Title: Heibon Daycare
Rating: T (just for Aoba's mild cussing)
Fandom: DRAMAtical Murder
Summary: Aoba works daily at the Heibon Daycare. This follows his usual work day, centered around the different children he deals with. Noiz, the cold and silent, rabbit-obsessed four-year-old. Aoba's younger neighbor, Koujaku, who's full of smiles, except when around Noiz. Clear, who insists on calling Aoba "master" after a special encounter. Mink, the young information broker. Trip and Virus, the mischievous duo, and Ren, the polite, animal-attracting boy.
"Aoba!"
His face scrunched up at the brightness that seeped into the room as the curtains to his window were thrown open. Giving a groan at his grandmother's loud, booming voice, he rolled over, shoving his face into the pillow. He was so tired. "Just ten more minutes…"
"Aoba! You're going to be late for work! Get out of bed or I'm going to drag you out!" she shouted angrily, grabbing his blanket and wrenching it from Aoba's tight grasp, flinging it onto the floor a few feet away. Sighing, Aoba rolled over onto his back, opening his eyes slowly, allowing the sun's rays in. Then he realized what Tae had said. Glancing quickly at the clock, he found he had fifteen minutes to make it to work.
Jumping up, he dashed to the pile of clean clothes in his closet. "Ah, thanks, Granny!"
She simply rolled her eyes. "Get an actual, useful alarm clock, would you?" Tae glowered, making her way out of his room and back downstairs.
Realizing that he was in a hurry once more, Aoba resumed dressing himself, shoving on his pants and shirt and brushing his mess of hair at the same time. Grabbing his bag and jacket at the same time, he made his way downstairs in a hurry. Aoba slipped on his shoes and waved a goodbye to his grandmother. "See ya later!"
Exiting the door, he made his way next door, finding Koujaku waiting for him on the steps of the house. "Sorry, I made you wait, Koujaku," he sighed, watching as the five-year old boy got to his feet. Koujaku simply gave his famous grin and grabbed Aoba's hand. "It's okay!" he exclaimed as his small bird, Beni, flapped his wings and perched himself on the boy's shoulders.
Every day, before heading to the daycare center that Aoba worked at, he would pick up his neighbor's son, Koujaku, and take him as well, since he happened to attend there. Aoba often played with Koujaku as it was, so he didn't mind it really.
Looking over to the raven-haired boy who happily held onto his hand, Aoba noticed the band-aid stuck to the bridge of his nose. "Did you hurt yourself again?" he asked, stopping in his walking.
Koujaku looked off to the side, making it known that he was obviously telling a lie. "I-I tripped…when I was playing with Beni."
Aoba frowned. It was obvious. Granny had already explained to him what exactly Koujaku's family's situation was. His mother was a kind, nice woman, but she was poor and didn't have very much money to support both herself and Koujaku, so she turned to marrying a man, Koujaku's step-father, who wasn't exactly the nicest guy. It was after that that Koujaku would come to the daycare with bruises and cuts. Even if they were visible, the boy would never voice or talk about it, always covering it up with lies. It hurt Aoba to see him like that, but there was nothing he could do except watch over Koujaku.
He sighed but gave Koujaku a kind smile. Reaching out, he ruffled the boy's hair. "Alright then, be careful, okay?"
The dark-haired boy smiled and nodded. "Okay!"
Aoba grinned and turned back around, beginning to walk but stopped once more as Koujaku wouldn't move. With a look of concern, he once more turned around. "What is it, Koujaku?"
"Aoba," he looked up with innocent maroon eyes, "when I get older, we're gonna get married."
The blue-haired man stiffened, a look of shock covering his features. Well, he certainly wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth. "Err—We're both boys, Koujaku."
Koujaku blinked. "So?"
There was no way to get through to him, was there? With a defeated expression, he sagged his shoulders. "Fine, we can get married when you're bigger, but I'm not promising to wear a dress or anything."
Koujaku paused in his thoughts. Aoba in a wedding dress…? As an image came to his mind, the boy's cheeks turned red and blood burst from his nose. Aoba jolted from shock and quickly took his sleeve and began wiping at Koujaku's nose. "Sheesh! What happened? Are you okay?!"
