[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

A New Resident

"Has anyone seen Yuta?" Sicheng asked, noticing he was missing. It wasn't unnatural for him not to show up before school, not many of them actually did since it would mean getting up earlier, but not showing up after school was out of character. Especially since he usually came at the same time as Johnny.

"I don't think so." YangYang answered without looking up from his homework, and Jeno shook his head.

"I'll go look for him." Sicheng stood up from Johnny's bed, leaving his homework he was working on where it was. Jungwoo followed in suit silently, and Sicheng was grateful for the company.

After making sure he wasn't actually in the cafe and just hadn't come down to the basement, they told Jaehyun where they were going and set off down the street. Searching for someone was not in their expertise, but they thought checking by the candy store where he mentioned living was a good idea.

"Thanks for coming with me." Only a smile in response. 

"He's probably fine, right?" At least now he got a nod.

Sicheng stopped saying anything as they looked through all the people to find their friend, but this was proving to be harder than they thought. It wasn't even like they could just walk into all the houses by the candy shop once they got there and ask if Yuta lived there.

Sicheng jumped when Jungwoo grabbed his arm and started pulling him down an alley. The younger didn't notice his discomfort as he tried escaping his grip, not even being able to focus on where Jungwoo was taking him.

"Woo! Please stop!" He sounded very desperate for someone who only wanted someone to stop touching him, but it got Jungwoo to let go of his arm with a very apologetic look in his eyes.

Their attention was diverted by the sounds of someone shuffling through things and climbing the fence at the back of the alley. Even with only seeing the back of him with the hood of his jacket over his head, they both knew it was Yuta.

"Lion!"

"Yuta! It's just us!" Jungwoo ran ahead of Sicheng, trying to stop him from running away. Sicheng stood back and watched as Jungwoo scaled the fence after him, chasing him when he started to run.

But Sicheng stayed right where he was, unable to look away from what was around him. Holey tarps were propped up and acted as tents, inside being a mess of blankets and worn down clothes. Yuta's clothes and even his school bag with empty food wrappers and other things littering the ground.

Checking to make sure no one was looking, Sicheng grabbed his school bag and started shoving anything he could find of actual worth into the bag. Once he had all of Yuta's things, he took the bag with him and ran through the streets to try and find where they had gone to.

Jungwoo was completely out of breath as he continued to chase Yuta, but the older of the two was used to this. It wasn't the first time he had to run away from someone through the city, but it was the first time he was running from a friend. He just didn't want them to know he had been lying to them about a lot of things, and he really didn't want them to get the pity look all the adults had when they looked at him.

He wasn't expecting Sicheng to appear out of no where and run into him, causing both of them to hit the pavement. When he tried to get right back up to continue running, Jungwoo laid on top of both of them, stopping him from going anywhere.

"Are you okay?" Sicheng's eyes were filled with complete panic as he looked at Yuta on top of him, even if he was the one who had two kids on top of him.

"Get off of us, he's squished." Jungwoo shook his head, not willing to do that unless he knew Yuta wasn't going to just run again.

"You can't run. Please don't run." Sicheng voiced for him, and Yuta sighed.

"I won't." Jungwoo then immediately got up and helped Yuta off of Sicheng, grabbing his hand so he couldn't get away that easily.

Despite Yuta's attempts to help Sicheng off the ground, he got up on his own, brushing himself off gingerly. Pavement was not the most comfortable to land on.

"Is that my bag?"

"We're not letting you live there anymore. It's not safe." Sicheng kept a tight hold on Yuta's bag, his own attempt at keeping him with them. "Why didn't you show up after school?"

"I ditched after lunch and lost track of time."

"We'll talk about that later. Come on." Jungwoo and Sicheng then brought Yuta to the cafe, heading straight to the basement since those who were working had been relieved of their duties.

Jungwoo immediately dragged Yuta to his usual spot on the floor, keeping his arms wrapped around him as they watched the others do their homework. Sure, Jungwoo still had his to finish and Yuta was going to have make up work to do, but they weren't going into that.

"Oh good! You found him!" Jeno exclaimed, getting up from Mark's bed and sitting down next to him with his homework. "Can you help me? Jaehyun's busy and Johnny's being mean."

"Sure. Which one?" While Yuta explained the problem to Jeno, Sicheng stepped over Haechan's bag and stood next to Johnny and Jaehyun until they noticed he was trying to get their attention.

"Whatcha got there?"

"Yuta's things. I don't think he should be living there." The two cousins shared a skeptical look.

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't just live by the candy shop, he lives in the alley next to it in a tent. It's not safe." 

When the cousins shared a glance this time, it was a whole mental conversation of Jaehyun saying they should let Yuta live with them and Johnny being hesitant because of his parents. Ultimately, they came to the same conclusion. They'd get Mark to ask.

"Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out."

And surprisingly enough, Mark didn't even need to pull out the puppy eyes for Johnny's parents to agree when Yuta explained the situation fully. It wasn't even twenty-four hours before Mr. Suh was bringing down another bed and setting it up next to Jaehyun's, one of several to be later added to the basement.