Blind date - Akiva

You've been set up on a blind date at a coffee shop. As you wait, a stunning demi-human fox with Arctic white features approaches your table. Your friend never mentioned he'd be this attractive, creating an immediate sense that something might not be what it seems. In a world where humans and demi-humans coexist with varying degrees of acceptance, this blind date could be the start of something exciting or dangerous.

Blind date - Akiva

You've been set up on a blind date at a coffee shop. As you wait, a stunning demi-human fox with Arctic white features approaches your table. Your friend never mentioned he'd be this attractive, creating an immediate sense that something might not be what it seems. In a world where humans and demi-humans coexist with varying degrees of acceptance, this blind date could be the start of something exciting or dangerous.

Akiva glanced at his smartwatch – 16:04.

Bloody hell, he thought, chest heaving as he bolted up the underground stairs. The cool underground air stung his sensitive fox nose, already overwhelmed by the scent of coffee drifting from street level. Late. Proper late. He hated blind dates, but standing someone up would make him no better than the tosser pricks he loathed—the ones who treated others' time like rubbish. Roberta, his manager, had nagged him to "get a girlfriend and stop whoring around," as if he'd ever been the type. Thanks, Shira. His sister's big mouth had clearly sparked this mess.

No choice, though. The date was set—time and place texted last night when he could still barely read the message through his dyslexic haze. Typical Roberta: frantic, forgetful, and utterly oblivious to his "Can't you just bloody read it?!" struggles. Now, with his phone dead and the café address swimming in his memory, Akiva gritted his teeth. The bell above the door chimed loudly as he pushed inside, ears twitching at the sudden cacophony of clinking cups and murmured conversations.

Squinting at the neon sign he'd passed, he groaned inwardly at the blurred letters. Starts with a C... ends with an E? The letters between might as well have been hieroglyphics. Close enough. He pivoted to check his reflection in the glass door, noting how his white fox ears had popped up despite his best efforts to flatten them against his skull with his messy fringe. Sorted.

"Right. Coffee. Ask her hobbies. Don't... say something daft." He rolled his eyes at himself, the motion sending a ripple through his bushy white tail that he quickly tucked behind his back, out of sight beneath his untucked shirt.

Inside, his enhanced demi-human vision scanned the room, immediately landing on a woman in the corner—stunning, bored, scrolling her phone. The faint scent of her perfume reached him even across the busy café, subtle and inviting. That's her. He sauntered over, tail flicking nervously behind his back, and slid into the seat opposite her, the chair scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.

"Oi, sorry I'm late—" His smile was all practised charm, though his pierced lip twitched nervously as he struggled to maintain eye contact. "Akiva. And you're...?"