[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Doyoung's Friend

"So does anyone else have friends outside of us? Besides Johnny." Jeno asked, genuinely curious because no one talked about them if they did.

"No, I float around."

"Same." Apparently almost everyone in the room was in agreement.

"I have a friend."

"The bunny speaks! Spill! We need more members for our cult!" Haechan laid down on his stomach on Mark's bed, propping his chin up on his hands. He winced when Sicheng reached over and flicked his ear.

"Not a cult."

"His name's Taeyong. He should be in your grade." Doyoung nodded towards Yuta.

"Oh yeah, I know him. He teases me about how I need a haircut sometimes."

"He sounds like fun."

"Wait. So that's it? As a group we only have two people we consider friends outside of us? That's kind of sad."

"We're little, so shush." YangYang chirped back at Johnny.

"I have friends in Connecticut." Jaehyun added, raising his hand to cut off Mark who only opened his mouth. "Don't you dare mention your dog as a friend."

"I was going to say my marching band."

"So are we finding Doyoung's friend or not?" Haechan asked, looking like he was ready to get out and do something.

"Why are we doing this?" The boys just shrugged at Kun's question.

"Because we're bored. You don't have anything to go to, right?" Kun shook his head. "Guess we're going then. How are we going to find him?" Johnny asked, and the boys started standing up to go. Sicheng shared what they were doing with Chenle, but Doyoung was just staring at them.

"Do I get a say in this?"

"Absolutely! Not. We want to meet your friend, and there's not much else to do." Jeno grabbed his hand and pulled him up, noticing how he still smelled like smoke.

"Let's go find Taeyong!"

So the boys set out into the city, joking around with each other and talking as they followed Doyoung around to different spots. When asked why he hadn't been hanging out with Taeyong, Doyoung just gave Jeno a pointed look, but he actually had been busy with school activities, leaving Doyoung alone.

"Are you sure he's not home?" YangYang whined, now wanting to just find Taeyong and go back to the cafe after walking around for awhile.

"He's never home. His Mom smokes too and he hates the smell that's still there after she left him and his Dad."

"Pirate!" Chenle called out, running off the sidewalk and into the park ahead of everyone.

"Lele! Get back here!" Kun went running off after him, so naturally everyone followed.

"A pirate!" Jungwoo called out, and for a second the Chinese speakers actually thought he understood.

"You can't just run off." Kun scolded, taking Chenle's hand so he couldn't run again. "Sorry."

"No problem." The non-pirate answered.

Three kids were with two dogs, a papillon and a beagle, one of the kids was crouched down to pet the two. The other two kids were standing, one with a leash for the papillon and one with an eyepatch.

"Oh, hey Taeyong!"

"You're friends with a pirate?" Mark whispered, Doyoung shaking his head in response.

"No, I don't know who that kid is."

"Are these the new friends you were telling me about?" Asked the supposed Taeyong.

"Yeah, they wanted to meet you, so we've been walking around to find you." Doyoung then introduced them all very quickly, the majority of everyone now very focused on petting and loving the dogs.

"What are their names?" Mark asked, not looking up from the beagle he was petting.

"Ruby and Bella. Ruby's mine." Taeyong pointed to the papillon. "These two are Hendery and Lucas. That's all I know, though, since they just came over and started petting Ruby."

"Want to join our cult?" Sicheng flicked Haechan again. "Stop doing that!"

"Stop calling it a cult! My Mom would kill me!"

"Is she here?!"

"We're leaving you two here if you continue." Johnny threatened, shutting them up for the time being.

"I'd love to hang out with you guys if Ruby can come."

"And Bella?" Lucas asked, finally speaking up.

"Sure, we'll just go in the back door."

"What's with the eye patch?" YangYang abruptly asked, and the boys all looked at him like he was crazy. Sure, they wanted to know, but they weren't going to ask.

"I got into a fight with a massive bear. I'm lucky I only lost my eye." Hendery had them all fooled, but Lucas just scoffed.

"His older brother is the worst human ever. He threw a frog at Hen in the middle of a store, and he ran into the corner of one of those metal racks. It was very messy."

"Oh geez. For real?"

"Yeah, I'd show you, but it's gross. And I'm not allowed to take this off."

"So you two know each other then?" Jaehyun asked just to change the topic.

"Our Dad's are brothers." They both answered at the same time.

Lucas and Hendery continued to share a multitude of stories about all sorts of adventures they had had together, and it was obvious they were going to have to stick around. They also had a dog, and that was double the reason to keep them. Same with Taeyong.

"If you're putting them on the board, you have to add Doyoung too." Jeno mentioned as soon as Mark picked up the marker, and he only hesitated for a second.

"Fine. I guess he can be on here too."