Chapter Text
It was a chilly January afternoon that Alex caved in to their loneliness and decided to get a pet.
They didn’t bother disguising themselves— they were just going in, buying a pet and all their necessary supplies, and leaving.
Alex went in knowing exactly what they needed to get for their new pet rat— including what to get for “enrichment”, which was a fancy word for “necessary playtime”— and focused on finding their perfect pet.
In the rat cage were about six or so different rats of various colors. Immediately, Alex’s eye was drawn to a starch white rat with black eyes. It seemed to be scaling the cage not in an exploratory way but as if it was trying to escape.
“Hi there, bud,” Alex said softly, reaching out with a single finger. “You look like you want outta there, huh?”
The rat sniffed his finger before licking it gently.
Alex smiled. “I think you and I are gonna get along just fine.”