The little blue fox, Alex, was lying lazily in his room again today. On his belly, where his soft blue fur sparkled in the sunlight, a small, round belly button was visible. Alex gently lowered his finger and poked his belly button.
“Hmm… Why is it so sensitive?”
Every time his fingertip touched it, he felt a slight tickle and a strange sensation. He spread it open a little with his finger and traced circles around it. At that moment, the door opened, and his pet dinosaur companion, Dino Dog Patch, walked in. Patch, with his small puppy-like dinosaur body covered in soft fur, looked at Alex with playful eyes.
“Alex, what are you doing?”
Patch approached with a curious expression and looked down at Alex’s belly. Then he poked Alex’s belly button with his big finger.
“Eek!”
Alex flinched and twisted his whole body. His face turned red as he glared at Patch.
“Hey, don’t touch it! That place… is kind of sensitive!”
Patch laughed cheerfully and wagged his tail. “It’s fun though? Why do you react like that?”
Alex grumbled while covering his belly, but deep inside, a strange excitement remained.
That night.
Alex tossed and turned in bed. The belly button that Patch had poked earlier kept bothering him. It felt itchy, uncomfortable, and strangely warm. In the end, he couldn’t stand it anymore and got up to go to the bathroom.
Turning on the light and standing in front of the mirror, Alex carefully lifted his shirt. When he looked closely at his belly button…
“Gasp… What is this?”
There was quite a lot of dirty belly button lint accumulated inside. White fluff and dust mixed with the things he had picked up while playing all day were tangled between his blue fur and yellow belly. Alex blushed and sighed.
“Maybe because Patch touched it today, I’m noticing it more…”
He rummaged through the drawer, took out several cotton swabs, and prepared a bunch of soft tissues.
Alex prepared a few more cotton swabs and looked at his belly button again with a serious face.
“Okay… Let’s do this properly now.”
He carefully inserted the cotton swab deep into his belly button and began slowly scraping along the walls.
“Ugh… It tickles!”
Every time the swab brushed against the inside, his body twitched involuntarily. There was a lot of white fluff and lint stuck all the way to the bottom. Alex gritted his teeth and kept digging it out. The tip of the swab gradually turned gray and black with dirt. Once, twice, three times… He held his breath and scraped out all the belly button lint.
After pulling out the last swab and looking in the mirror, Alex stared down at his belly button with a slightly embarrassed face.
“…It still looks a bit dirty…”
He went to the sink, collected some lukewarm water in his hands, and slowly poured it over his belly button. As the water seeped inside, a strong tickling sensation rose again.
“Haa… Hold it in, hold it in…”
Alex gritted his teeth and thoroughly rinsed the inside with water. He repeated it once, then once more. Every time the water flowed down his belly button, his body trembled slightly.
Finally, he stacked several dry tissues and gently wiped his belly button and the inside. He wiped very slowly and repeatedly until all the moisture was gone. Now his belly button sparkled with a clean, soft pink color.
Alex looked at himself in the mirror and muttered quietly.
“From now on… I should take better care of my body.”
At that moment, the bathroom door opened slightly.
“Alex? What were you doing?”
Alan(Alex's Dad) and Anna(Alex's Mom) entered with worried faces. Alex was startled and stopped midway while trying to pull his shirt down.
“Um… well… there was a lot of lint in my belly button. I scraped it out with cotton swabs, washed it with water, and wiped it.”
Seeing Alex answer honestly, Alan smiled. He approached and gently rubbed Alex’s belly with his hand. As the warm palm wrapped around the now-clean belly button area, Alex shrank back a little.
“Really? Good job. But you have to be careful when digging deep by yourself.”
Anna gently placed her hand on Alex’s back and patted it.
“That’s right. Things like this are safer when done with family. Next time, tell Mom or Dad.”
Alex nodded with a slightly flushed face.
“Okay…”
His parents hugged him and left the bathroom.
Alex returned to his room and lay down on the bed. The events of the day came to mind: Patch’s playful poking finger, the tickling inside his belly button, the feeling when washing it with water, and his parents’ warm touch…
“It was a little embarrassing… but it didn’t feel bad.”
He gently hugged his belly and closed his eyes. Inside the soft blanket, Alex quietly fell asleep.
The End
