Chapter Text
Ricky believes he’s lived a pretty normal life so far. Well, as normal as it gets for a 22 year old who was born in Shanghai, lived in LA for a couple years, before permanently staying in Seoul, where he has met some of his closest friends—two of which he currently lives with. Not to mention, he is also studying at his dream college and pursuing fashion design, on his way to become one of the best designers in the world. It’s safe to say that Ricky is fully content with his normal, mundane life; he wouldn’t trade it for the world. He believes that he doesn’t need to have anything crazy to happen to him. Although it would make for an interesting party story, he’s at peace with being, what his Hao-hyung would call him, 'boring’.
But really, he should’ve known better.
It happens on a typical evening in his shared apartment unit. Ricky had just turned in his final requirement for the semester and it’s the start of summer break. In all honesty, Ricky had been planning to crash and hibernate in his room for the first half of the break, completely drained from the toll the past semester had taken on him.
His roommate, Matthew, seemed to have other plans, as he grabs Ricky by the arm, dragging him into their living room before the blonde could even step foot into his private sanctuary. Ricky, too tired to put up a fight, just lets it happen. And besides, he had missed Matthew, not having seen the man the past few weeks due to both of their finals taking over their social lives.
Matthew and Ricky have been friends since Ricky’s first year in high school, with the older male in his second year. They immediately clicked the second they met through the exchange student orientation their high school held. Ricky found comfort in the way Matthew would often communicate with him in English back when his Korean was still fresh and clumsy. The two bonded over their shared language, coming to each other when the homesickness for their home country would be too much to bear alone, and from there, their friendship blossomed and only further deepened when Ricky had asked Matthew if he wanted to live with him and Gyuvin for college. Ricky can confidently say that Matthew is indeed his best friend—second best friend actually, as Gyuvin, his other roommate, had been extremely adamant and weirdly possessive on being first.
Matthew quickly gestures Ricky to sit on the floor of the living room, right in between their couch (which was admittedly, way too small for three grown men to share, but they make it work. It's a tight fit, but Ricky can't find it in himself to complain when Gyuvin practically pulls him into his lap every movie night) and coffee table. Ricky silently complies and watches with curious eyes as Matthew tells him to ‘Wait a moment, Ricky. I’ll get the goods!’ before running into their kitchen area, rummaging through the fridge. While waiting for the older male, Ricky picks up his phone and scans his notifications, exploding every second with message updates from Gyuvin. He chuckles fondly under his breath.
When Ricky first met Gyuvin through Hanbin, his cousin Hao’s boyfriend, he initially thought there was no way they would become friends. Gyuvin was the complete opposite of Ricky—he was a loud extrovert who radiated the energy of a clingy, affectionate golden retriever that isn’t aware of its own size. On the other hand, Ricky was a much quieter introvert who possessed the literal embodiment of a suave, nonchalant black cat who hated nothing more than getting his paws dirty. So it came as a huge surprise for him when he found himself enjoying Gyuvin’s presence over a short amount of time—literally the span of a week. With Gyuvin being the same age and year as Ricky, the two found themselves stuck to each other more often than not, with Gyuvin making sure to drag Ricky wherever he went. Where Gyuvin was, Ricky would be too and vice versa. To absolutely no one’s shock, it’s a no-brainer that they ended up in the same university years later and started living together.
Ricky rolls his eyes as he opens their chat to be flooded with Gyuvin’s chat bubbles and his overuse of ‘Rwicky, I miss you..’ every three to four messages. Gyuvin was currently visiting his parents, leaving Ricky and Matthew alone in their apartment for the past week. Although Gyuvin loved his family more than anything, it took a couple convincing from both Ricky and Matthew (and at one point, Hanbin too) to tell him he could leave and that the two of them would be just fine. Right before he had left nearly a week ago, Gyuvin confessed he wasn’t worried about them burning the apartment down or anything terrible, he just had a bad case of FOMO. Ricky then promptly shut the door in his face and Gyuvin could hear Matthew’s laughter from inside their unit.
“Okay! Are you ready, Shen Ricky?” Matthew loudly asks as he finally makes his way towards Ricky with arms full of soju bottles, beer cans, and an overindulgence of chips. Ricky quickly snaps a picture of Matthew carefully balancing all the items in his arms and sends it to Gyuvin with the caption, ‘bet your FOMO is hitting the roof rn. me and mashu are abt to go crazy’ paired with a smirking cat emoji. He immediately silences his phone before the whiny spam messages from Gyuvin could come through. He reaches out to help Matthew place the bottles on their tiny coffee table (which Gyuvin had complained to be useless when Matthew had brought up about buying one. But when Ricky had butted in and said they could use one, Gyuvin had pushed the three of them out the door and on a trip to IKEA without thinking twice).
Matthew lets out a huff as he plops himself on the floor, crossing his legs, “Who did you just send that picture of me to?”
Ricky snorts, seeing right through him, “It was just Gyuvin. Don’t worry, I’ll send Taerae an even worse photo of you later.”
Matthew squeaks at the mention of his ex-boyfriend who he is not so secretly still in love with, “Don’t joke around. That’s not even funny ‘cause I know you will actually do it once you get shitfaced later.”
Ricky reaches over to screw open the peach flavored soju bottle, “I’m not getting shitfaced, I’m too classy for that. But I bet you will, with how much alcohol you bought. What the hell?” Ricky frowns, staring at the four bottles of soju and two cans of beer.
Matthew tuts, waving a finger in his face, “Oh, but you’ll be thanking me later saying, ‘Oh Mashu, I needed this! You really know how to get to me.’” Matthew slurs his voice exaggeratedly and sways side to side, and Ricky feels offended. He does not act like that when he’s drunk.
Ricky rolls his eyes, putting the bottle against his lips, “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Matthew was right.
