Chapter 16: Too Close for Comfort
Despite the sun being harsh that day, the P.E. teachers made everyone do an activity outside. No student was spared, not even the ones in the afternoon classes. The temperature had barely changed throughout the school day, and the students were all desperately waiting for a sudden storm to come and cancel class.
Doralien was one of these students. He and Doramen relished the cool air of the locker room as they got ready for class.
"What horrendous activity do you think they're gonna make us do?" Doralien asked as he peeled off his pocket and tossed it into his locker.
When the class wasn't doing activities that involved gadgets, students had to put their pockets away so they couldn't cheat or slack off.
"I'm thinking soccer," Doramen replied.
He grabbed a dark gray shirt out of his locker and put it on, only to immediately groan.
"What's wrong?" Doralien asked, chuckling a little.
"It's too hot for gym clothes!" Doramen complained, hanging his head.
Although none of the students needed to wear clothes, the school still required them to have an outfit for PE. They never gave an exact explanation for it, but Doramen suspected it was merely to help prevent students from getting too sweaty.
"I know, but we'll get in trouble if we don't wear them," Doralien said as he put on his shirt.
"I wish they'd let us run around naked. It's not like wearing clothes really makes a difference," Doramen muttered, slipping on his black shorts. "These aren't even that comfortable, anyways."
He sat down on a nearby bench and tied the strings on his shorts so they wouldn't fall down.
"School rules," Doralien said with a shrug.
He sat down next to Doramen and managed to tie his own strings, despite his depth perception not being that great due to the attack.
"This is gonna suck so bad," he muttered.
"I know, right? We're all gonna sweat to death," Doramen said.
"Alright boys, time to go outside!" the teacher called, receiving several groans in response.
Doramen and Doralien rose to their feet and followed their classmates outside. Everyone immediately started complaining as soon as they hit the heat, but the teacher ignored them.
"This is even worse than I thought!" Doralien groaned.
He waited for a response from Doramen, but got silence. When he glanced beside him, he sighed when he saw that Doramen had vanished.
Welp, guess I'm on my own, Doralien thought.
"Alright, listen up!" the teacher ordered loudly so everyone could hear. "Today, we're going to be doing relay races."
Doralien let out a groan in unison with several classmates. Running was one of the last things he wanted to do right now, and relay races didn't make it sound any better.
The teacher rounded the boys up and took them to the football field where the girls and their teacher were waiting. Since this class was somewhat divided by sex, like most P.E. classes are, the boys and girls had their own teachers who would work together to teach everyone on days like this. As expected, the boys' teacher was a man, and the girls' teacher was a woman.
Doralien noticed rows of cones along the field. He felt a little intimidated by how long they looked.
That must be where we'll be running.
"Okay, everyone will be split up into groups of eight. We will assign you a number, and you will go to the group with that number. One group will race at a time, so wait your turn," the boys' teacher explained.
"Okay!" the students replied in unison.
"Everyone get in a single file line!" the girls' teacher commanded.
The students immediately did so, quietly chatting to each other. Both teachers then went down the line and gave everyone their numbers. When Doralien got his, he followed suit with his classmates and went to his group on the side of the field where the cones were. Among the students already there, he spotted Doramen.
Oh, thank goodness I won't be alone! What an awesome coincidence! he thought happily, running up to his friend.
"Doralien!" Doramen exclaimed, running up to him.
The two halted mere inches away from each other.
"Where did you run off to?" Doralien asked.
"I wanted to be with Doraemon," Doramen answered, looking down at the ground.
"Oh, okay. That's fine."
Doralien looked back to where he'd come from and waited for the rest of their group to come.
"Doraemon!" Doramen suddenly shouted, running off.
Doralien knew that meant Doraemon had been assigned to their group. He watched Doramen nearly sprint up to Doraemon and smother him in a hug.
You're gonna get in trouble if you keep doing that, buddy, Doralien thought in amusement.
