#fellsoul

     ‘      y-YOU   THINK   SO ? ‘      youth   beams  ,   voice   toned   with   jubilation.  mouth   pulled   upward   /   a   grin   stretched   wide   as   could   be.   HOPE  ,   blooms  ,   if   but   minute.   yet  ,  within   the   recesses  of   mind  /  of   memory ,   uncertainty   lingers   /   threatening   to   rip   apart   a   delicate   dream.   SANS’   voice   rumbles   there  ,  a   constant   echo  vicious  and   gnashing.  with   sockets   narrow   / shark   teeth   bared   /   every   word   lashing.   every   cruel   reminder.   IT’S   KILL   OR   BE   KILLED.  friends   don’t   exist  ,   don’t   be   weak.

    ‘      HEY  ,   DORAEMON … DOES   THAT   MAKE   YOU   MY   FRIEND ?     ‘      fingers   twist   within   mittens   /   DREAD   filled   /   afraid   to   be   brushed a  side    ━━━     scorned.   he   had   learned  ,   SANS   was   his   brother   /   but   not   his   friend.   and  ,  never   would   he   be … papyrus   was   an   obligation  /   not   someone   precious.   skull   shakes   away   the   creeping   dark   /   thoughts   /   those   feelings  ;   how   they   make   him   suffocate  ;   tears   always   assured   to   stream.   like   the   waters   that   flow   in   WATERFALL.      ‘      IT’S   JUST  ,   YOU   DON’T   SEEM   TO   JUDGE   ME.   SO   I   THOUGHT … PERHAPS   WE   COULD   BE  ?     ‘       just   maybe … there   was   someone.   a   friend   for   him.

     Eyes blinked repeatedly, looking away from the snow-covered landscape just to glance at the smaller one.  If his hearing was still fully-functional (no visible ears and all of that) he had noticed WORRY in his question, as if -- well that is silly, wasn't it??  Humans, monsters, most children knew about that concept already, about FRIENDSHIP!!  Confusion in his face turned into a wide smile, whiskers slowly moving upwards as he patted the other's head.  What a SILLY little thing that was, indeed, Paps was worrying too much over nothing!!  Yet could he blame him for asking??

❝ Of course we're friends, Papyrus-kun!! ❞

     His hands shifted into adjusting the scarf wrapped around his neck, getting off the snowy floor and on his feet.  This... reminded him of SOMEBODY.

❝ Up there, in the surface, I know a kid that is just like you, and he has many-many friends too!!  LOTS of friends!! ❞

Doraemon stretched his arms outwards, up in the air, all accompanied by a tone of MILD EXCITEMENT in his voice.  It was true, Nobita would not be the perfect kid, he would be far from it, but even before he had met him he had many friends already!!  Sure, things in that underground world didn't seem to be easy, there was a permanent feeling of HOSTILITY in the air, but who was he to take the hopes away from the skeleton??  He was still a child after all, it was best to be SUPPORTIVE and give his most OPTIMISTIC view of things.

Even if, as an outsider, this wasn't an obligation to him, his prime coding as a BABYSITTING ROBOT said otherwise, turning his head at the other and giving him a wink.