Omegaverse

@☭ Wang Yibo Frankly, Zhan had no more allowance in his mind for thoughts. He crouched by the keypad, entering the numbers Yibo recited before pausing at the last riddle. He glanced around the shelf he stood in front of and settled on the number closest to him—6. To his utter relief, the door behind the keypad clicked open and receded with a slow grind, revealing a second room behind the door. Zhan sighed in relief, gesturing for Yibo to enter the room first. He held his hand at the top of the low door frame so that Yibo wouldn't bump his head into it. The next room was even darker than the first, filled with all sorts of 'technology', eliciting a groan from Zhan. "What's this?" he prodded at what seemed to be pieces of a puzzle. "I guess I'll put this together."

@☭ Xiao Zhan By some of luck, Yibo's first hunch had actually been a correct one! After they had correctly spelled the word "PHYSICS" on the lock pad using the symbols, Yibo reached for the cards that were strewn at the bottom of the treasure box that opened, while Zhan tried to find a place to insert the tube. "Hmm," he mumbled, laying the cards out on the table to get a better picture. "Oh!" he gasped when Zhan looked to him, pointing out the numbers on the back of the cards, "Aren't these Roman numerals? On the back of the cards are pictures...which match to the artifacts on the wall! Maybe we should use these to figure out which artifact number to input on the keypad next." While he rearranged the cards, he shooed Zhan over to the next keypad, "You press the numbers," he said, "First is the globe, which is 4...then press the devil's number...9, and then do the horse's number...3...and what is this?" he asked, holding up a card that had words instead of a number, "Finally, a heart of gold turns into stone."

@☭ Wang Yibo "Ah... right." Zhan leaned in close to the map again, the symbols as best as he could to Yibo while Yibo pieced together the puzzle. Once they had their letters, Zhan headed toward the lockpad they noticed earlier to input the letters, unlocking it to find a glowing tube. "Nice," he said, beginning to wander around the room with their new prize. Although they had picked up one clue, all the entrances or exits to the room were still tightly shut, meaning there was something else they had to do to reveal the path to the next room. Zhan, with his mind still foggy after trying to string those beads together, turned blankly to Yibo. "I don't see anything else..."

@☭ Xiao Zhan "Oh...it probably does," Yibo said, looking at the confusing timezone numbers being marked on the huge map. He was not a fan of reading maps, and it seemed even less attractive to know that the lines actually had some more meaning to them. Though he didn't intend to put all his interest there at first, something suddenly clicked with him, "Lao Xiao! These symbols on the map! Aren't they the one on this dial over here?" he asked, going up to the wall where there was a dial, "Oh! I think if we get the symbols, we'll have a corresponding word, since there are letters attached to this," he deduced, pointing at the map. "What would tell us the timezone order though...there's a bunch of these symbols. Are they like...Zodiac symbols or something?" As Zhan was examining the map, Yibo suddenly pointed to the clocks, “Lao Xiao! Figure out the timezones using the clocks up there!” And while Yibo had the wonderful idea of connecting the clues together, he himself had no clue how to use the map, which he casually left for Zhan to figure out, “Describe the symbols to me and I’ll tell you the corresponding letter!”

@☭ Wang Yibo The moment Zhan opened his eyes, he knew he was screwed if all the other rooms were as dimly lit as this one. He could barely make out his surroundings, let alone figure out where to go first. Since Yibo started at the wall with a keypad, Zhan examined the wall with the large map. "Timezones," he noted, leaning in with a squint to see exactly what he was reading. "Maybe this will be useful." Crossing the room, Zhan gave the dial on a pedestal a whirl. "Do you think this has something to do with it?"

