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aibaexchangeTitle: Replacement
Pairing: Ohno/Aiba
Rating: PG-15 for a slightly dirty joke lol
Word Count: 2348
Summary: Aiba works in Tokyo Disneyland, but there’s a time of year when it is not the happiest place on earth for him. Can a replacement help him with that?
Notes: I’ve never been to Tokyo Disneyland before, so I really just took a lot of liberties with the system. In the story, replacements are people who come in to take over the ‘main’ actors during the holiday period when most of them would be on leave. Dear requester, I hope you enjoy it anyway! Many thanks also goes out to my lovely speedy beta, love you! ♥
(Prompt: Aiba works at Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo DisneySea. What’s his life like? What job does he have? Is he constantly pestered by season ticket holder Kazama? Does he have a crush on that guy in the Donald Duck costume?)
Most people wake up in the morning wishing they could go back to sleep and avoid work, but not Aiba. It helped, of course, that Aiba worked in the happiest place on Earth - Tokyo Disneyland. Every morning in the locker room, after he put on his green clothes and hat, he would look into the mirror and smile the brightest smile that he could, which was the smile that he would give to the thousands of guests that he would see later that day.
“All right! Let’s get this day started.”
His responsibility was to ensure that each guest to the park had the best experience possible. To prepare himself, he mentally ran through the events that would happen in the day - be it making jokes, signing autographs, and sometimes engaging in playful banter with his female colleague. Sometimes, he even had to “rescue” her from a red-suited pirate and his crew, which he did with much exaggeration, drawing laughter from the crowds.
As Aiba was thinking about what jokes he could use for the day, the pirate’s actor walked into the room and greeted him. “Morning, Aiba-chan. Or should I say, Get out of the way, you little whippersnapper?” He made a menacing action with his costume hook.
“Good morning to you too, Sho-chan!” Aiba playfully drew a little dagger from his waist and pointed it towards him. “And have you considered changing professions since you lost that hand?” He winked.
“To what?” Sho tilted his head slightly, intrigued.
“Oh, I don’t know... maybe a hooker? “ Aiba giggled and ducked out of the way as the pirate tried to smack him with his good hand.
Having missed, Sho then huffed and rolled his eyes. “Not friendly to PG audiences, Peter.”
Aiba laughed good-naturedly and moved towards the door. “I’m heading out first, see you by the rock!”
“Arrr!” Sho growled in acknowledgement, and went back to fixing his moustache.
Whistling, Aiba walked out into the sunshine to start another wonderful day of work.
=====
“See you next year, Aiba-chan!” Sho waved, his costume already kept neatly and makeup removed.
“See you next year!” Aiba waved back, and kept a smile on his face till Sho was out of sight.
There it was again. As every year neared its end, Aiba could feel his emotions getting lower. Although he could put up a convincing act of merriment and joy in front of the park guests - he hadn’t trained for years for nothing, after all - it was a whole different story when he was alone.
He let out a long sigh while he kept his costume for the day. As he was doing so, a guy dressed as Pinocchio happened to walk into the changing room and notice him.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Pinocchio called as he removed the head of the costume. “Why the long face?”
Aiba looked up, startled, and then gave an embarrassed smile. “It’s nothing, Nino... “
“Right, and Piglet will fly.” Nino raised an eyebrow but continued changing out of his costume. After a while, he broke the silence.
“By the way, Aiba-sshi, I’m leaving for the holidays. My sister’s coming over with her kids, so I’ll only see you again next year.”
Aiba’s face fell at those words, and Nino caught his expression. He immediately tried to cheer Aiba up.
“Hey, at least you still have that Annual Passport holder.”
They both shared a little chuckle at that. There was a guest who would come almost every day, and he would hang around Aiba a lot. Sometimes, on slower days, he would try to chat a little with Aiba, but Aiba always had to stay in character as Peter Pan, so the conversations didn’t go very far. The guest didn’t let this stop him, though, and he was almost always there. Aiba sometimes talked to Nino about the things ‘that Passport holder’ did, but normally he was quite respectful, so Aiba didn’t mind too much.
“It’s not the same, though… and also there will always be the replacements.” Aiba mumbled.
