Cross posted on tumblr and ao3

I don't own DMMd

On the day of heading out to Keisen once more, Noiz waited as patiently as he could manage. He may or may not have arrived earlier than agreed, and thus battled the cold weather on his own. Noiz shifted from foot to foot to keep warm, not minding too much that it was growing closer to 8am.

He was fine with going to Keisen on his own, even though he had advised his contact that another person may be joining him. But, he didn't bet on it. Aoba had always had been in poor form in the morning, and Noiz used to just leave him be.

"Noiz!"

Perking up, Noiz looked to his left, a smile almost picking up his features until he saw the person walking beside Aoba. Noiz didn't bother to hide the scowl as the duo came closer, and glared back when Koujaku greeted him with such a look.

For his effort, Koujaku looked just as displeased to be there as Noiz looked to see him. No amount of mediation from Aoba was going to quell the animosity between them.

"He can't come."

Aoba looked positively displeased, and went to argue when Noiz cut him off once more.

"I'm not saying this as I don't want him to be here - which I don't," Noiz shot Koujaku a very pointed look, "I'm saying this as my contact only knows of two people going into Keisen. Not three."

"Well can't you contact your … contact?" Koujaku waved his hand angrily, as if ushering Noiz off.

Noiz went to open his mouth to retaliate, but decided against it. The look Aoba was giving him was not worth it.

Sighing in resignation, Noiz turned away. "I can't just do that."

Koujaku clicked his tongue, clear annoyance on his face at the answer. Tense silence fell over the three of them, as Noiz waited for someone to break it. He was not going to be the first.

"I'll go."

Noiz and Aoba looked at Koujaku in surprise. Huffing, Koujaku felt his cheeks warm as he tried to explain himself.

"Aoba, you said that you were probably going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting -"

Aoba cut in, clear anger in his voice. "I'm not delicate, Koujaku."

Backtracking, Koujaku held up his hands in defense. "I know, I know. I'm saying, you and Noiz go in and find what you need and I'll … come in after Aoba comes back out. Or something like that."

"As long as Noiz is in Keisen, one of us can go in and out, right?"

Corner of his mouth quirking in amusement, Noiz sent Koujaku a sidewards glance. "Who knew you'd be able to bend rules, old man?"

Koujaku snarled in response, but held his tongue as Aoba pushed past him. "If we don't get started we'll be here all day. Let's go, Noiz."

Grinning as Koujaku merely flailed in the background, Noiz allowed himself to be dragged through Keisen's gates. Despite feeling several sets of eyes on him, Noiz didn't seem to mind.

And that was wholly because for half a minute, he had seen that flash of gold in Aoba's eyes.

Eventually, Noiz took the lead, as it became clear that Aoba had no idea where he was going. Aoba stuck close to Noiz for most of the way, looking back and forth at the piles of rubbish and abandoned utilities.

"Hey, Noiz?"

Noiz hummed out his response, hunching his shoulders when Aoba stepped a little too close for comfort. He swore he felt a hand press against his back, but blamed it on Aoba losing his balance.

"Are you okay?"

Clicking his tongue, Noiz ignored the question. He hated that question. Walking a memorised path, Noiz shoved his hands deep in his pockets, and increased his pace. They were getting close, finally.

Behind him, Aoba hurried to keep up, and was trying ever so hard not to trip over his own feet. In an exasperated tone, he finally called out, "Noiz, where are you going?"

Sending one glance over his back, Noiz sighed quietly. "There's a warehouse ahead."

"That's where we're going?"

"Yep."

Aoba fell quiet once more at Noiz's confirmation, before calling in a small voice, "He's not a bad guy you know."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Noiz merely stopped short, and turned on his heel. "Aoba, I don't care." He ignored the way Aoba nearly collided into him, and just insisted on being a rather difficult person.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to go off every time you see each other."

"I really don't care. And why aren't you giving Koujaku this talk too?"

Aoba narrowed his eyes. "I did. And he acted the exact same way as you are now." Pausing, Aoba smirked as a thought seemed to pass through his mind. "You two are very similar, you know that?"

That finally did it for Noiz. "Fuck you, Aoba," he spat, then stormed off, reaching the warehouse in no time.

He ignored Aoba's insistent calls as he opened the door. Wincing as the doors squealed in pain, once it was open enough he slipped inside.

"Noiz, where did you go?"

Placing his hands on his hips, Noiz took a few moments to himself, counting under his breath slowly, before he walked back to the door and opened it wider. Aoba didn't seem too upset that Noiz had walked off, instead brushing past into the warehouse, eyes widening.

"Is this where you found him?"

"Him?" Confusion coloured Noiz's tone, which had Aoba laugh lightly.

"The robot." Obviously, Noiz thought, as he looked away.

"Let's just get on with it," he puffed, pulling a flashlight out of his coat pocket. Noiz held it up high and began to slowly walk around, scaring a few mice in the process.

Aoba followed him closely, muttering how he didn't realise they'd need one, when Noiz passed him his. Before Aoba could protest, Noiz fished another from inside his coat, smiling as Aoba gaped at him.

"I know you, Aoba," was all he said, as he headed off in a different direction.

"We're looking for fingers, by the way. Or anything that resembles a leg. Body parts, y'know."

"That sounds terrible!" Aoba's voice echoed through the warehouse as he exclaimed loudly.

