"Oh my god. I can't do this. I really can't do this. I'm scared. This won't end well. I just...I can't do this..."

"Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo-ah! Are you ok?" Baekhyun asked, approaching the younger boy. Kyungsoo appeared to be hyperventilating. "What's wrong?!"

"Hyung, I can't do this. I-I can't perform, I'm too scared. I'll mess up! I'll let EXO down."

Baekhyun mentally rolled his eyes. "Kyungie-ah~...you have the title "main vocalist" for a reason! Come on, power vocals!" he cheered.

"I-I'm not confident enough for this...it's live today, hyung. Live. In front of an actual audience. While dancing," Kyungsoo mumbled into his hands.

"What's so different about doing it at practice? We have our sunbaes watching sometimes and we usually sing along. It's practically the same, except now we're wearing makeup and uncomfortable stage clothes. No big deal," Baekhyun shrugged.

"But hyung...what if my voice cracks? What if I get out of tune? What if I get lost?"

"Oh, you will," Baekhyun waved the thought off, clicking his tongue when Kyungsoo gave him a startled look. "What? I will too. So will Joonmyunie hyung and Jonginnie and Sehunnie and Yeollie. That's what we've trained for, right? We're going to mess up, we just have to play it off and keep going. If we focus on that one bad note, then we'll get thrown off the rest of the song."

"But what if I can't get over it? What if...I do get off for the rest of the song?" Kyungsoo asked, drawing his knees to his chest self consciously.

Baekhyun smiled reassuringly. "Then there's always tomorrow, isn't there?" Kyungsoo sat there for a second, staring back at Baekhyun. He felt slightly calmer than he was 5 minutes earlier and was about to thank the older when Chanyeol stuck his head into the dressing room.

"We're next guys!"

"You can do it Kyungie," Baekhyun reminded him, patting him on the shoulder before following Chanyeol out.

Kyungsoo sighed heavily, but stood up to leave anyway.

Kyungsoo pretended the way Baekhyun whispered "Kyungie hwaiting!" as they walked on stage didn't send butterflies to his stomach.

However, the butterflies had long since dispersed by the time they walked off stage. Kyungsoo's heart was in his stomach and the rest of the group stayed silent as they made their way back to their dressing room.

"That was horrible," Kyungsoo groaned finally, sitting down in a chair and immediately covering his face with his hands.

"It wasn't your fault Kyungsoo-ah, singing with the handhelds is a lot harder. I think we get hands-free tomorrow, so don't worry," Joonmyun smiled, wiping sweat from his face.

“Did you even hear History? We're going to get so much hate for that, I did awful. I'm not ready for tomorrow...” he whined.

“You just need to be more confident, that's all! Relax some,” Baekhyun smiled.

“Hyung's right, you just need to loosen up before tomorrow and you'll do a lot better,” Jongin added encouragingly.

And thus began the informal “Help Kyungsoo Calm Down Before Music Core” the rest of the group decided to hold the next day.

It began before practice the next morning, when Sehun walked up to him with a thermos in his hands.

“Here, take this,” the magnae said, handing Kyungsoo the thermos. “It's red ginseng tea. It always helps me calm down, maybe it'll help you,” Sehun smiled.

“Thanks, Sehun-ah,” Kyungsoo returned the smile as the magnae walked away.

It wasn't until halfway through practice after he'd decided to try out Sehun's tea to stay hydrated that he remembered he hated red ginseng.

Jongin was next, pulling him away during one of their 15-minute breaks to an empty practice room down the hall with a small TV set up in the middle of the room.

“So I wasn't sure what to do, so I asked the -M boys for help. Zitao said yoga was calming after his wushu practices, and I found this DVD he recommended, so I was thinking maybe this could work?” Jongin asked uneasily, holding up a DVD box.

Kyungsoo shrugged- he'd never exactly tried yoga before, so it was worth a shot.

That was the day Kyungsoo discovered he was nowhere near as flexible as Jongin or Zitao, instead grunting in pain every time the instructor on the screen told him to bend his back further, because that clearly was not possible.

He hoped the next wouldn't be as bad, when Chanyeol dragged him to the backseat of the van, insisting his idea was foolproof.

“Look, listening to calming music is no doubt going to have calming effects. Here,” Chanyeol handed him his iPod. “What's the worst that could happen? If you fell asleep, that's calming too, right?” the rapper chuckled deeply.

Kyungsoo had to admit he was surprised at the amount of calming piano music on his hyung's iPod, completely opposite from what his usual musical tastes seemed to preface. He also had to admit he was incredibly calm, music turned up loud enough to drown out the rest of the noise in the van, the earbuds not allowing any other sound to distract him from his calming process.

