“No. I’m not going to do it. I don’t care. Pick someone else. I’m not going to do it. I’m not.”

I snarled, my upper lip curling upwards as I gripped onto the phone tightly, a slight crack forming in the plastic, “I already told you I’m not goddammit!”

“Chill.”

B-Bomb reached from behind me and tore the phone from my grasp.

“Hello? Yeah. Yeah we know. I understand. Give him time. Sorry. Yeah. Okay, bye.”

He hung up the phone softly, clicking it down onto its stand. He turned to me and gave me one of those looks again. I waved my hand dismissively but that didn’t stop him from nagging at me, “Seriously Zico, you shouldn’t talk to him like that.” I said nothing as I walked away from him, sulking my way into the living room.

Yeah, I’m no filial grandson. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was born miraculously with the amount of family members I seem to have, the number being zero. Of course, the better explanation would be to say they’re dead. Oh right, I never introduced myself.

I’m Zico. Woo Jiho is my real name but nobody calls me that. I’m seven years old this year. You think I’m a bit too young to be cursing out an old man over the phone? Well that’s how I am. Even if I do though, he doesn’t take me seriously. Besides, I respect him enough not to take it too far.

“You think I don’t know?”

I answered after noticing B-Bomb, or Lee Minhyuk, was still following me into the living room. He’s got to be the most level headed nine year old I knew. That makes him a pain in the to deal with. Why do I have to deal with him? Because this morning I was told by that old fart of a man that I would be the pack leader of not only him but five others. Among whom four were older than me.

“He knows what he’s talking about.”

B-Bomb couldn’t have sounded more wrong than he did right now. Seriously, me, a leader? Taeil was the obvious choice. I sat down on the couch, ignoring him further.

“I agree.”

Speak of the devil. Looks like Lee Taeil, nine year old boy genius, decided to stop by and team up with B-Bomb against me. He readjusted his thick-framed glasses and sat down next to me on the couch. Here it comes. B-Bomb would nag at me sensibly but Taeil was different. He agreed with me. Always agreed with me to the point of stupid ignorance. No matter what I said. No matter what I did.

“But if you don’t want to, one of us can. It’s difficult to take care of us all. It’s a huge burden so I understand why you wouldn’t want to. You don’t have to do it. It’s okay.”

Dammit. Now he’s making me out to be the bad guy. I never said anything about it being difficult. And the subtext to all of his words just now implied that I don’t care about them. Did he even know he could do this? If he did, he is definitely the trickiest one out of all of us.

I haven’t even said where I met these two did I? After travelling around with a few strays like me, an old man approached us one night. What he was doing in that part of town? I don’t have an answer to that. He asked me if I wanted to continue living the way I had. Like a rat scavenging for food and fighting to survive for the rest of my life. Society’s cockroach that they couldn’t get rid of even if they were to drop a napalm on me. I didn’t agree.

I told him straight up.

Screw you.

Along with a few other words that if I said now I would most likely get a swift hit to the head for. The old man was stronger than he looked and if he had hit me back then for my speech like he does now, I doubt I would have survived. After that, he left. I had five friends then. After what happened, a week later, two of them were gone. They decided to join up with some passing by mutts who happened to come across us.

I still remember what they told me.

If that man ever comes back, you need to go with him Zico. He was right. We can’t live like this forever.

The man didn’t come back though. A year passed by like that and I became six years old. I was angry. Angry at my situation. Angry that I couldn’t get out of the life I lived. So I caused trouble. Turns out, they don’t have to drop napalm on cockroaches to get rid of them, they just have to throw them in juvi.

They almost did at least.

Instead, that old man came by again. Said he had come to check on how I was doing but then second guessed himself and ended up catching a cab to the airport. Where was I causing trouble? I had always wanted to ride the baggage claim. That enough of an explanation for you? Couple that with some destruction of property while I did so and you’ve got security on me like ants on a soon to be dead cockroach. But that old man, he brought this cockroach to life. Brought all of us cockroaches to life.

Then, he brung us here. Where I met Lee Taeil and Lee Minhyuk. Mr. Genius Trickster and Mr. Sensible. Mr. Sensible and I go way back. We used to be in the same pack before I up and left. Mr. Genius Trickster however was someone I met for the first time upon getting here, to this town called Springfield. I brought along with me three of my own friends.

“I think you should try it out. Sounds cool.”

Everything sounds cool when you’re six. I was like that last year. Why else would I ride the baggage claim?

Who had just spoke? Pyo Jihoon, or P.O. as he likes to be called, the youngest out of all of us. One of my friends who I brought with me from our life as cockroaches. No longer was his curly brown hair anywhere to be seen. The old man took him to the barber’s yesterday. Gave him a new haircut that literally brought the little guy to tears. I decided not to get my dreads chopped off. Maybe in ten years from now. Hah, who am I kidding? I’m keeping them for life.

“Sounds super cool is more like it. Though I’m not sure I’d like to have a guy who slipped and broke his arm trying to climb up a fire escape ladder as our leader.”

Laughter came out of U-Kwon’s mouth as he bounded over to P.O., almost colliding with the taller boy. Kim Yukwon. Not everyone can climb a tree like a monkey at the age of seven. This guy knows way too many of my secrets. We’ve spent too long together and he for one is the type to say whatever makes the moment more entertaining. He’s the second friend I brought back with me.

And last but not least, “Go ahead and be the leader. If anything, we’ll get a good laugh out of it,” Park Kyung. He walked over and nudged me in the arm, making me laugh at the very idea of me being leader. He’s seven, just like me. He’s got a bad temper and a bad mouth, just like me. But he’s more level headed. More steady. He always was the one talking me out of things before.

“Hey, what else did the old man say again?” I turned my head to B-Bomb. Not even a millisecond passed before he answered me.

“He said he’s got one more guy remember? He said he’s bringing him up here right now.”

“Right, what was his name again?”

“Ahn Jaehyo.”

Right, Ahn Jaehyo. Some nine year old like Taeil and B-Bomb. Wonder if he’s like me and Kyung. Maybe a mixture of Kyung and Taeil? Bad mannered but clever like a fox. That’s one combination I’d like to see.

Then, the doorbell rang, causing all of us to look towards the doorway.

That’s when we met Jaehyo for the first time. Turns out, he was exactly what I thought he’d be like. Turns out, I did get my dreads cut. Turns out, I did end up becoming the leader of the pack. Turns out, the necklace I learned about soon after went missing after the old man died. Turns out, the seven of us lasted for much longer than I thought we would. We became brothers. And then, whilst fighting for our common goal, I met someone. We met someone. A human girl.

And our goal changed.

And my bad manner is nowhere to be found.

Well, most of it anyway. Don't you think so?

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A/N:

This is in celebration of Block B's comeback with 닐리리맘보 (Nillili Mambo). Which by the way did not turn out how I expected yet I still thoroughly enjoyed. Not going to spoil the music video here. You are just going to have to go watch it yourself~ 

Spazzing Due to Over Excitement