Chapter 10: Beach Vacation- Part 2
Feeling Doraemon against him was absolute heaven to Doramen. He couldn't believe he'd gone from meeting Doraemon through random chance, falling in love with him, and now they were borderline cuddling in a hot tub. Doramen wished it would last forever.
He could tell Doraemon was happy, and that made him happy. Doraemon's happiness was extremely important to him. At the end of the day, it was all he really wanted when it came to their relationship. That's what boyfriends are for, right? Making their lovers happy. Doramen was determined to do everything he could to make Doraemon happy—within reason, of course. He hadn't expected to end up in this particular situation, but he was glad it happened. After all, Doraemon was right. This was supposed to be a time of peace and tranquility.
Unfortunately, the two robot cats quickly grew hot and uncomfortable. The combination of the warm water of the hot tub and Doraemon's body heat became too much for Doramen to handle. He begrudgingly let go of Doraemon's paw and scooted a couple feet away from him.
"Sorry, I'm hot," he murmured awkwardly.
"Oh, it's okay, I understand," Doraemon replied with a smile.
"I think I'm gonna take a swim in the pool."
"You sure that's safe?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Doramen walked out of the hot tub and over to the pool, where he jumped in without hesitation. The splash was big enough to send water onto the ground. Doraemon watched anxiously, barely able to see Doramen's shadowy figure under the water. He stayed under for a few seconds before his head emerged.
"Doramen! Are you okay?" Doraemon exclaimed.
"I'm fine! This water is much cooler!" Doramen replied cheerfully.
He dove back under the water before Doraemon could say anything else. Sighing, Doraemon figured he knew what he was doing, and averted his attention back to the hot tub.
….
As pleasant as the spa area was, Doramen quickly realized that it wasn't the kind of place he'd want to spend at with multiple people. Alone, the spa sounded like heaven to him, but Doraemon's presence was causing a constant roadblock in his train of thought. Every time he tried to relax and think calm thoughts, he would get bored and restless, distracted by the slightest sound or ripple in the water's surface.
Doraemon was disappointed to hear that Doramen wasn't really enjoying the spa, but he understood. The two robot cats ended up drying off and leaving the room after only being there for about an hour. After agreeing to skip lunch, they decided it was finally time for the main event—the beach.
"What kind of stuff should we bring?" Doramen asked as he dug through his pocket.
He and Doraemon had returned to their room to find the supplies they would need at the shore.
"We'll need something to sit on," Doraemon answered.
"Oh, I didn't bring anything like that… I have my blanket, but I sleep with that. I don't want it to get covered in sand."
"That's okay. I brought a blanket we can use."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I was planning on sleeping with the blanket that's already on the bed."
"Okay, cool. I've got an umbrella we can use for shade."
Doramen then proceeded to pull out said umbrella.
"Wow, that looks brand new!" Doraemon commented.
"I… may have bought it specifically for this trip," Doramen admitted sheepishly.
"Aww, you didn't have to do that! But, I appreciate it nonetheless."
"Oh yeah, and I also bought these."
Doramen pulled out two little plastic buckets, and two plastic shovels—one yellow and one red.
"Umm… plastic toys?" Doraemon asked, a bit surprised.
"Y-you know, in case we decide to play in the sand. I don't want my claws to get all dirty," Doramen answered, feeling embarrassed.
"That's a good idea, Doramen! I didn't even think about that!"
"Err, thanks…"
Doramen hastily put the toys back in his pocket, along with the umbrella.
"Anyways, that's all I have that isn't food or water," he murmured.
"Oh, thanks for reminding me! We should definitely bring some water!" Doraemon exclaimed.
He took a minute to retrieve a few water bottles from the refrigerator.
"Is there anything else you want to bring?" he asked.
"Well… we're covered in fur, so we don't need sunscreen, and we don't need to change clothes, so I think that's everything," Doramen replied.
"Great! Then let's go!"
Practically bouncing with excitement, Doraemon led the way out of the hotel room. Together, he and Doramen navigated their way out of the resort. After only walking a few feet to the left, Doramen noticed an arrow-shaped sign.
"BEACH THIS WAY," it read.
