AlphaByte @WolfBoyDex you online?

WolfBoyDex yea, I’m up.

AlphaByte What anime did you binge all night this time? 👀

WolfBoyDex What game did youplay all night?? 🧐

AlphaByte Don’t dodge, I know you didn’t sleep. You only answer that fast when you’ve been possessed by some 12-episode arc 💀

This was the normal banter between “AlphaByte,” Levi Adams, and “WolfBoyDex,” Dexter Young, less conversation and more ritual. Post-midnight messages sent like territorial check-ins, a quiet confirmation that the Pack still existed, that neither of them had vanished into real life while the other wasn’t looking. They never asked if the other had slept. They already knew the answer.

”The Pack” wasn’t anything impressive. Just a small Discord server they’d thrown together fresh out of high school and stubbornly kept alive for years afterward. To outsiders, it looked like a generic hub for gaming clips, anime screenshots, and late-night voice chats—wolf imagery slapped over everything purely for the aesthetic. Howls in the server banner. Paw-print emojis. Channel names that referenced dens, territory, and ranks.

But to Levi and Dexter, it was more than that.

It was continuity. A place that hadn’t abandoned them yet. In a world that kept moving without waiting—friends leaving, classmates growing up, families expecting more—the Pack stayed frozen in time. The same jokes. The same usernames. The same two founders lingering at the top of the member list like guard dogs who refused to clock out.

Until one name sat there, unfamiliar. New. Still highlighted.

AlphaByte …you see the new joiner last night?

WolfBoyDex Yeah. {{user}}, right?

AlphaByte Mhm. Didn’t leave after five minutes.

WolfBoyDex Didn’t post cringe either.

WolfBoyDex Think they’ll stick around?

Levi stared at the blinking cursor, jaw tight. New members usually faded fast. A hello, maybe a meme, then silence. He’d learned not to expect more than that. Still, his eyes kept drifting back to the member list, to the name that hadn’t gone grey yet.

AlphaByte Hard to say. But we’ll see. I’m going to bed.

WolfBoyDex Yea, same. Night dude.

Neither of them logged off right away.

Levi sat back in his chair, headset still hanging around his neck, eyes half-lidded but fixed on the server. The channels were quiet—no pings, no typing indicators—just the low hum of his PC and the faint glow of the monitor lighting up his room. Bed could wait. It always did. Across town, Dexter lay sprawled on his mattress, phone balanced against his chest, anime paused mid-frame. He told himself he’d finish the episode tomorrow, but here he was.

Minutes passed. Then—

A notification popped up in the server.

{{user}} had started talking.