He couldn't help but sigh a little when he noticed Doramen sneak in a peck on Doraemon's cheek as they walked side-by-side back to where they're supposed to be. The couple had been getting very… affectionate at school the past few weeks. Doralien had walked in on them during school multiple times, and it was starting to make him a little uncomfortable. He respected that they loved each other, but he didn't like how often he wandered around in search of Doramen, only to find him smothering Doraemon in kisses or even cuddles. He felt like he was invading their privacy, and the thought of that was upsetting. As much as he wanted to respect their space and leave them alone, it was hard to when Doramen seemed to be spending time with Doraemon every time Doralien wanted to talk to him. He really cared about Doramen, and he didn't want to watch the red robot cat's relationship with Doraemon degrade to them making out at every chance they get.
"Listen up!" the boys' teacher suddenly shouted, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Group one, line up in front of the cones!" he instructed.
Doralien watched the eight students line up shoulder-to-shoulder between several rows of cones that separated them and extended out in front of them.
"The first relay race will be an ordinary race. It's okay if you lose, this is not being graded," the teacher said.
The girls' teacher pulled out a stopwatch.
"On your marks!"
The students tensed up, ready to take off.
"Get set… GO!"
Doralien watched the students all take off like lightning. They were pretty fast, even the few that lagged behind a little. When the last student made it to the end of the cones, the girls' teacher announced how long the students took as a group.
Doralien fanned himself with his paw as he watched the second group get ready. All he'd done was stand around, and he was already burning up.
I can't wait to get out of this heat…, he thought miserably.
It seemed like ten thousand years passed before he finally heard what he'd been waiting for.
"Group five, get ready!" the girls' teacher instructed.
Doralien honestly felt relieved that his group was finally going. Despite the heat, he was glad to actually be doing something. Standing around was getting tiring. He got in line and readied himself, trying not to be intimidated not only by the track in front of him, but also by the two students he was between. He'd lost sight of Doramen and Doraemon, so he had no idea where they were in relation to him.
"On your marks!"
His heart pounded a little as he felt a rush of adrenaline.
"Get set….. GO!"
He took off running as fast as he could. He sprinted across the grass and almost fell trying to stop himself when he made it to the "finish line". At first he felt great, but then the extreme heat set in and he felt like he was going to suffocate. He panted heavily, comforted by the sounds of his classmates doing the same. His teacher ushered him and his groupmates out of the way and got the last group ready.
Still panting, he plopped down onto the grass and rested. His heart was pounding insanely, and his legs burned. His entire body felt grossly sticky from sweat. The adrenaline was wearing off, and now he felt awful.
He looked around at his groupmates and noticed some of them talking in hushed voices. His nosiness got the better of him.
"What are you guys talking about?" he asked a nearby green robot cat.
"Oh, didn't you notice the red guy with the weird eyes?" the robot cat asked back, sounding confused.
"What about him?"
"He was holding paws with his boyfriend or whatever while we were running."
All Doralien could do was sigh.
They're really taking a lot of risks with all this stuff they're doing. I really don't want Doramen to get detention, or even a suspension. I just wonder where this came from. They'd seemed to be so shy and awkward around each other, and now suddenly they're like a married couple. But heck, what do I know? I've never been in a relationship before. Maybe that's just the normal progression of love...
…
Doralien thought for sure he was going to faint when the teachers finally said it was time to go back to the locker rooms. Since everyone was drenched in sweat, the teachers recommended them to take quick showers. This was fairly common to happen, and Doralien was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.
He relished the cold water washing over him and cooling him down. It immediately made a huge difference. He almost didn't even care about trying to wash the sweat off. He just wanted to cool down.
I could curl up and take a nap! he thought blissfully.
Since it was just a school shower, he could only rinse off. He'd have to wait until after school to actually get clean, which was fine to him. At that moment, he was just thankful to have some kind of wash.
