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“He’s so annoying!” Baekhyun complained.

“But he’s still your friend. You still like him,” Yixing half-stated, half-asked.

“I guess so…” Baekhyun admitted. Yixing was wondering whether he should ask about the validity of Jongdae’s accusation as they slipped into a comfortable silence before stopping at Yixing’s room.

“I’m just going to stay with you. The trainer asked that I look after you,” he responded to Yixing’s surprised look.

“Thanks,” Yixing replied, smiling the smile that could bring about world peace if he put his mind to it. The deep dimples melted Baekhyun’s heart and jammed his brain so that he was staring at the adorable boy before him stupidly.

“What is it? Do I have something on my face? What are you staring at?” he inquired innocently, feeling his cheeks.

“No, your face is perfect, I mean your face is fine. It’s fine and there is nothing on your face,” Baekhyun said quickly, internally slapping himself for saying something so incredibly stupid. He was just lucky Jongdae wasn’t there to say anything or hold this over his head for the rest of his life.

Yixing chuckled in response and Baekhyun turned bright red again. Yixing found himself thinking that Baekhyun looked very cute when he was embarrassed but pushed the thoughts away quickly. Baekhyun was his friend and that was it.

Yixing sat down on his bed and leaned against the adjacent wall as Baekhyun stood in the middle of the room unsure of what he wanted to do until Yixing patted the bed beside him, inviting Baekhyun to sit.

“How do you stand him? Jongdae, I mean. I’m pretty sure that if he was in our sub-unit, he’d get punched in the face at least once a week if not more often,” Baekhyun grumbled.

“I’ve had to stop Kris, Xiumin, and Luhan from doing exactly that on a number of occasions actually,” Yixing mused. “Besides, I’m sure that the combined efforts of Joonmyun’s and Kyungsoo would be able to stop you from damaging his face too much. It is one of his only assets after all.” He smiled at his own joke and Baekhyun giggled.

They talked and gossiped and laughed, Jongdae’s earlier comment almost forgotten, almost but not quite. It was still hovering at the back of Yixing’s mind no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

--

“Xing? Yixing?” Yixing turned to Baekhyun, not realising his attention had drifted away from the conversation.

“I asked whether you liked anyone, love liked anyone.”

“I don’t think so, not at the moment at least,” Yixing replied uncertainly. “Why? Do you like anyone?”

“Well, not really,” he began before lying, smacking himself internally. He tried to redeem himself with the next question but fell just short. “If you had to choose someone in the band to date right now, who would it be?” Baekhyun could hear his pulse quickening as he waited for the answer.

“Well,” Yixing thought a little before responding. “Chanyeol and Kris are a thing, as are Tao and Sehun, Luhan and Minseok too, and Jongdae and Joonmyun are going to end up together, so I guess Jongin because you are with Kyungsoo, right?”

“Wow, that’s really nice of you, not wanting to disturb the couples,” Baekhyun said absently before realising the last part of the statement Yixing had made. “Wait, no. Kyungsoo and I are just friends, I swear!” Baekhyun replied. Thinking on it, he could see why someone might think that they were a couple. He was always spending time in Kyungsoo’s room gossiping. “Um. Okay. Let me rephrase my question. If you could choose anyone to be with, regardless of relationship status, who would it be?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about anyone here like that and half because they are already taken I suppose. What about you?” Yixing asked.

“I would probably choose you, actually,” he said, ears turning red. “You’re really nice and always think of others before yourself. You’re also a good dancer.” He found himself babbling before he could stop.

“You really think so?” Yixing asked, turning pink.

“Um. Yeah.” Baekhyun decided that he should get the award for smoothest operator in all of EXO, not even Jongdae could match this awkwardness and that boy was probably one of the most awkward things Baekhyun had ever seen. He actually didn’t know how he had managed to win Joonmyun’s affections.

“I think you hold me in too high esteem. I’m not really anything special,” he replied to Baekhyun.

