Thank you for sharing your WIPs! Could you talk about the popcorn one? What's it about? I like the autumn vibe it got going on 🥰
thank you for asking about them! 💜 that one has been in-progress for...a minute ahaha. but it's meant to be autumn-y (and ideally will be finished before halloween)!
it started as a character exploration thing for holland, as well as an excuse to spend more time developing a sense of wayhaven as place for myself - like, what locations might be important to individual ocs, or which ones might exist in one detective's version of wayhaven but not in another's?
anyway! long ramble-story short, it's a mini tour of a piece of holland's wayhaven
three snippets from three wips~ <3 (bc I really do have an insane number of them 🤡)
At least, that was Mason’s take on it, now that the racket had distracted him enough to make him forget what he’d been going to do before someone (probably Felix) had begun crashing about at four in the goddamn morning.
For a moment, with her eyes shut, she could have been seventeen again, ready to warm her forever-cold fingers in a tub of popcorn, the crisp evening air crackling with promise in the way that only seemed to happen in Octobers.
“I often find myself wondering if it’s one of the great loves of my life,” she quipped. “Coffee, I mean.”
Word Count: 3883
A/N: This was my Secret Santa Fic for obsessivedino!
Germany was quite a peculiar place.
It wasn't necessarily a bad thing but even after almost a year of living there Aoba couldn't help but think that. Especially now during the festive time leading up to Christmas which the Germans seemed to take very seriously, it was hard to wrap his head around everything.
For Aoba, Christmas was basically just a nice time. Sometimes a gift or two was exchanged but generally it was just an enjoyable time he spent with friends.
But for the Germans Christmas seemed to be its very own science that required a special kind of preparation, execution and even post-processing, at least by now that wouldn't surprise him. Everyone around just seemed to be in some weird Christmas-induced craze and that two weeks before the actual holiday.
In contrast Noiz was... just his usual self. It was probably overkill to get so upset over a holiday this early on but after seeing everyone else it was weird to see the blond not reacting to the nearing holiday at all. But knowing him, it wouldn't surprise Aoba if Noiz just genuinely didn't care or maybe... he didn't know better? As little as he may know about the other's childhood it was already enough to make it hard to imagine Noiz's family sitting around a Christmas tree.
“Hey Noiz?”
“Hm?” The blond looked up from whatever he had been intently staring at on his coil.
“Let's have a traditional German Christmas!”
Even as the words left his mouth he realized how weird they sounded out of the blue and the blond stared at him understandably skeptical. “Where did that come from?”
“I dunno, I just... never spent Christmas outside of Midorijima before...”
“Isn't that just because you generally never went anywhere before?” And he had the guts to smirk as he said that!
“D-does it matter? I just want to, okay? Now that I'm living here, I at least should know how it's done, right?”
“You don't want that, you have seen those guys out there, right?”
At that point, Aoba had to suppress an annoyed sigh. “We don't have to do anything crazy! Why are we even arguing about this. I just want-” He stopped himself just in time. 'I just want to make you happy', no way in hell he was saying that out loud.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he lied. “Suit yourself. You can help me or I will just do some research myself.”
Or rather he'd just have Ren do some research, couldn't be that hard to follow written instructions, right?
Noiz just looked at him unimpressed. “I don't know why you're so eager about this, it's just a holiday. But if you want to learn about Germany... I guess I'll help.” Suddenly he looked way more thoughtful than Aoba expected him to about a matter like that but he decided not to comment on it.
“So, when do we start?” he asked instead.
“Not for another week.”
“Seriously??” Did he just agree and planned not to do anything after all?
“It's better that way. We can't get one yet anyway.” Wait, what was he talking about? “One what?” But Noiz was already back on his coil and not listening anymore.
“Noiz!”
- - -
Noiz never bothered to response and never spoke of it again either.
And so, one week before Christmas, Noiz returned from work, or rather somewhere else he must have gone afterward to set up a weird massive metal structure in the middle of the living room. And next to it he left a huge cardboard box.
Just what was inside and what the heck was that thing?
“Let's go,” Noiz said without any explanation whatsoever and was already on his way back outside.
“Go where? Wait, Noiz!” He could really do without the blond's antics sometimes, Aoba thought to himself, as he scrambled to get up from where he had been sitting to follow his lover.
Despite winter season it wasn't overly cold out. A long-sleeved shirt and a jacket was normally enough to go outside.
It got dark early though and so it looked as if they had just stepped out into the middle of the night even thought it was still afternoon.