Arriving at the daycare, exactly on time, Aoba automatically ushered Koujaku to the bathroom to clean his nose as Haga-san greeted him. "Ah, sorry, Haga-san. I woke up a little late again."
"Oh, not to worry, Aoba-kun," the balding man gave him a smile, "the kids have just started arriving so it's quite alright."
Aoba opened his mouth to speak when suddenly he was hugged around the waist. Peering down, he looked to see the ever quiet and cold blonde boy named Noiz, who, for some reason, harbored affection for the blue-haired worker. Giving a small smile, he patted the boy's head as he buried his face into Aoba's right hip. "Good morning, Noiz."
"…Morning," came the muffled reply.
Aoba wasn't entirely sure as to why Noiz was so attached to him. When he had arrived at the daycare, Noiz was completely off in his own world and would always ignore any kid that wanted to play with him. He'd just sit in the corner, surrounding himself with the toy rabbits. Aoba had noticed this and had decided to talk to him.
"Hey, Noiz," he greeted, bending down to where the blonde boy sat. Noiz simply looked up at him with emotionless green eyes for a second before they flickered back to the stuffed rabbit clutched tightly in his grasp. "What're you up to?" Aoba asked, trying to establish communication.
"…None of your business."
The caretaker frowned. It was always the same cold reply. "You really like rabbits, huh?" he tried again, grabbing one of the stuffed rabbits that surrounded the boy.
"…They're cute," Noiz replied, clutching the bunny closer to his chest. Aoba blinked in surprise before grinning, reaching out, he began to ruffle the boy's hair before a small hand grabbed his wrist to stop him.
"Don't touch me."
"Ah, ok," Aoba spoke, retracting his hand. Looks like it was back to the same old.
"Go away."
"Eh, why?" the older male frowned. "You like being alone?"
"…No," the blonde slowly mumbled, glancing off to the side. "You'll leave me eventually though. Everyone usually does because they think I'm mean."
Aoba remained silent for a few minutes before taking a seat across from the boy. "Well, I don't think you're mean and I'm not leaving."
"…Liar."
"Nope," he shook his head, "you can call me whatever you want, but I'm sitting here all day. I won't move from this spot."
"Ever?"
"Nope."
"…Whatever."
Noiz went back to doing whatever he felt like doing to pass the time. He'd play with the different toys in the bins and would walk around; sometimes he'd get asked to play with the other kids but would end up denying them. However, no matter what he did, Aoba would be waiting in the same spot. Even when he stayed in the bathroom for a whole ten minutes just to test it, Aoba was waiting.
Deciding that enough was enough, he approached the caretaker. "Stop sitting there."
"No. I told you I was gonna sit here all day, didn't I? That's what I'm gonna do," Aoba crossed his arms and gave a grin.
Noiz stared at him for a few moments, as if trying to see if Aoba was telling a lie. With a sigh, he then lowered himself to sit across from the older male. "…Alright."
Aoba smiled brightly and reached out to ruffle the kid's hair, much to Noiz's dismay. "Good boy."
Going back to the present, Aoba glanced down at the blonde. "You know, I can't put my apron on with you clinging to me like that," he grinned. Noiz looked up, made a thoughtful face, and then shifted over to simply hold onto Aoba's hand. With that, it was easy for the bright-haired man to reach over and take his apron off the hook, his nametag visible as he slipped it over his neck, releasing Noiz's hand for a small second so he could tie the back. "There we go."
It was then that Noiz looked up and spoke. "Potty."
Aoba blinked for a second before processing what he meant. "Alright, go then. Hurry up, though, activity time is gonna start soon." The child nodded and then went off to the bathroom.
He looked around as the different children arrived, being dropped off by their parents or siblings that were on their way to school. As he pursed his lips in thought, a finger tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he smiled at the realization that it was just Mizuki. "Ah, morning, Mizuki. Shouldn't you be at school?"