“Oh, Mashu.. I really needed this,” A flushed Ricky leans over the coffee table, nearly knocking over the three empty bottles of soju, while loosely gripping the fourth one, nearly done.
Matthew snorts drunkenly, grabbing the bottle from Ricky’s hand and taking a swig, “What did I tell you… I knew you would be thanking me..”
Ricky waves a hand mindlessly, nearly smacking Matthew in the face. “Yah! Watch it…” Matthew yelps, flinching enough that his back hits their couch harshly, causing him to let out a pained noise. Ricky points and laughs at him, before grabbing an opened can of beer and taking a small sip (at this point, he’s not sure if it’s his or Matthew’s but he couldn’t seem to care).
The blonde rests his cheek on the table and stares at Matthew, who is rubbing his back tenderly. “Mashu…. would you love me if I was a worm?” Ricky asks seriously.
Matthew scrunches his nose, “Sorry.” He just says with a shrug before reaching out to grab his phone. Ricky's pretty sure he's off to drunk text his ex.
Ricky furrows his eyebrows in annoyance and hits Matthew on the shoulder to get his attention again, “What do you mean ‘sorry?’”
Matthew frowns in thought, “Cause like.. I don’t think so, dude. The only worm I would love is Taerae. God, I miss Taerae. Should I call him? Is that crazy? Oh, he would hate me. He would actually block me. Wait, he already has me blocked.” The older male starts spiraling, quickly swiping through his contacts to find his past lover and stares longingly at their last exchange of messages (which consisted of a ‘DONT CONTACT ME EVER AGAIN SEOK MATTHEW.’ from Taerae and a ‘Babe please take me back’ from Matthew, accompanied by a red icon next to the text, indicating that Taerae indeed has him blocked).
Ricky, alerted of Matthew’s stupidity when drunk, snatches his phone from his grasp and throws it over the couch. It hits the floor with a loud thump! and Matthew freaks out.
“Why the hell would you do that!” Matthew groans, dragging his hands down his face. Ricky scoffs, “You were about to make a fool of yourself in front of your ex. Again. It’s time to move on.” Matthew glares at him.
“Easy for you to say.. you dumped Lee Jeonghyeon after dating him for a year in high school and didn’t even shed a single tear over him.” Matthew mutters, “You’re heartless.” Ricky just sticks his tongue out. Although Matthew was partly right, what he doesn’t know is that Jeonghyeon and him never dated—not for real, that is. Ricky had asked the older man to ‘date’ him as a way to get a certain someone’s attention. That someone being their roommate who was not in the room with them at the moment.
There’s that too. Another thing about Ricky’s completely normal life is that he, and just like many other queer people in the world, experienced the canon event of falling in love with his straight best friend. Just his luck, really. And in his innocent, teenage mind, he thought it would be a good idea to get his best friend jealous by getting his first ever boyfriend and rubbing it all in his face.
Based on how things ended up, one can say that his plan was an absolute failure. Him and Jeonghyeon broke up after a year of no reaction from Gyuvin, who had instead decided to quietly distance himself for some reason (Ricky assumed it was out of respect from his new relationship, but Hao and Hanbin would beg to differ). If Ricky was drunk enough, he could admit that he did end up having a slight crush on Jeonghyeon, but it flew out the window once Gyuvin, after 3 months of barely any contact (the longest they haven’t hung out together since they met), showed up at his house with an apologetic smile and three CHAGEE drinks (all of which were for Ricky, of course). Later that night, he broke things off with Jeonghyeon, choosing his friendship with Gyuvin over whatever feelings he had for the older male.
Okay, so maybe Ricky’s life isn’t all that boring.
Ricky snaps back to the present when Matthew hums in thought, “No, but you know what? Even if I wouldn’t love you as a worm, I think you’d make a pretty good cat.” Ricky blinks and tilts his head, nearly forgetting his own question from earlier. Matthew instantly points at him, “There, see! You would be a great cat!”
Ricky thinks hard. He thinks about how much he loves cats. He thinks about how, as a child, he did own a cat—one that ended up running away after when his nanny had accidentally left the back door open one afternoon. He remembered crying for days when his mom held him in her arms and told him that, 'Sorry, Ruirui. Rinini isn't coming back home'. But more importantly, he thinks about his friends who loved to push the cat agenda on him. Especially Gyuvin. And Hao too, weirdly enough. But mostly Gyuvin.
A memory from his birthday last year fills his mind.
It was 5 minutes before midnight, and Ricky had just finished sewing the last garment for his latest piece. Too lost in his own work, he doesn’t check the time, doesn’t even realize that his birthday was coming up or notices the way his bedroom door creaked open.
He had stood up from his work desk and stretched, back arching and arms over his head, when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist. Ricky jumped, heart nearly leaping out his chest before immediately recognizing the warmth. Gyuvin.
“Happy birthday, xiǎo māo mī.” He whispered near his ear. Ricky remembers flushing in an instant and attempting to wiggle out of Gyuvin’s grasp, with a “Yah! Qubing” spilling out his mouth. But Gyuvin giggled and refused to let him go. Instead he had said, “So cute, Rwicky. You’re such a cat. My cute kitty, happy birthday!” And placed something soft onto his head.
Ricky quickly grabbed the top of his head, hearing a jingle of bells and feeling fluff that should not be there. He snaps his head towards his body-length mirror and to his utmost horror, he realizes Gyuvin had just clipped cute black cat ears, complete with ribbons and small bells, onto his hair.
Needless to say, Gyuvin ended up with a bruise on his arm that night and a flustered Ricky who cursed him out 3 minutes into his birthday.
Ricky stares back at Matthew and, being drunk out of his mind with no brain to mouth filter, says, “But I am a cat already? Gyuvin said I’m his kitty. I must be a cat.”
