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"Towels laid?"
“Check"
"Umbrella up?"
"Check!"
"Food out and about?"
"Checkity, check!"
"Doc!"
"Double checked!"
With that said, Doc was sitting under the shadow of a large umbrella, smiling up at both of his friends. Yesterday Donut planned a beach get away that caught everyone's curiosity.
Up until he mentioned waking up ripely at 6am to go on a four hour drive at the closest, yet, deserted beach. The sun was barely up, Doc was this close to not going...but seeing the light brown sand, scattered colorful alien seashells, turquoise blue water, he can sleepily say: it was well worth.
"You know what's the best about deserted beaches?" Donut's inquiring voice broke through his thoughts.
Doc shrugged and tipped up his glasses, "Unchecked hazards, poisonous animals, red tide? No life guards?"
"No silly!" Donut said as he effortlessly disposed of his t-shirt exposing more of his chestnut skin. Doc's eyes began followed Donut's hand that was dangerously playing with the hem of his short light pink swimming trunks. "Any deserted beach can be a nude beach~!"
Heat instantly flooded Doc's ears, he embarrassingly diverted his eyes but thankfully Caboose spoke out before his pink friend could take action.
"Admiral ButterMuffin, ah, I- I need help!"
The medic looked over to Caboose trying to reach his back with sunscreen.
"My arms...arhg...are too short..."
"Don't worry, buddy, I'll rub my cream all over your back!"
Caboose exhaled a sigh of relief, and brought both arms to his side."Gee, friends really do have benefits..."
After helping his friend rub sunscreen on himself, Donut took looked over at Doc. He was staring off at the horizon with relaxed eyes.
"You comin in, Doc?"
Doc snapped out of his hypnotized focus. "Oh, uhm, I'm good here actually, you guy can go and uh have fun."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
Donut smiled fondly and cutely pointed at his Red Cross shirt. "No problem! You can play lifeguard back here!"
Doc laughed nervously at the comment.
Maybe Doc just prefers watching , Donut thought to himself.
"C'mon Captain McMuffin"
Caboose tugged at Donut's arm. He easily obliged and followed the larger blue soldier. Caboose, to Donut's terror didn't even test the water before running in. As expected, Donut hissed as the cold droplets that splashed onto his skin, but before he knew it, Caboose had dragged both of the waist deep. It took Donut a while to adjust to the cool temperature, soon after, the two soldiers were splashing about, racing, and floating in the salty sea.
Doc sighed as he look onward to his friends enjoying themselves in the deep mysterious ocean. Oh if only they knew.
For a second, Caboose glanced back at shore where his friend was laying on the dry light sand. He was carving the surface with a twig, but didn't seem to be having fun. Now that just can't do.
After an hour of swimming, a drenched Caboose and Donut came out. Caboose expertly shook the water off of him, spraying both Doc and Donut with droplets.
"Wooah there buddy," Donut said as he hugged his friend with a towel. "This technique might be better...and safer for our lifeguard."
Doc began to wipe away the salty water off his skin. "It's fine, are you guys... done already?"
He meant to sound more curious, but realized he actually came off as hopeful if anything.
Donut shrugged, then reached into their beach bag for another towel. "Hmmph...probably not, we'll probably jump in again later, Caboose just wanted to look at the seashells."
"That sounds like fun."
Under the warmth of the sun, the three men began to looming over the dark heavy sand. As the cool waves lapped at their legs, they squatted awing over the alien seashells.
They began to return to their campsite minutes later, buckets filled with their new discoveries.
"I didn't think alien hermit crabs could be that mean..." Donut whined as he placed his injured finger in his mouth. He then let out a pout.
"Well if the hermit crabs here are willing to pick a fight, I don't want to think what could be lurking in those waters," Doc stated in matter of fact. He shuddered.
Donut's eyes snapped up to his Medic friend. He raised a suspicious brow and smirked against his finger. "Is that why you're not coming in the water?"
Doc huffed nervously, but couldn't find the words to reply. He tipped his glasses up and looked anywhere but Donut's eyes."I mean...it's not...unreasonable...I... I never liked beaches in the first place..."
He glanced at Donut, who's eyebrows were furrowed.
"Then why did you come?"
"Because I like you-" The words left Doc's mouth without thought or warning, before his friend could ask more his rambling continued. "-and Caboose- you guys are really great friends!"
Doc's face felt warm not just because of the sun. He dared to look back at Donut...who giggled.
"You're a great friend too, Doc."
They both smiled at one another for a second. Donut looked like he was about to say more but he was interrupted.
"D'aw, you're a great friend too, Doc"
Before he knew it, he was lifted off his feet by a larger figure. Caboose had wrapped his arms around his waist and brought him up for a hug. "Gee friends have so... much...benefits...hey- hey we should go for another swim! All together, like friends should!"
Donut instantly saw the fear setting in Doc's face as Caboose rambled.
