doyoung could feel his face heat up when he read what was written on the board the minute he stepped into the room. briefly after that discovery, he felt someone bumping into him from behind. 

"huh? why'd you stop walking?" the person asked, pulling out his earphones. realising that doyoung wasn't listening to him, he followed doyoung's gaze and his eyes found its way to the board too, reading the hangul characters written sloppily by their teacher beforehand. "what the ?" 

"I don't think it's good for you to keep swearing like that, Taeyong. you guys are supposed to be role models to your children soon." the teacher, ms yook teased. 

doyoung felt his face become warmer by the second and he scurried to his usual seat. taeyong muttered something under his breath and followed suit, sitting at the seat behind doyoung. it didn't take long before more students came piling in when the bell rang. many of them were dumbfounded when they saw the board. it felt like déjà vu, haven't they seen this before? haven't they been through this nightmare last term already? whispers broke out amongst the students as they discuss about how are they going to escape this class. 

once the seats are filled in the classroom, ms yook stepped forward and flashed a smile at everyone. yuta felt a chill went down his spine when she did that. he knew he wasn't going to like what was about to happen to them. her smile was also creepy to begin with anyway. 

"as all of you can see, we'll be starting the second part of our parenthood project as of today." the teacher only had just began to speak but she was soon interrupted by ten's hand shooting upwards towards the ceiling.

she sighed, "yes, ten?" she asked the thai male. 

"haven't we done enough last term? my ears still ring from satan's robotic spawn's cries." ten rubbed his ears to support his statement. "how much does this school want us dead before college, ms yook?" 

"yes, you guys have but that was just the beginning. the school thought that it wasn't enough knowledge and experience with having to take care of a robotic baby. and no, the school just wants to nurture all of you into good fathers in the future." their teacher replied. 

"hold on, what are we going to babysit with this time?" johnny joins in. "please don't tell me..."

this time, taeil and doyoung gasped. "robotic toddlers." the both of them said in unison and everyone else in the room looked at them weirdly, except for their teacher. 

"even better," she grinned. "real, living adolescents!" 

the room became dead silent and everyone stared at their teacher in disbelief. kun was staring at her with his mouth agape when he remembered something. 

"are we going to have to baby them 24/7 until the deadline of this project?" his korean was a little unusual but he still tried his best to express himself. "cause, many of us may have a little problem."

"don't worry, the school had taken care of it already." the woman assured them before she turned her back and went to switch on the projector on screen. 

an empty google docs table flashed across the screen with the heading 'parenthood project partners' at the top. everyone immediately exchanged gazes with their close knitted friends to let each other know before she asks the question they knew she'll ask; "alright, I'm giving you 10 seconds to choose a partner and those who doesn't have a partner will end up being paired up together." 

doyoung panicked and turned around in his seat. "taeyong will you–" but before he could finish, taeyong gave him an apologetic look and shook his head. "sorry, ten have already asked me first." 

doyoung cocked his head to the side to see the thai male waving at him and smiling at him sheepishly. he rolled his eyes in return and shot him a look that says;
this is the only time I'm allowing you to steal my best friend away. 

ten grinned and nodded. doyoung knew about how ten's feels towards his best friend. it was pretty obvious, but unfortunately it wasn't obvious enough for taeyong. the fool started liking the other fool since he was transferred here from thailand when taeyong offered to show him around the campus. after a couple of years have passed with subtle hints being dropped here and there, taeyong still haven't gotten any clue yet. if only everyone has a perseverance like ten. ten still thinks they're meant to be but doyoung wishes the hopeless romantic luck if he's determined to steal taeyong's heart. 

"alright, time's up! starting from... sicheng!" sicheng jumped in his seat at the sound of his name being mentioned. his eyes watches the teacher with wide eyes. "who's your partner, dear boy?" 

why did she even bother asking? it was pretty obvious.

"kun." he answered. 

the two chinese male are basically inseparable, they're stuck together like glue. it was obvious they'll choose each other, not to mention they're more comfortable speaking in their mother tongue since they're still self conscious about their korean. 

"okay, kun and sicheng. down the columns, next person!" the teacher says, not looking up from her laptop as she types. 

doyoung was panicking internally as it became closer and closer to his turn to be called. he counted the number of people left till it was his turn and he nervously tapped his finger against the desk. is he going to be a single parent for this project? he doesn't want that! he's not capable of that responsibility yet. he's still unable to find his missing dorm room card which he had lost 3 weeks ago, only depending on taeyong for entrance to their shared dorm room.

when it came to one of the boys seated at the back of the class, jaehyun, the boy awkwardly got up and scratched the nape of his neck. "I... I don't have a partner.." he says shyly. doyoung eyes widened. 

"is that so?" ms yook looked up. "who else doesn't have a partner?" 

"me!" doyoung shot his hand up high, looking almost desperate. he nearly scared taeyong behind him who was about to doze off, staring at the screen while waiting for either his or ten's turn. 

"ah, thank goodness. alright, jaehyun and doyoung. and mr kim, please compose yourself. don't get too excited." 

doyoung blushed and slowly lowered his hand. he heard ten and taeyong sniggering from behind and he turned around to glare at them. then, he turned to look jaehyun's direction. jaehyun caught his eyes and doyoung proceeded to mouth, is it really okay if we paired up? 

jaehyun nodded and smiled. 

sorry about earlier, I was worried about not finding a partner

don't be, I was worried too at first 

doyoung sighed in relief

seamlessly, the choosing of partners moved onto hansol who had chosen yuta, ten who–of course–chosen taeyong and finally, taeil who chose johnny because johnny is curious to know how it'll feel like working with taeil. it was quite an odd combination but everyone couldn't wait to see what'll happen to them. 

"is that everyone?" ms yook did a headcount on the names recorded in the table. "okay, that's everyone. now before we move on, I'd also like to remind you all that there are some of you who'll be a little luckier."

"some of us don't have to take care of some bratty kid?" yuta raised an eyebrow at her. 

ms yook shook her head. "some of you will have two kids to take care of since the school thought some of these kids are too easy to handle hence the lucky few will be entrusted with two instead." the same creepy smile appeared on her face and yuta shuddered. 

protests were shown but ms yook didn't seem unfazed by it at all. they wanted to ask more questions about the 'project' when the bell rang, indicating the period has ended. "see you guys tomorrow! class dismissed!" ms yook left the classroom before anyone else could approach her. johnny thought that was a move, ironically since she probably hasn't have one in years. 

"I hope the kid isn't like my bratty little cousin or I swear I'll strangle the little devil." ten said, picking up his bag. "I should've dropped this class when I was given the chance. too bad my wanted to escape more algebra." 

"as long as they don't wake me up in the middle of the night because it poop its diapers I'm fine with anything." yuta suddenly appeared from behind as they walked down the corridors to the cafeteria. 

"May God give us strength to face our tomorrow." jaehyun mumbled. 

hello! this is my very first ot17 pairing fanfic. there might be some grammatical errors here and there so I hope you won't mind them. I'll try to update as much as I can and hopefully not get into writer's block or became lazy. every comment, upvote  and subscribe are much appreciated! 
thank you for your support!