Pairings: BernardoXGian, IvanXGian, LuchinoXGian, GiulioXGian, AobaXClear, AobaXVirusXTrip, AobaXRen, AobaXKoujaku, AobaXNoiz, AobaXBakshi, VirusXTripXGian, AobaXGian
Warning: Contains minor hints of rape, violence, extreme swearing and heavy scenes of smut.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dramatical Murder or Lucky Dog 1. All rights go to the respectful owners
Chapter 18 - Dispute
It had been a hard day for Aoba and Ren and Koujaku offered the suggestion that they both get some rest back up stairs. But since he was told about the situation between Noiz and Aoba, he had not said anything else since then. Aoba and Ren both left the party to get some rest as instructed but Aoba left with a pained expression on his face, so it was not sitting well with him after seeing Aoba like that.
His main concern now for the moment, was Noiz and what the man might be up to this time. He respected him for coming back somewhat a changed man but it did not mean he did not hold a grudge all these years. His thoughts about the man had not left him and he still thought of the man as vile and corrupt but an intelligent one at that.
Beni sat on his lap, still not moving since he was snatched out of Noiz's hands. The man had not tinkered with the bird allmate but he did shut his power down to a sleep state. Since Aoba and Ren had gone upstairs with Noiz, Mink had split from the group to go his own separate way while Clear went off to follow after Aoba. Koujaku had been left all alone once more. He got that they all had a purpose for coming here and he was happy with what everyone was thinking but he found it hard to keep control of his anger and his emotions. He would have liked to see Aoba again just to get some sort of peace of mind but he would feel weird if Ren was there sitting with them. On top of that...Aoba had basically confessed that he and Noiz were more or less a couple now.
Coming to terms with his thoughts, Koujaku reactivated Beni and stuck the bird onto his shoulder. The red and white bird ruffled up his feathers and quickly turned his head every which way as though looking for someone. "He's gone. Sorry to have to put you through that, buddy." Koujaku patted the bird on the head without much more thought and got up from the couch.
Bernardo had gone out shortly after getting acquainted with Ren and said he had some urgent business to take care of, not letting the other members of the group know of what the details for him going out were. At first, Ivan had tried stopping the man to ask more about where it was that the man was going but all he got in return were simple, 'It's a secret' sentences. Luchino had backed the man up but he too seemed suspicious of him.
"That youngster sure grew in just a short amount of time. Hard to think he's the same idiot who threw punches." Beni squawked. Koujaku could tell he had been referring to Noiz. It was true that even though three years may seem long enough for some people, it went by pretty quickly for him and he was thankful for it going by so fast as he did not know how much longer he could put up with not knowing where Aoba had gone.
He smiled but bitterly to the thought of what Aoba had said to him just a few minutes ago. He clicked his tongue out of a small bit of frustration and decided to go outside the hotel for some fresh air. As he went past the doors, he noticed that Giulio was just getting back from somewhere. Koujaku watched him as he walked past him, almost as though he unconsciously began to study his movements.
Although he had been with Clear for half the day, he had obviously gone out again and was now just getting back from wherever it was. The man, who was almost just as tall as Mink, paid no attention to his cautious staring. It was as if the whole world did not exist within the man's eyes and that he had only one goal in mind. He felt like he could relate for just that split second.
'So much the same and yet...so very different...' He thought as he watched the man get onto the elevator. The air about Giulio had given Koujaku a slight bit of chills that ran down his spine and his soulless eyes just gave it more of an edge. He had felt the same type of sensation when dealing with some of the Morphine members back on Midorijima island.
The Morphine members may have been under a brainwashing technique but their minds were still able to comprehend things and had only one goal in mind and the vibe they had given off was the same as the one that Giulio had given now. Koujaku tried relaxing his brain from the thought of the Morphine members and about the Rib teams and tried to focus on controlling his anger.
He wanted to be able to keep his cool in front of Aoba and if the past taught him anything, it was something that usually got him into trouble along with bringing trouble for Aoba. Since he didn't want anything like that to happen again, he was determined to use meditation as a means of controlling the anger issues he had. But he also knew how hard it would get because of the flowery tattoo on his back. He felt the only time he would ever have to depend on its odd power, was if Aoba was truly in trouble or if the situation got out of control and if they had no more options. Otherwise, he saw it as a useless painting on his back.
Ivan and Gian had both decided to escort Aoba and Ren back to the rooms followed closely by Noiz and Clear. The two of them were now sitting around at the dining table and had ordered for pizza and hot dogs. They offered Noiz and Clear some of the food to which they got 'no' for an answer. Only Gian was able to tell that both Clear and Noiz were having a small dispute with each other inside their minds as they both had been staring both at one another and at Aoba.
