Chapter Text
The peaceful sound of silence. It was something Astro had always cherished. Just himself, alone with his thoughts and the promise of sleep. But in the museum, it was anything but silent. He was glued to the floor all day, unable to escape the noise and forced to talk to children who did nothing but drive him insane.
Obnoxious kids with messy fingers, pulling on his cap and pushing him around. It was rare to meet a kid who respected his boundaries. Nine times out of ten, they were respectless kids who sent his patience over the deep end. Never once had he ever even considered the thought that he may find a kid he genuinely connected with.
However, alongside rowdy children and tired parents came the biggest problem Astro had with the place; the phones. The cameras. The unwanted flash of lights and the fear of being seen by everyone. He hated it.
None of the toon handlers in Gardenview could pinpoint where in the world this fear of his had come from or why it was so crippling. No matter what approach they tried, they couldn’t get Astro to feel comfortable out there. They’d even added it to the list of rules, but alas, it didn’t change anything.
Things were still thrown at the toons. People still chose to take out their cameras around Astro. Children continued to run like their lives depended on it and screamed at frequencies only dogs should have been able to hear. They always pulled on toons and yelled at them, ignoring their toon handlers entirely, and the amount of malfunctions Vee had experienced due to careless children who’d spilled their drinks on her was almost painful to think about. It made Astro sick.
So here he was, cowering in Austin’s office for the fifth time in one day. He had his blanket wrapped around him like a vice, limbs trembling under the cloth.
He had been ushered in by Veronica a few minutes prior after she had found him crying in a box he’d climbed into on his themed floor, hiding from the children and their cameras like he’d vanish if they saw him.
The silence in Austin’s office was deafening. It wasn’t the kind of quiet Astro liked. This time, it was an uncomfortable, threatening lack of noise, like a fleeting moment of calm before a hurricane.
“Astro,” Austin finally spoke up, inhaling deeply and leaning against his desk, back turned to the toon under his care. “I get you don’t like the cameras, buddy, I really do, but you can’t keep doing this. We’ve done all we can to help you. We can’t control what other people do and don’t do,”
Austin turned around, his dark eyes meeting Astro’s own. “There are people out there waiting to see you, bud, and all you’re doing is hiding from them.”
“I know, but-!” Astro began to argue, wrapping his blanket tighter around his body and sinking into the chair he sat upon, praying the ground might just cave in on itself and swallow him whole.
“Why won’t they listen, Austin!? Arthur and Delilah don’t just have those rules posted around the museum for fun; they’re there for a reason! But all these kids just ignore them! Surely at this age, they should be able to read! Or at the very least, their parents could read it for them!” He continued.
“Astro. I get it,” Austin repeated. “But you have to understand that you weren’t created as a mascot to hide in my office all day. You need to get back out there, and I don’t want you forcing Veronica to take valuable time out of her job to come save you again.” He finished, pointing at the door
Astro stepped out of the office and returned to his floor with a heavy sigh, finding himself quickly overwhelmed by the familiar sounds of screaming children once again. He adjusted his hold on his blanket, stumbling through the crowd.
Little kids greeted him excitedly, trying to get his attention. Astro did everything in his power in an attempt to ignore every last one of them. He was already getting too skittish out there, eyes darting around like a madman. His chest tightened, burning with pain. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.
His eyes caught a glimpse of a woman across the room, phone wedged between her cheek and her shoulder as she attempted to clean off her child’s face. It wasn’t about him, but all that Astro could notice was the camera. It sent him into terror.
A strangled sound between a gasp and a cry escaped the toon’s throat, turning and dashing behind a crate off to the side of the room near the main elevator. Pushing himself into the shadows, he quivered behind the box like a coward.
All he could do was hope no children would approach him. Like the girl running around taking photos of everything she could see with her mother’s phone. Or the little boy with greasy hair and messy fingers. Or the young girl hiding behind the replica of the solar system, face buried in her knees as she tried to stop her body from shaking so violently.
Astro had to pause and look closer when he saw her. Soon enough, he found himself moving away from the box to get a better view.