"Doraemon, look! The beach is this way!" Doramen exclaimed, pointing to the sign.
"Great!" Doraemon replied enthusiastically.
Immediately beyond the sign was a cobblestone path. It was just barely wide enough for Doramen and Doraemon to walk side-by-side. As they began to walk down the path, Doraemon couldn't contain his excitement.
"I'm so excited to see the beach! It's been ages since I've been down here!" he exclaimed.
"It's gonna be so much fun!" Doramen added.
As they made it a few minutes into their walk, the two robot cats gradually began to calm down. Doramen decided to be risky, and held out his paw to Doraemon. It took Doraemon a few seconds to notice it, but when he did he happily accepted it.
The sun shone down on them, casting a warm glow on their backs. Birds sang and chirped all around them. Moisture still hung thick in the air, but it was cool enough to where it didn't bother them too much. The day couldn't be more perfect.
More minutes passed, and they were over halfway there. Now Doraemon was starting to get a little restless.
"How excited are you to get to the beach?" he asked.
"Umm…. A thousand, out of ten," Doramen answered.
"Me too."
Finally, after a few more minutes, a small parking lot came into view. Doramen gasped in excitement and began to walk faster. Doraemon was barely able to keep their paws connected as he sped up as well to keep up.
"The beach must be just beyond that parking lot!" Doramen said.
"Yeah! We're almost there!" Doraemon exclaimed.
Excitement quickly overcame the two robot cats, and soon they disconnected their paws and began running down the final stretch of the path. The casual running very quickly devolved into a race, and now they were sprinting.
Doramen could barely keep his feet on the path due to Doraemon being apparently unable to run in a straight line. The yellow robot cat kept drifting from his side of the path and straight into Doramen's. Doramen knew his lover wasn't doing it on purpose, but that didn't mean it wasn't getting on his nerves.
Due to him continuously setting one foot, or sometimes even both feet, off of the path, Doraemon was able to get ahead of him, and ended up winning the race. Doramen, however, was still mere inches behind him, and while trying to come to a stop, he tripped on the edge of the path. He fell forward, although just barely, because Doraemon was able to immediately reach over and catch him.
"Whoa! Are you okay, Doramen?" Doraemon asked, gently pushing Doramen back until he was able to stand again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for catching me," Doramen replied.
Doraemon smiled warmly at him.
"Come on, let's go set up our stuff. We're here," he said.
He turned and pointed outwards, where the pavement of the parking lot faded out into dunes of sand. Beyond the sand was nothing but blue, stretching all the way to the horizon.
"We made it!" Doramen exclaimed triumphantly, as if walking down the path had been a challenge.
Without hesitation, he and Doraemon stepped onto the beach, and scoured the sand for a good place to set their stuff down. They found a small clearing of sand that had been flattened down already, and it was a good distance away from the other people on the beach. After laying down the blanket and finding some rocks to weigh it down, it was time for the fun to begin.
"Let's go in the water," Doraemon proposed as he began to walk towards the waves that were crashing down on the shore.
"You wanna get wet again?" Doramen asked.
"What's the fun of going to the beach if you don't get in the water?"
Doramen shrugged. He followed Doraemon down to the edge of the waves. Doraemon was clearly hesitating to actually make contact with the water.
"What's wrong?" Doramen asked.
"I just realized that the water is probably really cold," Doraemon said.
"So? It's not that bad."
Doramen took several steps towards the water. A wave crashed down, sending water directly at him. Water seeped under his feet, but due to his thick fur, he hardly noticed the temperature.
"It's fine," he insisted.
"You have more fur than I do!" Doraemon protested.
"Come on! Just try."
Doraemon hesitantly stepped closer to the water. He immediately yelped and stepped back when the water touched his feet.
"It's really, really cold!" he complained.
"Your body will get used to it eventually," Doramen pointed out.
"I guess…"
After a bit of patience and bravery, Doraemon was able to get used to the temperature of the water. Now he and Doramen were standing about belly-deep, enjoying the view of the ocean stretching for miles ahead of them.
As Doraemon was looking out at the horizon, he gasped when he suddenly felt water hit the back of his head. He turned around and saw Doramen giggling.