Because Aoba was hungry, he took the offer of food and was now teaching Ren how to eat with his hands. It was funny to him to see a man learning how to eat a slice of pizza and getting pizza sauce all over his face. Gian glanced at Ivan and saw that the man had already finished off two hot dogs and three pizza slices. 'Quickest way is through the stomach...huh.' Gian thought and hummed quietly to himself happily as he ate the last bit of his own hot dog.
Time seemed slow for both Noiz and Clear as they waited for Aoba and Ren to finish eating. They weren't in any hurry but neither one of them wanted the man alone with the other. Aoba took his last bites of his food and made sure there weren't any fallen pieces from Ren's hot dog. The crumbs from the bread of the hot dog bun, speckled across Ren's lips and like any normal human being and animal, he licked them clean.
Aoba couldn't help but stare at the small but pointy fangs that glinted from the room's light. Although they were small, they still resembled the form from when he was a human in his mind, back when he helped Ren from losing his own mind. The man seemed to have noticed his staring and was now staring back at him with a serious look.
He could feel his face burn slightly warmer upon realizing that he had been caught staring and quickly made it look as though he were staring at something else. Aoba randomly picked Clear as the object of his sight. Clear was playing around with the yellow scarf that was hung around his neck. The man could obviously sense him watching because he stopped playing with it and was now looking back at him.
Although he knew it was a bad idea to remain constantly fixated on the man, Aoba felt like he couldn't look away now. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he could not make eye contact properly with Ren like he was doing earlier and was now using Clear to cover up his embarrassed face. 'Great...now he's going to think something weird of me.' But Clear showed no sign of being confused or hateful of him staring but rather, interested.
He gulped and could feel his throat drying despite having a can of pop just a few minutes ago. He had momentarily forgotten the issue between Noiz and Clear. Not that either of them made any notable signs of distress with being in the same room with each other, but Aoba could still feel a slight bit of unease all the same.
A sound of clapping to get their attention bounced off the walls, forcing all withing the room to look to the sound's originator. Gian had now clasped his hands together and was looking around with a giant smile on his face. Aoba had to wonder how it was that he could smile all the time.
"Ivan and I would love to stay forever, pals. But it is nearly bed time for those of us that work so we need to say our prayers and sleep well for the morning!" The man got up swiftly from his chair, followed by Ivan who really did look quite tired and a bit of a mess.
Clear and Noiz as well as Ren and Aoba, all watched the two of them glide to the door with giant steps and after a few more simple waves from Gian, they were gone and now walking down the hall towards the lobby of the floor. After they had disappeared, Ren looked at Aoba.
"Hey. Don't get any funny ideas, dog." Aoba snapped his head around to Noiz. He looked to be scowling at Ren. 'Why's he saying something now?' Aoba thought as he continued to watch helplessly between the two of them.
Ren did not look angry but at the same time probably did not know how to express anger yet and worse, would probably not know how to get rid of that bad feeling should it be there. Aoba stood up from the table unsteadily to his feet and limped towards Noiz.
"He's not like you, Noiz. So I don't want you saying anything unnecessary to him!" He stopped the next few words that were about to fly out of his mouth and looked at warily at Noiz. He didn't mean for the words to sound harsh but he also felt that Ren shouldn't be treated like some kind of animal when he really did not do anything wrong.
The next move surprised Aoba. Noiz let out a small sigh and looked to the side of the room. "If that's how you see me then...give me the ring. It's a hindrance to you isn't it?" Aoba could only stare back at him.
He really did not mean for it to sound that bad but what was he supposed to say when a friend and being who had been with him most of his life, was being bad-mouthed. 'What's this look for? I'm not the one who started this...!' Aoba glared at him. The man was still not making eye contact with him nor did it seem like he was planning to either.
Aoba wasn't sure what to do in this moment. He didn't want to give it back because it was given to him just that day so why was the man so upset with him now? But then there was the chance that Noiz could get even more weird ideas if he hesitated with an answer. All he could do was step back from Noiz, dig into his pants pocket and pull the small box out that held the ring.
He gripped the box in his hand but showed now sign of handing it over to him. Aoba could not help but look down at the floor trying to come up with something cool to say or at least save face from being embarrassed. "Well?" Noiz asked him. He was still staring off to the side.
Clear, who had not moved from his spot, was also watching the scene with interested eyes. Although it hurt him somewhere from within to see the small box in Aoba's hand, he found himself to be smiling slightly at the corners of his mouth even though this should have been a depressing scene.