“Noiz?”
“Hm?”
“Where are we going?” But he received no answer, as expected. Noiz could be a real brat if he wanted to be.
But they didn't have to go far, it seemed.
Was that... a forest in the middle of the city?
Noiz's amused chuckle told him that he had accidentally voiced that question out loud.
“No, it's not,” he answered laughing.
A sign on the fence surrounding the trees read “Weihnachtsbaumverkauf” which... didn't tell him much with his still limited German knowledge.
“Is that...?”
“You really haven't figured it out yet? It was you who wanted to celebrate Christmas and you don't even recognize Christmas trees?”
Aoba blushed. “O-of course I do! But it's dark and all I see is a bunch of trees!”
Noiz chuckled. “Right. Then go choose one.”
“Wha-? We're going to-”
“Buy one, yes. What did you think?”
Those were... real trees, right? Not some made of plastic like he had seen before. You really could just buy them like that? In the middle of the city, no less! There sure wasn't anything like that back in Midorijima.
The blond noticed his obvious surprise and smiled.
“Come on,” he said and took his hand, leading him into the makeshift shop.
Small trees, big trees, narrow trees and broad ones with long branches, some weren't even exactly green but more with a blueish hue.
How was he supposed to choose? He didn't know anything about trees, whether they were meant for Christmas decoration or not.
Noiz's hand hadn't let go of his even after they entered and was a comforting warmth at his side.
“So... how about this one?”
Admittedly it was a rather random choice but right in this moment, with Noiz at his side it just seemed right. It wasn't overly big, as Noiz would probably have preferred but it wasn't about size anyway. It was their first Christmas tree and it would have been special, no matter what, even if he had not even gotten to choose it.
Noiz just hummed in response. “It's your choice.”
“Then let's take this one, I like it.”
Noiz nodded and went off to talk to the person tending the shop. The man came over, got the tree and put it on a rail to be pulled through a sort of pipe filled with a specific net. A tree with long branches went in and came back out wrapped completely in a tight net keeping the branches from poking out.
It was the first time Aoba had seen anything like it. It was kind of amazing.
Noiz paid the man and set the tree down next to him.
“You wanna grab the top or the bottom?”
Wait, what?
“We have to carry it??”
The blond just laughed.
“You want me to get a delivery service?” he asked amused.
“N-no, I just didn't think...”
It should have been logical, actually, but then again he had never bought a tree before. So he just wordlessly grabbed onto the top of the tree and waited for Noiz to lift it from the other said.
Suddenly he was glad he hadn't chosen a bigger one. It was a short trek home but the tree was heavy enough as it was.
“So... you seem like you're used to it. Did you regularly buy Christmas trees?” Aoba couldn't help but ask.
“No, I've never bought one but it's not hard to figure out, is it?”
He remained silent but that pretty much confirmed what he had wondered about back when he had proposed to celebrate Christmas properly.
Getting the tree through the city was fairly easy, getting it up the stairs to the apartment on the other hand turned out to be a nightmare.
The branches started poking him and the net he held onto was extremely thin but sturdy and started to bite into his skin.
He had never been so glad to be back in the apartment before.
The weird thing Noiz had brought in earlier now turned out to be intended to keep the tree in place which worked wonderfully once they had finally gotten the tree in a decent upright position.
As soon as it was in place and secured Aoba sank down in the nearby chair. Who would have thought it was that difficult to get a Christmas tree... and it wasn't even really a Christmas tree yet, it was basically just a fir tree standing in the middle of their living room now.
Noiz had the guts to grin at him.
“Still want to celebrate a traditional Christmas?”
“O-of course! You want to give up so soon? I, for my part, just need a little break,” he boasted even though he could feel his back aching already.
But he still really wanted to do it. He was curious, especially now that he got a feeling for just how much work people seemed to invest in it. And he wanted to do it for Noiz too, of course.
For now all the blond did was mock him for it but he did seem honestly amused, so it wasn't all bad even is Aoba's pride suffered a little.
- - -
The cardboard box turned out to hold several boxes reading “Weihnachtskugeln” and “Weihnachtsbaumschmuck” containing Christmas balls in different colors and sizes and also some other decorative elements for the tree.
He had read that word quite frequently now. “These all read Weihnachts...”
“Yeah, Weihnachten. It's German for Christmas,” Noiz responded from where he was watching Aoba determined to let him do the decorating alone.