Matthew makes a disturbed face, “Yuck. He called you his kitty? What the hell, I seriously don’t need to know about that. Do you guys have some sort of pet play kink? No, actually don’t answer that.” He shakes his head, trying to forget about whatever Ricky said, “No, but, if you ever become a cat, I would take good care of you, bro. But I feel like Gyuvin would steal you and hog you all the time, though. Not that he doesn’t already.”
Wow, Ricky thinks, Matthew-hyung sure is pretty passionate about me being a cat. Ricky chugs down his beer before blurting, “Yeah, I really wish I was a cat too. Maybe then, Gyuvin would actually love me back.”
Matthew blinks and after a beat, Ricky recognizes something that looks like the beginnings of a smile ghosting his face. That’s when he feels dread creeping up his throat.
Ricky drops his can, “Oh shit.” He just told Matthew he’s in love with Gyuvin. He just told his best friend, who is his roommate, that he’s in love with their other best friend, who is also their roommate. “Oh fuck. Um.. uh.. who said that?” Ricky is kind of starting to panic. He tries to come up with any excuses for a couple seconds before ultimately giving up and slamming his face flat on the table. “Fuck me.”
Matthew suddenly bursts into laughter, holding his stomach like it’s the funniest thing he’s heard all year. Ricky doesn’t know what to make out of it, so he just lets the other man laugh his heart out.
Except, he just won’t stop laughing. And it’s been nearly 5 minutes since then.
Ricky sits up straight, forehead red and and throbbing, and cheeks flushed from the alcohol. “Okay, dude. That’s enough. I don’t think it’s that funny that I’m in love with my best friend.. who, by the way, is literally our roommate.”
Matthew takes a couple breaths to call himself down before shaking his head at Ricky, “Dude, you don’t get it. I’m not laughing because you’re in love with Gyuvin. I’m laughing because you think I don’t know. Like you think nobody knows. Bro, everybody but Gyuvin himself knows.”
Ricky’s heart drops to his ass and he feels as if all the alcohol had just left his system. “What.” He says in horror. He’s been that obvious his whole time?!
The terrified look on Ricky's face elicits another round of giggles from Matthew and Ricky feels like he wants to disintegrate and leave his body forever.
The last thing he remembers that night before passing out on their couch is the sound of Matthew’s obnoxious laughter and a stupid, mindless wish:
I wish I was a fucking cat instead of a guy in love with his straight best friend.
And it was lights out for him.
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
When Ricky wakes up the next day, he finds himself in his own room. Huh. I must’ve blacked out last night, He assumes, having no memory whatsoever of the night before other than Matthew and him acting like absolute fools. But that’s not what throws him off.
What throws him off is the fact that his head isn’t pounding and he doesn’t feel like throwing up and shitting all at once—which unfortunately, and embarrassingly, happened before and he’d rather not think about it again (Gyuvin was the one who had to run down to the local pharmacy to bring him pills and a gatorade, insistent in nursing him. Ricky wanted to kill himself to be seen in that state by the love of his life). It’s suspicious, to say the least, as out of the three of them, it’s usually Ricky with the worst hangover. Instead, he simply feels.. Disoriented. Almost like he wasn’t in his own body.
Shaking his head, he lets out a yawn and stretches his paws. Paws.. Pause. Wait. What.
Ricky blinks hard and stares down at his hands—or what should’ve been his hands. Instead, in front of him are tiny kitten paws and he genuinely feels like he’s in a dream. There’s just no way. This isn’t happening right now.
He takes a deep breath and slowly lies back down, curled up in himself like any other cat. He closes his eyes for a couple minutes, believing that he was either hallucinating due to all the alcohol he drank last night or he was in some extremely vivid lucid dream.
He’s proven wrong, though, when he opens his eyes and looks down. Still a cat. Now he starts to panic. He pushes himself up and hops off his bed that feels ten times larger than it actually is. It should be weird walking on all fours, but in his tiny cat body, it comes as natural as breathing.
Ricky circles around his room, trying to find a way to wake himself up from this stupid dream, deep in denial. He slams his body into his dresser, hoping the impact would wake him up, but instead feels a throbbing pain spreading across his abdomen and that’s when he realizes, Fuck, this isn’t a dream. I am actually a fucking cat.
Now he’s full blown panicking. He tries to scream in frustration but all that comes out of him is a loud ‘Meowwwww!’, which makes him all the more frustrated. He’s going to kill himself. He will be the first recorded cat suicide in history if he doesn’t turn back into a human soon. In an attempt to calm himself down, he makes his way out of his room (which, thankfully, his stupid drunk self did not close the door of—otherwise it would take Tiny Cat Ricky hours to find a way to open it) and starts padding towards the only person who could help him.
Except, unlike Ricky, the only other person who could help him has his door locked and is probably dead asleep, dreaming about Pokémon cards and whatever nerd stuff he was into. Ricky curses (‘Meow!’) and glares at the closed wooden door in front of him. He’s actually going to go crazy. He begins yowling, each yowl getting louder than the last, as time continued to pass and there was still no sign of life from Matthew.
Desperate, and with no other ideas in mind, Ricky starts scratching Matthew’s door noisily, leaving marks all over it. At this point, he already knows the older male will kill him for it when he turns back into a human. If he ever turns back, that is.
After what seemed like an hour of scratching (3 minutes, really), Ricky’s ears perk up to the sound of shuffling behind the door (and a body loudly smacking the floor accompanied by a muffled groan, but Ricky doesn’t even have the energy to laugh at him for it). The door clicks open and reveals a messy haired Matthew in only his boxers and an oversized shirt, looking like he had just fought a war. The older male looks around confused, scratching his bird’s nest of a head, before retreating back into his room. That won’t do.