@☭ Xiao Zhan The escape room that they had booked with was a popular spot on the weekends, so Yibo had been expecting that they'd get their booking cancelled if they didn't show up on time. Luckily, he didn't need to test his theory because Zhan arrived with just enough time to get them inside and checked in. Everything was familiar, yet not at the same time, as it had been a long time since Yibo had done an escape room. Once they were done with the filler procedures, it was time to begin the challenge of finding the missing quantum physicist and recovering his lost secrets. Yibo gripped onto Zhan's hand tightly, keeping his body pressed against his mate's all the way until the voice over the speaker told them they were allowed to open their eyes, to which they suddenly found themselves in a dimly lit room with nothing but a simple table to their left, a map on the right with clocks hanging above it, and a wall of artifacts right in front of them. Yibo looked around, gasping in surprise, "Okay, let's see, what do we notice?" he asked, separating from Zhan to get to work, "I see numbers on the artifacts...and here's a keypad we have to unlock!"

@☭ Wang Yibo Yuning was so agreeable, Zhan thought as he watched him be passed around like a pet or a doll. Zhan had always wanted a large family, but he knew if Yuning had been a nightmare baby, he would've put a stop to it at one pup himself. Zhan waved to Yuning when he saw Yuning's chubby arm flail, and as soon as Yibo was back in his seat, Zhan sped off again. They arrived with minutes to spare, checking in, dropping their things off in their locker, and watching their safety video before being dropped off in their room right at the start time of their booking. It was completely dark while the backstory played over the speakers, and Zhan reached for Yibo's hand, knowing how much he disliked the darkness.

@☭ Xiao Zhan Yuning was always so agreeable, which made him even more loveable than he already was. Yibo didn't know how he and Zhan, of all parents, were blessed to have the most understanding and calm pup, but here they were, having their days go swimmingly with Yuning around. "Don't worry, Baekhyun is already waiting for him," Yibo reassured Zhan as he turned around to check on Yuning freely whenever he wanted. "Ah Ning, we're going to pick you up after dinner tonight okay? So you have to behave and eat your dinner. Don't throw a fit with Uncle Baekhyun." Yibo texted Baekhyun their new estimated arrival time. Then, once Zhan pulled up to the curb of Baekhyun's apartment complex, Yibo quickly unbuckled himself and went to the back to pick Yuning and his travel bag up. Once he pressed a kiss to Yuning's cheeks and handed him over to Baekhyun in the apartment lobby, Yibo flew out towards Zhan again, getting into the car a little short of breath, "Okay let's go!"

@☭ Wang Yibo "Mm, you're welcome, baobei," Zhan said, too focused to turn around now and risk running a red with his pup in the car this time. "We're going to take you to Uncle Baekhyun now, and we'll come pick you up later tonight, okay?" After hearing another chirp of affirmation from Yuning, Zhan stopped talking so he could pour his concentration into driving. He glanced at the time every so often, his stomach clenching when he realized how tight on time they were. "I'll stop in front of Baekhyun's place, and then you run in with him—or better yet, get Baekhyun to wait downstairs for Yuning. I'm worried we'll be late for the escape room."

@☭ Xiao Zhan Usually, Yibo and Zhan didn't pick Yuning up together, since their schedule conflicts would often result in the other going alone. Yuning was used to it on most days, but Yibo's mother had probably told him that he'd be getting picked up by both his parents that day, since he came into the car actively searching for Yibo. The stress that had been there from their DIY workshop fiasco was thrown behind him as Yibo eagerly reached behind to greet Yuning. "Hi Ah Ning!" he greeted, taking the paper that Yuning held out to him. On the paper was what could best be described as an attempt to draw a circle, and two sticks for the arms or legs. "Wow what's this Ah Ning?" Yibo asked, admiring that Yuning had known him well enough to use his favorite color, "Is this me?"

"Mm!" Yuning giggled happily, "Mama!" he eagerly repeated.

Yibo looked at the paper, then turned it upside down and from back to front, "Ah Ning, did you forget Baba? Or did you run out of time? Next time, make sure you draw Baba and yourself in the picture too okay? I don't like to be alone." Once Zhan got into the driver's seat again and they were on the road again, Yibo reached into the glove compartment to pull out a small packet of Yuning's favorite cherry flavored jelly. "Look what Baba even prepared for you Ah Ning, say thank you," Yibo said, uncapping the jelly packet and handing it to their pup so he could have a snack.

