"We've got to get you out of the house."

Piko glances up from his game (Halo 4; he stole it from Rin at some point) to see his roommate and probable best friend Len Kagamine looking at him with concern. He knows why, but all he does in response is roll his eyes and focus back on shooting some bastard Watcher that won't leave him alone.

"Dude, I'm serious. You've been in this room for, what, a week and a half?" Len sighs and continues to talk. Not interesting.

Piko grunts to show he's listening as he keeps his gaze on the TV screen. He shrieks in surprise as it goes black, glaring up at Len who guiltily holds the TV's cord.

"You've got to be kidding me," Piko says. "I was on Legendary! Legendary! And I had almost won!"

"Calm your shit, Piko. Rin wants her game back, anyway," is the reply he gets. Piko sends Len a dirty look at the mention of his ex, who also happens to be Len's sister. "That's not what I'm here to bug you about. Come on, we're going out."

"Uh, look, Len. You're attractive and all, but I don't swing that way."

"For the love of- Piko, you know what I meant. Let's go get a damn milkshake or something. Whatever makes you stop sulking." Len places his hand on his friend's shoulder, the greasy ends of his silver hair brushing the top of his hand. He wrinkles his nose, and Piko knows he's wondering how long it's been since he's taken a shower. Probably a while, to be honest.

"I am not sulking," Piko mutters.

Len is not amused by this response. At all. "Fine, whatever, I don't care. But I need to get you to interact with normal humans for a while. Master Chief can wait another two hours. We're getting out of here."

Piko wishes he could protest but he barely gets a word in before Len is dragging him off the couch and onwards toward whatever he has planned.

Piko cannot get home soon enough and knows Len is disappointed when he instantly hides in his room upon their arrival at home. But he can't help it.

His best friend looks exactly like his ex-girlfriend.

"Oh my god, Piko, this is pathetic."

Piko imagines that Miku has capitalized the word "pathetic" due to the verbal strain she puts on the word. Like it pains her to say it. Well, she's said worse to him, but right now she seems to mean it.

"Hm," he replies. It's a stretch to say it's a reply. More of an acknowledgement, really.

"Don't you 'hm' me," she snaps, shoving the door of his apartment open so she can come in. He's in the same pajamas he had on a week ago and Piko hasn't even thought about a shower since Len dragged him out of the house a few days ago. He's got a blanket wrapped around himself and the cold air slipping through the open front door chills his face as Miku's long pigtails whip past him, slamming the door shut.

"Len called," Miku says, giving him a look that clearly says you idiot. "He told me you haven't left the house on your own in two weeks."

"I have it on good authority you do that plenty in the summer," Piko mutters in response.

"Yeah. I've been through a bad breakup with Spring and that's my solution," Miku says sarcastically. Her hands are on her hips and damn does she look pissed. She always looks kind of annoyed, which is just how her face is, but Piko feels genuine wrath peeling off of her in waves. It's terrifying and sexy in that usual Miku way.

He really has to get his mind out of the gutter, he decides.

"You know the perfect way to get me to do something for you? Insults and sarcasm," Piko tells her.

She visibly shudders at her obvious lack of tact. "I'm trying, Piko. Just… Okay, how about you tell me what you need? Because this isn't healthy for you. Tell me what you need in order to get your life back in check."

"Everyone could start by leaving me alone," Piko states. Miku rolls her eyes.

"Uh, you know you live with Len, right? That's not going to happen."

Piko snorts. "Thanks for that reminder."

Despite evidence to the contrary, Piko likes Miku quite a bit. She's easy to be around and she never wants to talk about feelings like Len does. Of course, she's somehow mastered the ability of understanding when things need to be talked about. She can instantly tell when someone's off to the point that it's kind of unnerving. Piko can't even remember how many times a simple "hello" over text has turned into some sort of freaky feelings jam between the two of them. Not that he's ever really minded. Until now.

Miku's hand is on his elbow. "Hey, hey, it's okay," she says, and he realizes he's started to cry. Not loud, chest-wracking sobs, but silent streams that turn his eyes red and make his lip tremble. It's so sudden that he doesn't know how to react.

In the next few moments, he finds his face shoved into Miku's shoulder as his friend hugs him close. The next thing he discovers is that he's only capable of leaning against her, shoulders shaking with the strain of two weeks' worth of emotions.

"Hey, it's okay," she whispers again.

The first time the prospect of dating is brought up to him again is the Friday following the breakdown Miku never mentioned to anyone. He's grateful to her for that. He's not grateful that she's talking about some girl she wants to set him up with.

"Miku, seriously, no," he repeats for, what, the seventh time?

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Miku says, clearly not getting it. "You were with Rin for three years, and it'll be hard to get over. She's just broken off a long-term relationship too and she's kind of…"

"…Kind of?"

"Romantically inept."

Piko snorts into his tea. The two of them are at some new café Miku insisted on dragging him to in the cold weather. It's cozy, but Piko misses the safety of his room and his games.

"So she's at my level, then," he states.

