[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

First Day

Haechan carefully slipped sunglasses over his eyes, proud of the makeup job he had done but he didn't want his Mom to see. Not that she'd pay much attention to him as she helped his younger brothers get ready for school.

"I'm going now!" He yelled into the house, and a "bye loser" was all he got in return. That had been from his brother, but he sighed nonetheless as he slipped on his shoes and left the house.

He had tried getting up early enough to go to the cafe to see everyone before heading to school, but he hadn't been capable of doing that with their only bathroom being used for the majority of the morning. He was lucky he could even get out of the house on time and not have to walk his brothers to the school.

When he got into the classroom he kept his head down, refraining from greeting everyone he possibly could. His hopes were that if he kept to himself he'd be allowed to keep his sunglasses on, but that was very quickly learned that wasn't going to be the case.

"Donghyuck, sunglasses off." His teacher demanded, and he winced at the usage of his real name.

"But if I take them off everyone will be blinded by way the sunshine sparkles in my eyes. I'm just wearing them for everyone's protection-"

"Off. Now." The seven year old trudged his way up to her desk, slipping the glasses to the end of his nose to reveal the black eye he had tried to cover up with makeup. You could barely see it now, but the puffiness was what was giving it away

"Can I please keep them on?" His teacher sighed sympathetically, her eyes those of pity as she examined his face.

"Go ahead. I don't want you coming in with those on anymore, though." Haechan happily nodded, sliding his sunglasses back into place. He knew his teacher was going to be the easiest one to get to brush it off, and he was already dreading the lecture he knew was going to come.

...

"Nobody told me school was going to be this different from Canada!" Mark whisper shouted to Haechan and Jeno from the counter. "I didn't know half of what my teacher was telling me and- are you really going to keep those sunglasses on?" Haechan shrugged, but the action was missed when Mark turned back to the cupcakes he was helping his Aunt with.

Jaehyun had gone out to get some ingredients they were low on and Johnny was supposed to be coming back from school soon, so YangYang had stepped up to help the Suh's with the counter work. Haechan and Jeno were just sitting behind the counter by the aprons doing their homework on stools since they were the only ones to come home with it.

"I like them. They look cool." Jeno sent Haechan a knowing glance, having heard that excuse more times than he wanted to count.

Just then Johnny walked into the cafe, his backpack already in his hand and ready to be thrown to the ground after a long day. Haechan launched himself at the older, feeling soft but only for Johnny's hugs.

"How was your day?" His Mom asked from the counter, smiling at the sight of the two of them.

"Okay. A lot of lectures on rules so I was bored out of my mind." Johnny looked down at the child still attached to him. "Cool glasses."

"I know, right?"

Jeno groaned. "Stop telling people you're wearing them to be cool. I know that's not the reason."

"What's he talking about?" Haechan glared at Jeno, the other sensing it and sticking his tongue out in return even if his eyes were covered by the glasses.

"Later." Haechan then trudged his way back to the stool he had been sitting on, finishing up his homework while he continued to shoot glares at Jeno.

The boys hung out in the cafe with Johnny taking over the register for YangYang until Mark and Mrs. Suh finished the cupcakes and business had slowed down enough for only the adults to be necessary. They grabbed their things and relocated to the basement even though Jaehyun hadn't come back from the store and was probably lost in the streets, but they agreed not to go looking for him.

"Take the glasses off and show them." Jeno instructed as he threw himself on Mark's bed, sitting up when YangYang moved his legs off the bed so he could sit.

"Show us what?"

"The way the sun sparkles in my eyes." It was now Haechan's favorite explanation for wearing sunglasses, but Mark snatched them from his face.

"Who did that to you?!" Johnny reached forward and lightly brushed his thumb against his bruised eye, and Haechan leaned away from his touch. Jeno was now the only one not crowded around him.

"It's not even that bad. It's my fault for coming home late last night, I couldn't see and I ran into a wall."

"It's not that bad because you covered most of it with makeup."

"Can you stop?" Haechan fired back at Jeno, now fully capable of glaring at him for all of this exposure.

"They're our friends. I think they've earned our trust enough to know that the wall wasn't waiting for you to come home late and punish you."

"I thought you said they stopped..." YangYang sighed with his words, dipping his head down.

"Where else are you hurt?" Johnny's eyes searched him frantically for any other visible wounds.

"No where." Johnny gave him a pointed look like he didn't trust that. "For real."

"I will just have to hug you until you heal then." Mark opened his arms and Haechan joined him on Jaehyun's bed.

The five of them then insistently asked questions on what happened, but he only answered that it only happened when he got in trouble at school or he came back after nine. It wasn't the most reassuring thing to hear, but they stopped asking when they knew for sure that was all they were going to learn.

Instead they started complaining about school and joking around until Jaehyun finally came back and interrupted him, two kids acting as shadows behind him as he stood at the top of the stairs with a mix of a sheepish and tired smile.

"You're going to love this story."