Chapter Text
It was a Thursday afternoon when Ren was setting his guitar up in his garage, ready for practice with his band Chem Verschütten.
The members consisted of Donovan Machart aka Doc, the front man and lead singer in the band who was currently hunched over on a chair muttering lyrics to himself, scowling and then taking a pencil from behind his ear and change a few words, Tango Tekke the bassist and fellow baker at Giggapies who was talking to the third and final Giggapies baker of the band, Impulse Svitak the drummer, who has been trying to become the band's manager for some time (but the band have yet to find a replacement drummer) and finally Skizz LeMann their personal lighting and tech professional who proceeded to bound from his van parked on the curb and up the driveway into the garage, yelling in greeting as he runs up to Impulse and gives him a peck on the cheek before turning to the rest of them.
"Ren! G came into the music shop today, said he wants to invite you to something!" Skizz said with a big relaxed grin on his face.
Ren's ears turned to Skizz before his head fully did, now with a curious look on his face "oh? What's it for, if he told you?"
Skizz partially shrugged then lazily moved his arm to be around Imp's waist causing the man to blush slightly and lean into his side, "dunno really, he said something about D&D I think? All I really know is Cleo, False and some other people got invited too, said he'd text you the deets"
Ren's face brightened with an eager smile and his tail began to wag at the mention of D&D and his friends and he pulled out his phone. Sure enough he'd been added to a group chat earlier that day with Grian, False, Cleo, Scar and a mystery person Ren didnt have the number for.
He scrolled up and read the few previous messages, apparently the mystery person is called Martyn and is Grian's brother and is getting into D&D so Grian offered to introduce him to the usual D&D party, nice!
Plans were being made for all of them to meet up and play a oneshot together, it seems Martyn was reading up on being a DM but Cleo instantly called that role and so Martyn was stuck with his first time being a player himself (which he apparently didn't mind all that much).
Ren quickly typed out his reply to the invite (as well as a quick introduction of himself and a welcome to Martyn) with a huge grin on his face, tail thumping against the drum seat next to him.
Doc, who had now looked up from the lyric sheet, raised his eyebrow with a smirk directed at Ren, "What has your tail wagging like a puppy for?" he scoffed.
Ren flushed and his tail slowed down a bit in realization, "nothing! it just seems like I'm going to get a new D&D friend! I'm just excited, that's all" his voice had noticeable pitched higher.
Impulse perked up, always curious about new members of friend groups, asked "oh! what's their name?" Tango nodded along now also curious.
"Well, apparently he's called Martyn" Ren smiled as he answered, the name felt nice on his lips.
the thought was snatched away however by Skizz letting out a scandalized gasp "MARTYN?!?! HE'S MY CO-WORKER!! GRIAN THAT SNEAKY BUGGER DIDN'T TELL ME!!" Skizz bound towards Ren now and grabbed his biceps, shaking him lightly "DIGGITY, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE HIM!! HE DOES ACTING AS A HOBBY! HE PLAYS THE DRUMS AND SINGS!" Skizz gasped again and shook Ren so hard he felt his brain rattle into the sides of his skull "HE CAN JOIN THE BAND!!! OH HE'D BE PERFECT!"
Skizz eventually let go of Ren (leaving him to stumble and hold his hand to his head in an attempt to keep his brains from spilling out his ears from all the shaking) and turned to Doc, clasping his hands together and pleading "PLEASEEEEEE can we invite Martyn to join Chem V?" while doing his best puppy eyes (that quite frankly would only work on Impulse).
Donovan hummed, scratching the stubble on his chin in thought before shrugging "Let Ren meet the guy first and ask him if he wants to be in our band. If he says yes we'll give him a try-out, if not we keep looking" he said as he reclined back in his chair, one arm thrown over the back of it casually.
Skizz fist pumped the air and that seemed to wrap up the conversation on the topic but Ren was still stuck on everything Skizz had said about Martyn. He stared at the phone screen with martyn's messages on them, clicked his profile and added his number with a polite and simple hi and introduction.
