Word Count: ~ 1k

As a vocalist, he didn’t have anything to do as the dancers practiced the dance break in MAMA. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had gone to the practice in order to watch Yixing and Jongin respectively.

The way that Yixing moved when he danced always made Baekhyun’s heart flutter, but he could never quite explain it. It might have been something just a touch higher than admiration. Kyungsoo kept joking that Baekhyun was in love but Baekhyun didn’t believe that. They were just friends and band-mates, which would soon be living in different countries, he added bitterly.

“It’s not as easy as between you and Jongin,” Baekhyun had pointed out. “We’re all in the same sub-unit and will be promoting in the same country.”

“What about something between me and Jongin?” Kyungsoo squeaked.

“You’d have to be an idiot to not see what is going on between the two of you,” Baekhyun replied flatly. “I see the way you stare at him when you think no one is looking.”

“So you’re admitting to being in love with Yixing?”

“Quit trying to change the subject.”

“You’re the one changing the subject.”

“Shut up. Just ask him out already. You two are rooming together, right? It’s simple. All he can do is break your heart into a million tiny pieces.”

“Wow. Thanks Baekhyun for being so supportive,” Kyungsoo replied sarcastically.

“Just preparing you for the worst case scenario. What are friends for if not to be brutally honest and provide mild verbal abuse every now and again?”

“I don’t know, maybe support in situations like this?” They both laughed, knowing full well that when it really came down to it, they would support one another to the very end.

“Let’s just go to the dance practice. I’m curious to see what it looks like, to be honest,” Kyungsoo said once they had stopped laughing hysterically.

“You don't want to see the dance break, you want to see Jongin doing the dance break and could care less about what it actually looks like.”

“Yixing will be there.”

“There you go, changing the subject again,” Baekhyun sighed.

“You know you want to go. If not for Yixing, go for me and prevent me from doing anything I will regret for the rest of my life.

“Okay. Fine. But what you say is out of my jurisdiction. It’s not like I can read your mind and stop you from saying stupid things,” Baekhyun replied.

“We’re best friends. I’m sure that you can predict when I am about to say something especially stupid.”

“As long as you watch my back too. If they ask, we were just curious as to what the dance break looked like and that is it,” Baekhyun reminded his friend.

--

The dancers finished three run-throughs of the dance break before Yixing injured himself. At the jump, he landed wrongly and sprained his ankle, falling to the ground. Baekhyun was there in a flash.

“Can you stand?” Sehun asked, extending a hand.

“I think so…” Yixing replied, taking Sehun’s hand. Sehun pulled Yixing to his feet. He put weight onto his left ankle gingerly and a noticeable wince flashed across his face.

“It looks like a sprain to me. I think it would be best if you sat out of practice,” Xiumin suggested. “You don’t want to make the sprain worse.”

“Yeah. Maybe you should go see the trainer, too. At least get it taped or something,” Jongin added.

“I can take you so that no one else has to miss practice and make sure that you don’t hurt yourself any further,” Baekhyun said, possibly a little quickly.

“Sure, I guess…” Yixing replied.

“I’m pretty sure that your health is more important than dance practice,” Sehun said.

“Besides, it looks like you’ve got the dance down at this point,” Jongin added.

“You might even know it better than our star dancer, Jongin,” Xiumin teased.

“Hey! I know the dance. And I’m not the star dancer,” Jongin replied indignantly.

“SM would beg to differ,” Yixing said, smiling.

“Whatever,” Jongin sighed.

Baekhyun left the studio with Yixing leaning heavily on him.

--

“Yixing? Do you think that you could hop on my back? I think that would be easier for the both of us.”

“If you think you can carry me…”

“I’m stronger than I look.” Baekhyun grinned at Yixing before bending down so that Yixing could clamber onto his back. Baekhyun picked him up with ease.

“Are you sure that I’m not too heavy?”

“Chanyeol is heavier than you are but even he isn’t too heavy. You’re just fine.” Baekhyun chuckled.

“That’s a relief. I’m glad I’m not too much of a burden.” Yixing pressed his face into the side of Baekhyun’s neck lightly, breathing in his soft smell. For some reason, the boy reminded Yixing of a puppy and he even smelled like one, although the smell could have been entirely in Yixing’s head.

“I wish I could dance like you can,” Baekhyun mused out loud. “You just look so intense and focussed but also like you are enjoying every minute of it,” he continued. Yixing could feel that Baekhyun’s neck was heating up and he smiled but Baekhyun couldn’t see the dimples from where he was.

“I do enjoy it. I honestly do, even though at times it can be difficult.”

“You don’t make it look difficult somehow.” After it was out of his mouth, Baekhyun realised how true the statement really was. For the most part, he had just been looking at how Yixing looked and moved but now he realised that Yixing really did make it look effortless and smooth. Yixing chuckled in response to the comment.

“That’s a really big compliment. Thanks Baekhyun, but have you seen Jongin?” He asked almost enviously.

“I think that you two have different styles and I like yours better,” Baekhyun stated, which surprised Yixing. The back of Baekhyun’s neck got even redder.

“Thank you Baekhyun,” Yixing giggled. Baekhyun’s face began to heat up and the tips of his ears were a matching colour to the back of his neck.

A/N: So here's a little four-shot. I just feel like BaekLay is cute even without being one of my main ships.