[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

The Intervention

"Through the front door... Around the back... Through the window, and out jumps Jack," Taeyong looked between the knitting project in his hand and the picture showing instructions on his phone. "What front door?"

He could've re-taught himself from the original instruction booklet he had learned from three years ago, but that was somewhere in some box under his bed. Google was right there and with lots of images to look at. Unfortunately, none of them were very clear as to what "front door" he had to go through.

"What happens if I go through the wrong front door? Oh shoot that happens. Oh that's not right. Why's it bubbly?"

He tried messing with the yarn to see if it would stop being weird, but it wasn't working. Sighing, he tried going through a different "front door," the one he thought he remembered it being.

"Knitting is so weird. I don't know why I'm making this scarf."

He knew exactly why he was making that scarf. Three years ago he started watching the drama Goblin and wanted to see if he could make his own scarf like the main character. Despite the fact that he never wore a scarf and had no intention of doing so. When he stopped watching the drama halfway through, he stopped working on the scarf and it got pushed under his bed.

So now that he was back to being bored, he thought it'd be a good idea to try it again and re-teach himself. If anything he could put it in a donation box when he finished it.

Jeno, the designated scout, had watched Taeyong talking to himself as he tried to figure it out from the top of the stairs. Carefully backing up so he wasn't heard, Jeno joined the others who were waiting in the cafe for his report.

"Now's the perfect time. He's trying to knit again."

Doyoung nodded solemnly. "We all remember the plan, right?"

"Go down, cuddle up to him so he'll go soft, set Mark up for a bad joke so he's in a good mood, and then hit him with the talk." Chenle repeated.

Almost the whole group sighed. That had been the original plan, now they had a new plan. This one didn't involve Mark because Mark had thought his flight was at one in the afternoon but it was eleven in the morning so he had to run out with barely saying goodbye. He did promise to call them when he landed.

"No, we go down, cuddle up, pretend to be interested in what he's doing to distract him from the fact we're all down there-"

"Except Mark."

"We know that, Haechan. Then, once he notices we're all there, we hit him with the talk." Taeil finished explaining.

Chenle scoffed, "You just made that up."

"Doesn't matter because that's what's going to work." WinWin retorted.

Sungchan raised his hand slightly, "Just to make sure we're all on the same page, we're doing this because...?"

"Because since the store incident he's been running nonstop and barely sleeping." Ten recapped.

Before anyone else could interrupt or prolong the inevitable, an action they should've done years ago but they were waiting for him to either say something or for him to exhaust himself. But that didn't happen, leading to them all heading down to the basement, a few of them cuddling up to him as the rest stayed quiet around the room.

"Whatcha doing?" Jungwoo asked, resting his head on Taeyong's shoulder.

"Trying to knit. I messed up here and now it looks weird. I think it should be unraveling, though." He flipped over his work to point it out, Jungwoo nodding even though he had no idea how Taeyong was even doing that.

"You could probably thread some yarn through it and make a pattern when you're done. Then it'll look intentional and it won't unravel." Shotaro suggested.

"I was already thinking I might try that. Do you still have white from the blanket you made?"

"Yeah, but it's a lot thicker than what you have. I have a thinner dark blue that would look nice."

"That might be a better idea," Taeyong looked up, scrunching his eyebrows when he noticed everyone just sitting there in the basement around him. "Why do I have the feeling I should be nervous?"

"I am." Renjun muttered, resulting in Xiaojun nudging him to be quiet.

"We just want to talk. Can we talk?" Kun asked.

"Did I forget about a corporate meeting?"

Johnny groaned, "No, we're not doing any more of those."

"What? But that was so much fun! I had math all ready for the meeting too." YangYang complained.

"What math would you even need?" Hendery questioned.

"If we divide the number of days we have left before February 3rd by 5.2 we get thirty-six."

"I still don't know why that matters." Jisung mumbled, barely loud enough for YangYang to hear him.

"It just does."

Doyoung sighed, he should've known they weren't going to stick to any sort of plan.

"Guys, we're off topic."

Yuta hung upside down from his top bunk, his hair hanging down and getting in Jeno's face.

"You've been avoiding your own mind for a long time and it's time to either talk about it, face it, or talk about it with a professional."

"What Yuta means is we're worried about you." Jaehyun corrected.

Taeyong smiled his best cover up smile. The one he had perfected so long ago. "Thanks, but I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

Half the room scoffed in disbelief and the other half nudged them as a sign to be more sensitive. It was the perfect way to tell Taeyong they knew otherwise, though.

"What do you suggest then?"

"Literally anything other than what you've been doing." Jaemin commented.

"Whatever you're comfortable with." Xiaojun corrected.

"But I'm fine-"

"No. No you're not. You're trying to run away from your own mind because you think if Shotaro's capable of dealing with it all now that you should too. But you're forgetting he went to a therapist for years and is on sleeping pills. Nothing you're doing right now is helping yourself, it's just making it harder." Lucas spit out, taking a deep breath when he noticed the room went quiet. "Sorry, we just really care about you."

Setting down his knitting and leaning into Jungwoo, Taeyong sighed deeply.

"I didn't think I was worrying you guys..."

"Don't turn this on us, we'll be fine." Haechan piped up.

"Maybe I should talk to someone."

"In your own time, though. Don't let us pressure you into doing something you're not ready for." Shotaro added with a reassuring eye smile.

"Thank you."

And for the first time in a long time, a blanket fort was built and a massive cuddle party was held. Even if there were a million things still left to be done and the better half of the night to go, this was infinitely more important.