A Basket of Sugar

Knock on Secrets

More time passed. So much so to the point that all of Jeno and Haechan's friends were starting to get annoyed that the two hadn't gotten together yet. They were practically a couple already seeing as they spent almost all their time together.

Right now for example, Haechan knew a natural history museum had just recently opened in the area and he immediately invited Jeno to it. Jeno wasn't even that into natural history but he accepted right away. Jaemin, who had been sitting right beside Jeno when he was invited, let out a heavy sigh and fell back against the seat. He was pretty into natural history and if Haechan and Jeno had been dating by then, then Haechan probably would have thought to ask Jaemin instead. Mark patted his shoulder in consolidation.

Haechan and Jeno entered the museum together and got on the line to get their tickets. Luckily the wait wasn't too bad and they reached the front pretty quickly. The guy handing out tickets must've got a whiff of their scents because he handed Haechan both his and Jeno's tickets as if Jeno wasn't even there. Alphas were known to naturally defer to other Alphas. Weather it be a professor deciding which student to call on in a lecture to a boss deciding which employee to promote. Alpha's have a natural bias to think that other Alphas are more capable then Omegas or even Betas. Jeno made a pouty angry face at the man and although Haechan was also mildly annoyed at him for disrespecting Jeno he still smiled at Jeno's cute angry face.

"Here you go Pop Tart." Haechan stuck his own sticker on right on the breast pocket of his shirt. Then he grabbed Jeno's sticker, put it on the edge of his thumb, then he stuck it on Jeno's forehead. Jeno had been expecting him to just hand him the sticker so his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey!" Jeno shouted without any real anger in his voice. He reached up to unstick the sticker and put it on his shirt properly while Haechan just laughed.

The two set about walking around the museum together. They oohed and ahhed at some amazing works of art from civilizations from all over the world. Jeno, being a culinary major, was personally fascinated by the ancient cooking utensils used in traditional chinese cooking, but he had to admit he loved the animal section; especially all the adorable fluffy ones.

After walking around the museum for a bit they eventually landed on the European history section. The two boys entered slowly and Jeno audibly gasped at the beautiful room. It was modern but it had been built to look like an old study in a Victorian house, complete with hardwood floors and dark red wallpaper. Although Haechan didn't gasp as loud as Jeno did he still felt pretty impressed too.

Jeno scanned the expansive room to see if anything looked interesting to him. He spotted a part in the room where the wall was visibly darker then the rest of the place; creating the illusion of a bunt wall covered in ashes. All the exhibits in that part were darkly colored too. Jeno spotted one that was a mask in the shape of a bird with bright red ruby eyes. Feeling his interest piqued he strode over and Haechan had no choice but to follow.

"Black Death" Jeno read aloud when they got to the section. "Oh I think I remember learning about this in school! This is that one really deadly virus that killed a bunch of people!" Without another word, the two began silently reading up about the history of the plague.

"Wow, I remember learning about this in school but I don't remember it being this serious." Jeno marveled at a digital map showing the spread of the virus across Europe. "I sure hope nothing like that happens again."

Haechan walked up beside Jeno and looked at the digital map too. Indeed it was a scary virus and he also shared the desire to not have something like that occur again.

"Knock on wood." He said.

"What?" Jeno looked at him confused.

"Knock on wood. You said something unlucky so now you have to knock on wood so it won't come true."

Jeno shrugged and reached out to knock on the first piece of wood he saw. Unfortunately it happened to be an armed exhibit.

"Jeno no-" Heachan shot out an arm to stop him but it was too late. Jeno's knuckles rapped against the wood. Haechan's arm froze in midair and after a beat of silence the alarms blazed around them.

"Let's get out of here!" Haechan jumped into action. Moving his arm out the rest of the way to grab Jeno and haul him out of the museum.

The two boys dashed out of the exhibit, luckily the guards didn't pay them any mind. They weren't really in any real trouble in the first place. Once they reached the exits Jeno doubled over and gasped for air. He wasn't in as good a physical shape as Haechan.

"I can't believe you did that!" Haechan doubled over laughing at Jeno's stupidity. Jeno went red in the face partly from being out of breath and partly from being mad at Haechan for laughing at him.

"Y-y-ou....YOU JUST KNOCKED ON AN ARMED EXHIBIT AND SQUEAKED LIKE A RUBBER DUCKIE AT THE ALARMS." Haechan was starting to draw some looks. Jeno had gotten tired of angrily pouting at him so he opted to make a mad dash towards the sidewalk.

"Jeno! Wait!" Haechan immediately stopped laughing and ran after him.

Haechan continued to run after Jeno who managed to keep a decent pace ahead of him. Haechan was starting to get somewhat worried. Like what would happen if Jeno ran into another hotshot Alpha like last time?

Haechan spotted Jeno's figure up ahead and dashed towards it. When he came within only a couple feet of the Omega suddenly he came to an abrupt stop, making Haechan crash rather harshly into his back. Luckily the Omega only stumbled a few feet before he could regain his balance again.

Haechan reached out to see if he was alright when he saw over Jeno's shoulder what made him stop so suddenly.

It was Mark and Jaemin.

Talking together.

Laughing together.

Holding HANDS!?!!?

"Oh my God!" Jeno and Haechan shouted in unison making Mark and Haechan look over to them. The happy serene expressions they once wore on their faces changed into mortified ones. Jaemin jumped behind Mark and ducked behind his shoulder as Mark slowly approached the two boys.

"hEy Guys.....how was the musEum?" Mark's voice seemed to crack on the last syllable.

"You two are dating!?" Jeno shot a finger at the two of them. Haechan was honestly not that surprised since Jaemin spent a lot more time in Mark and Haechan's dorm then he did in his own and Jeno's, Haechan had gotten a much better window into their blooming romance then Jeno did so this was less of a shock to him.

Jaemin blushed severely at Jeno's accusation and Mark just wrapped his arm around him. He gently pulled Jaemin out from his hiding spot behind Mark and kissed him lightly. That seemed to give Jaemin the confidence to face his two friends.

"Yes, okay, we are dating. After we all hung out at your guyzes dorm and watched the movie together I decided I was just going to confess to Jaemin. It was really just a spur of the moment kind of thing and I never thought in a million years that he would say yes. But he did, and we've been dating ever since."

"But you can't tell anyone! This is the first time I've ever dated within a friend circle, and this is the first time Mark has ever dated a guy. So we're just not ready to tell the group yet. You promise you won't tell?"

Jeno pinched his thumb and pointer finger together and slid them across his lips. Then he pretended to throw the 'key' into the public fountain nearby. He nodded at the pair who smiled back at him.

"I was wondering when you two lovebirds were getting together." Haechan said.

"I could say the same about you two." Jaemin murmured. Mark nodded in agreement.

"What was that?" Haechan asked since he hadn't quite caught what he said.

"Oh, nothing." Was all Jaemin said in reply.

a/n the knock on wood thing is based on a real thing that happened in like 8th grade on a school field trip. I swear my all my friends b on some type of drugs sometimes (all the time)