Mailroom Palaver

Part 1

It wasn't exactly a surprise for Amu to find that her parcel still had not arrived yet.

It wasn't as if she had been waiting nearly two weeks for it, mad-dashing to her mailbox every single day at unreasonable hours in her night dress and bunny slippers. In her defense for such odd actions, it seemed to only occur to her at inconvenient hours of the night that she should check the mail. Now, normal people would check it either on their way out the door or after they came off work and were just re-entering the apartment building. But not Hinamori Amu, though, who unknowingly seemed to do everything against the norm.

Hanging her head low, the pink-haired girl of twenty years old begrudgingly stuffed her hand into the steel box marked with identical numbers to the ones drilled on her apartment door.

One stray envelope was stranded at the back corner of her box.

Pulling it out eagerly with her letter-opener at the ready, the happiness in Amu's excited gaze deflated, leaving her with a miserable frown and a self-pitying sigh. It was her electricity bill - not exactly something worth getting excited over.

"Did it come yet?" The low voice slid like silk into the air and over to Amu, who instantly felt a rush of happiness at his arrival.

Glancing over her shoulder with a slight grimace, her amber eyes followed the new arrival as he smirked at her disappointed gaze, his fingers fiddling with the long strap of the shoulder bag that hung at his side.

His six-footed profile was lean but strong, with sharp features accented with ear-length, deep blue hair that seemed to defy gravity, odds and ends poking out every now and then. Not to mention his high cheek bones and beautiful eyes that seemed to just add to the mysterious aura that often lingered around him.

"Good evening, Ikuto," Amu greeted, dejected. Her gaze continued to dull as she shut her mailbox grumpily. "No, it seems like the stupid parcel won't be here until next Christmas."

She huffed another sigh and leaned her shoulder against the rows of metal boxes, blowing her pink bangs out of her eyes.

A twinge of amusement slipped into Ikuto's gaze as he stepped up to his own mailbox, twisting the key and letting it dangle as he pulled open the small door and pushed his black bag so it was resting on the back of his leg.

Amu's attention caught on the bag as he shifted it. It was adorned with pins of different band names, sayings, and small pictures. She had asked him about it once and he revealed that they were from different trips he had been on from around the world. Apparently being a musician had it's perks.

"So, it's a Christmas present?"

The pinkette shot her eyes up to Ikuto, who seemed to be too wrapped up in his mail to notice she had been zoning out.

"Yeah, kind of," she admitted. It was actually a birthday present, but she was too tired to go into a huge discussion over it.

Keeping his gaze on the letters in his hand, he reached over to her with his other hand. Tangling his fingers in her own, he slid her letter-opener out of her grasp and began ripping his envelopes open with it.

They both ignored the shock of electricity that tingled on the tips of their fingers upon making contact.

Amu watched in defeat as Ikuto opened letter after letter. He always seemed to have millions of exciting messages to read, that jerk. Then again, being a relatively famous musician would do that for you. Especially if you were young and attractive like Ikuto. His fan base was unbelievable. Amu even had the displeasure of having to beat down an insane preteen from trying to slip into their security-coded apartment building. Ikuto had simply watched her struggle with a hand over his mouth to muffle his chuckles.

"You're so lucky," she complained miserably. Today was not her day. Not only was the stupid parcel not here, but she had burnt her banana pancakes, spilled coffee on her blouse right before work, and then broke a plate by dropping it on the kitchen floor- her dinner coating the tiles in the meantime. So not only was she starving, but she was also feeling a bit more dejected than she would have liked.

Holding an envelope between pearly teeth, Ikuto's blue eyes flickered up to her, peering through his hair at her.

"Why?"

Amu smiled briefly, rolling her eyes as she pried the letter from Ikuto's mouth so she could have a proper conversation with him.

"You get so many lovely letters and all I get are overdue notices and stupid bills."

Amu could tell by the way a small crease appeared in between his brows that he was taking this into thought. After shutting his letter box and slipping his mail into his bag, he readjusted the strap on his shoulder and shrugged before leaning against the mailboxes.

"You know what you need to do?"

The pinkette raised her eyebrows questioningly, "What?"

He leaned over, shaving off an extra foot of his height so he was closer to her level. Amu's cheeks flushed a pale pink at their proximity. She never truly got to look at his eyes, as he was nearly a foot taller than her. Now that they held each others gaze, she wasn't so sure she wanted to be at the same level as him all the time. His eyes seemed to dance around as if they were hiding a secret she probably would like to know.

With his hands carelessly in his pockets, he lowered his voice as if telling a secret and murmured, "You've got to start paying your bills."

Flashing a brief, mischievous smirk, Ikuto swiped his letter from Amu's hand and lightly flicked her nose with it. She wrinkled her nose in distaste before glaring up at him as he straightened up to his regular height.

"That's no help at all, wise one!" Amu growled with a folding of her arms across her pyjama-covered chest.

Sticking the letter back in between his teeth, Ikuto wiggled his eyebrows in response. He walked past her, ruffling her already messy hair in the meantime. She snarled and quickly attempted to plaster it down with the palm of her hands as he spoke again.

"Have a good sleep, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

Slowly turning around, she watched Ikuto's retreating form with a reluctant upward quirk of the lips. He threw his keys up into the air, effortlessly catching them again before spinning the keyring around one long finger. He pushed open the door and disappeared up the staircase.

Sighing, Amu watched the staircase door close before glaring back at her mailbox. She snatched her own keys up and stomped off to the elevator.

Author's Note: So this will be a short little fic with even shorter chapters that's meant to be taken as light and fluffy! Hope you enjoyed the introductory chapter!