[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

String Danger

Chenle was still bitter over Kun snapping at him, but he wasn't going to say anything. He was just going to continue about with his day being bitter and salty until he forgot about it. Except Chenle had a tendency to forget why he was holding a grudge pretty quickly, so when he returned to his Granny's house to grab a change of clothes for the night and check up on her, he was practically skipping into the house.

The house that used to seem like a punishment to him was now his second favorite place to be. The cafe would always be his favorite, but the old feeling of the house had a certain lovable charm to it.

Until he saw a woman he had almost forgotten about drinking tea with his Granny in the kitchen.

There were three things immediately wrong with the situation that he could place. One: Granny never drank tea in the kitchen, especially with visitors. She did that in the living room. Two: His Mom was sitting in his Granny's house. That in itself made the smile drip straight from Chenle's face as he straightened his posture. And three: They weren't fighting. Every memory he had that included both of them always had fighting involved.

"Come join us, we were just talking about you." His Granny motioned to the seat next to her, not meeting his eyes. She was a stickler for eye contact.

Chenle hesitantly took a seat, placing his hands neatly in his lap and lowering his eyes so they were trained on that table. Suddenly the way the sunlight glinted on the wood was very intriguing.

"What do you have with you?" 

Chenle jumped at the sound of his Mom's voice, having forgotten he brought a lemon scone from the cafe for his Granny. Her favorite.

"A lemon scone."

His voice was exactly as she taught him to speak. Monotone, but not rude. Short, yet proper. Nothing like how he sounded when she wasn't around.

"Oh that will go perfectly with the tea." 

His Granny took the paper bag he had set in front of him on the table, standing up to get a china dessert plate from the cupboard and a knife. Granny never ate her dessert with her tea. She said it ruined the flavor. 

Why was no one acting normal?

The three of them remained in silence as his Granny cut the scone in half, handing her daughter a plate. At least Chenle could still depend on her not ever wanting to share with him.

"Your Mother and I were discussing her move to Korea." Granny started, Chenle's eyes widening.

"You're moving?"

"My job gave me the opportunity to come here, so I took it. I thought you would like to live with me again."

Chenle refrained from meeting his Granny's eyes, knowing his Mom wouldn't like that. Just when he was finally doing great, participating in things with no hesitation, she just had to come ruin it.

"That sounds wonderful, but don't you think it's better for me to stay with Grandma? In case something happens to her."

"She has Kun."

It was now made very clear that Chenle had zero input in this situation. None. Nada. Ladies and gentleman, we got'em. Except he wasn't the one winning.

"Please excuse me, I need to use the bathroom."

He didn't even pretend like he was going to the bathroom, heading straight to the front door and leaving the house. His Granny would know where he was going for sure, he knew she wouldn't tell his Mom. Or at least he was hoping that was something he could still rely on.

Chenle ran right back to the cafe, just now noticing it must've been getting late. He hadn't looked at the time before he left, so the possibility of that being true was pretty high. All he knew was that Kun had finished his cupcakes a long time ago, but he still hadn't spoken to him after Kun snapped.

"That was fast. Everything okay?" Johnny asked, getting ready to close up the cafe for the night.

"No. Where's Kun?"

"He just left to go to your grandmas. I thought you were with him."

Chenle ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep and panicked breath. This would explain why he was making cupcakes. He knew he couldn't go back there. He'd just have to wait until Kun came to him.

"You okay?"

"No." 

Chenle's emotions betrayed him as his voice choked. Johnny opened his arms as an offering for a hug, and Chenle ran straight into them, burying his face in Johnny's chest.

"What's going on Lele? Hmm? Kun made cupcakes and your smile disappeared."

"String danger." He mumbled, making Johnny smile softly.

"Well in that case we need to protect you."

Johnny picked up Chenle without hesitation, heading down to the basement of chaos where they were trying to play Twister with as many people as they could fit onto the mat while also doing random rounds of rock paper scissors.

"We've got a string danger alert! Lele needs protection!" Johnny announced, causing everyone to fall to the floor.

"I'll get cupcakes and juice!" Mark shouted, running up the stairs while dragging Lucas up with him for help.

Johnny set Chenle down on Taeyong's bed, the furthest from the stairs, and Haechan immediately put his sunglasses on him as a disguise. Renjun surprisingly came over and took Chenle in his arms, and Jaehyun sat on the other side of him.

The others took their pillows and blankets and made a barrier using the bunkbeds so no one could get to them, waiting for Mark and Lucas to come back before they sealed it off. When the barrier was finished, the movie of Chenle's choice came out to distract him, and the cupcakes Kun had made were passed out to everyone along with apple juice.

"Where'd Hen go?" Chenle whispered to Jaehyun when he realized he was gone.

"Not sure. Jungwoo said he'd tell us when he gets back."

So they stayed in their circle around Chenle for the rest of the night, trading off on who got to cuddle him. Even if they had no idea why.

The spin-off book of Haechan's movie reviews/what happened afterwards is published! It's called Happy Never After