WOW, I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what to say! Thank you so much for all your kind reviews, and also the favs and follows! They all really mean a lot to me, I'm glad you like this story so far.
But now to probably more interesting matters for you: here is the second part. (I may or may not have borrowed some small quotes from the series for this chapter, mostly in a different context but I think you'll notice.) I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 2 - Meeting Roommates

With a faint smile on his face, Harvey stood in front of the door and let the image in front of him sink in. This was going to be his home. He knew that this wouldn't be forever but it felt good to finally make the first step in creating a life on his own.

After a few seconds, he finally took the key Mike had given to him a few weeks earlier and put it in the door lock. He pushed the door open with his shoulder, both of his hands full with either a bag or a suitcase. Closing the door behind him, he left his luggage in the middle of the living room and took a look around in the apartment.

He had already brought his furniture a few weeks ago, and though his parents offered to accompany him today, he declined because he wanted to be alone on this day. When he officially moved in his new home.

Slowly he walked around and glanced at all the closed doors, knowing each of them led to the room of one of his co-tenants. Only one of the doors was left ajar, he knew it was his room, and he walked towards it to push it fully open. He had to admit that he was quite satisfied with how the furniture was arranged. The room wasn't that big, and he didn't have a lot of things to bring with him, but his king-size bed as well as his desk and the wardrobe fit in. Some shelves on the wall were still waiting for him to fill them with books, but he was sure it wouldn't be long until he spread his things all over the room.

Then he remembered his stuff was still standing in the living room, and although Mike told him that no one was going to be here on that day, he didn't want to start his first day with the mess he assumed he was going to have and make in a few months or even weeks.
He placed the suitcase and the two bags in his room and shortly thought about unpacking immediately, but then remembered there was the balcony he hadn't visited until now. And though he knew that he had to unpack at some point, the balcony sounded much more appealing at the very moment.

Pacing through the flat and letting his look wander over the modern furnishing on his way, he reached the balcony door, slid it open and stepped outside. Taking a deep breath, he enjoyed the warm breeze on his face. He had to admit, the air was full of fumes but he liked it nevertheless. Harvey leaned his forearms on the railing and savored the breathtaking view over the city.

"Hey, stranger," a sudden voice appeared behind his back and he flinched. He turned around, only to be confronted with an unknown face. He opened his mouth in the attempt to answer but at first he couldn't get out a sound, he only glared her straight into the eyes.

Dark hazel meeting a mix of green and brown for the very first time.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, his look roamed the person in front of him. She was wearing sweatpants and a grey shirt, leaning against the door frame with crossed arms and her head tilted. Auburn locks framing her face, he only now noticed the raised eyebrows, as if she was waiting for something.

'Right,' he remembered, 'I should probably stop standing here like an idiot and start talking.'
It felt like a few minutes have already passed since she had approached him - he had to admit that her appearance had sort of put him a bit off - but it hadn't been much more than a second.

"Hey," he smiled at her, still a bit startled about how quiet she had appeared. He stretched out his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't say hello earlier but I thought all of you guys wouldn't be here when I arrive. I'm -" He tried to introduce himself but couldn't finish his sentence.

"Unless you're a creepy stranger who just broke into our apartment you must be Harvey Specter, I know." She smirked at him and shook his hand.

He grinned back at her, and after maybe a few seconds longer than necessary their hands slowly parted but their eyes still stayed locked. "And you must be Donna."

"Oh, you have no idea how Donna I am," she answered with a puzzling undertone.

Harvey just frowned at her words and looked a bit confused. "Okay, I think I don't really have a clue what exactly you're talking about," he laughed.

Her smirk grew even wider before she answered. "Well, I think you're probably gonna find that out soon, Specter." With that she took a few steps forward and joined him at the balcony handrail, now interrupting their eye contact for the first time.

"Do you also like the view?" she asked him after she got lost in the sight of the city herself.

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing," he agreed with her. Harvey then looked asquint at her and studied her. He couldn't really describe what it was but she drew his attention and he wasn't able to deny that there was something fascinating about her.

After some time she turned her head towards him and perked her eyebrows at the fact he was looking at her. "Okay, when we're already at it," she started and suppressed a laugh by biting her lip.

Interrupted in his thoughts, he almost felt like she caught him in doing something wrong and he winced a little. He looked back straight into her eyes, not exactly sure if he knew what she was talking about. "Huh?"

"It's not like I wouldn't appreciate you staring at me," she began, but he immediately objected, "I wasn't -"
She raised her eyebrow at his wretched attempt of a protest, and then he admitted, "Okay fine, maybe I was looking at you, but not in a creepy way. And anyway, that doesn't mean -"

"Absolutely. I'm sure your intentions are completely pure." Her facial expression was serious but he could see the sparkle of joy and amusement in her eyes and hear the sarcasm dripping in her voice. "Anyway, what I was going to tell you is... sort of about that."

He knitted his brows and waited for her to continue, not quite sure what to expect. She lifted her eyes from the ground and looked in his inquiring face. After clearing her throat she fumbled around with her hands and finally resumed. "I, uh, have a rule." Suddenly feeling a bit awkward, she tried to remember why she had thought before that it would be good idea to tell him about this right away, only minutes after they met. "I don't get involved with guys that I live with."

She wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to hide herself behind this. She couldn't quite explain it, but there was something about him different from all the other people, especially guys, she had met before him. A part of her didn't want to shield herself with her rule, but her brain told her to be careful and so she did the opposite of what her subconsciousness wanted to do.

Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrow at her statement, and he changed his countenance from questioning to amused. To be honest with himself he was a bit surprised because he didn't have that in mind at their first meeting - though he had to admit it went slightly different from what he had expected. He sensed that she wasn't one-hundred percent comfortable in her current situation so he decided to ease the tension a bit by not making fun of it but still not be dead serious about it. "As long as you think you can live by your rule yourself," he agreed with a wolfish grin.

A laugh involuntarily escaped from her lips and she rolled her eyes."Oh please, if anybody would fall for anybody, it would be you for me," she teased him.

After a short pause she broached another matter. "Do you even know why your predecessor moved out?"
Not expecting the conversation to take a completely different direction, Harvey was sort of caught off guard. "Uh, not exactly, but what does that have -"

"He wasn't ready to obey my rule," she cut in. She didn't know why she told him but she somehow wanted to get that off her chest, although he actually still was almost a stranger to her.

He swallowed at the earnestness of her words this time. "Is that supposed to be a warning? Or a threat?" he replied with a half joking question. He didn't exactly know how to react to that, so he tried to ease the tension again, but he wasn't sure if his plan actually worked out. "But I can assure you, I'm really not looking for any kind of trouble. I'm just gonna live here, you'll hardly notice I'm even here." This time his effort to bring the conversation back to safer and more ordinary topics was successful.

"Take it as whatever you want, Specter," she smirked, "but since you mentioned trouble: I have another rule."

"Which one?" He frowned again, not sure what he should expect now.

"Don't even think about coming into my room, especially not without my allowance. If you do so and I find out - and I can tell you that I always figure it out - you're gonna wish you were dead." She said that with a smile but with her eyes being the complete opposite of that. He was pretty sure that she was dead serious and he knew that it would be best if he didn't provoke her in that regard. At least not in their currently very young state of knowing each other.

She then turned around, walked to her room without once looking back at him and shut the door behind her, leaving her conversational partner alone on the balcony.

Harvey still had that almost permanent grin stuck on his face when he averted his look from the brass numbers on the white front of her door and allowed himself to contemplate what had happened since he had arrived in his new home.

The immediate banter with Donna so shortly after they met felt like they've been doing it for months, if not years. And although he'd never admit that to anyone else: he already enjoyed these little playful exchanges, and was curious how they would turn out to be in the future.

He was thankful that he fortunately got along with his roommates so well, at least so far. He had heard many daunting stories from his colleagues and friends. Beforehand, he had been a bit afraid of that it would turn out like in one of those scenarios, like that all of the tenants are on bad terms with each other and fight on a daily base. Or that there would be one who claims to be solely head of the household and orders the other ones around. But here it didn't seem like there was anything alike going on, no rivalries, at most a lot of badinages and repartees.

However, he still wasn't sure what he was supposed to think of her rule, or more precisely her first mentioned rule. He knew that he had promised himself to not screw anything up, and he was extremely determined to keep his word, but there was something about that girl he couldn't quite place. The only thing he knew was that she was probably not going to make it easier for him to stand by his own word.

—

A few days before the end of the summer break, Harvey was lying in his bed and reading a book. Although he had his door closed and his room wasn't exactly next to the entrance of the apartment, he still heard it when a key was turned in the door lock. He lifted his look from the page in front of him and strained his ears, trying to figure out who had just arrived. Since he was currently the only person in the condo it could be anyone of his roommates.

"Anyone home?" When he heard Mike's voice sounding through the apartment, Harvey couldn't help but smile. This was the first time they'd see each other since he had moved in, so this was going to be their first conversation as official roommates. He put his book aside and pushed himself up from his bed to get out of his room and greet his friend.

"Sorry to dash your hopes but looks like you don't have the place all for yourself right now," he grinned at the younger male and slapped on his back.
"Harvey," was the only thing he stated while he put down his bags, but a smile began to form on his face. "I guess now I really have to get used to having your ass around all day." With those words said his smirk grew wider.

"Looks that way," Harvey replied. "I'd apologize but it was actually you who begged me to come here so..." He let his sentence fade away unfinished, lifted his shoulders and arms to act innocent but the big grin on his face told a completely different story.

"You're never gonna stop underlining that, right?" Mike rolled his eyes.

"I think you know the answer to that question," Harvey only said with a lopsided sneer, head lightly tilted to the right side.

Mike sighed heavily and a small part of him already regretted that he had asked Harvey to move in, but this part was quickly drowned out by his anticipation and excitement about the fact that his best friend was actually going to live in the same apartment as he did.

"So, how's it going so far?" he asked, "Have you met Donna yet?"

"Oh yeah, I did," Harvey chuckled. "Our first meeting was... different than I expected." He was searching for the right words, not exactly sure how he should describe it since he didn't really understand it himself yet.

