[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Stripped

Hendery sighed, one of the sighs where you could feel your soul leave your body. Yet he didn't even realize he had sighed until Jungwoo called him out for it.

"What's wrong?"

"Parents."

"Isn't it always?"

After the one incident of being caught by the landlord, Jungwoo had stayed away from his parents for almost a year. It wasn't until Mr. Suh convinced him to go back one night that he did, sneaking in around three in the morning. The doggie door was still there, almost like his parents had been hoping he'd come back.

They hadn't known he had been there until the morning when they saw the note he had left, his mother tearing up at it. Occasionally they popped into the cafe maybe once a month, but for the most part they avoided each other. It had been six years since Jungwoo had last slept in his own house, but he didn't consider it a home.

"No, this time it's bad."

Jungwoo frowned, noticing Hendery wouldn't meet his eyes. It was just the two of them at the lunch room table since they ended up being the only two in that high school. They weren't sure how that happened when there was only three high schools, but it allowed them a lot of time to get closer.

"Serious night bad or I'm keeping this to myself bad?"

"Even if I kept to myself you'd all still know."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Hendery ran a hand through his hair, taking his time to find the words he needed. He knew exactly what he had to say, but outright saying it didn't feel right. Moments like these were when he appreciated Jungwoo's silence and patience.

"Dad's making me get a prosthetic eye. He says I'm getting older and it would make me look more normal."

Hendery's parents and brother of course didn't know about the eye patch Kun had made him. The eye patch he was still wearing even though it had to have a couple of repairs and adjustments. Kun had always been right on top of those even if Hendery never asked.

"What's a prosthetic eye?"

All Jungwoo could picture was one of those cyborg eyes with the red light in the middle. For the sake of Hendery, he was really hoping that wasn't what that was, even if it would look really cool.

"It's like a glass eye, but plastic. They'd have to take out my real one because it doesn't do anything, and the fake one would look like my other eye."

Jungwoo tilted his head, trying to stop the images coming to mind. "Wait, what's the point?"

"My eye won't look all scarred and scary. The fake one won't move, so it'll look like a lazy eye, but the point is it'll look normal." Hendery scrunched his nose, hating the idea of all of it. Mainly the fact that he won't have a real reason for wearing his eye patch.

"But if you really hate it you can still wear the eye patch, right?"

Hendery nodded, finally meeting Jungwoo's eyes again.

"Then you will still be our little pirate, eye patch or not." Jungwoo ruffled Hendery's hair with a smile that Hendery matched.

Their conversation was cut off when they noticed the lunch room growing strangely quiet. They followed the direction everyone's heads were turning to, dying laughing when they saw what everyone was looking at.

"Hendery, will you be my prom date and touch me, tease me, feel me up?" was written on a huge sign being held up to the window. It would've been creepy and really perverted if it wasn't Ten holding it.

Jungwoo jumped up from the table and opened the side door so Ten could come in, still laughing as he did. Phones were now out and recording as Ten approached the table Hendery was still sitting as, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Hendery, the Donkey to my Shrek, will you go to prom with me?"

Ten was down on one knee and everything, the sign still in front of him.

"No."

Without even blinking or hesitating, Ten pulled out another sign behind the one he had been holding and turned to Jungwoo. This one had "Jungwoo, will you be my potato and go to prom with me?"

"Jungwoo, my sweetest brother, will you go to prom with me?"

"Only if you don't make it too gay." Jungwoo took Ten's hand, pulled him up from his kneeled position, and then kissed his hand.

Their audience was very confused, but that was the goal.

"Thank you for not making me look like a desperate and lonely hoe. I asked Kun, Jaehyun, and Mark, but they all said no."

"Did you make signs for all of us?" Hendery asked, noticing that there was a thick stack of papers in Ten's hand and not two thick signs.

"No, I didn't make ones for Jisung, Chenle and Sungchan. Then I would've looked like a pedophile."

"Oh spaghetti noodles! I told Jaehyun I'd go to prom with him!" Jungwoo gave Ten a very apologetic glance, but he only shrugged.

"That's fine, I just need someone to walk in with."

"That's what Jae said..."

"Then just walk in twice, it's fine. Thanks, Woo."

"Hey kid! This isn't your school! Get back to class!" One of the teachers shouted, hand already on the phone to call security.

"And that's my cue to leave. See ya." Ten gave them a salute before leaving with all of his signs, the cafeteria going back to what they were doing beforehand.

"That's one way to cheer you up." Jungwoo sat back down across from Hendery, stealing a chip from the younger's plate and popping it in his mouth.

His cult members had a tendency to do that- cheer him up, not steal his chips- even if they didn't know he needed it. Though now he'd probably find videos circulating of him rejecting Ten.