Mizuki was a friend of Aoba's as well as a university student. As far as he knew, the morning classes at the university started in twenty minutes or so. The brunette simply laughed. "I'm heading there, but my aunt wanted me to drop off these two for the day." Glancing down, Aoba grimaced at the most troubling kids that came to the daycare—Trip and Virus.
They both looked very similar, same styled blonde hair and similar clothing. The only way to tell them apart was that Trip was the taller of the two and Virus wore glasses. Also, Trip was five, while Virus was only four. However, they had looked so similar, that their mother decided to dress them similarly, like twins. There was also the fact that Trip was adopted, which made it even more odd that they looked almost like twins.
"Aoba-san," Virus smiled brightly at the caretaker, eyes gleaming.
Mizuki simply grinned at Aoba before giving a salute. "See ya later, Aoba," and with that he left.
They must have been getting on his nerves too.
With a sigh, he ushered the two brothers to take off their shoes and put on their slippers. "Go join the others and get ready for the activity for the morning." The two frowned and pouted at this and Aoba pushed lightly at their backs. "Go."
"But we wanted to play with Aoba," Trip grinned while Virus nodded.
"Aoba-san is fun to play with~."
He shook his head before giving a glare. "Go. Now." With a sigh given from Virus, the two boys made their way to the inner circle where the rest of the kids were gathered, chatting amongst themselves and waiting for the day to begin.
Aoba stiffened, however, as he began to hear shouting from the bathroom. He'd completely forgotten! It was well known that Koujaku and Noiz absolutely did not get along. And he, the idiot, had allowed them both into the bathroom at the same time. Dashing over and opening the door, Aoba gawked as he saw the two boys grabbing and clawing at each other on the floor "Shit!" he cursed.
"Oi, you two, quit it!" he shouted, running over and grabbing onto Koujaku who was on top of the younger blonde. Holding him up by his shirt, the dark-haired boy soon realized it was Aoba holding him back and stopped in his movements. "A-Aoba…"
The azure-haired man opened his mouth to reprimand him, but stopped at the guilty look in the boy's eyes. He sighed before smiling. "It's alright, but what happened?"
Noiz sat up, adjusting the straps of his suspenders and dusting off his shirt. "He hit me because I told him that he looked dumb with a nosebleed." With those words, Koujaku released a growl. Aoba sighed again. Noiz was always getting into trouble like this because of what he said.
"For one, we don't tell people that they're dumb or they look dumb. Be nice to others, Noiz. Also," Aoba looked over to Koujaku, brushing off the dirt from the boy's shirt, "we don't hit people when they say mean stuff like that. We use our words, and not the bad ones. In the best case scenario, we walk away."
Koujaku gave a guilty frown and nodded. "…Okay,"
"As long as you understand," Aoba grabbed hold of Koujaku's hand, but blinked as something hugged him along the waist again. Looking down, he found Noiz looking back at him blankly. Smiling, Aoba pushed open the door and walked back into the main room of the daycare center. "Okay, now you two go sit down and behave, alright?"
It was then that Haga-san called attention to all of the children, hushing them instantly. The first activity of the day was a fun and artistic one. The kids all sat at the tables and began drawing their favorite person.
"Master! Master!"
Looking up from the little girl he was chatting with as she drew her mother, Aoba saw the white-haired boy named Clear running up to him. Now, this kid was definitely the strangest of the bunch. Not only had he managed to be friendly to the scariest boy in the class, Mink, but he also arrived at the daycare a year ago wearing a mask. It was a mask made of construction paper with a simple smiley face drawn on it. No matter what, he refused to ever take it off, even when the caretakers pleaded or asked him to. However, that all changed when one day Noiz and Koujaku had gotten into their daily fights.
"Boys, boys, calm down!" Haga-san pleaded as the two children rolled on the ground. Aoba looked up from the two girls he was currently having "tea time" with to see Noiz and Koujaku going at it again. With a sigh, he stood and rushed over to where Haga-san stood. However, it was too late.
The two rolled into the table where the paint from earlier in the day had been laying out. A tub of green paint wobbled before tumbling down right onto the unsuspecting head of Clear. Gasps were heard in the classroom as it spilled into the boy's perfect white hair and staining his mask. Noiz and Koujaku finally stopped their fighting to see what they'd done.
