High School - Junior Year

“Ryeowook, it won’t stop crying!” Kyuhyun shouted almost immediately into the phone.

“Well, hello Kyuhyun. And how are you doing today?”

“I’m serious!” he snapped, flinching as another scream pierced the air. “What do I do!? It won’t shut up!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The baby! It started crying at four and it hasn’t shut up since! I’m going insane here!”

He heard his boyfriend sigh on the other end. Normally he’d be more sympathetic to the senior but his nerves were basically at the tipping point. 

“Ryeowook!”

“Okay, okay. Have you tried feeding it?”

“Yes, yes. I’ve tried the diaper, the bottle, I’ve even been rocking her for the last half hour but she just keeps screaming!”

To emphasize, the baby in his arms let out a glass-shattering wail. Arms full, it was all Kyuhyun could do to not clamp his ears shut.

“Well?” He demanded when the crying returned to bearable octaves.

“I see what you mean. Look, I just got off work; I’ll be there in five minutes, okay?”

“Five minutes!? What I do for five-?”

Then Ryeowook hung up leaving Kyuhyun feeling stranded once again.

The baby in his arms continued wailing without reason and he almost felt like joining her. Pathetically, he tried patting her head as if that would help. She sat stiff and heavy in his arms. Out of pure desperation, Kyuhyun grabbed the bottle and stuck it to her lips but the baby refused to take it. In fact, he was sure she was increasing in volume.

“This is insane!” He shouted to no one.

Needless to say, the five minutes it took for Ryeowook to arrive were the longest of his life.

When the door rang, Kyuhyun practically threw it open.

“It’s broken right? It has to be broken.”

Ignoring that comment, Ryeowook simply held out his arms. Kyuhyun more than happily handed the baby over.

“Oof, she’s a heavy one,” Ryeowook commented.

Kyuhyun could hardly agree more. His arms were aching from nearly forty minutes of rocking. Though judging from the way Ryeowook was holding the baby, he must have been doing it wrong.

“Did you chime in?” His boyfriend asked, walking into the familiar apartment.

“Yes,” He replied, resisting the urge to run to the nearest bus station and escape.

Closing the door behind him, Kyuhyun tried not to imagine what the neighbors were thinking. It was around forty minutes of wailing now. The baby continued to shriek in Ryeowook’s arms and with each inhale got closer to breaking the sound barrier. They both grimaced when it hit a particularly loud wail.

Shifting his stance, Ryeowook adjusted the hold so the baby’s head was on his shoulder. Then he began rocking back and forth while patting her on the back. Moments later, there was a soft little burp and the machine went silent.

Kyuhyun’s jaw dropped.

“Are you kidding me!? This is the dumbest assignment ever!”

***

The simulation babies, sponsored by the high school funds, were eerily realistic with their prerecorded cries and various required objects. Assigned for one weekend, they were supposed to provide a unique learning experience. They cried for up to half an hour and screamed whenever you didn’t offer care. An effective teen pregnancy lesson for sure. But the worst part was, it was worth thirty percent of the grade.

“All it needed was to be burped!? By what, patting it on the back!? I was patting that thing on the back for half an hour and it didn’t do anything!”

"It's fine Kyu-"

"It's defective!"

Ryeowook started picking up the baby’s items, which Kyuhyun had already managed to strew around the room, as he went into a rant about the mechanical baby.

"That thing is defective! Defective I'm telling you!"

“Sometimes you have to burp them for up to forty-five minutes,” Ryeowook informed him.

“What? That’s totally unrealistic! How is this supposed to simulate a real child?”

Ryeowook didn’t bother responding. Kyuhyun continued to fume as Ryeowook placed the baby in the car seat and started setting up an area around it. Just as he was about to deride Ryeowook for recommending the class, the baby started to whimper again.

“Oh no!” Kyuhyun jumped back in panic, “Why is it making noise? It just finished crying.”

“It’s whimpering,” Ryeowook corrected, picking the doll back up.

“What’s the difference?”

“It’s not screaming. Now chime in.”

Kyuhyun immediately obeyed. Pressing his bracelet sensor against the baby’s bellybutton, a series of electronic rings sounded from its speakers and the baby fell silent. Then she continued her whimpering. He shot Ryeowook a desperate look.

Sighing, Ryeowook waved him off, “Go get a sleeping bag and pillow and bring them down here.”

“What? Why?”  

“Just do what I tell you.”

Kyuhyun almost talked back about that, but then the baby started getting louder and he was gone.

Scampering into the hallyway, he let out breath of relief. He could bet his boyfriend was rolling his eyes at him right now. Usually that would bug him but at the moment he was willing to do anything to put some distance between him and the machine. Kyuhyun knew Ryeowook had taken the class last year as a junior, so he could confidently leave him with the baby girl. What eluded him was why he’d suggested it to Kyuhyun. Maybe he'd pissed him off? Well, whatever wrong he'd committed, he was sure paying for it now. 

