Lost & Found | The Story So Far...

Introduction

Lost & Found is the story of Charlie, a recently reformed criminal who now slings pies at Sweet Pete's Pizzeria. When he runs into his childhood crush and skateboarding bestie Casper, he decides to make the most of this new lease on life he's been granted! This friends to lovers tale is a spin-off of the narrative series BitterSweet, but can be enjoyed on its own!

Lost & Found Prologue

Prior to the events of Lost & Found, Charlie is a directionless misfit who finds himself caught up in life of crime when he joins up with a drug dealing gang run by Derek. On a fateful night, Auron discovers him beaten and left in a heap, and a friendship is forged between the two as Charlie serves as Auron's informant keeping watch on the operation. In time, Charlie betrays his friends Alphonse and Seth by outing their relationship to the gang at the behest of Auron, who was wary of Charlie becoming too close to any of the other members. As conflict between Derek and Jessie begins to unfold, Charlie endears himself to Jessie and becomes her man on the inside of the operation, again at Auron's direction.

Throughout BitterSweet Chapter 3, he plays a key role in Derek's undoing, and also manages to clear the air between himself and Alphonse. He's encouraged by seeing the BitterSweet trio and how they've made the most of their fresh start, and is allowed to walk away from his life of crime with Auron's blessing...

...but Auron wouldn't let him go that easily.

Lost & Found Chapter 1 | Truth or Dare

Some time after the events of BitterSweet Chapter 3, Charlie is employed at Sweet Pete's Pizzeria and runs into his childhood friend and presumably unrequited first love, Casper. Charlie's lingering doubts and meager confidence leaves him slow to follow up on their chance encounter, but when he delivers pizza to an upscale townhouse and Casper answers the door, what was supposed to be a regular night of work turns into an impromptu sleepover!

Casper takes the initiative and makes sure the pizza rat won't be scurrying away by slashing a tire on Sweet Pete's delivery scooter, and gives Charlie a big tip for his trouble. The two catch up and relive some of their fond memories of nights spent together watching movies and playing games, but it's a game of Truth or Dare that spices things up and gets Charlie to open up about his old feelings...

...feelings that went unconfessed due to a note that slipped out of a mix tape Charlie snuck into Casper's locker years ago...

The miscommunication kept them from realizing how much they meant to each other when they were kids, but things are very, very different now.

After a night filled with firsts, the two are firmly cemented in each other's lives, and they look forward to making up for lost time.

Lost & Found Chapter 2 | Dancing In The Dark

A short time later, the whirlwind romance takes an unexpected turn on Charlie's day off. After spoiling Charlie with a shopping trip for new threads, the duo make a spur of the moment decision to make up for their missed opportunity to go to a high school dance together by going back to the ruins of their abandoned school for a night of urban exploration and nostalgia.

In what might have been the first wardrobe change in the middle of exploring and abandoned building ever, the two dress in their finest threads, toss some music on a bluetooth speaker, and dance into the night. Charlie shares more of his past, including some allusions to his connection with Auron. Righting the wrong of missing out on a love like this with Casper has emboldened Charlie and given him hope, and he's excited about who he's becoming.

Upon returning to Casper's house, Charlie parts ways with them to head home and get some rest before work in the morning, but plans change when he stumbles across a disturbing scene in an alleyway.

During Charlie's walk home for the evening, he uncovers a grave scene in an alleyway, where wicked vines were woven through the nearly unidentifiable remains of...something. Despite his fear, Charlie steps deeper into the alley when he hears a rustling in a nearby pile of garbage and discovers Deep Dish, a young raccoon with a scratched eye. Seeing himself in this sole survivor, he tucks DD in his beanie and heads back to Casper's for the night.

That's certainly one way to adopt a pet, and for all the spine Charlie's grown lately, he's clearly still working on his smarts.

Together, they nurse DD back to health, and Charlie shares his experience with the startling scene in the alleyway. He can't make sense of it, and Casper seems concerned. In the morning, Casper heads off to work in a car he didn't even realize they had.

Lost & Found Chapter 2 Epilogue

The next day, Charlie's attempt at taking DD to the vet yields less than ideal results, but Casper "knows a guy who knows a guy" and got their hands on a rabies shot! Charlie meets Casper and finally sees just how fancy the car they drive is, but something seems off. Casper is nervous about something, but Charlie comforts them before hopping into the back of the car...

...where Auron sits, waiting for him.

As it turns out, Auron began orchestrating the reunion between Casper and Charlie when Charlie turned down his offer to work for him as a driver. Through a mysterious "two-toned" individual, Casper was tracked down and offered the opportunity to be paid handsomely as a chauffer, with the added caveat that they were to look after Charlie and spoil him.

The former associates begin to trade barbs, with Charlie taking Auron to task for meddling in his affairs when he wanted to clean slate. Charlie makes it clear that he's not upset with Casper, and the blame lies with Auron. Charlie says that if Auron had faith in him, everything would have worked out because he was meant to be with Casper, and he was even meant to be friends with Auron.

Faith is a luxury Auron has rarely been afforded.

As the dust settles, Auron reveals that it was the nature of the strange scene he found DD in the night before that made him drop the secrecy, saying that there has been a lot of strange things happening around the city and he was concerned for Charlie's safety. As Auron heads into the office, Charlie tries to grasp the news with Casper, and assures them that everything is okay.