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Jayce doesn’t know how long he’s been watching Mel talk to a woman at the Last Drop’s bar. He does know that he’s been watching for too long, at least. He can’t imagine what the other woman could be saying that’s so interesting for them to be talking this much or for Mel to be smiling as much as she is.
Jayce half wishes that he could cross the bar to go and interrupt them, making sure the woman knows that the only reason Mel’s even here is he had invited her to come to the Firelights’ gig tonight. He only really knows Vi of the band’s members, but he has at least met Jinx and Ekko a couple of times in passing. And Caitlyn’s been excited to help them organize this gig— even if it is one with the looming threat of being disrupted by an enterprising bounty hunter catching wind of the gig and hoping to take advantage of it to get ahold of Jinx. But right now, he’s supposed to be helping Caitlyn and the band get ready to start their set.
Something that he’s reminded he’s supposed to be doing as Caitlyn comes up behind him, startling him from his thoughts as she pokes his side.
“How long do you plan to keep standing around?” she asks.
“Sorry, I got distracted,” Jayce says.
“I could tell,” Caitlyn says, glancing in the direction that Jayce had been looking. She no doubt saw Mel there, but she at least doesn’t press him about it. As much as she likes to poke fun at Jayce’s crush on Mel— that he always denies because the last thing Caitlyn needs is more ammunition for her playful bullying of him— she’s too focused on helping Vi set up for her performance tonight.
“Vi could use some help moving that speaker,” Caitlyn says.
“Got it, make sure your girlfriend doesn’t get crushed.”
Caitlyn lightly smacks him on the side of the arm at that, but Jayce is glad for the distraction from whatever it is that Mel and the woman with the green cyberware is talking about. He tells himself that it can’t actually be anything that interesting, only half actually believing that.
Moving the speaker is easy with both him and Vi picking it up though, which quickly brings his attention back to the bar, where Mel and the woman are still talking. He can’t imagine what she could be saying to make Mel smile like that, but the sight of it makes his stomach twist into knots.
“Do you know who that woman is that Mel’s talking to?” Jayce asks.
“Who?” Vi asks.
“That woman with the green cyberware, with the silver jacket,” he says.
Vi glances in the direction of the bar, then shrugs. “Dunno. Probably just someone here to watch the gig.”
“So not one of the regulars?”
“It’s bothering you that Mel’s talking to her, isn't it?” Caitlyn says, ever perceptive and quick to tease Jayce.
“No,” he says a little too quickly.
“Are you jealous?” Vi asks, barely holding back a laugh.
“I’m not jealous,” Jayce insists, well aware that he’s lying through his teeth.
Caitlyn gives him a doubtful look in response, both her organic and cybernetic eyes narrowing as she looks at him, though she doesn’t argue with him.
Vi, however, does.
“You’re joking, right?” she says.
“No, I’m not joking. I’m just worried. Mel’s recognizable, someone could post that she’s here on the net,” Jayce says.
And that is a real risk— people in the Undercity don’t tend to care for corpos, and they certainly wouldn’t care for the local head of Medarda Munitions frequenting an Undercity club. Her being here in the first place is risky, but the longer she interacts with someone, the more likely it is that someone starts broadcasting that she’s here. For all Jayce knows, the woman she’s talking to could have optic implants that could take pictures or vids of this conversation. Or someone might have posted about her being here, and that might put her in the sights of someone who might have a grievance against her or her family’s corporation.
“Mel’s one of the most talented netrunners in the city. I’m sure she has software set up to identify any mentions of her and can deal with it without even lifting a finger,” Caitlyn says. “She’ll be fine. Your worry for her is very sweet, though.”
“It’s just normal worrying about a friend,” Jayce insists.
“A friend that you’ve been making eyes at for like the past thirty minutes,” Vi says.
“I’m not.”
Neither Caitlyn nor Vi seem convinced, and admittedly neither is Jayce. He can’t help that Mel’s beautiful and that he may have some feelings for her that are distracting, and that’s really not anyone’s business but his own. It’s not as if he’d act on his feelings for her anyway— he might have some good press now as the golden boy responsible for helping to create near light speed transportation that revolutionized trade throughout the world, but he’s still nowhere close to being in someone like Mel’s league, even if the two of them are close.
“Regardless, I’m sure she’ll be fine. If it’s bothering though, maybe you should go talk to her,” Caitlyn says.
“We’re basically set to go now anyway, so we’ll be starting up soon,” Vi adds. “Go ahead and check on your girl, pretty boy.”
“She’s not my—” Jayce cuts himself off, knowing there’s no point in arguing with Vi and just digging a deeper hole for himself. “Whatever. I’m going to talk to Mel. I’ll see you in the pit, sprout.”
Jayce makes his way through the crowd already forming around the stage where the Firelights are set to perform, towards where Mel is still talking to the other woman.
“Hey,” he greets, standing maybe a little too close to Mel.
“Ah, there you are,” she greets, looking up at him.
Mel looks gorgeous under the neon lights of the club, the pink and purple glinting off the golden, Art Deco-esque metal of her cyberware that blends seamlessly with her skin. The gold of her cyberware is the same gold as the beads glittering like stars against her dark hair done in long, thin braids, and she has a couple of golden rings on too. Jayce has been trying not to be distracted by the way her sleek, backless white dress hugs her hips or how clear of a view it gives him of her legs, though he’s only been somewhat successful at doing so.
“They’re starting the show in a minute if you want to try and get a good view,” he says.
“Right.” Mel directs her attention to the woman with the green cyberware again, and Jayce ignores the flash of something that he tells himself is definitely not jealousy in his chest. “It was nice talking to you, hopefully I’ll catch you again before the end of the show.”
“Yeah, see you later,” the woman says with a short wave before Jayce starts guiding Mel away.
Jayce quickly buries the thought he hopes that they don't see her later, just like he buries the impulse to ask Mel what she and the other woman were talking about. He can hear the band starting up their sound check, catching a glimpse of Caitlyn still on stage with Vi, the two of them grinning at each other and saying something that's impossible to hear over Jinx’s guitar and the crowd slowly filling the club.
“You know, if you and the others needed more help setting up, I would have been happy to lend a hand,” Mel says as the two of them come to a stop where Jayce is pretty sure they should be able to get a good view of the stage.
“I invited you to watch the show, not have to do any work for it,” he replies.
“I wouldn’t have minded,” she insists. She glances at Jayce out of the corner of her eyes. “Do you come to these gigs often?”
“First time, for the Firelights anyway. This isn’t my usual scene. They’re pretty good from what I’ve heard, though,” he says.
“Not your usual type in music, then.”
“I’m surprised it’s yours.”
Mel shrugs. “I like a bit of everything. Every genre has its own strengths.”
“Fair enough,” Jayce says. He knows that Mel likes art in general, after all. Usually she prefers visual arts, but he guesses it makes sense that she would appreciate other forms of art too.
Soon Caitlyn climbs off of the stage, making her way through the crowd to join Jayce and Mel. As the Firelights finish up their final preparations before starting their gig, the three of them chat, Caitlyn repeatedly glancing back up towards the stage where her girlfriend sits behind a set of drums. Ekko’s center stage, adjusting his microphone a bit more while Jinx stands with her electric guitar on one side of him and a Vastayan man that Jayce has only met once or twice named Scar readies his bass on the other.
The club’s crowded and buzzing by the time the Firelights start playing. Jayce thinks they sound better live— Ekko has a good voice, and there’s an electric energy that runs through the venue as they play. Punk music is clearly popular here, and Jayce can see why. The rhythm of the drums and energy of Jinx shredding the guitar through her solos keeps the mosh pit around the stage constantly thrumming with excitement.
Mel playfully knocks into Jayce a couple of times, a more lighthearted grin on her face than Jayce ever thinks he’s seen from her. It makes his heart skip a beat in his chest, electricity shooting through him at every touch. Seeing her this at ease is nice, and it only makes the feeling he has for her that he’s been trying to ignore all the more intense.
It’s easy to lose track of time as the Firelights go from song to song, each one just as raw and high energy as the next. The music seems to bounce across the walls of the club, drawing more and more people into the thrashing pit, drawing Jayce and Mel closer to each other in a way that makes it hard for him to think about anything but her.
Things are rarely good for long, though, and the fun of being here comes crashing apart in an instant midway through the band’s set.
A gunshot rings through the club, and if people weren’t yelling at the sound, Jayce would have at first assumed this is part of the Firelights’ set. But Jinx dodging out of the way of a bullet with a quick, loud, “shit!” magnified by her microphone is confirmation enough that this isn’t just a performance.
Someone yelling out Jinx’s name, fury evident in their voice, is only barely audible over the crowd panicking. Without thinking, Jayce grabs Mel’s hand, hoping he won’t lose her in the crowd as people desperately try to get out of the way.
Ekko is quick to try to pull Jinx offstage, saying into his mic a quick, “Sorry, folks, but the show’s over!”
Vi’s making her way off the stage along with Jinx and Ekko, but whoever decided to go for the bounty on Jinx’s head isn’t letting up, firing off several more rounds towards the stage, one of which buries itself in one of the speakers. As the crowd surges around them, people pushing past each other in an attempt to get out of the packed club as quickly as possible, Caitlyn looks at Jayce with panic in her eyes.
“Vi—” she starts.
“Help her, Mel and I will be fine,” he promises.
“Just try to stay safe,” Mel says.
“Thank you,” Caitlyn says before trying to weave her way in the opposite direction of the rest of the crowd, towards the stage.
Jayce, however, quickly starts pulling Mel along with him towards the exit, trying to keep an eye out for whoever’s shooting. He’s fairly sure the masked person shoving their way in the opposite direction of the rest of the crowd is the bounty hunter, so he guides Mel as far from them as he can while still trying to make it to the exit.
A man stumbles as he runs into someone, falling to the floor and almost tripping Jayce. Mel keeps him on his feet with a hand on his side though, the touch electric even if it was just to stabilize him in a crisis. He doesn’t linger on that feeling for long though— right now, the most important thing is getting Mel out of here safely.
Things are still chaotic as they step out into the night, the chilly winter biting at Jayce’s skin. People are racing towards their cars, trying to get out of here as quickly as possible, though it seems that the bounty hunter brought enough attention to the club for the lockdown sirens to activate. The harsh sound rings through the streets, no doubt echoing through the entire Undercity as it tells people to stay inside, that soon the district will be crawling with cops claiming to keep order.
“Come on,” Jayce says, his hand still clasped around Mel’s as he leads her to his car. They had come here separately, but Jayce knows Mel typically hires a driver to take her places. There’s no sign of them now though, so he’ll have to be the one to get her home.
“They’re closing down the gates to the rest of the city,” Mel says, her eyes flashing gold as she receives an update from the net. “We’re going to be stuck here for a while.”
“They can’t make an exception for a Medarda?”
“Not without creating even more chaos by upsetting everyone else waiting to leave that doesn’t have my status.”
“Okay, then we’ll at least be stuck here in a hotel or something until things settle,” Jayce says, opening the passenger side door for Mel to get in.
She takes a seat, nodding. “Alright. I’ll see if I can find one with some distance from here.”
Jayce closes the passenger door as Mel gets settled, making his way around the car to get into the driver’s seat. His car’s a vintage one, so he actually has to put the keys into the ignition, leaving them with a slower start than the rest of the fleeing clubgoers. At least that gives Mel a chance to start mapping out a path to somewhere they can stay until this passes. Jayce just hopes that will be soon— and that he’ll be able to keep Mel safe and away from the chaos in the meantime.
There's only one glaring flaw in Jayce’s idea that they shelter in a motel room, one that he knows he should have thought about when talking to the receptionist about getting a room. With him and Mel asking for a room together, he should have said they wanted one with two beds. Instead there’s only a single bed in the middle of the tiny, dimly lit room, sitting there and mocking him for not thinking about how this might look.
Jayce does what he can to give Mel space, though that’s not easy to do in a room that can barely fit a bed, dresser, and nightstand in it while still allowing some space to move around. While she sits on the edge of the bed, setting up so that she can take a look around the area through some netrunning, he excuses himself to the room’s tiny bathroom, hoping that’ll give him the chance to figure out a way to handle this situation without making it even more awkward than it already is.
He could sleep on the floor. There’s not much space for that, but it would at least make it less likely that he’ll do something to embarrass himself than if they shared a bed. Though he’s not sure how well that argument would work with Mel— she’s stubborn when she wants to be and too caring.
Maybe he could get a separate room to stay in. Assuming they have any available— he’s pretty sure motels like this get more traffic than usual during lockdowns as people like he and Mel seek shelter while stuck here. But he could go down to the lobby and at least ask, which might be his best bet.
When Jayce steps back into the room, Mel’s sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, her eyes closed as her mind navigates the endless sea of information that makes up the net. Jayce has never been much of a netrunner himself— he prefers the physical side of technology, putting pieces together and creating something new with his hands. But Caitlyn was right that Mel’s one of the best netrunners in the city, hacking her way into street cameras and scanning the net for information without having to even move a muscle. It’s impressive to watch her work, even if Jayce can’t tell exactly what she’s doing right now. He stands in the doorway, leaning against it and trying not to stare too much as he watches her work her magic.
Eventually, her eyes blink open, and it’s like she’s coming back into the room from somewhere else. She probably is— Jayce knows some netrunners can feel disconnected from their bodies after spending a while navigating the net for a while, struggling to return to physical reality. That doesn’t seem to be an issue for her at least as she repositions, looking over at Jayce.
“It looks like Jinx is fine, though still on the run. But that means that we’ll likely be stuck here for the rest of the night,” she says.
“Damn,” Jayce says. “Any sign of Cait?”
“Nothing enough to draw attention. I’m sure that she and Vi are fine,” Mel says.
“Good.” Jayce steps further in the room, passing the bed. “I’m going to see if they have any more rooms open, you can have this one.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Mel says.
“There’s only one bed, Mel.”
“I’m aware. But I’m sure we can make something work as is.”
“Alright, then I’m sleeping on the floor.”
Mel frowns. “I don’t think that would be comfortable or sanitary.”
“I’m a deep sleeper, I could sleep on a metal slab if I had to,” Jayce insists.
“Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should,” she argues. “We can share the bed. There’s plenty of space, we can both have our own side.”
And maybe there is enough space for both of them, but that doesn’t solve the larger problem for Jayce of just how much the thought of sharing a bed with Mel makes him want to do something stupid. He knows he’ll be fighting the temptation all night to reach over and take her into his arms, or to brush a kiss against her cheek as he says good night. He’s done well at keeping himself under control for the past seven years he’s known her, but this would test every ounce of restraint in his body.
Jayce should keep arguing, maybe ignore Mel and go to see if they have any rooms left. But instead he sighs, turning back and coming to a stop at the foot of the bed. He’s never been good at arguing with her.
“Fine. But this— we can never mention this to anyone,” he says.
“If those are your terms,” Mel says, an almost amused smile coming to her face at that. She gets up from the bed, stretching. “Now, I’m going to wash up a bit before bed. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
“It’s been an interesting night,” Jayce agrees.
He watches as Mel vanishes into the tiny bathroom, and when the door closes behind her, that's when the thoughts of how awkward tonight is going to be set in.
It's not as if Jayce doesn't like the idea of sharing a bed with Mel. But he likes the idea of them sharing a bed as a couple, not as two friends where one has an embarrassingly large crush on the other. As he hears the sink start running, he debates ways he can make this less awkward. He’ll have to sleep in his clothes since he didn't think he’d need a change with him. He considers taking one of the pillows and putting it in the middle of the bed to act as a barrier between him and Mel, but there are only two and they look thin, clearly worn down over the years and never replaced.
Jayce paces at the foot of the bed and tells himself that he can handle this. He just has to get through one night achingly close to Mel, and then he doesn't have to think about this ever again.
Except he’s sure he will think about it again and again, laying in his own bed later and imagining what it would be like if Mel was there with him. But maybe this can be enough to tide him over when the yearning for her starts to get too much— not an actual romantic moment between them, but one close enough to fill the void.
When Mel steps out of the bathroom again, Jayce is sitting on one side of the bed, sending a quick text to Caitlyn checking in on her. He doubts she’ll respond yet even if she is doing fine, which leaves him with nothing to distract himself from how pretty Mel looks as she makes her way towards the bed, turning off the overhead light so the only thing illuminating the room is a flickering lamp on the nightstand by Jayce.
“I’m surprised that with the resources you have at your disposal, you haven’t upgraded that leg of yours,” she says, sparing a quick glance to Jayce’s left leg and his exposed metal foot.
“It has sentimental value,” he says with a shrug.
“Does it now?” Mel prompts, taking a seat on the edge of the bed across from him.
“It was the first and only cyberware I made myself,” Jayce says. “I… was in an accident a while back and lost my leg. I was able to get set up with some cyberware right out of the hospital, but it just didn’t feel like me. So as soon as I was able to, I started working on this.”
He taps the metal of his leg through his pants, the steady rhythm of his fingers against it more than familiar now. The outer metal of it has web-like patterns, and it's made from varying materials— whatever Jayce could get his hands on when he was first making it— so it's a mix of different colors ranging from green to purple to red. It’s not the type of cyberware that can easily blend in with skin, or the type of high tech ones that are currently in vogue in Topside. But it’s served him well for the past years, and it feels much more like a part of him than the initial cyberware leg he had installed.
Besides, his leg is different from most of the cyberware people have. It's not a fashion statement or upgrade, it's a replacement for something he had lost. His hands are cyberware, the kind with artificial skin that makes them look mostly organic aside from the gem-like blue power sources left exposed on the inner parts of his wrists and some metal lines along them. Getting them installed was different than his leg— they were a choice rather than a necessity, just like his optics and the port on the back of his neck were.
“It’d feel wrong to replace at this point,” Jayce says.
“I hadn’t realized you made it,” Mel admits. “It’s really impressive work, though. If you wanted to shift focus towards cyberware creation, I’m sure you’d do well.”
“I think I’m good where I’m at, cyberware’s more Viktor’s thing,” he replies.
“Fair enough.”
The two of them settle into silence. Mel lays down on the opposite side of the bed from Jayce, not much more than a foot between them. It’s hard to think of much else than that she’s so close to him that he could reach out and take her hand, drawing her into his arms. He reminds himself that he can’t risk ruining their friendship like that. He can’t bear the thought of Mel no longer wanting to be part of his life just because he can’t control how much he wants her, so he buries that feeling deep in his chest.
Jayce’s mind will only continue to wander towards seeking out Mel’s touch if they stay in silence. So he tries to interrupt the quiet, saying, “What about you? Do you have any stories behind your cyberware?”
Mel makes a soft humming sound, thinking for a moment. Then she shifts onto her side, brushing her hair out of the way to expose her shoulders and back to him. This attempt to distract himself from how badly he wishes he could touch her might not have been the best one, because now he wishes that he could reach over and trace the golden lines of her cyberware as they stand out from her skin.
“These were the product of an act of teenage rebellion,” Mel says, glancing at Jayce over her shoulder as she speaks. “I’ve never quite met the Medarda standards. But my mother has always prized armoring oneself to the rest of the world— in her case with both cyberware and the kind of armor you can wear. I had hoped to take a different approach towards armoring myself, a more artistic one. So I managed to find an artist turned ripperdoc willing to help design this for me.”
“I’m guessing your mom wasn’t a fan,” Jayce says.
“I don’t know. She spent most of the time after that traveling for work, and shortly after her return, she sent me here,” Mel says as she turns to face Jayce again. There’s a wistfulness to the way she says it. Clearly there’s a story behind her arrival here too, though it doesn’t seem like something Jayce should be prying about now. Both of them have had a long night, and there are certain parts of his own story about his cyberware that he’s not eager to relive after everything.
“That’s a shame,” Jayce says. “But for what it’s worth, I think they came out beautifully.”
The last part comes out unintentionally, without him second guessing himself on whether he should be saying something like that before the two of them are about to sleep in the same bed. He hopes that Mel will take it as a compliment on the artistry behind the design like she was just talking about, but she looks at him with soft eyes, a very real but reserved smile coming to her face.
“Thank you,” she says.
There’s a tension that hangs in the air between them for a moment. Jayce wants more than anything for it to be her feeling the same things he does, even if he knows he’s probably reading too much into things. He shouldn’t risk making this more awkward than it’s already likely to be.
“Well, ah, I shouldn’t keep you up. You should get some rest,” Jayce says.
“I will. And you should too,” she says, stifling a yawn that comes as if on cue.
“I’ll try,” he replies.
Mel tugs the blankets up over her, and after turning off the lamp, Jayce does the same on his end of the bed. He tries not to think about how intimate this feels even with the distance between them or how easy it would be for him to reach out and take her hand.
“Good night,” he says after a moment of internal debate towards whether or not that might be too much.
“Sleep well,” comes her reply through the dark of the hotel room.
Jayce forces his eyes closed, rolling onto his side so that his back is turned to Mel. It's all he can think to do to keep his mind from wandering to how nice it might be to either be wrapped up in her arms or to hold her close to him, kissing her good night before they both go to sleep.
He can’t think about things like this. He might have feelings for Mel, but she means too much to him for him to risk ruining what they have now. So he tells himself that he only needs to keep himself from doing something embarrassing for one night and hopes for sleep to come soon.
Jayce wakes up with something warm pressed against him. His exhausted mind isn’t sure what it might be that’s curled up so closely to him, but he craves even more contact, eyes still closed as he snuggles more into the warmth.
It’s only as Jayce’s mind starts to wake along with his body that he realizes what— or, more accurately, who— it is that he’s cuddling up against.
Mel’s tucked under his arm, her cheek pressed against his chest and hair shrouding her face. He must have subconsciously acted on his wish to trace the gold of her cyberware last night because his hand rests on her back, the cool metal of the golden markings on it beneath his fingers.
Suddenly Jayce finds himself very awake.
He doesn’t know what to do. He could try to move and get away before Mel wakes up, but that might disturb her. Maybe it would be better for him to just pretend to be asleep until she wakes up and then she can decide what to do. But that would be putting all the responsibility for how to handle this on Mel, and it could potentially make things even worse if she realizes that he was awake.
Before his mind can continue to conjure up possibilities of what to do in this situation, Mel shifts on top of him. Jayce must have moved in some way when he realized what’s going on, because now Mel blinks up at him, looking somehow even more perfect than ever while still drowsy and with a bare face.
“Jayce?” Even her just-woken-up voice is gorgeous, slower than usual and a bit rough from sleep.
“I’m sorry,” he says quickly. “I don’t— I didn’t mean to.”
“I think this was both of our doing,” Mel replies.
Neither of them have moved more than was necessary for Mel to meet Jayce’s eye. Suddenly he’s very aware of just how warm she is, how perfect she feels cuddled up against him. He’s also aware that she hasn't made any moves to extract herself from under his arm. Instead she seems perfectly content to stay where she is, both their eyes locked on each other. She looks tantalizingly beautiful blinking up at him, a bit of the sun peeking through the curtains and glinting against her cyberware.
“I want to kiss you,” Jayce says before he can tell himself he shouldn't be doing this.
Mel’s eyes widen just a fraction, a tiny expression that wouldn’t have been noticeable to anyone but him. She’s caught off guard— pleasantly surprised— but whether it’s because she’s still drowsy or this has managed to get past her armor in a way few things do, she doesn’t regain her typical poised composure. Instead she looks almost shy, and that too is incredibly endearing.
“I want that too,” she says after a moment.
And Jayce has never been one to deny Mel from getting what she wants. He closes the distance between them, his lips brushing against hers. At first he takes things slow, not wanting to appear overly eager, but it’s impossible to deny himself when he’s wanted this for so long and as Mel’s hand tangles in his hair, encouraging him on.
He loses track of time, loses track of everything but the feeling of Mel’s lips moving against his. And when their mouths part from each other, he can’t stop himself from kissing down from the corner of her lips to her jaw, then further down to her neck. He’s wanted something like this to happen for so long, and now that it is finally happening, it almost feels like a dream rather than something actually happening to him. But Mel is undeniably real as she lays on top of him, one of her hands on his chest as his hand rests on her back, tracing the golden lines of her cyberware.
When Jayce finally comes back to reality, he can’t help but grin up at Mel. It’s rare to see her smile with her teeth, but now she gives him a brilliant smile in return, an affectionate look in her eyes as she stares at him.
He wonders if she’s been waiting for this just as long as he has. Maybe Caitlyn had a point, though he knows he would be teased mercilessly if he ever said that to her.
“This is a pretty good start to the morning, huh?” Jayce says.
“It certainly is,” Mel says with a laugh that sends Jayce’s heart fluttering.
“Maybe we can keep it going with some coffee?” he suggests.
Mel gives him another smile, and Jayce doesn’t think he could ever get tired of seeing that. “Coffee would be perfect.”