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Hanging off his everyday black messenger bag, inside of a glittery clear case decorated with stickers, was Ricky’s favorite cat calico critter from the calico critter tuxedo cat family set, along with a few other charms and keychains.
Ricky was rushing from class to class, keychains and charms being thrown around everywhere with every step he took, only secure thanks to a silver carabiner that he was confident could hold all of his keychains comfortably and safely. Well, everything except the clear case with his calico critter. What Ricky was not aware of was that the jumpring that connected the clear case to the lobster clasp was loose and gave up after a particularly large step he took while heading to his sculpture class. There lying next to Romeo Hall was Ricky’s favorite calico critter, waiting patiently for someone to notice it and return the case to its rightful owner.
— 🐱❤️🐶 —
“I need a boyfriend,” Gyuvin complained to Hanbin, probably for the millionth time that day after seeing yet another couple walk by on campus.
“I keep telling you that I can set you up with one of Hao's friends but you refuse every time! You are your own downfall, Gyub," Hanbin replied.
“Nooo hyung, how many times do I have to tell you that my boyfriend has to come oragnically and naturally. Like we have to bump heads and fall in love at first sight or something, none of this blind date shit.” Gyuvin whined.
Hanbin could only roll his eyes, but deep down he knew that he was the reason to blame. Years of forcing Gyuvin to watch romance movies and psychoanalyze every couple on screen has come to bite him in the ass. Whoever knew that exclusively watching romcoms could turn a regular boy into an insufferable hopeless romantic?
Gyuvin watches as Hanbin enters the building for his class. “Don’t forget to text me after!” he shouts.
Hanbin turns to face him. “Can’t, I have a boyfriend,” Hanbin yells and sticks his tongue out, before turning back to head inside.
Gyuvin pulls a face and takes out his airpods. He begins to put then on when one slips from his hand falls on the ground.
“Ah fuck,” Gyuvin swears as he bends down to pick it up. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees something else glistening just a few steps away. He gets closer and picks it up. It's a round, clear case. Someone must have dropped it while walking. He takes a closer look at the case to see if he spots anything that could give him a clue to who this sparkly case belongs to.
Gyuvin is impressed at how much this little case is holding, whoever lost it must be going crazy trying to find it. It had a clearly cared for small cat figure wrapped in a pair of overalls with a strawberry carefully stitched into the miniscule pocket. The case itself was covered in glitter and small colorful heart and strawberry stickers, leaving an opening big enough to see the cat figure poke through. He turns the case around and notices a cursive, silver ‘R’ at the bottom.
R. This letter could stand for a lot of things. Rachel. Robert. Rose. But most importantly, this R is the key to Gyuvin’s recipe for love. Carefully placing the case in his backpack, he pops on his airpods, blasts Crazy Form, and starts mentally thinking of a plan.
— 🐱❤️🐶 —
Ricky almost loses his mind retracing his steps to find his calico. He was not about to lose the damn cat after pricking his fingers 6 times while embroidering the miniature strawberry on the overalls.
“Hyung, I- I have been walking around for an hour and I can’t find it!” Ricky cried over the phone.
“Look, Ricky, I’m with Hanbin right now so give me a bit, okay? I’ll be there soon to help you look,” Hao replied softly. He was used to Ricky’s hysterics everytime he lost one of his charms, which, thanks to Ricky’s strong clasps and protections, doesn’t happen very often. Ricky does not play about his keychains.
Ricky sighed and threw himself onto the nearest bench as he waited for Hao to show up and help him look for his calico. He hoped that someone trustworthy found him and picked him up. Ricky opened his bag to take out his water bottle, walking around campus has made him severely dehydrated. He looked at his carabiner. It looked so empty without the case.
Ricky had a calico cat shaped hole in his heart.
— 🐱❤️🐶 —
“I think I’m gonna make posters and post them around with my number so people can contact me with any leads or tips!” Gyuvin announces to Hanbin on the phone.
Hanbin lets out the longest sigh. Gyuvin can almost feel Hanbin rubbing his temples before he finally speaks up. “Gyuvin, are you kidding me, why on earth did you not just turn it into the lost and found?”
Gyuvin threw himself into his bed, his long limbed starfish pose taking over the whole bed, and shimmied his fuzzy dog slippers off. “Well, Hanbin, this is a sign from the universe. This must belong to the love of my life!”
Another silence on the other end of the phone.
“Hyung?”
“Okay well can you at least be normal and post it on your fucking instagram story instead of posters around campus.”
“I guessss,” Gyuvin dragged out and hung up on Hanbin. Hater he thought.
