[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Cereal With the Boomer

It was a gorgeous morning. Absolutely beautiful. The temperature? Perfect. The sun? Shining. Clouds? The sky didn't know what those were. So Johnny did the only thing he could think of to utilize this wonderful morning.

He woke up Jaehyun and Lucas and dragged them out for a workout session in the park.

Taeil, Yuta and Jungwoo had the cafe under control anyways, so it really was the ideal opportunity. Too good to pass up.

Jaehyun and Lucas were a little less enthusiastic about being woken up, but they got over it once they saw the sunshine streaming through the cafe windows. Nobody could be mad when the city woke up that morning and decided to look like that. Nobody.

Alright, maybe that cranky old man who owned the grocery store on the corner of the street could. If he wasn't it would've been too out of character and someone would've gotten concerned.

"I still don't understand why your first thought when you saw all this sunshine was to workout. Before breakfast." Jaehyun mumbled, struggling to put his sneakers on while he walked.

"It's too perfect not to."

"Can we do a warm up lap around the park? I feel like running."

Lucas was already shaking out his legs and rolling his shoulders, ready to sprint. His face was adorned with a lopsided smile, now jumping in place.

"Last one back to this tree, without cheating or cutting corners, has to ask WinWin or Mark to make them eggs." Johnny suggested.

The memory of how eggs have turned out for them before was enough to get even Jaehyun running. Lucas threw his head back and laughed once he started sprinting, enjoying the feeling of it all. If it hadn't been for the no cheating rule he imposed, Johnny would've already pushed Jaehyun into a bush.

It was a clean race, though, despite the multitude of thoughts of making it go otherwise, and ended with Jaehyun reaching the tree just slightly after Johnny. Lucas had been way too far ahead of them to even be considered competition.

"Have fun with your eggs." Lucas teased.

"I will, thank you."

Jaehyun ducked when Johnny threw a water bottle at him, but Lucas was capable of catching it. After their water break, they started doing Johnny's extreme limb separation from the body stretching routine before going into almost a hundred push-ups (not in a row), squats, and an almost two minute plank.

Lucas took over afterwards, adding in his own favorite exercises. By now most of the joggers in the park or the soccer moms doing yoga had left for work, leaving it extremely peaceful.

Until someone running towards them interrupted their cool down session Jaehyun was leading.

"Why's Mark packing?!"

Everyone but Lucas dropped out of their downward dog, sitting on the grass and staring at Haechan. His sunglasses were slipping down his nose and he was still in the clothes he slept in.

"You came all the way here to ask us instead of just asking him yourself?" Jaehyun questioned, eyebrow cocked.

Haechan scoffed, "Well yeah, I'm not talking to him."

"There was still so many other people you could've asked."

"No one was giving me a serious answer. They were all too focused on their cereal."

Lucas laughed and lost his balance, coming out of his downward dog. "Do you seriously not know why he's packing?"

Haechan pushed his sunglasses up his nose, crossing his arms. "Would I have stopped eating breakfast to come here if I knew?"

"He's going to Canada with his parents. They do this every year." Johnny finally answered.

Haechan tutted, "I thought Taeil was joking."

Picking himself up from the grass, Johnny grabbed his water bottle. Lucas and Jaehyun did the same, Jae putting his arm around Haechan as they walked back to the cafe.

"You're not going to be upset when he leaves, right?"

Lucas scoffed, "If anything he'll be upset he has no one to fight with."

"Will not. I'm glad he's leaving. He's started recording every single time I sneeze and making bar graphs."

Lucas, Johnny and Jaehyun shared a knowing glance. This was either going to be the break they've been waiting for, or something real interesting.

Chapter title credit to Crimson