He had been sneaking around all morning and all afternoon. He wanted to find a safe place for the present he had spent weeks finding and wanted to make sure it was the perfect present to give. He hoped that Noiz wouldn't find it although Aoba knew Noiz had 'ways' of getting anything out of him and also knew that he enjoyed doing it also. Aoba promised himself that he wouldn't give in to Noiz no matter what he did. Noiz would just have to wait until his birthday the next day and not a day before. Aoba had gotten more than a few presents for him even though that he knew Noiz wasn't the type to really enjoy being handed gifts or celebrate his birthday but did it for Aoba. He had finally found a space big enough for the presents and had tried to make it look not too noticeable. When Aoba was done, he was quite pleased with himself for not making it so. Aoba walked into the kitchen to make himself something to eat and wait for Noiz to come home.
As he was cooking, he heard a knock on the door and had went to answer it. When he did, he was surprised and happy to see that it was Clear and Koujaku. Clear, very happy to see Aoba, nearly knocked him over hugging him tightly while Koujaku laughed and helped Aoba up.
"Master we came to visit you." Clear said.
"We just wanted to see how you were doing and Clear thought it was a good idea, so did I." Koujaku explained.
"I'm very happy happy to see both of you. Come in and have lunch with me so we can catch up." Aoba said to them both, smiling.
Clear and Koujaku did so and had followed Aoba into the kitchen and the table. They placed the food and sat before starting to talk about how they were doing since it had been months seeing each other. As they were eating, they heard footsteps coming up to the front door. When it opened, Noiz had stepped in taking off his boots. In his arms was Ren who remained calm in Noiz's arms until he had set him down.
"Noiz what were you doing with Ren?" Aoba asked.
"He had a worm in him so I fixed him and I had to go do stuff. He said.
"Are you okay Ren? I didn't know you had a worm." Aoba said to him apologetically.
"I'm fine, the worm couldn't be found by me. Noiz was able to stop it and repair me." Ren said.
"What are they doing here?" Noiz asked with curiosity.
"We came to visit Master!" Clear said happily with a smile.
"We just wanted to see how Aoba was doing." Koujaku said sharply.
Both Koujaku and Noiz stared at each other. Aoba and Clear were too familiar of what was about to happen if they didn't calm the situation. Aoba diffused the situation by offering Noiz some lunch. Noiz agreed and sat next him and across from Koujaku. They ate lunch and talked without any fighting breaking out. Koujaku had asked Aoba to hangout the next day but Aoba told him that he had other plans. Koujaku smiled and thanked him for lunch before taking his leave. Clear also thanked Aoba and promised to come visit him next time. Clear hugged Aoba and smiled before opening up his umbrella and taking his leave as well.
The only other person that still hadn't left was Noiz, who was finishing up the last few bites of his food before going to the couch. Immediately, different sizes of screens popped up and Noiz began going through different screens while typing on his keyboard. Aoba noticed this and had wondered what Noiz was doing. Aoba placed Ren on the couch next to him and watched Noiz's eyes move from left to right.
"Noiz? What are you doing?" Aoba asked.
"Giving Rhyme information to different teams." He said without looking at Aoba.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" He asked.
"No, just this." Noiz said.
"Oh, okay." Aboa replied rather sad.
Aoba got up and picked up Ren as he walked towards his bedroom, Noiz took a moment to glance up at Aoba enough to see the last few strands of his hair. As Noiz finished up, he wrote a note to Aoba before heading towards the door and to put his boots back on. He looked back noticing that Aoba hadn't come out to bid him goodbye. Noiz opened the door then closed it behind him before walking to his own place to do some more work.
"Aoba, is everything okay?" Ren asked, looking at him.
"Tomorrow is Noiz's birthday and I got him presents but I don't think he cares about his birthday." Aoba said.
"I see. Have you told Noiz?" Ren asked.
N-no, I mean I would think Noiz would know that his birthday is tomorrow, right?" Aoba asked.
