There was a pretty prominent flaw in Pico's plan. When he looked back on the time, he remembered something. Keith and that girl looked really happy together.

It didn't seem like an issue, but... then Pico was reminded by his own shitty reputation, and felt awful. He sat in his apartment, staring at the wall menacingly as if his worse enemy was there.

Unlike how everyone thought, his house wasn't formerly owned by a burn victim. He kept it dark, usually, but only because he couldn't afford someone to fix his lights that flickered constantly and caused him to go mad.

He never found the motivation to clean, but at least had the common decency to wash his plates after he ate... granted, he didn't eat much, nor had many plates.

And the cigarettes scattered around? Most of the time... nevermind, there was no excuse for that. Everyone just called him lazy any he usually agreed with them.

Even if it was a complete mess, everything was where he could find it. He had cleared a path to walk through and well, being honest, he didn't want to change it so suddenly. Now that he thought of it... even if he did have a good reputation, no one would want to date a guy who could barely find himself a reason to pick up his clothes.

It was getting late, and Pico was getting hungry. He had some spare change left, which was about enough to buy a bad quality burger from a shitty joint, he supposed.

He walked inside, made the purchase, then went to go on his way back home, like any person should. He felt light drips of rain hit him, but if anything, he could care less. There was a faint sound in the wind, maybe a storm was approaching. Oddly enough, to Pico, it sort of sounded like his name. Then again, he quite often heard his name called by nobody. It was just a common occur-

"Pico!"

"Gah-!" Pico jumped, able to recognise that neon light blue hair from anywhere. "What!?"

He didn't mean to sound pissed, sort of. He just didn't enjoy being crept up on by random people on the street. This however, wasn't a random person. It was Keith, the guy from the other day.

"You walking?"

Pico blinked. "Yeah, why?"

"Wanna walk together?"

"Not really no-"

"Great!" Keith had probably just spoken more words than he did upon first meeting Pico. He followed him excitedly, making Pico wonder... did he have many friends? Usually, or at least how he thought about it, if you appear as some kind of extrovert, you're not going to be this excited about having friends, right? Was Keith just... lonely?

He glanced at Keith, watching as he walked beside him with his arms swinging. He was humming, seeming pretty content. He seemed a lot more out-there than the girl, who constantly looked like she was smoking something-or-other, so Pico really couldn't understand if or how he wasn't extroverted.

Pico stopped, looking at Keith who stopped with him. "This is... where I leave. You can go, now."

"Oh, really? That was fast."

"...yes? I'll see you... around, though." Pico started heading inside, when he felt a gentle tap on his arm.

"Can I see your room?"

"What?"

They stood, not too far apart. Keith was still smiling, and Pico... actually, he seemed sort of pissed off by it. He ripped his arm away, even if the other's grasp was only gentle, looking ticked off by how friendly Keith was being. He didn't even know him. He hated it. Hell, fuck trying to get a better reputation, he hated him.

"No."

"C'mon, please?"

"I said no."

Pico walked off after a glare directly into Keith's eyes, causing him to flinch. His footsteps were heavy as he walked into the apartment block.

It'd be a lie saying Keith knew when he wasn't needed, he had no idea what happened or what he did wrong. All he knew is a look like that meant Pico was angry. An attempt at making a friend, and already get them to want him to leave him alone...

He wasn't going to take that! Not at all! Keith huffed, with a determined look, walking home himself.