Chapter Text
Unknown number
Hello I got this number from your cat Bubbles. I just want to make sure she is not lost only visiting. She is currently playing in my front yard.
Kihyun gasped loudly, turning Minhyuk’s attention away from the math homework both of them were trying to finish. They had already spent the whole morning breaking their heads over those complicated questions, and just as they tried to go back to it after lunch, he received such text.
“Ugh, that sly cat! How can she be giving out my number to random strangers during her strolls?” He stared annoyed at his phone.
“What?” Minhyuk leaned closer to read the text. "I thought Bubbles was your brother's cat?" he questioned after grasping the situation.
"She is. She used to be his ex-girlfriend's, actually, but after they broke up, she just kinda stayed around."
"Why is your number on her collar, if she’s not yours?" Minhyuk seemed puzzled.
"That's what I'd also like to know," Kihyun sighed, standing up and leaving the bedroom. "Hyung!!"
His brother wasn't home, apparently. Kihyun sometimes hated him for that. When he needed him the most, he wasn’t home, but at those times when he was busy and trying to study for his finals, his brother was sure to show up and be loud at home.
And now, that. He wasn't sure if it was just an innocent coincidence that had some reasonable explanation behind it or if the older Yoo brother actually meant to prank him by using his phone number as contact info. To that twisted older brother, that could even be a proof of brotherly love.
As if Kihyun didn’t have a lot on his plate already with his university entrance exams approaching. Taking lots of extra classes and visiting the library almost every day after school, the boy barely spent time at home, much less interacting with the cat. How could he, the only person in that house who had nothing to do with the pet, be responsible for her?
He went back to the room, where Minhyuk despaired over one of the questions, holding his head with both of his hands and making his bleached hair look like Einstein's. His friend’s eyes diverted from the paper in front of them and stared at Kihyun’s annoyed face.
"Did you talk to him?"
"He's not home,” he replied, stressed. “What should I do? No one ever texted before suspecting Bubbles to be lost." Kihyun put his hands on his hip and exhaled deeply, closing his eyes and trying to keep his cool. He was only this annoyed with the situation because he was tired from studying for so long, he knew that. Still, it was such a bother.
"Is she a cat that usually wanders around? Maybe she can find her way back easily and you don’t need to be worried," Minhyuk suggested, biting into his pencil. "I mean, we do have a lot more to worry about instead. I have no idea how I'll pass this." Minhyuk slapped his cheeks and held his hands there, looking a bit desperately at the untouched pile of homework still waiting to be done.
"You will, calm down." Kihyun sat down again, about to help his friend, but another notification popped up on his phone.
Unknown number
I'm sorry, is this perhaps the wrong number? If you're actually Bubbles' owner, I was wondering if I can feed her some tuna sandwich or if she's into some special diet. She won't stop meowing.
"This damn cat!" Kihyun groaned, almost throwing his phone away. He shouldn't just ignore that. He wasn't sure if Bubbles would be able to make it back by herself, and he did not know if she had a special diet or not. Why was that person even questioning that? Shouldn't it be fine to feed tuna to cats? He didn't know either, but it'd be better to go fetch her and solve the problem soon. She shouldn't have wandered too far.
Kihyun
Hello, I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience my cat has caused. To be honest, I am not sure whether she is lost or having the time of her life, but if it's fine with you I'd like to pick her up. Would you mind giving me your address?
His fingers furiously tapped across the screen, and his friend kept silent while peeping at the message he had just sent.
"Why are you going to pick her up? What about studying?" Minhyuk questioned as soon as Kihyun stood up with a deep sigh and started looking for his shoes.
"Sorry Min, I swear I'll come back fast. She shouldn't have gone too far and if this old lady is going to keep bugging me through texts, it'd be better to settle this soon."
"How come you know it's an old lady?" The blonde boy raised one of his brows.
"Just a hunch. No one texts this politely and without emojis nowadays."
Minhyuk snorted, not wanting to retort at his best friend for the way he wrote his own message. “I am deeply sorry”? How could he call the other person an old lady when he used such lines himself. He raised his other brow.
"What if it's a super hot guy?"
Before Kihyun could reply, his phone vibrated with another new message.
Unknown number
You're crazy if you think I'll give my address to a random stranger. What if you're not even Bubbles' owner? Let's meet at the neighborhood's park, is that fine? XXX one.
"What-- so rude! You were the one who found my number in her collar!" Kihyun almost yelled, frowning as he replied fast, saying that, yes it was perfectly fine, trying not to sound as angry and impolite as certain people. He had barely hit "Send" when another text came, and then another one.
Unknown number
Sorry, my little brother got my phone and replied instead of me.
Oh, ok. I'm glad the park is ok for you, we'll be heading there in 5. Bubbles' belly is full of tuna now and she seems to be willing to follow us anywhere after we fed her.
"What, did you just find a new best friend? Are you into old ladies now?" Minhyuk had his chin resting on both his hands, looking somewhat amused while staring at his best friend. Kihyun looked up at him and frowned.
"Eh, of course not. What are you saying?"
"Well, you're smirking like an idiot while reading these texts. Is it funny?"
"I'm not smirking,” he retorted, his ears suddenly feeling hot. “It's just that the person has a little brother who was the rude one, and then apologized. I thought it was somehow nice."
"I see. It's not an 'old lady' anymore, but a 'person'. So you're one step closer to admitting it might be a super hot guy," Minhyuk giggled and Kihyun kicked his slippers into his friend's face, while grabbing his shoes.
"You're annoying! Have those exercises finished by the time I come back, bye," he said, leaving in a rush to pick up the damn cat.
Holy pants. It was a super hot guy.