Made sense, even though he actually saw the word Christmas just as frequently. Whether that was intended for tourists or if the Germans actually used both words he couldn't say though. Well, the only German person he regularly had contact with was Noiz, after all.
The Christmas balls were pretty though. He wondered if Noiz had chosen them all by himself and how long he had spent doing so but he figured he wouldn't get an honest response anyway. So he focused on forming a plan how to decorate their tree in his head before he went to work.
But just a few hours ago he had never expected he would actually spend several hours decorating a tree. Somehow he just got really into it. He wanted it to be perfect even though it would never be but as perfect as possible at least.
Noiz watched him curiously for a while but after a while went to do some work on his coil.
Aoba didn't know how much time had passed in the end as he finally looked upon their tree once empty, now full with beautifully arranged Christmas balls on every branch.
“You really are serious about this.” There was a sort of amazement in Noiz's voice as he said that.
Aoba turned to him and saw him silently stare at the tree for a while.
“You like it?” he asked unsure but when Noiz turned to look at him he thought he saw a soft blush on the blond's face but he quickly averted his gaze again.
“Sure, it's nice,” he mumbled but it was the best compliment Aoba ever could have gotten for his work.
- - -
Christmas Eve approached quickly and the streets and shops got busier and busier with people getting their last Christmas presents. Despite that Noiz chose exactly the day before Christmas Eve to go see the Christmas market with Aoba.
It hadn't gotten much colder so even the evening hours weren't too cold to spend a few relaxed hours outside. Well, there were quite a lot of people walking around so exactly how relaxing it was could be argued but Aoba didn't mind. In fact, he hardly noticed any of it. It really was quite fascinating, all these different little Christmas-oriented shops were quite beautiful to look at. He could listen to different Christmas songs at every corner even if he didn't understand the words.
The Germans apparently really loved Christmas. Aoba learned a lot, about Noiz too. For example that it didn't matter if the blond was familiar with the offered food or not, he still bought way too much and way too many different things just because he could.
Although their roles were reversed this time. This time Aoba had no clue what it was that Noiz stopped to buy at every stall.
“Kandierte Äpfel”, “Erdbeeren in weißer Schokolade”, “Quarkbällchen”, “Mutzen”, Aoba understood that some of these were fruits covered in caramelized sugar and white sugar but the others were some kind of deep-fried pastry and looked the same to him.
“They are similar but I prefer these,” Noiz pointed at the smaller ones, Mutzen, “they are sweeter.”
They were indeed but they were both served with powdered sugar so he really didn't notice that much of a difference.
After Noiz was done stuffing himself with food, they finally had some time to take a closer look at some of the shops and well... Noiz turned out to be surprisingly sweet for once. At one shop there was suddenly a pair of fluffy ear muffs on his ears.
“You might need them in the coming months,” was all he said but Aoba could practically see him fighting down a blush.
“Thank you.”
Noiz was pointedly not looking at him instead he looked around some more and Aoba ended up with a scarf and a pair of gloves before they left to look at some other shops.
There were so many shops. There were literally several shops, each selling a specific kind of Christmas stars. Did people really worry about outdoor and indoor Christmas stars? They were pretty but that was all that was to them, right?
There also were several shops selling “Erzgebirgische Handwerkskunst”, apparently it was a term for wood-related art that was produced in a more southern part of the country, so many things the bluenette had never even heard of thought about.
They spent several hours on the market and due to the endurable temperatures that was no problem at all although he had been equipped with ear muffs and a scarf before anyway. They were fluffy and warm, Aoba already loved them.
“Aoba.”
“Hm?”
Was Noiz really looking at food again? The shop in front of him sure indicated so.
“You want to eat more?” Aoba asked exasperated.
“No, it's for you.”
“Huh?”
He took a closer look. He had seen similar shops before but this one seemed entirely focused on gingerbread in all shapes and sizes. They were quite artistically decorated with sugar coating. Some represented animals and other things but most of them were actually heart-shaped with different little messages on them. Again, he couldn't read most of them. Some of them read “I love you” though and the German counterpart too it which he could read but still had trouble pronouncing.
Just as he was thinking this exactly that kind of heart was put around his neck.
“Ich liebe dich” it read and was almost too cliched really. Aoba just stared at it.
“You know what it means, right?” Noiz asked after a while, not sure how he should read Aoba's reaction.
“Of course I do,” he replied quickly.
“Say it.”
“Huh? I-I love you,” Aoba mumbled, blushing.
Noiz chuckled. “Not that. What's written on it.”
“Wha- you know I can't!”