Seeing his favorite treat, Yuning's chubby hands took the jelly eagerly and he barely managed to chirp out, "Thank you baba!" before his little lips were attached to the opening and he was slurping away.

@☭ Wang Yibo "O-oh... right." Zhan didn't want to admit he just simply wasn't paying attention to the road, so he accepted it when Yuning was thrown under the bus for his carelessness. "You're right." They were silent for the rest of the trip, and luckily there was an empty spot directly in front of the daycare when they arrived. Leaving Yibo in the car, Zhan was quite pleased to find Yuning sitting calmly in the play room with his coat and backpack already on. After thanking the young girl who often worked there on Zhan's pick up days, Zhan opted to carry Yuning back to the car to speed things along, unceremoniously stuffing him into his car seat. "Mama," Yuning babbled waving the little piece of artwork he'd completed today as Zhan hurried back to the driver side. "Mama, I draw this for you."

@☭ Xiao Zhan "One hour is barely enough for that I think," Yibo complained, "Earlier, even though I got the two chains to close up, I don't think the loops were actually closed neatly though." While visual aesthetics weren't his forte, Yibo at least had a high standard of getting a job done cleanly. He didn't want it to look any more DIY that it had to. "We just have to get our minds off of it for a while, then it might be easier when we go back," he said to encourage his mate, reaching over to try and grab Zhan's hand. Before he could do that though, the force of the car speeding up had him pressed against his seat and his hand flew upward to search for the hand bar, gripping onto it tightly. Zhan, who was usually such a careful driver, seemed too rushed to get Yuning. "Ah Ning is a big boy. He won't cry if we're a few minutes late," he tried to reassure the older after a moment of silence.

@☭ Wang Yibo "Me too," Zhan agreed, slumping slightly in his seat, his vision before him clouded with the nightmare of having to twist his chains together. "The booking thing said the activity time is one hour... one hour alone should be allocated to putting that thing together." His brain hurt from handling those small beads and pliers, and the frustration from dropping those minuscule little rings still lingered. Zhan was driving on autopilot at this point, not thinking much about the traffic lights in front of him and merely following the car in front's stop and go. "I don't even know if I'm going to be able to finish when we get back- Oh -" His guiding car in front of him had made the light, but Zhan only just noticed the red right before he ran it, leaving an embarrassing silence in the car as he sat up straighter, determined to put aside his grievances for the bag strap for now before he caused an accident.

@☭ Xiao Zhan Yibo really didn't like the feeling of leaving an unfinished project behind, but the choice was obvious between picking to complete the straps or to pick up their pup. He followed Zhan out with a promise to the worker that they'd be back soon, and they both sped-walked to the car. "Is the daycare far from here?" Yibo asked, grabbing his phone from his pocket to dial the daycare number. While Zhan maneuvered his way out of the busy parking lot, Yibo tried to maintain his calm while speaking on the phone. "Hi, I'm Xiao Yuning's mother. Sorry, we're on our way to pick him up right now, but we'll be just a few minutes late today...yes, yes, that's fine. In the play room? Okay, we'll be there soon. Thank you." Once he hung up, he took a deep breath and threw his head back against the headrest. "That was insane," he finally expressed to Zhan, "I swear I thought they were going to do the second part for us! If I had known we had to do the linking ourselves, I wouldn't have spent so long picking the charms!"

@☭ Wang Yibo Once Zhan practically begged the store worker to let them return (he was sure their abandoned projects were looking suspicious) and gotten their approval, Zhan wrenched Yibo's bag strap from his mate's hands to in the store worker's direction before running out the door with Yibo. "We're going to be late," he said, frazzled as he jammed his phone into the cup holder, his mind still spinning from the frustration of not being able to clip his keychain together. It was an inhuman, impossible task, and whoever had come up with that did it with the intention of mental torture. "Call the daycare and tell them we're coming."

