Kyuhyun slid to the floor, raking fingers through his hair.

“Iamnotabaddad.Justspentallnightcaringforthestupidbabyandgettingcalledabaddad.Iamnotabaddad,” he muttered in a rapid blur.

With his knees pulled up close, his words became all the more muffled. Even he wasn’t sure what he was saying.

Kyuhyun kept clawing at his scalp, letting the pain distract from all the jumbled emotions.

He was trying his best. Wasn’t he? He was waking up and taking care of the baby and all by himself too.

If there hadn’t been a door behind him, Kyuhyun probably would have been rocking back and forth. His eyes squeezed shut, thinking. Thinking.

Had Ryeowook seen him last night; feeding without holding the bottle, rocking it by setting it in the carrier? That wasn’t cheating, right? Why would Ryeowook call that cheating?

Suddenly, he froze in the middle of muttering. Frowning, he opened his eyes.

Why would Ryeowook say that? That made him feel bad. Ryeowook was making him feel bad!

Implying that he was like his father. Implying that he was even worse than his father; how dare he!? The smaller was supposed to be helping him! Well, how was this helping him!? Parading around the apartment, telling Kyuhyun how to raise a child. Who did he think he was? This was his plastic, mechanical baby. He could do whatever the hell he wanted with it. He could shove it up somebody’s if he wanted to! Well no, that was  physically impossible, but that was beside the point!

By this time, Kyuhyun had shot up and was storming around the office space.

“Telling me I can’t cuss around a doll; well news flash, it’s a doll!” he screamed at the wall. To prove his point, he threw in a couple profanities as well.

He didn’t even need Ryeowook. In fact, his boyfriend and his stupid morals were only getting in his way. Kyuhyun could find ways to get through the rest of the day, no effort needed. If he’d used actual cheats and not that soft crap Ryeowook was accusing him of, he might’ve gotten some sleep last night. Ryeowook had gotten sleep last night. Didn’t he? Of course he did. And now he had the nerve to judge Kyuhyun for being in a crappy mood!

Fuming at the unfairness of it all, he swiped ferociously at the junk covering his desk. Several papers and a pencil cup went flying. A whole stack of books slid and toppled creating a domino effect of sliding papers.

Kyuhyun observed the mess, feeling satisfied. Then he scowled, realizing he had to clean it all up.

Bending down, Kyuhyun began scooping all the papers into a haphazard pile. Several sheets looked like important bills. Most of it looked like his own homework.

‘Screw Ryeowook,’ he thought angrily. ‘I can take care of that doll and do all my homework without his nagging.’

Cursing when he realized a bottle of white out had spilled open on the papers, Kyuhyun scrambled to pick it up. He hastily lifted the paper before the liquid could soak through. He cursed again when he realized it was his baby packet. 

“Dammit,” he huffed. White ink covered the whole front page, obscuring the words. 

Kyuhyun futilely attempted to wipe off the whiteout which only resulted in spreading it around. The chemical stench was beyond overpowering; it was a struggle not to gag. A few useless minutes later, he had half a mind to tear the thing in half and toss it across the room. He didn’t though, because that was a large part of his grade.

Holding it by the stapled corner, Kyuhyun cautiously flipped through the pages. It appeared that no other pages were stained, except on the edges. That was somewhat of a relief. But then Kyuhyun saw something else.  Something about relationships?

Quickly, he flipped back to the page he saw it on. It was a journal entry.

How has taking care of a baby affected your relationships with other people? Family, friends? What are some new things you have discovered?

Kyuhyun stared at the entry, mind buzzing. With his frustrations returning and irritation tainting every thought, he realized he had a lot to say for this answer.

Grabbing a fallen pen, Kyuhyun scribbled out his response, filling up every line.

When he finished, he tossed back the packet and leaned up against the desk, feeling extremely satisfied.

Heck, if he hadn’t fallen asleep, he would have forgotten just how worn-out he was.

***

Kyuhyun woke up slowly, blinking in the noonday sun. The office gradually came into focus revealing the clock on the wall. It said twelve past noon.

Really. It was 12:12.

Kyuhyun was contemplating the impeccable timing of his awakening when he remembered: Didn’t he come in here at seven o’ clock?  

