I AM SO, SO SO SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I've been super busy with college and getting this chapter edited and working on other projects etc and asldkfja;lsdkfjlkjf *collapses*.

Okay, so fair warning, this chapter is gonna be kinda slow :/ The plot should start to pick up by chapter 2, but for now it's just setting the scene here. But dont worry, you're gonna get a fair amount of angst in this chapter ;D

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE IS THE STARBORNE; CHAPTER 1!

Chapter 1

"…And if you divide that by three squared you get…thirty-four to the tenth power!" Tobio Tenma lifted up his sheet of homework proudly, then looked down to his left. "Right?"

Jump, his wire fox terrier, merely rolled over with a snort in reply. Toby set down his homework with a sigh.

"Yeah, pretty sure that's right… Ahh, finally done!" He rubbed his face tiredly. "Ugh…guess we have the rest of night off, huh?"

Jump wagged his short tail, looking up eagerly at his human friend. Toby grinned and stretched, leaning back in his chair. He let his arms drop over the sides, letting out another heavy sigh.

"What do you wanna do today, huh, bud?" Toby asked his dog. "We could go to the park…play some frisbee or something… It's getting a little late for that, though, isn't it?" He chewed on his lip, staring out the dusk-lit window. "We can go tomorrow though. Or—wait, no, I'll be doing stuff with Dad tomorrow," he remembered, grinning. "That'll be fun. I'll be sure to take you to the park on Saturday, though."

He sat in silence for a few more moments, wondering what else to do with the rest of his Thursday evening. He'd finished all his homework before dinnertime, as per usual, and found his only company once more resided with his dog—unless you counted the robot butler. Toby didn't really think he counted, since he couldn't carry a real conversation with the machine besides pre-programmed responses. Modern artificial intelligence, though impressive, wasn't so advanced that machines could actually think and feel for themselves like in sci-fi movies. Toby knew it was all just a program and therefore didn't try to 'make friends' with his robot butler, a RB-TA model, the newest of its kind. That was one of the perks of being the son of the Minister of Science; you got all the cool gadgets before they were released to the public.

His father was never home, of course. Toby often found himself eating dinner alone, while his father remained at work all day nearly every day till about nine in the evening, where he would afterwards sit in the living room and read a book with the news on in the background. What conversations they had were small ones that didn't carry on for too long, and usually ended with his father expressing his tiredness and wanting to read. Toby perfectly understood that his father was tired from work and needed his space…but it didn't stop the loneliness from creeping in every so often.

A wet nose nudged Toby's hand, startling him out of his thoughts. Toby looked at his dog fondly, scratching his head.

"Wanna go outside?" Jump's tail started to wag faster, making Toby smile. "Alright, then," Toby added, getting out of his chair. "Come on, boy!"

Jump hopped up excitedly and raced to the corner, grabbing his favorite ball before bounding over to the door, his tail wagging eagerly. Toby grabbed it from his mouth and opened the door, his dog racing out of the room like a bullet. Toby ran after him, bounding down the stairs two at a time. He reached the landing and then raced to the kitchen where Jump was waiting by the back door excitedly.

Just as he was about to open the door to the backyard, though, the house phone rang. Toby stopped, glancing at the phone on the counter a few feet away.

'Call from: William Tenma. Call from: William Tenma,' said the automated voice. Toby quickly ran over to the phone and pressed 'answer'.

"Hey, Dad!" Toby said cheerfully as the image of his father appeared on the screen in front of him. "What's up?"

"Hello, Toby, ah…just calling to let you know that I'm going to be home much later tonight than usual, and probably will continue to do so till next Saturday," he said. "The opening ceremony of the generator is a little more than a week away and all of us scientists and engineers are scrambling to make sure everything's in order before we start it up."

"Got it, Dad," Toby said. "That's fine. Oh, uh, I have a question for you."

"Yes, but make it quick, I have to get back to work here," Tenma said, shuffling papers in front of him.

Toby hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "What… Um, what are you going to do once this project is finished?"

Tenma looked up at him, surprised. "When I'm finished?"

"Yeah, I mean… How long have you been working on this generator project? Like...thirteen years or something? And you've been working so hard and I'm super proud of you for it, but like…what are you going to do when it's done?"

