Note: I wrote this late at night with a sleepy head and now that I'm rereading this I'm not quite sure how I feel about it...
It was well known that a certain Rinto Kagamine was a very prideful individual. Maybe too prideful for his own good. When faced with a problem, he'd rather kiss a bug than ask for help, and many a times his darling, beloved twin sister Lenka had to force her way to her brother's assistance. It exasperated her every time, and she warned her brother that one day he'll need someone's help so desperately, but his pride was going to cause him a lot of grief.
God he hated it when she was right.
He also hated that smug look on her face as they sat on the floor of his room at his small low table with his best, and possibly only, friend who sat across from them nervously, playing with her fingers and obviously confused about why Rinto had asked her over as if in he was in some emergency, or why his face was so red when he greeted her at their door and why Lenka was laughing so hard behind them. She was in such a fit, she had rolled off the living room couch and was still laughing.
"S-So! Was there something you wanted to talk about, Rinto? It sounded pretty important."
He gave Lenka a weak glare when she gave him a small jab into his side with her elbow. "Yeah, Ririn, don't you have anything to say to Miku about a certain you know who~?"
"Sh-Shut up, Lenka...!" He whispered harshly to her, his face becoming an impressive shade of red knowing who she was talking about and the fact she used that dumb nickname that haunted him since they were little. But Lenka only giggled at her brother's flushed face, even finding it a little cute. Miku, however, became only more confused as she looked between the twins, her nervousness being overrun by her growing curiosity.
Rinto still hadn't answered her question.
"W-Well, Miku..." He finally gave in, and Miku raised a brow at the stuttering. She had never heard the ever confident Rinto stutter since the first time they met in middle school. Rinto only seemed to break down more at the questioning gaze, and looked away with his brows knitted together. "You know your brother, r-right?"
"I hope so, since he is my brother." Miku answered, still giving him that look...
Rinto's hand rose up to run his fingers through his own hair and took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. Lenka watched on, but carried a bored expression that screamed "Oh my God, Ririn, get on with it...!" (And maybe, just maybe, he should be concerned that he actually imagined her using that dumb nickname in his own head.)
"Haha, o-of course you do...! And you know y-you're my best friend right, a-and I saved your butt plenty of times, right?"
"...Yes?" And to Rinto's shock and horror, he could see a small knowing smile starting to form on her lips, and Miku was even leaning closer to him. Rinto backed away and gave the older teen a sour look.
"Wh-What's that look for, huh?! Don't be getting any weird ideas!"
"Oh, it's nothing like that!" Miku said a little too sweetly, idly waving her hand in a dismissive manner as her smile only got wider (and so did Rinto's suspicions that she knew exactly what he was asking of her). "I just find it cute how flustered you are!"
"No I'm not! I-"
"Oh come on, Rin! You don't think I already know?"
Rinto's suspicions were proven right, and he visibly shrank once he realized this. Lenka smiled, obviously amused by her brother's predicament, and decided to add in her two cents, as always.
"I think Mikuo and you would make a cute couple, don't you think Miku?' Lenka held back a laugh as Rinto tensed up, his ears as dangerously red as his face.
"Of course I do! I've been cheering him on since middle school!"
"WAIT, YOU KNEW FOR THAT LONG?!" Rinto yelled, making the two girls grin even wider. Miku giggled and waved her hand at him again, which only proved to make the blonde even angrier.
"You sucked at hiding it! Any chance you got to stick close to Mikuo, you got! Oh!" She then turned to Lenka, a certain glint in her eye that Rinto was all too familiar to. "Lenka, remember when we went to the amusement park and we al decided to go on the Ferris Wheel?"
The female twin clapped her hands together as the memory came back. "Oh yes, and Rinto looked so depressed when Mikuo suggested you and should ride together, but then you suggested we tried something different and the boys rode together instead. RiRin was sp upbeat afterwa-"
"Okay! Stop, stop, STOP!" Rinto shouted again as loudly as he could. God, his face felt like it was on fire at this point, and he just wanted the two to just shut up before he gave himself a heat stroke or something. "L-Look, just help me already!"
"The Great Ririn wants Miku's help?!" An exaggerated gasp left Lenka as she gave Rinto a mock look of shock, and Rinto felt his need to bash his head into the wall increase every passing second. "I thought you could handle everything yourself."
"Lenka..." Miku called, her voice turning oddly gentle, and Lenka relented, deciding she teased her brother enough. Miku's full attention was on Rinto now. "So Rin, you want me to help you get with my brother."
Rinto's gaze dropped to the floor, and with his head down he nodded.
"Well then, all you have left to do is tell him how you feel."
And it was that statement that made Rinto finally look up, his turn to give Miku the puzzled look as that glint came back, and a bad feeling started to churn in his stomach. "Miku, what did you do?"
Suddenly, all three occupants could hear the front door downstairs open and close. Their mother wasn't supposed to be home until much later, so who...?
"Miku! Lenka! Rinto...?"
Th-That was Mikuo's voice. That was...!
