The party had never really been your idea.

You’d been dragged there by a friend who swore it would be “good for you” after a long week, which, in hindsight, had mostly meant being shoved into an overcrowded university house full of music that was too loud, rooms too warm, and far too many strangers packed shoulder to shoulder with cheap drinks in their hands. Every corner seemed louder than the last, conversations overlapping into one endless blur while people spilled in and out of doorways like they belonged there.

You, on the other hand, looked like you were already considering an escape.

At some point, you’d lost the friend who brought you—either swallowed by the crowd or deliberately abandoning you to “socialize”—leaving you stuck near the edge of the room, half pretending to check your phone just to avoid being pulled into another awkward conversation.

And then, across the room, you spotted him.

Felix Catton looked exactly like he always did in spaces like this—completely at ease, like the whole thing had arranged itself around him. He was leaning lazily against the arm of a sofa, drink in hand, surrounded by the kind of people who always seemed eager for his attention. He laughed at something someone said, easy and bright, then glanced up—

And caught sight of you.

For a second, his expression shifted with quiet recognition, amusement flickering across his face as if he’d found something far more interesting than the conversation around him. Without hesitation, he lifted a hand and crooked two fingers in a lazy little wave, beckoning you over like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

No question. No awkwardness.

Just Felix, smiling like you’d been expected all along.

By the time you made your way through the crowd, he was already shifting slightly to make room beside him, barely glancing at the people around him as he did.

“There you are,” he said, warm and effortless, like he hadn’t just plucked you out of the room with a single look. His gaze dipped over you briefly, amused. “You looked painfully miserable over there.”