[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Interrogater Mork

The boys were still in the basement, deciding it was better to stay down there instead of going back out into the sun, and they had gotten bored of the game they were playing. Which was a mix of pirates and princesses, zombie invaders and Jungwoo acting as a prison by hugging people at random. No one was sure how it was worked out, but it did until it didn't.

Meaning they were all lying on the floor and waiting to know when and what dinner was.

"So... where are you from?"

"Japan, but I've lived here for two years."

"Cool! I'm from Canada. What school do you go to?"

"The one he doesn't." Yuta jabbed his thumb in the direction he thought Johnny was in.

"Are your parents nice?"

"Mark, you can't just interrogate people." Johnny scolded, not wanting their new friend to leave because they prodded too much.

YangYang scrunched his nose, tilting his head to look at Johnny. "What's that mean?"

"Extreme questioning." Jaehyun answered instead, and YangYang nodded with his mouth forming an 'o'.

"Are they, though?" 

This time it was Sicheng asking the question instead of Mark. After learning that what his parents did wasn't exactly normal, he had been starting to pay attention to how the other boys' parents acted. So far his favorites were Johnny's.

"Yeah, they're nice. I live by the candy shop a street over and they let me watch lots of anime."

It wasn't a whole lie, but it wasn't the whole truth. A year ago he had spent practically the entire summer watching anime as his protest for moving from Japan, and his parents decided that wasn't going to continue. So they did something similar to Mark and Jaehyun's parents and told him to come back when he gained responsibility.

The living by the candy shop wasn't a lie since he did technically live near there, it was just in an alley way next to it. It was the only place no one kicked him out of, and the kids at school love it when you say you live near there. That was just based on the rumor that everyone who lived next to the candy shop got free sweets.

He wasn't about to share that with any of them now, though.

"That's where I recognize you from! I've seen you walking around there before! Aren't you that kid that-"

"Nope. Not me." Sicheng frowned when he was cut off, but he was the only one who found it suspicious.

Despite everything he learned from his parents, but using everything he's learned from Jungwoo, Sicheng slowly slid closer to Yuta and rested his hand on his arm. He knew it would be more effective to give him a hug, but that was suspicious behavior and outside his comfort zone.

"So how did you all meet?" Yuta noticed right off the bat that they were an odd group of people. A group of eight kids was rarely ever seen just hanging out together, and they were clearly not brothers. They just were such a clash of personalities that anyone would wonder how they met.

"Johnny kidnapped Haechan, Jeno and I."

"Yeah, but Haechan was going to fight some guys and I had a kitty."

"Jaehyun found me a few days ago when I was sick."

"Jungwoo followed Jaehyun here."

"My mom sent me here to be responsible."

"My mom did too, but because my parents are trying to work out their marriage."

"And I actually live here." Johnny finished, but that was a lot for anyone to remember. It was also very chaotic.

Yuta just nodded, trying to remember the most of whatever he just heard that he could. If he was going to stick around, he might as well know something about them that they already knew about each other.

"Lion?" Jungwoo frowned when Yuta only looked at him, but Jeno caught on to what he was trying.

"He wants you to roar."

"Lion?"

"Rawr." Jungwoo then smiled at his cute reaction, standing up from the floor and going up the stairs without saying anything else.

They decided to just leave him be, getting used to his lack of response. Mark sat up on the floor, looking around the room until he saw who he was searching for.

"Oh you are here, Haechan."

"Rude." He answered sleepily, his eyes closed as he drifted in an out of sleep while they talked.

"You're normally loud."

"I'm just tired." Johnny then pulled Haechan closer to him, letting him use his arm as a pillow.

When Jungwoo came back from getting water upstairs, he thought they had started a cuddle party without him and went straight to Mark, practically laying on the younger with his chin rested on his shoulder.

"Not a cuddle party, Woo." YangYang informed him, but Jaehyun was having none of that.

"Now it is." Jaehyun then chased YangYang around the basement until he caught him, making him stay like that until it was dinner time.