Since the park had to operate regardless of whether the cast members were around, there would often be an intake of replacements when the holiday season started. The replacements were mostly well-trained and could keep things running smoothly until the original actors returned, but occasionally one or two would still need a day or so to get used to the place, especially for those that came from overseas. Sometimes, the regulars that were left behind had to guide them while they get accustomed to it. Aiba shuddered slightly when he recalled one incident when a replacement Wendy had wandered all the way to Splash Mountain while looking for Skull Rock.
“I really wish I could stay and help you with the replacements, but…” Nino shrugged. “Maybe they’ll get better ones this year.”
“Maybe.” Aiba didn’t sound very hopeful. He was always one of the regulars that stayed back over the holiday season, mainly because he wasn’t close to his family, and he didn’t really have many friends to celebrate with, either. But the one thing that made it all worse was that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. It was the time of the year when a huge rush of guests would be coming, especially couples, and the feeling of being alone while in the middle of a huge crowd was intense. But seeing smiles on the guests’ faces was still better than spending the time alone in his apartment, so he remained here year in and year out, and did his best.
=====
Actually, this year wasn’t too bad. Aiba was pretty satisfied. The replacements for the people he interacted with most, Wendy and Captain Hook, were all quite competent, and the guests loved them as well. The Passport holder was still hanging around, though Aiba noticed that his staring gradually got slightly less intense. Aiba started to ease into his normal routine.
“Now, Wendy, and all the rest of you, would you like to learn the special bird call?”
The crowd erupted. “Yes!”
Aiba smiled and winked. “All right, everyone, I’ll show you!”
He waited for the excited screams of the crowd to die down, before putting his hands up around his mouth and letting loose a call of “OOOOooooOOOOoOooo~”.
Aiba then shaded his eyes with one hand and pretended to look for a bird on the horizon. Unexpectedly, a blue and white mascot came bumbling straight towards them from the distance. Aiba realised with some horror that it was Donald Duck, and whoever was inside the suit was probably a replacement who had lost his way. Thinking quickly, he said, “Look, the bird call attracted Donald! Say hi, guys!”
The crowd waved and shouted. While Aiba went over and casually put an arm around the duck’s shoulders. “Hello, Donald, good morning!”
Donald bobbed his head in return, and waved a little.
“You seem a little lost, don’t you? Maybe you want to join one of our Lost Boys!” Aiba said, to the chuckles of the crowd. Donald nodded in agreement, but shook his head a little at the second statement.
“No? You’re sure?” Aiba teased. “You’d make quite a good Lost Duck, you know.”
Donald shook his head more firmly this time.
“Well, in that case, you’d better head back to where you were going, right?” Aiba took him by the shoulders and gently pointed him to the right direction, whispering quickly, “Turn left at the fountain. If you need anything, you can ask me.”
He turned to the crowd and said, “Well, let’s wave him off, shall we? Bye, Donald!”
The crowd obliged, and amid the cries of “Goodbye, Donald!”, the blue and white mascot waddled away.
“Now, where were we?” Aiba quickly drew the attention of the crowd back onto himself. “Oh, yeah the special bird call!”
He continued with his usual routine, and slowly, the disruption slipped from the minds of the guests.
=====
At the end of the day, when Aiba returned to the changing room to get rid of his costume, he found Donald Duck waiting there for him.
“What are you doing here?”
The person in the mascot took off his head and said matter-of-factly, “You said that if I had anything, I could ask you.”
“Oh, I didn’t actually mean that you should… never mind. What’s your name?”
“Ohno. Ohno Satoshi.”
“Oh. My name’s Aiba Masaki. It’s nice to meet you.” Aiba had been actually slightly annoyed, but the formality tumbled reflexively from his lips.
Ohno smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
With that smile, it was as if Aiba’s annoyed feelings were simply erased. Aiba slowly realised that he was attracted to the soft features and full lips of the man before him, and a warm feeling settled in his tummy.
“So… you wanted to ask me something?” Aiba asked, more gently than he had intended.
A slight frown creased Ohno’s forehead. “Yes, actually. How do I get to the train station from here?”
“I’ll walk there with you, since I’m going there myself. After we get out of these costumes, alright?”
