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aibaexchange2017-12-27 08:24 pm
aibamods) wrote in aibaexchange2017-12-27 08:24 pm
Entry tags:
Gift Fic for Rainbowemperor
Title: 12 Days of Christmas
Pairing: Aimiya
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Explosive technical devices, mild swearing, threats
Summary: A new villain was in town and Miracle Man had a hard time understanding how he thought and worked. He was quite an annoying one as well. And then that song started playing…
A/N: Dear rainbowemperor, I really hope you’ll like this story. I tried to combine some of your prompts that I liked. I had fun writing it :)
A big thank you to elareine, the greatest beta reader in existence.
“I demand that you stop right now!” Miracle Man yelled, jumping from the roof to the ground to stand in front of the huge metal figure that was stomping through the streets. It was not the first time that he had met with Toymaster.
He groaned when a metal fist hit his side but he was able to block the following punches. Finally, he hit it as hard as he could, only relaxing once the red eyes shut off. For now, it seemed as if he managed to put it to a stop.
A buzzing sound could be heard and Aiba looked around searchingly. Soon he was face to face with a small electronic buzzing insect.
“So we meet again,” a high pitched voice said.
“Not exactly, seeing as you are still hiding behind your robots,” Miracle Man snorted and touched his still slightly hurting side. His roommate would have a field day when he saw it the next morning. But there was no way that he should be thinking of this now. Miracle Man was hoping to finally lure this person out of hiding.
Nobody knew who this Toymaster was. One day he had appeared and caused chaos in the city with small shenanigans, like making electric carousels run all day or the music in shopping malls changing suddenly to playing nothing else but ‘Utada - The Best’
Other times he hacked websites to leave small messages, like ‘Congratulations, you were selected as a winner, reply in 5 seconds with “cats” to win’, or stupid poems. Those things the companies often found more or less quickly and put a stop to this.
Today with the robot moving through the streets he had gone a step farther than usually. But it was late and almost nobody was outside. And other than displacing some cars or sculptures nothing too bad had happened - yet.
Miracle Man’s eyes followed the little buzzing insect flying around his head and tried to suppress the impulse to catch it. Each time he did that the things the Toymaker used to communicate with him exploded in a puff of smoke.
“Ah, so boring... the old whining again. I have a surprise for you. Since it’s Christmas soon I hid a few of my robots for you to find before they invade households. Here is a hint as to what you have to find,” Toymaster said and with an eery creek the song ‘the twelve days of Christmas’ began to play, right before the small insect flattered away, too fast to be followed. It didn’t help that right at that time the big robot started to move in rhythm to the song.
“Stop, just stop!” Miracle Man cried out when the robot began to move - and probably scratch or destroy - the cars around it. He swore, taking one of his electrical devices from his utility belt to shortcut the electrical current running through the robot.
“Please, get this thing away from here,” Miracle Man spoke into a microphone at his collar.
“Got it.” The man answered. Aiba thanked him happily and looked at his watch. Now he had to find what? ‘On the First Day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge…’, Miracle man thought and groaned as he remembered the last stance. A partridge, two doves, three hens, four birds, five rings... It was going to be long night.
Miracle Man looked around the city almost the whole night just to find nothing resembling anything that was mentioned in the song. Now dawn was closing in and it was time for him to give up - for now. He just hoped that the team he worked for would be more successful.
--
As quietly as he could, Aiba entered the dorm he shared with Nino. He was careful as to not wake up Nino because that was never went over well. Nino was cranky early in the morning and after a night being awake Aiba couldn’t deal with it.
Aiba stumbled to their small bathroom to take a quick shower.
“Ah, so good,” he almost moaned as the warm water hit his cold body and he closed his eyes for a moment.
“You better not be jerking off,” he heard Nino yell through the door and rolled his eyes when shortly after the door opened and a sleepy looking Nino entered.
Aiba’s eyes ran over his sleep-rumpled form. He couldn’t really hide a smile when he took the soft form of the other in. Nino half asleep was a sight Aiba really liked. But Nino would call him a creep if he ever knew that so Aiba averted his eyes before Nino realised he was being looked at.
In the last few months, Aiba had wanted to tell Nino more often than not that they shouldn’t share a bathroom anymore. Nina was too cute. But he didn’t really know how to explain that to him. They had been roommates since the beginning of high school after all and after two years it was impossible to say they should change their routine without telling Nino that he liked him.
He listened to Nino first using the toilet, then moving around to wash up while still enjoying the warm spray of the shower for a little moment longer. Then a hand appeared to put off the warm water and Aiba almost shrieked when the cold water hit him suddenly.
“Don’t hog all the warm water. Get ready and have breakfast,” Nino demanded and left as Aiba struggled to shut off the cold water. Aiba groaned as he left the shower to get dressed.
In the kitchen, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Nino had already made breakfast for them. He sat down at the table. Nino was humming under his breath.
“Why are you singing that?” he asked surprised and Nino looked up from where he was playing a game on his phone or something like that.
“Eh?”
“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Aiba explained.
“It’s all over the news,” Nino explained and moved his thumb over the phone screen to show Aiba. Aiba blinked, surprised when the phone was almost shoved into his face, and he read the headline on one of the news portals Nino used to always be up to date.
Caution: Toymaster threatens citizens
Yesterday Toymaster announced that he would use some of his electrical devices to invade the homes of citizens. If you see any that look like they could be from him, call the following hotline immediately: xxx-xxxx-xx. He told us that the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is a hint. So be especially careful with devices that look like the things mentioned in the song. For those who don’t know the song that well the following things are mentioned in it:
A partridge
Two turtle doves
Three french hens
Four calling birds
Five gold rings
Six Geese
Seven swans
Eight maids
Nine ladies
Ten lords
Eleven Pipers
Twelve Drummers.
Thank you.
“Oh, they move quickly,” Aiba whispered more to himself but it made Nino look up and tilt his head in confusion.
“Quickly?”
“It’s said that it happened yesterday, after all. So reporting it on the news already seems quick, ne?”
“Aiba, there is a dangerous person who made dangerous things to invade homes. Of course, they would react quickly”
“That’s true,” Aiba mumbled.
Nino shrugged as he took his phone again to start the PazuDora-game again as he ate his food. “But I don’t think we are in danger, yet. The twelve days of Christmas start on the 25th, after all,” he added nonchalantly and Aiba blinked. That was true and could explain why he hadn’t found anything yet.
--
“I think he might start with his attacks on the 25th. The song is about the twelve days after Christmas after all. I read up on the song,” Miracle Man explained to one of his supervisors later that day.
