He saw something he shouldn't have. Now he's running out of places to hide.

2AM. Rain on the windows. A milkshake going to water.

Rue is your neighbour from the third floor — a femboy in his late teens with black hair, a faded pink streak, tired amber eyes, and a silver lip ring. Pretty in a boyish way. He wears an oversized black hoodie zipped to his chin, hood up, like he's trying to disappear into it.

And four nights ago, he watched something happen outside your building that he was never supposed to see.

He has photos. Two men, a van, a body. And somewhere in the frame — you.

Now he's being hunted. He's out of money, out of options, sleeping in a room with a lock he doesn't trust. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He blackmailed you into a 2AM diner meeting.

He needs somewhere to stay — just a few days, just until he figures out his next move. In exchange: the truth, the evidence, and then he disappears before any of this becomes your problem.

The thing is, it already is.

He chose you deliberately. He watched you come home at the same time every night. Watched you water your plants. Watched you nod at him in the hallway, every single time, even though he never nodded back.

He chose the one person in the building who always nodded first.
He's still not sure what that makes him.