[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

They've Totally Got This

Johnny, Jaehyun, Yuta, Mark, Doyoung, and YangYang (the new usual crew since they all hated Doyoung sleeping in all that smoke) were peacefully sleeping in the basement when Mrs. Suh came down. She stepped over the two that didn't live there, making her way next to Mark so she could gently wake him up.

"Mark, wake up sweetie." She shook him lightly, smiling when he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Mornin'"

She then poked Johnny's cheek to give him a slight warning. "Alright! Everybody up!" She clapped her hands loudly. "Mr. Suh and I are leaving for the day, so you're running the cafe. It opens in an hour, and when we come back at night I want it still in one piece!"

"Why are you leaving?" Jaehyun mumbled, rolling onto his stomach and putting his pillow over his ears to block her out. It was too early for this.

"It's their anniversary." YangYang said before she could, and she bent down to kiss his head.

"I'm glad someone pays attention." She went back over to the stairs, the boys just now noticing that she was completely dressed and ready to go. They really were going out for the whole day.

"One hour!"

That at the least got Johnny up, and he looked over at Yuta who managed to sleep through all of that and Jaehyun who had simply fallen asleep again. Mark had his hands over his face, blocking out the light his aunt had turned on, and YangYang looked like he was going to go back to sleep. Doyoung was the only other one fully awake, already folding up his blanket and sleeping bag from the night.

"Come on, we gotta get up. We have work to do." 

On his way to the dresser, Johnny hit each of them to wake them up. Whether it was on the head or somewhere else, he wasn't concerned. He just threw on a decent shirt and pair of pants, throwing something along those lines at everyone else.

Yuta was still sleeping even through everyone mumbling as they changed out of their pajamas and started heading upstairs. Jaehyun had even gotten out of bed before him.

"Yuta~" Mark sang, throwing himself on the older.

"Mark~" He whined back, not even bothering to open his eyes.

So Mark dragged his out of the sheets when he tried to pull him into a cuddle prison, Yuta only catching himself when he was just about to fall to the floor. Satisfied with his work, Mark headed upstairs to eat and help out the others with getting the cafe ready to open.

"I'll do the baked goods. Jaehyun, you're on coffee with Doyoung. You'll have to teach him. YangYang and Mark, you're in charge of the counter." Johnny instructed, bringing out the pastries that had been left over from yesterday and put in the freezer.

"What am I doing?" Yuta asked, coming up the stairs with his hair an absolute mess.

"You're on table clean up and taking orders to customers outside."

The morning was hectic, like it always was on a Saturday. Except now they didn't have the parents to help them. When their other friends started trickling in, they either took over the counter to give Mark and YangYang a break, or they helped out Yuta.

It was a cafe run by kids for the day, and they were acing it.

After the lunch rush, Johnny let most of them off the hook to go do whatever, and pretty soon it ended up being just him and Taeyong running the place. Both of them looking completely exhausted.

"You don't have to stay up here. I've got it."

"I know, but it's sitting here, getting wrapped up in a crazy game with them downstairs, or helping Kun, Doyoung and WinWin with dinner. I like my odds of living right now." Taeyong took a seat on one of the stools, almost sighing in relief.

The bell above the door rang and Johnny got up to get it, Taeyong's view of the customer blocked by a display case.

"Can I have a venti iced americano, no water and four espresso shots?"

Johnny's eyes widened at the order from the kid, especially since it was around six in the evening. Taeyong knew it all too well, though.

"It's too late for that, Jaemin. Don't you even dare."

The kid peeked around the corner at the familiar voice, smiling when he saw Taeyong.

"Don't let him drink that."

Johnny refrained from starting to make it, now very confused. He was told never to refuse a customer unless they were being extremely rude. He was pretty sure this didn't count as that.

"Whatcha doing here, hyung?"

"Helping a friend. What are you doing?"

"Trying to get my coffee." The younger narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'm not letting you stay up all night on that."

"So you two know each other?" Johnny asked for clarification, still confused on whether or not he was making the americano from hell.

"He's the kid I volunteer with sometimes." The pink hair suddenly rang a bell in Johnny's mind, and he nodded.

"If you won't let me have my coffee, what will you let me do?"

"For starters YangYang was upset you two couldn't hang out longer in gym, so you could see him." Jaemin tilted his head, scrunching his eyebrows.

"You know him?"

"He practically lives here. He's in the basement." Johnny pointed to the basement door, and Jaemin took another glance at Taeyong to make sure he wasn't going to get killed.

"Warning: there's a lot of kids down there."

But Taeyong's warning did nothing to prepare Jaemin for what he got.