“You might be right. Since we didn’t find anything yet and there were no confirmed sightings of anything suspicious… Ss long as everybody is careful it will probably be okay.”
“Yes, and if something happens, you’ll know how to reach me.”
“Yes. Good work as always, Miracle Man.”
--
“Are you going to go home?” Nino asked him on the day before his birthday and Aiba shook his head.
“I need to study during the holidays. I don’t have time to go home.”
“Nice. So we’ll spend the time together this year as well!” Nino grinned happily at those words and hugged him, seemingly totally ignoring Aiba’s quickly beating heart. The embrace was warm but gone far too soon as Nino sat back down on the chair in the kitchen and continued to cut the vegetables for today’s dinner. They had decided to have an early Christmas dinner with the other inhabitants of this dorms and it had fallen upon Nino and Aiba to prepare the meal.
When Nino had shown up in the kitchen earlier the evening, Aiba was a little surprised since he had thought he would have to do it alone again. But it was always great spending time with Nino and cooking together was a nice plus.
“Creep.”
Aiba blushed when he realised that he had been staring again and turned his concentration back to the cooking.
“Why aren’t you going home?” Aiba asked when Nino started to hum. It had always been that song these last few days and to be honest, it was freaking Aiba out a bit.
“Mom and dad are working so I would be alone anyway. The travel time is not really worth it,” Nino answered, making Aiba looking at him. Nino was back to his uninterested stance he usually wore when they talked about his home. Aiba knew that Nino felt lonely easily, but would never say so. Aiba hoped that Toymaster wouldn’t give him too much trouble so that they could actually spend time together.
“Since Sho and Jun will be gone, we can study together in the kitchen,” Aiba offered, smiling when he got another of those bright grins back. His favourite look on Nino.
They prepared the meal in silence. Shortly after they were finished there was a knock on the door and Nino jumped to his feet. “I’ll get it,” he said. Aiba just agreed and turned off the heat of the oven when his surroundings turned dark.
“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you~” he could hear his friends sing a second later and Aiba couldn’t stop the laugh that left his lips.
“Guys, really?” he asked when the light was back on and he saw his friends smiling at him.
“Really. Now blow out the candles and wish for something good,” Jun said and put their cake on the table. Aiba closed his eyes wishing for a great time with Nino as he blew the candles.
“Oh, all with one breath. That means you’ll have good luck,” Sho said with a whistle.
“Hopefully he won’t get beaten as much next year,” Nino muttered beside them with a grin. Jun elbowed him. Aiba just shook his head with a smile and thanked the others again before they started their dinner.
--
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree
It was early in the evening when Nino got a call and excused himself. “Sorry, I forgot that I promised to take over this shift,” he explained and Aiba nodded in understanding. Work was important after all. It was a little bit later when Aiba himself got the call that the first of Toymaker’s devices had appeared in a big pear tree close to the café Nino worked at.
“I will be there,” he promised and wrote a note to Nino to let him know that he had gone out. He hoped he would be back before Nino, who had late shift tonight, though.
He put on his hero outfit which consisted of a tight suit, a mask to make sure that nobody would recognise him, and a belt which held all his devices, and left the dorm. It was nice to be able to put it on at home and then leave instead of somehow changing into it on the run.
The partridge was clearly visible in the almost leafless tree. It looked almost like a Christmas light and was so small... Miracle Man didn’t know what havoc it would really be able to cause entering a house. But as the café was so close he wanted to make sure that Nino was safe.
“One of the servers called us,” he was informed from one of his employers as he pulled the thing out of the tree. It was pecking his fingers nervously.
“Ouch… Ah good, I’ll have to thank them,” Miracle Man said and put the device into a bag. He would give it to the police later, to make sure in there weren’t any explosives or something like that. They all hoped Toymaster would use the same construction in all of his little surprises.
“The informant was called Ninomiya Kazunari. We told them to wait in the back until you’re done..”
“Oh… Okay,” Miracle Man said a bit uneasily. Nino knew him so well. Miracle Man just hoped that he wouldn’t recognise him. But there was no going back on his word now. He looked for the back entrance where an officer stood to whom he gave the bag.
Then he went inside and bowed in front of Nino. “Thank you for your help today. You paid attention and helped us all out,” he said and straightened back up again to face the other properly.
“It’s normal for any citizen to help,” Nino replied easily and looked at him shortly. “Thank you for always helping us out,” he added. Then he pointed behind him. “I have to head back or my boss will have my head,” he explained and Miracle Man nodded, relieved that Nino didn’t realise anything.
He was even more relieved when he was informed later in the evening that the partridge had only shrilly and loudly cried out while it was shut off, nothing worse.
--
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me two turtle doves
“You’re late,” Nino said when Aiba entered the dorm.
Aiba looked up, startled. It had been dark in the kitchen so he had thought nobody was here. But he could hear Nino’s voice clearly, so he lit the light.
“You were waiting?”
“Just saying. Did something happen?”
Aiba shook his head. “I was just taking a stroll in the park. I didn’t realise how late it was getting until the lights were going out,” he explained.
Nino looked at him, seemingly deep in thought. He wasn’t blinking. To be honest, it was a bit unnerving to be at the receiving end of this stare.
“You look cold. Go take a shower to warm up before you get hypothermia or something like that. I’ll make you some tea,” he said finally and Aiba released the breath he was holding.
“I’m fine,” he tried to argue but Nino was already up pushing him towards the bathroom door.
“No arguing!”
He closed the door behind Aiba and Aiba was surprised to find his pyjamas already neatly folded on the rink. Nino was really thoughtful sometimes.
Finding the doves hadn’t been much of problem. They had been hiding in a crowd of real ones, picking at the floor where some grains had been distributed, but not actually eating. The hard part had been catching them. They took flight as soon as he approached the herd of doves. So yeah, he had played hide and seek with them before he finally got them after almost two hours.
What a pain this was.
--
On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me three french hens,
It had been really early when Miracle Man was called this time. Sadly, the hens had been found in one of the suburbs of Tokyo - not that surprising since loose hens in the city center would probably be run over before they could cause any harm - so that he had to travel quite a bit before he could start looking for the robots.
He had told Nino that he would return home for today only to see his parents but that meant that he really had to head over. Nino was too smart to not realise when he hadn’t gone, mostly because he would miss the food Aiba’s mother always forced him to take home to Nino.
“Mom? Can I come over around lunch?” he asked into his mobile phone while he sat in the car with some officers clad in his uniform. It might seem lame, but it was easier to sit behind the tinted glass than to ran through the city trying to reach one end without being held up too much because people recognized the uniform.
