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It was a perfect fall morning and Ruddiger was pissed he was spending it inside. Sure, his human, Varian, never went outside much, preferring to stay in his apartment and work on experiments, but that doesn’t mean Ruddiger sometimes doesn’t get bitter about it. He stared out the window and wondered when his life was finally going to get less dull. Don’t get him wrong, he loved helping Varian out with his chemicals and he couldn’t ask for a better human but it was just the two of them. Varian had other friends and family but he desperately needed to get out more. Maybe he could make him hang out with Yong or Nuru more. Maybe his human needs to call his dad more. Or maybe, he should get a partner.
His human was bi so gender wasn’t an obstacle, the obstacle was Varian’s relationship with romance. Varian was a romantic, he was just extremely awkward and weird about it. Which is fine, it’s very Varian and that’s a good thing, but that means he has to find someone who is just as awkward and weird with being a romantic as Varian. There's got to be someone out there who’s like that, right?
Ruddiger looked out the window, hoping to find someone who could fit. However, it quickly turned fruitless. There was always something wrong, too studious, too fancy, too artsy, too hardcore, too rude, etc. There is no possible way such a busy street would have no one for his human but with every minute that passes by it seemed more likely that he wasn’t going to find anyone.
And then, just as he was about to give up, he spotted them. A tall man with blonde hair up in a short ponytail and round glasses framing his face. He wore an old, beaten-up bomber jacket around him to protect himself from the cold and a pair of heavy work boots. Besides those two bulky pieces of his outfit, he was clearly lanky but it somehow worked for his height and how he carried himself. He looked kind of snarky and smug but honestly, Varian could use someone like that. He had a book held in one hand and a leash held in the other. The dog he was walking was cute in her own right. A tiny golden dog with her front paws prancing forward and her back ones secured to a perch with wheels. She seemed just as mischievous as her owner. It was exactly what Ruddiger and his human needed to liven up their lives. A perfect partner for his human.
Ruddiger noted they were heading for the park, a perfect meeting spot. The problem was Varian didn’t take him on a walk until five. Ruddiger felt somewhat desperate so he took the cord to the digital clock in his mouth and unplugged it. He then went to the traditional clock and used his nose to move it to five. He picked up his leash by the apartment door and started to bark, hoping that Varian wouldn’t check the time on his phone. Varian looked back towards his companion, then to the digital clock, then to the traditional one. “It’s five?!” Varian asked no one in particular. “I’ve been working too much, lost track of time.” He stood up and stretched out his body before putting his phone in his back pocket (without checking the screen, thank goodness), grabbing a book on machinery, and walking over to Ruddiger. “Alright buddy, let’s go stretch our legs,”
Once they left the apartment building, Ruddiger sped up towards the park like a dog on a mission. Mostly because he was one. He looked around for the blonde man and his golden dog, dragging his poor human behind him. That’s ok though, Ruddiger was doing it for his own good. Ruddiger was walking so fast that he started to worry they passed them or they were just walking through the park. Then suddenly, he spotted them.
The blonde was sitting on a bench by a lake with his tiny golden dog keeping watch as if she could do anything. Though Ruddiger suspected that she was a lot more brutal than her small size made one assume. Ruddiger looked to his human hopefully but he knew what he would do, he’d sit on the grass and read and not even look up for hours. He swallowed as he realized it was all up to him.
The dog put his snout up high as he walked past the mysterious strangers, the other dog noticing his posturing and looking over with curiosity. Varian, as predicted, sat on the grass near the lake and opened his book. The mystery man didn’t seem much better, eyes fixed on his own book. Ruddiger peered over to the others and the other dog quickly went back to standing guard after being caught staring. He would talk to her in a second but first, what book had the unknown human so interested? He couldn’t make out much but the handsome stranger was reading a book on machinery! A damn match made in heaven in Ruddiger’s eyes, Varian wouldn’t shut up about mechanics and chemistry. Welp, time to create some chemistry of his own, but first he’s going to need help.
“Pst,” he whispered to the other dog, trying to get her attention without alerting their humans. “pptttssss-”
“What?” She barked back but still in the same quiet whisper as Ruddiger.