Still holding onto the box, Aoba opened it and took the ring out. He stared at the ring briefly and then went ahead to trying to put it on his finger. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Clear's facial expressions seemed to be changing every so often. Even though it was only one day of being together with the man and felt that it was going rather fast for such a development, he couldn't help but be moved with how much the man grew within just a few years.
Looking back to how Noiz was reacting with Ren being here, he felt as though it was as if the man was jealous of him. When Noiz did not see anything being handed over, he finally looked at Aoba. The man was holding onto the empty box in one hand while wearing the ring on his other hand. He was looking at it with a sad expression.
"It's still too early for you to be saying these cheesy lines but...I don't mind them." Aoba managed to word out his thoughts. Although Clear get what was going on, Ren however, did not and was wondering what all was happening between them.
It was Noiz's turn to look embarrassed. The man was turning a slight shade of red and was using the temperature of the room as an excuse for looking this way as he was tugging away at the collar of his shirt. He then closed his eyes. 'What could it be now...?' Aoba watched Noiz carefully. He was hoping this would make him look happy but it was having the opposite effect.
Not wanting to see anymore of it, Clear brushed past them in a hurry. "Hmph...not even an apology for bumping into me. Aoba. Does this mean...you're mine?" Aoba could see Noiz was still blushing from what he had done earlier. 'Guess it really did have an effect after all...'
Aoba looked Noiz in the eye. "D-Don't let it get to your head! I just thought that the ring looks better out of the box." He didn't know why he got frustrated all of a sudden and shoved the box into Noiz's hands. "Stupid!" He felt childish for saying such a thing but it was to get back at him for saying something just as rude to Ren from before.
Speaking of Ren, he looked over to him. He immediately hid his face with his hands and tried to calm his heart down from racing so much. Although he knew the man was no longer capable of sensing his emotions or irregular body functions, it was an old habit that was sure to stick with him having been with Ren as a dog for so long.
Noiz approached Aoba and hugged him from behind clearly not caring whether or not Ren was watching. Aoba removed his hands from his face and then used them to try and push the man away, trying hard to pull the man's arms off from around his waist.
"After saying you love me, you try to push me away. Are you tired?" Aoba could feel his face growing hotter by the second as the man continued to feel around his stomach area.
"Are you okay, Aoba?" It seems that Ren could speak properly but only this one sentence. He thought it might have had to do with all the times that he'd felt sick or exhausted. Ren would always ask this question in a very concerned voice just like he was doing now.
"Ah! Wait, Noiz...Ren's still here, idiot!" He could feel Noiz's hands going up his shirt again as he felt the man kiss him at the back of his neck.
Ren went to touch him but Noiz smacked his hand away. "He's fine." Aoba couldn't say anything as he was too stunned about what was happening for the moment. He never wanted Ren to see something erotic on his first day visiting him and especially not with Noiz who they both thought at the time back on the island, was merely a rival within Rhyme.
With an even more confused look on his face, Ren brought his hand to Aoba's face once again. Noiz rejected the man's hand once more. "Idiot! He's only been in his body for a couple of years and they didn't teach him anything." Aoba's hot temper had come back just like it had when Noiz used to get on his nerves in the past.
Ren, who was oblivious to Noiz's actions and snide remarks, was looking at his hand thoughtfully. Aoba could see that it was bothering him as it must be his first time experiencing a slap. He imagined how the man must have looked on the hospital bed and wondered if the doctors were forced to put him to sleep before administering needles.
His thoughts were confirmed once he witnessed Ren licking the back of his hand as though it were a paw. He heard Noiz snicker behind him. "I'm sorry, Aoba. But three is a crowd." And with that said, he gave Ren one last odd stare before turning around to head out of the room. Although Aoba wanted to stop him from leaving so early as he hadn't had time to apologize to Noiz for acting out like a child but he could feel the tension around Noiz slowly vanishing.
'He's probably tired. I know I am...' Aoba rubbed his eyes. It had certainly taken a toll on his body what with meeting Ren for the first time in his new body and being taken out to eat like regular people not to mention with an old friend from his hometown.
Ren stopped licking his invisible wound and stared back at Aoba with an expectant look. "Sorry, Ren. I'm really fine though. Noiz is...just has a lot on his mind I think." Aoba smiled despite feeling the effects of sleep.
The man seemed to have accepted this argument and put his mind to rest and helped Aoba get into bed. Since this was Ren's first time being in a bed like a proper human being, Aoba did not see anything wrong with him going to bed with him like they had when he was a dog. He would sometimes lay curled up into a pile of fluff next to his leg while he slept.