The hens were in the middle of a field and weren’t moving at all, which was a bit creepy. At least it was easy to catch them once he made it here. Miracle Man didn’t really get why the officers hadn’t just gotten them without his help - until they exploded in a puff of smoke, sending him coughing.
That explained a lot. And showed, sadly, that not all of the “gifts” acted the same way.
When Aiba got home in the evening, food from the restaurant of his parents in his hands and burnt fingertips, Nino was there waiting for him with a happy greeting and freshly baked cookies.
--
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four calling birds
“What’s wrong?” Nino asked when they met in the little café after his shift.
Aiba shook his head. “Nothing,” he mumbled absentmindedly, frowning. He was confused. He had located the four birds earlier and it had been easy to catch them and put them away. The song they sang though…
It had reminded him of something but he just couldn’t remember. The melody had seemed so familiar, but not quite... right. It was as if he had heard that song already but it had been different. He couldn’t quite grasp how he knew it, though, and that was frustrating.
The song had been beautiful. Not remembering what it was felt like a loss.
“Aiba?”
He finally heard Nino’s voice and blinked. “Huh?”
“Do you to get a coffee first? Or are you ready to go?” Nino repeated and put his guitar over his shoulder. “I have to go to the recital soon. So hurry up. You were the one who told me you wanted to come along.”
“Of course, one sec,” Aiba said hastily and ordered two mochas for them, tugging at Nino’s hand when he was ready.
--
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me five gold rings
Today Nino was working again, which made it easy for Aiba to change into his suit of Miracle Man. In the morning Toymaster had hacked into all radios and sent a message to him:
“Good morning, my dear Miracle Man. Ready for today? Five lucky couples will exchange my creations during their vows today instead of the rings they chose. You probably should find them before they are put on the bride’s finger. Have fun trying to find them!”
There were many calls to the police after that, mostly by worried couples telling them where and when their wedding would be so they could check the rings.
“You should do that,” he had been told. “They will be happy if you appear and disappointed if a clerk checks over the rings.”
“Got it.”
“Good. I’ll send you a list of the places where the weddings will happen.”
Again Miracle Man agreed and ended the call to change into his costume and beging walking all over the city to check on the rings.
The worst those fake rings did was dyeing your fingers a bright blue when you put them on, Miracle Man realised once he tried out of curiosity. Somehow those things he had to find seemed to be just things a trickster who had fun watching you panicking would come up with, but nothing that actually did anyone harm.
--
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me six geese a-laying
Aiba groaned when he finally made it home around noon. The dorm was completely silent and Aiba wondered for a moment where Nino possibly had gone to. It wasn’t as if they had any plans together or that Nino had to inform him when he would leave the dorm, but Nino rarely left for things that weren’t classes or work.
“Ah well, I can make something to eat,” Aiba decided after a moment of hesitation and opened the fridge to be greeted by nothing. “We ran out of food?” Aiba wondered and sighed.
Yes, he couldn’t remember the last time they went grocery shopping. He had been so occupied with catching all the robotic animals that he forgot. That could explain why Nino was out, at least. Aiba looked at the fridge again and the only things edible were a few eggs and condiments. Nino seemed to have cleaned out everything before going shopping.
Oh well, Aiba also couldn’t remember the last time they cleaned their fridge. Jun probably would be really happy that they finally had time to do so and would treat Nino to something. The only problem was that Aiba was hungry right now and spending the whole morning trying to find some ticking eggs had diminished his appetite for them.
With a groan, he searched their cupboards for some instant ramen and hoped Nino would come back soon.
--
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me seven swans a-swimming
Catching those swans was a job for Miracle Man. They were sparkling on the water of the river and so many people stood around, watching them. He felt almost bad when he stepped on a boat to get them all.
Again Miracle Man wondered if Toymaster was truly such an evil person. He could make such beautiful things that he was sure people would love to get as presents - minus the screeching.
Miracle Man was starting to think he would lose his hearing once he got closer. It wasn’t that they were really loud - but it was a high frequency. The people on the riverside should be happy that they too far away to hear it, Miracle Men decided.
As he was in plain sight he could only catch the swans and put them somewhere to transport them. Miracle Man wasn’t someone who hurt others if it could be helped and destroying these beautiful toys in front of the people seemed just wrong.
“Perhaps one of those can help,” Aiba whispered to himself and fiddled at his belt. He had added different kinds of gadgets that could cut any electrical circuits since Toymaster had appeared in town and he hoped that one of them would help now to cut the swans off.
It did. Throwing them into the bag with the geese luckily sent them silent and Miracle Man leant back with a relieved sigh. He just hoped his headache would disappear soon and that the whistling in his ear would disappear before he had to go home.
--
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me eight maids a-milking
“I saw Miracle Man today, he had to evacuate a farm with cows. They showed it on tv,” Nino mentioned as he got them a cup of coffee in between their studying. Aiba chanced a glance into his direction and hummed low in his throat.
“Normally you are more excited at the mention of him,” Nino pouted and Aiba shrugged. He was tired of his escapades as Mirror Man and hoped the twelve days would end soon and that the Toymaster would take a break afterwards as well. He was fed up with dealing with those toys.
“I just think that he seems to be busy in the moment, don’t you? There are sightings of him everywhere and there isn’t any great danger…” Aiba answered.
Nino agreed, looking lost in thought. “So you think he should leave it to the officers?”
“Probably.”
Nino put the cup in front of Aiba as he sat down on his seat again to take a small sip. “I see, but the Toymaster asked him to come out and play, right?”
Aiba looked up and tilted his head. Sometimes Nino was too interested in Miracle Man and, these last few days, in the Toymaster, as well. “Yes, he did. Why are you asking all that?”
“Dunno. Just, it seemed strange. As if he wants the attention, ne? Could be problematic if Miracle Man gave up.”
“Are you scared, Nino?”
“I’m…” Nino stopped and looked up, before he shrugged. “Miracle Man promised to protect us from danger. So I think he won’t give up,” he decided in the end with a smile and Aiba nodded.
“I believe so as well,” he answered. He knew that he would protect Nino as well as he could.
--
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me nine ladies dancing
Miracle Man looked around the baseball field. The dolls had appeared suddenly about an hour before. He had been surprised to find them here since they fit so little that it was almost funny.
The baseball pit reminded him of Nino and his promise he made to him the day before. He would protect the innocent citizen. He had sworn that to himself when he decided to take on the role as a hero of this city after all. Even if he was normally doing more useful things than hunting down different toys and getting to them before they could self-destruct, peck people or turn them temporarily deaf.