"Did you just splash water on me?" Doraemon asked.
"Umm… maybe," Doramen replied.
Doraemon smirked playfully and splashed water back at Doramen, hitting him in his chest, some of the water coming close to hitting his face. Doramen cried out, not expecting Doraemon to fire back, and quickly began to giggle more. The two began to splash water at each other, giggling and laughing the entire time. Doramen had a very slight advantage of being a mere two inches taller than Doraemon, making Doraemon have to splash harder for any water to get on Doramen's face, although his advantage didn't really help. Doramen ended up having to completely close his eyes because of how much water was coming at his face. To retaliate, he began slamming his paws onto the surface of the water, making drops of water scatter everywhere in a sort of mini-explosion. Although some of the water splashed him, he thought it was worth the risk, because Doraemon soon became soaked by all the water being flung at him. The fur on his chest was dripping wet, and his face wasn't much better. Even his ears were wet. Doramen wasn't any drier.
Soon, the two stopped splashing and looked at each other, panting.
"Wow, we're soaked," Doraemon commented.
"So, who won?" Doramen asked.
Doraemon took a minute to examine both Doramen's body and his own.
"I think we both win," he concluded.
"I like that," Doramen replied with a smile.
He shivered suddenly when he felt something brush against his leg.
"You okay, Doramen?" Doraemon asked.
"Something touched me," Doramen answered.
He reached down into the water and began to feel around. It didn't take long for him to feel something, and he was easily able to grab it and pull it out of the water, revealing it to be a mere piece of seaweed.
"Oh, it's just seaweed," Doramen muttered in realization.
He looked over at Doraemon to show him the seaweed, and was surprised to see a very concerned look on his lover's face.
"Something wrong, Doraemon?" he asked.
"Why did you reach into the water?" Doraemon asked back.
"To grab whatever was touching my leg."
"But what if it had been a jellyfish? It could have stung you!"
Doramen blinked at Doraemon in confusion.
"I don't think jellyfish come to the beach," he said.
"Are you sure?" Doraemon fretted.
"I… guess not."
"Please be more careful next time. I don't want you to get hurt."
Don't you think you're overreacting a bit? I'm totally fine, Doramen thought.
"Okay, I will," he murmured aloud as he tossed the seaweed back into the water.
"Thank you," Doraemon replied, giving Doramen a brief hug.
Doramen smiled awkwardly at him. Suddenly, Doraemon gasped, clearly getting an idea.
"What is it?" Doramen asked.
"I have an idea! How about we go beachcombing together?" Doraemon proposed, blushing lightly when he finished his sentence.
"I'd love to! I love looking for things!"
"Great!"
Doramen and Doraemon waded out of the water, where it was much more obvious how wet they were.
"Should we go dry off?" Doraemon asked.
Doramen just shrugged casually and began walking along the beach. Doraemon jogged a little to catch up to him, and then fell into the same walking pace on Doramen's right, closest to the water. He began looking around for anything shiny or colorful sticking out of the sand. With the waves constantly churning up the sand, it was hard to spot something before it was swept away or buried.
Doramen kept his eyes on the sand, looking for anything that the waves spat out and left behind. He spotted a few tiny pebbles and broken seashells, but nothing worth stopping for.
"Do you think we'll get lucky and find a really big seashell?" Doraemon asked.
"Maybe," Doramen answered, not sounding very confident.
"I really hope we do. That would be so cool!"
Doramen didn't believe they would get that lucky, but he had to agree with Doraemon. It would be cool.
He and Doraemon continued to walk down the beach for several minutes before Doraemon suddenly stopped.
"Hey, I see something in the water!" he exclaimed, pointing to the waves nearby.
Doramen squinted. He could just barely see something white tumbling around in the water.
"I see it too!" he replied.
Doraemon ran towards the object, going straight into the water with no hesitation, and began frantically digging around in the water in hopes of getting a grip on the object. The water was very murky, so it was very difficult to see anything, but Doraemon managed to just barely spot the white object. He grabbed it and pulled it out of the water.
"Did you get it?" Doramen asked, jogging up to his lover.