Kihyun knew he was being creepy, hiding behind a low wall in the corner of the park. Two elders had already passed by and eyed him, for he was crouching suspiciously and peeking at the people jogging and playing ball games, but he couldn't help it. He really wasn't expecting a super hot guy. Damn Minhyuk.
There were actually two guys playing with Bubbles when he first spotted the cat, just as the park entered his field of vision. If the shorter one weren't wearing round glasses, black clothes and had a bored look on his eyes, he wouldn't be so sure the tanned, tall, muscular and hot guy was actually the one who texted him. The shorter one looked younger and very rude, so he was probably the "little brother”; that left the super hot guy to be the actual sender of the texts.
Kihyun was lucky he didn't bring Minhyuk along, or he wouldn't be left in peace for the rest of his days. He could almost hear his best friend cackling behind him, and he was sure the blonde boy wouldn’t stop teasing him for not believing when he suggested it was a hot guy.
He had been hiding for almost five minutes now. The park was actually very close to his house, and if the two brothers arrived there so fast, they shouldn’t live so far either. How come he never knew that guy existed in his neighborhood? While thinking about all of this, Kihyun knew that sooner or later he’d have to leave his hiding spot and talk to them, but what would he say?
Wait.
Why was he acting like he was about to talk to his crush for the first time?
He had a reason to approach the guy.
The reason that had started all of that mess.
Bubbles.
Kihyun was close to top student in his year, but he could be really stupid sometimes.
He took a deep breath and stood up, trying to act naturally. He approached the two brothers and raised one hand in the air.
“Yo. I came to pick up the cat,” he said, and both brothers looked at him at the same time. He was a bit intimidated by the youngest one’s stare, as if the boy was judging him deeply even though he was sure he smiled nicely when greeting them.
“Ah, hi—,” before the older could say anything else, the boy wearing black stepped in front of him and raised his arm as if protecting his brother. Like that tall, strong, Greek-god-like man needed any protection. Still, Kihyun stopped on his tracks, wondering why the emo one felt so threatened by him.
“Prove it,” it was what he said, with a deep voice. With a sigh, Kihyun grabbed his phone and showed the exchange of messages, and also his number to confirm it was the same in the cat’s collar.
“You don’t need to be so wary, it’s fine, right? We’re the ones who could be suspicious people,” the super hot guy said, and the youngest frowned, shrugging and crouching next to Bubbles to play with it. “Sorry about this.”
“It’s fine. I’m sorry that Bubbles troubled you guys. It’s the first time she’s ever left home,” he explained. The guy smiled nicely and Kihyun was sure his heart wasn’t beating that fast before.
“So, what’s your name?” The Greek god asked. “It feels weird calling you Bubbles’ owner now that I see you are actually a person.”
To what Kihyun frowned.
“How would I not be a person if I replied your texts and everything?”
“Well, Changkyunnie said it could be a scam act in which phones could be hacked to reply the missing cat texts and set up a meeting spot for gangsters to rob people who are innocently trying to return a beloved cat to someone.”
The little brother, Changkyun, looked up and again stared at Kihyun, as if he still hadn't completely dismissed the theory. Kihyun could only think about how Changkyun himself looked like a hacker who'd do that sort of thing.
“Quite a mind he's got there, huh”, he commented, a bit astonished. The super hot guy smiled, his eyes turning into crescent moons with little wrinkles around it. Kihyun tried convincing himself that his heart was not jumping out of his chest at that sight.
“He's pretty smart, he has advanced one year at school. Anyway, maybe it's more polite if I introduce myself first. I'm Hyunwoo, and this is my younger brother, Changkyun.”
“I'm Kihyun, nice to meet you,” they shook hands and he felt little electric shocks running from his fingertips. “Thank you again for taking care of Bubbles.”
“It was no big deal. She's pretty cute, and Changkyun loves cats. We can't have any pets because my mum is allergic to all existing things. So I guess he's pretty happy now.”
Kihyun seriously thought of inviting Changkyun over to play with Bubbles whenever he felt like it, under the only condition he should have his big bro tagging along. Didn’t it sound like a win-win situation?
He thought about their mother’s allergy, though. “I hope it didn’t bother your mum having her there,” he said, a bit worried. Bubbles really went out causing lots of trouble for other people. At least she managed to find a super hot guy for him, so he wasn’t that mad.
Hyunwoo smiled softly. “Thank you for your concern. It was fine, she’s out for an errand and when we go back we’ll clean up properly.”
“I see. I shouldn’t be holding you back, then,” though Kihyun really felt like holding him back. Or just holding him. Maybe the little brother could go ahead and start cleaning while Hyunwoo spent some time talking to Kihyun. It was not every day that he got to meet someone so… his type. He might’ve just found a crush right there.
Not that he was bold enough to make a move or anything like that. He was aware they were both strangers and the only link between them was that fluffy animal that was biting Changkyun’s fingers while holding his hand with her cute little paws. Now that he finished doing what he came to do, he could only hope to bump into Hyunwoo in the neighborhood and pray that his small talk abilities could get the guy just the slightest bit interested on him. How did other people manage to meet and become acquaintances with hot guys?
“It was nice meeting you, Kihyun. Bye, Bubbles,” Hyunwoo waved as Changkyun stood up and nodded at Kihyun. The boy got the cat on his arms and made a little wave with one of her white paws, laughing right after and feeling his ears burn red.
How could he ever expect to be noticed by a potential crush being a fool like that?
After watching the two boys disappear out of his sight (he wasn’t meaning to find out which direction they lived, no), he thought it would do no harm to at least save Hyunwoo’s number, which he did as he made his way back home.