Ren's phone dinged a few seconds later with Martyn’s response; filled with abbreviations and emojis.
It made Ren's smile widen for some reason, his tail picking up speed again before pocketing his phone and walking back up to his guitar and getting into position for practice.
Ren was admittedly not as into playing as he usually was, clearly distracted but trying not to let it get the better of him. Once practice was over Ren said goodbye to Skizz and Impulse first as they hopped into Skizz's van (likely stuffed with miscellaneous music equipment in the back of it) and sped off, then to Tango after he tied his rollerblades and finally Doc who got in his Chevrolet and left Ren alone at his house. The equipment had all been sorted, things unplugged that needed to be, everything switches off, tuning checked etc before the other members left so Ren had nothing to keep him occupied with mindless busy work.
Ren waked into his house from the garage side door, walking into his living room and dropping onto the couch before pulling his phone back out of his pocket and deciding to text the new group chat for something to do.
They ended up discussing theme ideas, any character concepts people had in mind or features they wanted to try out in a character (Martyn mentioned being interested in the bard typing which Ren felt gave him an insight into what kind of person he is. I mean the man plays the drums, sings, acts and works at a music store, is it any surprise he'd be drawn to a musical, improv typing?).
Soon enough though, Ren found himself privately messaging Martyn, the banter of back and forth jokes coming as easy as breathing to the two of them. Ren's face had eager grin he didn't even realise was plastered on his face the entire time until he put his phone down to discover the ache in his cheeks and jaw. His tail thumped on the couch all throughout and provided a nice white noise to the empty room as it witnessed the start of an indestructible bond that even it's participants hadn't realised had formed.
Ren eventually found out that Martyn was not just related to Grian but also Pearl, Jimmy and (by extention from Jim) Lizzie and was the eldest of the group. He wondered why they hadn't mentioned an older brother before until he realised no one had ever brought up that sort of topic with any of them, hell the only reason Ren knew the others were related was when he was being introduced the them! It seems Martyn was just the most independent of the group (which tracks due to being the eldest brother, Ren knew that feeling himself) and just hadn't been introduced to many of the hermits (the name given to the family-like punk scene they all belonged to) until now.
After getting to know each other more, they talked for hours and hours about random interests like: musicals, plays, DnD, music taste and anything and everything in between, until Ren eventually realised it was somehow turning past 1am and he had work the following day.
The two said goodnight to each other (with Martyn typing a "parting is such sweet sorrow. but I say goodnight until the morrow" which got a sleepy chuckle out of Ren) and Ren turned his phone off, staring at the now black screen for a couple seconds, the conversation rushing and replaying in his head with a soft, sleepy smile on his face.
Ren slowly hauled himself off the couch and walked up the stairs to his bedroom, only just managing the effort to brush his teeth, hair and actually pull the blanket over himself. As he hit the sheets Ren nearly instantly fell asleep, a smile on his face and a mind full of the man he'd soon get to meet.
The next morning, Ren wakes up deeply regretting how late he stayed up last night (but not regretting how long he talked to Martyn for) and hauls himself out of bed, going into the bathroom to clean himself up and look presentable before walking to his wardrobe and pulling out his clothes of the day (being a newsies t-shirt, dark blue jeans and a star wars zip up hoodie) then putting it on. He hurried downstairs before grabbing some toast and fruit for breakfast while simultaneously packing his lunch and a coffee to get through the day.
Ren rushes out the house, fumbling with his keys for a second before locking the door behind him and walking down the driveway and then path opting to walk since the bakery is quite close to his house.
when Ren arrived at the bakery he clocked in and put his apron on and went to go work the till (he's also confused as to why someone working the till has to wear an apron, he guesses it's a uniform or branding thing).
