Mailroom Palaver
Part 3
Amu was just exiting the apartment building's shared laundry room when the power went off.
Sputtering out a few members of her colorful vocabulary, the pinkette stayed in the comforting, dull glow of the weak emergency lights that barely lit up the space two feet in front of her. She felt along the wall while maneuvering towards the lobby, knowing full well that she could navigate her way to the staircase from that point on.
Her original plan was to run down to the laundry room, throw her clothes in, then run back up to her room. She was forced to wear her summer pajamas, as all her winter ones were currently in the dryer, which probably wasn't even working anymore due to the power outage.
Stepping into the lobby, the frigid wind was loud against the doors, rattling the glass and smashing against the brick walls. Ice rain pelted against the glass and thunder rumbled lowly from the clouds.
A rush of excitement trickled down Amu's spine as another roar of thunder shook the heavens.
She had completely forgotten she had been standing in the clear moonlight of the lobby in nothing but inappropriate booty shorts and a tank top. That is, until a smooth voice slid through the air.
"Never seen this before," he commented lowly.
Amu whirled around.
Ikuto was in the mailroom, clearly visible to the pinkette as he stood at the outgoing post-box, glancing up at her from the envelope in his hand.
Her cheeks colored a deep red at seeing him standing there so casually, as if this kind of behavior from her didn't even faze him anymore.
"Is this a new fashion choice of yours?" he asked casually as she gingerly stepped over to him, hiding behind the wall and peering around it to look at him. "I must say, it suits you." His eyes danced mischievously as they made eye-contact.
Amu only blushed deeper, though she wasn't quite sure why.
Before any words could roll off her tongue, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sensation of something fluffy that slithered and twisted around her leg. She let out a small shriek of surprise and jerked away, almost tripping over her feet in the meantime.
Her eyes widened once realizing a small kitten sat on the floor, gazing wide-eyed up at her.
"Holy crap, it's a cat," Amu breathed, stroking the kitten's ears as she lowered herself to the floor.
"His name is Yoru."
The pinkette cooed happily while brushing a finger softly down the feline's silky, black fur. Yoru's paws were a soft white - a stark contrast to the dark coat he sported everywhere else on his body.
"He's so cute!" Amu gushed happily, brushing her nose against Yoru's whiskers. "Did you just get back from the vet?"
"Yeah…that little thing is burning a hole in my pocket," he uttered.
She grinned darkly and pat the cat proudly on the head. "Good job, Yoru," she approved happily, pretending not to notice Ikuto glare at her.
The pinkette sighed sadly while rising to her feet with Yoru stretching out in her arms. "I had always wanted a cat but the expenses kept scaring me away." She wandered over to stand beside Ikuto at the counter, where he was leaning over an envelope, fluidly writing an address down.
"You can have him, he's a lazy fat-ass," Ikuto shrugged.
Amu shoved his shoulder playfully, "You're horrible!"
Despite the negative words he threw at Yoru, Amu could tell he really did care for his cat. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense for Ikuto to be a cat person. He always kept to himself and was naturally a bit anti-social. A cat was the perfect addition to his mysterious personality.
"I have to go out of town for a few days, I leave on Wednesday," Ikuto began. "If you wanted, you could baby-sit the fatty." He nodded in Yoru's direction, who appeared to be falling asleep, seemingly too lazy to be anywhere but Amu's arms.
The pinkette's eyes widened in excitement as a grin broke out on her face. "R-really, are you sure?" she asked eagerly.
Ikuto chuckled at her reaction and set his violin case on the floor beside him. He rolled his sore shoulder back and shrugged, "Yeah, if you wanted to."
Without giving it a second thought, Amu reached over and gave Ikuto a one-armed hug, not letting her hand linger on his back muscles too long before quickly pulling away. She distracted herself with petting Yoru in hopes of holding down a blush. It was the first real physical contact she and Ikuto had had.
But she was then reminded of what she was wearing and instantly felt like disappearing.
