[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Stranger Danger

Jaemin hesitantly went down the basement stairs like Taeyong had told him to, curious as to all the shouting and taunts that were being thrown around. His eyes widened when he saw a pile of kids, all in a tangle of limbs on a Twister mat. Except for the one that was sitting off on one of the beds watching them.

"String danger! String danger!" Chenle screeched as soon as he noticed Jaemin standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where's the string?" Hendery asked, trying to look around for it through the mess of people.

"No! There!" Chenle pointed in the direction of Jaemin, and they all followed his gaze.

"Oh, you mean stranger danger." Jaehyun corrected him, but then he lost his balance craning his neck like that and crashed to the ground, bringing everyone but Jungwoo down with him.

"Jaemin!" YangYang exclaimed, recognizing his pink hair more than anything. It was just an easy thing to pinpoint.

"Is this the kid you were talking about?" Haechan asked, YangYang excitedly nodding in return.

"Wait, which kid? The one that asked if you were old enough to do proper math or the badminton one?" Yuta questioned, not yet being able to see Jaemin since Jungwoo was still in his Twister position.

"Badminton."

"Oh you are Nana?!"

Jaemin just nodded, unsure of how to act with all of these people. He ended up just watching them attempt to get out of their pile on the floor, Jungwoo still managing to hold his position.

"We get it. You won." Jeno poked him and the older ever so slowly fell to the ground, laying all over the Twister mat.

"Are Johnny and Taeyong still working?" Asked Mark.

"Not sure who Johnny is, but Taeyong hyung's working."

It was a simple answer to a simple question, yet it caught the kids off guard. Even Jungwoo sat up and looked at him, making the poor kid uncomfortable until the silence was broken.

"Woah."

"He used honorifics."

"A lot of people do. That's why they're in our language." Jaehyun reminded them all.

Without warning Jungwoo was instantly hugging Jaemin. "I like this one."

"Kids! Dinner!" Kun yelled down the stairs, and Jungwoo moved Jaemin off the stairs before the others trampled him in their race to see who could get to the kitchen the fastest.

"Where'd you come from?" Doyoung asked once he saw Jungwoo clinging to Jaemin.

"The storks."

"This is the Nana from the badminton story."

"It's a good thing WinWin messed up and put in too many noodles. Welcome to the family." Kun gave him a smile, and Jungwoo only let go so they could start getting their food.

"Where's your parents?"

"Connecticut."

"China."

"Canada."

"Probably Japan."

Doyoung just sighed. "Johnny's parents own this place, and they've been out all day for their anniversary. The rest of us just chill here."

"Is Johnny getting his butt up here or not? He said I couldn't cook without burning the house down, so now he owes me a candy bar." WinWin commented, and Kun sighed. 

"He better. We're trying to have a nice family dinner with our new adopted son."

"If the parents start arguing, just go with it. It's normal." Jeno whispered to Jaemin, and Jaehyun handed him a bowl since they ran out of plates.

"Nana! Don't let me forget to put your birthday on the board!" Mark yelled out across the room.

"Johnny! Taeyong! Dinner!" Kun shouted down the stairs, but he checked to see if anyone was in the cafe first just so they didn't make a scene.

"We'll eat later! We're working!"

"If you guys divorce, can I stay with Johnny?" Haechan asked, earning himself a smack on the back of the head from Doyoung.

"Are you going to deny our new son a family dinner as his first?!"

"We adopted Jaemin?!" Taeyong piped up, not having expected this when all he did was tell him to say hi to YangYang.

"Yes we adopted Jaemin!"

"This is really normal?" Jaemin whispered back to Jeno.

"Sort of. It's a new thing."

"You're setting a bad example for the kids! How are they supposed to learn family is more important than money if you keep working all the time?!" Doyoung added in.

"Someone has to make money to feed all eleven of them!" Johnny shouted back.

"Eleven?" This was a whole new world to Jaemin.

"Johnny and Doyoung are our dads, Kun and Taeyong are our moms. Jaehyun's the step dad. They fight over who has custody of each of us a lot, but they really only argue over WinWin, Jungwoo and Chenle. They have favorites."

"I heard that, Mark! We love you all equally." Kun gave him a smile, but Haechan scoffed.

"Why don't you act like it?"

"And some days we're brothers. It's better not to ask." Mark finished explaining. Jaemin still wasn't even sure what all of their names were yet.

A few more shouts were exchanged between the two levels of the building, including threats to go get some milk or sleeping on the couch. It was all harmless though, and Johnny and Taeyong did come upstairs to eat dinner with them all.

They never planned on missing it anyways.