin while discreetly glancing down at his own shorts. He definitely felt a wet spot on the inside of his underwear, but it wasn’t yet visible from the outside. Still, the half-second of release made his bladder ache even more deeply, threatening to enlarge that wet spot at any second. 

	Anna looked the pair over, then nodded her approval. “Glad you guys are okay. You need a minute, James?”

	Please ask to stop, please ask to stop, plea-

	“Mhm, I’m good. Thanks guys.” James smiled shyly at the two older cubs, then he and Anna set off to rejoin the twins. Frankie took a single step forward.

	Oh no.

	The second Frankie put a paw forward, he knew he was at his limit. If he had to take one more step, Frankie was going to soak himself. He eyed the side of the path, considering making a break for the edge even as the other cubs were starting to leave him behind. Knowing Anna, she definitely wouldn’t wait for him. There was no correct option here, and he-

	“Anna, I gotta go potty!” Jenny squealed, stopping the girls in their tracks.

	“Yeah, I gotta go even more!” Ellie chirped, attempting to one-up her sister.

	Anna sighed, turning around to regard the twins. “Okay, potty break it is.”

	“Thankyouthankyouthankyou…” Frankie muttered under his breath, turning around and shuffling to the place where he’d caught James. Still mid-stride, he tugged the front of his shorts down to free himself. Half a second before he stopped his awkward movements, his penis had already started to leak.

	Paradise. The kind of relief that made Frankie’s eyes roll back in his head. The boy’s pee exited his immature member like a fire hose, arcing over the edge of the hill and splattering against the grass far below. As his bladder was finally allowed to drain,  tension flowed out of his body. Finally, he was starting to feel better.

	“Whoa, he’s doin’ it standing up!”

	“Yeah, it’s shootin’ out really far!”

	Frankie, to his dawning horror, realized that his two baby cousins had surrounded him on either side, staring at his penis as he continued relieving himself. Not only were his private parts exposed, but his bladder was already so deeply invested in voiding its contents that the boy couldn’t have stopped it if he tried. With a girl on each side, he couldn’t turn in either direction without further exposing himself. 

	“That’s really cool! Momma makes James sit down when he pees.”

	“Yeah, he made a huge mess on the towels that one time!”

	The twin girls giggled in unison. James, at least pretending to be subtle, also snuck a peek at his cousin. Frankie’s face kept reddening, the gaze of the three younger cubs laying heavy upon him. Mortified and beet-red with embarrassment, but unable to object in any meaningful way, the older boy felt the last few drops of urine exit his bladder.

	“I guess it’s kinda cool that boys can do it standing up.” Ellie quips, earning a nod of agreement from her sister. Frankie, his tank now mercifully empty, gave his penis a quick shake before stuffing it back into his pants. 

	“Pah, boys aren’t special. We can do it just as good!”

	Frankie and his three diminutive voyeurs turned around to regard Anna, who had already hiked up her yellow skirt and dropped her panties down to her ankles. Her paws cupped her feminine parts, pulling upward and spreading her outer lips slightly. Still upright, she started peeing, ursine urine arcing out of her vulva and traveling several feet before watering the ground. The twins practically vibrated in excitement.

	“THAT’S SO COOL!”

	“WE CAN DO THAT?”

	“TEACH US, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!”

	The pair zipped over to Anna, bouncing up and down as they watched the older girl empty her bladder in a way they’d never thought possible. Frankie just rolled his eyes, reminded once again that no one else in his family cared about bathroom privacy. Back when he’d been potty training, and Anna realized that he was able to relieve himself while standing, she’d thrown a massive jealous fit. She’d begged and cried until their dad agreed to help her learn the skill. This had resulted in countless spillage incidents in the family bathroom until they’d figured it out. The first time Anna had managed to hold her bits the right way, she’d excitedly called the whole family into the bathroom to watch her piddle like her dad and younger brother.

	Families could be so weird sometimes.