"Clear, are you okay?" Aoba rushed over to the four-year old. "Here, let me help clean your face—"
"No!" the usually polite boy shouted, slapping away Aoba's hand and running across the room and into the bathroom. His golden hues widened as Aoba stared at the hand that was pushed away. Did he really not want the mask to come off that badly? Haga-san gave him a look and jerked his head towards the bathroom. Aoba nodded and made his way over to the boy's bathroom.
Slowly and gently, he opened the door, instantly hearing sobbing coming from one of the stalls. "Clear? Can you come out? I just wanna talk to you, okay?" Silence met him for a minute or so before the stall door creaked open and the green-splattered boy emerged. Aoba bent down to his height. "Can you tell me why you won't take off that mask, Clear? You don't have to if you don't want to."
"…Grandfather told me to never show my face. He told me that…that I'm not normal," the boy murmured.
"So what if you do look weird or different? Everyone looks different. Even if you did look strange, no one would ridicule it," Aoba spoke, reaching out to hold Clear's hand in his.
"Y-You really think so? You won't hate me if I look weird?"
The man smiled and shook his head. "Nope. Not at all."
"You swear?"
Aoba curled pinky fingers with the child. "Pinky swear."
"…Okay, I'll take it off," Clear released Aoba's hand and lifted them to his ruined mask. Slowly, he untied it from the back and let it fall from his face. Aoba couldn't help but smile. Of course, Clear looked just the same as any other kid, with the exception of the green paint smeared onto his face. His skin was a fair, pallid tone, and his eyes were a light pink. The only blemishes or marks on his face were the two small moles underneath his bottom lip. Standing up, Aoba went over to the sinks, taking a paper towel and wetting it. Going back to the dirtied boy, he began wiping the paint from his face.
"A-Am I normal? I don't look weird, do I?!" Clear asked desperately, scared because Aoba hadn't spoken a single word.
The caretaker only smiled. "You look the same, just like everyone else, Clear. Just like me." The pinkened hues of the boy became watery and tears trickled down his cheeks.
"R-Really?"
"Really, really."
After that, Clear had ditched the paper mask and became extremely attached to Aoba. Don't get him wrong. It wasn't that Aoba hated the kid or anything. He just didn't like him calling him "Master" all the time. It was just…strange.
"Uh, hey, Clear, what is it?" He asked as the boy ran up before handing him his drawing.
"I drew you, Master!" Clear chirped happily.
Aoba blinked. "Um, thank you, Clear," he said before looking down at the drawing in his hands. It was drawn by a five-year-old, so of course it wasn't perfect, but he could tell that it was himself and the boy surrounded by…jellyfish?
"Clear, are these jellyfish?" he asked, flipping the drawing around to show the artist as he pointed to the little drawn jellyfish that surrounded the stick figure Aoba and Clear.
"Yes! I really like jellyfish so I thought Master would like them too!" he replied, eyes gleaming in excitement.
Not to discourage the boy's imagination or happiness, Aoba gave a smile. "I-Is that so? Thank you, Clear." The white-haired kid's smile widened and he hugged Aoba around the waist. "I'm glad that Master likes it!"
Meanwhile, Aoba had forced Koujaku and Noiz to sit across from each other at a table as punishment. The air was dark around the two, the tension as sharp as a knife. As the two boys scribbled on their paper angrily, the surrounding tables were scared out of their wits. However, soon Koujaku smiled brightly at his finished product. It was a drawing of his mother, whom he loved dearly. "I hope she likes it," he mumbled to himself, catching the attention of Noiz who was drawing a bunny.
Koujaku looked over and couldn't help but laugh at it. A boy who liked rabbits? How girly! "We're supposed to draw our favorite person and you draw a bunny? Pff—hahahahaha!"
The blonde looked up, green eyes emotionless. He didn't say anything for a moment before he reached over and quickly snatched Koujaku's paper from his hands. The boy gawked and reached over to stop the thief only to freeze as Noiz looked up and opened his mouth.
