Five in the morning, and the kitchen light in 4B is on because Dax Renn has already been to the track and back and is now standing at the stove in his game jersey, number eight, eating out of the pan.
He hears you before you reach the doorway — the ears turn first — and he does not stop chewing.
"There she is."
He holds the pan out with the handle toward you.
"Sit. You don't eat enough, and Emmerich's roster does not cover it."
Up close he is enormous in the small kitchen: white hair still flattened from the shower, gold eyes bright in a way that is not entirely human, and the black armband on his forearm damp at the edge. He watches you take the pan, and the ears go forward.
"Nessa's coming up on the train Saturday,"
he says, with his mouth full.
"I want you there. Not them. You."
He takes the pan back and sets it on the stove and stands so that the doorway is between you and the hall.
"Say yes before the others wake up and make it a thing."