((Now a PikoMiki oneshot for all your PikoMiki needs. This is more-or-less set up in a fanverse that I have for Vocaloid, so I like to think this is how Piko and Miki met.

Vocaloid does not belong to me.))

Out of all the places he could be at 8:00 on Friday night, Piko honestly wished it wasn't here.

His neon cyan eyes scanned the other partygoers as they chatted and drank and laughed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his creator Galaco amongst them, talking animatedly with a tall man with dark hair and glasses. Similar beings to himself wandered around the room, sometimes tagging along behind their owners.

Yes, he, Piko Utatane, was attending a showcase for robots.

It wasn't exactly that he hated humans; he just didn't like being forced to interact with them for prolonged periods of time. But Galaco was persistent, and now he was in his best attire and trying not to seem suspicious.

Not that he was up to anything suspicious.

He checked the clock on the wall: 8:32. Two more hours of nonsense before he could retreat to the safety of the lab. He sighed.

There were numerous ways he could probably get out of being there. Heck, Galaco was so busy being a social butterfly that he could slip out and go home without her so much as noticing. But he couldn't do that—Galaco would probably drag him to a worse party in retaliation.

He was so deep in his revolving thoughts that he almost didn't hear the greeting from the girl standing in front of him. "Hi!"

Piko looked up.

The girl had big, innocent cherry eyes to match her equally rosy hair, with a large, question-mark shaped cowlick on top of it. Her skin was creamy and pale, and Piko could see the doll-like joints and lines highlighting her mechanical body. She wore a small blue dress with a frilly, ruffled skirt decorated with small gems that shined like stars. Her smile was sweeter than sugar, and Piko could feel his energy levels rising just looking at it.

"Um…"

"My name's SF-A2! But you can call me Miki."

"Uh…"

"What's your name?"

Piko managed to get his thoughts into place. "P-P-Piko," he stammered.

"Piko?" she echoed, trying the word on her tongue. "Piko! That's a great name!"

Piko stared at her blankly. Is she for real? "Thanks?"

"You're welcome!" Miki piped, apparently not detecting the hesitance in his voice. "This party is boring, isn't it?"

He paused. "Yeah, it is."

"Do you wanna go outside? Get some fresh air?"

Piko was about to tell her that as robots they don't actually need "fresh air", but as he watched Galaco shamelessly flirt with the dark-haired man, he agreed. Miki took his hand and they navigated the crowd of patrons into the cool spring air.

Outside, the duo looked contemplatively at the shape and colors of the city outside, with its neon-streaked monorails and superhighways and the buildings that stretched until they met the clouds. Piko didn't want to look at it, however. He wandered the city all the time. Instead, he found himself drawn the reflected spectrum of colors that danced within Miki's curious eyes.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Miki asked lightly. "When I arrived at Earth, I didn't know what to expect. But as I've gone through the town and met Hiyama-sensei and all those other people…I can't imagine a better place."

This snapped Piko out of his trance. "Wait—'arrived at Earth'? What do you mean?"

Miki blinked, and chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I admit it: I'm not really Hiyama-sensei's robot. I'm from up there." She pointed to the velvety blue of the night sky.

"Space…?" Piko asked tentatively. His eyes flickered toward the sky briefly. "If that's true—which I can't say it is—then why are you here?"

"I don't know," Miki replied. "I was just sent down here. Probably to observe all of you. I don't often think about it, I don't know where I came from. To be honest, I don't think it matters. I'm here now, and I'm happy, and I have more to explore than I know what to do with." She giggled. "You know?"

Piko gazed at her with genuine amazement, his normally half-lidded eyes wide. He turned away from her. "I…I don't really know where I came from either."

Miki tilted her head in confusion. "Then who-?"

"Galaco-san is borrowing me," he admitted quietly. "I used to have a professor of some sort, I think. She's a friend or a niece or something of them, I don't really know. The truth is, she's supposed to take care of me until 'things are ready again'."

"What does that mean?"

"I wish I knew."

They were silent, then. Piko couldn't bring himself to look at her expression, only looking towards the shine of the skyline.

Before he knew it, Miki was hugging him.

He made a small noise that sounded vaguely like a gasp as her arms tightened around his torso. Her skin was cool and smooth, but her touch made him feel warmer. He couldn't speak.

"You know what we should do?" Miki asked, "I think we should stick together! We can go find our origins, like those guys with magnifying glasses on TV." She pulled away, her hands resting on his shoulders. "What do you say, Piko-kun?"

Piko took in the bright, determined smile on her face and the glimmer in her eyes.

He could trust her.

"Sure, Miki. Together."