Tenma stared at him, slightly taken aback as if he'd never even thought of the question before. He sat silent for a few moments before finally clearing his throat. "Well—uh, well, there are always problems people are going to need to solve and things to be researched and discovered and built… I'm sure I'll find something." He scratched the side of his jaw thoughtfully. "Especially as the Minister of Science, there will always be something for me to do."

"'Kay, just curious. So you're not going to take a vacation or anything afterwards to celebrate?" Toby prompted.

"I'll figure that out when the time comes, but right now I have a very busy schedule and I need to get back to work. Was there anything else you needed?" Tenma asked, typing some things into his computer.

"Yeah, one more thing. You're still gonna be free tomorrow, right?" Toby asked. "Like you promised?"

Tenma stopped typing and turned to him confused. "I did?" he asked.

Toby felt his heart sink like a stone but tried to not show it. "Y-yeah, um…kind of a big day tomorrow…" he croaked.

"Sorry, Toby, but with my schedule the way it is, I can't possibly be free tomorrow," he said apologetically. Toby clenched his jaw and gave a tight smile. "I'll make it up to you when everything here is finished."

"Okay, that's u-um… That—that's fine. You're busy and stuff… I-I understand. See ya later, Dad."

"Bye, son." The call ended and the face of his father disappeared.

Toby stood slouched on the counter, in an immensely different mood than before. Had his dad actually…actually forgotten about tomorrow? He'd hoped that tomorrow he'd be able to spend just a little bit of time with his father. But then again, this generator project was a huge issue that had been going on for years; of course important things were easily forgotten in the mess that must be the schedule for the Minister of Science. Toby understood perfectly; besides…there was always next year, right?

A whine from a certain dog broke Toby out of his thoughts and he turned to Jump, who was looking up at him expectantly.

"H-hey, Jump, sorry about that. Come on, let's go play outside," he said, ushering his dog out the back door.

The fresh air felt good in Toby's lungs as he stepped outside. He and his father lived just on the outskirts of Metro City in one of the nicer neighborhoods, so the sounds of city traffic was less noticeable and at night the sky was clearer than in the city. The backyard was large and beautiful, surrounded by large trees that mostly consisted of willows and cherry trees. The house itself was surrounded by various beautiful plants and bushes that were all cared for by their hired gardener, Orrin Silver.

Speaking of which… Toby could faintly hear the tell tale sound of the gardener's humming, which meant he hadn't left for the day yet. He was probably still working on the tulips on the side of the house. Toby quickly threw the ball for Jump before following the sound of the gardener's humming to—just as he suspected—the side of the house. Orrin Silver was crouched over the tulips, spreading mulch as he hummed one of his favorite tunes.

"Hey, Orrin!" Toby called over to him.

Orrin jumped in surprise, nearly falling over. "GYAA H—oh! Oh, hello there, Mr. Toby!" Orrin took off his cap and patted his bald head with a handkerchief. "Sorry, didn't see you there!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Toby quickly apologized, but Orrin waved him off.

"No, no, you're fine, you know how jumpy I am… What can I do for you today?" he asked, grabbing another handful of mulch from a wheelbarrow next to him.

"Eh, actually I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you?" Toby offered. "Do you need any help?"

Orrin shook his head. "Last time you helped me, you were the one who did almost all of the work. If you keep that up, I'll be out of a job!" Orrin said accusingly, but from the twinkle in his eye Toby could tell he was just joking.

Toby grinned. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Well, I have most everything finished actually…" Orrin glanced at the flower bed thoughtfully. "I was just going to spread some more mulch over these tulips and then I was going to be done for the day. Don't bother helping me with that, though, I've got it covered."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You helped me a lot last week, anyway. You don't need to do it again today. So," Orrin added as he went back to spreading the mulch around the flowers, "what's going on at the Tenma residence?"

"Not much…" Toby shrugged. "Dad's been busier than ever now that the opening ceremony for the generator is a week away."

"Oh yeah, that was in the news! That's gonna be something," said Orrin.

"Yeah, but…I—I'm kind of hoping afterwards he'll take some time off."

"Huh, been missing your old man?"

"Sorta…just… It's also… It's also my birthday tomorrow," Toby said rather shyly, digging his foot into the ground.

Orrin straightened up, surprised. "Really? Wow, happy birthday! How old are ya gonna be?"

