"So you're a vampire now, huh?" Mel almost deadpanned as she looked up at the tall girl she once loathed so terribly.
"It seems so," the tall girl responded. "A bitter irony, I am aware, but nothing can fix it," she added.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I've gotten the Summer Society to stop hunting benign creatures now," Mel offered.
"Hmmm, yes. Much better," Danny responded sincerely. "You make a good president."
"I know," Mel responded, the tiniest of smirks flashing across her face. Danny chuckled. "You would've been pretty ok yourself," she added.
"Pretty ok," Danny echoed with a laugh. "Well, that's more than I could hope for…" the redhead trailed off, smile turning into a frown.
"Well, it's all behind us now," Mel insisted a moment later, sensing the taller girl's rising sense of guilt again.
"Perhaps for you," Danny allowed. "But nothing will ever be the same for me."
"Well, what are you planning on doing?" Mel asked. "You technically still have another year at Silas…" she trailed off.
"No," Danny replied at once, knowing what Mel was implying. "I appreciate your willingness to allow me to return to the Summers, but we both know it won't happen. No matter what changes, there will forever be a stain of distrust to my name both because of my actions and my species and I wouldn't feel safe with them anymore," Danny trailed off. She looked longingly to the Summer Society building and Mel felt her heart twinge. For all her quirks, Danny had the heart of a true Summer and it wasn't fair to think she was being disowned just because of some past mistakes, but Mel knew she was right. Danny would never be a Summer again.
"Where are you going to go, then?" Mel asked next.
"Ah, I'm afraid I can't tell you that," Danny smiled ruefully. "Just know that I've got some outer-campus things to attend to…"
"Is that why you're here then?" Mel asked. "To say goodbye to me?"
"Yes," Danny answered. "But I also have a last request," she added.
"Oh. Of course," Mel frowned slightly. "Typical. You would only come back to me to ask for my help, not because you actually wanted to say goodbye. You just needed a favor and decided to ask me first," she said.
"No, that's not what I meant," Danny pleaded. She looked so hurt that Mel regretted her poor choice of words and she apologized.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I was just being my snarky self. What did you need?" she tried to express sincerity on her face and slowly, she convinced Danny that she wasn't joking. Danny would be safe to place her request. Seeing this sincerity, Danny nodded and her face grew urgent.
"Mel, my request is both simple and complicated," she began. "But what I need you to do is of vital importance."
"What is it?" the smaller warrior asked, leaning closer to the vampire.
"I need you to look after Kirsch," she said.
"What!" Mel reared back in indignation. "You're joking!"
"No I'm not! I'm being serious! You have to listen, please!" Danny pleaded. The desperation in her voice was enough to win Mel over and Mel nodded, gesturing for Danny to continue. "I know he's a male, and a dumb one at that, but he's so good and pure. He's the only reason I reformed."
"What?" Mel interrupted. She knew that Danny had always held an unnatural fondness for Kirsch, but seriously? Did the girl have no pride?
"He changed me," Danny insisted. "His unwavering faith in me and my goodness saved me. He is so like Laura," Danny trailed off sadly and Mel's frown vanished. Slowly, she started to understand. Kirsch always did seem to have a few screws loose and it was true he practically worshipped Danny. It would make sense for her to see his undying devotion to her and try and change just for his sake.
"I guess I can understand," Mel allowed. Danny looked relieved but the expression returned to desperation pretty quickly. She forced Mel's eyes to meet her own and as intimidating as the gesture was, Mel met her head on without flinching.
"For his sake, please, please promise you'll look after Kirsch," she pleaded, eyes wild. "He deserves so much more than what I put him through but he still desperately needs a caretaker and there's nobody else I trust more or would rather leave him in the care of than you! So please, I implore you, have mercy and look after him. Keep him safe for me! Not for my sake, but for his and for the sake of justice and peace!" Danny was shaking at this point, her desperation radiating off of her in waves. "Promise! Please…Promise…"
Mel slowly considered this request, finally looking away from Danny's burning eyes. She knew Danny would let her deny this request if she wished, but she also knew Danny would be deeply hurt and scared because it was true, nobody else could really look after Kirsch quite as well as Mel. Laura and Carmilla would be too busy with each other and the press, Perry and Laf wouldn't be able to look after or protect Kirsch, and both the Zetas and Summers had since turned their back on the manchild. In all honesty, Mel really was all Kirsch had…
"Ok. I will. I promise," Mel agreed finally and she had never seen Danny look so happy or relieved. They left each other on a very good note.