“That’s another thing. You are really humble, almost annoyingly so at times. Because of this and your looks, you’re one of the most popular members. Fangirls explode every time you smile for Kris’ sake!” Baekhyun found his mouth was moving before his brain could think it through fully.

“You really think so? I was sure that I was one of the less popular members.”

“Yes, you’re definitely one of the more popular members, so stop lying to yourself.

“Wow, Baekhyun. I didn’t know you felt this strongly about it.” Baekhyun’s face lit up crimson.

“Yeah…” he replied lamely. Suddenly, Jongdae poked his head into the room.

“Hey, lovebirds. It’s time for dinner. Kyungsoo’s special kimchi is what’s on the menu tonight and you don't want to miss that right?” Everyone really loved it and if they showed up late, Tao would probably inhale the stuff.

“We’re not lovebirds!” Baekhyun retorted.

“You’re denying it too much for it to be untrue. ‘Methinks the maiden doth protest too much’ or something like that.” He ducked quickly to avoid the flying pillow that Baekhyun had grabbed and flung in Jongdae’s general direction.

“I’m going to kill him. I’m seriously going to kill him,” Baekhyun grumbled and Yixing chuckled in reply.

“Come on, let’s just go to dinner and avoid murder.” Yixing hopped off the bed, wincing as he put weight on his bad ankle.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asked, worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, trying to relax the grimace on his face. They walked out together and were met with a whistle from Jongdae.

“Would you stop it already?” Baekhyun all but screamed, ears turning pink at the tops. “We’re not lovebirds, for the last time.”

“Yifan, you and Sehun owe me twenty.”

“In a past life, I’m pretty sure you were Satan,” Sehun and Baekhyun replied in unison.

Baekhyun took a substantial portion of spaghetti and began eating it angrily. Everyone else had already started by the time Yixing and Baekhyun had come out so they simply returned to their meals.

“So how bad is the damage,” Jongin asked Yixing.

“I probably won’t be able to dance for a while…” Yixing replied slowly. Jongin pulled back a corner of his mouth in slight worry and frustration.

“We should probably halt practices until you recover. I don’t think that we have anyone that comes even close to replacing you, especially when one of the options is Jongdae.”

“Hey! I am the dancing machine of EXO. You’re just jealous!” He replied with a huff.

“You’re about as much of a dancer as I am a lead vocal,” Sehun replied coolly.

“And here I thought you were my friends!” He gave them all the look of a kicked puppy.

“If we weren’t your friends, we probably wouldn’t tease you as much as we do,” Kyungsoo pointed out.

“What are friends for if not to make snarky and offensive comments?” Baekhyun added.

“You know we love you,” Joonmyun put in, turning Jongdae’s face pink. Joonmyun pretended not to notice.

“Maybe we can work on vocals for the next album. That doesn’t require too much strain on your ankle, and we still have a respite before we have to perform,” Luhan suggested, ignoring the light bickering with Jongdae.

“I hope the company will understand. I don’t want to be too much of a bother, though…” Yixing replied.

“I think they will understand. If not, we can steal one of the trainees as a replacement. It won’t be nearly perfect, but it’s something, something much better than Jongdae.”

“Oi! I resent that Luhan!” Jongdae said, turning away from the conversation with Sehun, Baekhyun, Joonmyun, and Kyungsoo.

“True,” Yixing conceded to Luhan, ignoring Jongdae. While he didn’t want to be a bother to the other members, making them put off practices until he could dance again, he also wanted to be able to dance with his friends, to be able to practice for the concerts he would perform in with his friends.

“I still think that you are a popular enough member that SM would be okay with you simply taking a respite in order to be able to perform in Beijing instead of having a trainee stand in for you. We can practice together when you are all healed,” Jongin said.

“I hope you’re right Jongin,” Yixing replied, munching lightly on the spaghetti.

A/N: So I basically listed these random ships, some of which I support and some of which I do not, sorry if you guys don't ship it. I just basically mentioned it and it won't really come up anywhere else. More fluffy fluffy. Thank you for reading!