"Fourteen," he admitted shyly with a smile.

"Hey, fourteen's not a bad age! So, what are ya gonna do for your birthday? Planning on throwing a party? Having a bunch of your friends over?" Orrin asked, standing up and taking his gardening gloves off.

Toby's smile faltered. "Well—uh, I um… I-I wasn't going to do anything huge; I don't like big parties." He shrugged.

"Aw, too bad. But you're going to do something fun with your friends, right?" Orrin asked, patting his bald head with his handkerchief again.

Toby fell silent, chewing his lip. "Um… I don't…um… I don't really have…" he trailed off, uncomfortable.

Orrin raised an eyebrow. "Don't have what? Plans?" he asked.

"Y-yeah, I don't have anything planned," Toby said quickly. "I was just hoping to do something small."

"I see! You have anything you're hoping to get for your birthday?"

"Uh…not…not really," Toby mumbled. "I'm pretty content as it is, I mean…there's not much I want at the moment."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing, right?" Orrin grinned and Toby smiled back.

"Yeah, you're right," Toby said. An indignant bark broke their conversation. Jump was sitting a few feet away with the ball at his feet, looking at Toby expectantly. "Ahh, sorry, Jump. Got talking to Orrin. Here." He picked up the ball again and tossed it to the edge of the backyard. Jump bolted after it, yipping excitedly after the little green ball.

"Well, I'm pretty much done here!" Orrin took off his gloves and tossed them into the wheelbarrow. "I think I'm going to head home for the day. You take care of yourself, Mr. Toby. And happy birthday! Wish I'd known it was your birthday tomorrow, or I would've gotten you something."

"Oh, you wouldn't have needed to; I'm fine. But thanks anyway." Toby smiled.

Orrin smiled back, wiping his head once more with his handkerchief. "You're a really good kid, Toby, you know that?" he said. "You're always thinking of others before yourself. Don't ever change that about yourself. We need more people like you in the world."

Toby's cheeks turned pink. "I—I'm not…"

"Not what, selfless? Gentlemanly? What did you just offer to do for me five minutes ago?" Orrin laughed, picking up the wheelbarrow. "Take care of yourself, Mr. Toby!"

"S-see ya!" Toby called after him, then turned back to the backyard where Jump was laying in the grass, gnawing on a stick. "Where'd you get that stick?" Toby asked his dog with his hands on his hips. Jump merely continued to crunch on the piece of wood contentedly.

Toby felt exhaustion creep into his bones and he sat next to his dog with a heavy sigh. Jump stopped chewing on the stick and gave a low whine, resting his white and brown head on Toby's leg. Toby scratched behind Jump's ear, smiling ever so slightly.

"I guess it is just gonna be you and me tomorrow…" Toby said quietly. "Again. Just…just like last year. And the year before that…" He slowly laid down in the grass, folding his arms behind his head. He wasn't going to act like a spoiled rich kid and throw a tantrum. He understood why his father worked so hard. There had been so many setbacks in the building process that delayed the workers so much that, for these past few years, they had been way too far behind schedule. Toby's father was extremely overworked with deadlines and needed the time to wrap everything up and bring it all to a close this coming week. Toby's birthday could wait. After this generator project was finished, Tenma would be able to relax and maybe even take a vacation. The idea of spending a little more time with his father made Toby's heart swell. He could wait. He could be patient.

"Whaddya think, bud?" Toby turned his head to Jump, whose head was still nuzzled on Toby's leg. "Should we do something fun tomorrow? Like go to the park or…something? Maybe I'll go see a movie. I heard they made a remake of The Phoenix, you know that super old anime? That show was cool." No response except for a twitch of Jump's leg. Toby scratched his dog's back absent-mindedly as his mind started to wander.

As he laid there, though, a terrible ache appeared in his chest. There it was, Toby thought. The loneliness. Every so often it would creep in like an unwanted virus, latching on easily and shaking off difficultly. Toby tried to not complain about it, but the feeling was hard to get rid of—if Toby had had a sibling or even a friend…just someone he could talk to…

It's not as if Toby didn't try to make friends at school. He really did try, but apparently no one wanted to be friends with a thirteen year old senior in high school. And it wasn't just that; it was all the cliques. They were so extreme. Basically, you had to completely identify with your own group or be excluded forever, and you had to make sure to exclude anyone from any other group. Toby thought that was completely ridiculous and childish, to be frank, but when he tried to talk to other kids about it they just… didn't care. Toby's opinion against the cliques had led him to become a sort of outcast in the school, even when he'd tried to explain that he wasn't against them forming groups, he just couldn't see why they had to hate everyone who wasn't in their group.

