CHAPTER II.

"Whether used in class or during extended simulation experiences, this interactive “robot” baby provides unforgettable lessons on:

- Teen pregnancy prevention"

Ten's face paled in conjunction with everyone else in his class. There was a lot of "keep on going!"s and "push it out!"s. Just a bit too much for him to handle.

He shuddered, mentally weeping as the lady on the screen pushed out a huge watermelon out of a tiny hole, that in his perspective, was not meant to have a living being that size pushed out. He rocked his whimpering baby simulator in his arms, really really wishing that class would end soon.

Suddenly, Ten felt very grateful for being a guy. 

According to Ms. Park, to help improve their awareness towards The Baby Project it was important that they watch someone actually experience childbirth. He figured it also had to do with apparent growing teen pregnancy rate. Either way, yuck. The scent of blueberry muffins coupled with the sweat from the a/c Ms. Park had turned off to, "let themselves be immersed in the situation" left a strong queasiness in the air.

Taeyong gave him a side glance, upon their eye contact Ten blushed. Turning his head down to his lined paper titled. “Childbirth Notes.” he scribbled down random incoherent sentences that had sprung on his mind the minute the lady started screaming to hide how red his cheeks were. He wondered who was the mother in this partnership.

“Are you okay?” Taeyong asked him worriedly, his eyebrows were slightly knitted, but Ten blamed the graphic, vomit-inducing, icky childbirth video for that.

The Thai boy nodded slowly, allowing his trademark smile to drift on his face, “Yeah, thanks for asking.” He looked at Taeyong rocking the baby in his arms. 

“What should we name her?” He excitedly asked his partner, cooing at how adorable the baby was. Nevermind the one eye that had been smashed revealing a tiny camera and voice recorder. Apparently, a number of these babies had suffered traumatic accidents with the previous students that had worked on the project. Despite the grotesque look of the simulators and how rich this international school was, Ms. Park insisted on keeping the babies.

Creepy.

Taeyong was taken aback by how adorable Ten’s voice was. Seeing as how he had no classes with the exchange student, he had never talked to him before being partnered up for this project. His adorable foreign accent amongst his slightly higher than average voice made the most adorable voice he had heard in a long time.  Not to mention the tiny mistakes in his Korean sometimes. Adorable. 

“Don't care," Taeyong replied, obviously unenthused with this arrangement.

Taeyong stared at the baby in his hands, it’s big, brown eyes staring at him with all their might. Disregard how creepily the marble balls followed him whenever he moved the baby. Then he turned to Ten, who was staring at him too. Albeit, in a much more distressed expression. Probably due to his quick, indifferent reply.

Ten plucked the baby from Taeyong, “How about Joy then?”

“No,” Taeyong replied, turning his eyes to the one girl in the class that had been shooting daggers at him ever since the video had started.

The other boy pouted, pinching the baby’s silicone cheeks, “I’ll just name her Ten Junior.” Taeyong opened his mouth to respond and complain about how incredibly stupid that name was, but seeing Ten’s proud expression and motherly manner he shrugged.

“Whatever.”

Ms. Park clapped her hands together, “Does anyone have any questions regarding the video?”

Dead silence.

Other than the fact she just single-handedly killed any chance of teen pregnancy in this class, no. 

The teacher shook her head, handing out a stack of worksheets and brochures to each student, “Read through all of these and finish the worksheets by next class.” She instructed as the bell rung. Scraping chairs and fast steps were all you could hear once the bell had signaled for everyone to go to the next class. 

Ten heaved a large sigh in relief, ready to stuff Ten Junior into his backpack as he walked towards the door.

“Oh, and Taeyong? Could you and Ten stay for a bit? I’ll issue you both an excuse slip.” Ms. Park requested, a sinister smile on her face as she tapped her wrinkled fingers together in an evil fashion. He spoke too soon. What was she going to do this time? 

Taeyong was in an obvious rush to head out the door, afraid that Ms. Park would invoke more of her wrath upon him if he stayed any long. Taeyong grasped onto Jaehyun’s sleeve as his friend headed out the door, a desperate look on his face. He mouthed the words, “Help!”

“Bye, Ms. Park!” Jaehyun cheerfully called out, pensively pulling his arm out of Taeyong’s reach as he shot Taeyong a sympathetic, dimpled smile. "Good luck." He mouthed, waving his hand as he left.

Ms. Park waved goodbye to Jaehyun, “Ah, what a good child.” She murmured to herself, shooting an apprehensive look to the paper towel student and number name student.

