Astro Boy: Loving What Is Unknown (Astro X Gender Neutral Reader)

Shopping Trip Gone Wrong

Cora laughed along with Astro as they chatted happily with each other. You stood beside the couch of the orphanage, watching them intently. Ever since Cora's confession to Astro, the two have almost been inseparable. It felt kind of lonely, to be honest.

You let out a depressing sigh as Zane approached you from behind.

"Yo, Y/n! Chillin' out in the corner?" He inquired and slapped his hand onto your shoulder. You turned and looked back at him before smiling slightly.

"Hey, Zane." You sounded more downcast than you meant to, which was odd for you. Zane noticed this change as well and raised an eyebrow at you.

"What's up? You not feelin' good?" He asked, his voice laced with concern. You gave him a little shrug and sat down on the arm of the couch.

"I'm fine. I guess I just don't feel as energetic today." You admitted. You couldn't really explain what you were feeling right at the moment. All that you could say about it was that you didn't like this feeling. Not one bit.

Cora had overheard your earlier complaint and she turned her head towards you.

"Huh, it's no wonder you're feeling so down. Look at what you're wearing! It's so plain. Like seriously, do you not have any other clothes that you could wear?" She criticised. You looked down at your clothes and eyed the dirt stains on them.

"I don't get it, what's wrong with my clothes? They cover up my body, don't they?" You pointed out. Cora threw her head back in aggravation and shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. I'm talking about how filthy and unfashionable they are. I mean seriously, where did you even get them?"

"From an old man. Before then I was butt-naked!" You exclaimed with no ounce of shame in you. Cora face palmed at your lack of decency while Astro stifled his own laughter with his hands.

"That's it, we're taking you shopping and getting you new clothes." She stated. You blinked at her and cocked your head to the side while the twins cheered.

"Shopping?"

"Shopping!" Cora nodded.

"Yes, shopping."

"What's shopping?" Everyone in the room froze and stood in silence. The room had become so silent you could hear the breeze outside. Finally, Cora pressed her palm to her head and shook it.

"Honestly I'm not even too surprised any more by this. You're like a baby country bumpkin who's just come into this world so of course you wouldn't know what shopping is." She breathed. You scrunched up your face into confusion. You seriously didn't see what the big deal was.

You felt a hand rest on your shoulder and turned to see Astro smiling at you.

"Shopping is a term we use when we go on a trip to purchase things. You know, it's like trading. Except in most cases we often trade a certain amount of money for the items we want." Astro tried to explain in the most simplest way possible so that even a bumpchkin like you could understand.

You nodded in understanding and smiled.

"Oh, I get it now! Is money those shiny paper things?" You asked. Astro nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much." You grinned excitedly to yourself and shot up from the couch.

"Awesome! I wanna try this thing called shopping!" You told. Cora smiled slightly and rested her hands on her hips.

"Alrighty then, it's decided. We'll go shopping tomorrow!" She stated. Everyone cheered in excitement and jumped up. You couldn't wait for tomorrow to come! Shopping was going to be so great!