***

Damon couldn't lie. He was a little curious. Not about the other kids themselves, but about how they might be different from all the familiar faces in the Ganymede pack he'd grown up with. Were the dynamics changed at all? Omegas had heats here. Did the other students act differently around the omegas?

Damon was lucky in that way, he supposed. In the Ganymede pack, he wasn't treated much different from anyone else. He'd heard the horror stories about omegas from other packs. Not the Venus pack specifically – but others, which viewed omegas as something dangerous. Volatile, perhaps. Something to be hidden away, because they didn't understand them.

Except, when the teenagers trickled back to where Damon and Mark were, Damon saw one young boy grab a bug off the ground and stick it in his friends' face to watch him scream, so maybe teenagers were teenagers no matter their gender designation or culture.

Mark laughed – because this was very much something Mark would do as well – and he and Damon continued to peacefully browse the vegetables, fruits, and breads on sale. Damon picked out a juicy apple from one stall and munched on it as they walked.

What they didn't see, after they turned around was a boy, perhaps two years younger than Damon and Mark, and a rather tall omega girl of the same age having a spat a few yards away. If they had been just a little closer, they would have heard the boy say, "Go away," and the girl respond, "Why?"

A funny interaction, from certain points of view. The obliviousness of the little girl mixed with the clear disinterest of the boy was comical in its way – and a little sad too. Most people would assume this was a case of a crush gone too far – a girl resorting to following her interest around like a lost puppy. What they didn't know – or did, depending on how high up they were in the pack – was that this was Jun Hart, heir of the Venus pack, and his future mate. Sure, they were young – too young, some argued, to create this kind of tie – but their match had been decided almost from birth. It was a cheesy romcom setup, except that at the end of the movie, the boy does not realize that he actually loves the girl, his fiancé, who was in front of him all along. Instead, he chases after someone from a whole different movie, stepping off the screen to whisk away a regular joe audience member in the movie theater.

The little boy isn't mean in his rejection – in fact many would simply say he's acting cold, because he's too young to properly handle his crush. He didn't shout at the girl, just calmly told her to back off. He was clearly annoyed, but not annoyed enough to be truly angry.

After the little girl said 'why?' and received no response from Jun, she pouted. "What? Is there someone you'd rather spend time with?" she asked, knowing full well the boy kept to himself most of the time – and thus, did not have someone he'd rather spend time with.

When the boy remained silent, the girl became crafty and said – thinking she would finally get some sort of outburst out of Jun, hopefully a cute, vehement refusal – "Do you have a secret lover?"

Jun paused, and the girl almost ran into his back. He swirled around. "Yes, I do."

The girl stifled a snort. Sure he did. However, the longer the girl stared at Jun's unwavering expression, the less sure she became. Jun was popular with everyone, despite not being the type to socialize much. She'd heard plenty of other omegas complimenting him and had inwardly preened every time, thinking that she would one day be the person he mated with. What if...what if someone had actually made a move on him without her noticing?

"Oh, really?" she said, trying to remain confident. "Who? Are they here? Show me."

Jun blinked slowly, and the girl relaxed a bit. Okay. He was weighing his options, probably trying to think of a way to lie his way out of it –

Suddenly Jun pointed in a random direction. "Him. I'm with him."

The girl turned to look and saw...a back. She didn't recognize him, but he looked older. It was impossible to tell from a distance if he was an alpha, beta, or omega, but because he was so tall, she assumed alpha. She relaxed even further. It wasn't impossible for Jun to like another alpha, but he knew as well as she that he would one day have to have children to carry on his family line. Even if he had a crush now – although she was pretty sure Jun was just faking – he couldn't keep it forever.

She called his bluff. "Prove it."

There was an infinitesimal freeze in Jun's expression – the equivalent of a deer in the headlights 'oh shit' moment for him. Then, with noticeably jerky steps, he headed towards the older boy in the crowd. The little girl tried to follow, but Jun glanced back at her and said "Stay." Certain that Jun was about to make a fool of himself, the girl obediently stayed put, watching the show from afar.

***

Damon was on the last few bites of his apple when he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. He turned, thinking someone was trying to get past him, and started to apologize – only to see a kid a little younger than him staring up at him – and though he seemed cool as a cucumber on the surface, Damon weirdly felt like the boy was actually freaking out. He frowned, swallowing his bite, and said "Can I help you?"

"I-" the boy started, and then stopped, gaze fixed to Damon's face. Damon was confused, and discreetly wiped a hand over his mouth. There wasn't apple juice all over his face, was there? Mark had gotten about a stall away at this point, but he paused when he noticed Damon talking to someone. Damon met his eyes over the kid's head and read the question in Mark's gaze. Damon shrugged slightly, to show that he had no idea either.

Damon turned his attention back to the kid only to see that the boy hadn't looked away – Damon wasn't sure that he had blinked. He must have. Right?

Obviously, the kid was nervous about something. Was he in some kind of trouble?

Damon felt his own expression becoming increasingly concerned as the child remained quiet – which seemed to kick the boy out of his daze. He shook his head hard, like a dog, and Damon could see a slight blush around his ears and neck. Embarrassed about spacing out, probably.

"Can you pretend to be my boyfriend for a few minutes?" he suddenly blurted, all at once.

Damon almost dropped his apple. He raised an eyebrow at the boy. He had so many questions – but looking at the slight anxious twist to the boy's eyebrows, Damon shrugged. Why not help the poor kid out? Stifling a giggle, Damon smiled. "Sure. Why not. But I charge for every minute past 'a few,'" he said jokingly.

The boy's blush deepened, which was adorable. Damon wanted to pinch his little cheeks. Yeah, the boy was only a couple years younger than Damon – but sixteen-year-old Damon considered everyone more than a month younger than him to be basically an infant.

Damon waited for the boy to tell him what to do. If he was going to pretend to be his boyfriend, then clearly there was someone this boy didn't want hanging around him anymore. However, they stood in silence for several seconds. Damon was starting to become concerned when the boy reached out with jerky movements to wrap an arm around Damon's waist. The sight was particularly comical because Damon was so much taller – so Damon had to lean slightly to accommodate him.

And together, they hobbled over to where Jun had left his fiancé.