Before long, the two of them set off towards the station. Aiba tried to make a little conversation, but after some time, he realised that Ohno wasn’t really the talkative type. They walked in silence, but that allowed Aiba to observe him more. From what little he said, Aiba gathered that Ohno was a replacement, and he’d just arrived in Japan that morning, so he was a little disoriented.
It turned out that they were taking the same train, and Ohno was getting off at a stop before him. When the stop came, he turned to Aiba and bowed. “Thank you for helping me today. I shall remember your kindness.”
After saying this, he walked off, leaving Aiba smiling a little at his retreating silhouette.
=====
Going home together after work slowly became a routine, and Aiba realised that he was actually looking forward to seeing the quiet man. Even though Ohno didn’t seem to like to talk, he always seemed happy to hear Aiba’s tales of the day’s happenings, from descriptions of the children he played with to funny things that some guests told him.
“One of them asked me why I’m always flying.” Aiba looked at Ohno to see if he knew the answer. Ohno simply looked back at him expectantly, shrugging to indicate that he didn’t know the answer.
“Because I never land!” Aiba concluded triumphantly, and Ohno let out some snorts of mirth. Seeing Ohno laugh also made Aiba’s tummy warm inside.
On the days when Ohno was feeling slightly more chatty, he would also tell Aiba a few things about himself. In this way, they slowly grew closer to each other.
=====
“Hey, Oh-chan? Did I tell you about the Passport holder?” Aiba asked one night.
Ohno shook his head.
“There’s this guy who comes to see me almost every day, so I think he definitely has an Annual Passport. I’m okay with him most of the time, he’s usually respectful, but… today he introduced himself and asked me what I’m doing after work.”
Ohno remained silent. It was a rule that actors should never break character, and never let their identity be known to guests. He waited to see what Aiba would say next.
“But I just told him, ‘Work? What’s that? I’m busy playing tricks on Captain Hook and looking for mermaids!’ And he nodded and left, but he looked really sad. It must have taken him a lot of courage to ask, but...”
Seeing the worried look on Aiba’s face, Ohno reached out and gave Aiba’s hand a squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Aiba-chan. It happens.”
Aiba nodded. Ohno’s hand was strangely warm and comforting, and he suddenly didn’t want it to let go.
“But…” Ohno looked uncertain.
“Yes?”
“Are you… interested in him?” Ohno stammered.
Aiba laughed. “No, of course not. I’ve never interacted with him outside of my role as Peter, and to be honest, the way he’s always there is a little creepy.”
Relief washed over Ohno’s face, and he nodded.
They sat there in silence until they reached Ohno’s stop, where they realised that their hands were still touching, but both of them simply blushed and smiled shyly at the realisation.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aiba-chan.”
=====
As the days flew by, Aiba’s birthday crept closer and closer. He hadn’t meant to mention it, except that the worry of not having people to celebrate it with weighed heavily on his mind, and he just blurted it out one night while drinking with Ohno.
Ohno just sat there quietly as usual, but with a thoughtful look on his face.
The day came, and as soon as the clock struck midnight, Aiba got the usual texts from Nino and Sho, wishing him a happy birthday. However, in addition to these usual messages, there was an additional one this year - from Ohno. It was a simple “Happy birthday” with a ballerina emoji, and it made Aiba laugh.
At lunchtime, Ohno surprised Aiba with a bag of his favourite fried chicken. He also passed Aiba a little piece of paper with a doodle of Peter Pan and Donald Duck flying in the air, with the words, “You are my happy thought.” The gesture warmed Aiba’s heart so much he couldn’t stop smiling.
That night, Aiba received another text from Nino, remarking about the lack of clingy messages from him this year. Aiba smiled as he typed in a reply.
Things have changed this year. A lot.
=====
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun, and soon it was time for the regular actors to return to the park. Aiba took some time off to go see Ohno off at the airport.
The two of them looked at each other while standing outside the boarding gate. A hint of tears threatened to fall from Aiba’s eyes as he looked at Ohno for as long as possible to burn the image into his memory.
“I’ll be back next year,” Ohno promised, and they shared a final hug.