With a small sigh, he entered the field and snatched up the small figurines at the different positions of the field. This time there was no screeching nor exploding and Miracle Man asked himself if anybody would mind if he took one of them with him. But since everyone knew how many dolls there should be around, thanks to the song, he was sure the others would realise that one was missing. And that argument just wasn’t worth it. Also, Miracle Man had to consider that there might be something in them that only activated after a some time had passed.
He might just be done early today. If he hurried, he could spend the rest of the day at the dorm with Nino. They seemed to have gotten closer over the holidays, after all, and he wanted to spend as much time alone with him as possible before the others came back.
--
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me ten lords a-leaping
On the tenth day, Aiba finally recognized a pattern in the places where all the toys appeared. They were all somewhere he had been with Nino. Nino and he had been in a lot of places - mostly because they knew each other since they had been children - so he hadn’t noticed at first.
Last night he had spent many hours in bed thinking about all the places where he found the toys and realised that they all meant something to him and Nino. The place where they first met was actually the farm where the hens had appeared; the café was the one where Nino worked and Aiba would sit often to study; and the list went on like that. So Aiba was not really that surprised when the colourful painted leaping men were finally found in the mall he and Nino had spent hours in when they had been in school.
Nino had been especially fond of the arcade.
The mechanical men were more annoying than anything, since they were loud and disappeared whenever you came close to one. Not really, of course, but they seemed to have a turbo thruster built into that made them faster than normal when approached.
The lucky thing, Aiba was told on the phone before he even arrived at the mall - Nino had been very insistent about staying home today, and it had taken a while to shake him off - was that they ran into each other in their turbo modes and destroyed themselves.
So it turned out, the caller told him, that could stay back as the only thing left was collecting the broken pieces and throwing them away.
--
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me eleven pipers piping
Aiba was not that surprised when he was told that the pipers were in front of their dormitory. Nevertheless, he donned the costume of Miracle Man and carefully left their quarters. But he could hear Nino strumming his guitar and humming behind his door so he wasn’t too worried.
He got out of the lawn and was glad when for once there weren’t any people around to look at him. He wanted to go back to bed, if possible. It was still early and it was really cold.
Miracle Man stopped when he recognised the melody that the pipers were piping and stood there for a moment shelled shocked. That song…
It was the same song the singing birds had sung when they had appeared and that was used whenever any of the toys Toymaster used these last few days played music. It was always slightly different since the instruments weren’t the same and sometimes the rhythm was slightly off - but right now he could hear it clearly for the first time.
‘UB… It’s the song Nino composed when we were younger,’ he thought to himself.
“Won’t you catch them and put them to a stop?” he heard a voice behind him and turned around. He was not surprised to see Nino behind him in a thick winter coat, his head tilted to one side.
“What will happen if I do?”
“Who knows?”
Miracle Man sighed and shook his head. He suddenly felt tired. “Why do you do this?”
“Because your mind was everywhere else,” Nino answered and went to one of the pipers. He knelt down and poked one of the figures with his fingers. “And you were putting yourself in danger. I thought keeping Miracle Man busy would make you happy.”
“By causing chaos to the city?”
Nino shrugged and fiddled with a device in his pocket. The song changed and they were moving around themselves idly.
“It’s just for fun. And you see, nothing actually terrible happened since Toymaster appeared. Villains are looking for other cities now, because they know he wouldn’t let them stay easily,” Nino continued and stood back up. “Will you tell on me?”
“I have to, they saw you already,” Miracle Man said dejectedly. He wanted to protect Nino, most of all, from evil and now he had to be the one to put him into prison.
“No, they didn’t,” Nino chuckled and waved his fingers. “I interrupted the camera feed. They shouldn’t have noticed yet. So what will you do, Ma-chan?” Nino asked again.
Aiba deflated slightly. “I can’t let you keep doing these things, Nino. Until now nobody was hurt and the damages were small - but things can change easily.”
“I know. That’s why these twelve days are the last thing I’ll do. It’s over now, I promise,” he explained and pushed a button on his device. There was smoke coming out of the piper’s heads and Nino turned around to go back inside.
“Miracle Man, everything okay? We lost you for a moment,” he heard in his ear just seconds later. It took him a moment to react. He was still staring into the direction where Nino had vanished seconds ago.
“Ah, yes. The pipers are destroyed. I will send them to you,” he said finally and collected the toys to bring them to the station as quickly as he could. He had to think about what to do with Nino.
--
Nino was waiting for him in the kitchen when Aiba finally was back home. He had taken his time on his way back to think about what this all meant.
So, Nino was behind it all? Why? To get his attention? Why didn’t he say just say something instead? It would have been that much easier, after all. This scheme was just too strange and useless. But it fit Nino somehow.
If it was important or had to do with feelings, Nino was never straightforward.
But Nino also was right. Aiba only had become Miracle Man because he wanted to help. There were many bad things happening and since he was good at fighting - he’d been training since he was a small child - and good with thinking of things on the spot. He had taken on the challenge, and he had succeeded.
Since Toymaster had appeared, less villains had attacked the city. It seemed as if they had accepted him at the top and didn’t want to get into his way. Aiba didn’t want to think about what Nino had done to establish himself at the top. It was a scary thought. Nino was also correct, in that nothing too terrible happened because of Toymaster - yet. Aiba and everybody else was just worried that it would as soon they let their guard down
Aiba looked at Nino in silence. The other was staring at him in the same way. In the end, though, a small amused grin appeared on Aiba's face. “Those were for me? All of them? You sent them to me just as the song says?” he asked.
Nino agreed cautiously, clearly not following his train of thoughts right now.
“My true love?” Aiba continued cheekily and Nino blushed. It was quite the sight. Nino tried to look at him grudgingly, attempting to glare but he didn’t really succeed. Before he could retort anything or hide his face Aiba took a few big strides to stand right in front of him. He lifted Nino’s face carefully and pressed his lips against Nino’s.
--
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me twelve drummers drumming
Aiba was awoken by the sounds of drumming. He groaned. “Really now?” he grumbled and heard Nino giggling madly beside him.
“Will I find twelve drummers outside once I leave this room?” he asked tiredly, tugging at Nino’s hair when the smaller man just continued to giggle into his shoulder.
“You can stand up and check,” Nino said once he was composed enough to speak.
Aiba rubbed his face tiredly. Really? Did Nino have to go that far? How did he even manage to put the drummers outside? He was sure that Nino had been in his arms all night.
When the drumming didn’t stop, Aiba groaned loudly and finally forced himself out of bed, climbing over Nino who didn’t really move but sat up once Aiba was out of the bed.
Aiba found himself staring at all that pale skin and moved down to press a soft kiss against the dip of his shoulder.
