The pink bow sat on top of the huge pink polka dotted box.
"This looks tacky as fuck," Raleigh said.
"It doesn't matter what you think. Pink is Godzilla's favourite colour, and it's up to us to honour our old friend on his birthday," Mako Mori responded, "besides, I think it looks really cute."
Raleigh wasn't sold on the idea of giving such a tacky looking gift to such a godlike creature, but he trusted his partner whole heartedly so he shook his head in agreement.
"I don't even know why you're worried about it looking tacky. You know Godzilla loves tacky things. His volcano home is painted entirely pink," Mako laughed.
"Yeah! My dad tore down half of Tokyo because it looked too modern," piped up a small reptile voice.
"GARY!" both humans shouted in excitement.
"That's me. Haha," Gary laughed like a fuckboi. Gary was Godzilla's youngest son. While the rest of Godzilla's kids had grown up and moved overseas to travel or start families of their own, Gary still lived at home. He was currently going through his "difficult" phase. Nobody had told Mako Mori this but she could tell by the raccoon like rings of eyeliner around Gary's eyes, and the black emo wig he was wearing.
"Jesus man. I'm going to have to take you shopping for some presentable clothes. You look like a downright hoodlum." Raleigh said in worry.
"Leave the boy alone, he's just trying things out," Mako Mori said with a smile. But Raleigh could tell she was annoyed with him, one of the good parts about drifting with someone for so long is you don't need to fight anymore because you always know when to stop talking.
"Actually I'm not," Gary said, "this is who I am." He pulled out a vape and began blowing smoke rings in the direction of the humans. The room filled with an overpowering vanilla scent that made everyone crinkle their noses.
"Gary, did your dad ever tell you the story of how he stopped smoking?" Raleigh asked.
Gary shook his head.
"Why don't you boys go outside and pick some flowers to give to Godzilla. I think that would be a nice addition to the present, "Mako Mori said.
"Yeah, dad would like that," Gary said, blowing mini-tornadoes out of his nostrils with the vape.
The boys made their way out into the garden. The sun was just beginning to set so everything was cast in a beautiful orange glow. They began their walk around the garden, Raleigh setting a slow pace. Peonies, roses, lilies and every other type of flower you could imagine spurted up from the fertilizers.
"Well when Godzilla first started terrorizing people he would always strategically hit places that would cause fires. Places like electrical plants, gas stations. And inhaling all of this smoke gave your dad this crazy feeling of power, it allowed him to destroy even more. Plus the smoke and fire had the added benefit of looking pretty kick ass when destroying a city," Raleigh told his young reptile friend.
"If it looked bad ass and it felt awesome why would he stop?" Gary asked.
"Because as the years went by inhaling all of that smoke started to have an effect on Godzilla's body. His lungs were covered in a black tar that made it difficult to breathe. Kaiju don't age, but he was. But that didn't stop your dad at first. No. He wanted to live a happy life instead of a long life," Raleigh leant down to a rose bush, brushing his fingertips against the petals. "What about these?"
"No. They're not right. They're not perfect," Gary said, his eyes had begun to fill with tears but he turned away so Raleigh wouldn't see.
"Everything changed when you were born though. He was able to find happiness in things other than destruction. That's when he took up things like knitting and figure skating. And he never thought about the smoke again," Raleigh smiled. He noticed that Gary had stopped in front of one of the flower beds, and walked over to stand next to him.
"These ones," he whispered.
"Forget-me-nots. Those are beautiful," Mako Moko said, pulling the small lizard thing into her arms. "Let's wrap those up Hun. Your dad will love them."
"And they're pink!" Raleigh laughed.
"Okay boys are you ready to head to the birthday party? I've just finished icing the cake and I don't want to let the rest of the food get cold,"
Both boys nodded their heads. Raleigh held onto all of the food, Mako Mori held onto the flowers and Gary carried the bright pink birthday present. As a group they walked to the heart of downtown Tokyo. It seemed that everyone that they passed told Gary to give their best wished to his father. They all wore pink feathery hats in honour of the big reptile's big day. A huge statue rose up from the city's huge park. It depicted Godzilla holding up the entire world, his huge heart glowed red from inside the lizards chest.
They approached the small plaque at the base of the statue. "Godzilla. 1954-2016. Loving father, terror bringer, loved by all who met him." It read.
"Happy birthday dad." Gary said, his eyes once again filling with tears. He placed his vanilla vape next to his father's grave. He wouldn't need it anymore,
"Happy birthday old friend." The drifters said in unison.
Despite what he said earlier, Raleigh had to admit that the huge pink ribbon on the pink polka dotted present looked beautiful on the grave, and he knew that Godzilla would find it beautiful too.