Work Text:
「hope you’re ok!! wanna chat in my room for a bit? ily ╰(*´︶`*)╯💕💕」
It only took a matter of a minute for Len to show up in the doorway of Miku’s room after she sent that text to him. She knew about his nasty little scuffle with one of the VSingers earlier that morning, but usually after an argument he would usually just be... a little grumpy. However, throughout the day Len hadn’t been himself. He had been way more reserved than normal and had quite the lingering look of distress upon his face, acting more like then timid and insecure Len from almost thirteen years ago than the classic outgoing teenage boy he’d become. And thus, Miku had become worried. Very worried.
She had greeted him with a warm smile and a little pat in the free space next to her upon her large, princessy four-poster bed, beckoning him over to come sit with her. As Len sat by her side, Miku noticed something was certainly off. He didn’t shuffle close to her like usual, and the android boy couldn’t seem to look at her. Something was certainly the matter.
“Hey… C’mon, what’s up?” Miku asked eventually, tilting her head and giving him a gentle shoulder nudge. “Are you doing okay?”
Len glanced up at her, but couldn’t hold her gaze for more than a moment before his eyes became glossy. He looked back down at his lap with a shrug. “I-I dunno, it’s… It’s really dumb…” Len murmured, turning away to nervously rub his eye with his palm. On the occasions where she ever saw him upset like this, Miku always felt like someone took out her little robotic heart and began to pummel it with a hammer. They should make "Len being sad" illegal, she thought.
“It’s not dumb! C’mon… Tell me. I wanna help.” Miku gently reached for Len’s free hand upon the bed. “And even if I can’t help… Well, I can cheer you up!” She placed her hand on top of his in a comforting gesture, offering the boy the best warm smile she could conjure up. “Which I guess is also a form of helping, right?”
Miku had to be one of Len’s biggest sources of comfort; she was never judgy, she always seemed to know what to say and just being around her made Len just feel… Safe and secure. For the first months of his existence, Miku had always been cheerful and supportive despite almost being just as clueless about the world around them as he was. She had been there for him during his absolute lowest points years ago, and years later he had helped Miku go through hers… So why did the idea of showing any vulnerability in front of her make him start to feel bad? Humans seemed to always say that the guy should always be the strong one and protect their girlfriend and never show that they’re sad or anxious, and though Len did think this was complete bullshit, he still felt insecure. He was basically meant to be a human, right? Did he have to act that way? All of this seemed to make him feel worse. Still, the android boy managed to look back up at Miku and her warm smile of reassurance seemed to work its magic like always. He gave her a weak, watery smile in response.
“A-Alright… But it is really... I dunno, stupid.”
“Len… I promise you, it isn’t!”
Again, Len went quiet. He hesitated for a long moment - God, what if it was really dumb? He shouldn’t be upset over this… But he was and he wanted to tell Miku. She would help and comfort him, but what if he made her upset? What if-.
“It’s just…” He began, looking back down at the bedsheets again before looking back up at his girlfriend. Wide, beautiful yet concerned teal eyes stared back at him. “I-I just…. Don’t feel… Right.”
“Right?” Miku echoed.
Len nodded. “Mhm...Y-Yeah, it’s weird but…I just... You know whenever you do duets and stuff? They always seem to make you sing with Kaito or someone who looks proper... “Manly” or whatever and even though I think that... That stupid focus on “masculinity” humans have is super weird I still just... I-I dunno I don’t feel right! Like, am I not a guy to them or something? Because I’m not super tall and I haven’t got a deep voice or whatever?” Len looked back at Miku with an expression of exasperation. “I just…Have to be perfect, w-which is weird but I feel like I have to! A-And—“
He stopped as he felt Miku’s hand caress the side of his face. As soon as she made contact, a reassuring sense of slight calm spread through his body. Her gaze was warm and caring, but there was still a hint of concern in her expression. “Len…” She began. Her tone was soft. “You’re… Already so perfect. You’re beautiful. You know that, right? You don’t have to fit those weird expectations humans have of you just because you’re a boy! The fact this is upsetting you isn't stupid. When people expect something unrealistic and pretty unreasonable from you, it’s stressful and really does hurt when you don’t fulfil it even though it’s never your fault. You can’t help it, Len! Humans and their stupid expectations for weird things like that... That's what’s dumb!”
Still watery-eyed, Len responded with a small, slightly embarrassed smile. Miku could feel his face grow warm under her touch.
“I know, but… There’s… There’s another thing that I just… I just kinda keep thinking about…” But then the smile, although tiny, disappeared. “I-I keep thinking about this morning when M-Moke--” Len suddenly bit his lip. It seemed that the thought of what he was about to say was bringing him closer to crying. The poor boy was already tearing up. Miku brought her hand that had been caressing his face down gently to his shoulder. “H-He… He said… H-He said “a-at least I wasn’t a rushed failure who couldn't even s-sing” and I--” Even though he then screwed his eyes tightly shut, a few tears still managed to seep through his eyelashes. Len had been trying his best to keep it together up, but now his sobs could no longer be stifled. He had been feeling increasingly insecure again over the past week or two, Miku knew that, but with the pressure growing and after his quarrel with someone whom they were meant to perform with, everything suddenly became too overwhelming for him. “I-I just... I just try so hard and I k-keep trying and I-I just want people to forget I was a failure, Miku!”