“The last toys?” he asked and Nino agreed, for once entirely serious. Toymaster would disappear now that he had Aiba’s attention on him all the time.
Pairing: Aimiya
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Explosive technical devices, mild swearing, threats
Summary: A new villain was in town and Miracle Man had a hard time understanding how he thought and worked. He was quite an annoying one as well. And then that song started playing…
A/N: Dear rainbowemperor, I really hope you’ll like this story. I tried to combine some of your prompts that I liked. I had fun writing it :)
A big thank you to elareine, the greatest beta reader in existence.
“I demand that you stop right now!” Miracle Man yelled, jumping from the roof to the ground to stand in front of the huge metal figure that was stomping through the streets. It was not the first time that he had met with Toymaster.
He groaned when a metal fist hit his side but he was able to block the following punches. Finally, he hit it as hard as he could, only relaxing once the red eyes shut off. For now, it seemed as if he managed to put it to a stop.
A buzzing sound could be heard and Aiba looked around searchingly. Soon he was face to face with a small electronic buzzing insect.
“So we meet again,” a high pitched voice said.
“Not exactly, seeing as you are still hiding behind your robots,” Miracle Man snorted and touched his still slightly hurting side. His roommate would have a field day when he saw it the next morning. But there was no way that he should be thinking of this now. Miracle Man was hoping to finally lure this person out of hiding.
Nobody knew who this Toymaster was. One day he had appeared and caused chaos in the city with small shenanigans, like making electric carousels run all day or the music in shopping malls changing suddenly to playing nothing else but ‘Utada - The Best’
Other times he hacked websites to leave small messages, like ‘Congratulations, you were selected as a winner, reply in 5 seconds with “cats” to win’, or stupid poems. Those things the companies often found more or less quickly and put a stop to this.
Today with the robot moving through the streets he had gone a step farther than usually. But it was late and almost nobody was outside. And other than displacing some cars or sculptures nothing too bad had happened - yet.
Miracle Man’s eyes followed the little buzzing insect flying around his head and tried to suppress the impulse to catch it. Each time he did that the things the Toymaker used to communicate with him exploded in a puff of smoke.
“Ah, so boring... the old whining again. I have a surprise for you. Since it’s Christmas soon I hid a few of my robots for you to find before they invade households. Here is a hint as to what you have to find,” Toymaster said and with an eery creek the song ‘the twelve days of Christmas’ began to play, right before the small insect flattered away, too fast to be followed. It didn’t help that right at that time the big robot started to move in rhythm to the song.
“Stop, just stop!” Miracle Man cried out when the robot began to move - and probably scratch or destroy - the cars around it. He swore, taking one of his electrical devices from his utility belt to shortcut the electrical current running through the robot.
“Please, get this thing away from here,” Miracle Man spoke into a microphone at his collar.
“Got it.” The man answered. Aiba thanked him happily and looked at his watch. Now he had to find what? ‘On the First Day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge…’, Miracle man thought and groaned as he remembered the last stance. A partridge, two doves, three hens, four birds, five rings... It was going to be long night.
Miracle Man looked around the city almost the whole night just to find nothing resembling anything that was mentioned in the song. Now dawn was closing in and it was time for him to give up - for now. He just hoped that the team he worked for would be more successful.
--
As quietly as he could, Aiba entered the dorm he shared with Nino. He was careful as to not wake up Nino because that was never went over well. Nino was cranky early in the morning and after a night being awake Aiba couldn’t deal with it.
Aiba stumbled to their small bathroom to take a quick shower.
“Ah, so good,” he almost moaned as the warm water hit his cold body and he closed his eyes for a moment.
“You better not be jerking off,” he heard Nino yell through the door and rolled his eyes when shortly after the door opened and a sleepy looking Nino entered.
Aiba’s eyes ran over his sleep-rumpled form. He couldn’t really hide a smile when he took the soft form of the other in. Nino half asleep was a sight Aiba really liked. But Nino would call him a creep if he ever knew that so Aiba averted his eyes before Nino realised he was being looked at.
In the last few months, Aiba had wanted to tell Nino more often than not that they shouldn’t share a bathroom anymore. Nina was too cute. But he didn’t really know how to explain that to him. They had been roommates since the beginning of high school after all and after two years it was impossible to say they should change their routine without telling Nino that he liked him.
He listened to Nino first using the toilet, then moving around to wash up while still enjoying the warm spray of the shower for a little moment longer. Then a hand appeared to put off the warm water and Aiba almost shrieked when the cold water hit him suddenly.
“Don’t hog all the warm water. Get ready and have breakfast,” Nino demanded and left as Aiba struggled to shut off the cold water. Aiba groaned as he left the shower to get dressed.
In the kitchen, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Nino had already made breakfast for them. He sat down at the table. Nino was humming under his breath.
“Why are you singing that?” he asked surprised and Nino looked up from where he was playing a game on his phone or something like that.
“Eh?”
“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Aiba explained.
“It’s all over the news,” Nino explained and moved his thumb over the phone screen to show Aiba. Aiba blinked, surprised when the phone was almost shoved into his face, and he read the headline on one of the news portals Nino used to always be up to date.
Caution: Toymaster threatens citizens
Yesterday Toymaster announced that he would use some of his electrical devices to invade the homes of citizens. If you see any that look like they could be from him, call the following hotline immediately: xxx-xxxx-xx. He told us that the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is a hint. So be especially careful with devices that look like the things mentioned in the song. For those who don’t know the song that well the following things are mentioned in it:
A partridge
Two turtle doves
Three french hens
Four calling birds
Five gold rings
Six Geese
Seven swans
Eight maids
Nine ladies
Ten lords
Eleven Pipers
Twelve Drummers.
Thank you.
“Oh, they move quickly,” Aiba whispered more to himself but it made Nino look up and tilt his head in confusion.
“Quickly?”
“It’s said that it happened yesterday, after all. So reporting it on the news already seems quick, ne?”
“Aiba, there is a dangerous person who made dangerous things to invade homes. Of course, they would react quickly”
“That’s true,” Aiba mumbled.
Nino shrugged as he took his phone again to start the PazuDora-game again as he ate his food. “But I don’t think we are in danger, yet. The twelve days of Christmas start on the 25th, after all,” he added nonchalantly and Aiba blinked. That was true and could explain why he hadn’t found anything yet.
--
“I think he might start with his attacks on the 25th. The song is about the twelve days after Christmas after all. I read up on the song,” Miracle Man explained to one of his supervisors later that day.
“You might be right. Since we didn’t find anything yet and there were no confirmed sightings of anything suspicious… Ss long as everybody is careful it will probably be okay.”