I don't even know why I bother, Toby thought to himself, sighing. I'll be done with high school soon, anyway. Just another month and a half and I'll be graduated.

He lay there for a while, staring up at the slowly darkening sky. A cool spring breeze ruffled his ink black hair, caressing his cheeks. He deeply inhaled the fresh air, letting it comfort him. He most definitely did not want to think about tomorrow, now that he knew what it would bring. He didn't want to let his mind think about how he was going to spend yet another birthday alone, with no friends or family to wish him a heartfelt 'Happy Birthday!'.

Darn it all, I'm thinking about it. Toby sat up irritated. He knew laying there would only make his mind wander more, and therefore think about tomorrow. He had to do something to keep himself distracted, something to keep him focused. And he knew just the thing.

0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0

Toby turned the handle to the wooden attic door, which gave loud protests as it swung open. Jump pattered into the large room and sniffed a box in a corner. He sneezed from the large amount of dust that had accumulated on the box, making Toby laugh.

"It's less dusty over here, Jump," he laughed, closing the attic door and walking to a couple of work tables that had been set up in the middle of the attic. In this area, the dust was less apparent and gave clear signs that it was often used. Around and underneath the work tables were boxes full of wires, robotic parts, and other various things that would've been considered junk to the common eye. But not to Toby.

Ignoring the two computers on the table to the left, he went straight for a strange figure made of metal and wires that lay silently on the table. Toby picked up a screwdriver that was laying nearby and set to work. His hands worked automatically as he twisted the screwdriver. He fastened bolts, connected wires, locked joints, and quickly tightened pressure valves. The movements were familiar and comfortable to him as he tinkered away at his robot.

Jump gave a great yawn as he lay beside the tall stool Toby was sitting at. Toby continued on without stopping.

This robot was a project of Toby's that had been going on for several months. He'd been inspired after finding an old—and rather childish—drawing of his from when he was little. He remembered coming up with the idea and what it entailed; it was a robot to help people. When he was younger he remembered wanting to make a 'super robot', which was basically a robotic version of superman. The older, more realistic Toby had thought it would be better to make a robot handyman with basic medical training. He didn't have the resources to create a full-fledged medical robot like Baymax in that centuries-old movie 'Big Hero Six', but he could make a robot that had basic procedures. It was a start.

Building the robot wasn't the difficult part. All he had to do was read up on mechanics, watch some tutorials on welding—also visit some welding shops to get some hands-on experience, the people who worked there were more than happy to help him out—and building his little robot friend was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. The hard part was the coding, the actual heart of the robot. Toby wanted to give the robot the best personality he could possibly give him, which of course meant hours sitting in front of the computer trying to write the code from scratch. And hours in front of the computer meant late nights, and late nights meant not much sleep on school days.

Since it was a Thursday night, Toby knew he couldn't stay up too late working on his robot, but when you're focused on something, time seems to simply melt away. Time indeed flew by by as he worked on his robot. He welded and screwed and wired, then unscrewed, rewired, then welded some more. His hands moved by themselves, almost as if they knew where to go and what to do on their own.

This was definitely his passion. Building—no, creating. He loved putting things together, and finding the perfect place to fit two pieces together and creating something extraordinary with it. Toby became so lost in what he was doing he didn't notice the sky darkening before finally turning an ink black. A light bulb hanging directly above Toby and a few lamps on the tables were now his only source of light, which was plenty for him.

Toby was so absorbed into his work that he didn't notice headlights light up the window or Jump lift his head when the front door opened. He did, however, notice when his dog barked and ran to the attic door, scratching it eagerly. Toby set down his tools, turning to his dog.

"What is it, boy?" he asked, stretching tiredly from sitting in the same position for so long. Jump nosed the door. It was then that Toby heard the telltale sounds that his father was home. His heart lifted and he jumped off the stool, racing to the door to let himself and Jump out. Jump bolted down the several flights of stairs, wagging his tail and barking. Toby followed not far behind, jumping the last few steps to the bottom floor.