Aoba let out a yawn and saw the chain reaction it had with Ren as he too started yawning without wanting to. Ren shook his head and was about to lick his arms and hands when Aoba had to stop him midway. "Ren, you're a human now. You can't do those things anymore without looking a bit..." Aoba paused from his sentence. He wouldn't know what normal humans do compared to a dog and he was now thankful that the nurses and doctors did not try helping him with his rehabilitation as he would have easily ended up in some sort of lab placement.
He let his head hit the pillow while trying to pull his weak legs over from the side of the bed. Ren, unknowing of how to get in beside him, quickly leaped onto the bed like a dog would. Aoba had to grab the side of the bed just to hang on from being pushed over by Ren.
"Don't move like that, Ren..." Aoba then sat up halfway, propping his elbow into position so that he was half way off the bed. Ren merely stared back at him with a confused look on his face.
"Aoba, you look unwell." The man was not far off from the statement. Aoba was still not feeling well from the day they had and had been plagued with thoughts about his other half coming back to start something over again like how it was before they dealt with the tower.
He was also pressured by four of his friends into choosing a partner. Not to mention having to worry about a random chip that was inserted into his body without his knowledge by Virus and Trip who were still at large and were nowhere to be found. But there was no reason to burden his lifetime companion with such things just yet not until he knew how the world worked as a human being.
"Ren...did you...have a hard time at the hospital?" But Ren was confused as to what he was asking. From what he had gathered, his grandmother had given up after two years but possibly only looked that way to Noiz. And there was the fact that he did not have a chance to tell her that Ren was in a human body instead of an allmate's body.
Which would have meant that Ren was stuck all alone with no visitors but the doctors. He felt a slight twinge from his heart. Ren surprised Aoba when he put a hand to his chest to where his heart was. He was caught off guard and now Ren could feel through his own fingers how his heart was beating.
For some reason, this motion caused his heart to beat a bit faster which in turn, got a questioning look from Ren. "Aoba." The man's voice was the same as he had remembered it being but more clearer. It was a deep tone that remained in his head for a while.
Aoba drew back from Ren's hand. "I said I was fine, Ren. I'm more worried about you, though. Those doctors...did they do anything weird to you?" He knew the reason to why he was asking such a question.
He had known that Virus and Trip had called him regarding having found his twin brother but explained that something was 'off' about him and that they had helped send him to a hospital. The hospital on Midorijima. But a few days later, he as kidnapped and that was when his own private hell began.
"No. I was asleep." Aoba tried to piece together what Ren had meant. Didn't that mean that he would have been asleep for most of his stay there? Now Aoba was really worried.
"But you did eat, didn't you?" Aoba could see the expressions on Ren's face change from confused to realization as though he had remembered something.
Ren nodded. "They fed me." Aoba accidentally gave out a small laugh. He could not help but picture an over-sized man licking one of the nurses who might have worked there. Ren was becoming more confused with Aoba's mood. After having been attached with his emotions for quite some time, he was having a hard time reading his mood since they reunited.
"Forget it, Ren. I would like to know more but it is time for us to get some sleep for now." Aoba smiled and leaned forward to Ren's face. He rested his forehead against Ren's and closed his eyes. It obviously affected Ren in the way he was hoping it would and Ren was now returning the affection.
They had always done this before going to bed or before something big was happening that would require one of them to do something extreme. It was mostly a way of saying, 'I'll come back' or 'Well wishes' but in their case, 'Sweet dreams'.
Aoba could feel Ren's bangs hitting the tip of his nose. He opened his eyes and found that Ren was staring at him. It was going to take a while for him to get used to Ren being in a human form for the rest of his life.
A/N: Boy, sorry again that this took so long to upload, I've been having to do real life stuff a lot this month but i love this fanfic and have big plans for the characters!
If anyone is annoyed or is upset that I made it out that his grandma didn't love him enough to keep hoping, don't worry, she was really worried and still is. It's just that you have to view it from Noiz's point of view cause if he sees Aoba's reactions or just listens to how he says things, he freaks out a bit in his own way and seems to miss the point that a person tries to make.
So in general terms, he could be misinterpreting his grandma caring about his whereabouts. And to those who say, 'Well he knows Aoba's grandmother...' No as he had never been introduced to her but as a hacker, he can see just about anyone's personal info.
But I'll get more into that in the next chapter, there will be some odd moments where you're wondering if he'll break it off with Noiz..well keep reading and find out buds. So yes, Ren is back thank god amirite?
Ren flew in by a helicopter btw in case some people forgot and wondering why he's there already when it should be 3 days total to get there by boat.