“Yes, and if something happens, you’ll know how to reach me.”
“Yes. Good work as always, Miracle Man.”
--
“Are you going to go home?” Nino asked him on the day before his birthday and Aiba shook his head.
“I need to study during the holidays. I don’t have time to go home.”
“Nice. So we’ll spend the time together this year as well!” Nino grinned happily at those words and hugged him, seemingly totally ignoring Aiba’s quickly beating heart. The embrace was warm but gone far too soon as Nino sat back down on the chair in the kitchen and continued to cut the vegetables for today’s dinner. They had decided to have an early Christmas dinner with the other inhabitants of this dorms and it had fallen upon Nino and Aiba to prepare the meal.
When Nino had shown up in the kitchen earlier the evening, Aiba was a little surprised since he had thought he would have to do it alone again. But it was always great spending time with Nino and cooking together was a nice plus.
“Creep.”
Aiba blushed when he realised that he had been staring again and turned his concentration back to the cooking.
“Why aren’t you going home?” Aiba asked when Nino started to hum. It had always been that song these last few days and to be honest, it was freaking Aiba out a bit.
“Mom and dad are working so I would be alone anyway. The travel time is not really worth it,” Nino answered, making Aiba looking at him. Nino was back to his uninterested stance he usually wore when they talked about his home. Aiba knew that Nino felt lonely easily, but would never say so. Aiba hoped that Toymaster wouldn’t give him too much trouble so that they could actually spend time together.
“Since Sho and Jun will be gone, we can study together in the kitchen,” Aiba offered, smiling when he got another of those bright grins back. His favourite look on Nino.
They prepared the meal in silence. Shortly after they were finished there was a knock on the door and Nino jumped to his feet. “I’ll get it,” he said. Aiba just agreed and turned off the heat of the oven when his surroundings turned dark.
“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you~” he could hear his friends sing a second later and Aiba couldn’t stop the laugh that left his lips.
“Guys, really?” he asked when the light was back on and he saw his friends smiling at him.
“Really. Now blow out the candles and wish for something good,” Jun said and put their cake on the table. Aiba closed his eyes wishing for a great time with Nino as he blew the candles.
“Oh, all with one breath. That means you’ll have good luck,” Sho said with a whistle.
“Hopefully he won’t get beaten as much next year,” Nino muttered beside them with a grin. Jun elbowed him. Aiba just shook his head with a smile and thanked the others again before they started their dinner.
--
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree
It was early in the evening when Nino got a call and excused himself. “Sorry, I forgot that I promised to take over this shift,” he explained and Aiba nodded in understanding. Work was important after all. It was a little bit later when Aiba himself got the call that the first of Toymaker’s devices had appeared in a big pear tree close to the café Nino worked at.
“I will be there,” he promised and wrote a note to Nino to let him know that he had gone out. He hoped he would be back before Nino, who had late shift tonight, though.
He put on his hero outfit which consisted of a tight suit, a mask to make sure that nobody would recognise him, and a belt which held all his devices, and left the dorm. It was nice to be able to put it on at home and then leave instead of somehow changing into it on the run.
The partridge was clearly visible in the almost leafless tree. It looked almost like a Christmas light and was so small... Miracle Man didn’t know what havoc it would really be able to cause entering a house. But as the café was so close he wanted to make sure that Nino was safe.
“One of the servers called us,” he was informed from one of his employers as he pulled the thing out of the tree. It was pecking his fingers nervously.
“Ouch… Ah good, I’ll have to thank them,” Miracle Man said and put the device into a bag. He would give it to the police later, to make sure in there weren’t any explosives or something like that. They all hoped Toymaster would use the same construction in all of his little surprises.
“The informant was called Ninomiya Kazunari. We told them to wait in the back until you’re done..”
“Oh… Okay,” Miracle Man said a bit uneasily. Nino knew him so well. Miracle Man just hoped that he wouldn’t recognise him. But there was no going back on his word now. He looked for the back entrance where an officer stood to whom he gave the bag.
Then he went inside and bowed in front of Nino. “Thank you for your help today. You paid attention and helped us all out,” he said and straightened back up again to face the other properly.
“It’s normal for any citizen to help,” Nino replied easily and looked at him shortly. “Thank you for always helping us out,” he added. Then he pointed behind him. “I have to head back or my boss will have my head,” he explained and Miracle Man nodded, relieved that Nino didn’t realise anything.
He was even more relieved when he was informed later in the evening that the partridge had only shrilly and loudly cried out while it was shut off, nothing worse.
--
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me two turtle doves
“You’re late,” Nino said when Aiba entered the dorm.
Aiba looked up, startled. It had been dark in the kitchen so he had thought nobody was here. But he could hear Nino’s voice clearly, so he lit the light.
“You were waiting?”
“Just saying. Did something happen?”
Aiba shook his head. “I was just taking a stroll in the park. I didn’t realise how late it was getting until the lights were going out,” he explained.
Nino looked at him, seemingly deep in thought. He wasn’t blinking. To be honest, it was a bit unnerving to be at the receiving end of this stare.
“You look cold. Go take a shower to warm up before you get hypothermia or something like that. I’ll make you some tea,” he said finally and Aiba released the breath he was holding.
“I’m fine,” he tried to argue but Nino was already up pushing him towards the bathroom door.
“No arguing!”
He closed the door behind Aiba and Aiba was surprised to find his pyjamas already neatly folded on the rink. Nino was really thoughtful sometimes.
Finding the doves hadn’t been much of problem. They had been hiding in a crowd of real ones, picking at the floor where some grains had been distributed, but not actually eating. The hard part had been catching them. They took flight as soon as he approached the herd of doves. So yeah, he had played hide and seek with them before he finally got them after almost two hours.
What a pain this was.
--
On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me three french hens,
It had been really early when Miracle Man was called this time. Sadly, the hens had been found in one of the suburbs of Tokyo - not that surprising since loose hens in the city center would probably be run over before they could cause any harm - so that he had to travel quite a bit before he could start looking for the robots.
He had told Nino that he would return home for today only to see his parents but that meant that he really had to head over. Nino was too smart to not realise when he hadn’t gone, mostly because he would miss the food Aiba’s mother always forced him to take home to Nino.
“Mom? Can I come over around lunch?” he asked into his mobile phone while he sat in the car with some officers clad in his uniform. It might seem lame, but it was easier to sit behind the tinted glass than to ran through the city trying to reach one end without being held up too much because people recognized the uniform.
The hens were in the middle of a field and weren’t moving at all, which was a bit creepy. At least it was easy to catch them once he made it here. Miracle Man didn’t really get why the officers hadn’t just gotten them without his help - until they exploded in a puff of smoke, sending him coughing.