It all hit him faster than an oncoming train. Oh god, the baby! It wasn’t here! Oh god, it was with Ryeowook. Ryeowook who was mad at him. Oh god, he’d just slept away five hours when the doll never slept for more than two! It could have cried at any time now!

Kyuhyun leaped up immediately in a revived panic, cursing himself for committing the same mistake twice. And in one day too! Rushing to the door, he didn’t make it one step before falling on his face.

Hissing from the pain of elbow connecting with floor, Kyuhyun looked back at what tangled his ankles.

It was light, threadbare blanket. So light Kyuhyun hadn’t even realized it’d been covering him.

He almost kicked the blanket aside, but then he paused, frowning. Picking up the soft material, Kyuhyun tried to remember when he’d gotten this from his room. He couldn’t. He nearly started digging for a memory of placing this on himself when he realized; he didn’t. Ryeowook did.

The image of his tiny, infuriated boyfriend became replaced with one gentle and sweet, finding the need to blanket Kyuhyun even though it was seventy degrees in the daytime.

It was also then that Kyuhyun noticed that his armband was gone. All that showed of the too tight plastic and clunky, grey activator was a slight imprint on his wrist.

Grip tightening on the soft material, he swallowed thickly. Damn, Ryeowook made it hard to stay mad.

Scrambling up off the floor, Kyuhyun padded out into the hallway, cautiously approaching the living room. Before he even reached it he could hear the mumblings of a tender voice.

Ryeowook was sitting cross-legged on the floor. The baby was in its carrier facing him. With one hand, the petite boy was rocking the doll back and forth. With the other, he was avidly making motions in reference to what he was saying. And he was saying a lot. Something about prince charming... A story maybe? The doll would softly whimper at every word but never burst out crying.

Kyuhyun watched from the hallway, unable to deny the sweetness of the scene despite thinking his boyfriend had gone off the deep end.

He supposed there was only one way to retrieve him.

“Um, excuse me,” Kyuhyun interrupted, “but I believe your interpretation of the characters is slightly off.”

Ryeowook looked up, surprised. 

Kyuhyun talked while walking over to him, “See, the prince desperately needed help in reaching the dragon’s castle to capture the crown. The princess, who had once been rescued from the dragon, offered to help the prince on his dangerous quest, even though the king would not allow her to fight.” Ryeowook stared at him, a lost expression. “On their way to the castle, the prince and princess argued a lot. The princess said the prince never listened, but the prince said that was because she was always wrong. That always led to more arguing." Slowly, he wandered over to sit beside his slightly stunned boyfriend. Kyuhyun smiled at Ryeowook before turning to the baby.

“They met a lot of strange creatures along the way. They were always sapping the prince’s energy and making him tired or cranky. But as much as the princess argued with him, she always took care of the prince.”

“Kyu-”

“No, no,” he held up a finger. “Let me finish first.”

“They were a perfect pair,” he continued speaking to the doll, “But one day, they were attacked by a bunch of vicious trolls.” Kyu heard Ryeowook snort beside him. “Yes, trolls. The prince had to fight them off all by himself because the princess wasn’t allowed to help. When he was done, the prince was so tired and angry he yelled at the princess. What he didn’t know was that healing him made the princess tired too and she started yelling at him. They kept yelling until the prince left the princess behind.

“The prince was so upset with himself that when he reached the castle door he made a fatal mistake. The dragon caught him off guard and nearly ate him,” he gasped. “But then, the princess came back. She disobeyed the king’s orders and destroyed the dragon with more finesse and strength than the prince ever could. The prince could not thank her enough.

“Now they still had the entire castle to search in order to find the crown, but together, nothing would end up stopping them. Then end.”

Kyuhyun turned back to his boyfriend. Ryeowook was smiling softly at the floor and also bright red. Kyuhyun was willing to count his furious blushing as a sign of partial success.

“So,” he said, leaning closer to the smaller, “Considering you saved me from this dragon here, I assume the prince is forgiven?”

“Yes, definitely,” Ryeowook replied without looking up. “But…”

“But?” Kyuhyun prompted.

Ryeowook swallowed, looking up with eyes full of guilt, “Only if the princess is forgiven?”

Kyuhyun paused for a second, making sure his ears weren’t playing tricks on him. Then he smiled. “The princess will always be forgiven.”

“And so will the prince,” Ryeowook said, pulling him into a hug.