He only showered for a couple minutes before deciding it was time to get out. The last thing he wanted was to get yelled at by the teacher for taking too long. He turned off the water, sad to see it stop. His fur was dripping wet of course, but he only barely used the towel to dry off since the sun will dry him much faster and easier.
Once he was all done, he decided it was time to retrieve his pocket. He'd had far too many close calls where he almost forgot and left it behind. He grabbed his clothes, left the showering area, and went back to the main locker room. As he passed by the many aisles of lockers, he noticed that there were almost no students around.
Everyone must still be showering, he thought.
As he grew closer to the aisle with his and Doramen's lockers, he suddenly heard someone talking. At first he ignored it, assuming it to be just one of his classmates talking to themselves or to another classmate, however the voice quickly began to sound familiar. He slowed down when he finally recognized it to be Doramen's voice.
Is he done showering already? Doralien wondered.
Doramen stopped talking, and the locker room was plunged into a silence that was a bit awkward for Doralien. The teal robot cat decided he wasn't going to wait and try to figure out what Doramen was saying. He turned the corner and immediately stopped dead in his tracks, his eye widening as a dark blush spread across his cheeks.
Doraemon had his back against the lockers on the far side of the aisle. Doramen was leaning forward against him, one of his paws against the locker above Doraemon's left shoulder, while the other was against the locker by Doraemon's right side. The two were locked in a deep kiss, their eyes closed.
Doralien was in complete shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only were the two clearly having an intimate moment, but it was in the middle of the school locker room. Doralien couldn't believe that they confidently ignored the huge risk of getting caught. It took him a few moments to find his words, since they were too busy to notice him standing there.
"What the hell are you two doing!?" he exclaimed loudly.
Doramen flinched and stumbled backwards until his back hit the lockers on the other side of the aisle, which was a pretty short distance. He looked at Doralien, his eyes wide as saucers and his cheeks a dark red.
"I… uh…," he mumbled, at a loss for words.
Doralien didn't say anything back. They locked eye contact for a few tense seconds before Doramen whimpered quietly and ran away. He darted around the corner of the aisle and disappeared. Doralien didn't bother chasing him. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Doraemon. The yellow robot cat was still leaning against the lockers. He eventually made eye contact, where he also blushed when he realized that Doralien had been the one who caught them.
"D-D-Doralien!" he stammered, embarrassed.
"You two were kissing!" Doralien exclaimed.
"S-so what?"
"You know you're not supposed to do that at school!"
Doraemon flattened his ears at the realization that he was losing the argument. Instead of continuing to try and defend not only himself but also Doramen, he too fled the scene.
Now Doralien was alone once more. He let out a big, defeated sigh and nonchalantly went over to his locker. He put his clothes inside and took out his pocket. After putting it back on his belly, he just stood there awkwardly.
What am I supposed to do now? I really don't want to run into them again, he thought.
He decided to sit down for a minute, before eventually having no choice but to go outside with the other students. The bell was about to ring, and it was time to go to the next class. This was the part where Doralien would separate from Doramen and Doraemon, because his next class was in the opposite direction of Doramen and Doraemon's classes. Doralien didn't know if they shared the class or if it was just a coincidence that they needed to go in the same direction, but either way it was the last time he would see either of them until the day was over.
Eventually, the bell rang, and everyone set off in their own direction. Doralien couldn't help but glance to his right, where he saw Doramen and Doraemon walking away from him, side-by-side. The sight brought another sigh from Doralien.
I can't believe I actually saw them doing that. They really think that's okay to do at school! Doramen should know better than to do that kind of stuff where other people can see! I can't believe him. What's gotten into them? Doramen used to be terrified to even hold paws with Doraemon at school, even in places where they were unlikely to get caught. And now they're doing stuff like this! He's gonna get suspended, and it'll be all his fault! I just can't help but wonder what happened between them that's caused this sudden change in behavior..