Thoughts flew by her mind in a wave of colors, ripples, and streams as she searched for a new topic to bring up so she wasn't forced to drown in the reminder that she was hardly dressed for a midnight conversation.
Taking Yoru with her, she hurried back behind the thin wall that separated the mailroom from the lobby.
"Thanks for the mug," she uttered reluctantly while peering around the wall. She still hadn't come up with a form of revenge for such an insulting object, though she doubted she would be able to do anything without it backfiring, anyways. He always managed to outsmart her.
Ikuto glanced up through his unruly hair, confusion temporarily crossing his features. Amu tried to act like her insides didn't start squirming at his confused expression. The small crease appeared again between his eyebrows as his eyes darkened in thought.
The crease disappeared as his eyes flashed in recognition, a small, almost bashful smile pulling his lips upwards as he looked back down at the letter he was sending. "Oh, right."
Amu easily would have chewed his ear off with threats and insults, except that his smile was so dang cute. Instead, she smiled to herself and glanced down at Yoru, who was happily purring against her arms.
"Just be happy I went grocery shopping after getting your note, that way I could actually pick something up for you," Ikuto spoke up again. He glanced over at her, his pen tucked between his teeth, "Otherwise you would have been stuck with a pet pine-cone from the front garden." He finished writing on his envelope before sticking a stamp in the corner.
Amu watched with a silent, raised eyebrow as he slipped it into the slot belonging to outgoing mail.
"Pet pine-cone?" she repeated.
"Yup," Ikuto replied easily as he reached for his violin case on the floor beside him and the plastic bag next to it, which proudly displayed the name of the Chinese takeout down the street. "You would probably name it Larry."
"Would not."
"Or princess Ophelia."
"That's a horrible name, Ikuto!" Amu scoffed stubbornly, getting a light chuckle from the boy.
Ikuto walked over to the wall that separated his vision from seeing her scantily-clad body. Leaning against it, he peered down at Amu, who became very aware of how close he was standing. They held each others gaze for a while, golden mixing and tangling with blue, until Amu finally sighed and diverted her eyes before she'd start stuttering and making a fool of herself.
She then just noticed that he was holding out his hand. In his palm was her letter-opener, which she took back instantly.
"You butt wipe," she uttered. "You've kept it for almost two weeks."
Ikuto smirked and bent down to speak lowly into Amu's ear, his breath tickling her neck. "Maybe I kept it just to have a reason to talk to you," he said flirtatiously, which Amu brushed aside with another insult, despite the warmth that flooded to her cheeks.
He scooped Yoru up before he began walking towards the door of the staircase. He paused with his hand on the doorknob and turned around. "Why are you prancing around naked, anyway?"
"I'm not naked!" Amu exclaimed with a quick flail of her arms. "I was doing laundry when the power went out. These are basically the only clean pajamas I have," she admitted.
Nodding, Ikuto hummed once to show he understood.
Their conversation was broken up as the doors to the apartment building swung open and in walked a group of rambunctious young adults. In their hands were bags that boldly announced the nearby liquor store's name. It was a weekend, after all. There was bound to be some partying going on.
However, this did nothing to calm Amu's nerves as she stood out in the open. Four guys were in the group, all of them barking out laughter and swearing like truckers.
Eyes wide and heart thumping loudly in her ears, Amu seemed frozen to the spot. She knew she really had no reason to panic, but being the paranoid girl she was, she was about ready to call the police and send a killer dog on the group.
"Amu," Ikuto's voice slowly brought her attention back over to him. "Come join us for Chinese."
The door to the staircase had already been opened. He nodded his head over his shoulder, gesturing for her to come up with him.
Sticking around to hang out with the party-goers or escaping under Ikuto's protection was a decision easily made. Sure, Ikuto managed to slip in perverse comments in every one of their conversations, but he would never do anything to truly hurt her.
Her feet pattered against the cold, stone floor as she rushed over to Ikuto. She ducked under the arm that held the door open. She passed by him and already started up the stairs, leaving him to chuckle as he pulled the door closed and followed after her.