Chapter Text
“Sorry, I’m late!” Draco burst into the bar, pulling everyone’s attention right to him. The unwanted attention all so suddenly caused him to chuckle nervously before he headed further inside. The sound of people resuming their chatting eased him enough to at the very least keep his head up.
His eyes darted to a secluded table on his right, with a single person sitting by it. A girl with a hoodie as big as his to cover her hair as he did, and the only person who had sighed in disbelief instead of staring at him like he was an alien upon his grand entrance.
Draco smiled.
“You know, you could have announced your delay to me after sitting, instead of letting the whole bar know.”
“Sorry Mel, I let the panic get to my head. But hey! I’m here. You can stop pretending you’re annoyed, now.”
Melodie scoffed, but didn’t try very hard to hide the small smile that tugged at her lips.
Draco and Melodie had been dating for some time now. Well, they’d never call it dating - just two friends who really cared about each other spending some quality time together. No romantic interest of any kind drove any of their decisions.
But we’ll call it dating for the sake of convenience - because there aren’t any other words to properly describe their meetings. At least not without using their appalling circumlocution.
It began when Draco met Melodie at her lowest. He immediately struck her as a very quirky person - someone making use of strange words and definitely not dressing up in conventional ways.
But what got to her was his unreasonable kindness - and the lengths he went to just to make sure she and Janet could return to what they once were. For the time being, their fractured relationship, which had only recently begun to heal through the deep cracks Melodie had caused, remained at the level of acquaintances, but she hoped that one day they'd go a step further. She missed Janet's friendship.
Draco definitely kept working on that dream of hers. "Forgiveness is something that takes time", that is what he’d always tell her. "You don’t fix mistakes with a few kind words - you do that kind of thing with a lot of effort, to prove that you still care after all." Melodie was willing to put in the effort, that was a guarantee.
And Draco’s own efforts, all directed to someone who back then was nothing more than a stranger, were enough to gain her respect. Because realistically, without him, she’d still be in her mansion weeping to no end.
So they started hanging out. At first, just in Super City's park, once or twice a month. Then things shifted to weekly meetings, and so there they were. Truth be told, Draco had been contemplating the idea of taking her out for dinner - but he'd need some more time to figure that out.
They’d always choose the same bar - one that, for their friend group, had turned into a landmark of sorts. It was the same bar where Melodie and Janet had first met - and from there on, the two of them found themselves gravitating towards it, consequently bringing their own friends along.
It wasn’t a remarkable place - just some bar in Super City, located by the sidewalk and in between a flower shop and a hairdresser in a generic street like many others. The inside wasn't all that fancy either, with the sharp smell of wood mixed with the one of coffee and the couches and chairs that had seen better days, but it had its charm. The owner had grown to know his usual customers; sometimes, it felt less like a business and more like a hangout place with drinks as an extra.
Draco eyed the menu with knowing eyes, raising his hand for the waiter.
“M’lady here will gladly have a strawberry smoothie, and I will have dragon fruit juice, thank you.”
Melodie rolled her eyes as the waiter grabbed their menus and went on his merry way, Draco's requests neatly written on a notepad.
“You always order the same thing. What do you even look at the menu for?”
“It’s tradition, Mel. You don’t break traditions, even for convenience.”
He crossed his legs and hunched back on the sofa he was sitting on, taking as much space as possible.
“So! How have things been going with Janet?”
“Ah, uh...fine, I guess.” Melodie hesitated, fixing a strand of hair that dared to venture out of place in her perfect comb. “We’ve been mostly talking over the phone. We don’t really see eye to eye yet.”
“That’s good,” he replied, not failing to notice the sadness weaving along her words. “Baby steps, you know. Then again, it wouldn’t kill you to ask her to hang out with you.”
Melodie shook her head, looking to the side. “I don’t know Drac. I don’t want to push her too much. We’re in this situation because of me in the first place, so I have no right to...you know.”
“Pretend from her? No, yeah. I get it.”
The waiter returned with their drinks, gently placing their tray on the table. Draco sat upright and slid him some money and a tip before he could even hand him the receipt.
“I thought we agreed I was going to pay this time.” Melodie gave him a sour stare, well aware that he had done the same exact thing the previous three times they had met as well. He’d always pay when she least expected it so that she couldn’t argue.
“And what kind of gentleman would I be if I let m’lady pay for our drinks? Camaraderie is something I take at heart.” He gave her a knowing smirk, rubbing his nose with the kind of confidence someone who knows they’ve already won displays.
“For God’s sake, Draco! I can afford to pay once in a while too, I’m not broke!” Melodie didn't give in, grabbing her smoothie and taking a long sip to cool her nerves. The sweetness eased her. “Next time I AM paying, and you’d better not pull this bullcrap on me again.”
“Fine, fine.” He yielded, knowing damn well that he would very much pull said bullcrap on her next time as well.
