"It's sooooo briiiiight."

A groan escaped Kaito's lips as he rolled over on the bed, burying his face in an attempt to block out the blinding sunlight.

"Good morning, Shion-san."

Kaito jumped at the sound of Len's voice.

"It appears that you have not gotten used to my presence yet."

Well, Kaito's brain definitely wasn't the most active in the morning, that's for sure.

"Good morning, Len-kun. Di-" Kaito cut himself short as he remembered that Len couldn't have possibly slept. Well, he was a freaking goddamn program, it would be unlikely that Len had slept-

"Yes, I did sleep well, Shion-san."

God, Kaito thought. It's like he can read my mind.

"I can't read minds, Shion-san. I can just guess what they're thinking."

Kaito gave Len the weirded-out look. How…?

"You should probably just get on with your day and don't mind me, Shion-san. I don't think sitting on your bed is something called 'productiveness'."

Kaito let out a low hum in response and got off, taking slow strides towards the restroom. Len's orbs followed the tall man. "Riiiiiiiight…"

The rest of the half hour Kaito spent preparing (and procrastinating) for the day was normal. Well, apart from the fact that he could feel Len following his every move, which really creeped him out, so he flipped the phone screen to face downwards on the bedside table.

But then he realised that Len could do anything to the device, so he had to cover the front camera with a piece of paper as well.

Kaito swore he heard Len muttering some stuff about "stupid bakaito won't hurry up" or "why is my vision blocked" but he pretended to not hear it nevertheless.

After what felt like an eternity to Len, the piece of paper was finally removed and Kaito held the phone in his hand again.

"So…"

There was an awkward silence.

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast or something?" Len pointed out. "Or brew on the newspaper over some coffee or something?" He was pretty sure the bluenet didn't do that, but hey, he grew up in a different family. No one can blame him if he was used to different habits, right?

"Yeah…" Again, the awkwardness. Kaito unlocked the front door of his house, finding the newspaper on the front steps as usual.

Usually, Kaito would just toss it on his table and recycle it later or something, but now that Len was here, everything had changed. Everything.

He had to keep in the loop anyways, and he had a little spare time before work.

So the bluenet picked up the usual newspaper and sunk on the couch, placing his phone on the phone holder on the coffee table.

As he finally paid attention to the headline, he was instantly taken aback.

"14-YEAR-OLD KILLED IN EXPERIMENT. LABORATORY SHUT DOWN."

Kaito made an attempt to hide the heading from Len, but the look on his face stated clearly that he had already seen it.

The blond stared.

"God, that's horr-"

Len cut him off.

"I didn't expect it to get to the news so fast. It was me that died. They didn't even bother with trying to erase the memories."

It was the blue's turn to stare, now.

"I'm sorry."

Len's eyes cut holes into Kaito's. The elder broke away.

"Don't be. It's not your fault, and it's not theirs either. Don't go on and make this some sort of story. I just want to live."

The blond's mouth went dry. "I am, after all, simply a program now. There is no point in feeling sorry for myself."

He knew that subconsciously, he wanted to act freely. But he was bound. Bound by the chains of the coding, bound by all the zero's and one's. No matter how hard he tried, his actions always appeared to be automated.

It's surprised how much his way of thinking had changed in the short amount of time he spent with Kaito. But these things didn't get through to the coding yet. Sometimes, he wondered if he would simply remain the way he was.

His stomach churned, and a wave of something washed over him. He didn't want to remain the same. He wanted to live like a normal person, instead of being just a monotonous robot.

"Continue reading," he prompted, simply to break the awkward silence.

"14-YEAR-OLD KILLED IN EXPERIMENT. LABORATORY SHUT DOWN.

Kagamine Len, who was once a part of an experiment titled 'CV02', had recently passed away in the middle of the experiment. His death was said to be caused by high radiation.

Mrs. Kagamine, mother of two, stated that she and her husband were greatly saddened by the passing of the teenager. When further interviewed, it was found that Kagamine Rin, the twin of Len, had mysteriously disappeared a few years back. Mr. and Mrs. Kagamine were hence unable to deal with the loss of their second child, who they said to have a bright future.

The laboratory, which was run by renowned scientist and inventor Manami Haruto, had been shut down by government officials. Haruto was charged with involuntary manslaughter and was forbidden to conduct any future experiments involving human beings."

Kaito didn't read the rest. He didn't want to read the rest. Neither did he like the way Len was too silent.

"You know, human experimentation is illegal. This entire thing was taboo. Nobody talked about it until now, until the fatalities started."

There was a long moment of silence.

Kaito cleared his throat. "So… um… away from all this sad talk. Do you think you're able to move freely throughout my phone?"

The morning continued in pretty much the same fashion, with Kaito asking Len about his capabilities. Although they had warmed up to each other a little by the time noon rolled around, there was still some hints of awkwardness hanging in the air. Maybe not awkwardness, but something just felt… off.

Kaito saw Len twitch.

"I have to say something."

And he left it at that.

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Hey guys! Short chapter, I know. Didn't update last week, I know. I'm sorry, some… stuff came up. I'm sorry if I don't update frequently, because nobody likes school and I'm currently going through the exam phase.

I have a book of one-shots in case you want compensation.

Sorry if the G/?TCH chapters appear random and pointless. I can't come up with the details that link the main points together unless freaking Keito here agrees. So yeah, sorry. I'll pass the A/N to her now.

:). This is why I don't make promises.

Bye to the five people that read this. Review and I might update. Follow me on tumblr. Insert more self promotion.

Kyasarin, Keito, out~