Both Miku and Lenka yelped when Rinto bent over the table to grab Miku's shoulders, horror obvious on his tomato red face. "Miku, why is he here?! What did you do?!"
He was met with a nervous smile, and slowly did Miku raise her other hand, it gripping her phone tightly and allowing Rinto to see the screen. "I-I may of texted Mikuo while we were talking...?"
Rinto didn't even get a chance to yell at her, or question how and when, when the bedroom door swung open, Mikuo standing before them warily. Rinto realized how much of a sight he must've looked. Face red and his knuckles white as he had a death grip on his crush's younger sister.
"...Did I come at a bad time?" The older boy asked, one foot in the room and the other stepping back into the hall. Miku wiggled her way out of Rinto's grasp and stood up to pull her brother back down to the table with one of her usual charming smiles.
"No, no, of course not! Actually, we wanted to talk about something very important!" Miku tried to reassure her brother, and Rinto had sunk back to his spot and refused to even look Mikuo in the eyes. A quiet sigh left Lenka as she wanted nothing more but to force her dumb brother's head to face their clueless senior.
"O-Oh, okay. What is it, then? I though you said the twins needed help studying for a test or something?"
Ah, always ready to help them when asked. Miku was sure her brother had a soft spot for the twins, even though he hadn't had much time to hang out with them besides those few times Miku managed to drag him outside with them. Lately, Mikuo had been more busy than he ever had been in middle school, with the pressures of passing and keeping up his high grades, plus taking care of the house and Miku now that their parents were working longer hours just to keep up. Yet, when it came down to the twins, Mikuo didn't hesitate to drop everything for them.
Honestly, it made her a little jealous...
But she forced away such emotions. This was for Rin and her brother!
"Yes, but something suddenly came up, and- uh..." Her head suddenly snapped to Lenka, and before other blonde could protest, she was suddenly yanked up from her place at the table and was being dragged towards the door. "Me and Lenka are going to order pizza so you and Rinto can chat while you wait! Okay, see ya!"
And out she dashed out with a slam of the door, leaving the two boys to stare at it and process what had just occurred. Rinto was a little faster at it though, and was amazed he wasn't sweating bullets by now.
"That was weird..." Mikuo mumbled. Then again, Miku had always been a weird girl. He looked back at Rinto, and he grew concerned at the troubled look his friend was sporting now. "Hey Rinto, is everything all right? You don't look so good."
"Couldn't be any better..." The younger of the two replied grimly. He flinched when he suddenly felt Mikuo grab his arm, making the other's hand retreat.
"Sorry! Um..." After that, Mikuo just fell silent, and so did Rinto. Neither spoke for a while until there was suddenly loud stomping coming their way and the door slammed back open with a very annoyed Lenka staring them both down and a frantic Miku trying to pull her back downstairs.
"Will you guys just kiss already?! As much as I would be proud if Ririn did it himself, I actually am hungry and Miku's just listening to you guys and Mom isn't going to come home in three hours!"
"LENKA!" This could not be happening, Goddamn it Lenka with your big mouth. Rinto's face made friends with his hands as he tried to hide and just will himself to turn invisible and disappear, and there was a small trace of red on Mikuo's cheeks which was becoming more apparent every other second. His mouth kept opening slightly and closing, like a gasping fish, while he tried to find the words.
"S-So that's what this is about...?" Mikuo questioned, and Lenka grinned once again in amusement at the stutter with a hand on her hip. That's all Mikuo needed for an answer. "O-Oh. Wow..."
"Sorry, brother." Miku sincerely apologized, but Mikuo waved her off with a sheepish laugh.
"Um, no! It's fine, I guess. Can you guys leave now...?"
His sister smiled and nodded in understanding, then proceeded to grab Lenka by the ear and drag her off downstairs where the female twin struggled the whole way.
There was a short silence one they left, and Rinto felt his world starting to collapse and wishing dearly his sister and Miku were still there, not wanting to face rejection by himself. He didn't dare to look up, not all.
"Rin, at least look at me."
Rinto stubbornly shook his head, making Mikuo smile at the childishness of it. He scooted a bit closer to the twin and plazed a hand on his shoulder. He could feel Rinto tense under his touch, but he didn't try to force his hand away, which Mikuo took as a good sign.
"Alright. If you won't look at me..."
"Eep...!" An undignified squeak came out and Rinto immediately jumped up when felt something suddenly poke at his stomach, leaving him wide open for another attack. This time on his forehead, and it definitely wasn't a poke with a pen.
He froze when lips finally pulled back, and both him and Mikuo stared at each other, their faces an impossible shade of red and shocked couldn't even described how they were feeling, Mikuo more so as he could barely believe what he had just done.
He had expected Rinto to yell at him, freak out, or storm out, maybe all the above. But no, instead he felt a sudden heavy weight as Rinto had suddenly fallen limp in his arms leaving Mikuo to start shaking him in a panic. "R-Rinto? Rinto are you okay?!"
"Mikuo, Ririn, how do you guys feel about pep..pero..." Lenka trailed off as she returned with the house phone in her hands, watching in silence as Mikuo tried to revive her unconscious brother.