@☭ Xiao Zhan Zhan's reminder about their busy schedule was starting to get Yibo anxious too, which led to his hands being even more unsteady as he tried to loop the metal ring onto the tip of the pliers. "Ack!" he grunted in frustration, feeling the anxiousness build up while Zhan rambled on trying to come up with a solution. Since they did have a small gap of time after their escape room that was originally meant to be spent at a board game cafe, Yibo was fine with shifting their schedule around a bit. "Okay, go ask Lao Xiao," he ushered the older towards the workers, since Zhan's credit card was the one on hold in their system, "Tell them we'll be right back after our other appointment."

@☭ Wang Yibo "Baby, Yuning is waiting for us..." Zhan said, looking helplessly to his unfinished bag strap. Unless he had another hour at least, he wouldn't be able to finish, and they had to pick Yuning up /now/ if they wanted to make it to their escape room booking on time. "We have to go to the escape room after, too," he reminded Yibo. When he looked at his keychain again, he only felt that it was mocking him, and finishing this was going to be an impossible task. "How about we ask the worker if we can come back and finish this after our escape room?" Zhan suggested, growing more desperate by the second. He was barely able to sit still in his chair. "There's no way we can wrap up in the next two minutes..."

@☭ Xiao Zhan Yibo was very good at getting back into the zone when he was working on a project that he set his mind on. Zhan usually left him alone in moments of long-term concentration, but it didn't seem like the case today when his mate backhanded him on the mouth. It wasn't hard, but the gesture alone was enough to rile Yibo up. Putting his pliers down, he slapped Zhan over his shoulders, "It /is/ your fault," he insisted again, staring at Zhan's progress, "Don't distract me, I have to do this-" he said, picking up his own tools again to continue where he left off. Yibo had finished with getting the two separate chains linked together, but now he had to attach it to the top-most heart charm, which proved to be the most difficult challenge. Once again, he had yet to get very far when Zhan startled him once again, his voice making Yibo jerk and lose yet /another/ little metal hook. "What!?" he exclaimed, leaning over to check on Zhan's phone, "But we're not done!" he exclaimed, the panic starting to build up inside of him, "How close are you? I can't get this stupid ring to open up! It keeps falling!" Yibo said, his mind drawing a blank when he was rushed like so.

@☭ Wang Yibo Whenever Yibo got worked up, he seemed to forget his place. Zhan set down his pliers just to smack the back of his hand against Yibo's mouth, light even if it carried a reminder. "Don't talk to me like that," Zhan said, picking up his chain to try again. No matter which way he tried to angle it, the chain or the ring ended up slipping out of his hands every time. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he called the worker over again in hopes of getting her to finish the job for him. She simply verbally instructed Zhan again without touching his chain, leaving him growing warmer in his seat as he stared helplessly at his keychain. ", Yuning!" he exclaimed, setting down his beads to check on the time. "We have to pick him up!"

@☭ Xiao Zhan Maybe it was beginner's luck, or perhaps it was because Yibo had spent very many hours meticulously piecing together his Lego models that those skills were somehow transferring over to him in the DIY project. The pliers were quite easy to handle once he learned how to hold them properly, but the metal ring that was supposed to help him pry open the key rings seemed useless in that moment, so Yibo ditched it in favor of manually looping the metal sticks around each other. He was so focused on his own project that Zhan's string of cusses from next to him didn't really register with him, and he jerked slightly when his mate called to him. "What do you mean!" he asked, holding his project up to Zhan's eye level for the older to see, "It's not the best, but I used the pliers to clamp them down." It seemed that after Yibo broke his first round of concentration, things were not as easy as they first seemed. "It's your fault!" he cried out as a tiny metal ring flew out of his hands, "now it's not working!" he yelped, leaving the one that was lost and trying to find another ring.

