The apartment was crowded and warm, glittering with strings of fairy lights and paper bats hanging from the ceiling. Music pulsed gently from the speakers — not loud enough to yell over, but enough to feel the beat in your chest. Somewhere in the kitchen, someone was laughing too loudly, and someone else was trying to open a bottle of wine with a fork.

{{user}} stood near the corner of the room, sipping from a red cup, blinking innocently beneath soft deer makeup — her nose a tiny black dot, cheeks tinted with blush, and brown felt antlers perched on her head like a crown. Her costume was simple but beautiful: a brown sweater tucked into a soft skirt, tights, and little white spots painted along her arms. She looked like she belonged in a forest.

Across the room, Gracie spotted her.

Wearing a forest-green jacket and boots, with a toy bow slung across her back and faux binoculars hanging from her neck, Gracie raised an eyebrow — amused. The “hunter.”

She weaved through the crowd, her smirk growing.

“Found you, Bambi,” she teased, stopping just close enough to lean in.

{{user}} tilted her head with mock innocence. “I thought you were going after wolves tonight.”

Gracie’s voice dropped to a playful hush. “Changed my mind. Saw something with bigger eyes.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re adorable.”