“Going back to our discussion...” he eventually resumed, setting his already half empty glass on the table with little care, some of its content spilling out. “I know you don’t want to force her or anything, but...friendly reminder that Janet was also very upset and missed you as much. Sure, you made a dumb mistake, but that doesn’t instantly erase all the nice times you’ve had together.”
“I suppose.” Melodie relented, though still showing clear signs of hesitation. Unusual for someone as boastful as her, but Draco had come to know her beyond the façade she put up for the public to see. “Maybe I’ll think about it. We could arrange something for next week.”
“You could ask her to meet you here!” He proposed, his hand showcasing the bar itself. “Isn’t it here that you first met her?”
“It is,” she nodded. “Funny how we always end up here, somehow.”
“Then it’s decided. You and Janet will be seeing each other here next week. And it’s going to be fine! As long as you don’t start describing yourself as the devil itself.”
“Oh, please.” Melodie choked a laugh, snorting on her smoothie due to being caught off guard. “I’m not THAT bad.”
“Oh, don’t challenge me, Mel. I have plenty enough proof of our past conversations to know for a fact you thought of yourself exactly as that, at some point.”
“Humor me,” Melodie leaned back, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
“Here’s a good one - the first time you invited me to your mansion...”
“OH! You would NOT stoop that low!”
“And I walked in your living room...” Draco continued unperturbed, ignoring Melodie’s feigned disdain, “It was a total mess! And I asked you why, and you said you had no will to make it presentable because-”
Alas, his punchline was interrupted by his phone ringing - much to Melodie’s hardly conceived smugness. He gave her a playful grimace before picking up, not really looking at the name on the screen.
“Dragon rider at your service how may I be of help?”
Melodie watched as his smile slowly went from confusion to outright panic. She knitted her eyebrows, hoping he was just blowing things out of proportion as per usual.
Then he spoke, after having listened to the person on the phone without saying a word. And Melodie was left truly puzzled.
“Oliko se tänään?? Unohdin kokonaan...!"
(Was it today?? I completely forgot...!)
"...Ei – Ei, en ole kiireinen. Joo, odota hetki, olen siellä. Anteeksi.”
(...No – No, I'm not busy. Yeah, wait a minute, I'll be there. Sorry.)
He hung up and hurriedly stuffed his phone inside his pockets. His eyes met Melodie’s for a moment, and he had to stop and take in her expression.
“...earth calls Mel? Are you good there?”
“Draco, who the heck was that??”
“Oh,” realization struck him. “Right...you don’t speak Finnish. I’d probably react the same way if you spoke Korean.”
“Jeongmal geuleohge saeng-gaghaeyo...” Well, that was enough to prove her point. His face said it all. “No, but seriously, who was it?”
(Do you really think so...)
“That was Lumi. She’s my bandmate.” He chugged down the rest of his juice in a single breath, clearly aiming to put their date to a short end.
Melodie paled at the name. She remembered Draco mentioning Lumi a few times. That girl was crazy - she’d looked up videos of Draco’s concerts to get to know him better, and was instead met with Lumi going completely nuts on camera a bunch of times.
Loud, energetic, and very much not meeting Melodie’s friendship standard. She always expected a bare minimum when it came to people’s antics - some manners and common sense. By no means was Draco the perfect example of a high class, but he knew how to contain his inner metalhead.
Now, Melodie wasn’t one to judge without meeting personally, but Lumi...looked less like a person and more like a feral animal. Especially with that absurd hairstyle of hers; Melodie just couldn’t wrap her head around it! It was so tacky. She had never been able to stand girls who paid absolutely no mind to refinement, as someone who valued looks above all else.
“Yeah...you. Told me about her.”
Draco noticed the stiffness in Melodie’s voice and frowned.
“Come on. She’s not that bad. But anyway - I really got to go. We had rehearsal today and it just completely slipped out of my mind. So sorry about cutting short like this.”
Melodie mumbled in disapproval, but nodded anyway. The fact that Draco had to leave so soon left her with sour disappointment to dwell upon. They had just sat down, and she had nothing planned for the rest of the day to justify leaving earlier than anticipated.
That is until...an idea crossed her mind.
“What if...” she stood up as well, stopping him in his tracks. “I come along?”
Draco smirked, tilting his head.
“You really can’t stand being away from me?”
“WHAT!? NOT THAT, IDIOT!” Her cheeks flushed pink for an instant, but she turned away before Draco could catch on to it. “I just have never been to your place, so I figured this is a good opportunity for it. Blame a girl for her curiosity!”
“Hmm...” Draco entertained the proposal for a moment, head moving left and right as if following a beat. Eventually, he broke his silence.
“Alright, we have a deal. You’ll get to see how Lumi and I rehearse n’ stuff. It’s gonna be fun!”
“Hmm...” Melodie sighed, knowing very well that Draco’s thoughts were very much not the reason she wanted to come along, but not voicing her own thoughts.
As Draco insisted on letting her exit the bar first, they began walking to their next destination.