He checked the till, making sure he had all the change he needed before Impulse sidles up to him with a slightly concerned look on his face "Hey Ren, you look super tired today, you alright?" he asks as he places the cloth he was just using to clean the tables with onto the counter.
Ren's head picks up, looking a little surprised before breaking out in a grin "Oh yeah I'm great! Remember that guy I'm going to meet for D&D? Martyn. Well I texted him last night and he's the best!!" Ren told Impulse about his night chatting to Martyn for hours with a huge smile on his face and his tail wagging excitedly at the memory.
Eventually Ren caught him up on his new friendship causing Tango to pop his head around from the kitchen with a smug look on his face "Ren, it kinda sounds like you fancy the guy" he suggests as he walks out of the kitchen and up next to Impulse who nods along with what he said.
Ren blushes, tail slowing down its wagging as he looks off to the side and rubs his neck awkwardly "No! I don't have a crush on Martyn! He's just a really cool guy!" Ren turns his head back to face the two "Besides! I haven't even met the guy, we've talked for one evening, nothing crazy. I don't even know if he's my type yet!"
Tango roles his eyes but leaves it alone, walking back to the kitchen and Impulse changes the sign on the door to "Open" before unlocking the door and letting the work day commence.
Nothing eventful happens that day, especially with Ren being slightly distracted thinking about tomorrow since he'll be driving out to Cleo's house for the game (and unadmittedly thinking about Martyn and what he'll look like, if he's shorter or taller, slim or built, what colour his eyes are and if they shine in the sun or warm the room around him, if his hair is short or long, shiny or curly. Ren realises he doesn't think he'd mind either way).
Ren hangs his apron up, clocks out and walks home. He goes into the kitchen to make dinner. Ren sits down on the couch with his spaghetti and wonders what to watch before remembering Martyn had suggested a show to him during their talk last night. Ren excitedly picks up the remote and enters the name, settling comfortably and watching the show as he ate.
Ren accidentally ended up binging the entire season, his dirty bowl placed next to him on the couch so when he went to clean it, he messaged Martyn about how much he loved it. Soon enough the man replied and once again the pair rambled to each other for hours. Luckily, however, they managed to wrench themselves away from each other and go to bed at 11pm rather than last time's 1am.
And as Ren settled into bed, he thought about how he can't wait to meet the man on the other side of the phone in person tomorrow.
Ren woke up the next morning feeling ecstatic. He got out of bed, did his hair in a half up half down bun and put on one of his favourite outfits: a black "The Cure" shirt, a red denim vest with a ribcage painted onto it and dark blue ripped jeans (he was also wearing socks with D20s on them for good luck but no one needs to know other than him).
Ren goes down stairs, doing the usual routine of grabbing breakfast (this morning it was porridge with honey and blueberries) then grabbing his helmet, padded jacket and gloves and putting them on before putting some heavy duty boots on and walking into the garage to his bike, swinging one leg over the side and settling on top.
He then started up the engine and set off from the driveway at a slow cruising pace, eventually speeding up once on a main road.
The drive was nice and calm, feeling the wind rush through the hair sticking out the helmet and across his face through the gap at the bottom of his visor. The only noise being the rumbling of engines and the music he had playing in his helmet.
Eventually Ren slowly pulls onto a street road, littered with houses and corner shops and finds Cleo's address (he'd be lost if he didn't have GPS, he swore). He parks on the drive which had a few cars already on and around it, it seemed some people were already here, before dismounting the bike and removing his gloves so he could pry the strap on the helmet apart and remove it, breathing a sigh of relief at the release of preasure on his head.
With his helmet tucked under his arm and the gloves in the jacket pockets, Ren walked up to the front door of the residence, lifting his hand to knock on it swiftly and waiting.
Soon the door is opened and he is greeted by Cleo Zumbi, his long time friend who welcomes him with a short hug and hello before stepping aside slightly to give Ren room to enter.
Ren smiles at them fondly before stepping through the threshold of the building, tail wagging with excitement for the new friend he was soon to meet.