"I think it's better to tell him." Ren replied.
Aoba went out of his room and looked to see if Noiz was still in his house. After checking the kitchen and table, he saw a note on the coffee table that was written in his hand writing. Aoba sat down on the couch to read the note that had Noiz's handwriting on it.
Aoba,
Sorry if I seemed to hurt your feelings. If you like, we can spend tomorrow together and do whatever you like.
- Noiz
Aoba looked at the note and a smile started to show on his face. He hoped that maybe, he could help celebrate his birthday in some way. Aoba went back to sleep while listening to music as he silently slept.
The next day, Aoba had gotten ready and when he was finished, he had placed Ren in his bag then headed into the living room. He didn't know if Noiz was supposed to meet him at his house or not but Aoba decided to wait first rather than leaving. He waited about 30 minutes before a call came. It was Noiz. When Aboa answered, Noiz told him he would stop by his house to pick him up since it was the 'polite' thing to do. He also said that he was running somewhat late due to giving out last minute information about the next Rhyme Battle. Aoba thanked him for calling and both hung up. This made Aoba glad that he didn't leave like what he originally thought he should do. Aoba relaxed awhile and 10 minutes later, a knock at the sounded. It was Noiz who was waiting patiently for Aoba.
They went to different shops and got different foods to eat along the way. As they walked along the sidewalk, Aoba and Noiz passed by a small shop. He peered inside the window and wondered if Noiz knew it was his birthday.
"Noiz?" Aoba asked.
"What?" He asked.
"Don't you want to get anything special for yourself?" Aoba asked.
"Special?" Noiz questioned.
"Well, today is your birthday if you forgot." Aoba said to him a little quietly.
"I know. I don't celebrate it. Just another day to me." He said to Aoba.
Aoba's mood fell slightly. He was hoping that they good go out and have a good time and later on, he could give him the presents. He went quiet for awhile as they did different things quietly without even a single word to each other. Eventually, it annoyed Noiz that there was silence even though he didn't mind, he'd rather just be by himself if there was not even some conversation between him and Aoba.
"Why are you so quiet now?" Noiz asked.
"We would need to go home for me to show you." He answered.
"We can if you want." Noiz said.
After carrying their bags to Aoba's house and took off their shoes and boots, Aoba went to another room and when he returned, Noiz was surprised that in Aoba's arms were presents. He sat them down on the coffee table in front of Noiz and he saw that there were from Aoba, Clear, and even Koujaku. When he opened up Koujaku's present, he thought it was going to be something that he'd get to piss off Noiz but instead, it was a new green rabbit mask that had a few piercings on each ear and was the same color as his old one. When he opened Clear's present, he thought it was going to be something weird but he had come to respect Clear even though he did find some of the things he did 'weird'. Opening it, he found that it was a set of new technology that he could use to hack those without any interference from others' security system and can't be traced back to the source.
"Clear said it would probably take you minutes to figure out." Aoba said to him.
Noiz smiled at the two presents he had opened. He never thought that Clear or Koujaku would give him a present but figured that for Koujaku, it was only to make Aoba happy while Clear was just happy to do.
He looked at the last present that was from Aoba. He wondered what Aoba had gotten him. When he opened the present, it was a picture of him and Aoba that he had never seen before.
"S-sorry, I'm not very good with gifts." Aoba said embarrassed.
Noiz looked at him and smiled before placing a kiss on his lips. The picture was of Aoba and him appearing to lay on the ground and looking up at the sky. Aoba, in the pic, had kissed Noiz. It was one of their first 'dates' they had gone on.
"If you don't like it, we can get you something else." Aoba said.
"Why wouldn't I like it? It was after you used Scrap on me to make me feel pain, something I could never do before I had met you." Noiz told him.
Aoba blushed and looked down quickly so Noiz wouldn't see but Noiz once again laughed and kissed him on his lips but this time, rougher than before. Noiz would soon be getting abother birthday present as they headed for Aoba's room.