	Anna finished, abruptly cutting off her stream before pulling her undies back up. Jenny and Ellie were already trying, with limited success, to undo their overalls.

	“Anna, teach me to do it first!”

	“No, me! I have to potty way more!”

	“Nu-uh, I gotta pee so bad I’m gonna pop like a balloon!”

	“Well I’m gonna pop like a bomb!”

	Anna regarded the bickering tykes, and the thick, absorbent material of their overalls. She winced, realizing what the consequence of a failed attempt here would mean for their walk home. “Girls, I promise I’ll teach you… after we get back to the house. For now, let me help you squat so that you don’t soak yourselves, okay?”

	The twins, in perfect unison, wailed a series of objections.

	Anna held a paw to her chin. “But I’ll only teach you if you’re good, and I’m hearing a lot of ‘bad cub’ noises right now.”

	The twins, still sulking, quieted down, letting Anna lead them to a nearby slab of rock. 

	“Frankie?” James asked. The younger boy had been distracted by Anna’s showing off earlier, but now turned to his cousin while pressing a paw against his groin. “I have to go too, could you maybe help me do it like you did?”

	Frankie, who was of the opinion that he had already seen one too many pantsless cubs today, flushed. It was tempting to say no, but James’ sisters had implied that he hadn’t had much practice with this. It made his stomach feel a little weird, but it was his responsibility as an older cub to help out his younger relatives.

	“Sure, I can help, I guess. C’mon…” Dragging his paws, Frankie led his cousin over to a gnarled tree, roots partially exposed by the hill’s rocky slope. He’d intended to give them a little privacy, but alas, Anna had positioned herself and the twins with a sightline between the two groups, forcing the boys to watch her undo Ellie’s overalls. The trunk might have provided James with some modesty, but not much. 

	James had already slid his shorts and undies down. The fact that he had an accessible fly and opening in his briefs apparently hadn’t clicked for him. His little dick hung down aimlessly, its owner regarding it like an unsolved puzzle. “How’m I supposed to hold it?”

	“Just do it like… okay, here.” Frankie tentatively took hold of his cousin’s penis, suppressing an annoyed sigh. It wasn’t really James’ fault that he needed help; he didn’t have a dad to show him how this worked. “You just aim it up, so you don’t get your clothes wet. After that, it’s like a squirt gun, kinda.”

	James fell quiet. Frankie waited, feeling more awkward about touching another boy’s bits with every passing second.

	“You can go, y’know.”

	“...I’m kinda nervous, sorry.”

	“It’s okay, take your time.”
	
	The boys were shaken out of their torpor by a loud whizzing sound to their left. Anna had finally untangled the twins’ garments, and was holding Ellie in a squatting posture, just under her knees. The girl’s vulva sprayed a torrent of yellow onto the stone as her bladder released. Ellie, apparently also immune to embarrassment, pointed at a section of the rock and giggled.

	“Look at that huge beetle! Lift me higher, I wanna drown it!”

	Anna, smirking, straightened her legs and held her cousin at a steeper angle. The young girl’s urine splattered against the rock; she seemed to be pushing extra-hard to assault her insectoid victim.

	“HAHA, YEAH! DIE, BUGGY, DIE!”

	Frankie shot James a glance. “Sisters, huh?”

	“Heh, yeah.” James looked down, his own stream of pee finally exiting his penis. Frankie fought down a shiver, aiming the other boy’s pee into one of the old tree’s hollows.
	
	James flushed. “Sorry you have to help me.” He glanced at his sisters. “Guess I’m not a big kid yet after all.”

	“Hey, you don’t have anything to feel bad about. Here, you grab it.” Frankie coaxed the younger bear to take hold of his member. James hesitated half a second before doing so, his brow furrowed. “Pretend the hollow is a basketball hoop, or something, and aim for that.”

