Fear and instinct kicked in. Hyesung ducked, losing his balance and smacking against the wall. Something whizzed past his ear; the laughter grew louder. He scrambled back to his feet and reached for the nearest light switch, the one just inside the living room.

Light flared, yellow and bright, flooding the room. The laughter turned to shrieks of surprise and dismay. Hyesung turned, ready to chase whoever it was from his  home; students from his arts school here to play a prank? But no. He stared, leaning heavily against the wall, his breath catching in his throat when he saw the intruders.

Four of them stood in the middle of the living room. Tall, slender, all of them with red brown like his—but far more handsome than he'd ever be. They wore clothing that clung close to their bodies tight tops, form fitting leather pants; the one in the middle wore a stylishly tailored suit. While he gazed at them, mouth hanging open, they started to laugh again. The middle one flicked back his long bangs and took a step forward.

"Who are you?" Hyesung demanded.

More giggles. The other three leaned into each other like drunken college girls supporting each other, swaying.

"Minwoo," the middle one said. Less giggly than the others.

"Ohh, don't say it like he's going to understand," one of the other three piped up. He had strange eyes, clear and bright as crystal. "We're your...oh, what's that silly human word?"

"Stepbrothers!" the third crowed triumphantly. "We're his stepbrothers."

"Oh, how very boring," Crystal-Eyes giggled.

Minwoo rolled his eyes. "That's not quite the right word, but it'll do," he said. He tossed his head back, indicating the other three. "The one with the pretty eyes is Junjin. The one that's slightly shorter then the rest is Dongwan and the last one is Andy. It's true; we are your brothers."

Wow, Hyesung thought, shaking his head. I wondered what it would take. Guess I'm finally having that psychotic break Miri keeps saying I'm due for. Damn his stepmother. He hated when Miri was right.

"Well, no more cheap American beer for me," he declared, moving to step past his hallucinations. "So, guys, hope you can show yourselves out. Had a long day, don't really have time to play Suzie Homemaker with my new psychosis."

Maybe it was a dream. Maybe he'd already gotten home and passed out on the couch. That couch was uncomfortable enough to give anyone nightmares.

When he tried to walk past Minwoo the man turned suddenly, faster than Hyesung's eyes could track. One second he was several feet away; the next, he had Hyesung by both wrists. His face—so sharply defined, with high cheekbones like a model, the expression on his face was indiscernible. What a great poker face, Hyesung thought.

Heat spiraled through Hyesung, coiling his stomach painfully tight. Something passed through him, like a cloud of dark smoke rising from his toes and up into his head. It left him giddy, left him swaying on his feet. It felt painful like all the muscles in his body were expanding and contracting at the cellular level.

"What—" he gasped.

"I didn't give you permission to walk away," Minwoo said quietly. His voice was slightly menacing but not in a way that can be called threatening.

The other three approached, walking forward in a seductive stride. The other one —Andy—rested his hands on Hyesung's shoulders and leaned down. Hyesung started as Donwan's cheek brushed his. His heart started to beat faster; sudden fear made his mouth go dry.

"Is he really our brother?" Junjin wanted to know. He pursed his lips. "He's got the hair and eyes, but otherwise he looks nothing like mother."

Hyesung stilled. "Mother?"

"Our mother," Minwoo said, "and yours. Miyoun. Queen of the Unseelie Court. I suppose you knew her as Miyoung."

"Horrid, common name," Andy put in.

"The Un—the what?" Hyesung tried to jerk away and backed into Andy.

"The Unseelie Court. The darkest court in all of Faerie. Oh, that's right...you don't know any of this, do you?"

"Fairies? You're kidding, right?" Hyesung twisted, wrenching himself from Minwoo"s grip. Did they hear how his voice quiver? "Okay, whatever. Look guys, Tink, I do believe in fairies," she clapped a few times, "but uh, only when I'm drunk. Which I apparently am. So if you'll excuse me..."

Wind raced around him, stirring his hair. How? he wondered, backpedaling. The window isn't open... But he knew. As Minwoo and his brothers circled around him, their every movement was as graceful as dancing, Hyesung knew. He saw light shimmer around Minwoo's fingers, a dark light with silvery edges. In the glow of it markings appeared on Minwoo's face: Whorls and stripes, vines with sharp-tipped thorns. Hyesung spun, trying to get away, and saw similar markings on the faces of Andy, Junjin and Dongwan.

"We're not fluttery little pixies," Minwoo hissed. "We are Fae. And despite my protests, so shall you be as well."

"Mother wants you back," Junjin added, "Now that he is finally gone. You may not look it, but you're one of us."

Hyesung shook his head. "No. No I'm not. This—this is all just some weird dream. I'm going to go to bed and tomorrow..."

They laughed, all four of them; not the tipsy, college-girl giggles, but deep, rich chortles. He tried to back away, but Andy was there. Heart racing, Hyesung darted back towards the entry hall. With a rush of wind and a tinkle of chimes Junjin was there, suddenly in front of him. The man—the Faerie—wrapped his arms around Hyesung and drew him close. Despite the brotherly affection, fear washed through him.

"We're going to have such fun together, brother," Donwan sing-songed. He almost sounded sincere.

"Let me go," Hyesung whispered meekly.

"Oh, Sunggie," Minwoo sighed. "We can't. He's right, we will have fun, a great deal of it."

"What do you want? What do you desire?" Junjin asked. "Anything you wish, we can get for you."

Unbidden, a single thought flashed into Hyesung's mind: Eric. He closed his eyes,and he was swamped suddenly by memories. Everything about him, every detail, down to the calluses on his fingertips from hard work and playing guitar. He thought about his tattoos; a tribal pattern over his shoulder blades, some Japanese symbol low on his abdomen and, oddly, a dragonfly on his right forearm. He wanted to trace them, all of them, with his fingers, with his mouth...

Hyesung's cheeks flushed. He opened his eyes to see all four of the Faerie gazing at him. A wicked smile turned up the corners of Minwoo's mouth.

"See? Look at his face," Minwoo said. "There is something. You want it, brother? It's yours."

"H-How?" Hyesung stammered, before he could stop himself.

"We have ways. Many ways. Want money? A snap of my fingers and you'll have it. Want family? Well, here we are. Want a women or even a man? A little glamour and she or he's as good as yours..."

"No!" The word burst from Hyesung's lips. "No, this is insane. Leave me alone."

Yet more laughter. Hyesung shoved Andy away and stumbled into the entry hall. He slammed his shoulder hard against the wall, hard enough to bruise, as he made his escape.

It was still pouring outside but he didn't care. He raced out into the rain, letting it wash over him. Not Eric, he thought, shivering. They meant...like using magic. Like, trickery or something. I can't do that to Eric. How could he even consider it? How could he consider a word these nutcases said?

The real nutcase was him. Having these hallucinations...Except Hyesung couldn't bring himself to believe they were hallucinations. They felt real, solid. Their laughter kept ringing in his ears as he pounded down the sidewalk, oblivious to the pouring rain. Maybe if he went elsewhere he could convince himself they were just a dream. There was still one safe place left in the world.

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Sorry this was so short. I couldn't figure out how to write this section. So i know that the characters of the rest of Shinhwa are not spot on but I am using creative control to change them for this story because this story is about Hyesung and Eric. I am sorry about that also. I don't want my story to be like other Ricsung stories so that's my main reason for doing this. Tell me please if you don't like it. I will change it a little bit if you aren't happy as long as it doesn't effect the main storyline. PLEASE COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE!