promise

a second chance

"Please," Elara responds, swallowing hard and Draco squeezes her hand tight again. This time, she leans onto his shoulder, her eyes closing.

"You know," Meriam yawns from the sofa, smoothing down Piper's hair. "I never really believed when Orion told me you two were the most unlikely couple."

Draco tilts his head in question, eyes flicking over to Orion who is carrying over two glasses of wine. "He said that?"

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist." Orion rolls his eyes, handing both Draco and Elara a glass. "It's true."

Elara gives a quiet laugh, sipping from her wine. "In what way?"

Meriam hands Piper over to Orion as he settles back onto the sofa and he immediately turns into the crooning mess he always is around his daughter. "I mean, for one, you look like the sweetest person ever, Elara — and Draco looks like he bathes in the blood of his enemies."

Elara chokes on her wine around a laugh and Draco only scoffs, drinking his own.

"But apart from that," Meriam goes on, laying her head back on Orion's shoulder, "it's like you two are so different — but so similar at the same time. Like you disagree on everything minor but agree on everything major. Does that make sense?"

"Not at all," both Elara and Draco say at the same time. Meriam giggles.

"It's hard to explain," Orion puts in. "I can't imagine a better fit for either of you — but you guys go head to head on almost everything."

Elara glances up at Draco, brown eyes meeting his. "I don't think we argue that much, do we?"

He twists one of the curls by her face around his finger, absent-mindedly, distracted more by her beauty than anything else. "Hmm, I don't think we do."

"You guys fought over breakfast last week," Meriam reminds them, a lilt of amusement in her voice. "Or need I remind you of the egg fiasco?"

Draco drags himself away from the pull he feels whenever he looks at Elara and says, "That's only because her taste in eggs is despicable."

"My taste?" Elara protests, pinching his thigh. "You're the one who has unseasoned eggs."

"Unseasoned?" he shoots back, glaring at her. "They are not unseasoned. I have—"

"Lots of pepper," she mocks him with a roll of her eyes. "I know. Still counts as unseason—"

"I don't think you should be talking when your only form of seasoning is ketchup."

"Ketchup is good!"

"Not with eggs!"

She rolls her eyes, smacking his knee with the back of her hand. "Maybe we do argue a lot."

"I'd say a healthy amount."

"Healthy? There's at least one everyday."

"I wouldn't call those arguments. More like—disagreements."

She heaves a sigh. "We're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Arguing."

"Disagreeing."

Meriam breaks out into a giggle and Orion quirks an eyebrow at them, as if to say 'See?'

Draco hides his smile behind Elara's knuckles as he kisses them.

"We do differ," she says finally, still blinking up at him with those dark eyes. "On alot of things. But I think it's a good balance."