[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

I Will Survive

The only thing that could be heard in the basement was Yuta singing I Will Survive on loop for the past thirty minutes. His voice was starting to get hoarse and he was emotionally spent, but he wasn't about to experiment and see what would happen if he turned it off. After all, curiosity killed the cat.

"Should we be worried?" Taeil whispered to Taeyong, his eyes not leaving Yuta.

"He'll wear himself out soon, then we'll ask."

But before he even got the chance to crash, WinWin turned off the music and grabbed Yuta's shoulders, looking him in the eye.

"Now is when you stop."

Yuta just froze, staring at WinWin blankly. They stayed like that until WinWin's gaze softened and Yuta took a deep breath.

"I'm okay. I'm done."

Taeil and Taeyong just watched them, unsure of what was happening. Neither of them moved and Taeil was surprised WinWin hadn't let go by now.

Just as Yuta had been afraid of, tears started pricking his eyes. He tried blinking them away before they could do much more than that, and it worked until WinWin pulled him into a hug, looking towards Taeyong for help.

"Who turned the music off? I was jamming." Lucas asked, coming down the stairs. He stopped and went back upstairs when Taeil glared at him.

"Emotions are so stupid. This is so dumb." Yuta muttered, mentally willing his tears to stop.

"What happened?"

Yuta took a deep breath and removed himself from WinWin's arms, knowing the younger was uncomfortable, and wiped his eyes.

"I was just wandering around the streets, avoiding work and life, and out of nowhere my parents showed up. And I froze. They recognized me, of course, and we started talking," he trailed off, not knowing how much he wanted to admit.

"And?" WinWin prompted.

"And I realized how much I miss them and want them to take me back. Which is dumb because I'm 18 and I'm not a child anymore."

"So you came here and started playing I Will Survive?" Taeil raised an eyebrow, Taeyong kicking him in return.

"They told me I needed a haircut. What else was I supposed to do?"

He wiped harshly at his eyes again, WinWin handing him a tissue instead.

"It's not dumb to miss your parents. They're your parents. That's how it works." Taeyong got up and hugged him, not letting him go even if he didn't want the hug right now. He was getting one no matter what.

"I'm sorry, I manifested this yesterday walking home with Shotaro." YangYang spoke up, catching them all off guard.

"When'd you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time, just under the bed because I was going to scare Haechan. Then you guys started being all serious and I didn't think I should come out and leave." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, not sure what to do now. "Sorry about the whole manifesting thing."

Yuta laughed a little. "You're fine. I'll get over it."

"I think you mean you're going to survive." Taeil smiled cheekily, waiting for some sort of reaction that never came.

"Can I put my song back on?" Yuta gave WinWin the most pleading eyes he could, the younger sighing.

"Fine, but I'm finding somewhere else to go if it gets annoying again."

I Will Survive was almost instantaneously playing again, WinWin heading up to the cafe after five minutes to see what he could help with. As Taeyong had anticipated, Yuta did crash after another twenty minutes of the song on loop, falling asleep with Leon even though it wasn't even four in the afternoon.