"Look!" Doraemon exclaimed.
Doraemon held up a white clam shell that was about half the size of his paw. It had a crack in it, but other than that it was completely unharmed.
"Wow! Great find, Doraemon!" Doramen praised.
"Thank you!" Doraemon replied, beaming.
He put the clam shell in his pocket for safe keeping.
"Let's see what else we can find," he said.
He continued walking down the beach, Doramen following beside him. Several more minutes passed, and they didn't find anything noteworthy. There was the occasional rock or broken shell, but it was nothing they wanted to keep. Even after scouring both the sand and the water, Doraemon was starting to lose hope that they were going to find anything cool.
Suddenly, however, Doramen tripped on something in the sand. He managed to catch his balance before he fell.
"Ow! What was that?" he hissed in annoyance.
Doraemon looked down, and was surprised to see something just barely sticking out of the sand. He bent over and began to brush away the sand. Doramen followed suit, and the two robot cats eventually revealed a large conch shell.
"Whoa!" Doraemon exclaimed as he held it up.
It was much bigger than the clam shell. Doraemon and Doramen stared at the conch shell, in awe that they had actually found a big seashell.
"Looks like you were right, Doraemon! We did find a big seashell!" Doramen said.
"Yeah! This is awesome!" Doraemon replied excitedly.
He started at the shell for a few more seconds before putting it away in his pocket.
"Today has been going so great! It couldn't get any better," he said.
For some reason Doramen felt flattered by that. It made him very happy knowing that Doraemon was having a good time.
"I agree. Today has been perfect," he replied.
"You keep asking me what I want to do. What do you want to do, Doramen?" Doraemon asked suddenly.
Doramen was silent for a moment, taken aback by the sudden question. Although he didn't really want to admit it, he asked Doraemon that question because he didn't know what he wanted to do.
"Maybe we could… umm…"
An awkward silence fell as Doraemon stared at Doramen expectantly, waiting for him to suggest something.
"You know Doraemon, I'm actually kinda hungry. Maybe skipping lunch was a bad idea," Doramen finally said.
"You're hungry? Aww, so we have to leave?" Doraemon asked.
"W-we can come back!"
"Seems like we haven't been here for that long, though."
Doramen reached into his pocket and pulled out a little clock he always carried with him for situations like this.
"We've been out here for over two hours," he said.
"Two hours? Okay, that's understandable then," Doraemon replied.
Doramen approached Doraemon and grabbed his paws, looking into his eyes.
"I think we should have dinner at a real restaurant," he proposed. "I don't want to eat at the buffet again. Buffets aren't romantic."
"Uhh, okay, that's fine," Doraemon mumbled, blushing lightly.
….
Luckily for them, there happened to be a Hawaiian-themed restaurant not too far down the shore from the resort. The restaurant was crowded since it was right at dinner time, but that didn't stop Doramen and Doraemon from checking it out. To Doramen's joy, the two were able to get an outdoor table. A cool ocean breeze blew over him and Doraemon as they eagerly scoured their menus.
"What are you gonna order?" Doraemon asked.
"The chicken katsu looks delicious. I'm going with that," Doramen answered, salivating. "What about you, Doraemon?"
"Hmm… well, since we're at the beach, I'm in the mood for some seafood. I think I'm gonna get the fish fillet."
"Sounds yummy!"
After they ordered their food, Doramen immediately became impatient for it to arrive. He tapped his paw on the table, hoping the food would arrive at any second, despite it just being ordered a couple minutes ago.
"Impatient?" Doraemon asked him teasingly.
"I can't help it. I'm starving," Doramen replied with a sheepish smile.
As Doraemon waited, he couldn't help but look up at the sky.
"The sun is gonna start setting soon," he pointed out.
"So?" Doramen retorted.
"I don't want to run around in the dark."
"We can stay out for a bit longer. After we eat, we'll still have some time left."
"I hope so."
After waiting for what felt like hours, Doramen and Doraemon received their food. They were both amazed at how good it was, almost immediately agreeing that it was better than the resort's buffet. Doramen relished the cool breeze that washed over him as he ate. The combination of the refreshing air and the good food made him feel like he was in heaven.