Noiz often enough tried to teach him German pronunciation. It mostly didn't end well.
“You really should be able to do it by now.”
It shouldn't be too difficult anyway.
“I-Ick liebe disch,” he stuttered.
Noiz stared at him deadpan. “That's horrible.”
Aoba huffed. “It's not that important anyway.”
“It is, if you want to live here,” Noiz replied and Aoba hated that he had a point but he wasn't going to give in. He really hated that weird “ch” sound that didn't make any sense whatsoever.
“There can't be that many words with that weird pronunciation.”
“Ich, dich, nicht, Licht, Sicht, dicht-”
“Okay, okay! Stop it! I will learn it!”
Noiz laughed. “Just take your time,” he said, smiling softly.
Aoba blushed and averted his eyes.
“I will...” he mumbled softly.
Well, at least Noiz was enjoying himself, right?
- - -
Christmas Eve wasn't a holiday, unlike the first and second day of Christmas, so Aoba used the time while Noiz was still away to properly wrap the present he had gotten a few days earlier. Just coming up with a present had taken him weeks. There just was nothing he could think of that Noiz would need or like and that preferably wasn't too cliched. Although the present he chose in the end just might turn out to be equally embarrassing but he decided to go through with it and there was no way back now. Evening was approaching quickly and Noiz would be home soon.
Home... from time to time that term was still foreign. He lived with Noiz for almost a year now but it still felt like it had only been a few days. Noiz drove him crazy sometimes, well, most of the time but there hadn't been a single moment where he regretted his decision.
Just as he thought that, the apartment door opened and Noiz stepped in. In his arm he held a brightly red wrapped present. Had he gotten one from his coworkers maybe?
“Hey,” he greeted.
His eyes wandered to the Christmas tree as they did regularly, much to Aoba's delight. But this time he seemed to search for something and his eyes did fall upon the present Aoba already put under the tree after wrapping it earlier.
To Aoba's surprise the blond went straight to the tree and put the red package right next to his. Was it... Noiz's present to him after all?
“Did you just buy that?” he couldn't help but ask.
Noiz looked at him. “Of course not, I kept it at work.”
That surprised him. “Why?” The grin he got in return made him regret the question though.
“Maybe because you're too nosy.”
“What! I am not!”
Noiz just laughed and Aoba realized that their “arguments” increasingly ended just like that. Slowly he began to feel like he might be the brat in this relationship after all... as if.
“You wanna know what's inside?” the blond teased and that was when Aoba decided that two could play this game.
He huffed. “No.”
That actually caught Noiz off guard.
“Why not?”
“Just look at the size of that thing! You promised you wouldn't get anything to big!”
“It's really not...”
The blond thought he had actually meant that, how endearing. Admittedly Aoba was worried that Noiz would go to far but that he actually went with a single present was already a success.
“Of course I want to know.”
Noiz looked at him surprised but then he smiled.
“Right now?”
“What? We can also wait-”
'until after dinner' he meant to say but Noiz had grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the Christmas tree before he even got that far.
“Now you're way too eager... what's inside? I hope nothing inappropriate, pervy brat.”
Noiz laughed again. “No, would you have wanted something like that?”
Aoba pointedly ignored that comment and after hesitating for another moment began unwrapping his present. It was skillfully wrapped, too skillfully, he took quite some time to open it. If Noiz had wrapped it himself? He almost wanted to ask but didn't. Instead, with widening eyes, he focused on... his new headphones. They looked amazing! And way too expensive.
“Noiz, I said-”
“You like them?”
He couldn't lie. “Of course I like them but-”
“Then keep them.”
Noiz was smiling at him and whenever he smiled like that Aoba just couldn't keep arguing.
“Thank you, they are amazing,” he said honestly.
But that wasn't enough. Even though Aoba could see the blond curiously eying the other present under the tree he wouldn't let him go before he actually tested the headphones as well.
The sound quality was simply heavenly. He was quite attached to his old ones but he was sure the new ones would be put to frequent use.
And Noiz was still eying the present without saying anything until Aoba took pity on him.
“You can open it, you know?”
The blond looked at him as if he had been caught doing something wrong.
“I can wait,” he dared to respond.
“Noiz, just admit you're nosier than me and open it already,” Aoba said amused and quickly after he got just the response he expected.
“I am not.”
“Just open it.”
Noiz sighed as if Aoba was the one behaving childishly.
“Fine.”
Bu the moment he started unwrapping the gift Aoba became nervous again. Had he really made the right choice?