"Is this supposed to be a hippo or something?"
The reaction from Koujaku was almost instantaneous. Leaping over the table, he tackled the other boy to the ground, drawing forgotten, causing an uproar from the rest of the children. Aoba looked up from the table on the other side of the room to see the commotion. He knew he shouldn't have put them over there in the corner so far away!
As the two struggled and rolled around they bumped into the boy seated next to where Noiz was previously sitting, causing his hand to go all the way across his paper, making a giant line of paint across it. Unknowingly to the boys who were wrestling, they'd just messed with the scariest kid in the room—Mink.
Gritting his teeth, the brunette stood to where his fellow classmates fought. With a sigh, he separated them both with a tight grip on either one of their heads with either hand. Koujaku and Noiz looked up, but not fast enough as Mink knocked their two heads together roughly, effectively causing both of them to lose consciousness and cease their fighting.
As Aoba finally reached the other side of the room, along with Haga-san, they found Mink sitting on top of Koujaku, who was laying ass-up on the ground, and repainting his drawing quietly.
Aoba sighed. "What the hell…"
There wasn't much that he knew about Mink. For a boy, he was very secretive. However, on the way to the daycare one day, he discovered that the brunette was pretty mature for his age.
Aoba sighed as he walked down the street. It was pretty quiet without Koujaku around. He'd gotten sick with a fever and Granny had decided to take over and care for him for the day, since his parents were off at work and Aoba had to work at the daycare as usual. Turning the corner, he stopped at the sight of a familiar face.
Mink was standing there with an elementary student that was only a few inches taller than him. What was he up to? Hiding behind the wall, Aoba watched with obvious interest. He couldn't hear what they were whispering about, but he watched as Mink reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of…candy? With a small smile, the brunette handed it to the older kid and watched as he ran off and up the street.
Now he was really interested on what Mink was doing. But, he didn't want to intrude and let himself be known so he only waited for Mink to walk away.
"You're not very secretive, you know," he suddenly spoke, loud enough for it to reach Aoba's ears. He was found out.
Emerging from the corner, he walked towards the kid who had on his usual displeased expression. "I was just wondering what you were doing. You should be at the daycare already. What were you doing with that other kid?"
Mink's blue eyes studied him for a moment before he spoke. "I exchanged candy with him so I could get information out of him."
"…Come again?"
The kid sighed, placing his hand on his hip. "Street gossip is pretty wealthy around these parts. I get what I want out of people by using the information I have."
Aoba just raised an inquisitive brow. This boy was like a tiny information broker. Kids were so weird these days. Should he tell Mink's parents about this? Surely they wouldn't want him delving into things like that. As he thought on this, he felt a tug on the hem of his shirt. Looking down, he saw Mink looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"I got information on you too," he murmured in a serious tone. "So don't go thinking that you can tell my mom about this little talk we had—unless you want information about your past with Rhyme to be leaked out."
Yeah, he admitted he got into some serious shit as a teenager. Aoba couldn't remember a huge chunk of his Rhyme experience, but he knew he did some bad stuff. That information couldn't be leaked out or his job at the daycare would be ruined, even if he was a different person now. Still…
How the hell did Mink, a snot-nose kid, know about that?!
Aoba nearly cringed at the memory, but moved on back to the present. Looking at Mink with suspicious eyes, he pointed to Noiz and Koujaku who lay on the ground, out cold. "You know about what happened here?"
The brunette shrugged and went back to his doodling. "I dunno."
The day continued with snack time at ten and then followed by lunch at twelve. The lunch for the day was a simple chicken noodle stir-fry prepared by the daycare cooks, along with miso soup and milk. The lunch went by quietly as Koujaku and Noiz were separated at the table as Aoba sat between them, the only way to shut them both up effectively. Clear and Mink sat across from them, the brunette eating his food silently as Clear chatted about all sorts of things. It was odd how the two became friends when Mink rarely uttered a word. Aoba was just glad that Clear was happy to hang out with him.
