[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

More Chaos Than Normal

Johnny had gotten into the habit of making food when he didn't know what to do. It was a great habit to get into when your parents owned a cafe, but he was really bored today. The pecan pie, orange muffins, frozen cookie dough bites, and egg tarts had managed to take up a lot of his time today, giving his Mom a break.

This only came about because his school was the only one to have off today, leaving him with no one to hang out with. But now that he was told to stop making food because they were going to be just fine for the day, he was just sitting behind the counter and watching the door for someone to get out of school.

Jaehyun, Mark and YangYang were the first ones back, like always, since their school was the closest. Johnny immediately jumped up from his stool, heading straight to the basement with them. Just to watch them do their homework.

"Johnny," Mark whined, "stop poking meee."

"No, I want attention."

"Wanna help me with my homework? It's just coloring shapes." YangYang offered, so Johnny stopped annoying Mark and slid over to him.

"The cute ones are finally here! And we have a very fun story." Haechan announced as he ran down the stairs, Jungwoo following behind him at a normal pace.

"Oh gosh what happened to you?" Jaehyun asked, and Johnny winced when he looked up.

Jungwoo was completely sun burnt. You could tell just by his face how much it hurt, and he opted to stand off to the side instead of sitting down.

"Well that's my fun story." Haechan got himself comfy on Jaehyun's bed next to Mark, kicking off his shoes. "So I'm at the playground getting my daily dosage of tea on idols from the girls in my class, when I look across the castle and see a tomato. I thought, dang that's got to hurt, and so I point him out to the girls I was with and they start making jokes on how stupid someone would be to be out in the sun that long. That's when I realized he's my idiot, and I had to bring him back to his class."

"What were you even doing outside for that long?"

"His teacher forgot him and he didn't know where they all went."

"Come on, Woo, let's get you some lotion." Johnny took Jungwoo upstairs to fix him up just as Sicheng and Jeno were coming down to the basement. Leaving only Yuta who was still at school.

The kids all quietly worked on their homework like good children, except Haechan. He started helping YangYang with his instead of doing his own. But all of that was very quickly forgotten when Mrs. Suh shouted down from the top of the stairs that she needed a Chinese speaker.

There was no way she was getting Sicheng and YangYang without everyone else, making the cafe a lot more crowded than it needed to be at the moment. Asking what they were needed for wasn't even necessary, and the two headed over to the scene that was unfolding.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Sicheng asked the older woman and what looked like her two grandsons. Both of which looked like were having panic attacks while she tried scolding them to stop.

"We're just fine. Thank you, dear. They're just overreacting." The lady's words and smile were enough to convince YangYang they weren't needed, and Sicheng grabbed his shirt to stop him from leaving.

"Would it be alright if they hung out with me and my friends? Just so you can talk with your friends peacefully." The lady looked to her other old woman friends who were simply sipping their tea, and she gave Sicheng another sweet smile.

"That would be lovely, dear. Why don't you boys go play with these young fellows." She pushed her grandchildren towards Sicheng and YangYang, making the younger of the two boys panic even more while the older seemed to calm down.

"My name's Sicheng, and this is YangYang. We can head down to the basement if you want, it's a lot less crowded down there." The older of the boys nodded, picking up the younger when he tried to protest.

They followed the two down to the basement with everyone else trailing behind, the silent protests of the younger one now becoming kicking as he tried to escape. The boys casually resumed their usual places on the beds or crates, Johnny and Jungwoo now back after getting the burnt one lotion.

"Is he okay?" Jeno whispered to Mark, and the older of the two shrugged.

"Lion!" Jungwoo ran over to Yuta when he reached the bottom of the stairs, dragging him over to the rest of the group before he could comprehend what was going on.

"Oh cool, we're all here. So, are you guys alright? Did something happen?" Before Sicheng could even begin to translate what Jaehyun had asked, the older kid answered the best he could.

"Granny yells when Lele panics and then I panic and there was people looking... thank you."

"Why was he panicking?" It was more like 'why is he still panicking,' but Yuta wasn't about to correct himself.

The older paused, thinking his answer through.

"When we do things that are fun... can you translate for me?" Sicheng nodded. "His mom taught him it's rude to have fun when people around the world are suffering, which is part of the reason why he lives with Granny and I. So when he thinks anything will be remotely fun, he protests and freaks out. Which is what he's doing now." He sighed as he struggled to keep his cousin from bolting off while Sicheng translated for everyone else in the room.

"Does he know Korean?" 

"Sort of."

"Well, welcome to our cult. I'm Haechan, the sunshine of everyone's lives, and this is everyone else." Mark smacked the back of his head as Sicheng protested that it wasn't a cult.

"My parents own the cafe and this is technically my room, but through a series of events that no one can properly explain without killing your brain cells we all ended up here and have a no honorifics pact and a brotherhood pact. And I'm Johnny." The rest of the boys quickly introduced themselves, the youngest of their new friends now distracted by Jeno's glasses.

"There's a lot of you guys. I'm Kun and this is my cousin Chenle."

"Want to be friends?" Kun looked down at Chenle and shrugged.

"Sure."