“Can’t wait,” Aiba said.
Pairing: Ohno/Aiba
Rating: PG-15 for a slightly dirty joke lol
Word Count: 2348
Summary: Aiba works in Tokyo Disneyland, but there’s a time of year when it is not the happiest place on earth for him. Can a replacement help him with that?
Notes: I’ve never been to Tokyo Disneyland before, so I really just took a lot of liberties with the system. In the story, replacements are people who come in to take over the ‘main’ actors during the holiday period when most of them would be on leave. Dear requester, I hope you enjoy it anyway! Many thanks also goes out to my lovely speedy beta, love you! ♥
(Prompt: Aiba works at Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo DisneySea. What’s his life like? What job does he have? Is he constantly pestered by season ticket holder Kazama? Does he have a crush on that guy in the Donald Duck costume?)
Most people wake up in the morning wishing they could go back to sleep and avoid work, but not Aiba. It helped, of course, that Aiba worked in the happiest place on Earth - Tokyo Disneyland. Every morning in the locker room, after he put on his green clothes and hat, he would look into the mirror and smile the brightest smile that he could, which was the smile that he would give to the thousands of guests that he would see later that day.
“All right! Let’s get this day started.”
His responsibility was to ensure that each guest to the park had the best experience possible. To prepare himself, he mentally ran through the events that would happen in the day - be it making jokes, signing autographs, and sometimes engaging in playful banter with his female colleague. Sometimes, he even had to “rescue” her from a red-suited pirate and his crew, which he did with much exaggeration, drawing laughter from the crowds.
As Aiba was thinking about what jokes he could use for the day, the pirate’s actor walked into the room and greeted him. “Morning, Aiba-chan. Or should I say, Get out of the way, you little whippersnapper?” He made a menacing action with his costume hook.
“Good morning to you too, Sho-chan!” Aiba playfully drew a little dagger from his waist and pointed it towards him. “And have you considered changing professions since you lost that hand?” He winked.
“To what?” Sho tilted his head slightly, intrigued.
“Oh, I don’t know... maybe a hooker? “ Aiba giggled and ducked out of the way as the pirate tried to smack him with his good hand.
Having missed, Sho then huffed and rolled his eyes. “Not friendly to PG audiences, Peter.”
Aiba laughed good-naturedly and moved towards the door. “I’m heading out first, see you by the rock!”
“Arrr!” Sho growled in acknowledgement, and went back to fixing his moustache.
Whistling, Aiba walked out into the sunshine to start another wonderful day of work.
=====
“See you next year, Aiba-chan!” Sho waved, his costume already kept neatly and makeup removed.
“See you next year!” Aiba waved back, and kept a smile on his face till Sho was out of sight.
There it was again. As every year neared its end, Aiba could feel his emotions getting lower. Although he could put up a convincing act of merriment and joy in front of the park guests - he hadn’t trained for years for nothing, after all - it was a whole different story when he was alone.
He let out a long sigh while he kept his costume for the day. As he was doing so, a guy dressed as Pinocchio happened to walk into the changing room and notice him.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Pinocchio called as he removed the head of the costume. “Why the long face?”
Aiba looked up, startled, and then gave an embarrassed smile. “It’s nothing, Nino... “
“Right, and Piglet will fly.” Nino raised an eyebrow but continued changing out of his costume. After a while, he broke the silence.
“By the way, Aiba-sshi, I’m leaving for the holidays. My sister’s coming over with her kids, so I’ll only see you again next year.”
Aiba’s face fell at those words, and Nino caught his expression. He immediately tried to cheer Aiba up.
“Hey, at least you still have that Annual Passport holder.”
They both shared a little chuckle at that. There was a guest who would come almost every day, and he would hang around Aiba a lot. Sometimes, on slower days, he would try to chat a little with Aiba, but Aiba always had to stay in character as Peter Pan, so the conversations didn’t go very far. The guest didn’t let this stop him, though, and he was almost always there. Aiba sometimes talked to Nino about the things ‘that Passport holder’ did, but normally he was quite respectful, so Aiba didn’t mind too much.
“It’s not the same, though… and also there will always be the replacements.” Aiba mumbled.