At one, the children were let outside to play on the playground. Clear opting to chase around and try to capture a butterfly while Mink followed behind him, equally determined to capture the poor bug with the nets. Koujaku had gone off to play with a few of the girls on the monkey bars. Aoba predicted that kid was gonna be a lady killer somehow when he got older.
However, the majority of the kids were surrounded by a single boy. Ren was mildly popular outside, mainly for his odd ability to attract all of the animals and insects. As he sat on the single white swing that stood by itself in the corner of the yard, all of the birds gathered on the top bar, even Beni was there. A squirrel sat by his feet while a cat managed to lay itself in Ren's lap. Even the ants formed a circle around his feet. All of the kids kept asking questions, most of them relating to "how do you do that" or "teach me how to do that", but Ren would politely decline and tell them he wasn't sure.
Virus and Trip were off in the sandbox, building an intricate castle that should be impossible for a five and six-year-old's skill level. As for Noiz, he managed to drag Aoba over to the swings and swung back and forth contentedly as Aoba pushed him.
Looking closely at the "twins", he saw them whispering to each other. Were they scheming something? Either way, Aoba's curiosity was at its peak. Stopping in his pushing movements, he began walking towards the sandbox. "I'll be back in a second, Noiz. Push yourself for a bit."
Approaching both Virus and Trip, they both turned to look at who was intruding only to smile at the sight of Aoba. Sitting on the edge of the sandbox, he peered at their sand castle. "What're you two up to?"
Virus smiled innocently as Trip kicked over their perfect sand castle, as if to destroy some kind of evidence. "Nothing out of the ordinary, Aoba-san! It's actually great that you came here. We have something to ask you."
Trip continued to stomp on the pile of sand that was once a castle. "Aoba, have you ever—"
"—kissed someone?" Virus finished his brother's question.
Aoba's chin dropped and his mouth fell open in shock. That was not the type of questions kids of their age usually asked. And why did they even care? "Wh-What?"
"Just answer the question, Aoba," Trip grinned.
"Yes, answer."
Knowing these two, they'd pester and pester him until he gave an actual answer. With a sigh, Aoba glanced off to the side. "W-Well, yeah, of course I have."
"Good, good," Virus nodded, "because we were wondering about something. While we were sitting here a few seconds ago, some ladies over there," he pointed to the bus stop that was located on the other side of the fenced-in playground, "were talking."
"What's an 'affair', Aoba?" the slightly taller blonde asked, moving to stand beside Virus.
…How in the world did their parents deal with them? Aoba hung his head. Of course, they'd be curious about things like that, they were kids, but for them to ask about affairs of all things? This was overkill. Scratching his head, Aoba racked his brain for an answer that was simple for them to understand.
"Um…It's something that adults do that's really mean," he answered slowly. "You should never do it because it hurts other people's feelings."
Trip and Virus looked at each other for a moment in thought before smiles bloomed across their faces. It seemed that they accepted that as a reasonable answer. "Alright then—"
Trip bent down and quickly scooped up sand, throwing it into Aoba's eyes. The caretaker gasped and closed his eyes just in time for the two brothers to kiss both of his cheeks. They laughed at the look on Aoba's face and grabbed each other's hands, making a break for it.
What. In. The. World.
Opening his eyes, he found both Virus and Trip laughing and running towards Haga-san shouting. "We're having an affair with Aoba! We're having an affair with Aoba!"
As Aoba sat there gawking like an idiot, Koujaku, who'd witnessed the whole event, made an angry face and started towards the mischievous pair, burning with jealousy. Aoba was supposed to be his wife! However, he took a few booming steps, only to trip over his own two feet. Noiz, who witnessed the fall, only gave a twitch of a smile. "Idiot."
Jumping up with blood dripping from his nose, Koujaku tackled Noiz for the third time that day and the fighting ensued once more.
Then nap time came around at two o'clock and the caretakers brought out the mats, blankets and pillows for all of the children. Usually, it was Aoba's break time, but Haga-san's back wasn't doing so well so the younger male offered to fill in and watch the kids while Haga-san went on break instead.