"This is amazing," Doraemon said.
"Yeah, this is the best vacation I've ever been on," Doramen replied.
He took a sip of his tea and looked up at the sky. It was starting to turn a darker, pale blue now. He knew it meant the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon.
"I wish more restaurants had outdoor tables," Doraemon remarked.
"Yeah, then we'd get attacked by birds and bugs," Doramen pointed out.
"I guess, but I think it's worth it."
Doramen leaned back in his chair as he casually took a bite out of a piece of chicken.
"Are you still up for going back to the water?" he asked.
"As long as it's not too dark, then yes we can go back. But, I don't want to get wet again," Doraemon replied.
"Cool."
A few minutes of silence followed as the two robot cats were focused on their dinner. Doramen found himself sort of rushing to finish eating. He was anxious to get back to the beach before the sun set too far. As he'd expected, he cleared his plate before Doraemon. While he tried not to be impatient, he once again looked at the sky. It hadn't changed, to his relief.
I wonder how much time we have left before it gets too dark for us to stay out, he thought.
After a couple agonizing minutes, Doraemon was finally done.
"This food was delicious!" he said.
"I agree. It was great," Doramen replied.
He couldn't hide his impatience any longer.
"Come on, let's get back to the beach."
"Alright," Doraemon replied, standing up.
Once Doramen paid for the food, he and Doraemon left the restaurant and began their walk back to their area at the beach. Although they'd packed everything up to prevent it from being blown away or stolen, Doramen was confident that he could find their spot again. It would quickly turn out that he was right, because it didn't take very long for him to find it.
Doraemon set out the blanket like they'd done before.
"Alright Doramen, what do you want to do?" he asked.
Doramen responded by pulling out the plastic buckets and shovels he'd bought.
"Let's build a sand castle together," he proposed with a smile, holding out the yellow bucket and shovel to Doraemon.
"That's a great idea," Doraemon replied, returning the smile as he took the bucket and shovel.
Immediately, Doramen walked over towards the waves, but stopped right at the edge of where the sand turned into mud. He took his shovel and began scooping up sand that was hard and damp from the waves, but wasn't quite mud. Doraemon took a few steps back to give Doramen space, then did the same. He felt the urge to hurry and fill his bucket before Doramen, but he knew it wasn't a competition.
To his surprise, Doramen only put in a few shovel-fulls of sand into his bucket before returning to the sand. Doramen noticed that Doraemon was farther away from him now, and walked a few steps forward. He crouched down and began to rub the sand, making a flat area that was about a foot long. Afterwards, he reached into the bucket and took out a pawful of sand and slapped it onto the middle of the flattened area he'd created. Then, he began to try and shape the sand as best he could. Taking more pawfuls of the sand, he shaped the blob until it vaguely resembled a rectangle.
It was at this point that Doraemon was done collecting sand and returned to where he'd originally been standing. He kneeled down, cringing when he felt his leg make contact with the sand.
"What are we doing?" he asked, hoping Doramen would know what he meant by that.
"We're gonna make a big one in the middle, and then two little ones on each side," Doramen explained.
Sounds easy enough, Doraemon thought.
He added some of his sand to Doramen's creation to help reinforce it. After doing some of his own shaping, the mound of sand really started to look like it belonged to a castle.
"Give it some windows," Doramen instructed as he left to retrieve more sand.
Doraemon squinted, hesitantly poking the sand structure with his finger, cutting out tiny squares to resemble windows. He worked his way all the way around it, but he ended up only making three. He feared making any more might cause the castle to collapse.
Doramen soon returned with more sand and began to build a small structure beside the big one. Doraemon did the same with the sand he still had, and he was relieved to see that he had just enough. He tried his best to make it resemble the first one, although it definitely wasn't quite the same shape. He looked over at how Doramen was doing, and quickly realized that Doramen's looked a little off too.
"Oh! And the big one should also have a door," Doramen remarked.
"Okay!" Doraemon replied enthusiastically.
