[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Training Again

Johnny carefully walked to Xiaojun's bed in the dark, almost tripping over Sungchan who was for some reason on the floor. That didn't look too comfortable.

He gently shook Xiaojun awake, just barely being able to see when he opened his eyes since he was on a top bunk.

"Five more minutes."

"Training time. Cafe opens in an hour and Taeil's already setting up with Jae."

Xiaojun groaned but sat up, smacking his head on the ceiling. He hissed and rubbed his head, messing up his already messy hair.

"I'll be up in a few minutes."

Johnny nodded, even though the room was pretty dark, and headed upstairs. He had woke Xiaojun after he had gotten dressed and ready himself, a struggle and a half considering Mark and Jungwoo were attached to him and he had to get out without waking them.

Just as he had said, Taeil and Jaehyun were helping the parents set up the cafe. Taeyong would be coming from his Dad's apartment soon with flyers for a local event to put on the windows, and some time before noon the kids that had slept at their actual homes would come in. So giving Xiaojun a run down of the cafe both before the cafe opened and before the other kids came would be the only peaceful opportunity they had.

Xiaojun came upstairs five minutes later, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. At least his hair was fixed, though.

"It's too early for this. Why does the cafe open so early?" He grumbled, and Jaehyun handed him a cup of coffee he accepted without thinking.

"Jaehyun! I thought we talked about giving the kids coffee!" Johnny scolded, but he didn't directly stop Xiaojun from drinking it.

"He's fourteen and he clearly needs it, relax. You were addicted at twelve."

"Eight." Mr. Suh corrected, having been the direct cause of Johnny's coffee addiction when the cafe opened because he needed someone to test the recipes. Mrs. Suh tried to put an end to that when Johnny wouldn't stop vibrating one night for hours.

"He'd wake up faster if you gave him something to do." Taeil recommended, smiling cheekily when Xiaojun glared at him over the rim of his coffee mug.

"Alright, you already know how to run the register, so I'll give you a run down of the pastry counter and the coffee machine."

Xiaojun did his best to pay attention to everything he was being taught, but it was definitely a lot more than he could memorize after just waking up. Johnny ended up allowing him to watch them work before the morning rush, then he was put on register. He was allowed to take over the pastry counter in the afternoon rush, doing less of the baking and more arranging the displays and bagging orders.

Haechan and YangYang had made it their personal goal to try and distract him the whole day, but all they really succeeded in doing was annoying Johnny until he let Xiaojun off for the day so Haechan and YangYang would leave with him.

It was safe to say that while Xiaojun did love the cafe, there was no way he was doing anything other than running the register. He was also almost banned from the kitchen like Yuta was when he tried creating new recipes with pringles.