Kyuhyun sighed, relaxing. He allowed himself to relish in to the warmth he’d missed last night and pour into the scent of Kim Ryeowook.

“I’m sorry for being so irrational this morning,” the smaller mumbled into his chest. “I was way over the line.”

“Of making sense? Yeah, maybe a little bit.” He laughed when Ryeowook gave him a hard poke. “I’m sorry too though. It didn’t really occur to me that a screaming baby is not something you sleep through. Unless you’re me, apparently,” he realized, frowning.

Ryeowook shook his head, “No, but I should have helped you. I was practically awake anyways so I should have lightened your load a little. Then maybe we wouldn’t have fought this morning.”

Well, what could he say to that?

“Yeah, you really should have helped me last night.”

Kyuhyun yelped when his boyfriend smacked him in the chest.

“Hey, I’m just agreeing with you! And besides, all your moral enforcement has gone to waste now,” he said, picking up the electronic sensor on a now cut off wristband. “Isn’t it like the number one rule that you can't take this off? Have you just gotten me into some major trouble here?” He gave his boyfriend a serious look.

Ryeowook just rolled his eyes. “Of course not.” He snatched the band and pulled off the charm. “This is a standard plastic wristband. You can get them at any department store,” he said, holding out the bracelet.

Kyuhyun raised his eyebrows, "And how do you know this?"

“Don't ask," Ryeowook groaned. His head laying on Kyuhyun's chest, Ryeowook peered up at him with concerned eyes. "Am I really forgiven?"

"Well, you did just let me sleep for five hours and break your own moral obligations. So yes," Kyuhyun said with a smile.

"Great!" Ryeowook chirped, sitting up. "Because I found your mom's grocery list and since we now have to go to a department store anyways, we can go now! Have you looked at the baby shopping assignment?”

Kyuhyun scowled, “Yes. Though I’d much rather do story time than go shopping.”

Smiling, Ryeowook pecked him on the cheek. “You got sleep so no more complaining.”

“Hey, speaking of story time,” Kyuhyun said before Ryeowook escaped his grasp, “What story were you telling the doll earlier? You looked really into it.”

Ryeowook frowned at first, confused. Then his eyes widened, “Oh, I wasn’t telling her a story. I was reciting my speech for English: the role of prince charming in modern literature.”

Kyuhyun blinked, “Oh.” Suddenly, he felt very silly.

“But it’s okay though,” Ryeowook hastily reassured him. “If you hadn’t come out I definitely would have started, you know, talking to myself.”

“Right,” Kyuhyun said blankly, staring at the robot.

He’d just told a story to a doll. True, he did it for Ryeowook but he told it like he was talking to the fake baby. And now that he knew Ryeowook hadn’t been talking to it, he felt slightly delusional.

“I liked your story a lot,” Ryeowook reminded him. Then the smaller gave him a soft kiss on the lips, one which Kyuhyun gladly reciprocated, before standing up. Kyuhyun sighed back against the couch, reluctantly releasing the smaller. As Ryeowook walked away, something occurred to Kyuhyun.

“Hey Ryeong, did you get any sleep this morning?”

“No. But I ate some coffee grounds so I think I’ll be good,” He shot him a sly smile, “Don’t worry though; I won’t be flipping out on you anytime soon. Now go get your packet. We’re going out to eat.”

Kyuhyun scoffed, “That wasn’t what I-” Suddenly, he recalled something.

“Oh, um, yeah okay,” he nodded, slowly backing up. “The... packet. I'll go get that. But first, I want you to know that I would never intentionally want you to be in a bad mood again, uh, ever. Andthankyousomuchfortheblanket.Youarethebestboyfriendever. Okay, I’ll go get the packet,” he blurred, sprinting away.

Ryeowook stared after his boyfriend as he raced out the room. The term ‘weirdo’ crossed his mind but he brushed it aside. After all, he was the one who hadn't slept in twenty hours. He was probably just imagining things.

How has taking care of a baby affected your relationships with other people? Family, friends? What are some new things you have discovered?

I have fantastic relationships with people who obviously care for me and I should be much more grateful than I have been. 

Look, I changed the chapter title pattern! That black scribble above is just to show that Kyuhyun scribbled out whatever he had written before. And if you're wondering why Ryeowook didn't complain about being the princess of the story, well, check out chapter 6.

What do you think of this chapter? Good, bad, terrible? Please comment below!