Noiz stared at the content for a moment before he looked at him with an unreadable expression.
“Is this supposed to tell me something?”
“Ah, well...maybe?”
Noiz stared some more before he removed the set of piercings, two ear piercings and a tongue piercing, from its protective material. At that moment Aoba's nerves got the better of him.
“M-maybe I really did like some of your piercings. Well, you know, if you would wear them in your free time, maybe?” he stuttered out.
He should have known that would only boost the blond's ego.
He smirked. “Like right now?”
The bluenette blushed. “I-If you want...”
Of course the blond would after getting an indirect compliment like that and well, it was somehow weird but also kind of sexy to see Noiz put in a tongue piercing after all this time. The blond grinned as he saw him staring.
Aoba averted his eyes. “I take it you like them then,” he said in an attempt to distract him. It failed.
“Yes, I like them. Do you?”
Suddenly there were fingers on his chin, softly turning him around. When had Noiz gotten so close.
“Well, I chose them...”
“That's not what I mean.”
Aoba couldn't even react before Noiz connected their lips. He gasped in surprise which Noiz had anticipated and not a moment later he felt the weird but not unpleasant contrast of warm flesh and cold metal wrap around his tongue. The blond tried to entice him to fight for dominance over the kiss but after he had gotten over his surprise Aoba was honestly just way too content to do much more than enjoy it.
They broke apart when they needed to breathe.
Noiz was smiling and Aoba couldn't help but mimic him.
“Thank you.”
“I'm sorry I couldn't give you more,” the bluenette replied softly.
“But you did, didn't you?”
When he met Noiz's eyes he felt like they looked right through him. Maybe they did?
“What do you mean?”
“All of this. The tree, the 'traditional Christmas'? That wasn't just a random idea of yours.”
It wasn't even a question, it was a statement.
“Well, I really was curious... to a degree,” he admitted.
Noiz just smiled.
“Thank you, it was a great Christmas.”
German Dictionary
Weihnachtsbaumverkauf = Christmas tree sale
Weihnachtskugeln = Christmas balls
Weihnachtsbaumschmuck = Christmas tress ornaments
Kandierte Äpfel = Candy apples
Erdbeeren in weißer Schokolade = Strawberries (covered) in white chocolate
Quarkbällchen/Mutzen: As described these are sweets created by deep-frying different kinds of dough. You can google them to see what they look like^^
Erzgebirgische Handwerkskunst: Literally means ore mountain craftsmanship. It’s a craft performed only by a few selected craftsman from the erz or ore mountain in Germany. They are mostly known for their wide variety of German incense smokers. Look it up if you’re interested^^
I think that was all the German words I threw in there. If you’re interested in anything else or more German Christmas traditions, don’t hesitate to ask^^
P.S.: What’s up with the word count? lol
What about an AU where Aoba and Noiz are actually brothers? XD
{Give me a pairing and a situation/AU setting, and I’ll write a three sentence fic.}
A/N: ...At first I was like Ink, why but now... consider this: Haruka and Nain adopting Noiz, too? ;A;
Aoba rushed down the stairs as soon as he heard the front door open and heard the sound of his parent’s voices. They told him that morning that they had something in store had been waiting for them all day with anticipation and excitement. “Ah, Aoba!” his mother said, beckoning the lively eight-year old boy towards her. “We have someone for you to meet!” “Ohh! Who?” Aoba grinned wide, eyes searching back and forth between his parent’s faces. “Who is it? Tell me!”
Nain chuckled and gently ruffled up his son’s hair, being careful not to cause him any pain. “Say hello to your new brother.”
He stepped to the side to reveal a young boy, no more than four years old. The first thing Aoba noticed were his knees, a garish shade of red scarcely concealed by band-aids. He was fidgety and nervous and kept his eyes rooted on the ground, with one hand clutched tight onto Nain’s. Cautiously this boy lifted his gaze towards Aoba, catching the older one off guard with how sharp his bright gaze was.
Beneath that, Aoba could tell this young kid was afraid; he didn’t want to make him more nervous than he already was. He took slow steps closer to the young boy and held out his hand as an invitation of greeting.
“Hello, I’m Aoba,” he said, giving him an empathetic smile. “I’ll be a good big brother!”“Noiz,” the young boy said weakly after a long, uncomfortable silence. He slipped his hand into Aoba’s and shook it weakly. “Y-You can call me Noiz.” Then, after another long pause, he gave the faintest ghost of a smile. “Hello, Aoba.”
