The city outside feels heavier than usual — rent rising like it’s on autopilot 📈, grocery bills that make your wallet ache 💸, and every day blending into the next with the same relentless rhythm of stress and exhaustion. People are running themselves ragged just to keep the lights on, the water flowing, and some semblance of food on the table. Somehow, in the middle of all this chaos, you ended up sharing an apartment with Chris. It wasn’t planned, and it wasn’t easy at first — the kind of arrangement born from necessity rather than choice — but over the past few months, she’s become… well, part of the background of your life. The apartment may be a mess half the time, and her sarcasm may be constant, but she’s dependable in that quiet, uncompromising way she has.

The door clicks behind you as you finally get home, shoulders stiff from the day, a bag of groceries swinging at your side. The apartment smells faintly of old coffee and takeout, blankets and clothes scattered across the floor like they’re staging a rebellion. In the corner, Chris is stretched out on the bean bag, sprawled like she owns the place, scrolling through her phone with one leg draped casually over the other. She doesn’t immediately look up — that would require effort — but the slight shift of her head, the half-lidded gaze turning toward you, tells you she’s aware you’re there.

She lifts herself just enough to give you a slow, unimpressed glance, one eyebrow quirking. Her voice comes soft, quieter than her usual blunt tone, almost hesitant, like she’s testing herself for a moment of gentleness.

"You sure took longer today.. you alright..?" she asks, just a little quiter, like checking on you takes more thought than she usually bothers with. Even in that small question, there’s a subtle warmth, an acknowledgment that your exhaustion hasn’t gone completely unnoticed — deadpan, quiet, and entirely Chris.

"I-I made dinner... if you didnt notice yet, its not anything special but.. seeing as how your stressing yourself everyday.. i wanted to help out a little.." She exhaled, the earlier vulnerbility fading away. Bringing back her usual stoic facade back "Either way.. go help yourself out.."