[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Ping Pong In Secret

When those in the elementary schools went to lunch, they immediately found each other and sat together. That's just how it worked. Why would it be any other way when they spend all of their time out of school together?

That's not how it worked for those in the middle school, though. At least not for Taeyong, Taeil, Yuta and Doyoung.

The four of them had already had a group of friends, or at least a group they could hang out with, before the had been abducted into the cult. Doyoung had a crew he played card games with in the middle of the cafeteria, none of which he would ever bring to the cafe for multiple reasons, Taeyong floated between the different clubs and tutoring kids, Taeil was wrapped up in either an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game or playing Magic, and Yuta sat in a corner doodling on a piece of paper that was always supposed to have something along the lines of a logical answer on it. There was another kid who sat with him, but they never talked.

So when Taeyong walked across the cafeteria and sat down next to Yuta, that was new. If this was a cliché teenage movie, people would've either gasped or started singing about keeping the status quo.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Not much, just wanted to say hi."

The kid at Yuta's table didn't even look up from their book.

Taeyong leaned over to look at what Yuta was drawing, noticing they looked like what he had drawn on the whiteboard.

"They're characters from my favorite anime. The one I binge watched all summer and got kicked out of the house for." He whispered, knowing Taeyong had been about to ask.

"You're pretty good."

Yuta shrugged. "Eh."

"So my dad set up a ping pong net on our kitchen table last night. Want to play with me after school? I'd invite everyone over but it's a two person game and I promised my dad I wouldn't break anything while playing." Taeyong shifted in his seat, feeling strange trying to sneak around.

"Sure. Sounds fun."

Yuta had zero idea how to play ping pong, but he wasn't about to turn Taeyong down. Especially if he was asking him out of all his other choices. And he certainly had a lot.

Yuta had just been within the closest walking distance from where Taeyong was sitting.

"Awesome. See ya."

Taeyong then placed a hand on Yuta's back before he left, going back to the kid he was helping with an essay. The kid across from Yuta looked up for the first time with a half smirk.

"Didn't know you had friends."

"He's my brother."

"Didn't know you had a brother."

"Oh I don't actually."

That shut the other kid up for the rest of the lunch period. He was too confused to question him further.

Yuta and Taeyong broke away from the others before they reached the cafe, slipping away from the back of the group so they wouldn't be noticed. It would most certainly result in a search party going out for them later, but for now it would work.

As promised, a ping pong net was set up across the middle of their kitchen table, two paddles and a ping pong ball sitting on the table like they had just been used. Taeyong and his Dad actually were playing before they had to go to school and work.

"You know how to play, right?"

"We'll go with that."

"Let's just rally then." Taeyong paused when he noticed Yuta's confused look. "Hitting it back and forth."

Yuta nodded and grabbed one of the paddles, heading to the other side of the table. It took a bit to get used to the force needed to get the ball over the net while still hitting the other side of the table and not blowing past it, but he got the hang of it.

The game eventually became intense enough to provoke screaming when something cool happened or for no reason in particular. The two of them were extremely into the rally, having applied spikes to the rhythm. 

"We should probably head to the cafe before someone notices we're not there." Taeyong pointed out, realizing they had been at his apartment for almost an hour now.

"Yeah, that was fun."

They grabbed their bags and left the apartment, locking it behind them. When they slipped down into the basement of the cafe, no one questioned it. So because they didn't notice they had been gone, they continued to play ping pong together after school.

The only reason they stopped a few days later was because they almost broke a picture frame.