[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Angry Baking

Kun can cook, we all know that. He's pretty good at it, and he enjoys it. Baking, however, you could almost never find him doing that unless he was asked to for the cafe.

So when Xiaojun came upstairs to get a drink and saw him stirring up filling for cupcakes that were in the oven, he silently backed out and went straight to Chenle.

"Did something happen to Kun today?"

Chenle didn't look bothered by this question, shrugging and not looking up from the game he was playing.

"I don't know, he's been weird since he answered the phone at Granny's this morning. Why?"

"He's baking."

Chenle jolted up and ran straight to the kitchen, walking in on his cousin letting a cupboard slam shut and then wince and check to make sure it was okay. Fancy cupcakes were a lot more serious than a batch of cookies.

"What's going on?"

Kun's back remained turned to him as he threw in sugar. He tried to do it a lot less violently than he wanted to, wanting to remain inconspicuous. 

"Nothing. Just making cupcakes for the cafe."

"I thought you told me not to lie."

"Can't I just make cupcakes?!"

As soon as Kun snapped he knew he shouldn't have. Not at Chenle.

"Fine, make your cupcakes. Sorry I asked." He muttered in Chinese, leaving the kitchen and storming back down to the basement.

Kun knew better than to go after him now, especially after years of pointless bickering between them. Instead he rested his forehead against the cupboard and sighed, slamming his fist against the counter.

Xiaojun had already found the oldest cult member that wasn't working and would be decent at working this out and told them Kun was baking, so Ten was going up the stairs as Chenle was storming down. He let Kun collect his thoughts for a minute, only announcing his position when he picked his head up from the cupboard.

"What flavor?"

Kun jumped at the sudden voice, almost spilling the shortening he had in his hand.

"What?" He tried not to sound annoyed and stressed, but even if he had Ten wouldn't have cared.

"The cupcakes. What flavor?"

"Dark chocolate with a cherry filling and buttercream frosting."

Ten jumped onto one of the counters he knew where he would end up being in Kun's way. "Sounds fancy. They for the cafe?"

"Yeah, if I was thinking I wouldn't have made the filling with fruit. Sorry."

"That's fine."

Ten remained on the counter, watching Kun work on the cupcakes in silence. He occasionally had to move out of the way for something, but that was the point. This way he couldn't forget he was there.

The thing is Ten knew that Kun wouldn't be able to keep silent forever. Eventually he'd spill what was bothering him, especially since none of the younger kids were around. Xiaojun was standing guard at the bottom of the stairs to make sure of that.

He took a lot longer than he expected before he said anything, and when he did it caught Ten off guard.

"Chenle's Mom called."

Ten wanted to get defensive and be outraged, but he stayed calm.

"Today?"

"This morning."

"What'd she want?"

Kun sighed, taking a moment to respond. He was using the mental excuse of being too focused on frosting the cupcakes, but they both knew he was stalling.

"She wants to see Chenle again."

"Like just see him? Or does she want him to live with her again?"

"Her job is apparently transferring her to Korea, so she wants him to live with her. When I told Granny she just sighed. She's old and wants to stop fighting with her. It's like she doesn't remember why she fought to get Chenle with her in the first place."

Ten could barely restrain from freaking out now. This was exactly what he was hoping Kun wouldn't say.

"You didn't tell him yet, did you."

"What am I supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, by the way Chenle, your mentally abusive Mom called. She wants you to come live with her now.' There's no way I'm handing him back over to her!"

"His Mom what?!"

Renjun stood fuming at the kitchen doorway, having only heard the last two sentences.

"Xiaojun!" Ten shouted.

"Sorry! He said he was going to use my pants as a bathroom if I didn't let him go!"

"There's no way he's going back to her! She's insane!"

"Ren, calm down. There's not much we can do." Kun held up an empty hand as if it would do something.

"Don't tell me to calm down if you're making cupcakes!"

"If you don't stop shouting we're going to have everyone up here and upset." Ten warned, so Renjun took a deep breath.

"I'm still not going to let her fill his head with lies again."

"There's not much we can do if she locks him in his room like she used to. The court already wouldn't take away her custody when Granny tried years ago." Kun reasoned, trying not to think about how his cupcakes were probably going to be ruined if he ignored them much longer.

Renjun crossed his arms, his face completely serious.

"Well she's going to have to fight me to get him."