She the water and leaned over the sink, wishing that the white noise would somehow calm her nerves. He was sitting. In her living room. And apparently, he had no intention to leave.

“A phone?” She remembered the incredulous look on his face when they finally got back to her home— incident aside, she decided to ignore that. “What is… a phone? I haven’t been in a place like this in so long… What I need is a new home.”

“What happened to your old home?” She asked, trying to control the way her heart thumped when he looked at there with those sharp, light-filled eyes.

A pained looked crossed his distant expression, and she wished she hadn’t asked. “It burned,” he responded after a pause, before meeting her eyes again, looking pleading and entitled at the same time. “Can I stay here?”

“…the couch is free.”

She splashed cold water on her face to shock herself out of the memory. Idiot, inviting a homeless— albeit attractive— stranger into her house, where she lived alone. There were a thousand things that could go wrong.

But she couldn’t deny the shiver of excitement at the thought of him living with her. Would it be such a terrible thing? He seemed harmless enough, despite being as mysterious. Actually, he had been rather gentlemanly, waiting for permission to enter and waiting where she had told him to in the living room. He hadn’t made a single uncouth gesture, said anything rude, or invaded her personal space. Sure, the thing was a little weird, but he had immediately let go of her hand and told her to make sure she cleaned the scratch properly.

She had made her decision already, it seemed, and so she had better stop hiding from him. She turned off the water and dried her face, ready to go out and meet her new roommate.

“Excuse me,” she murmured as she poked her head into the living room. How unusual to feel like a stranger in her own home. A quick glance proved that he was sitting right where she left him, relaxed but polite on the couch. Actually, had he moved at all?

“Um,” she said, moving to sit in the chair opposite of him. “If you’re going to stay here for a while, then we should probably start with introductions… My name is Dawn, nice to meet you.”

She held out her hand, and the barest smile crossed his face and he took it and shook lightly. Dawn tried to ignore the way his long fingers curled around her own in favor of what he was saying instead.

“I am Leo. A pleasure.”

He let her hand drop, and she drew it back to her lap with a little cough. Maybe her grandmother had been right, she should get out more.  “Well, Leo,” she began, “It’s nice to meet you. I’d like to lay down a few house rules, if you don’t mind.”

He inclined his head gracefully, which she took as a sign to continue. “I’ll give you a quick tour in a minute, but there is an extra bedroom you’re welcome to.Obviously, if you make a mess or spill something you’ll have to clean up after yourself, same with kitchen dishes and the bathroom.” Oh god, she had to share her bathroom. Couldn’t she have thought of that earlier? Leo paused, seeming to truly contemplate each request before nodding again for her to continue.

“Well...please don’t ever come into my bedroom, and if you use up anything put it on the list on the fridge so I can replace it…” She was way too old to have no experience with a house-mate, but here she was with her first. And she already couldn’t think of anymore rules. But Leo was giving her his full attention and carefully listening to everything she said.

“Anyway, that’s all for now,” she finished lamely, wondering how painful it would be to shoot herself in the foot. “If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” Leo said, the sincerity in his voice so great that Dawn felt a blush crawl across her cheeks.

“It- its really nothing,” she murmured, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Anyway, a tour?” She stood and motioned to the rest of the house, small though the cottage was. “I can show you to your new room.” Leo did the graceful nod thing again and so Dawn stood and began to talk about her small home, growing more relaxed as she showed the place she had grown up and felt most safe in.

“This is the kitchen…” She motioned to the small galley kitchen near the living room, then headed towards the short hallway that lead to the bedrooms. “Bathroom is at the end of the hall, right side is my room—” she paused as she pulled her bedroom door closed, “— and left side if my grandmothers room. Well, your room now.” She smiled unconsciously as she finished, realizing that her grandmother would very happily share her space, stranger or not. Somehow, there was nothing more fitting than have Leo staying there.

“Your grandmother? Will she return?” Leo’s tone was quiet, but no less sincere because of it. Dawn shook her head.

“No. She won’t. Anyway, please make yourself comfortable, I’m going to—”

He words were cut off as Leo gently but firmly grabbed her wrist, pulling it up between them. She froze, all matter of alarms blaring in her head as the warmth from his fingertips spread across her skin.

“Please make sure you clean and dress this wound,” he said, glancing down at it carefully. The goddamn scratch, she had completely forgotten about it already. Fearing that he would try to her hand again— or spy the blush that was making its way across the tips of her ears— she jerked her wrist away and dashed for the bathroom.

“Fine I’m doing it!” She yelled, and slammed the door behind her. Yep, ears were blazing, and she had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time, either.

Hello all! Thank you so much for sticking around to chapter two! XD Please be patient while I get things up and running (I at intros). I promise their relationship will get better! In the meantime, I want to give a quick thank you/shout out to the few of you who stuck with me not only all of the way through Mail order Leo (no easy feat) but also jumped right on this story when I posted it; really, thank you so so much, I appreciate it to the moon and back :)

MinYoung-Ah

FannyHwang

HomeHam

You guys rock! Everyone, please stick around for a new chapter and feel free to comment/message! (read:pleasecommentiloveyou)