Ricky meows loudly to catch his attention, ‘Matthew-hyung!’. Matthew’s eyes shoot down and he yells in surprise, jumping backwards and gripping his door handle so tight, Ricky is almost worried it would fall off.
“Yo, what!” He shouts and points a finger at Ricky’s face, “How did you get in here?! When did we ever get a cat?! Who are you?!”
Ricky gives him an unimpressed stare and meows again, ‘Mashu, it’s me, Ricky.’ But Matthew just stares at him in wonder. Once his initial shock washes over, he pushes his door wider and crouches down to Ricky’s level, slowly offering his hand out. “Where did you come from, little dude?” He whispers as Ricky, left with no choice, walks closer to him and gives him a lick on his knuckles, as if to say, I live here. “Oh, you’re actually so adorable, come here!” Matthew picks up Ricky with ease and cuddles him in his arms, nuzzling his face into his belly.
Okay this is getting uncomfortable, Ricky thinks, feeling extremely awkward. He starts pawing Matthew’s chest, trying to push him further away from him. Matthew chuckles,”Okay, okay, I get it. Not a big fan of affection. That’s fine.” He places Ricky back down onto the floor.
Ricky immediately starts meowing again, frustrated because Matthew doesn’t seem to understand the message he’s trying to send. ‘Mashu, it’s me Ricky, I need your help. I woke up as a cat and I don’t know how it happened! Please, help me!’
Matthew pouts empathetically at Ricky’s whiny cries and nods his head, “I know, I know... You’re hungry. I’m hungry too, let’s go find you something to eat!” He walks past him, and Ricky almost feels defeated, but quickly trails behind him anyways.
Matthew busies himself, scavenging through their fridge all while humming a tune that Ricky recognizes as the song Gyuvin had on repeat during their senior year in high school (something about strawberries and cigarettes, Ricky guesses).
The older male makes a pleased noise as he pulls out a container with leftover chicken from... if Ricky remembers correctly, three days ago. He peels the lid open, and sniffs inside. “Um.. I think this should be fine. Sorry little dude, this is all we have right now.” Matthew carefully places the container onto the floor in front of Ricky, and the newly turned cat makes a face, clearly displeased.
Matthew watches with hopeful eyes, but Ricky just shoves a paw at the offered food. Matthew sighs, disappointed in himself, and Ricky almost feels bad. Almost, because Matthew is still not getting the message.
Matthew pouts, “You know, you’re real picky… beggars can’t be choosers! God, you’re just like Ricky.. And actually.. Where the hell is Ricky?”
Ricky almost wants to start clawing his name into the man’s arm just so he realizes that he is Ricky.
He rolls his eyes and quickly hops over the food, making his way to Matthew, feeling determined. He brushes his paw over Matthew’s foot and blinks up at him. Matthew pauses and stares back down at the cat. Channeling all his power to send Matthew a signal, he says ‘I AM RICKY!!!!!!!!!!’ (‘MEOW MEOW MEOW!!!’)
Matthew suddenly gasps and steps back, as if he made a crazy revelation. “Wait.. Ricky is that you?!” He cries out, mouth hung open. Ricky could almost cry out of joy and he quietly thanks the gods. He nods his head, as fast as his little body would allow him to and continues pawing at Matthew’s feet.
Matthew, still in disbelief, kneels down slowly and lifts Ricky up with his hands. “No way… It can’t be..” He mutters, “Ricky, if this is you.. Meow twice and do a backflip.” And Ricky does… Meow twice that is, and then glares at Matthew like he’s stupid instead of doing a backflip. Matthew gasps again, “Oh my god, I know that glare anywhere.. Ricky it is you! What! How.. How did this happen?”
Placing Ricky back down on the floor, Matthew buries his hands into his hair and paces around. Ricky watches and follows, not knowing what else to do because he, himself, doesn’t even know how he ended up as a cat in the first place. “Okay, I need to chill. I need to calm down… How do we turn you back?” Matthew pauses in his steps and stares at Ricky with wide, concerned eyes.
‘I don’t know, Mashu.. I think it’s over for me..’
Matthew cries, “It’s not over, don’t say that!” ‘What the hell, he understood that?’ Ricky wonders, his ears shooting up. And as if Matthew read his mind, he added as an afterthought, “No, I can’t understand you, but you sounded distressed and it’s something you would say.”
Matthew shakes his head, “God. I don’t know what to do. Should I call someone? Hao-hyung? Hanbin-hyung? Taerae?” Ricky squints his eyes at him and Matthew flushes, “Okay, no need to be judgemental. Fuck who do I call... Gyuvin? Oh my god, Gyuvin!”
Oh my god, Gyuvin!, Ricky repeats in his head. He hadn’t even thought about how he would react if he found out Ricky turned into a cat.
Gyuvin would probably laugh at Matthew if he broke the news to him. He’d say something stupid like, “Yeah, hyung. I know that already.. Our Rwicky is the cutest cat ever!”. And then Matthew would have to spend 10 minutes convincing him that Ricky had genuinely turned into a cat and this isn’t just part of his weird pet play or whatever Matthew called it. Then, when it finally hits Gyuvin, he would snatch him up and hold onto him for hours, probably. Gyuvin loves animals—he’d take such good care of Ricky. Ricky thinks about Eumppappa, Gyuvin’s family dog, and how gentle and sweet he is to her. He’d probably do the same to Ricky if he knew he turned into a cat. He would definitely cuddle him and give him kisses on the head like he does to Eumppappa and—okay, Ricky thinks he’s getting off track.
