This story will be put on a hiatus for some amount of time. It's simply too stressful working with three at once.
But! But! Don't leave yet! I tried to write a really long chapter because I'm kind of dropping the story for a bit. 4,000 words was my goal, but I got bored :\
On a bit of a random note; has anyone heard YOHIOloid yet? I think he sounds pretty good. He might be my new favorite male Vocaloid because I've honestly never liked Len's voice... I'm going to get hate for that. Not that Len's the only male Vocaloid! He's just the most well-known. I think Yuuma sounds pretty good, too.
I think I just came up with a new crack pairing. YuumaxYOHIOloid.
I feel ashamed.
I also feel ashamed because this chapter was supposed to be finished yesterday. Blame manga. Oh, and Iron Man 3.
Enjoy!
/
At school the next day, Mikuo managed to avoid Rin fairly well. Immature, he knew, but he didn't know what else to do. It wasn't like he had experience with these things.
He spent lunch with Mayu, studying in the library for a history exam he was starting to feel pretty confident about. At breaks, he absorbed himself in textbooks and homework, wondering when science had suddenly become so interesting.
The end of the day made up for his rotten time at school. His Geometry teacher handed back his test at last, a smug look on her face.
"Well, Hatsune. I'm impressed," she said, watching as his eyes widened. Piko, who had also stayed to get his test, waited with a look of disinterest as she handed him his test back.
"Now head on home. I'm sure you've both got things to do," their teacher ordered, waving them away. Both boys left the classroom to the blond woman, meeting up with Miku and Mayu in the hallway, who were both respectively waiting for their friend or boyfriend. When Mikuo held out his test for Mayu to see, she squealed and attacked the stunned teen with a hug.
"A ninety-four! Mikuo, that's amazing!" she told him. "I knew you could do it!"
Mikuo hugged her back, the test crumpling a bit in his hands.
"Thanks so much for helping me, Mayu," he replied. "I don't think I would've passed without you."
"Of course you would've," Mayu reassured.
"Not with this grade," Mikuo pointed out. "I've never gotten an A in math. Like, ever." Mayu pulled away from him and slapped his cheeks lightly with her fingertips.
"No use being negative. You passed," Mayu smiled gently up at him. "Want to celebrate?"
"How so?" he asked. "And isn't that overdoing it a bit?"
"Hard work and success must be rewarded," Mayu told him. "I think chocolate is the perfect reward."
/
Mikuo was comfortably situated at the dining room table of the Yoshidas. Mayu stood by the counter, mixing cupcake batter in a bowl. The smell of chocolate hung heavily in the warm air. It was a nice setting.
"These should be ready soon," Mayu told him.
"They smell great already," he replied. "I'll help do the dishes."
"Thank you," Mayu accepted the offer gratefully.
The cupcakes were set in the oven soon enough, leaving Mayu and Mikuo with time to waste. The two teens settled themselves next to one another on the couch in the living room, hand in hand and elbows brushing. Mayu switched on the TV, flipping through shows on Netflix before settling on one Mikuo didn't know much about. He didn't even care. He liked being so close to Mayu. It was getting a lot more comfortable.
The next ten minutes were nice. The sat quietly, watching their show. Mikuo knew it was popular; some British show, right? He had heard some of the girls at school talking about it.
However, they were interrupted by the doorbell.
"Mayu!" they heard Tei call as the bell rang again, echoing through the house loudly.
"Be a dear, Tei?" Mayu called in return. Above them, they heard Te's footsteps as she ran through the hall and down the stairs. They ignored the rest of the noises coming from the front of the Yoshida house, like the opening of the door.
"Tei's a great sister," Mayu confided in a confidential whisper. "Don't tell her or I'll never hear the end of it."
Mikuo smiled in amusement. Before he could reply, Tei rushed in with a look of awe on her face.
"There's a really hot blond guy at the front door," she informed them, voice distant. "He wants Mikuo."
"Blond?" Mikuo asked. "Probably Len."
Mayu scowled. It was a look she only ever really got when Len was mentioned. Mikuo didn't like seeing that scowl on her face; it seemed so cruel and dark. He couldn't imagine Mayu as cruel and dark. But this might just be him being naïve.
"Great," she muttered.
"I'll go talk to him," Mikuo assured. "It won't take too long."
Mayu nearly pouted. It was adorable. "Alright. I'll check on the cupcakes," she glanced to the kitchen doorway and sighed.
"I'll be quick," Mikuo decided, making his way to the door, trailed by a glassy-eyed Tei.
The front door was open, revealing Len. He looked comfortable in his surroundings, greeting Mikuo with a lazy wave. The look on his face was bit odd; colder and less emotional than normal.
"Yo," he said. "You got your test back, right? How'd you do?"
"Got an A, actually," Mikuo told him sheepishly. It was weird to hear those words come out of his own mouth. "Couldn't you have just texted?"
Len shrugged. "There are some things I can't do over text."
"Like what?" Mikuo asked.
A harsh crack sounded as Len's fist connected with his face.
Mikuo felt his nose begin to drip blood down across his lips. Tei had jumped as Mikuo staggered back, holding a hand over his nose.
Len stood shaking his hand, which hung limply. It must've hurt, but he wasn't going to earn sympathy from anyone in that house. "There. Now we're relatively even."
Mikuo stood up straight, face displaying complete shock. Then, the shock morphed into anger.
"What the hell, Len?" he demanded, running a finger over his split lip.
"I told you. We're even," Len repeated with a glare.
"You jackass. This is about Rin, right?" Mikuo tried to stand taller, using his few extra inches on Len to his advantage.
Len let out a hiss at her name. "You're the jackass after how you acted towards her."
