[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Strawberries and Cigarettes

It had been around a month since they had added Kun and Chenle to their friend group, and Jeno was bored out of his mind. Somehow he had been the only one free after school, leaving him to sit at the back of the cafe as he watched the cousins work. They did try to keep him occupied when they had a second, but that wasn't really helping him.

Within that month, not much had changed. Other than Chenle learning more Korean and Sicheng bawling his eyes out at his birthday party.

Yuta and Sicheng's birthdays had turned into a three day event. They had a small celebration for Yuta, then a huge one for the both of them, and then another small one for Sicheng. Everyone pitched in on decorating the basement or distracting the birthday boys outside of the cafe, and Sicheng even accepted their hugs.

But now even all of that excitement was over, and Jeno was still bored.

"I'm going to take a walk." He got up from his stool and grabbed the bag of strawberries he had left over from his lunch and weaved his way out of the cafe.

It was cool enough outside to where he wished he had his jacket, but not to where he was going to turn back to get it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to do besides walk and nibble on his strawberries, so he headed to a park that was a little further than the one they normally went to, and tried to find a bench to sit on.

He had his choice between sitting next to the person that was smoking, or squeezing himself next to a couple that were making out. None of those seemed like good options in his mind, so he stood under a tree and watched the chipmunks hop around in the grass.

"Want to come sit with me?" 

Jeno looked away, trying to pretend like he didn't hear him.

"Hey kid! With the glasses and the cat socks! Want to come sit with me?"

Jeno looked down at his feet, and he was indeed wearing cat socks. Then, just to be sure, he made sure he was wearing his glasses. There was no way the guy that was smoking wasn't talking to him. Yet when he looked up it wasn't an adult like he was expecting, it was a kid. Not his age, that was for sure, but probably around Kun's.

"I don't bite."

Jeno shrugged and sat down next to him on the wooden bench, trying not to cough from the smoke. Instead he held his breath for as long of periods as he could without being suspicious.

"You looked lonely."

"Not lonely, bored." He wanted to reach into his bag and grab another strawberry, but he didn't want them contaminated by the smoke.

The kid nodded, taking another puff from his cigarette and blowing it out through partly closed lips.

"Why do you smoke?"

"My dad smokes and I like the smell, so I steal one on occasion from him." He paused. "You want to try?" He held it out to Jeno, so he shrugged and took it carefully between his fingers. Why not, right?

Wrong. As soon as the kid let go, Jeno bolted with the cigarette in his hand, going straight to the nearest section of sidewalk to stub it out. It wasn't like the kid could keep up with him to stop him, but when he caught up he was furious.

"What the hell?! Why would you do that?!" There were some extra words in that statement, but they were words that will not be repeated.

The kid continued to yell at Jeno, and he felt like crying. He had dropped his strawberries when he ran and he was too afraid to move to get the bag off the ground by the bench. So he stood there and took the verbal violence until the kid stormed off.

That didn't stop him from coming back to the park the next day and putting out his cigarette, continuing for a couple of days. Each day was the same outcome, except he didn't bring any strawberries with him because they weren't worth losing.

One day when he ran with the cigarette, having come up from behind the kid silently to take it, he couldn't stand the verbal abuse. It had been a particularly awful day, starting with his dad yelling at him for accidentally spilling milk, and someone at school had made a joke he didn't quite appreciate.

"Please just stop!" Jeno yelled out in the middle of the kid's outburst, catching him completely off guard. He was crying now, full on crying with tears everywhere, and he couldn't make them stop.

"Why do you even care?!" Again, more unrepeatable words were thrown in there.

"My grandparents died from smoking, okay?! I'm going to stop you if you won't stop yourself, so please! Stop! Yelling!"

The kid stopped completely and stood there uncomfortably. He was still mad over all the cigarettes that had been lost, but he also had no idea what to do with this crying seven year old in front of him.  

"Look. I'm not yelling anymore. Please just stop crying."

"And stop swearing."

"Why should I?"

"It makes you sound mean."

The kid froze again, debating between arguing with the kid more or awkwardly comforting him.

"What's going to stop you from crying? Candy? Anything? Work with me, kid."

Jeno sniffled. "If you stop smoking, and strawberries."

"Let's take you home. How's that sound?" Jeno nodded, taking the kid's hand and pulling him towards the cafe. He didn't need to hold his hand, but that wasn't stopping him and no one was protesting.

"What's your name?"

"Lee Jeno. What's yours?"

"Kim Doyoung."

"My brothers are going to kill you for making me cry." Jeno said with a laugh, wiping at his red eyes with his free hand.

And they almost did when Jeno came back to the cafe basement. The only thing that stopped them was Jeno saying he was fine with a mouthful of strawberries.