That explained a lot. And showed, sadly, that not all of the “gifts” acted the same way.
When Aiba got home in the evening, food from the restaurant of his parents in his hands and burnt fingertips, Nino was there waiting for him with a happy greeting and freshly baked cookies.
--
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four calling birds
“What’s wrong?” Nino asked when they met in the little café after his shift.
Aiba shook his head. “Nothing,” he mumbled absentmindedly, frowning. He was confused. He had located the four birds earlier and it had been easy to catch them and put them away. The song they sang though…
It had reminded him of something but he just couldn’t remember. The melody had seemed so familiar, but not quite... right. It was as if he had heard that song already but it had been different. He couldn’t quite grasp how he knew it, though, and that was frustrating.
The song had been beautiful. Not remembering what it was felt like a loss.
“Aiba?”
He finally heard Nino’s voice and blinked. “Huh?”
“Do you to get a coffee first? Or are you ready to go?” Nino repeated and put his guitar over his shoulder. “I have to go to the recital soon. So hurry up. You were the one who told me you wanted to come along.”
“Of course, one sec,” Aiba said hastily and ordered two mochas for them, tugging at Nino’s hand when he was ready.
--
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me five gold rings
Today Nino was working again, which made it easy for Aiba to change into his suit of Miracle Man. In the morning Toymaster had hacked into all radios and sent a message to him:
“Good morning, my dear Miracle Man. Ready for today? Five lucky couples will exchange my creations during their vows today instead of the rings they chose. You probably should find them before they are put on the bride’s finger. Have fun trying to find them!”
There were many calls to the police after that, mostly by worried couples telling them where and when their wedding would be so they could check the rings.
“You should do that,” he had been told. “They will be happy if you appear and disappointed if a clerk checks over the rings.”
“Got it.”
“Good. I’ll send you a list of the places where the weddings will happen.”
Again Miracle Man agreed and ended the call to change into his costume and beging walking all over the city to check on the rings.
The worst those fake rings did was dyeing your fingers a bright blue when you put them on, Miracle Man realised once he tried out of curiosity. Somehow those things he had to find seemed to be just things a trickster who had fun watching you panicking would come up with, but nothing that actually did anyone harm.
--
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me six geese a-laying
Aiba groaned when he finally made it home around noon. The dorm was completely silent and Aiba wondered for a moment where Nino possibly had gone to. It wasn’t as if they had any plans together or that Nino had to inform him when he would leave the dorm, but Nino rarely left for things that weren’t classes or work.
“Ah well, I can make something to eat,” Aiba decided after a moment of hesitation and opened the fridge to be greeted by nothing. “We ran out of food?” Aiba wondered and sighed.
Yes, he couldn’t remember the last time they went grocery shopping. He had been so occupied with catching all the robotic animals that he forgot. That could explain why Nino was out, at least. Aiba looked at the fridge again and the only things edible were a few eggs and condiments. Nino seemed to have cleaned out everything before going shopping.
Oh well, Aiba also couldn’t remember the last time they cleaned their fridge. Jun probably would be really happy that they finally had time to do so and would treat Nino to something. The only problem was that Aiba was hungry right now and spending the whole morning trying to find some ticking eggs had diminished his appetite for them.
With a groan, he searched their cupboards for some instant ramen and hoped Nino would come back soon.
--
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me seven swans a-swimming
Catching those swans was a job for Miracle Man. They were sparkling on the water of the river and so many people stood around, watching them. He felt almost bad when he stepped on a boat to get them all.
Again Miracle Man wondered if Toymaster was truly such an evil person. He could make such beautiful things that he was sure people would love to get as presents - minus the screeching.
Miracle Man was starting to think he would lose his hearing once he got closer. It wasn’t that they were really loud - but it was a high frequency. The people on the riverside should be happy that they too far away to hear it, Miracle Men decided.
As he was in plain sight he could only catch the swans and put them somewhere to transport them. Miracle Man wasn’t someone who hurt others if it could be helped and destroying these beautiful toys in front of the people seemed just wrong.
“Perhaps one of those can help,” Aiba whispered to himself and fiddled at his belt. He had added different kinds of gadgets that could cut any electrical circuits since Toymaster had appeared in town and he hoped that one of them would help now to cut the swans off.
It did. Throwing them into the bag with the geese luckily sent them silent and Miracle Man leant back with a relieved sigh. He just hoped his headache would disappear soon and that the whistling in his ear would disappear before he had to go home.
--
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me eight maids a-milking
“I saw Miracle Man today, he had to evacuate a farm with cows. They showed it on tv,” Nino mentioned as he got them a cup of coffee in between their studying. Aiba chanced a glance into his direction and hummed low in his throat.
“Normally you are more excited at the mention of him,” Nino pouted and Aiba shrugged. He was tired of his escapades as Mirror Man and hoped the twelve days would end soon and that the Toymaster would take a break afterwards as well. He was fed up with dealing with those toys.
“I just think that he seems to be busy in the moment, don’t you? There are sightings of him everywhere and there isn’t any great danger…” Aiba answered.
Nino agreed, looking lost in thought. “So you think he should leave it to the officers?”
“Probably.”
Nino put the cup in front of Aiba as he sat down on his seat again to take a small sip. “I see, but the Toymaster asked him to come out and play, right?”
Aiba looked up and tilted his head. Sometimes Nino was too interested in Miracle Man and, these last few days, in the Toymaster, as well. “Yes, he did. Why are you asking all that?”
“Dunno. Just, it seemed strange. As if he wants the attention, ne? Could be problematic if Miracle Man gave up.”
“Are you scared, Nino?”
“I’m…” Nino stopped and looked up, before he shrugged. “Miracle Man promised to protect us from danger. So I think he won’t give up,” he decided in the end with a smile and Aiba nodded.
“I believe so as well,” he answered. He knew that he would protect Nino as well as he could.
--
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me nine ladies dancing
Miracle Man looked around the baseball field. The dolls had appeared suddenly about an hour before. He had been surprised to find them here since they fit so little that it was almost funny.
The baseball pit reminded him of Nino and his promise he made to him the day before. He would protect the innocent citizen. He had sworn that to himself when he decided to take on the role as a hero of this city after all. Even if he was normally doing more useful things than hunting down different toys and getting to them before they could self-destruct, peck people or turn them temporarily deaf.
With a small sigh, he entered the field and snatched up the small figurines at the different positions of the field. This time there was no screeching nor exploding and Miracle Man asked himself if anybody would mind if he took one of them with him. But since everyone knew how many dolls there should be around, thanks to the song, he was sure the others would realise that one was missing. And that argument just wasn’t worth it. Also, Miracle Man had to consider that there might be something in them that only activated after a some time had passed.