That was, until a loud metal song blasted through ears. He immediately yanked the earbuds out, leaving his ears ringing, and attempted to bring his heart rate down and control his breathing. Chanyeol looked stricken, and apologized immediately, but the damage was already done.

Kyungsoo, still traumatized, resisted strongly when Joonmyun insisted he knew how to help.

“Come on~ I'm the leader, I wouldn't intentionally do anything bad!” Joonmyun smiled hopefully.

“It's the unintentional part I'm worried about, to be honest,” Kyungsoo mumbled.

“Oh, let up, this'll be good for you, I promise,” Joonmyun said, tugging on Kyungsoo's hand again.

Kyungsoo knew he didn't have to worry as much when it came to Joonmyun, the older could be absurdly innocent when he wanted to be. He soon found himself on the roof of their dorm building and was beginning to wonder exactly what he was supposed to be doing.

“Why are we here?” he asked, turning to face Joonmyun, who was sighing contentedly at the wind blowing around them.

“Just yell. Scream. Whatever. Let it all out, it'll make you feel better,” Joonmyun assured, lying on his back and staring up at the clouds. Kyungsoo watched at the leader for a second, mulling over the idea in his head, before deciding it was worth a shot (and there was no way it could be worse than yoga).

By the time he decided to actually try it, he had come to the conclusion it was actually a good idea, letting off loose steam and all. But as he went to take his first breath, a strong gust of wind blew a bug into the back of Kyungsoo's throat.

“I give up,” he announced, wiping his mouth in disgust after having spent the last 5 minutes coughing up bug guts.

“Sorry Kyungsoo-ah, that wasn't really supposed to happen...” Joonmyun sighed, leading the younger back to their dorm.

“It's not your fault hyung, I'm just doomed for failure is all,” Kyungsoo groaned.

Kyungsoo hadn't realized Baekhyun hadn't tried anything until he was back in a dressing room alone, nearly hyperventilating...again.

“My god, you are a mess. Did nobody help at all today?” Baekhyun asked as he slid in the room, closing the door after him.

“After dying of dehydration, being bent in unnatural positions, nearly going deaf, and swallowing a bug...no. Not at all.”

“Hmm,” Baekhyun tapped his chin as if in thought. “Well, my idea is 100% guaranteed to make you forget all about your stage fright!”

“And what would that be?” Kyungsoo asked sarcastically. “Because to be honest, I'm not ready for another round of torture when we go on stage in,” he paused, checking the clock, “30 minutes.”

“Half hour? That's plenty of time!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

“For what?”

Baekhyun smiled. “This~,” he sang, kissing Kyungsoo square on the lips.

Kyungsoo jumped back in shock, about to ask what Baekhyun was doing, but only succeeded in opening his mouth when Baekhyunk kissed him again.

Kyungsoo did have to admit, Baekhyun was a great kisser, and the way he slowly and softly massaged his shoulders while mixing his tongue with the younger's was kind of a great combination. Baekhyun hummed a little, pulling Kyungsoo closer and continued his ministrations, rubbing out all the knots of stress in Kyungsoo's back. It wasn't or lustful the way Baekhyun kissed him; it was more caring and intimate, filled with love instead of want.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, kissing each other softly in the middle of the empty dressing room 20 minutes before going onstage. They eventually got broken apart by Joonmyun running in and announcing they were moved up, and they were really going on in 5, not 15. He didn't even seem to notice their compromising position as he rushed back outside, still freaking out.

Baekhyun smiled and leaned his forehead against Kyungsoo's. “So? Did it work?”

“Huh?” Kyungsoo asked, not paying attention to much besides the way Baekhyun's eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled.

“Are you still nervous?”

“Oh! Well...” Kyungsoo thought about it before shaking his head. “No, not really.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Told you it'd work~ Guess I'll have to do that everytime from now on, huh?” he smirked, pressing a quick kiss to Kyungsoo's cheek.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan,” Kyungsoo smiled, grabbing Baekhyun's hand and rushing towards the door, not in the mood for Joonmyun to kill them for being late.

Needless to say, everyone was surprised at the distinct change in Kyungsoo's vocals from Music Bank to Music Core, and how much calmer and aware he seemed. Some even speculated he was purposely sounding bad on the first day, just to shine brighter on the second. Kyungsoo could only laugh at the thought, knowing it was only Baekhyun that helped him. And certainly not the rest of his bandmates.