"Shut the hell up. You don't understand how I feel at all or the position I'm in," Mikuo spat. "You honestly think I want to hurt anyone? Especially Rin?"
"I don't care if you want to or not. Either way, Rin's still hurt and it's your fault," Len stepped a bit closer to Mikuo, tilting his head up and glaring. "You're going to pay for that for a long time coming."
Mikuo silently bristled, searching for a retort. Before one could form in his mind, he saw Mayu approach Len from behind. Why she was behind him, after just being in the kitchen, was confusing. Had she snuck around the back of the house in order to come up behind Len? He was about to tell her to leave; after all, he didn't want her getting involved in a giant argument, especially with Len. But the dark, solid look contaminating her eyes and face made him freeze.
She lifted the kitchen knife in her hand and pressed the tip into Len's back.
"Are you threatening my Mikuo?" she asked in a very cutesy, innocent voice; it was a voice so unlike her normal one Mikuo had to blink and remind himself who she was. Len flinched when he saw the blade she held, twisting his head just far enough to glimpse steel.
"M-mayu," Mikuo stuttered, all anger-caused bravado gone. "Th-that's a bit-"
"Mikuo must not be hurt," Mayu smiled at him in a very creepy way. "I'll always protect Mikuo."
The sound of his own name was beginning to terrify him.
Mikuo was at a loss for words. Luckily, Tei stepped in before Mayu had a chance to do anything.
"Oh, Mayu," the girl sighed, using a single finger to lower the knife. "No need for that. We don't want to encourage your little episodes. Besides," she sent Len a wink that made him almost visibly cringe, "he's rather attractive."
"Tei, honey," Mayu replied in a vaguely condescending tone, "Len can't be allowed to hurt my Mikuo. He needs punishment."
"Give me the knife, Mayu," the younger sister ordered, holding out her hand expectantly. Mayu hesitated, staring down at the blade by her side with a loving look on her face. "Now, Mayu."
With a sigh and a pout, Mayu offered Tei her weapon, gazing longingly at it as Tei held it behind her back.
"That's much better," Tei cooed as though she were talking to a small child. "Please go back to the kitchen for now."
A submissive sigh released itself from Mayu's lips as she followed her younger sister's instructions, leaving Mikuo and Len staring in silent, terror-filled disbelief. Tei turned to them, supplying little explanation. Not that much was needed.
"Mayu doesn't like it when others damage her things," the tiny silver-haired girl told them.
Len broke out of his silent state of fear and turned on Mikuo, spitting mad at this point. "Your girlfriend is a psychopath!" he burst out angrily. "And you're an idiot for sticking with her!"
"Shut the hell up!" Mikuo hissed. Len froze at the look on his friend's face.
Mikuo admittedly put up with a lot from Len and Kaito. He put up with a lot from people in general. But even Mikuo could be pushed too far. It hadn't happened yet, not in the years Len had known him. But there was a first time for everything. Len realized he was witnessing a first.
"Just get out, Len," Mikuo's voice had gone both rock hard and icy cold. "I'm quite tempted to go get Mayu and bring her back."
Len snorted, though his mind spun at the threat. "Whatever you say, Mikuo," he retorted in the same tone. "It's not as if I'll see you as a threat, anyway."
Mikuo remained silent, an iron gaze of malevolence fixed upon Len. Quietly, Len turned and left, face falling from anger to depression as soon as the boys could no longer see each other.
"Bastard," Mikuo muttered, stalking off to the kitchen. Neither teen remembered Tei as she stood silently, a smile of pure intrigue and amusement on her face.
/
Mikuo arrived home just before his father returned from work. With an offering of cupcakes, he managed to reassure his mother that he had, in fact, been perfectly fine and not kidnapped. Miku instantly stole a chocolate cupcake from the counter when he set them down, grinning at him like the Cheshire cat.
Mikuo had thinking to do, so he excused himself up to his room. After Len had left, Tei and Mayu had taken some time away from baking to explain mayu's episode with the knife. Quite often, it would seem, Mayu would come home and fly into a rage of sorts, chopping fruits and vegetables rapidly and rendering her cutting board into a mass of wooden splitters. Along with this act of unexplained violence against food, she would mutter rather questionable things to herself. Lately, the phrase "kill the Kagamines" seemed to be her favorite. Somewhere in this conversation, Mikuo had found out Mayu's weapon of choice was an axe. His girlfriend hadn't been very lucid during the course of this discussion, dreamily staring into space. Mikuo honestly didn't want to know what was going through her head.
Tei noticed her sister's odd behavior as of late, admitting that she and Mayu shared the same obsessive and possessive tendencies when it came to the people they liked or were attracted to. Mayu didn't want anyone near Mikuo, especially not people who could take him away from her. That was how the sisters had said it.
Mikuo realized he was being referred to as a possession more and more lately. Was he a prize Rin and Mayu were now at war over? While he knew both girls genuinely cared for him, neither seemed to be showing it well.
This was all so weird and now it was starting to get scary. His relationship with Mayu was really beginning to seem unhealthy. But he didn't like Rin that way anymore and Len had no right to hit him for turning her down. Nor did Mayu have the right to act the way she had.
With a sigh, Mikuo stroked his teal bangs thoughtfully. It probably would've been better if he had never gotten involved with Mayu in the first place. Maybe if she had been sane everything might've worked out better. Then again, she probably wouldn't like him as much if she were sane.
No use thinking about 'what-ifs' now. He was stuck. No way out. He'd have to face his problems.
Oh, what joy.
/
GUYS. I need a second genre for this. It isn't really horror, but I'm hoping to make things a bit more violent in the future... Maybe angst would work? I don't know. I could use some input!