"Dad?" he called out, looking around.

"In the kitchen," was the reply. Toby exited the foyer and entered the large kitchen to see his father standing at the counter pouring himself a brandy. Tenma looked up as his son appeared. "I thought you'd be asleep," he said, capping the glass bottle.

"Nah, I was working on my robot upstairs," Toby replied. "How was work?"

"Fine, fine… " Ice clinked in the glass as Tenma took a sip. "How was school?"

"Great! My math teacher dropped a pop quiz on us but I'm pretty sure I got an A, and in my history class we're going over World History from the 2100's to the 2200's. Right now we're talking about the second Blue Knight and how he rescued Class 1 and 2 StarBorne from the concentration camps during World War VI. That guy is cool, you know? Oh and in my languages class I think I'm finally starting to get the grasp of French, though my tenses are still pretty tricky, and then the funniest thing in PE hap…ha-happened… um..." Toby trailed off and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, realizing his father wasn't paying attention to a word he was saying as he looked down at a blue screen, reading a report for something undoubtedly related to his job. Toby felt his heart slowly sink again.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" he found himself asking his father. Tenma replied with a grunt, completely absorbed in his work. Toby exhaled. "Just more work, I guess," he muttered. "I think I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Dad."

He turned to leave the kitchen but paused in the doorway. Toby turned his head over his shoulder. "Goodnight, Dad!" he called louder.

Tenma looked up from the tablet for half a second. "Yes, uh, goodnight son," he acknowledged, clearly distracted. Toby let out a resigned sigh, having hoped to have a real conversation with him, but once again having failed completely. He trudged back upstairs with slow, heavy feet. His father was more distracted tonight than usual, but that was to be expected with the presentation coming up soon and all. Toby slowly ran his fingers along the wooden banister of the walkway that led to his room, just above the foyer. He knew he was being selfish for thinking so, but…he couldn't help yearn for a little more affection from his busy father. Just something to acknowledge his existence…

With all his meetings, his schedule, and always staying after hours…it's almost as if Dad is trying to avoid me. As soon as the thought crossed his mind he pushed it away, thinking it utterly ridiculous. His father was just busy; he couldn't help it! As the Minister of Science, his schedule was jam-packed, so of course it was going to be hard to spend quality time with his family. But…he could at least make an effort, unless he doesn't think I'm good enough to be his son, that voice whispered in his ear again.

Toby stopped short, pausing in the middle of his bedroom. Was he not good enough? Did his father…resent having him?

'No, no, Dad wouldn't think that at all! He's just busy! I'm sure he loves me!'

But what proof has he given me of that? If he really loved me, wouldn't he have followed through with that promise he made last week to go out with me on my birthday? The voice struck a cord in Toby's mind as his memories traveled back a week ago. Toby had reminded his father of his birthday and his father had actually seemed to want to spend time with him, and had told Toby he would make an effort to do so… But recalling the conversation he'd had with his father this evening on the phone—and the one a few moments ago—it seemed that was all but forgotten.

I'm sure Dad loves me… He does love me… Toby slowly sat on his bed. In his mind he tried to recall the last evidence of love he'd received from his father, something to prove that he wasn't a waste of space in his father's house. His heart sank lower and lower as he dug through his memories—he could hardly remember when his father had even last said "I love you" to him.

A wet nose rubbed against Toby's hand. He blinked away tears he hadn't even realized were there to see Jump sitting in front of him. Jump wagged his short tail and rested his scruffy head on Toby's lap, making him smile softly.

"You always know when I'm upset, don't you?" he whispered, running his fingers through the dog's white and brown fur. Unlike someone else I know, a snide voice whispered in his mind. Toby shoved that thought back where it came from, but the damage was done. The voice was right—his dad never noticed when he was upset. Ever. He never took the time to ask Toby what was wrong, or how to help him—he never noticed the various bruises Toby would bring home once every so often, thanks to a certain prank-happy jerk back at school.

Toby took a shaky breath to calm himself down. His eyes started to blur again, but Toby absolutely refused to let these tears fall. He wasn't a crybaby. He wasn't weak, and he certainly wasn't a spoiled rich kid who needed his dad to solve every single problem. He could get along just fine. He was fine.

He was fine.