[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Lion on the Loose

Weekends are always the highlight of any kids school week. Barely any homework, if they were lucky, and two whole days to sleep in. The perfect time to hang out with friends around the city before it started getting cold. Which is why this was the cafe's busy season.

The cousins had gotten up early to start helping, and had been behind the counter for a couple hours when Sicheng and Jungwoo came in. Jungwoo had been just walking down the streets and was pondering whether or not to go to the cafe when he ran into Sicheng.

"Where's the little ones?" Johnny asked when they came around behind the counter, and Jungwoo shrugged.

"Haechan's stuck with his family for the day because it's his brother's birthday, and Jeno had something to do. Not sure about YangYang." Sicheng reported, though he was just repeating what they had said the night before.

"You boys want to help?" Mrs. Suh asked, opening the oven to take out the tarts Mark had helped her with.

They weren't sure how to help, but they put on aprons regardless and ended up taking orders to the customers who were at the outside tables, sticking right next to each other even if it wasn't the most efficient way to help. The customers had always found Johnny helping to be adorable, so now that there were more kids they loved it.

YangYang came in around noon, his eyes still looking tired as he fumbled to put on an apron without asking. He helped out behind the counter with the register, giving Mark a break to help with pastries.

"Did you just wake up?" Jaehyun teased, fixing the seven year olds hair for him.

"Maybe." 

He woke up a lot faster working at the register, smiling to each of the customers and repeating the orders to Johnny and Mrs. Suh so they could get them ready. They were an effective team, but it was a good thing Jeno and Haechan weren't there because that would've just been chaos.

"Once the lunch rush calms down, you boys can go play." And luckily for them that didn't end up being much longer.

The two adults took over running the cafe for the rest of the day and the kids hung up their aprons, deciding to head to the park to play a game of basketball. They raced each other there (Johnny won), and they started up a game on one of the empty courts. It was three on three, and Jaehyun was the only one who truly knew how to play properly, but it was fun.

Until Jungwoo saw something across the park and stared at it, standing completely still in the middle of their game.

"What's up, Woo?" Jaehyun asked, standing next to him with the ball tucked under his arm. There were too many people hanging out in the park to truly know what he was looking at, but he also wasn't expecting an actual answer.

"Lion!"

"There's a lion! Where?" YangYang ran over to stand next to Jungwoo, trying to think of where a lion would hide when he couldn't see it right away. But people would be running and screaming if they saw an actual lion.

"No!" Jungwoo half whined, running over to a kid who looked like he was trying to take some random lady's fries she had set next to her.

"Jungwoo! You can't just run up to people!" Johnny scolded, running after him with the rest of their group following behind. That didn't stop Jungwoo from putting the kid in a hug prison, stopping him from taking the lady's fries. It was easy to see why he had called him a lion with his long hair being tangled and poofy.

Jungwoo started walking away from the lady who was looking at the kids skeptically, taking the "lion" with him. He looked pretty pleased with himself, but the poor kid didn't look too happy.

"Now what am I going to eat?" The kid whined once they were out of ear shot of the lady, and Mark tossed him a pack of gummies.

"They're better than fries any day."

"Where did you get gummies?" YangYang and Johnny asked at the same time.

"Auntie, but she told me not to say anything because they're from a secret stash."

Jungwoo loosened his grip on the kid just enough to let him properly eat the gummies, but he was still hanging onto him pretty tight.

"Do you two know each other?" Both Jungwoo and the kid shook their heads at Jaehyun, and Johnny sighed.

"You can't just steal people you don't know."

"Oh so now it's not okay to do that?" YangYang narrowed his eyes at Johnny, and the taller just pushed him away gently.

"You should probably let him go now, Woo." He shook his head frantically, and Mark tugged on Johnny's shirt.

"One more for the cult?"

"It's not a cult!" Sicheng whined, and the kid's eyes widened when he noticed him.

"Cute."

"What my cousin is asking is would you like to hang out with us? We could get you some actual food to eat." Johnny offered, and the kid shrugged, popping the last gummy in his mouth.

"Sure."

The group left the park with Jungwoo still clinging onto the kid, and they brought him back to the cafe. Johnny and Jaehyun went upstairs to make him a sandwich and bring down snacks for everyone else while the other kids claimed their usual spots on the beds to sit.

"Guess who's finally free!" Haechan yelled, running down the stairs with Jeno behind him. He threw himself on Jaehyun's bed, putting an arm around Mark just to have it pushed off. "Oh cool, new person. I'm Haechan, the only light you will ever need in your life, and that's Jeno." Jaehyun scoffed as he came down to the basement, Johnny behind him as they started throwing snacks at everyone.

"So, name and birthday." Mark demanded, ready to get up and write it on the whiteboard.

"Lion!"

"It's Yuta, but that works too."