Yuta looked at Ms. Park warily then took a look at his schedule, "See you!" He sang, leaving the Home Ec classroom. The Japanese exchange student already had great vibes about this class and this teacher. Was it the cute girls? The perfectly planned matchmaking? Yuta would never know,

Ten approached her in a cautious fashion after Yuta had said goodbye. At first glance, he assumed she was a typical, sweet Asian lady but seeing her wrath towards Taeyong he thought twice about that. He really should've known better, after hearing all the horror stories from Johnny Seo.

Although putting paper towels in an oven was pretty stupid.

“Yes, Ms. Park?” Ten questioned her softly, dangling his baby in his hands  towards his backpack while he balanced the bag full of baby equipment in his other arm. The baby had turned off, much to his relief, according to Ms. Park, due to many complaints administered by the other teachers of the school, The Baby Project’s babies were automatically programmed to turn off during school hours and turn on when school ended.

He understood why. The first ten minutes of having Ms. Park teaching them about the mechanics of the baby were torture. Their screaming was deafening and their crying rang throughout the room. 

Stupid decision to come to Korea for school, that was for sure. 

Ms. Park smiled widely, quickly grabbing Ten Junior out of his hands, then triumphantly placing a new baby in his stead. She gave Taeyong a smug smile.

“To make up for Taeyong’s grades that have severely dropped from the cooking unit, I will be assigning you an extra assignment to make up for the Ten’s new arrival and Taeyong’s… incident.” She gestured proudly to the new baby that was in Ten’s hands. Taeyong twisted his mouth in annoyance. 

The new baby that’s current screams were bursting his eardrums.

“Um, Ms. Park, I could easily ask my parents to buy you a new--” Taeyong started to talk, a scared look on his face at the sight of the baby that seemed... stranger than the last? He was quickly retaliated by his teacher’s shushing.

“No! This is not a matter of money, Taeyong,” She looked at him squarely, then pointed to the burnt oven, “This is a matter of you owning up to your responsibilities and not relying on your parents.”

Ten was thinking why the Gods ever decided to grace him with such an unlucky partner as Taeyong. No matter how attractive he was. He stared at the baby in his hands, instead of the last, it was in pristine condition, which made it even more creepy than the last.

Taeyong sighed loudly, turning his head to Ten and rolling his eyes pointedly at their teacher, “How about a whole new set of ovens?” It was easy for Taeyong to gamble like this, considering his father was the CEO of a large department store company. 

“No. You and Ten will be the only ones in charge of the one 24/7 baby.” Nope. She handed Ten the patterned baby carrier along with the excuse slips, “Now, good luck!” She waved them off excitedly.

There went Taeyong’s sanity.

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.

.

“So, uh, what subject do you have next?” Ten hesitantly asked Taeyong, holding the baby carrier in his right hand as a means of filling the empty, quiet space between them. Luckily, the baby was currently in a calm state, so their walk through the empty hallway stayed relatively silent.

Then again, this proved to be the perfect setting for an awkward situation.

Taeyong glanced at him then to his schedule, “History with Mr. Park.” He replied, disinterested at Ten's attempts to converse. Call him sour, but he was still incredibly grumpy about having the 24/7 baby. He knew his partner didn't do anything, but Taeyong didn’t have any outlet to take his anger out on so he figured being cold to his partner would be the trick. Usually, his dad's money worked in situations like this for Taeyong, but Ms. Park didn't budge.

“Me too!” Ten replied half-heartedly, trying hard to make his voice enthusiastic. It didn’t get much of a response from Taeyong.

"Goody," Taeyong answered back briskly, heading towards his next class. Well, their next class. 

Ten hummed cheerfully to himself despite Taeyong's indifference towards him, musing on how he would explain to his aunt and uncle that he had a baby.

“How's Ten Junior?”

“She's good.”

“That's nice.”

“I'm sorry.”

“For what?”

“For getting you pregnant with this baby.”

“Oh.”

...Wait, what? Why was Ten the one who got pregnant?

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Ten and Taeyong walked into the History classroom, after a not so awkward banter on who was the mother in this “relationship”. Their History teacher opened his mouth to reprimand them for being late and start his usual lecture on the importance of punctuality but then immediately shut it at the sight of the baby carrier.

“The baby project?” Mr. Park asked wistfully, a both amused and sympathetic expression on his face. Unlike Ms. Park, Mr. Park was fairly young and didn't seem nearly as sinister and grudge-bearing. He was still several heads taller than Ten and had an elfish face to match. He was the nephew of Ms. Park so their uncanny resemblance still brought those same chills to Taeyong.