He’s reminded of his current reality when Matthew suddenly runs to his room, yelling something along the lines of, “I need to tell Gyuvin!” And despite his wildest fantasies of Gyuvin doting on his cat-form self, Ricky just can't let that happen. First of all, he wouldn’t know how to act—he’d probably freak out and accidentally scratch Gyuvin the second the boy tries to blow raspberries on his little head. And more importantly, let’s say he does know how to react normally. It would just end up in an awkward, embarrassing mess the second he turns back and has to look Gyuvin in the eyes after he blatantly enjoyed his affections. Gyuvin would never let him live it down. And Ricky would selfishly crave for his affection more than he already does, and for a love that will never be requited—at least, not in the way he wants it to be. Ricky feels like throwing up just at the thought of it.
He knows his situation is somewhat dire and it could really help having another person know about his predicament. But Ricky can’t throw away his pride so easily. He’d rather die. So, he does the most rational thing to do; He chases after Matthew as fast as his nimble paws could take him and quite literally flings himself onto the older male while yowling. He successfully clings onto Matthew’s boxers and the whole ordeal scares Matthew so bad, he actually screams.
“What the f—Ricky! Stop, what the hell!” Matthew squeals, toppling down onto his bed. “Why are you—Ow, ow, ow! Don’t scratch me, dude seriously stop it—Youch!” Ricky, as much as he would love to feel bad (he can’t find it in himself to), makes a light scratch down Matthew’s exposed thigh right under where his boxer’s stopped. It’s not deep enough to draw blood, but it’s definitely enough to leave a faint mark and for Matthew to get the message.
“What is your deal! Do you not want Gyuvin to know?” Matthew asks him, pulling his body away from the danger zone (his poor thighs) and plopping him onto the space next to him. Ricky makes a noise, ‘Yes! Gyuvin can’t know!’ Matthew makes a face, slightly confused.
“But why not? He could help us.” He argues, “I swear, if we tell him, he’d go to hell and back to turn you back into a human. He’d do anything for you, Ricky.” Ricky tries ignoring the implications of Matthew’s words and the knowing look on his stupid face. Instead, he just hisses.
Matthew rolls his eyes, “Seriously, we should tell him! Besides, what excuse could I even make? What do I say when he asks why you’re missing and why there is a random cat in our home? He’d never buy it.” Ricky hisses again, but slightly more aggressively. He’s not changing his mind on this, Gyuvin can never know. Can’t Matthew just think of a reasonable story or something? Why is he so adamant on letting Gyuvin know? Other than the fact that Gyuvin is their other best friend who literally lives with them and has no choice but to deal with this situation now, of course. He’s useless.
Matthew sighs exasperatedly and rolls his eyes in surrender, “Okay fine, but you gotta help me plan on what to say. I’m shit at lying, you know that. He’s gonna see right through me and then it’s over for the both of us.” Matthew taps his chin in thought, “Hmm.. Hey, what do you think of—”
The sound of the front door clicking open resonates throughout their apartment unit, and both Matthew and Ricky freeze. Matthew’s panic-stricken eyes widens as he looks down at Ricky, whose ears twitch in alarm, flicking upon hearing the door creak open.
“Surprise, I’m home!”
Shit, Gyuvin is back. His voice echoes, boucning off the walls. Matthew kicks his door lightly, closing it enough so that Gyuvin would not be able to see them from the living room. He then turns to Ricky again with a terrified look on his face.
“What is he doing here?! I thought he doesn’t come back until Monday? It’s Friday!” Matthew whispers, or least attempts to, aggressively. Ricky mewls softly in response, afraid to get caught, ‘How would I know?! He didn’t tell me either… And keep your voice down!’
“Helloooo? Anyone here? Ricky? Matthew-hyung..?” Gyuvin calls out, voice getting louder. Matthew and Ricky have a silent argument with Matthew frantically waving his arms around, mouthing words Ricky can’t even understand, and in response, Ricky simply swishes his tail in annoyance, ears flattening.
Matthew, finally realizing how stupid they look, groans quietly before snatching Ricky in his arms and shoving him under his blanket, “Sorry dude, but you wanted this.” Ricky yowls in surprise, unable to see anything but darkness, and feel nothing but the heavy weight of Matthew’s duvet. He almost protests and tries escaping, but pauses in his movements when he gets a whiff of the familiar smell of Gyuvin’s perfume, coming out to be ten times stronger as a cat. He holds his breath, and outside the blanket, Matthew is doing the same. His bedroom door flings open and a very sulky-looking six foot puppy hurries in, backpack still on and everything.
“Matthew-hyung! I was looking for you, why weren’t you responding?” Gyuvin whines, shrugging off his bag and draping himself all over the older male in a tight hug. Matthew wraps his arms around his taller frame, “Gyuvin-ah! I thought you said you were coming back on Monday!”
Gyuvin makes a wounded noise, “That’s the first thing you say to me? It’s like you don’t even want me here..” Despite not being able to see his face, Ricky was positive he was giving Matthew his sad, glossy puppy-dog eyes usually reserved from whenever Ricky wouldn’t pay attention to him.
Matthew laughs, “Hey! That’s not what I meant! Of course I’m happy to see you again, we missed you—especially Ricky.” Ricky wants to smack Matthew in the face, or more appropriately, scratch him again. He can hear the teasing tone in Matthew’s voice, and he is all the more irritated.
Gyuvin hums in delight, “I missed you guys too! So much in fact, that I decided to cut the visit to my parents short. Because I knew you’d die without me around.” Gyuvin pinches Matthew’s cheek, and the shorter male groans and lightly pushes him off. “Are you serious?” Matthew asks in genuine curiosity, and Gyuvin just snorts at his naivety.
“I’m just messing with you, hyung. Apparently, my uncle and his family from America decided to fly in for a surprise visit. They wanted to stay in my parents’ house. I decided to cut my visit short so that they could use my room—and besides, I really did miss you and Ricky.” Gyuvin explains as he sits himself at the foot edge of the bed, and Matthew freezes. Ricky, sensing the added weight, feels his heart beating faster, and slowly tries his best to subtly move further away from the younger male. Gyuvin is oblivious to the both of them, and continues, “Also, speaking of Ricky.. Where’s my cat?” Right behind you, idiot, Ricky thinks. He almost laughs at the absurdity of it all—here he was, as a cat, on Matthew’s bed, hiding under his blanket, just inches away from an unknowing Gyuvin who was currently asking where he was and referring to him as his cat.