She had shaggy brown hair pulled back into a loose, stubby ponytail on the back of her head. A chunky black sweater and blue sweatpants adorned her body, her untied shoelaces just begging for her to trip over them. She looked terrified.
Astro felt horrible for her, taking notice of the way she would flinch every time someone walked within as little as ten feet of her. He couldn’t help but feel like he could relate to her. Hiding from others, alone and scared.
For the first time since he could remember, Astro found himself approaching a child instead of the other way around. Sheepishly, he stepped away from his hiding spot, taking slow strides towards the little girl until he was standing right next to her.
He stood frozen for quite some time, waiting for her to notice him, too scared to be the first one to speak. But it didn’t look like she’d be acknowledging him any time soon.
Astro took a deep, steeling breath, waiting a moment before finally speaking up.
“Hey, a-are you-?”
Before he could even finish his sentence, the little girl had snapped up to look at him so quickly he’d thought she had gotten whiplash. Only one of her eyes was visible due to the way her hair was styled, but he could see clear tears staining her face when she locked eyes with him.
Astro quickly jumped back, startled by how fast she had reacted, but also by how scared she looked.
“H-Hey! It’s okay, it’s alright! I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you! I promise!” He stumbled over his words, quickly trying to reassure her he meant no harm.
The girl unwrapped her arms from her legs, her limbs still shaking. She stared at Astro silently, unsure of how to respond.
“What’s your name?” Astro blurted.
“Uh…” She finally spoke, hesitating to answer his question. “Mel. My name is Mel.” She responded, clearly avoiding eye contact with him as she spoke. Astro was quick to spot her fingers slipping under the sleeves of her sweater, scratching at her arms with unnecessary force.
“You shouldn’t do that, Mel. That’s not good for you.” He explained. He began to reach out, but was quick to pull away once again when he was reminded of the blanket wrapped around his torso.
The girl finally met his gaze, setting her hands flat on the floor in front of her, eyes locked onto the left half of Astro’s face.
“You have one too?” She marvelled.
“I have a… A what?” Astro raised an eyebrow.
Mel pointed to his eye with a mildly shaking hand. “You have… That.” She answered.
“My eye?” Astro whispered. Before Mel could elaborate, she pushed back her hood and brushed away the brown locks in her face to reveal her own left eye. It was sealed shut, the stitching around her eye resembling the same star shape as the one on Astro’s face.
Astro’s eyes widened, lips sealed tight. He stared at her face for so long that he began to feel like it was disrespectful.
“What happened to you?” He asked.
“I got into an accident a little while ago.” She fumbled with her hair, covering up her stitches once again. “Uhm… Do you have a name?”
“Oh! Right, of course I-I’m Astro.” He replied, squeezing his blanket softly.
“Astro…” Mel repeated under her breath. “I-I like that name.”
Astro couldn’t help but smile at her familiar behaviour. She was just like him, in some strange way. Shy, awkward, and a ticking time bomb of anxiety. As if she could explode into a panic attack at any given moment, yet still had the kindest heart on earth. Despite how skittish she seemed, she found a way to be awkwardly sweet.
“Yours is nice too.” He returned.
Mel paused at his words, averting her gaze once again. “Yeah. My nickname sounds pretty, maybe.” She grumbled, leaning her back against the box.
“You have a nickname for Mel? What is it, the letter M?” Astro tried to joke with her, genuinely curious to hear her answer as he sat down next to her. The girl shook her head.
“No. My nickname is Mel. I just tell people it’s my name because I…” She trailed off, glancing at Astro out of the corner of her eye. “Because my real name is… Weird, I guess.” She mumbled. “My mom says it’s ‘uncommon’ and ‘unique’. But I just think it’s dumb. The kids at school make fun of me when they hear it, so that’s why I tell everyone my name is Mel.”
“Uncommon? How so?” Astro pressed softly, not wanting to pressure her into sharing too much.
“My…” The girl whispered, closing her eyes and holding her breath. “M-My name is Melancholy.”
“Melancholy?” Astro repeated.
