[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Odds Are...

It was late at night and they were all sleeping over after their hike, all of them pretty quiet. None of them wanted to admit they were tired, so they laid cuddled up in silence until Taeil broke it.

"How long do you think we'll be friends?"

"Until we're adults."

"Forever."

"Two more months."

They all turned to Renjun with skeptical glares. Jaehyun's answer of until they were adults was reasonable, and Jisung's forever was adorable, but two months was oddly specific.

"Think about it. If Mark's parents really do come to Korea they'll want Mark to live with them because they have the whole sister rivalry. A lot of us really hate fighting, so if the rivalry were to get heated, especially since it's over Mark, we're all not going to want to hang around for that. It'll create tension and there's no other place for us all to go, so we'll end up splitting up. And if Sungchan and Shotaro's parents find out they're not studying, they'll never be allowed anywhere, so there's that. Odds are we've got two more months tops."

"You're depressing." Xiaojun complained, adjusting himself so he was laying across Renjun's lap. The tiny witch doctor was too tired to push him off, but he wasn't about to take back what he said.

"I think we'll last. At least until we're adults. We know too much about each other and we're too close not to." Jeno commented.

"I know barely anything about you guys." Sungchan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's because you've only been here a few days. In a bit you'll know more than you want." Ten reassured him, having been in the same position not too long ago.

"Let's make it easy on them, then. Why don't we all share how we got abducted into the cult and one other fact about us?" Johnny checked to see if he was going to get smacked by WinWin, but he was also too tired to care.

"That sounds like something an old person would say." Haechan complained, so Johnny made him go first.

It took a bit for them all to even remember how they ended up in the cafe and to come up with a fun fact about themselves, but they managed to get through everyone. Yuta translated for Shotaro the entire time even if he could understand some of what they were saying, and both Sungchan and Shotaro were forced to go too.

"I'm surprised the cops haven't been called on us at least once." Kun commented when they were done, especially considering how many kids had just been taken.

"We have an attack dolphin, no one would want to arrest us." Lucas decided, patting Chenle's head.

The room fell silent again, WinWin, Jisung, Jungwoo and Shotaro about to fall asleep. Taeyong wouldn't have said anything if he knew they were, but he didn't know so they were back to being just sleepy.

"You guys are honestly probably the best thing that's happened to me."

"Same. I'd still be on the streets and so would Ji." Yuta added in, running a hand through his hair.

"Joining a cult with twenty-three kids is the best thing that's happened to you guys?"

"Are you saying it's not the best thing that's happened to you?" Hendery fired back, and Doyoung sighed.

"No, it is."

"I don't know, Canada was pretty great."

"The door's right there." YangYang gestured towards the door and Mark pretended to get up to leave, but Chenle held him back.

Jaemin yawned. "If we stay up any later I'm going to need coffee."

"Yeah, let's call it a night."

Those who were sitting on the floor still got up to go to their beds, but Chenle had a better idea. Instead of using his words he started getting out the sleeping bags they hadn't touched in awhile and dumped them out onto the ground. Jisung understood what he was doing before anyone else, helping him set it all up.

"Lele, it's too late for this. We're going to bed." Kun scolded.

"I'm getting them ready."

"He wants to have a cuddle party, but we can't do that in our own beds." Jisung explained for him, to which Jungwoo immediately got up and started helping, throwing blankets and pillows onto the floor.

"I like cuddles." Shotaro whispered, something Yuta could only hear.

So Yuta made everyone else help get the sleeping bags ready on the floor, not caring if they didn't want to. If Shotaro liked cuddles, Shotaro was getting cuddles.

The twenty-three of them were soon situated on the floor, blankets being shared and cuddles being given. It was a jumble of limbs and bodies that WinWin decided to stay on the outskirts of. The only one that could've cuddled him was Lucas, but that probably wasn't going to happen.

"So if we only last two more months, at least we got one more cuddle party while we're little." Jungwoo noted with a smile, snuggling closer to Taeyong.

"We're not going to only be friends for two more months. The tiny witch doctor is just bitter." WinWin muttered.

"We'll see about that."

Once again, they were all about to fall asleep until someone ruined it by talking. This time being Ten.

"So who's going to turn off the light?"

I'm going to miss this, but I'm really excited for what comes next. I think you'll like it. Hopefully.