Noiz shrugged. "Well, it's missing them."

"I know, but …" Aoba trailed off, and didn't voice any further complaints as they searched the area.

After two hours, Aoba's coil sprang to life, which had Aoba jump and fumble to answer it. Noiz drowned out Aoba talking to Koujaku, as he came across the leg he was looking for. It was in far better shape than the rest of the robot, and Noiz had to wonder how it had been separated.

"I'm going back. Koujaku will be here soon."

Receiving no response from Noiz, Aoba left, turning to look over his shoulder once. Noiz felt his gaze linger longer than it should have, and then it was gone.

It would have been far easier for him to do this on his own. He knew that. That way he would be able to focus on collecting the bits and pieces for the robot sitting in the back of the shop, than having to sit through a Spanish Inquisition that was surely going to come from Koujaku.

Noiz sighed to himself when he heard the loud footsteps from outside, and made an effort to stand. Koujaku came into view, looking a little dustier than Noiz remembered.

"Did you get lost, old man?"

Koujaku made no effort to respond, instead opting to just throw the light out over the far corners of the room. Ignoring Koujaku in response, Noiz picked up the leg and tossed it towards the centre of the warehouse.

The sound of metal scraping concrete surrounded the both of them, as Koujaku looked up in surprise. Continuing his search, and ignoring the way Koujaku continued to peek over at him, Noiz found several of the missing fingers and a few pieces of casing.

Steadily, the pile in the centre of the room grew, and Noiz continued to ignore the way Aoba and Koujaku moved in and out of the room.

Whilst Aoba tried to make small talk with Noiz, Koujaku ignored his existence right back, if anything grumbling under his breath about doing 'brat's work'.

As it grew later and later, Noiz finally made a full circle around the warehouse, and called it. Koujaku looked over from the opposite end of the area, and sighed in relief.

Gathering the pieces into smaller bundles to tie together, with twine that Noiz once again pulled from his coat pocket, he and Koujaku avoided drawing too near as they worked. Once securely tying whatever they could together, and shoving the rest in pockets, much to Koujaku's chagrin, they began to move out.

The walk back was far quieter than when Aoba had joined him on the way to the warehouse, and Noiz appreciated it. Until, of course, Koujaku opened his big mouth.

"What are you to Aoba?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Koujaku's tone was terse, and left no room for arguing.

"He's the one who got me the job at Heibon. That's it."

"What about Sly?"

That drew Noiz up short, and his pace slowed significantly enough it drew Koujaku's attention.

"That's none of your business," Noiz hissed, throwing a glare back at Koujaku. No, it most definitely was not. His relationship with Sly was something only they knew about.

"It is my business."

"Are you his boyfriend?"

It meant to be a stab at Koujaku, but instead it had him splutter in embarrassment, nearly dropping the metal in his arms. Such a reaction had Noiz pause, before he lowered his voice and slowly repeated the question.

"Are you his boyfriend?"

"What? No! That's insane! He's my best friend and -"

Noiz suddenly laughed, and shook his head in disbelief. "It's not uncommon for best friends to fall for each other, you know."

"I haven't fallen for anyone."

"I never said you did."

"You fucking -"

Koujaku was never able to finish his sentence, as they finally reached the entrance to Keisen, where Aoba was waiting as patiently as he could managed. Whatever he was going to say died on his lips as he saw Noiz laughing to himself, and Koujaku red in the face.

"What's … going on?"

Noiz grinned in response, and started his sentence as innocently as possible. "Did you know that Kou -"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Koujaku interrupted, shaking his head enthusiastically.

"O… kay …" Aoba eyed them both, before shrugging it off. "Shall we go?"

Koujaku stormed ahead, leaving Noiz to chortle behind him with Aoba following up in the rear. Aoba tried to call for Koujaku to slow down, but it did very little, short of Noiz laugh harder.

"Noiz, what did you say to him?"

"Absolutely nothing," Noiz commented, repeating the phrase Koujaku only spilled moments before.

It did, however, have Koujaku stop and turn around, glowering as Noiz continued laugh to himself. Noiz was almost beside himself with laughter, as Koujaku couldn't even stare Aoba in the face. Clearly, their previous conversation was still fresh in his mind.

Aoba seemed rather annoyed at the drag in conversation, and instead directed his attention to Noiz, grinning in a way that had Noiz worried.

"So, what are you going to name him?"

"Name who?" Koujaku chimed in, voicing Noiz's question (although he would never admit to it).

"Noiz found a robot," Aoba answered happily, smiling as the frustration on Noiz's face was starting to show. They had decided not to tell Koujaku what it was they were actually looking for in the warehouse, thinking there was no way Koujaku would go along with it.

"Oh, that's coo- wait what?"

Noiz chose to ignore Koujaku spluttering in the background about carrying robot parts. "I'm not callingit anything."

"I think you should," Aoba murmured, after the conversation dissolved into silence.

Noiz clicked his tongue in annoyance. "And why would I do that?"

Aoba huffed, "because, Noiz. What if, when you repair the robot, it asks what it's name is?"

"That's a bridge I'll cross when I get there," Noiz said, ending any further discussion. And he was right. If, the robot somehow managed to wake, even after the extensive damage it had sustained … and asked for a name … he would figure it out later.

Anyway, who gave robots names?