Cross posted on tumblr and ao3
I don't own DMMd
Apparently, Aoba named robots. He'd taken to calling it "Clear", and Noiz couldn't figure out that little smile when he pressed for an answer. Why 'Clear'? It didn't make any sense to him.
So, he sat, until the sun was long gone - along with Aoba and Koujaku. Noiz sat beside the robot that had been dubbed "Clear", messed around with parts here and there, and wondered why.
It wasn't until his coil went off that he bothered to move away from it. The name that came up was from his contact, which had him heave a sigh in response. Setting the coil to loudspeaker, he continued milling about.
"What do you need?"
A deep rumble sounded from the other side, and there was a certain level of annoyance that had Noiz grin. "Why were there three of you this morning?"
"Needed the company."
"We agreed -"
"I know what we agreed to," Noiz cut in, effectively causing the conversation to cease.
All he could hear was the faint sound of breathing, and Noiz set his tools down to pick his coil up once more. Lodging it between his shoulder and ear, he sat back down. "Anyway, did you need something or is this just an excuse to hear my voice?" He hoped Mink could hear him smirking.
He probably had, judging by the way he heaved a sigh. "I heard you found a robot."
Noiz raised his eyebrows, concern building at where this conversation was heading. "Oh yeah I suppose I did."
"In one of my warehouses." Mink's tone didn't betray a single emotion, and Noiz's worry increased tenfold.
"Yep."
"I'd like to have a look at it."
Clicking his tongue, Noiz chose his next words carefully and slowly. "It's not in the best condition to be looked at."
Another pause followed. Noiz had hoped the line had dropped out and he wouldn't have to hear one of Mink's famed requests. However, he was wrong and dreaded the next words.
"Repair it into a condition you see fit, so that I may have a look."
"Would you like me to roll out a red carpet too, or …?" Noiz trailed off, anger seeping into his voice.
"You - and any of your friends - will have full access to Keisen. We will help you in any way possible to speed up the process."
It was a bargain that was tempting, but Noiz knew better. "I'd need to get into Platinum Jail for most of the parts."
At Mink's apparent refusal of continuing this barter, Noiz continued. "I'd need to get parts from a recent version of the robot. According to 'experts', there are very little differences between versions.
"If you want it up and running, I'd need a once of the new ones."
Noiz was getting really tired of the extended silences on Mink's behalf, and opened his mouth to make a snide comment. Mink cut him off. "We'll be in touch."
"Wait - oh for fuck's sake," Noiz snarled as Mink hung up on him. Slamming his coil down on the workstation beside him, Noiz grumbled to himself about Mink's manners. He was getting tired of being treated like a child by that guy, and with each passing day the treatment was progressively worse.
Standing and stretching, little groans left Noiz as his joints popped and clicked. If Mink thought he was such a child then how did he explain his joints making him feel like an old man?
It took Noiz exactly twelve minutes to realise this is probably why Mink continued to treat him like child. It did nothing to change how he acted, regardless of just how much he began to notice it.
Instead, he plopped himself on the robot's chest, minding the rather dangerous piece of metal - that vaguely resembled a rib - poking upwards. Amazed the casing didn't crack under his weight, Noiz poked and prodded the damaged areas. The strength of the casing was amazing and Noiz flexed what he could.
"What even got to you?" he wondered aloud, as after his messing about with it, the casing looked as it had. Nothing Noiz had done had damaged it any further. It was almost surreal.
As he stared down, that's when Noiz began to notice. Covering the damaged eye with one hand, Noiz stared into the face of the robot, and noticed the rather unconventional appeal. It was something in the way the dim lighting of the workroom fanned over the robot's face, but it deepened the lines of his lips and the curves of his cheeks and for a moment Noiz was actually attracted to the broken robot.
And then he noticed, just across the chin, two little moles. He thumbed the spot, at first thinking it was dirt but he soon realised it was actually part of the robot. It made him laugh that someone had taken time to add such a small detail to such a thing but …
"Clear," he mumbled without thinking twice about it. Moving his hand from the damaged eye, he cradled the robot's head in his hands. No, not 'the robot'. It was called Clear.
"Clear," he said, louder this time. "I'll fix you. I promise."
It was as if Clear smiled up at him when he said that, and Noiz truly thought he was going mad.