“Len...” Miku felt her chest tighten with pain as she listened to Len’s words and watched the boy start to cry. It was heartbreaking to her, seeing him like this. She wanted to do everything in her power to cherish him and ensure that he was always happy, and so the android girl opened up her arms. As much as seeing him cry broke her heart, she knew that Len had been trying his best to not burst into tears all day. He really needed to let his feelings out. "Len-Kyun... Come here, you wanna hu-“ She didn’t need to ask. Before Miku could finish her sentence, Len leaned forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her torso in a desperate embrace and buried his face into the crook of her neck. His eyes were tightly shut in a small attempt to stop his tears, but alas he quickly began to cry. The feeling of Miku’s arms around him and how he could hear the ever so faint whirring of electronics within her chest comforted him, but the boy had so much pent-up anxiety and feelings of worthlessness he had to let it out. “Ah, shhh... shh... It’s okay! You’re okay...” Miku tried her best to soothe him as she began to gently pet his hair. She didn’t want to mess it up, but as Len continued to let out quiet muffled sobs, Miku didn’t think he cared too much right now. She could also feel her shoulder become damp with tears, but she didn't mind. “I know, I know... shhh...” Despite only being a few centimetres shorter than her, Len still seemed so... small and vulnerable like this, and hearing his quiet muffled cries and whimpers only worsened the ache in Miku's chest. The desire to keep him safe and happy grew almost overwhelming; seeing him happy meant the world to her, and words could not describe how much she loved him.
The two continued to embrace each other tightly for a few long moments until Len’s crying eventually slowed to just the occasional sniffle. His arms were still firmly wrapped around Miku whilst she gently stroked his hair and held him close with her other arm. Before finally speaking, she gave him a tight reassuring squeeze and placed a small kiss upon his head. “Do you... wanna know what me and hundreds and thousands of other people see when we look at you?” She asked. Len’s shoulders shrugged in response. “Ah, well... we see someone who’s worked super hard and is amazingly talented! Someone’s who’s got good looks and amazing talent is hard to come by, you know?” With that, Miku felt a small muffled laugh of embarrassment come from Len as he pulled away from the hug. He covered his mouth with the back of his hands and his eyes were still watery and a little puffy, but his cheeks were flushed with pink and the beginnings of a smile tugged at his lips concealed by his hand. Miku gazed at his face with wide loving eyes for a long moment. “I can still never get over how beautiful you are, Len!” She smiled and let out a long dreamy sigh and a giggle as she noticed Len’s own blue eyes brighten up in response. The blush upon his face continued to grow despite how he then began to try and cover it with his hands.
“M-Mikuuu..!”
Aha! Now he was starting to smile properly. He glanced away with embarrassment, but the little smile on his face made Miku’s expression light up. "Seriously!" She exclaimed, beaming and leaning forward. "I know I keep saying this but your eyes are so pretty! Ah, look at them~!" A sudden wave of enthusiasm seemed to take over Miku as she began to gush over her slightly smaller boyfriend in front of her. She gently moved Len's hands away from his face before wiping the remains of his tears with her thumb, all whilst gazing at him with an expression of pure adoration. "You're someone who's so so handsome and hardworking! And all your hard work has clearly paid off, right? So many people love you!" As Miku spoke, Len felt himself become much calmer and his chest start to swell with love and contentment as he listened to her praises. She would always embarrass him with her gushings of love and praises, but Len didn't mind at all. Though his face was flushed a deep pink and he let out small embarrassed laughter, Len still leaned into Miku's touch as she lightly caressed his face. "See! Now you're smiling. You just have to remember that nobody sees you as a failure, not even Moke! He was just saying that to try and hurt you. And if he does somehow see you like that then... ah, um.." Miku pouted for a moment and furrowed her brow in thought, but she quickly seemed pleased with what she was about to say. "Fuck Moke! I'll fight him! Because he's wrong!" She declared with a grin. Her sudden and unexpected profanity resulted in another burst of laughter to come from Len. "M-Miku, hey!" He laughed, reaching up to touch Miku's hand upon the side of his face.
They both giggled and joked together for a few moments until Len lifted his gaze to directly look at his girlfriend with a fond little smile. "Man, I... I really love you." Even though they'd been dating for a while now, Len always felt his face heat up whenever he told her anything like this. Though smiling, his gaze flickered up and down briefly until Miku leaned forward to press her forehead against his in a closed-eye bright smile, her hands fumbling to hold onto his. "And I really love you too! I love you so much." She replied as the two closed their eyes and entwined their fingers. Whilst they were sat like this, Len suddenly realised that there was a cute little opportunity for something he was usually a little too awkward to initiate and so, a little nervously, he broke the space between their lips by giving Miku a quick little kiss. Miku was a startled for a split second, only as it was rather unexpected, but soon she countered it by wrapping her arms around his neck and falling back into the plush array of cushions and pillows upon the bed, laughing with glee and peppering Len’s face with lots of little kisses.