“What!” Matthew yells in surprise, probably wondering how in the world Gyuvin knows about their current situation, and Ricky wants to facepalm, Mashu, please, he just says shit like that on the daily…
Gyuvin raises an eyebrow at his sudden outburst. Matthew catches himself and laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, “I mean.. Oh yeah, um.. I don’t know how to say this, but Ricky is gone.” ????, Ricky is confused as hell, Did he just fucking murder me?
“What!” Now it’s Gyuvin’s turn to freak out. He stands up in alarm, and Ricky lets out a small sigh of relief, feeling the weight on the bed disappear. Gyuvin grabs Matthew’s shoulders and the older male lets out a small squeak. “Hyung, what do you mean Ricky’s gone? What does that mean? Where is he? Is he okay? Why didn’t he tell me?” Gyuvin shakes him repeatedly in an attempt to get a proper answer out of him. The urgency and panic in his best friend’s voice does stir up feelings of guilt within Ricky, and he starts considering jumping out of hiding and yelling (meowing, rather), ‘Qubing! I’m here!’, but Matthew’s voice stops him before he could think too much of it.
Matthew holds onto Gyuvin’s arms, trying to—but failing—in getting him to stop, “Gyuvinie, chill! Stop shaking me!” To Gyuvin’s credit, he does comply. Matthew fixes his shirt, sleeves crumpled due to Gyuvin’s tight grip. Gyuvin opens his mouth, undoubtedly to ask more questions, but Matthew holds a hand up to stop him.
“What I mean is that Ricky left. He’s not here.” Matthew explains slowly, and to Gyuvin, it might sound as if Matthew is trying to break the news to him as calmly as he could, but Ricky knows the dragging of his words meant that Matthew was trying to come up with some sort of background story in his head.
Gyuvin tilts his head, eyes squinting in confusion, “What do you mean, ‘he left’? So, where is he?”
“Well you see..” Matthew trails off, “Ricky is in.. He’s in.. Shanghai! Yes, Ricky went to Shanghai!” Gyuvin’s eyebrows shoot up, a million questions running through his head. Matthew immediately continues before he could interrogate him even further, “He’s been planning it for weeks, but he just didn’t tell us. I wasn’t supposed to know either, y’know, I just managed to catch him earlier this morning when he was about to leave! Said he just needed time alone in his hometown… No contact with anyone and all. Something about a detox and living in the moment.” Matthew quickly adds the last part, in case Gyuvin starts messaging and calling Ricky’s phone like crazy (which knowing him, he definitely would’ve. He’s done it before when Ricky had gotten sick one day in high school and didn’t show up to class. After fifty missed calls and over a hundred messages, he decided to skip the second half of the school day to visit Ricky’s house. He was greeted with a shivering Ricky who had called him stupid and lectured him for ten minutes before letting Gyuvin take care of him).
Ricky thinks Matthew’s story is pretty weak, but it will do, beggars can’t be choosers after all, just as Matthew had told him earlier—he hopes Gyuvin will fall for it.
Matthew’s palms start sweating at the suspicious look on Gyuvin’s face. “Is this serious? Did he actually.. Leave?” Gyuvin, strangely, sounds so heartbroken. His voice even cracks at the end and the feeling in Ricky’s chest tightens, the urge to come clean creeping back in. You would’ve thought somebody had told him he could never eat mangoes ever again, Ricky thinks. Matthew nods stiffly, and Gyuvin flops back down onto his bed, deep in thought. Ricky jumps slightly at the sudden action.
“When is he coming back? And is he okay? Did he look okay when you last saw him?” Gyuvin asks after a moment of silence. Matthew stares at the crushed look on the brunette’s face and he already feels terrible for lying to him, but he couldn’t betray Ricky either.
Matthew sighs, taking a seat next to the devastated male. He places a hand on Gyuvin’s shoulder, hoping to be comforting, “Don’t overthink it, Gyuvin-ah. He’s fine—more than fine, actually. I guess he just wanted to try something new? You know how he is..” Ricky really appreciates Matthew’s, he really does. But what the hell is he taking about? Is this Ricky shade? He’s pulling shit out his ass.
“And about coming back.. I’m not sure. He was being really vague about it, but, hey, don’t worry!” Matthew rushes, almost in disbelief at how glossy Gyuvin’s eyes were getting. Damn.. Gyuvin’s got some serious attachment issues, Matthew probably thinks. “He promised he’d come back before classes start up again. He’ll come back to us, you know he will.”
Well, I’m not so sure about that, Ricky sourly thinks. He doesn’t even know if he will ever turn back into a human. What if he’s cursed to be a cat forever? What if one of his enemies had hexed him and made sure he could never be a human ever again? (Ma Jingxiang, the ex-situationship he ghosted in his first semester of college, maybe. He was staring at Ricky too intensely at Yeonjun’s house party a month ago.. So intensely, that he had no choice but to complain to a very sober Gyuvin at the time who immediately whisked him away). Ricky just can’t have that. His life would be ruined.
“I’m not scared he won’t come back, I’m just… Why didn’t he tell me?”
Ricky thinks about his life as a cat. Sure, he’d never have to stress over chasing deadlines or terrible professors, but what about his friends? His family? The only person he would be able to rely on is Matthew, and no offense, he loves Matthew to death, but then he’d have to be subjected to all of Matthew’s Pokémon rants and worse.. Him crying over his ex. Ricky shivers at thought.
