pairing: BaekLay
length: 1220 words
A/N: Written at the request of zaikenhuo! Hope you like it!

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Baekhyun giggles as he sets down the tin of melted chocolate that he’s mixing. He reaches for the bowl of whipped cream that Lay is busily whisking after the older male lets out a exhausted breath. “Is it difficult?” Baekhyun says with a chuckle as he starts whisking so Lay can take a break after working on the whipped cream for more than ten minutes now. “How many hours does this take?”

“About thirty to forty minutes? If you use your hands,” Lay answers, rolling up his sleeves again since they had slightly fallen down his arms while he was whisking earlier.

Baekhyun laughs at how serious Lay looks as he continues mixing the whipped cream.

The older male looks over at Tao and D.O’s strawberry whip mix, and Sehun and Chanyeol’s chocolate whip mix before turning back to Baekhyun with a sheepish grin on his face. “It’s too much, Baekhyun. We have too much water,” Lay tells the younger male with an embarrassed laugh. “They do it quickly, because they have a little.”

“Why did you give us a lot in a big bowl? You can wash your face with this,” Baekhyun complains to the production crew as soon as Lay finishes speaking. Because if Lay isn’t satisfied, then he needs to make it right for his favorite EXO-M member. “It’s like rice water.”

The production crew just laughs as they continue filming.

“Let’s not do a whipped cream cake,” Baekhyun suggests when he sees Lay resignedly return to whisk the frosting. And he’s instantly rewarded when Lay turns his face to beam at him with that beautiful dimpled smile. Baekhyun almost has to hold himself back from pinching the Chinese male’s cheeks, because he’s just so adorable and childlike.

After they finish spreading the whipped cream all over their cake, Lay and Baekhyun carefully think about how they’re going to decorate it after hearing Chanyeol gripe loudly to Sehun about the visuals of their own cake. Surveying the food accessories on the table in front of them, Lay suddenly says, “Let’s be creative and make EXO Planet!”

The EXO-M member looks so excited and pleased with himself for coming up with such a clever idea that Baekhyun immediately nods, a wide grin stretching across his face. “You’re a genius, Lay.”

While the production crew is concentrated on filming Tao and Chanyeol fight over strawberries, Baekhyun is wholly focused on decorating the cake with mandarin slices, chocolates, cookies, and sprinkles. He steps away for a moment to grab a carton of fruits when Lay calls him over urgently. “Baekhyun, Baekhyun, help me!”

The younger male speeds over at once to see what his precious Lay needs.

“Help me with this half,” Lay says, trying to carefully line the edges of their cake with thick white frosting. The EXO-K member obliges and uses his free right hand to slowly rotate the cake for the Chinese male who is focusing all of his energy on the task at hand. Once again, Baekhyun feels his heart fluttering in his chest as he watches Lay work so diligently.

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As Baekhyun explains the concept of their cake design, he can’t help but put his arm around Lay, even if he can’t really place his hand on the older male’s shoulder because there’s frosting on his fingertips and he doesn’t want Lay’s clothes getting dirty. He just really wants to show off how close he is to his favorite Chinese member with the most amount of skinship he can afford in front of the production crew’s giant cameras. And he wants Lay to know that he truly approves of their cake design, even though Sehun and Chanyeol insulted it earlier.

It’s annoying how everyone else is making fun of their hard work, and Baekhyun tries to play off the teasing when Lu Han points out their cake as the ugliest and Chen moves their cake to the side to show that it isn’t worthy of sitting with the other two cakes made. Sehun, who is next to him, jeers loudly in celebration. “Drop it on the floor,” Baekhyun stoutly dares them, causing Lu Han to laugh a little in apology.

Even though they get no points for making the “least” visually appealing cake (which he completely disagrees with), Baekhyun is more confident in the taste of their cake. “Time to cut it,” Kai says after all three cakes are back in front of the EXO members who had been playing foosball and mini basketball in the game room.

“Eat it. Try it,” Baekhyun says as he anxiously watches them pile slices of the cakes onto their plates, hoping that they’ll realize what a culinary masterpiece he and Lay have made.

Chen and Xiumin both comment, “It’s pretty, but not tasty,” after trying D.O and Tao’s cake, which had won as the best-looking cake earlier.

Baekhyun leans forward with a self-assured smile on his face as he says, “Right, that’s how it is. You can’t judge a book by its cover. I’m trying to teach you about life.”

“Be quiet!” Chen interrupts from the other side of the table.

“Can’t you be quiet?” Chanyeol guffaws as he waves a spoon in Baekhyun’s direction. “I can’t think.”

Chen grins devilishly at Baekhyun as he makes another jab at his best friend. “Did you make the bad tasting cake?”

“That’s not mine,” Baekhyun denies straight away, offended that Chen of all people would think that he made a less-than-perfect cake.

But his annoyance instantly evaporates when Lay leans over to softly murmur in his ear, “I think our cake is the best, because we made it together.”

And that makes this entire ordeal worthwhile with the older male’s gratifying statement. Baekhyun doesn’t care at all that Chanyeol and Sehun’s cake win number one, because he’s already gotten Lay’s approval with that one whisper. So when the other EXO members ask whose cake was Number Three, Baekhyun proudly stands up and raises his hand up high in the air with a bright smile on his face. He doesn’t mind having to embarrass himself by writing his name with his , because this silly little cake competition was all in good fun. If the other boys can’t appreciate the best cake ever made, then that’s their loss.

Lay keenly observes as Baekhyun shakes and wiggles his several times to write out his first name. He laughs once the younger male finishes and comments on how well he completed the punishment. Feeling energized after watching Baekhyun, Lay begins to enthusiastically write his full name in Korean with his .

Baekhyun carefully monitors the EXO-M member and begins to repeatedly call out, “Hey, hey, hey,” when he notices Lay stepping too eagerly to the edge of the table. He doesn’t want him to accidentally fall and Baekhyun almost has a heart attack when Lay finishes with a flourish, causing the table they’re standing on to suddenly jerk underneath them. The older male looks up at him in confusion and Baekhyun doesn’t have the heart to berate him for being so careless, since Lay didn’t get hurt in the end. After they safely jump down from the table, Baekhyun lets out an exhale of relief before snugly wrapping his arms around Lay. In his eyes, they won the cake-decorating competition today.

♈♈♈