@☭ Wang Yibo “How are we supposed to do this?” Even Zhan, who at least had more experience than Yibo when it came to arts and crafts, was stumped as he held his loose chains and beads in one hand, plier in the other. Seeing that Yibo was getting straight to work, Zhan lowered his head again as well, determined not to be outdone by his mate. He quickly found, however, that creating anchors for their chains wasn’t the hardest part—it was linking them to each other. The metal hoops were much too small and delicate to be held by Zhan’s thumbs, and even if he resorted to using the metal rings provided to hold their chains and hoops in place, it was completely useless. Try after try, Zhan’s joining hoops jumped out of his hands and skittered across the floor, usually getting lost and forcing Zhan to start again with a new ring. “,” he said under his breath when he picked up a new hoop for the nth time. “, this is way harder than it needs to be.” Taking a break, Zhan rotated his neck once before checking on Yibo’s progress. “Wait! How did you get those two chains together?”

@☭ Xiao Zhan "Well of course I did!" Yibo confirmed, proud of his own work. Once it was all put together, then he and Zhan would be able to proudly display their matching couple bag strap on any bag that they brought out with them. He gestured at the pink charms that were laid out neatly on Zhan's tray, "You told me to put in a pink accent, so I worked my way around that. See? I even made sure not to put two round shapes together, and I tried to switch up the pattern on each segment," he reported to Zhan, feeling rather proud that he could create something with such an artistic touch. When the worker came over to demonstrate, Yibo was still nodding along rather naively, thinking that she was giving a live demonstration of how to put it together so there would be no doubt when they saw the final product that this was their very own design. Once she handed the pliers over to him though, he stared blankly at Zhan, "/What/!?" he exclaimed, starting to pick at the little metal strand that were left at their work station, "You're kidding right- we have to do this on our own? Aren't they going to do it for us?" Not being one to admit defeat easily though, Yibo picked up his first chain, and added the small beads onto a straight metal strand, trying to use the plier to hold the charms in place while he figured out how to wrap the top into a loop to close the charms inside. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed under his breath.

@☭ Wang Yibo "Right," Zhan agreed, turning his wrist over to check on the time. "We'll be right on time to pick up Yuning from daycare, too." While they waited for the worker to wrap up what she was doing to attend to them, Zhan admired his own tray of beads beside Yibo's. "You did a pretty good job," Zhan said, pulling Yibo's tray closer to examine his selection. "Yours looks so cute, baby. Where'd you get the inspiration from, huh?" Both of them knew between the two of them, Yibo didn't exactly excel in this department. The store worker came over with a basket of pliers and minuscule rings, demonstrating on one of Yibo's chains on how to chain their straps together. Zhan nodded along, but when she left them to their own devices, he blanched. "Wait, we have to do it ourselves?"

@☭ Xiao Zhan "I like that one too," Yibo agreed after Zhan helped him pick. He set aside the cute candy to decide its placement later, and continued to build around the charm with other green charms. The green gummy bear that Zhan picked was so cute, but there wasn't a pink one that Yibo could use on his own. Yibo eventually realized that having only one accent seemed a bit too random in the midst of his bag strap, so he sought out the ribbon from earlier, adding it to the mix too. Once he had laid out two rows of charms on the place mat, he elbowed Zhan, "I think I'm done," he announced, "So we should just call them over to help us put it all together, and then we're done, right?" he asked. The young women in the store hadn't seemed to realize that a celebrity was in their shop, and Yibo wanted to keep it that way. He pulled out a black cap that he always kept in his bag and fit it over Zhan's head before raising his hand and calling for the worker. "Hi excuse me, this is my finished design."

@☭ Wang Yibo Zhan snatched the pink-and-white heart from Yibo before he lost it in the charm box again, arranging it neatly over his tray and bending over it again to fiddle with his arrangement. He glanced over at Yibo when he was poked again, glancing over his options before pointing at the pink candy for Yibo. "I guess I should choose a candy one, too," Zhan mused, his fingers skimming over the boxes before deftly picking out a pastel green gummy bear. "What about this? Couple strap enough for you?"