Using his finger, he drew a door shape at the front of the castle. When he looked up, he noticed Doramen was shaving off bits of the castle's top. He was about to ask what his lover was doing, but he quickly realized that Doramen was shaving off bits to give the roof that distinct look of the squares with a gap between each of them. Now it really looked like a castle.
"We should do this to the smaller ones too," Doramen said.
Doraemon nodded in agreement. He began shaving off tiny bits of the roof of the smaller structure he'd made, and he quickly realized what a huge difference it made. It went from looking like three awkward rectangles that weren't even completely straight, to parts of a castle.
"Now for the finishing touch—a mote!" Doramen declared.
Doramen began to gently dig in the sand around the castle, gradually going all the way around until it formed a complete ring around the castle. After he dug the mote, Doramen grabbed his bucket and went back to the waves. He went farther out this time, his feet inevitably getting wet as he scooped up water into his bucket. Once the bucket was nearly full, he brought it back to the castle. Then, he began to very carefully pour water into the mote. Unfortunately, almost all of the water was instantly absorbed into the sand, leaving very little standing water that actually resembled a mote. Despite that, Doramen seemed satisfied once his bucket was empty. He straightened and took a few steps back to admire his and Doraemon's work. Doraemon did the same, standing right beside Doramen.
"What do you think?" Doramen asked.
"It looks fantastic," Doraemon replied, beaming with happiness.
It wasn't much, but knowing that he and Doramen built it together made him ecstatic. He blushed darkly when Doramen suddenly wrapped his arm around Doraemon's shoulders.
"I love it. I think we did a great job," he said, looking at Doraemon.
Doraemon looked into his eyes. All he could do was nod in agreement.
Doramen looked back towards the ocean and gasped suddenly.
"Doraemon, look!" he exclaimed, pointing to the water.
Doraemon was amazed to see that the sun was setting. It cast a beautiful orange glow onto the water. The sky had no traces of blue at this point; it was completely red and orange.
"Do you want to watch the sunset?" Doramen asked, looking back at Doraemon.
"Yes," Doraemon answered softly.
He couldn't believe how lovely the afternoon had become. He'd thought for sure that the Hawaiian restaurant would be the highlight of the evening.
Together, he and Doramen sat down side-by-side on the blanket. Doraemon was amazed by how beautiful the sunset was. Although he'd watched it before, he'd never seen a beach sunset before. As the sun approached the horizon, it seemed to make the water bleed. The blue shine of the water faded into a dark red shimmer. The sun's reflection appeared on the surface of the water, almost making it seem like there were two sunsets happening at once.
"Doramen… I just realized something," Doraemon said.
"What is it?" Doramen asked.
"The sun is yellow, like me, but the water is red, like you."
Doraemon could see a smile come to Doramen's face as he too realized the coincidence.
"It's like the red and yellow are coming together, like how you and me are together," Doramen murmured.
"This must be meant to be, then," Doraemon remarked.
Doramen felt his stomach twist up. Was it really? Was this really a sign that confessing to Doraemon had been the right choice? He wanted to doubt it, but at the same time he was so desperate to believe it was real.
"The sun is coming towards the water," he pointed out.
"You mean like how I came into your life?" Doraemon asked.
"Yeah, how you came up to me and talked to me on that day."
"Do you ever wish I hadn't done that?"
Doramen jerked his gaze at Doraemon, shocked to hear such a somber question come from him.
"No, not at all. You have no idea how much happiness and companionship you've brought into my life," he explained.
"I'm glad I could make you happy. That was my goal when I met you," Doraemon replied, smiling warmly.
Doramen looked away. He could feel himself starting to become emotional. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his composure.
I really don't want to cry in front of Doraemon, he thought.
"So, you're happy I came into your life?" Doraemon asked curiously.
"Of course I am. You're such a great person. I'm lucky you even wanted to be my friend, and yet here we are, on vacation as a couple," Doramen answered.
"Don't call yourself lucky like you think I shouldn't have bothered talking to you. You deserve love and happiness, just like everyone else."