Digging through the closet, Kyuhyun managed to find what Ryeowook requested. A sleeping bag and pillow. But just to stall a little longer, he also grabbed a few sheets. And a pillow case. And some towels.

Ryeowook was just finished rocking her when Kyuhyun returned essentially looking like the closet threw up on him.

“Got your hands full there?”

Kyuhyun shot back a muffled reply. Wandering over to where Ryeowook stood (or somewhere around there since he couldn’t see) he dumped it all by the couch. His boyfriend looked on at him, amused. Obviously he knew what he'd been doing. 

“So, care to tell me why I just brought half my bed down here?”

Ryeowook just smiled, setting the doll back into its car seat, “Maybe because you're a little whipped…” he teased in a sing-songy voice.

“Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes.

His mood did nothing to dampen the other’s, who seemed to be enjoying his pain a little too much. Tucking the doll in with a flowery blanket, he nodded towards the spot beside the coffee table. “You’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight.”

“The floor?” Kyuhyun scowled, “Why? There’s a couch right there.”

“Trust me; it’ll be much easier to pull yourself up at three in the morning to change the baby when you’re sleeping on a hard and uncomfortable surface.”

“Three in the morn- That thing cries at night too!?”

Ryeowook stopped his mothering and stared at his boyfriend. “It’s a baby simulation. Babies cry at night. Didn’t you listen at all during health class?”

“Of course!” Kyuhyun said defensively. Ryeowook raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay no. But we never learn anything in that class.” He threw himself onto the pile of sheets, frustrated, “It’s always don’t have , don’t do drugs, don’t get pregnant. Considering I’m gay, I should get an exempt from this assignment.”

Ryeowook scoffed, standing back up, “This isn’t just to make a point about teen parenting, Kyuhyun. It’s about all parenting in general.”

“Well, you’ve convinced me. Never having kids. Now how do we turn this thing off?”

“Not an option, Kyukyu,” Ryeowook said, dropping a blue packet onto his lap, “Now, I suggest you start reading up on the manual. I have to get back home before Heechul accuses me of forgetting about him.”

“Wait, wait!” Kyuhyun jumped up from his seat, suddenly panicked. The idea of being left alone with the baby was less than appealing. Maybe even downright terrifying. What if it cried again? Ryeowook looked at him questioningly.

“Um, can’t you stay a little longer? Show me how to hold this thing?” He gestured to the baby. It stared, unblinking in its car seat.

Ryeowook sighed, “Sorry Kyuhyun. Not right now. Ask your mom if you have to.”

“My mom isn’t here for the weekend; she had a business deal in Aurora.”

This fact made Ryeowook pause for a second but didn’t stop him from leaving. “Guess you’ll experience the pain of a single-parent,” He said and headed for the door.

Kyuhyun panicked. First his weekend, now his bed; no way was he losing his boyfriend too. Least of all to Heechul. Quickly striding in between him and the door, Kyuhyun grasped Ryeowook’s hands and pulled him into a kiss. At first, caught off guard, the shorter didn’t react, but almost immediately he melded into it.

Kisses with Ryeowook were indescribably good. Something about their connection would always fill a part of him making everything feel whole. The kiss was to convince his boyfriend to stay, sure, but it was also what he consistently craved.

Letting go of his hands, Kyuhyun wrapped his hands around his waist and pulled Ryeowook’s body against his. Ryeowook let out a soft whine, gripping Kyuhyun by the back of the neck. He could feel those slender fingers weaving through his hair, playing with his locks. Body responding on its own, Kyuhyun let out a moan of his own, hands roaming across Ryeowook’s back. By the time they broke out of their leisurely kiss, he was floating on a euphoric high. With a smile, Ryeowook gently traced the outline of his cheeks.

“Well,” he whispered breathlessly, “Guess I’ll see you on Monday, Kyu. Call me if you need anything.”

With a pat on the chest, the smaller slipped out of his grasp. And before he knew it, Ryeowook was out the door. The click of the lock shut behind him. It took Kyuhyun a second to register what happened.

“He left!” He exclaimed to the baby doll. Its only response was a fresh round of whimpers. 

Yes, their baby is fake. In some high schools here, you can get a simulation baby. The class which requires it offers P.E. credit. Hardly worth it.I went through the Ready or Not program at my school last week and averaged three hours of sleep per night. If they wanted to cut teen pregnancy rates to zero, I would suggest they make the class mandatory. 

These chapters are shorter than in my other story but they should get longer as I finish catching up on schoolwork. Most of it will take place in the past.

Thanks for reading and please do leave your thoughts!