“Maybe he didn’t want to worry you? ‘Cause if he had told you, I know you would’ve followed him all the way to Shanghai.”
How would Ricky communicate with his parents? He can’t even have Matthew to help him because he doesn’t speak Chinese. Ricky thinks maybe Hao could help. Yes, he should get Matthew to tell Hanbin, who is in the same dance crew as him, to tell Hao. But then telling Hanbin would mean Gyuvin would find out, because Hanbin could never lie to Gyuvin (Hao once said Hanbin genuinely believes he birthed Gyuvin from his own womb). And if Gyuvin finds out…
“I mean—sure, I’d suggest it. But I’d respect his boundaries if he didn’t want me to. Do you think I did something wrong?”
Gyuvin, the most caring and selfless person he knows. Gyuvin, who if he found out, would reassure Ricky he’d find a solution. Who would buy Ricky all types of cat treats in his favorite flavor and dress him up in silly little outfits. Gyuvin, who is overflowing with so much love that he just has to share, because he can’t contain it all to himself. The same Gyuvin who loves him like a best friend, whose affection is limited to platonic bro-hugs and occasionally loosely laced fingers around his wrist. Maybe, if Gyuvin knows, he’d finally experience the tenderness he’d been craving for all these years; the chance to be wrapped in Gyuvin’s arms as he sleeps, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, surrounded by his warmth—a privilege Ricky could only have as someone—or in this case, something—that isn’t physically himself.
“No! What? Not even in the slightest! Trust me, Ricky just felt spontaneous. Besides, he’s been wanting to visit his family for a while now. Maybe he just needed a break from all the pieces he’s been working on this year.” Matthew offers, shrugging his shoulders. Gyuvin nods, expression looking less solemn and more understanding. Matthew could almost sigh in relief.
Gyuvin hums as he slowly lowers his body to lie flat on the mattress, “Yeah, you’re right. He deserves it, honestly. Rwicky’s been working so hard lately, I was getting worried–”
“Wait, Gyuvin don’t–”
“Yeoww!” Ricky yowls, startled at the sudden weight suffocating him.
“Shit!” Matthew curses in panic, bolting up from his bed.
Gyuvin, just as surprised, quickly sits back up, feeling a weird bump from the covers. The noise of something that suspiciously sounds like a cat yelping finally registers in his brain, “Wait, what was that?”
“Um—” Matthew pauses, unsure what to say next, as Gyuvin twists his upper body around, staring hard at the oddly cat-shaped lump under the comforter.
“Is that a..” Gyuvin quickly reaches out to rip the blanket off the mattress before Matthew could protest, and Ricky, in all his cat-glory, is finally exposed to the light. Ricky blinks, trying to adjust to the brightness before his large eyes focus on a figure right in front of him, staring at him in equal shock and curiosity. Gyuvin.
There’s an awkward stretch of silence in the room, before Ricky lets out a soft mew, snapping both Gyuvin and Matthew out from this ridiculous situation. Gyuvin snaps his head back to Matthew for an explanation. “Since when did you get a cat?!”
Matthew holds both his hands up defensively, “Let me explain!” Gyuvin raises a brow, a slight frown etched on his face. First, he just learned that Ricky left with no warning. Now, he discovers that Matthew has been hiding a whole cat in their apartment? He starts feeling a bit hurt and extremely left out. Just what happened while he was gone?
Matthew gulps, “Gyuvin-ah, you must know that… that’s my uncle’s cat! Yep.. He, um.. Went out of town recently and asked if I could watch over his cat for a while.” Matthew nods aggressively, as if to solidify the lie he just blurted in Gyuvin’s face. “Sorry I wasn’t able to warn you. It just happened so suddenly and it slipped out of my mind. I swear, I was going to message you today but I wasn’t expecting you to come home early.”
“O.. kay?” Gyuvin lets out, trying to process the situation, “It’s okay, hyung. I was just.. Really caught off guard..” Matthew watches him carefully, scared the boy would see right through his lies, but the expression on his face shows that Gyuvin, although skeptical at first, is starting to believe it fully.
“Wait—Does Ricky know about this? He hasn’t mentioned anything about your uncle’s cat to me. I’m sure he definitely would’ve brought it up during one of our calls this week.” Gyuvin asks, and Ricky’s heart warms at the thought of Gyuvin taking him into consideration (ignore the fact that—obviously, because he’s also their roommate. But Ricky prefers to be delusional). Gyuvin sure does ask a lot of questions, Ricky winces. He can’t really blame Matthew for pulling shit out his ass.
“Nah, Ricky had no clue! My uncle just came to stop by earlier—that’s actually the reason why I caught Ricky leaving.” Matthew explains, casual as ever, but Ricky can see the twinkle of excitement in his eyes, thrilled that he managed to tie up his lies perfectly.
“Oh.” Gyuvin replies, not quite knowing what to say. He turns to peer at Ricky curiously, before extending his hand out towards him in offering. Ricky does what any normal cat would do in that situation and sniffs Gyuvin’s fingers, in an attempt to come off as a curious critter introduced to an unfamiliar smell, although to Ricky, Gyuvin is the most familiar it gets. The corners of Gyuvin’s lips twitch upwards, and Ricky, ever the overachiever to make Gyuvin happy, skitters closer towards Gyuvin and rubs his cheek on Gyuvin’s thigh.
Okay, hold on. Ricky pauses for a split second before continuing, not wanting to come off as suspicious. He did not mean to start rubbing all over him. Ricky curses his cat tendencies. He looks up for Gyuvin’s reaction and he actualy looks ecstatic, and maybe Ricky is being too harsh on his cat nature.
Gyuvin grins, petting Ricky’s head gently and Ricky can hear Matthew blabbering out even more excuses in the background, but he is all too distracted by Gyuvin’s soft touch.