Now Doramen was fighting back tears. Doraemon was his first romantic relationship, and he never imagined it would even happen. He would never admit it to Doraemon, but he struggled heavily with self esteem issues. He never thought he was good enough for society, and that he wasn't good enough to be friends with anyone that lived in society. But now, months later, being in a relationship with another robot cat who was telling him that he deserved love and happiness, was something he never thought possible. The only person who ever supported him was Doralien, and even then, Doralien was very awkward and inexperienced when it came to relationships. Doralien was best at helping Doramen feel better about himself, which was great of course, but in the long run it didn't really help Doramen build relationships with new people.
"Doramen, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Doraemon asked suddenly.
"Yeah, I know," Doramen murmured.
"I'm not going to force you to tell me your secrets, but… I want you to be happy. I don't want you to bottle up your feelings and let them bother you. That's not healthy—you and I both know that."
"Well… same to you! You can tell me anything."
"I know. I just want to make sure that you're doing okay. Sometimes I worry about you. You seem like you hide your feelings a lot. You don't have to hide your feelings from me. If something's bothering you, come and tell me anytime. I'm here for you."
Doramen was struggling to stop himself from crying. His vision was blurring from the tears welling up.
"Th-thank you," he croaked.
He couldn't stop his voice from having the distinct shakiness and hoarseness that indicated he was crying. Doraemon immediately picked up on the sound and leaned forward to get a better look at Doramen's face. He could see tears streaming down Doramen's cheeks.
"D-Doramen… what's wrong..? I'm sorry, did I upset you?" Doraemon asked in deep concern.
Doramen sniffled and wiped his face.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled.
"No no no, don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong," Doraemon insisted.
"It's been a long time since I've met someone as nice as you. Besides Doralien, you're the only person in my life who's ever told me that I deserve to be happy."
Doraemon's eyes widened in shock.
"Nobody else ever told you that?" he asked.
"I don't really have very many people in my life. I've never had many friends. For my whole life, I've been… a loner, I guess. I just wanted to be alone. I've never had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, before. This is a whole new experience for me," Doramen explained.
"But, don't you have Doralien?"
"I do, but… He's told me the same things over and over again… It's not the same anymore. I have other friends, but… They're just normal friends. I'm not close to them like I'm close to Doralien. I don't want to open up to them. Hearing it come from you, in your voice, is so different… It's like I'm being told it for the first time again."
Doraemon scooted closer to Doramen and hugged him. He didn't want to get personal and question what made Doramen think he didn't deserve happiness, but he couldn't just end the conversation on that note.
"I just want you to know that I'm here for you. Always. You can come to me at any time if you need to talk about something. Don't be scared to express yourself to me. I mean, we're in a relationship now. I know you've got my back, and I want to be sure that you know I have your back too. It's not a one-sided deal. You care for me, and I care for you. That's how relationships work. It's a balance," he explained.
Doramen was silent for a few moments, processing everything Doraemon said.
"I'm sorry I'm like this," he murmured.
"Doramen, you should never be sorry for being yourself. You're not perfect, but you know what? Nobody is. It's okay to have flaws, and it's okay to love yourself despite those flaws," Doraemon said softly.
More tears fell from Doramen's face.
How could I possibly love myself when I nearly murdered my best friend? he thought bitterly. You're lucky that you're programmed to have your cat instincts suppressed deep inside you.
Doraemon broke the embrace to look deep into Doramen's eyes.
"Promise me that you'll love yourself," he instructed softly.
"I can't do that," Doramen hissed, flattening his ears.
"Yes you can. I know you can."
Doramen shook his head stubbornly as he continued to cry.
"Then can you at least promise me that you will come to me if something is bothering you? Can you promise me that you won't bottle it up inside you?" Doraemon asked.
Silence followed as Doramen thought about it.
"Okay," he relented.
"Thank you," Doraemon murmured, smiling warmly.
Doramen wiped his face in an attempt to stop crying.
"I love you, Doramen. Always remember that," Doraemon continued.
"I love you too, Doraemon. I love you so much," Doramen murmured.
He turned his body back towards the water. Doraemon did the same, and immediately leaned his head against Doramen's. Doramen blushed lightly in response, a smile coming to his face. A sense of peace washed over him.
I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, Doraemon. This has been the best vacation of my life. Just you and me, spending time together on the beach… How does life get any better than this?