“I know. I-It’s stupid…”
“No, it’s not, actually,” Astro reassured her, nudging her slightly in reassurance. “It sounds really nice.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not! Honest! It’s unique!”
“You sound like my mom…” Melancholy sounded sarcastic, but Astro could see the hint of a smile ghosting across her face.
“Well, maybe your mom is right. You have a lovely name, Melancholy.”
Melancholy turned to him and met his eyes, awkwardly raking her fingers through her hair. “You… You really think so?” She mumbled.
“I know so!” Astro assured her, standing up and watching her get up, too. A strange feeling of pride filled his heart when he saw the gentle smile on her lips.
“Trust me, I’ve heard some pretty dumb names, and Melancholy is not one of them. That’s got to be one of the coolest names I’ve ever heard this side of Gardenview, from the bottom of my heart, I mean that.”
“Oh… Well, thank you, Astro.” She smiled meekly.
“Mel!” They heard a voice amongst the excited children that filled the room, a woman emerging from the crowd of kids.
“There you are! You disappeared when we got off the elevator! Where have you been!?” She demanded to know, coming to a stop in front of the girl.
“Sorry, Mom,” Melancholy mumbled, raising a hand to point at Astro. “I made a friend.”
Astro’s eyes lit up at her words in surprise, which somehow matched her mother’s expression. No child had ever considered him a friend before, much less a child as sweet as her. All of the children he’d ever met in his days at Gardenview only considered him a mascot there for entertainment. But not Melancholy. Melancholy thought something so much different.
“A friend?” Her mother repeated, her gaze flicking to Astro, who waved one of his makeshift stars at her nervously.
“Oh, thank goodness…” The woman let out a sigh. “Come on. Matt had already put dinner on. We have to get home.”
“We have to leave already!?” Melancholy bleated.
“Mel, when we got here, you already wanted to leave! Now you’re telling me you want to stay!?” Her mother laughed.
“I like Astro!” Melancholy protested. “Do you see that face!? I just want to squish it!”
Astro had to turn away before he gave way to a laugh. That was new, but he found it quite funny, nonetheless.
“Well, you can come see your ‘squishy friend’ another time, Mel. It’s time to go home, sweetheart.” Melancholy’s mother explained.
“Oh, man!” Melancholy whined, reluctantly stepping closer to her mother and glancing back at Astro with defeated eyes. Her mother turned to walk away, but Melancholy quickly stopped her by tugging on her coat sleeves.
“Mom, can we come back?” She begged with wide eyes.
“I’m sure we can come back here another time. If that’s what you want, sweetheart.” Her mother nodded in return to her question.
Melancholy’s eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Astro, hand still gripping her mother’s sleeve.
“C-Can I come back and see you next time I’m here, Astro?” She asked, big hopeful eyes staring back at him.
Astro snapped out of the mild daze he’d fallen into, staring back at her with a surprised expression.
“Me?” He echoed. “You want to come back and see me again?”
Melancholy nodded, a soft smile on her face. “You’re nice to talk to, and you can actually respond to me. My turtle can’t do that.” She grinned sheepishly.
Astro snickered at her reasoning, shaking his head slightly, the ball of his nightcap swinging behind him. “Of course you can, Melancholy. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” He assured her, a gentle smile on his face, which quickly put an even bigger smile on Melancholy’s own.
“O-Okay! See you next time, Astro!” The little girl waved excitedly, taking her mother's hand and following her off.
Astro clutched his blanket tight against his chest, barely leaving room for a single hand to reach out and wave back at her. As soon as she was gone, he wrapped himself in his blanket again and walked away.
What an interesting kid… Astro hummed to himself as he walked around the floor. He did something a little bit unexpected, stopping in the middle of the floor to take notice of the way the other kids ran around, chasing each other and parkouring around the space.
For once, Astro didn’t seem to mind.
He was off in his own little world, his head up in the clouds as he admired the constellations painted on the ceiling above, wondering if Melancholy would really come back and see him again like she said she would.
If she truly considered a silly little toon like him a friend, surely she’d keep her innocent promise.