@☭ Xiao Zhan Zhan's anxiousness to find the same charm that Yibo had in his own color already confirmed with Yibo that his mate liked his choice. He smirked smugly as he pulled out the little tray that he found it from, "Over here," he said, sifting through the bulkier beads at the top, "Oh! There is a yellow one here...and a pink one!" he said, picking up the pink one between his index finger and thumb to show Zhan, "Are you going to match with me?" he asked, eyes widening at the realization, "That's perfect! It'll definitely be a couple's strap then!" he egged Zhan on. After that, Yibo started going through the pink charms, wanting to work around the pink accent that he'd promised to add to his design for Zhan. "Let's see...maybe this one...this one...or this one..." he mulled over a little candy charm, a ribbon charm, and a pinkish crystal sphere.

@☭ Wang Yibo Yibo was talking like Zhan had some kind of monopoly on the colour red and all its shades, and Zhan was extremely pleased to hear it. He picked his beads from the pink tray Yibo offered to him. "You're right. I don't want people to mistake my strap as a Christmas chain." He bowed over his tray again, testing beads out this way and that in all kinds of configurations for the most harmonious one. When Yibo nudged him again, Zhan glanced over, intending to answer noncommittally when he saw that it was really, the perfect large piece to sit on top to connect the two strands they were building. "Where'd you get that?" he demanded, immediately pawing at the trays in front of Yibo. "Is there a pink one?"

@☭ Xiao Zhan "Mm, we have time," Yibo said, his eyes also focused on the palettes of ornaments while his index finger sifted through the ones he didn't like. "The escape room isn't until 3:45 anyways, and this shouldn't take us longer than an hour to choose our designs." While Zhan was analyzing how their designs should intersect, Yibo peered over at the red selection. As much as he liked Zhan's idea, the red was much too blaring against his softer green palette. "I like green," he confirmed, as if the options in front of him didn't speak for themselves. "But I think you should use...these instead," Yibo said, pulling out the pink tray of charms, "It's a muted red! I'll choose one from here to add for you," Yibo grinned, "One that will definitely scream 'Xiao Zhan' if people were to look at my charm." With their game plan set, they continued pulling out the layers and layers of options from the mini organizers in front of them, building their own perfect bag strap. After a hard internal debate, Yibo settled on the top piece to be a pastel blue and white marble looking heart charm for his design. He nudged at Zhan, holding out his open palm, "What do you think about this one?" he asked, still wanting some affirmation from his mate despite having made up his mind.

@☭ Wang Yibo Zhan liked red the most, but the red selection of beads seemed jarring, especially on a keychain that was supposed to be versatile and be able to hop between any of Zhan's bags and onto wherever he needed them to go. "Dunno..." he said noncommittally, far too focused on mapping out the perfect keychain rather than make conversation or tease Yibo now. He reached for each tray of beads—and there were many—and inspected each one carefully for the perfect bead. "You like green, right?" Zhan suddenly asked, leaning over to look at the beads Yibo was considering. "I'm going to add one red thing to my chain, so you should add one pink one to yours." Then, everyone would know they were meant to go together.

@☭ Xiao Zhan "Of course I didn't forget," Yibo said without an actual thought in his head, "I just wanted to make sure you knew where you're driving." He reclined in his seat, holding his stomach and rubbing it from their big meal. The drive from their food spot to the DIY workshop wasn't very long, so Yibo didn't have time to get tired or too comfortable before it was time to get out of the car once again. The workshop was filled with designs from handheld mirror to phone cases to necklaces and other trinkets. Yibo thought he was going to be seated with Zhan at a big work station, but once the worker heard that they were going to make bag straps, they were led to the smaller beading booth. As he started to pull out each of the little boxes to examine the contents, Yibo tried to find charms that appealed to his color senses first, laying out different shades of green. "Not sure yet, what are you gonna find?"