From then on, Mel kept to her word, becoming a caretaker and big sister to the bumbling oaf that was Kirsch. She never left his side and tried to keep an eye on him constantly, even teaming up with him and Laura to try and make a little news show of their own. It didn't do too well at first, but eventually it did set off and their hard work paid off. Also in that time, Mel did genuinely begin to care for Kirsch and she could see what Danny saw in him too despite the outward stupidity and male macho. He really did have a selfless, heroic, and valiant streak in him that would've been favored in any Summer. Mel understood this now and it became easy to keep her promise to Danny.
Then, a week after the incident with Elle, Kirsch approached Mel during a downtime in their broadcasting.
"Hey Mel!" he called out.
"Yeah?" she called back to him, stopping to let him catch up to her.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
"You just did, Bro-For-Brains," Mel responded with a teasing smile. But then she noticed a serious look on Kirsch's face and she knew that now was not the time for jokes. "But you can ask me another question," she promised and Kirsch nodded gratefully. She saw him mull over his words and grew worried. Kirsch was usually never this smart or serious. Something big was coming…
"Why did you look after me?" he asked at last. It was a question that caught Mel very off guard. "I mean, at Elle's place. Why did you look after me? Whenever I was in any danger, you were always the first to come looking for me. But why? I thought you didn't like me. Or Zetas. Or men. So why did you look after me? Why have you been looking after me?" he asked.
"Oh, Kirsch, I don't-" Mel fumbled over her words, trying to find a good answer.
"Ever since the apocalypse, I know you've always been there for me, never leaving my side," Kirsch continued. "But why? Ever since the apocalypse, you never left my side, even going so far as to join Laura and I here at the news station. Then you never left even though you could easily have found a better and more adventurous job. Even still today, after protecting me from Elle, you're still here. Why?"
Kirsch finally stopped asking questions, looking at Mel with that hauntingly open-faced curiosity of a child to whom you could not lie to, but could not tell the answer to for the answer would be far too complex and disheartening for them to understand. Not for the first time did Mel fear for Kirsch. Not for the first time did she feel for Danny. Not for the first time did she wonder if Kirsch wasn't one of the greatest challenges she had ever faced.
"I just promised a friend," Mel said at last. She felt a flash of pain in her chest, but it was the truth. "She asked me to look after you and I agreed and so I have been ever since."
"But why you?" Kirsch asked his caretaker.
"She said I was the only one she could trust with you because you were so dear to her," Mel responded, wondering why she was getting so sappy.
"So you're only looking out for me because you promised her?" Kirsch asked and finally, Mel saw something akin to fear in his eyes. He really was so like a puppy, stupid and desperate for love, but also eerily perceptive and genuinely empathetic. Mel wasn't sure where this had come from, but she knew at once Kirsch was scared Mel only hung out with him because she felt obligated to. He was scared that one day, she would leave because she was so much better than he was. Mel's usual frown faded into a pitying look.
"At first," she replied. "But now I'm looking out for you because I choose to. You're safe, but I'm still here. Doesn't that mean anything?" she reminded him and Kirsch's face slowly lit up. Suddenly, his fears about Mel secretly hating him dissipated because if those fears had been true, Mel had a point. She would've up and left. But no, she was still here, after all this time, just like always. Surely there was some level of real affection from her to him or else she wouldn't still be here with him today.
In that moment, Kirsch knew he had found a true friend. One who truly loved him. And although he had a hunch who it was who had initiated this promise and was grateful for it, he knew it was a promise no more and was relieved by that realization. It didn't matter how well-meant the promise might've been, the mere thought that someone only hung out with him because they were obliged to made him feel ill. There was something wrong about it all, but now it wasn't a promise. It was a choice. Mel had chosen to protect him.
Overwhelmed by all these thoughts and emotions, Kirsch instantly yanked Mel into a bro-hug that she accepted, albeit through her inability to move or breathe.
"There, there, Brotein Shake," she grunted, weakly patting one of his arms as he embraced her. "Your old pal, Mel is here and I promise I'll keep looking after you, no matter what you think," she said. She meant every word and Kirsch knew this, so he only began to hug her eve tighter, missing her dry smile. Maybe she couldn't breathe very well right now, but her ward needed some lovin' and she supposed that she could give it to him. So instead of complaining about how tightly he was holding her, she only smiled behind his arm and hugged him right back.
AN: I just needed some more Mel and Kirsch and Mel + Kirsch in my life so here we go. (By Mel + Kirsch, I'm referring to their platonic friendship. I don't ship them romantically). In all honesty, I just always wanted to see their relationship progress because Mel literally went from "I'm going to shoot him dead" in S2 to "He annoys the crap out of me but I will explore a scary ghost house to find him" in the movie. Where did that change begin? And when did Kirsch start seeing her as a friend instead of a scary lady trying to hunt him down? I liked to think that maybe it might've been Danny… I like to think that Danny and Mel are at least friends because we know now that Mel does honestly respect Danny, if nothing else. Maybe Danny would have known this? IDK. What do you readers think?