“I need your help,” he clarified.
“Help with what?”
“I need our humans to meet so that they can date.”
The other dog spluttered, clearly caught off guard. Ruddiger didn’t blame her. “We don’t even know each other,” she argued. “Why would I help you? Plus, for all you know my human is taken.”
“Is he?”
“No.”
“My point.”
“But why my human,” she asked.
“They’re both nerds,” Ruddiger shrugged, not knowing how to explain. “So that’s a start.”
She scoffed. “Just because two people are nerds does not mean they should date.”
He rolled his eyes. “Do you want to help me or not?”
She looked at the ground and tapped her front paw in thought. It took her a few moments before sighing and saying, “Screw it, Hugo needs someone to get his head out of his ass. I’ll help.”
“Perfect!” He smiled, “my name is Ruddiger, by the way.”
“Olivia,” Olivia responded.
“Nice to meet you. Ok, first step is we need them to at least see each other.”
Olivia nodded. “Good idea, you’ve got a plan?”
Ruddiger thought for a moment, not knowing what to do. He didn’t have any particular plan, just a need to stir things up a bit. Enough to get the attention of the two humans. He was still trying to figure out what to do when he spotted that Varian had forgotten to take his goggles off of his head. Ruddiger climbed up his human’s body just enough to yank the goggles off and hold the strap in his teeth.
Varian turned around from his book, eyes wide and confused. “Ruddiger?” Varian questioned, then noticed the goggles in the dog’s teeth. “I forgot to take them off agai- you know what, forget it. Give those back Ruddiger!”
Ruddiger simply shook them around in his mouth and glanced back and forth between the two. He threw the goggles onto the bench and the humans finally saw each other, making eye contact. He couldn’t figure out the look in Varian’s eyes. It was almost like the way he looked at a new formula or chemical, fascination and wonder but this time there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. It was promising enough and Ruddiger thought things were going great, but for some strange reason, he looked over and they had left.
Olivia looked back at him, worry and confusion on her face. “What now?” She wined.
He was about to answer, starting to run after them, but Varian caught him in his arms and put his leash on. “Come on, Rudds, we’re going home.”
But Ruddiger wasn’t giving up, in his mind he was determined they had to meet. He put all his strength forward to guide both of them towards Olivia and Hugo. He eventually caught up and in a weird moment of desperation, circled the two quickly. The leash tangled the two together, forcing their legs together.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Varian screeched. “Ruddiger, what are you doing?!”
“It’s okay, we can get out of this, right?” Olivia’s human responded. Both of their faces were incredibly red as they tried to get out of the tangle they were in. Ruddiger eyed Olivia, who was closer to their feet, and nodded towards the lake. She gave him an incredulous look before rolling her eyes and using gravity to ‘accidentally’ push them in.
The two went toppling into the lake, getting drenched. The two dogs looked at each other and tried to hold in their laughter.
Hugo was making his way out of the water, glasses crooked, before looking around frantically. “Oh, crap! My book!” He rushed back into the water and picked up a lake-soaked book, pages falling out.
“I am so sorry!” Varian exclaimed, also getting out of the water. Ruddiger’s human turned to him and gave him a scowl before turning back to the other man. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, he’s usually not like this.”
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart,” The other tried to comfort, a slight Chicago accent slipping out at the nickname.
Varian blushed a little before looking around. He picked up his book and offered it to the other, “Here, you can take mine.”
Hugo took it with a hesitant hand and a surprised face. The book was also soaked and when he opened it, one of the pages slipped out. He started to laugh and soon Varian was laughing too. They laughed and laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and let the smiles come to their faces.
Eventually, they stopped and the stranger looked at the cover of Varian’s book and smiled. “Small as a mouse mechanics? I love that book.”
“Really?” Varian asked.
“Yeah! It’s so interesting how detailed it is and I love how it focuses on gears and older machines.”
“Exactly! My favorite part was…” Ruddiger let the two talk as he sent a smug look to Olivia. She set him an exasperated one back but it wasn’t mean. They both had a feeling they would be seeing each other a lot more often.