Gyuvin begrudgingly decided to follow Hanbin’s advice and make an instagram story. All he thought about while creating it was how much he wanted the perfect love story like the characters he watched on TVs had. How Hanbin hyung and his boyfriend had.
He remembers the story by heart. Hanbin saw Hao’s sheet music being taken by the wind and rushed to help him. While picking up the paper they brushed hands and stared at each other. It was like all the movies he and Hanbin watched. It was love at first sight and Gyuvin wanted nothing more than to experience something like it, too. He had the fallen item, but no idea who the person was. It was like Romeo without Juliet, Jack without Rose, Sebastian without Mia. Sure, they all didn't have the best endings, but you can't deny that their love stories were monumental.
He carefully examined his story before clicking send. The picture of the keychain was in top notch lighting with the perfect quality so you could see every detail. A few dog stickers so the owner could see how silly Gyuvin was. Now all he had to do was wait.
The wait didn’t last long because before Gyuvin could set his phone down he got a notification.
@shenricky replied to your story
@shenricky: hello, i am the owner of the charm
Shen Ricky, the name of his future boyfriend … But before he jumped to any conclusions, he had to make sure Shen Ricky was really the mystery owner of the keychain.
@gyubiees_1: hihi ^_^! just to make sure it’s really u… there is something on the back of the case!
@gyubiees_1: can u tell me what it is? :p
@shenricky: it is silver r in the back bottom right corner
Okay, this really was the owner.
@gyubiees_1: u got it!
@gyubiees_1: i am free tomorrow at around 4!! we can meet outside Cafe Ludia,, is that ok for u??
@shenricky: sounds great, thank you so much
@gyubiees_1: ofc :3 see u tomorrow!!!
Shen Ricky. Who is this guy? Gyuvin decided to do some investigating. Clicking on the profile, Gyuvin was immediately met with the hottest man he has ever seen, and let’s be honest here, will ever see.
Scrolling through his photos was like walking on the Hollywood walk of fame, it was just star after star. Ricky was a model. And an artist. And a dancer. And a singer. Ricky was accomplished. Now, Gyuvin is not superficial, obviously he cares about personality more than looks. But he also can’t deny that he definitely has a type. It just so happens that Ricky checks off every box.
Gyuvin shot up from bed and started preparing for the next day. He made sure to lay out his best clothes to make a good impression tomorrow. Not to toot his own horn, but Gyuvin has been told several times that he cleans up nice. Yes, the person who has said this was his own grandmother, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s right! He remembers all the girls in highschool would swoon whenever he walked by, and all the letters he would find in his locker afterschool almost made it burst. He tried going out with some people, but he never got that picture perfect movie moment that he so desperately wanted, where the leads had butterflies in their stomach and saw their future with each other as soon as they locked eyes.
Maybe tomorrow will be different?
— 🐱❤️🐶 —
It was nearing 4 pm and Ricky couldn’t find this Gyuvin guy anywhere. Pacing back and forth, he kept refreshing Instagram to see if he received any new notifications. After his 20th refresh, Ricky nearly jumped at the message that finally popped up.
@gyubees_1: i’m here! r u wearing an all black outfit?
Ricky looked up and saw a tall man walking towards him. He immediately dashed over to him.
“Hey, are you Gyu-“ He was cut off by a startled Gyuvin dropping the very charm Ricky was here to rescue. He ducked down to pick it up, but it seems Gyuvin had the same idea as they clashed on the way down.
“Ow!” Gyuvin cried, rubbing his head.
Ricky shot up. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry, are you-“ he was once again cut off, but it wasn’t because of something that happened, rather, something he saw.
Wow. Gyuvin’s small face and beautiful brown eyes faced Ricky, and he couldn’t help but blush. There were butterflies in his stomach that started fluttering even harder when he noticed that Gyuvin’s cheeks were painted pink as well.
Gyuvin was the first to speak up. “Um,” he handed Ricky his calico critter. “Here’s your keychain. It’s very cute, by the way.”
“Oh, thank you. I’m sorry for scaring you.” Ricky paused, before noticing that Gyuvin was still on the ground and extended his hand. “Let me help you up.”
Gyuvin finally was on both of his feet, but he didn’t let go of Ricky’s hand. Ricky could feel his face get hotter the more Gyuvin looked at it. His heart began to race and he thought about all the k-dramas he had watched where this exact scenario happened. He let go and knew he had to take advantage of this moment.
“Do you want to go inside and get a coffee? My treat as a thank you for returning my keychain,” Ricky softly asked, looking at Gyuvin and awaiting his answer.
“I’d love to,” he beamed and took back Ricky’s hand. “Lead the way!”
Ricky giggled and used his other hand to clip his keychain back to his carabiner. He made a mental note of adding a dog calico critter to his case when he got back home.