Astro and Tobio
Chapter 5: Christmas Gifts
It was now just two days before Christmas and snowflakes sprinkled down over Metro City. Astro and Dr O'Shay hung decorations in the living room while Tobio and Zoran baked Christmas cookies in the kitchen. They were using the recipe Tobio's mother created.
As Dr O'Shay finished putting tinsel on the Christmas tree and Astro effortlessly tossed the star decoration onto its peak, Tobio and Zoran walked in from the kitchen. Zoran was giggling and running her fingers over the necklace she was wearing. Tobio watched her with a smile on his face.
"What has gotten you so bubbly all of a sudden," Astro laughed, as he walked over to them.
"Look at the necklace Tobio gave me for Christmas. Isn't it beautiful?" Zoran giggled, holding up the necklace that was around her neck.
Astro peered at the accessory. It consisted of beads strung together with string and in the centre was a heart-shaped piece of wood painted pink. The beads had glitter stuck to them and were different colours, ordered in a repeating rainbow pattern. The wooden heart had been coated with varnish to give it a magical shine. Astro could not deny the necklace was beautiful. "I guess," was his response. Or maybe he could. "But, I thought we agreed no early Christmas gifts," he added, frowning at Tobio.
Tobio looked at the floor. "Well, I thought one wouldn't hurt," he replied, shuffling his feet.
"Well, if you get to give her a gift early, then it is only fair I get to as well," smiled Astro. His jolliness returning, he retrieved a green box with a pink ribbon around it from under the Christmas tree. Tobio's guilty expression changed to one of slight annoyance. It was only 'slight' because he was doing his best to hide how annoyed he was at Astro's actions.
Astro handed Zoran the gift. "Merry Christmas," he grinned. Tobio watched, quietly fuming, as Zoran undid the ribbon and opened the box. Her eyes lit up with delight upon seeing its contents. "It's so cute," she giggled. She pulled out a pink teddy bear. Between its two front paws was a small stuffed red heart.
Zoran happily cuddled the little bear, not noticing the glares Astro and Tobio were giving each other. The two were having a silent conversation:
"Thanks a lot for overshadowing my gift."
"You started it by giving her your gift early."
Astro's eyes fell upon the necklace again and now that his initial annoyance was gone, he realised something he hadn't considered before. "Wait, did you make that necklace yourself?"
Tobio's irritated expression vanished and was replaced by a smile. "Yep. I bought the beads but I thread them and added the glitter myself. And I carved and painted the heart by hand," he replied proudly.
"Thanks, Tobio," Zoran smiled, "A truly personal and beautiful gift." As she said this, she placed her fingers on the wooden heart whilst still holding the teddy bear in her other hand.
Astro felt disappointed it had not occurred to him to make Zoran a gift by hand even though Tobio had thought of it. However, his smile returned when an idea quickly formed inside his head. He turned and walked towards the front door. Looking over his shoulder he called, "Join me outside in five minutes." He then disappeared out the door.
Zoran watched confused. Tobio on the other hand, scowled. 'You are not going to overshadow me twice Astro,' he thought. He replaced his scowl with a smile. "I almost forgot Zoran. There is a second part to your gift."
"Really? What is it?" Zoran asked eagerly.
"It's in my room. I'll be back in a minute." He turned and made his way quickly up the stairs to his room. Unfortunately, he had hidden the gift so no one would see it and he had trouble remembering where he had left it. By the time he found the gift and made it back downstairs, Zoran was already heading outside. He quickly followed, interested to see what Astro had planned. Dr O'Shay looked up from the decorations to watch them leave. He noticed Tobio was in such a hurry he didn't bother to put on his jacket.
Tobio joined Zoran on the doorstep and the two saw Astro in the air, writing a message in the sky using the smoke from his rocket jets. They were not the only people observing this sight. Down the road, a man in a trench coat and hat watched Astro through binoculars.
Zoran looked on as Astro finished the message for her. In the clouds were the words 'Merry Christmas Zoran'. He flew back to admire his work. It was a simple message but it was the best he could do at a moments notice, and Zoran loved it all the same.
"Look at the message Astro wrote me. Isn't it so sweet?" Zoran giggled.
Tobio peered at the writing in the sky. Each letter appeared perfectly written. He could not deny it was a sweet gift. "I guess," was his response. Or maybe he could. "Anyway, here is the second part of your gift," he continued, holding up the green and red circular object in his hand.
A few moments later, Astro landed on the garden path, a triumphant smile on his face. The smile, however, faded when he saw Tobio placing what appeared to be a headdress made out of roses on a beaming Zoran. The "roses" were actually handmade out of glue and tissue paper. Tobio shot Astro a smirk as Zoran hugged him. "Thank you Tobio. It's so pretty," she smiled as she pulled back. She then turned to Astro. "Thank you, Astro, for the sweet message. I'll just get a camera to snap a photo before it fades." She then darted back inside. Astro and Tobio watched her leave before glaring at each other.
"Who's overshadowing whose gift now," questioned Astro.
"You started it," Tobio hissed back.
"You started this entire thing with your gift."
Tobio pointed to Astro's message in the sky. "Well, you just came up with that on the spot because you couldn't stand that I had given her a handmade gift and you hadn't."
