Meru shifted uncomfortably in front of the buzzer. A few guys walked by on the sidewalk behind him and whistled.
"Looking good, honey!" One of them hollered. Meru shrunk slightly against the wall and pressed the call button again. It finally buzzed. He heard Mel's voice coming through.
"Hello?"
"Mel! You know I'm coming! Let me up, please..." He whined.
"Why're you in such a hurry? Relax, I've got something on the stove so I need to look after that for a minute."
"You know why! Don't you just have to press a button? Mel, come on!"
"What are you so scared of? You know I'll come after anyone that tries to do anything to you." She said confidently.
Meru pulled at the hem of his short skirt, trying to stretch it over his thighs to keep it at a reasonable length. He wore a pair of black, two-inch heel shoes and white stockings just high enough to show off some of his smooth bronze skin between where they end and his plaid skirt began. He wore a tight white button-up t-shirt with a sweater vest over it. Thankfully he got away with not wearing makeup by telling her he did not know how.
"Mel, come on! It's embarrassing."
"Fine. Come on up."
He breathed a sigh of relief as she buzzed him into the building. The door clicked and unlocked and he quickly made his way to the elevators. As he waited he remembered what she said.
`Mel is cooking something? I didn't know she cooked. I'm actually a little excited.` The elevator opened and he almost stepped in, but he noticed a guy in a suit waiting. He looked at Meru impatiently.
"I-I'm getting a different one." He waved. The man rolled his eyes. Meru was relieved when the second opened, until he noticed a large man with an open v-neck shirt surrounded by a jacket on the inside. The heavyset man licked his lips, much to Meru's horror. He walked swiftly away.
"Taking the stairs today seems fine! It's only..." He remembered.
"Only... fifty floors." His shoulders slump. He began jogging up floor by floor.
As he began jogging, the businessman got in from one of the floors and began following him up at a similar pace. Meru looked back, his cheeks flushing as he realized it was quite possible to look up his skirt. He noticed the man was staring down at his HanComm intently. Meru picked up the pace, much to the man's confusion. After a long run Meru arrive at Melody's door a steaming mess. She opened the door before he knocked and eyed him from head to toe.
"Why are you so sweaty? And what took so long?" She wondered. After a moment with no immediate answer she shrugged.
"Whatever, this isn't bad." A smirk crossed her lips.
"Come in!"
Meru inhaled as he entered. Aside from the usual clean apartment smell he could sense what she was cooking.
"Oh is it... Bacon, eggs and toast? At... Night?"
"It's all I know how to make." She closed the door behind him.
"It's on the table so just sit down and eat... Or don't, if you got a problem with it." She swung her hand down towards his rear, rolling her hand around the plump cheek beneath his skirt.
"This is why skirts are so nice." Mel licked over her lips.
Meru shuddered. "You're worse than an old man in some ways."
"Why'd you have me wear this stuff?"
"It's training."
"Training? How?"
She lifted her finer, adopting a lecturing pose. "Wasn't your body super tense the whole way here? You even took the stairs over the elevator."
"Y... eah?"
"So... It seems like being all nervous and squirmy kills calories, huh?" Mel grinned.
He avoided her gaze and walked into the kitchen. "I- I guess." He sat down and noticed something. The spread was very full and he had more than enough on his plate. He liked all of the food on it. most importantly. Every part of the breakfast-for-dinner was cooked well.
'When she said it was the only thing she knew how to cook, I guess she mastered it?' It was an amusing thought. She sat across from him, noticing she didn't have a plate. She leaned forward with her elbows on the table and just watched him intently.
"Why aren't you eating, Mel?"
"I drink nutrient powders in water so that I have more time in the day to do other stuff besides eating. Besides, just watching you put something of mine in your mouth is enjoyable. That's why I cooked."
"What a strange way to say you like to see me enjoying something you made yourself."
"Is that what I said?" Mel lifted one of her brown brows at him. Meru quietly ate after that.
He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject while it was just the two of them sitting at a table. She said it was going to be a date where they watched something, so he wanted to get to that and the cuddling as soon as possible.
"You have a nice apartment, Mel. I always thought that. What do you do for work?"
"I'm a Fennek Magical Girl."
"Ah." He smiled and nodded, then coughed a little.
"I'm sorry? What was that?"
She looked up in thought while tapping her chin. "Well... ChesAn has those Rangers so Fennek a while back decided to do their own group of Heroes and so they hired out and trained strong girls to autonomously fight 'Evil.'" She said evil in air quotes.
"Ah." He tried to act as though it was not a strange thing to suddenly admit to. With a smile he added.
"How's that going."
"Great!" She volunteered happily.
"Are all Magic Girl's like you?"
"Yep! They're all like me." Mel chuckled, leaning in with a scary expression.
"What does that mean to you?"
"Must mean they're all really pretty and charming." Meru said, trying not to let his smile crick.
"Ah." She took the response with a nod and sat back down.
"Yeah. I was about to say that we're all a bit unhinged."
Meru laughed heartily as though it was a joke. Mel just stared at him with her head cocked to one side. "A-anyway... I'm actually full."
Mel stared at his plate. "One more bite of bacon. You need protein."
"Okay, Mel." Meru obediently popped one more chunk of bacon into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it while she looked on approvingly.