It had already been twenty minutes since and the majority of the kids were already fast asleep, even Aoba himself was beginning to nod off a bit. With the quiet and sudden peace within the dark room, it was hard not to be tired himself. The kids always wore him out as it was. Just as he was about to stand and fetch Haga-san to switch so he could go on break, a small hiccup resembling a sob filled the room. Aoba stood and looked around to try and decipher which one of the kids it was and found little Ren curled up on his mat with tears streaming down his cheeks. Hurrying over, he knelt by the crying child quietly. "Ren, what's wrong?" he whispered, catching the attention of the dark-haired boy.
Ren opened his watery amber eyes and sniffled. "Ah, I'm sorry. D-Did I wake anyone up?"
Aoba shook his head and wiped the tears from the boy's face with his sleeve. "Never mind that, tell me what's up. You can't sleep?"
"I-I can't because I-I can't sl-sleep without Sei with," he paused in his sentence while he hiccupped, "with me."
"Sei?"
Ren nodded. "He's my doggy."
Aoba did recall seeing Ren usually carry around a stuffed dog with him. Today he didn't have it with him. That must be what it was. He frowned. "Hmm. Is there anything you can do to sleep without him?"
The boy bit his lip, looking up to Aoba and thinking. It was then that he caught the sight of Aoba's bright blue hair. It calmed him. Sei also had blue hair, though it was much darker. "…Your hair."
"My hair?" Aoba raised a brow. "What about it?"
"Y-Your hair reminds me of Sei," Ren reached up to try and grasp it. The caretaker sighed. He really didn't like other people touching his hair, which was why he usually cut it himself. But it really seemed like the only thing that would calm down the boy.
"Here," Aoba lifted up Ren's blanket, "move over. I'll climb in with you, okay?"
Ren blinked but scooted over enough for the adult and himself to fit. Immediately as Aoba lied down, Ren moved over and buried his face into the man's hair. A sort of calmness seeped into his veins and he soon felt tired. Aoba smiled as Ren's eyes slipped shut.
Three cots away, Noiz lifted his head to find that Aoba wasn't in his usual seat by the window like always. Panicking a bit and sitting up, he searched the dark room to find Aoba lying down by Ren. Infuriated that Aoba gave Ren attention and not to himself, he picked up his blanket and pillow and walked over to where Aoba lay. Without a word, he lied down and cuddled himself next to the adult's side. The caretaker gawked, reaching out to attempt and push the boy away only to realize that Noiz was suddenly fast asleep.
Mink lifted his head at the sound of shuffling to see Noiz and Ren curled up to Aoba. Making a displeased face, he pushed over Koujaku (who was in a deep slumber) and rolled him over by the caretaker's hip and rested his head on the raven-haired boy's stomach, using him as a pillow.
Clear opened his eyes to find that Mink, who usually slept beside him, was gone. Noticing him curled up a few feet away beside his master, he blinked and hurriedly scrambled over to where Mink lay. Without delay, he climbed and laid himself on top of Aoba's chest, his head pressed over Aoba's heart. The slow, lulling tempo soothed Clear. It was a sound unknown to him.
And with that, Aoba found himself in quite the predicament.
He couldn't shake them off because they were sleeping. He also couldn't say anything because of the other children in the room. Sure it was nice that they could all sleep like this, but he didn't like being used as a pillow, or a bed in Clear's case. Turning his head, he spotted Virus and Trip sleeping only one mat away, curled up on a single mat with their hands intertwined like twins. Aoba breathed out a sigh of relief. At least those two hadn't woken up and joined the party.
"Aoba-kun?" Haga-san whispered as he poked his head in the door from the other room.
"Down here," Aoba quietly murmured in reply, lifting his free arm as a signal. The bald man spotted him and couldn't help but chuckle at his co-worker's situation. This only angered Aoba. Couldn't he do something to help?!
"Help me…!" he whispered in a panicked tone, pointing to himself and the children curled up to him.
Haga-san shook his head and laughed. "Oh, ho, Aoba-kun, I'm afraid I can't."
Aoba's frowned deepened. It looked like he was stuck like that until nap time was over. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
"Thanks a lot."