He might just be done early today. If he hurried, he could spend the rest of the day at the dorm with Nino. They seemed to have gotten closer over the holidays, after all, and he wanted to spend as much time alone with him as possible before the others came back.
--
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me ten lords a-leaping
On the tenth day, Aiba finally recognized a pattern in the places where all the toys appeared. They were all somewhere he had been with Nino. Nino and he had been in a lot of places - mostly because they knew each other since they had been children - so he hadn’t noticed at first.
Last night he had spent many hours in bed thinking about all the places where he found the toys and realised that they all meant something to him and Nino. The place where they first met was actually the farm where the hens had appeared; the café was the one where Nino worked and Aiba would sit often to study; and the list went on like that. So Aiba was not really that surprised when the colourful painted leaping men were finally found in the mall he and Nino had spent hours in when they had been in school.
Nino had been especially fond of the arcade.
The mechanical men were more annoying than anything, since they were loud and disappeared whenever you came close to one. Not really, of course, but they seemed to have a turbo thruster built into that made them faster than normal when approached.
The lucky thing, Aiba was told on the phone before he even arrived at the mall - Nino had been very insistent about staying home today, and it had taken a while to shake him off - was that they ran into each other in their turbo modes and destroyed themselves.
So it turned out, the caller told him, that could stay back as the only thing left was collecting the broken pieces and throwing them away.
--
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me eleven pipers piping
Aiba was not that surprised when he was told that the pipers were in front of their dormitory. Nevertheless, he donned the costume of Miracle Man and carefully left their quarters. But he could hear Nino strumming his guitar and humming behind his door so he wasn’t too worried.
He got out of the lawn and was glad when for once there weren’t any people around to look at him. He wanted to go back to bed, if possible. It was still early and it was really cold.
Miracle Man stopped when he recognised the melody that the pipers were piping and stood there for a moment shelled shocked. That song…
It was the same song the singing birds had sung when they had appeared and that was used whenever any of the toys Toymaster used these last few days played music. It was always slightly different since the instruments weren’t the same and sometimes the rhythm was slightly off - but right now he could hear it clearly for the first time.
‘UB… It’s the song Nino composed when we were younger,’ he thought to himself.
“Won’t you catch them and put them to a stop?” he heard a voice behind him and turned around. He was not surprised to see Nino behind him in a thick winter coat, his head tilted to one side.
“What will happen if I do?”
“Who knows?”
Miracle Man sighed and shook his head. He suddenly felt tired. “Why do you do this?”
“Because your mind was everywhere else,” Nino answered and went to one of the pipers. He knelt down and poked one of the figures with his fingers. “And you were putting yourself in danger. I thought keeping Miracle Man busy would make you happy.”
“By causing chaos to the city?”
Nino shrugged and fiddled with a device in his pocket. The song changed and they were moving around themselves idly.
“It’s just for fun. And you see, nothing actually terrible happened since Toymaster appeared. Villains are looking for other cities now, because they know he wouldn’t let them stay easily,” Nino continued and stood back up. “Will you tell on me?”
“I have to, they saw you already,” Miracle Man said dejectedly. He wanted to protect Nino, most of all, from evil and now he had to be the one to put him into prison.
“No, they didn’t,” Nino chuckled and waved his fingers. “I interrupted the camera feed. They shouldn’t have noticed yet. So what will you do, Ma-chan?” Nino asked again.
Aiba deflated slightly. “I can’t let you keep doing these things, Nino. Until now nobody was hurt and the damages were small - but things can change easily.”
“I know. That’s why these twelve days are the last thing I’ll do. It’s over now, I promise,” he explained and pushed a button on his device. There was smoke coming out of the piper’s heads and Nino turned around to go back inside.
“Miracle Man, everything okay? We lost you for a moment,” he heard in his ear just seconds later. It took him a moment to react. He was still staring into the direction where Nino had vanished seconds ago.
“Ah, yes. The pipers are destroyed. I will send them to you,” he said finally and collected the toys to bring them to the station as quickly as he could. He had to think about what to do with Nino.
--
Nino was waiting for him in the kitchen when Aiba finally was back home. He had taken his time on his way back to think about what this all meant.
So, Nino was behind it all? Why? To get his attention? Why didn’t he say just say something instead? It would have been that much easier, after all. This scheme was just too strange and useless. But it fit Nino somehow.
If it was important or had to do with feelings, Nino was never straightforward.
But Nino also was right. Aiba only had become Miracle Man because he wanted to help. There were many bad things happening and since he was good at fighting - he’d been training since he was a small child - and good with thinking of things on the spot. He had taken on the challenge, and he had succeeded.
Since Toymaster had appeared, less villains had attacked the city. It seemed as if they had accepted him at the top and didn’t want to get into his way. Aiba didn’t want to think about what Nino had done to establish himself at the top. It was a scary thought. Nino was also correct, in that nothing too terrible happened because of Toymaster - yet. Aiba and everybody else was just worried that it would as soon they let their guard down
Aiba looked at Nino in silence. The other was staring at him in the same way. In the end, though, a small amused grin appeared on Aiba's face. “Those were for me? All of them? You sent them to me just as the song says?” he asked.
Nino agreed cautiously, clearly not following his train of thoughts right now.
“My true love?” Aiba continued cheekily and Nino blushed. It was quite the sight. Nino tried to look at him grudgingly, attempting to glare but he didn’t really succeed. Before he could retort anything or hide his face Aiba took a few big strides to stand right in front of him. He lifted Nino’s face carefully and pressed his lips against Nino’s.
--
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me twelve drummers drumming
Aiba was awoken by the sounds of drumming. He groaned. “Really now?” he grumbled and heard Nino giggling madly beside him.
“Will I find twelve drummers outside once I leave this room?” he asked tiredly, tugging at Nino’s hair when the smaller man just continued to giggle into his shoulder.
“You can stand up and check,” Nino said once he was composed enough to speak.
Aiba rubbed his face tiredly. Really? Did Nino have to go that far? How did he even manage to put the drummers outside? He was sure that Nino had been in his arms all night.
When the drumming didn’t stop, Aiba groaned loudly and finally forced himself out of bed, climbing over Nino who didn’t really move but sat up once Aiba was out of the bed.
Aiba found himself staring at all that pale skin and moved down to press a soft kiss against the dip of his shoulder.
“The last toys?” he asked and Nino agreed, for once entirely serious. Toymaster would disappear now that he had Aiba’s attention on him all the time.