"Pretty much," Miku confirms. "You don't have to go out with her anytime soon, but you should think about it. She might be a nice addition to your circle of friends."

"Well, the current people in the circle probably could use some processing, honestly."

And he spills tea in his lap as Miku whacks his arm. "Don't be a smart aleck," she says. "Actually, she'll love that, so please do."

Piko sighs and lets the subject drop, though he's pretty sure Miku isn't stopping there.

Piko gives in after a little while. After being fired for not showing up during those two weeks he refused to leave the house, he's found a job, and has stopped jumping whenever Len enters the room.

Miku fusses with his hair a bit and picks out his outfit for the blind date he's going on in a matter of minutes. "I should have picked this out for you days in advance," she mutters to herself as she throws a black dress shirt at him. "Roll up the sleeves. It'll look more casual."

"For god's sake Miku, I'll just wear a sweater or something."

She looks at him as though she can't believe he would say such a thing.

"It's a coffee shop. I think a dress shirt is a bit overboard," Piko elaborates, gingerly plucking the shirt from his arm. It doesn't help that Rin's the one who picked out the stupid thing for him.

"Ugh, fine. Just shut up and find something," Miku replies.

"Excuse me, but are you going on this date with me?" Piko demands. "No, you are not. Calm your tits."

"Say that again and you won't have tits to calm in a second," Miku threatens.

Piko doesn't let her see him smile as he unbuttons the dress shirt and slides into a nice sweater. It's soft, and it's never had anything to do with Rin, which makes it an even better option. Miku fusses with him, smoothing the fabric on his shoulders and worrying over his collar. Is she his mother now or something?

"Okay, so you know how to get the the café, right?" Miku asks.

"Miku," begins Piko in an exasperated tone. It's the tone he's been using all day with her. "I have been to that café ten times in the last week. I'm am 103% certain I can get there."

Miku snorts and mutters something he can't here but is probably an insult of some kind.

"Fine, Mister Confident. Call me when your date is over," she commands, shoving him out of his own apartment. Piko is left in the crisp fall air with a head full of confusion and a heart full of lead.

Piko arrives at the café a bit early. "Not too early, but not too late" as Miku had said it. Like she knows so much about dating.

To his surprise, the girl Miku had shown him a few days ago is already waiting there. She looks out of place in black fishnets, killer boots, and enough dark makeup to cover the cast of an Evanescence music video.

And Jesus, is that a tongue piercing?

Piko can't help but gulp down a certain amount of overwhelming concern. How is he supposed to hold a conversation with a girl who looks like the child of Lucifer? Not that she looks unattractive, just kind of scary. They're opposites; Piko with his silver hair and frumpy sweater, and her with her on-point eyeliner, raven hair, and all that black leather that he really should stop thinking about for the love of God.

He walks up to her, well-aware of the way his hair falls across his face and the healed piercing above his eyebrow. Would she have liked him better if he hadn't taken that out all those years ago?

Okay, now his thoughts were just getting ridiculous. How was he supposed to know he would one day meet a hot-as-hell-probably-not-metaphorically daughter of the night when he had taken that piercing out?

"Hello," Piko began, holding out his hand like a complete moron for her to shake. "I'm Piko. Utatane, that is. Are you Rui?"

She glances up at him, pulling the straw of her strawberry smoothie from her mouth. A glint of that tongue piercing leaves Piko wondering what it would be like to kiss her with something like that in her mouth.

"Yes, that's me," she says, and her voice is a lot more high-pitched than he had thought it would be. "I hope you don't mind that I ordered a drink; I got here much earlier than I should have."

"No, it's not a problem," Piko replies. Why would it be? "So, uh…"

Rui stares at him from across the table as though she doesn't care less whether or not he actually says anything.

"What do you do for a living?" he finishes lamely.

She taps long, dark fingernails on the tabletop. "At the moment I'm in college to become a photographer. I work at one of those huge chain stores with overpriced clothes and shriek-y teenage girls. How about yourself?"

"I actually got fired recently," Piko says before he has time to process how entirely bad that was. "I mean, I found a new job, but I don't really plan on being a waiter for the rest of my life."

"Are you in college?" Rui asks, slurping at her smoothie.

"No, not my thing. I'm not really intelligent enough for that."

Oh my god, she must think I'm a complete idiot.

Rui makes a sound of recognition and slides her muffin over. "Do you want to try a bite?" she asks.

"Sure," he replies.

Rui is the oddest girl he has ever met. She wears eyeliner that must take half an hour to put on and she drinks the most sugary things in the world. Those knee-high leather boots he saw her wear on their first date seem to be the only shoes she owns, and he has no idea how she became friends with Miku of all people.

But by far the weirdest thing about Rui is that she likes him the way he likes her. The weirdest thing about Rui is that, after their first date, she called Miku and talked about how terrible she had been, how awkward and uncharming she had somehow managed to come across as. Which is funny, because Piko thought it was he who was awkward and uncharming.

It's weird that they work, but Piko's okay with that. Because he's seen so much weirder from Rui Kagene.

Review if that's your thing. If not, perhaps I'll see you later!