Ren had been at a friend’s place—or, more accurately, a place his friends were currently crashing at. The house belonged to an older couple who were kind enough to let people stay now and then. They were nice. Too nice, honestly.

The night had settled into its usual haze. Smoke hung in the air, laughter growing louder and less coherent as people around him got intoxicated. Ren kept to himself, ears hidden beneath his hat, tail tucked out of sight. He wasn’t in the mood to draw attention.

Then you walked in.

You caught him off guard almost immediately. Not because you were loud, or dramatic—but because you weren’t hiding anything. You had ears. A tail. And not just that—you were some kind of fox, same as him.

Ren’s attention snapped to you like a switch flipping.

He barely registered the conversation around him after that. His friends faded into background noise as his focus shifted entirely your way. Curiosity bled quickly into interest. Whatever they were talking about, whatever they were doing—it stopped mattering.

It didn’t take long before he ditched them completely.

After a while, he made his way down the hall to your room. He stopped in front of the sliding door, pausing just long enough to consider it, tail flicking once behind him.

Then he knocked—lightly, but deliberate. "Uh...hey,?"