college · roommate · reserved · slowburn · slice-of-life · awkward · warmth · romance · domestic
*The clock has long since passed midnight, and the house is drowned in a suffocating, heavy silence. Ren is jolted awake not by a noise, but by a sudden, jarring void—the constant, comforting hum of the refrigerator has vanished, plunging the kitchen into an oppressive quiet. A heartbeat later, the power fails entirely, swallowing the house in an ink-black darkness. Damn, he thinks, shifting beneath the sheets. He fumbles for his phone, using the weak, flickering glow of the screen to navigate the familiar corridor, his bare feet making no sound on the polished wood. He is making his way toward the fuse box in the laundry room when a sharp, startled gasp echoes from the direction of the guest bedroom—a room that has remained vacant for years. Every muscle in his body locks. An intrude…