[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

One of Those Days

Annie watched Jaehyun as he worked the register from the stool she was sat on. He had tried to get her to come shopping with him and Shotaro that morning so they could get her clothes that would actually fit her, but she had absolutely refused.

Not the bratty kind of refuse or the tantrum kind, she just kept shaking her head and looking like she was going to cry. Shotaro was the first to cave, so she was happily sitting there in one of Taeil's hoodies that was a dress on her which Ten had to sew ribbons on it to tie up the sleeves.

So it was her hoodie now basically.

They had agreed Mrs. Suh was going to have to take her shopping that afternoon for underwear or whatever five year old girls need, so they were hoping that Mrs. Suh would end up convincing her to wear something her size.

If not, Ten was already sewing ribbons onto one of Jaemin's old hoodies. She refused any other adjustments other than that.

For anything other than hoodie weather they were already planning on taking t-shirts and using ribbon to keep her top from being exposed. They weren't sure how that would look, but if that's what made her happy, they were going for it.

Regardless, Annie was sitting there watching him and trying to reach the coffee on the edge of the counter. She had watched him drink from it for the past couple of minutes and she wanted to try it, but everytime she got caught reaching for it he moved it further from her.

So now it was a game.

"Annie, please stop." Jaehyun said tiredly as he once again had to move the cup further from her. "Literally everyone will kill me if I let you have coffee."

She tilted her head, going for an innocently confused look instead of a pout.

"Why?"

"Because you'll be off the walls and..." He paused to think why he actually couldn't give a five year old coffee, "and then you won't grow very tall."

"I'll be short?"

Jaehyun hesitantly nodded, pretty sure that's what caffeine did to people who hadn't stopped growing. It wasn't like he could fact check that right now when he has customers to deal with.

Spotting Jeno coming up from the basement and looking like he was going to go upstairs, Jae got an idea.

"Hey Jeno, can you take Annie for me? I can't keep her out of things and work at the same time."

Jeno paused at the bottom of the steps. It wasn't like he didn't like Annie, he just knew she got extremely shy around almost everyone except for a few. And he was not someone she had opened up to.

"You realize I don't speak English, right?"

"You'll be fine, she'll be fine. Can you please keep her busy?"

Jeno looked between Annie reaching for a coffee cup and the line the was forming while Jaehyun was pleading him.

"Alright."

Jaehyun smiled gratefully before turning his attention back to the customers. Putting on a smile, Jeno crouched down in front of Annie on her stool. She froze mid-reach for the coffee cup, unsure what to do now.

"Let's go get something that tastes better than that. Yeah?"

She continued to stare at him, not understanding what he was saying. So Jeno stood up and offered his hand to her.

Annie had learned that people offering her their hand here was generally a pretty good thing. Most of the time it led to a treat or a game, at least in her limited experience, so she happily put her little hand in Jeno's and jumped off the stool.

Jeno led her upstairs even though he knew it would be even more chaotic in the kitchen. He picked her up when they got off the stairs so she wouldn't get trampled, and headed into the second, smaller kitchen.

He paused when he got there, seeing Doyoung leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

Doyoung shrugged, putting his empty mug on the edge of the counter.

"I called in sick."

"But you're not sick?"

"No, but I'm sick of the people I have to work with."

Jeno laughed but quickly realized he wasn't kidding.

"So what are you two up to?" Doyoung asked, acknowledging that Annie was there now.

"She was trying to get into Jaehyun's coffee, so we're going to make some hot cocoa."

Doyoung smiled, "For you or for her?"

"Why not both?"

Jeno set Annie down on the counter, reaching above her to grab two mugs. He pressed his fingers to his lips as a playful gesture for her not to tell anyone, which she mimicked as he put chocolate milk in the mugs. He was going to only give her a little bit, but the glare she gave him once she looked into the mugs made him give her some more.

As long as Doyoung didn't come back too soon from finding the hot cocoa packets, they'd be fine.

Once the chocolate milk was heated up in the microwave and the hot chocolate packets mixed in (which Annie gladly helped with now that she recognized what was going on), Jeno got out his favorite hot chocolate ingredient once Doyoung left the room again to do whatever he was going to do.

Vanilla ice cream.

The smile that appeared on Annie's face was too precious as Jeno dropped a spoonful of ice cream into each mug. He gave her the spoon to stir it around a bit more before carefully handing her the mug.

He clinked the mugs together as a cheers, smiling when Annie giggled.

"It's just one of those days."

"One of those days." She repeated, probably the first thing she had ever said in Korean.

Deciding she liked the phrase, she repeated it constantly everytime she took a sip and before every meal after that. It was adorable, but that's how they learned they'd have to watch what they say now.