It was unusual for either of them to get angry and even more unusual for them to be angry at each other. It seemed their shared affection for Zoran was the only thing that could come between them.
"I can give her whatever gift I want."
"And I can't?"
By this point, Professor Sebastian had walked much closer to the house. He was currently standing just outside the corner of Dr O'Shay's garden watching the two boys as they bickered. 'Those fools are too busy fighting each other to even notice me,' he thought. 'I could kill them both this instant. But what fun would that be?'
"Not when we had an agreement on no early Christmas gifts."
The two had slowly moved towards each other and were now standing face to face. But Tobio's expression softened at Astro's words, realising that he had made a mistake by breaking that agreement. "I know, I know. I'm sorry," he said, hanging his head. "I just finished it earlier and when we were baking the cookies, I couldn't wait to show her."
Astro's own expression relaxed. "That's why you gave her the present early?" he asked. Tobio nodded as he started to shiver at the cold. "Perhaps we should get out of the cold," Astro smiled, as Zoran reappeared and snapped a photo of Astro's message.
Tobio nodded in agreement. "Please. And I promise I will make this up to you." All three hurried inside, not one of them noticing Sebastian as he continued to quietly observe them.
"Now for the fun part," he smiled.
A little while later Astro lay on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He glumly thought about how Tobio had made two gifts for Zoran by hand whilst one of his had been a cheap, last-minute gift. There was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.
Tobio walked in, holding a plate of Christmas cookies in one hand and what appeared to be a glass of wine in the other. Astro sat up, letting his legs dangle over the side of his bed. "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking wine?"
"It's only fruit juice. I just put it in a wine glass for fun," Tobio laughed.
"Or it is wine and that is just your cover story for Dr O'Shay," smirked Astro.
Tobio swirled the juice like it was wine. "It is whatever you want it to be," Tobio joked. "Anyway, I brought you some cookies, as my first step towards making it up to you," he said, holding out the plate to Astro. "They're all for you," he smiled. "There is another batch in the oven."
Astro returned the smile and accepted the plate. When he tried one of the biscuits he blinked in surprise. "Wow. These are amazing."
"My mother's recipe never fails," chuckled Tobio. "Follow me, there is something you need to see." He turned and walked out of the room with Astro following curiously, wondering what could be so interesting. Tobio led Astro down the stairs and stopped at about the halfway point. He then pointed into the living room. "If it is any consolation, I think Zoran likes your gift more," he sighed with a slight sadness in his tone. Astro looked through the banister and saw Zoran cuddling the teddy bear he'd given her. She had lined up her other stuffed toys on the sofa and appeared to be playfully introducing them to her new pink toy. She still wore Tobio's gifts but she didn't seem to be paying them any attention. "I really am sorry," said Tobio with a sad smile. "I didn't mean for my gift to…"
"It wasn't all your fault. I share half the blame," interrupted Astro. "I shouldn't have tried to overshadow your gift," he sighed as he sat down on the stairs.
"That's my bro, always trying to make others feel better and spread happiness," Tobio laughed, walking up a few steps and sitting down next to Astro.
"I get that from my bro," Astro grinned back and they both laughed.
The two smiled at each other, their friendship now restored. Tobio got to his feet. "How about we try and forget about that and go check on the cookies in the kitchen? I could show you the recipe if you want," he smiled before raising his fruit juice to his lips.
Astro nodded, "Sure." And the two raced each other to the kitchen.
A few minutes later, Professor Sebastian trudged down the pavement. 'That was far more boring than I had hoped but no matter,' he thought to himself. 'I will give them one final test. Then I will wipe them both out once and for all.'
Astro, Tobio and Zoran walked through the streets of Metro City on their way back from a trip to a funfair. All were completely oblivious to the fact that Sebastian had been following them the entire day. Two months had gone by since the Christmas incident. Tobio was munching on the chicken baguette he held in one hand, while holding a bottle of lemonade in the other. He watched in amusement as Astro told jokes and anecdotes to Zoran in an attempt to make her laugh. In the last couple of weeks, Tobio had had fun making Zoran laugh whenever he got the chance so Astro was now having an unsuccessful crack at it himself. His jokes were similar to Tobio's but they just weren't as funny or they were but he would butcher the punchline. All he was getting from Zoran was a bunch of odd looks. He appeared to not possess quite the same knack for comedy as Tobio. 'Stop trying so hard when making the jokes,' Tobio thought. 'Be more natural, be less… robotic.'
A few moments later, Astro's latest joke was interrupted as the ground started to tremor and a loud banging noise could be heard. "What was that?" asked Zoran.
"Is it an earthquake?" Tobio exclaimed.
"An earthquake in the middle of Metro City?" Astro replied sarcastically. The three looked around, trying to spot the source of the noise. Instead, they saw the road explode into a cloud of debris and dust and a Crab droid emerged from the sewers and started to scuttle around on a rampage.
"Hold on a sec," said Tobio, before cramming the rest of his baguette into his mouth and downing it with his lemonade. He then casually tossed the empty bottle into a recycle bin. At the sight of this Zoran burst out laughing.
'Really?' thought Astro. 'He made you laugh with that?'
"I'll handle this," Astro and Tobio stated in unison.
To Be Continued…