They both incoherently mumbled a yes as they handed their excuse slips to him.

Mr. Park’s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of Ten’s slip, “Oh, you're the new student!”

He didn't notice that before?

Ten smiled respectfully, “Yes, nice to meet you. I'm Leechaiyakul Chittaphon, or you can call me Ten.” After the peculiar looks Ms. Park had given him, Yuta had given him a quick crash course on Korean mannerisms. Oops, he didn't study at all. Unlike Yuta who apparently religiously followed the book, “Korean Manners for Dummies."

“Ah, yes! We’ve been anticipating your arrival,” Mr. Park smiled radiantly, willingly brushing off the fact that he wanted to be called after a number, flipping through a folder of paper, “Where are you transferring from, again?”

“I’m from Mr. Byun's history-” A loud, eardrum piercing scream interrupted him, which proceeded to be followed by murderous wailing. It was the sweet, sweet sound of the demon child. Taeyong laughed awkwardly, reaching for a bottle in the care bag, submissively stuffing the bottle into the baby’s mouth.

“Why is your baby crying?"

"We're partners for the baby project." Taeyong explained half-heartedly, letting annoyance seep through his face.

"I know that," Mr. Park rolled his eyes, "But it's supposed to be turned off during school hours."

"Well, Ms. Park gave us this baby..."

“I’ll be right back, children!” Mr. Park muttered as he stomped out the door, “I need to talk to your home ec teacher!” Everyone hummed in agreement, but the minute he left, the whole class erupted in whispers and giggles.

Ten slipped into a desk beside his friend, Johnny, his face already pale.

Johnny peeked at the baby in his hands.

“So, the baby project?” Johnny asked him, a slight tease to his voice.

Ten hummed pensively in response, pulling out his pencil case from his backpack.

“With a guy?”

Ten laughed as Johnny pointedly stared at Taeyong.

“That’s cute,” Johnny commented, shooting Taeyong a slightly jealous look.

Taeyong noticed his partner and Johnny easily hitting it off. He yearned to himself, gently rocking Ten Junior in his hands while he held the bottle to . He had far too vivid memories of Johnny Seo pranking him, and spreading rumors about him from not too long ago.

Okay, maybe middle school was pretty long ago, but he still held a grudge.

“Hello, Taeyong?”

Taeyong snapped up from his intense staring at Ten, “Oh. Hi, Hansol.” 

The latter furrowed his eyebrows, “Why are you staring at your partner?” He curiously asked him, starting to grin mischievously.

Taeyong resisted the urge to blush, “What?”

“Why isn’t Joy your partner?” Gesturing his head towards the girl who was laughing happily and playfully hitting… Sungjae?

Huh.

Well, Hansol wasn’t on his case about his near biuality and that was all that mattered. “She’s a ,” Taeyong replied absentmindedly musing on how nice Ten’s nose was about five feet away from him.

Once Mr. Park had begrudgingly returned from his trip to the printer, a red mark that suspiciously looked like a slap mark on his cheek, the class quickly switched over to focus. Ten was obviously eager to learn and all about Korean history but Johnny had proved to be an incredibly distracting seat mate.

“Johnny! Ten! Are you done?” Mr. Park sharply asked, but his childish face didn’t aid much in his attempt at intimidation. 

“No.” They quickly went back to their work.

The whole class erupted in giggles, that is except for Taeyong who was burning a stare into the back of Johnny’s head.

“I meant if you were done your work…” Their history teacher mumbled to himself, but then shook it off, “This assignment will be due when class ends, so please hurry up.” Ten sighed apathetically when Mr. Park looked at him pointedly in response but then threw a thumb-ups to Johnny once he had looked away. He didn't seem to have a good track record with the Park's.

When he finished his work he continued to talk with Johnny but was surprisingly poked by Taeyong, “How do you want to take care of Ten Junior?”

Johnny beside them guffawed obnoxiously, “What kind of a name of Ten Junior?”

Ten pouted jokingly in response, but Taeyong took it a bit more seriously, rolling his eyes to himself. Geez, American kids were just so rude. What was wrong with that name? Disregard the fact he was way against it about one period ago, but the fact that Johnny didn't like it urged him all the more for Taeyong to feel the exact opposite.

“Do you want to switch custody of her at lunch?” Ten asked him casually, doodling on his paper.