“Gyuvin-ah, I swear, if I had known you were coming back today, I really, really would’ve—”
“I forgive you, Matthew-hyung.” Gyuvin said resolutely, interrupting Matthew. He carefully picks up the small cat nuzzling against his leg and gathers him in lap, surrounded by him completely. Ricky is immediately wrapped in warmth. He knew Gyuvin runs hot, but being so enveloped in his arms, Ricky could almost mistake him as an actual furnace. As if on autopilot, Ricky buries himself further into Gyuvin’s arms, while Gyuvin tenderly scratches behind his ears. And much to his embarrassment, he actually purrs. “It will be nice to have a replacement cat while our original cat is away.”
Matthew’s eyes widens, and Ricky can see the tell-tales of a smirk ghosting his lips. He’s having way too much fun with this, Ricky thinks. He snickers, “That’s right! He’ll keep you company in the meantime, since you don’t have Ricky to bother anymore.”
“Oh, he’s a boy? What’s his name?”
“Ri–oh, um.” Ricky turns to glare at him and Matthew catches himself. His eyes quickly dart around the room, landing on a shelf displaying all the Pokémon figurines he’s collected over the years. He looks back at Gyuvin, who is thankfully distracted by the purring cat in his arms, blissfully unaware. “His name is Gia! Yep, like the Pokémon, Lugia. Y’know.. since my uncle’s obsessed with Pokémon.”
Matthew seriously needs to stop overexplaining things, it’s getting obvious, Ricky rolls his eyes. He then accidentally makes eye contact with a pouty Matthew who gives him a look that says, ‘I’m trying my best..’ and Ricky starts to think he can genuinely read his mind.
Gyuvin stills in his scratching and holds Ricky up at eye level. “Gia, huh?” He says, staring right into Ricky’s soul and for a split second, he’s scared he’s been found out. To make matters worse, Gyuvin goes, “You look just like Ricky.”
‘No I don’t.’ Ricky meows in panic and denial. “See, I think he agrees!” Gyuvin chirps.
He hears Matthew laugh nervously before reaching his arms out in effort to retrieve Ricky back, “You think every cat you see looks like Ricky! Gia and Ricky look nothing alike—if Ricky was a cat, he’d for sure be a ragdoll. Or a calico too actually—Anyways! Give me back my cat, he has to, uh, take a nap.” Matthew attempts to grab Ricky from Gyuvin’s grasp, but the younger male swiftly dodges, hugging the cat close to his chest defensively.
Ricky is going to die in this house.
“Hey!” Matthew yells.
“Wait!” Gyuvin tightens his grip on the furball in his embrace. “Can I.. keep him for a bit?”
‘What?!.. This isn’t good, Matthew do something!’, Ricky cries in his head, staring at Matthew for help with wide eyes.
“Sorry, Gyuvin, I don’t think that’s a good idea—”
“Please!” Gyuvin begs, surprising both Ricky and Matthew. He has a slight flush to his cheeks when he says, “He just reminds me of Ricky, and I haven’t seen Ricky in so long! I need my emotional support cat.”
Matthew’s jaw drops in disbelief.
‘What the hell?’ Ricky is also in disbelief. He realizes a little too late that Gyuvin is kind of, sort of, a little bit weird. This doesn’t explain the rapid beating of his heart upon hearing those words. He needs this weirdo, bad.
Matthew looks hesitant, unsure whether to help Ricky in his predicament (who surely doesn’t look like he needs helping, judging by the way he melts into Gyuvin) or to give in to Gyuvin’s puppy dog eyes. He, just as anyone else who falls victim to a puppy-eyed Gyuvin would do, does the latter.
“..Fine, I guess.” Matthew sighs in resignation, dropping his arms down to his sides. “You know what? How about you stay with Ri–Gia while I head out to buy his cat stuff?”
Gyuvin’s eyes light up, “That’s fine by me! You won’t have to worry, hyung. I’ll take good care of Gia.” Sure you will, Ricky thinks sourly. And as if Gyuvin wanted to prove it, he lifts Ricky up and rubs his cheek against the cat’s head, “See? We’re best buds.”
Matthew struggles to hold back a smile, “Yep. Best friends, alright. It looks like you’ve been best friends for six years.. Or something.”
“That’s an oddly specific number?”
“Don’t think too hard about it.” Matthew fully grins this time, before moving over to his closet and pulling out a random black shirt (that Ricky’s pretty sure that belongs to him..) and jeans. “I’ll get ready to head out now. Feel free to cuddle with Gia or whatever emotional support assistance you need.” In the middle of pulling his jeans up, he makes eye contact with Ricky, and he swears he sees an evil spark behind them.
“Gia, you’ll be fine right?”
‘Hell no!’ Ricky mewls.
“Yep, he’ll be fine.” Matthew nods his head, “Now, get out! Give me some privacy here!”
“Sir, yes sir!” Gyuvin does a stupid solute with his hand, while cradling Ricky close to his chest using his other arm. Ricky almost snorts, Loser. The brown haired male quickly stands up and marches exaggeratedly like a soldier while leaving Matthew’s room, and Ricky couldn’t be more fond.
When they’re out of earshot from Matthew, Gyuvin leans down to whisper, “If Matthew-hyung thinks I’d ever give him back to you, he’s stupid. I’m stealing you from him, you’re too cute!” He starts giggling like he’s doing something he shouldn’t do as he enters his own bedroom.
A memory from the hazy night before plays in Ricky’s mind
A drunk Matthew looking at him and saying, “No, but, if you ever become a cat, I would take good care of you, bro. But I feel like Gyuvin would steal you and hog you all the time, though. Not that he doesn’t already.”
Fuck. Ricky thinks devastatingly as Gyuvin gently places him down on his bed, Matthew was right. Again.