"OR-"Donut interrupted. "We could build a sand castle, I don't wanna brag, but I could build towers over you guys..."
Caboose face lit up, he was still holding Doc like a small child would hold a new puppy. "What a great idea General Biscuit!"
With that, they all walked back and built sand castles, and as Donut said before, he was able to build the best out of all three. Caboose built a mountain but to be fair it was larger that Doc himself. And Doc...he tried but his sandcastle, no matter what kept falling apart.
"Caboose and I are gonna go for one last swim, we'll be real quick and then we can start the barbecue."
Doc clapped the sand out of his hands. "You guys can take your time y’know, we have plenty of daylight left."
Donut waved him off with one hand. "Pssh, it's not gonna be worth it if we're not doing it together."
Doc flicked his eyes at the sea. It was large and gross and mysterious. He hated how no one knew anything about it. But he hated even more how alluring it was. How the water shined under the sun almost as if it was winking. The sound of crashing waves was a relaxing lullaby. Maybe it was possible to take what he could about it, the best parts about them and enjoy himself. "...you're right," Doc finally said. "I'm gonna get in."
Donut's face was shock at first then his slightly awed mouth formed a smile. "Are you sure-? I thought-"
"I-I'll be fine, it's just water, an-and you guys-"Doc took off his shirt as he continued. He felt heat crawling up his face again. "Could you guys, uh, could you guys help me get in?"
Donut nodded and called for Caboose. As the walked in the shallow water, they both held onto each of his arms gently. Caboose got the message and slowed for Doc, and gave him encouraging words from time to time.
Donut felt Doc's goosebumps on his right arm as all they waded in the cool water.
As the water had risen to Doc's knees, the once grainy sand has become soft like putty. Thoughts had filled him slowly. What in the water was there that he couldn't see? He's heard about uncontrolled tides sweeping adults as if they were plastic. Sudden drops that sucked in a victim drowning th-
Doc stopped without a word.
The sea horizon looked endless.
And he felt so small.
"Doc, you okay?" Donut's concerned yet easing voice broke him out of his haze.
He blinked and looked at his worried friend. "Yeah...it's just..."
"We can go back if you'd like, we could start that barbecue."
"No it's not that," Doc was afraid, that was a fact. But having his friends here close to him eased his fear. Having Donut softly holding his arm made him melt. Caboose giving him words of encouragement, and being gentle for him- all this calmed him. His racing heart slowed for a bit. "Could we, stop here? Maybe try sitting for a bit?"
"Yeah sure, man!"
The cold water kisses his waist, it sent a shiver up his skin, goose bumps raced up from his hip to his chest.
He soon relaxed and realizes that both Caboose and Donut haven't let him go. Their hands that were once holding onto his arms have now intertwined with his fingers. The ocean truly is a magical place huh? Doc jokingly thought to himself. They all stayed like that for a while, with waved running around their waist. Sitting down, talking, laughing, and for the first time since Doc stepped in, he genuinely felt safe.
"We should get the floats,"Caboose suggested. "They're still in the warthog- and, and we have a raft too!"
Doc's eyes light up. "That sounds great, I...actually forgot we brought them."
After retrieving the floats, the three friends returned to the shallow water. Donut had a large doughnut tube, and Doc brought back the orange raft Caboose mentioned. It had tape on some parts presumably to cover up holes, but besides that it was quite sturdy. Caboose had not only retrieved his flooties, but also a whale blow up to lay on. Together, they all lazily floated with the waves and talk under the warmth of the sun. By then, Caboose's skin had a nice tan and light freckles had appeared. His flooties weren't doing much, and his whale almost touched the bottom as he put his weight on top. Donut's dyed golden blonde hair shined under the sun's rays. His strong arms curled around the pink tube as he lied back taking it all in. Doc used a baseball cap to cover his dark curls so it wouldn't absorb so much heat. He lied on his stomach, chin on the edge of the raft, and arms overboard. His fingers barely, but touched the surface of the cool water. They all floated in silence and peace. They only thing that was heard were the soft clashing waves and an occasional alien seagull.
Soon the sun began to ease down, and cool winds came forward. As promised, Donut started a fire, they all had their hoodies on. No one had thought to bring pants or blankets so they all had to make do with towels on their wet trunks and sitting close to one another. Using sticks, they roasted sausages around the fire enjoying the night.
It took a while, but they finally realized how clear the sky was there. They were under billions of stars. Once again, Doc felt small that day, but not in a bad way. There were bigger things out there, and out here too under their feet, but that thought settled in okay for Doc. That just meant there was more to explore in the universe.
Before their sleepiness grew more, they packed up. Doc volunteered to drive, Caboose was sprawled comfortably in the back, and Donut was snuggled at shotgun.
It was another four hours back, no one had thought to leave earlier when they weren't this sleepy. But that was fine as for Doc enjoyed the quietness of the night.