Mike narrowed his gaze on his best friend. "Please tell me you didn't screw up." The hint of concern in his voice almost inaudible. Almost.

"No! Don't worry," Harvey appeased. "Besides, do you really think I'd be still here if I did? I mean, you know her better than I do, do you believe I'd still be here if she wouldn't let me?"

"Right," Mike mused, "you'd be a dead man by now if you had screwed up like you usually do."

"Thanks Mike, I really appreciate your faith in my abilities," his friend deadpanned with a warning glance. It wasn't like Harvey didn't like their banter but sometimes Mike hit a nerve. And in this particular case he really didn't want to make any mistakes, he was determined to make sure everything was alright and that he didn't mess up this whole still quite new living situation.

Mike noticed the slight change in his friend's countenance and decided to not longer dwell on that particular subject. "Do you know where Donna is? I thought that she and, uh, Rachel would both be here today."

"Donna said that she'd meet Rachel somewhere," Harvey mused, then he paused for a moment, put a mischievous smile on his face and tilted his head. "But I'm pretty sure you're more interested in Rachel's whereabouts."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Mike tried to stay neutral but a blush crept on his cheeks and he finally averted his gaze from his friend. That made Harvey widen his grin but he had the decency to not dig deeper and so he didn't say anything further regarding that topic - for now.

—

In the meantime, the female half of the four roommates had met in a café to catch up since they hadn't seen each other for quite some time, they had only spoken to each other over the phone and texted. After they exchanged some basic chitchat, Rachel couldn't wait any longer to ask her friend about the changes in their living situation.

"So," she dwelled and questioningly raised her eyebrows, "Have you met Harvey yet?" She was interested in what her friend thought about the newest member in their living community, and since she had already met the person in question she wanted to know if everything went well or if anything had already blown up.

Donna finished taking a sip of her cup of coffee before she responded. "Yes, I have."

Her brief and not exactly informative answer wasn't enough to satisfy her friend's curiosity, so the brunette continued giving her a quizzical look. "And? What do you think?"

The redhead sighed because she knew that she couldn't escape this talk any longer, even though she wasn't really in the mood to talk about it right now, her mind still occupied with other thoughts. They also included a guy, but not the one Rachel wanted to talk about in that very moment. But she was quite sure that her friend would also bring up that topic, so right now she was relieved that the presumably more exhausting conversation was delayed a bit and she focused on the current one.

"Harvey's alright. I mean, he probably can be trouble but I think we can handle it," she smiled at her friend. "And you were right, he's not such a moron as..." Her voice broke off, and her gaze landed somewhere in the distance behind Rachel.

The brunette's face softened and turned into a more worried and concerned one. She was one of the few people who knew the full extent of Donna's relationship with their previous roommate, and she knew how it had ended. "Have you spoken to him since your..." She swallowed and left her sentence unfinished, knowing that her friend would know what she was going to say. But she didn't want to be the one who reminded Donna of their last talk - better said fight.

"You mean since that little bastard told me he wanted to be with me, moved out so I didn't have my rule as an 'excuse' and revealed that he moved back to his girlfriend - after we dated for a couple of weeks?!" Donna scoffed with a forced laugh, trying to hide her hurt behind snarks. "Yes, I met him once at the bar. But fortunately we didn't speak much, he was so drunk that I'm not even sure he remembered who I was."

"I'm so sorry." Rachel covered her friend's hand with her own and squeezed it sympathetically, a compassionate look on her face.

"Thanks, Rachel," Donna returned her focus back on her friend, "but it's not like it's your fault, and I'm sure that soon I'll be over this whole story." She forced a smile and then continued, "And it's also not like I have the intention of making that same mistake again, so..." Donna crooked her head and had a brighter expression on her face than before, trying to get rid of the afflicting thoughts and bring back a lighter mood to the conversation.

Realizing that now the chat was back on a level that allowed teasing again, Rachel decided to give it a shot. "I know," the brunette nodded and dwelled the last word, "that would never happen with Harvey, he's way too little handsome, absolutely not your type, and he also seems like a real ass." Rachel tilted her head, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Donna gave her a withering glance. "You know his reputation as well as I do, and you know his type of guys. Even if he wasn't living with us - and after the last incident I won't make the same mistake to fall for one of my roommates again - he's just not really the guy for something as serious as a relationship," she explained to her friend, knowing that Rachel presumably meant it more jokingly than serious.
Donna meant the words she said but she also felt sort of strange to talk about having - or better said trying to not have - a relationship with a person she hadn't even known for that long.

Rachel only retorted with her lips pressed to a thin line, the corners of her mouth twitching. She didn't want her best friend to get mad at her for dwelling on that certain subject for too long, so she decided to not say anything further, and not dig deeper. At least for now.

Okay, after this I have two more already finished chapters left (they still need proof-reading though), and I'll very likely post them soon. In the meantime: as I already said before, I love to hear what you think, so feel free to leave me a review :)
And a small teaser for the next chapter: It may or may not include a certain kitchen utensil... ;)

PS.: I have a question: Would you like me to put little teasers like the one before for the upcoming chapter in each chapter, or would you prefer to not know anything about what comes next?