Since the park had to operate regardless of whether the cast members were around, there would often be an intake of replacements when the holiday season started. The replacements were mostly well-trained and could keep things running smoothly until the original actors returned, but occasionally one or two would still need a day or so to get used to the place, especially for those that came from overseas. Sometimes, the regulars that were left behind had to guide them while they get accustomed to it. Aiba shuddered slightly when he recalled one incident when a replacement Wendy had wandered all the way to Splash Mountain while looking for Skull Rock.
“I really wish I could stay and help you with the replacements, but…” Nino shrugged. “Maybe they’ll get better ones this year.”
“Maybe.” Aiba didn’t sound very hopeful. He was always one of the regulars that stayed back over the holiday season, mainly because he wasn’t close to his family, and he didn’t really have many friends to celebrate with, either. But the one thing that made it all worse was that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. It was the time of the year when a huge rush of guests would be coming, especially couples, and the feeling of being alone while in the middle of a huge crowd was intense. But seeing smiles on the guests’ faces was still better than spending the time alone in his apartment, so he remained here year in and year out, and did his best.
=====
Actually, this year wasn’t too bad. Aiba was pretty satisfied. The replacements for the people he interacted with most, Wendy and Captain Hook, were all quite competent, and the guests loved them as well. The Passport holder was still hanging around, though Aiba noticed that his staring gradually got slightly less intense. Aiba started to ease into his normal routine.
“Now, Wendy, and all the rest of you, would you like to learn the special bird call?”
The crowd erupted. “Yes!”
Aiba smiled and winked. “All right, everyone, I’ll show you!”
He waited for the excited screams of the crowd to die down, before putting his hands up around his mouth and letting loose a call of “OOOOooooOOOOoOooo~”.
Aiba then shaded his eyes with one hand and pretended to look for a bird on the horizon. Unexpectedly, a blue and white mascot came bumbling straight towards them from the distance. Aiba realised with some horror that it was Donald Duck, and whoever was inside the suit was probably a replacement who had lost his way. Thinking quickly, he said, “Look, the bird call attracted Donald! Say hi, guys!”
The crowd waved and shouted. While Aiba went over and casually put an arm around the duck’s shoulders. “Hello, Donald, good morning!”
Donald bobbed his head in return, and waved a little.
“You seem a little lost, don’t you? Maybe you want to join one of our Lost Boys!” Aiba said, to the chuckles of the crowd. Donald nodded in agreement, but shook his head a little at the second statement.
“No? You’re sure?” Aiba teased. “You’d make quite a good Lost Duck, you know.”
Donald shook his head more firmly this time.
“Well, in that case, you’d better head back to where you were going, right?” Aiba took him by the shoulders and gently pointed him to the right direction, whispering quickly, “Turn left at the fountain. If you need anything, you can ask me.”
He turned to the crowd and said, “Well, let’s wave him off, shall we? Bye, Donald!”
The crowd obliged, and amid the cries of “Goodbye, Donald!”, the blue and white mascot waddled away.
“Now, where were we?” Aiba quickly drew the attention of the crowd back onto himself. “Oh, yeah the special bird call!”
He continued with his usual routine, and slowly, the disruption slipped from the minds of the guests.
=====
At the end of the day, when Aiba returned to the changing room to get rid of his costume, he found Donald Duck waiting there for him.
“What are you doing here?”
The person in the mascot took off his head and said matter-of-factly, “You said that if I had anything, I could ask you.”
“Oh, I didn’t actually mean that you should… never mind. What’s your name?”
“Ohno. Ohno Satoshi.”
“Oh. My name’s Aiba Masaki. It’s nice to meet you.” Aiba had been actually slightly annoyed, but the formality tumbled reflexively from his lips.
Ohno smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
With that smile, it was as if Aiba’s annoyed feelings were simply erased. Aiba slowly realised that he was attracted to the soft features and full lips of the man before him, and a warm feeling settled in his tummy.
“So… you wanted to ask me something?” Aiba asked, more gently than he had intended.
A slight frown creased Ohno’s forehead. “Yes, actually. How do I get to the train station from here?”
“I’ll walk there with you, since I’m going there myself. After we get out of these costumes, alright?”