Both Johnny and Taeyong’s lit up at the thought of lunch.

“Why don’t you just sit with me so we can take care of Ten Junior?” He smiled smugly at Johnny. 

“It's fine, Ten sits with my friends and me all the time, anyways,” Johnny said half-heartedly, but not too long after he shot a smug smile at Taeyong.

“No!” Johnny and Ten stared at him strangely at the sound of Taeyong's loud disagreement, "I mean... I just don't want Ten to have to deal with Ten Junior by himself."

"Then why don't you just take care of Ten Junior?" Johnny retorted, "You're the dumb idiot who put paper towels in an oven, anyway."

"Hey-"

“Thanks, but I promised Yuta that I would sit with him.” Ten brightly interrupted their conversation, “But, thanks.” He smiled even wider.

Taeyong nodded knowingly, “That Japanese guy?” His mind tried to remember the face of the other boy who had come to the Home Ec room earlier just in time to witness his blueberry muffin scene. Ten hummed a response absent-mindedly.

Both Johnny and Taeyong optimistically nodded, a bit more eager than usual. At least neither of them lost to the battle of Ten to each other.

“Well, Mark wouldn't mind sitting with Yuta," Johnny piped up, eagerly standing up from his desk.

“Me too.” Taeyong coolly added, mentally slapping his face for his dumb response while he lifted up Ten Junior’s baby carrier and his backpack with ease. He usually didn’t sit in the cafeteria but he guessed he was a bit peckish for the school’s lunch… Just for today.

“Taeyong!” Hansol called out, grasping his friend’s shoulder, “Are we eating at the sushi restaurant with the others?” Nevermind, his cover was blown.

Taeyong smiled stiffly in response, “I actually want today’s lunch.” All lies, he actually hated the school’s usual lunches. “I love pulled pork sandwiches…” 

Hansol stared at him with an apprehensive expression, “You do?” he eyed his friend suspiciously.

“Yes, let’s go,” Taeyong responded sharply, catching up to Ten and Johnny with Hansol in tow. Well, with him tugging on Hansol’s ear, “Text Doyoung & Jaehyun that we’ll meet them in the cafeteria.”

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“Geez, hyung. What got you in such a bad mood?” 

Doyoung looked up from his phone shooting a toothy grin at the baby carrier and Ten Junior, "Now you actually seem like a real parent."

Taeyong paused for a second, willing his face to not be so sour. He stared at Ten who was sitting with Yuta. And Johnny. And Mark. And Kun.

Apparently, Yuta had found friendship with Win-Win, the weird Chinese guy with the really deep voice, so you know what that meant? Ten ended up sitting with the “Foreign Swaggers”. Johnny and Ten had even talked in English while they walked to the cafeteria so he felt even more estranged from his partner.

"Nothing." He bit out.

"He's just regretting putting paper towels in an oven." Jaehyun laughed from beside him.

Suddenly, Ten Junior began to wail loudly in her baby carrier.

Causing everyone to stare at Taeyong’s table. Taeyong attempted to remedy her blues by stuffing a pacifier and bottle, but to no avail. Apparently the bottle of strange, white liquid no longer interested her.

He was just at his wit’s end.

He did not deserve to be a single parent.

“Leechaiyakul Chittaphon Ten!”

He was starting to feel a lot more like the mother now.

"Yes?" Ten looked up from his lunch, grinning from ear to ear.

Taeyong grumbled to himself, then dropped Ten Junior's baby carrier in Ten's lap, "It's your turn."

Johnny guffawed loudly from the other side of the table, "Damn, Ten," He laughed loudly, "It seems like your wife is pms-ing quite hard today, huh?" From beside him, Mark erupted into laughter, triggering everyone else at their table to start laughing. Heck, even the Chinese exchange students who could barely construct sentences chuckled. Taeyong's face blew up red like a tomato, he turned his eyes to his table, catching sight of Jaehyun and Doyoung giggling.

Only two more weeks. 

Not like he was counting.

author's note: filler kind of?? I was gonna double update but then I realized ddandara had 2 new episodes and i just love hyeri and minhyuk. i wanted to add more to this chapter but my laptop is lagging as i type this and there's something about typing on an iphone plus that ruins my vibe :c I tried to proofread but please ignore any mistakes for now ahh

special thanks to: whitelalin & sekaii for upvoting! it means a lot to me <3

8/3/16: revised a little.  like i said, ten is new to the home ec class bc he got transferred, but he's not new to the school.