[M4F] The weird house in the neighborhood always gave me the creeps as a kid - now, I deliver pizza at least twice a week there...

Every other day, without fail, the same order blinked onto the delivery screen - Large meat-lover's pizza. No onion. Special instructions. Sam barely needed to read them anymore. He could've recited the text from memory, right down to the punctuation:

Dog will be inside. Please enter gate and leave pizza on back step. Tip will be there. Honk once when you leave.

Clockwork. Absolute clockwork.

He didn't mind it - hell, he actually liked seeing that order pop up. Whoever lived there tipped generously, consistently, and without complaint. No awkward small talk. No fumbling for cash. No stiff silence, while someone pretended not to make eye contact. Just a clean drop-off and an envelope with his name scrawled on it, tucked beneath a flowerpot - or taped inside a plastic bag when it rained. Over time, the tips had added up enough that Sam silently hoped the order would never stop coming.

Still… something about that house sat wrong with him.

The thing was, it wasn’t unfamiliar. Quite the opposite, in fact - it was in his neighborhood. And when Sam was a kid, walking home from school with a backpack that felt too heavy and shoes that were always half a size too small, he passed that house every day. Same chain link fence around the front, taking on a little rust and corrosion in the current days. Same faded 'BEWARE OF DOG' sign, its red lettering cracked and peeling.

But there was never a dog.

No barking. No scratching. No movement behind the curtains. For years, Sam had been convinced no one lived there at all. The blinds were always drawn, the porch light never on, the yard untouched by seasons or people alike. It was like the house had been frozen in time - untouched, unnoticed, waiting. And now, years later, the house looked exactly the same.

Which honestly made the regular pizza orders feel even stranger.

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With Christmas looming closer, the weather had turned brutal. The kind of winter that couldn't decide whether it wanted to blind you with sun glare off the snow, or dump freezing sleet onto the roads - and tonight, was the latter. Snow came down in thick, heavy sheets, swallowing sound and softening the world into something quieter and more dangerous. The roads were slick, drivers were worse than usual, and Sam had already seen one car spin out into a ditch on his route. Normally, he hated working delivery this time of year - but, people tipped better when they felt guilty.

And this customer? Still the same routine. Same order. Same timing. Same instructions. If anything, the tip was even better in winter.
'If they ever stop ordering,' Sam thought as he pulled up to the curb, 'someone should probably do a wellness check...'

The house loomed out of the snowfall like it always did - dark, silent, and stubbornly unchanged. No lights in the windows. No sign of life. Sam parked, grabbed the insulated bag, and pushed open the gate. It creaked softly in protest.

"Dog inside," he muttered to himself, scanning the yard. Nothing stirred.

Usually, there was a narrow path packed down through the snow from repeated deliveries. Tonight, there wasn’t. Snow reached halfway up his calves as he trudged toward the back of the house, each step slow and careful. His breath fogged in front of him, the wind biting through his jacket. When he reached the porch, he shifted his grip on the pizza box and stepped up - the ice was invisible. His foot slipped out from under him - there was a sharp, weightless moment of panic, a flash of the night sky spinning, and then-

Nothing. Cold. Black. Silence.

Sam came to slowly. Warmth was the first thing he noticed. A steady, enveloping heat that hit his skin and made the ache in his limbs suddenly very apparent. His head throbbed dully, like someone was trying to rip it open. He realized he was sitting - no, laying - into something soft. A couch that was plush... a bit old-fashioned. The kind that you could sink into the cushions and mistake for a bed. The air smelled faintly of dust and something earthy… like old wood and clean fur. It was dark. Completely dark.

"…Y-you’re awake."

The voice startled him. It came from somewhere nearby, hesitant and strained, as though the speaker wasn't used to talking to people at all.

"Do you, um… do you feel okay? I’m so sorry. I-I didn't salt the back step…"

A woman. Probably around his age, maybe a little younger. Her voice wavered with guilt and nerves.
Sam's heart began to race as he noticed the gleam of her eyes in the darkness - eyes that didn't belong to a human.

"Uh - yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly, sitting up too fast and immediately regretting it. "I'm good. Totally good. I'll just, uh… get out of your hair."

"P-please, you hit your head," she said, more urgently now. "Just... j-just stay put for a minute, okay? Until you're sure-"

"I'm alright," Sam insisted, already fumbling around in the darkness. "Seriously. If I can just find a light, I'll find the door and be out of your way."
"No - wait, please... don’t turn the-"

His fingers brushed a switch, and click...

Dim yellow light flickered to life, revealing a room that looked like it had been preserved in amber. Wood-paneled walls. A bulky old television set. Framed photos so faded the faces were barely recognizable. Everything screamed late 80s, early 90s - clean, cared for, but untouched by time.

And then Sam saw her.

She stood frozen a few feet away, half-hidden behind an armchair, eyes wide and glowing faintly in the low light. Her body was tall - taller than him, he realized - covered in thick fur. Her muzzle was unmistakably canine, ears flattened back against her head, tail rigid behind her. Hands - no, paws - clutched nervously at the hem of an oversized sweater clearly not designed for someone shaped like her.

Dog. Wolf. Fox. Something in between.

Something that absolutely should not exist.

Sam stared. She stared back.

The house was silent except for the soft hum of an ancient heater - and the sound of Sam's breath hitching as reality crashed down around him.

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Thank you for reading this far! This story is about an all-human world; furries and anthros are about as real as, well, as they are in real life! Maybe there are urban legends, but basically nobody knows they exist.

This one's gonna go a more wholesome, romance based plot. I want someone who's interested in developing her character, as well as the world around our two characters! I am, of course, fine with smut, but it'll take a back seat to the plot and romance.

Anyways! If you're reading this and still interested, feel free to reach out! I also use discord, if you prefer it as well ^^