	The younger cub took a moment to adjust to holding his own reins for the first time. His aim stayed true, able to replicate his cousin’s grip. James broke into a wide grin; he was really doing it, he was peeing standing up like a big boy. “This is so cool!” He cheered, tracing the inside of the hollow with his stream. The kid was a natural. “Frankie, this is awesome! Thanks for teaching me.”

	“’M done!” Ellie chirped, prompting Anna to let her go. Jenny, meanwhile, had managed to remove her underwear, and her paws were prodding at her vulva, spreading it in a rough pantomime of Anna’s display earlier. The tyke’s face was scrunched up in concentration.

	“WAIT WAIT WAIT!” Anna, horrified, dived toward the little bear, barely managing to pull her into a crooked squat before the waterworks started. It was an awkward position, with Jenny’s butt nearly touching the ground and her pee soaking directly into the soil with nary an innocent victim in sight. At least it was clear of her pants. 

	“Why’d you grab me? I was gonna do it really cool like you did!”

	“You were gonna make a mess!”

	“Was not!”

	The boys, watching their sisters try not to collapse into a wet pile, both chuckled. James’ stream of urine had wound down, falling short of the hollow and leaving the last few drops of his stream onto the earth below. Though he was well and truly empty, the younger bear kept holding his member, pointing it up so he could examine his tip. “Now I do that thing that you did?”

	“Huh? Oh, right, you shake it. Just, y’know, wiggle it up and down once or twice.”

	The smaller boy, smiling softly, made a spirited attempt. His penis made an awkward flopping motion, freeing a bead of liquid on the upswing. The droplet floated in the air, diving for its creator as if driven by pure malice. Then, tragically, it landed right in the middle of James’ shirt. The kid’s face crumpled.

	“Hey, no big deal.” Frankie put a paw on his cousin’s shoulder. “That happens all the time, it’ll dry in like a second. I promise nobody’s gonna notice. You still did really good.”

	“You really think so?” James rubbed at his eyes.

	“Yeah, you seem like a real big boy to me. You sure you didn’t just turn eight instead?”

	“Thanks.” James gave Frankie a fierce hug around the midsection. The older bear’s gut lurched, realizing that not only had neither boy washed their paws, but James hadn’t bothered pulling his pants up yet. Gross.

	He hugged his cousin back anyway.

	“Ha, Jenny, I peed way farther than you!”

	“That’s only because Anna sabertaged me, I was gonna pee super far!”

	The twins, for the most part, were redressed, with Anna snapping the last few buttons in place on their pink overalls. “You guys done?” She called out to her brother. 

	Frankie nodded, James tugging his shorts back up as the sleuth reformed. “So, girls can do it just as good?” He teased, eyeing the semi-bickering twins.

	“Shut up, I’m gonna teach them so good, they’re gonna kick butt at peeing!”

	“Dunno, their brother seems to learn pretty fast. Seems like boys are better at it after all.” Frankie winked at the younger boy, earning a bashful smile. “Are we still going the right way, James?”

	James looked out to the forest. He took his time, hunting the treeline for any familiar landmarks. “Got it, there it is! You can see the tip of it!” He pointed, marking out the barest shape of a wooden treehouse poking through the distant foliage. 

	It was nearly ninety degrees off from where they’d been heading. 

	Anna shrugged. “Well, at least we know for sure where we’re going now. Hey, Frankie, you think boys are better at stuff than girls, huh?”

	“Only ‘cause it’s true, not a big deal.”

	She grinned, eyes twinkling dangerously. “Then how about a race?”

	Frankie’s face dropped. “That’s not-”

	“RACE! RACE!” The twins had already latched onto the idea, zipping down a shallower slope toward their finish line. Anna, cackling wickedly, followed them.

	It was a beautiful day for racing through the forest. Anna took the lead, careful to not stray too far ahead of the younger kids. James, smiling and bouncing from step to step, kept right on Anna’s heels, his frolicking sisters in tow. Frankie, chest heaving, was left to bring up the rear, gasping and sputtering the entire rest of the way.