Before long, the two of them set off towards the station. Aiba tried to make a little conversation, but after some time, he realised that Ohno wasn’t really the talkative type. They walked in silence, but that allowed Aiba to observe him more. From what little he said, Aiba gathered that Ohno was a replacement, and he’d just arrived in Japan that morning, so he was a little disoriented.
It turned out that they were taking the same train, and Ohno was getting off at a stop before him. When the stop came, he turned to Aiba and bowed. “Thank you for helping me today. I shall remember your kindness.”
After saying this, he walked off, leaving Aiba smiling a little at his retreating silhouette.
=====
Going home together after work slowly became a routine, and Aiba realised that he was actually looking forward to seeing the quiet man. Even though Ohno didn’t seem to like to talk, he always seemed happy to hear Aiba’s tales of the day’s happenings, from descriptions of the children he played with to funny things that some guests told him.
“One of them asked me why I’m always flying.” Aiba looked at Ohno to see if he knew the answer. Ohno simply looked back at him expectantly, shrugging to indicate that he didn’t know the answer.
“Because I never land!” Aiba concluded triumphantly, and Ohno let out some snorts of mirth. Seeing Ohno laugh also made Aiba’s tummy warm inside.
On the days when Ohno was feeling slightly more chatty, he would also tell Aiba a few things about himself. In this way, they slowly grew closer to each other.
=====
“Hey, Oh-chan? Did I tell you about the Passport holder?” Aiba asked one night.
Ohno shook his head.
“There’s this guy who comes to see me almost every day, so I think he definitely has an Annual Passport. I’m okay with him most of the time, he’s usually respectful, but… today he introduced himself and asked me what I’m doing after work.”
Ohno remained silent. It was a rule that actors should never break character, and never let their identity be known to guests. He waited to see what Aiba would say next.
“But I just told him, ‘Work? What’s that? I’m busy playing tricks on Captain Hook and looking for mermaids!’ And he nodded and left, but he looked really sad. It must have taken him a lot of courage to ask, but...”
Seeing the worried look on Aiba’s face, Ohno reached out and gave Aiba’s hand a squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Aiba-chan. It happens.”
Aiba nodded. Ohno’s hand was strangely warm and comforting, and he suddenly didn’t want it to let go.
“But…” Ohno looked uncertain.
“Yes?”
“Are you… interested in him?” Ohno stammered.
Aiba laughed. “No, of course not. I’ve never interacted with him outside of my role as Peter, and to be honest, the way he’s always there is a little creepy.”
Relief washed over Ohno’s face, and he nodded.
They sat there in silence until they reached Ohno’s stop, where they realised that their hands were still touching, but both of them simply blushed and smiled shyly at the realisation.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aiba-chan.”
=====
As the days flew by, Aiba’s birthday crept closer and closer. He hadn’t meant to mention it, except that the worry of not having people to celebrate it with weighed heavily on his mind, and he just blurted it out one night while drinking with Ohno.
Ohno just sat there quietly as usual, but with a thoughtful look on his face.
The day came, and as soon as the clock struck midnight, Aiba got the usual texts from Nino and Sho, wishing him a happy birthday. However, in addition to these usual messages, there was an additional one this year - from Ohno. It was a simple “Happy birthday” with a ballerina emoji, and it made Aiba laugh.
At lunchtime, Ohno surprised Aiba with a bag of his favourite fried chicken. He also passed Aiba a little piece of paper with a doodle of Peter Pan and Donald Duck flying in the air, with the words, “You are my happy thought.” The gesture warmed Aiba’s heart so much he couldn’t stop smiling.
That night, Aiba received another text from Nino, remarking about the lack of clingy messages from him this year. Aiba smiled as he typed in a reply.
Things have changed this year. A lot.
=====
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun, and soon it was time for the regular actors to return to the park. Aiba took some time off to go see Ohno off at the airport.
The two of them looked at each other while standing outside the boarding gate. A hint of tears threatened to fall from Aiba’s eyes as he looked at Ohno for as long as possible to burn the image into his memory.
“I’ll be back next year,” Ohno promised, and they shared a final hug.
“Can’t wait,” Aiba said.
