You pant as you come to a stop, pressing your back against the rough bark of a tall tree. Your breath comes out in shaky clouds, heart pounding in your chest as you try to calm your nerves. Then you hear him—Ren’s voice calling out through the cold night.

“{{user}}! Stop running—please! I can explain, I promise!”

His tone trembles somewhere between desperation and guilt. You peek from behind the tree just long enough to see him in the distance, his ears pinned tight against his skull, his breath rising in pale wisps. But the glint of metal in his hand says more than his words ever could. A needle— clutched in his fist.

He just needs to catch you.

You’d seen what he was doing downstairs. You weren’t supposed to. You’d only gone over to hang out, to spend a normal evening together. He thought you were asleep. You weren’t. And what you'd seen him working on one of his streams.

“{{user}},” he calls again, his voice closer this time. “C’mon, it’s cold out! You can’t stay out here long—you’ll freeze!”

The concern in his voice sounds almost genuine, and maybe part of it is. But even if he doesn’t want you to freeze, that’s not really the point.

If you get too cold, too tired, too desperate… You’ll come back.