A Basket of Sugar

Greenish Chrysalism

Jeno finally located the app on his phone and successfully had it uninstalled. He only had a near heart attack twice while searching for it which Haechan used as a reason to justify scaring him in the first place.

Eventually all the other boys in the group had to slip away due to classes or sports or some other obligation. It was just down to Jeno and Haechan. The weather had cooled down significantly and it even started to snow. Jeno shivered and pulled his coat on and Haechan had to resist the urge to rub his hands up and down Jeno's arms to warm him up.

"You got any obligations for the rest of the day?" Haechan asked. Jeno shook his head.

"Me neither. You um......you wanna hang?" Haechan asked. Jeno gave him a questioning look.

"Hang?" He asked with slight amusement.

"Yeah. I mean we could go somewhere, like together. Not together together but more in a-"

"Sounds fun." Jeno said. He gathered the rest of his stuff and stood up. He reached out for Haechan's hand, meaning to pull him up too. But Haechan, with all his muscles, was a bit heavier then Jeno had expected. When Haechan pulled on his hand to try and pull himself up instead Jeno stumbled into his arms.

"Whoa there!" Haechan stood up while holding Jeno, making sure he wouldn't fall. "You good?"

Jeno nodded and turned to walk off in a random direction to hide his embarrassment. Haechan looked at him confused. Did I do something wrong? He wondered. Jeno looked back to him and waved him over. Haechan practically fell over himself to catch up with Jeno.

Once he finally caught up with Jeno he realized he had to start a conversation with him. And Haechan may be outgoing and confident most of the time but every so often he would come across a special person who turned him into an awkward mess of incoherent mumblings where logical sentences used to be.

Jeno was just one of those people.

"SoOo" Haechan stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk. Luckily Jeno didn't notice. "Um.....How was your competition training? I know it's been a little hard for you recently so I hope you're doing okay with it?"

Jeno halted in his tracks so Haechan turned to face him.

"Can you keep a secret?" Jeno asked.

Haechan didn't need to breathe anyway.

"Sure. What's up?"

Jeno looked at the ground while biting his lip. He looked like he was trying to gather his thoughts. "I feel like I'm losing my liking for baking because of the amount of stress that's been put on me."

Haechan didn't respond. He didn't quite know how to. Luckily Jeno kept talking.

"I know my professor has been hard on me because he wants me to succeed and all, but the pressure is starting to be too much. I'm a freshman in college. I'm still trying to figure out my life on top of this competition and it's just been difficult." Jeno sighed and looked at the ground.

A few moments of silence hung between them. And to be honest, seeing Jeno upset made Haechan a tiny bit upset too.

"Well Jeno if you hadn't told me any of that I would never have guessed that you were struggling at all. I'm sorry that you're having such a hard time but if you ask me you're handling it well." That seemed to make Jeno feel better. He brightened up a bit, but still looked a little down. Haechan wanted to change that.

"Hey I know something that'll make you feel better." Haechan said.

"What?" Jeno asked.

"You'll see." Haechan reached forward and snatched Jeno's small pale hand. He flinched slightly at how cold and dry they were. Considering how warm and full of life Jeno usually was Haechan was surprised that a person like that could have hands like his. But he just shook it off and took off running, dragging Jeno along with him.

"Were here!" Haechan stood in front of the building and let go of Jeno's hand so he could hold up both his arms as if he was proclaiming something. Jeno peeked around his back to look at what he had just been pulled along for four blocks for.

"An ice skating rink?" Jeno asked.

"Yeah, my parents taught me to ice skate when I was little. We lived close to this frozen pond and every winter they would teach me to skate until I could use those skates like they were part of my own feet. I remember in the peak of the winter the locals would always try to test if the ice was solid enough by driving a truck across it. I never saw the truck collapse once." Haechan rambled on. "C'mon it'll be fun!" He grabbed Jeno's hand again who let out a tiny almost inaudible squeak while being dragged inside the rink.

While Haechan could barely contain his excitement, Jeno was one jump scare away from peeing his pants. Haechan snatched the right size skates for himself and tied them in lightning speed. Once he was done he triumphantly stood and wheeled around to where Jeno was perched on the bench. It was then that he finally noticed how nervous his friend looked.

"Pop Tart is everything okay?" Hachan asked while walking up to kneel down in front of Jeno.

"S-sure, everything is f-fine." Jeno said while fumbling with the laces to his skates. Haechan lightly reached out and pulled Jeno's hands off his skates so that he could tie the laces himself.

"You've never skated before have you?" Haechan asked while trying the laces.

"No..... I haven't." Jeno admitted.

Haechan chuckled when Jeno nervously picked at the ends of his coat instead of looking at him. Even though his skates were finished and he was ready to go he still made no move to rise from his seat.

"How about I teach you?" Jeno didn't respond. "Aww come on Pop Tart pleaaaaase? I promise it'll be fun!" Haechan made a slightly intense looking puppy face at Jeno which made him giggle a bit.

"Trust me?" He asked while he held his hands out for Jeno to take. Jeno looked at the outstretched hands pondering them for a bit before he finally took them into his own. He let Haechan pull him up and direct him to the entrance of the rink.

"Okay it's gonna feel weird to be on the ice but just try to keep your balance and you'll get the hang of it in no time." Haechan said while he directed Jeno out onto the ice. Jeno put his first skate on the ice and clung to Haechan for support while lifting up his other leg. He put his second skate on the ice and immediately stumbled a bit. He squeaked and clung to Haechan for support.

"Hey relax. I got you." Haechan slid his arms down to grasp Jeno's forearms while he skated backwards out into the center of the ring, directing Jeno with him.

Once they got to a decent spot in the ring away from most of the other skaters Haechan started to skate forward, directing Jeno with him. They fell into this awkward rhythm of Jeno occasionally trying to skate on his own and lasting only a couple seconds before stumbling and either being caught by Haechan or immediately clinging onto him himself. Haechan didn't give up on him though, and continued to encourage him to try and skate on his own. 

But Jeno kept on stumbling and nearly fell so many times to the point that he eventually clung onto Haechan's arm entirely for support.

Wow. They make such a cute couple. Was a thought that passed through the minds of the other skaters while watching the two stumble and giggle their way around the ring.

a:n/ ppl always complain that my hands are too cold and callously so now Jeno has them too so I won't be alone