Everyone exchanged glance resignedly as Hyesung’s sob turned into cry, tears rolled down his cheeks. Minwoo quickly approached the Little Prince and rubbed his shoulder gently, composing.

“Sssh… Ssh…”

“I want Ppoppo back!” Hyesung whined sadly. “I want Ppoppo back!”

Dongwan dug his precious bag and pulled out a lollipop, he then kneeled beside Hyesung, waving the lollipop in front of his face. “Now, now… If you stop crying, I’ll give you this candy and we can continue looking for Ppoppo, okay?”

Hyesung sniffed, eyeing the lollipop in front of him and took it, a palm brushed his cheek.

“Okay.”

Everyone sighed with relief.

“Okay, let’s find Ppoppo.” Minwoo took Hyesung’s hand with his while Dongwan smiled a fatherly smile and asked, “You want me to open the cover for you?” to which Hyesung nodded his head eagerly.

Eric watched quietly as Dongwan put the lollipop in Hyesung’s mouth, and the Little Prince nodded obediently as Minwoo patted his head, asking him to lead the way.

“Cute, isn’t he?” Junjin muttered.

Eric closed his eyes. Even when he was himself, the Little Prince was always cute in Eric’s eyes, but added a soul of 6 years old boy inside him and Eric could barely hold himself back not to run to him and hug him and put him into a sack and keep him somewhere he could have all the cuteness just for himself.

“Which one do you like more, Hyung?” Junjin grinned mischievously as they watched Minwoo and Dongwan tried to cheer the 35 years old boy by making funny faces and Hyesung giggled adorably, clapping his hands and asked them for more. “This Hyesung, or our Hyesung?”

“Jin-ah you want to die?” Eric mumbled.

Junjin laughed and joined Minwoo and Dongwan entertaining Hyesung.

“You know what, Hyung.” Andy said solemnly, lowering his voice. “I really want to keep this one longer.”

“Andy-ya!”

Andy quickly avoided Eric’s slap and joined his other hyungs. Eric stared at them for a moment and then decided that he could let this one go. He could count on s to find a missing dog and taking care of a kid.

“Guys I’m heading back.” He said. “I have works to do.”

“Okay!” the others answered in unison.

Eric looked at Hyesung for the last time—the man was now puffing his cheeks and shook his head—before forcing himself to turn around, heading back to his own apartment.

He couldn’t handle it. Hyesung was just too cute.

It had been a while after the incident happened, and Hyesung hadn’t back to normal. Everyone had now been used to Hyesung disappearing every now and then, body inhabited by another soul to finish their case. Hyesung even made a long list that had names and their business so the other members knew what to do when a soul took over his body. Hyesung had started to accept the situation.

But Eric didn’t. He was afraid of the side effect, even though Dongwan assured him that there was no dangerous side effect of Astral Projection. Eric had so many reasons; this was a rare case, their comeback was just around the corner, and most importantly, he was worried about Hyesung’s physical condition. Hyesung didn’t get enough sleep lately, because once he fell asleep another soul would take over his body to do things, and even though the lead singer hadn’t notice it yet, his lack of rest had started to influence his movement. If this continued any longer, Hyesung’s body wouldn’t be able to take the burden.

Eric needed to talk about this matter with Hyesung immediately.

Gomdori’s barks welcomed him when he opened his door.

“Gomdori-ya…” he sang, walking slowly to his living room and found Gomdori was barking to his television. Eric frowned.  “What are you doing? You want to watch something on TV?”

Eric the TV, but Gomdori kept barking. Eric took the dog and him lightly. “What is it? What do you want to watch? Shinhwa Broadcast? The show is finished, you know.” it took him awhile to notice that Gomdori looked… happy. Eric shifted his eyes to the TV screen, finding some random commercial playing on it. “Ice cream? You want ice cream?”

Suddenly Gomdori jumped from his hands and run happily to his room, still barking.

“Gomdori-ya!” Eric called, but let him be. He was already too comfortable sitting there on his couch. Eric switched channels for a moment before finally tossing the remote aside and closed his eyes. He wanted to have some nap since he couldn’t sleep well recently. Every time he went to sleep, his mind was packed with Hyesung, their album, their comeback and schedules. Now at least he could take a good short nap since he knew Hyesung wasn’t dealing with anything dangerous.

Eric tried to empty his mind, letting himself to fall into deep slumber. Every now and then, things would pop up. Hyesung, album, Hyesung, comeback, Hyesung… Eric blocked them out, and he knew he’d succeeded when he could feel nothing but darkness invaded him. But then he started to hear a faint bark.

Aish. He thought. Gomdori.

Eric wanted to open his mouth and tell him to be silent, but he couldn’t.

He was too sleepy.

Gomdori was still barking, but Eric didn’t care. He ignored it easily.

Until another voice came.

“Sssh, voice down, voice down, Gomdori-ya! You’re disturbing Eric nap.”

Eric’s eyes flew open the moment he heard the voice. He quickly got up from the couch and walked to his room hastily, couldn’t believe his own ears.

There he was, sitting at the end of Eric’s bed, one finger over his lips, shooing Gomdori which barked excitedly to him.

“Sssh! Gomdori-ya! Listen to me!”

“Hyesung-ah?”

Hyesung jumped in an instant, turning his head to his direction, eyes widened in surprise.

“E-E-Eric-ah!” he stuttered.

Eric was still not sure if it was really Hyesung he saw. Why would Hyesung be here, in his apartment?

“Why are you here?” Eric let the question out.

Hyesung flushed. “I… Uh… Uh…”

Hyesung shook his head, cheek tinted pink, and stared back at Eric. “Wait, before I answer that I also have a question for you, why do you have a picture of me on your nightstand, Eric-ah?”

Eric’s heart leaped as Hyesung pointed to his nightstand, where he kept a frame with Hyesung’s picture in it, taken from their This Love era. Eric mentally slapped himself, why would he be so stupid, putting the frame in a place where everyone could see it? But wait, this was not a place where everyone could enter; this was his room, wasn’t it?

“Before I answer that I’d like to ask you another question, what are you doing in my room?”

Eric and Hyesung were now having staring battle.

“Answer me, Hyesung-ah.”

“I asked you first.”

“But I asked you first before you asked me first.”

Hyesung pouted. “Fine. I’m just… Looking around.”

Eric raised an eyebrow, but Hyesung suddenly diverted his eyes from him, staring at nothing in particular.

“I visit our members’ place sometimes, just checking if they have something interesting. Today I happened to visit yours.”

It didn’t make any sense, and Hyesung looked really embarrassed after saying that. Smile was formed in the corner of Eric’s lips.

“So, found anything interesting?” Eric teased, motioning to his room.

“Yeah, that.” Hyesung answered quietly, pointing to the night stand again.

“Well…” Eric cleared his throat. “I put pictures of random people in that frame from time to time, you know, my family, Youngbae, our members… Today I happened to put yours.”

His excuse was as lame as Hyesung’s, and neither of them believed it, but they didn’t say anything anymore.

“S-so…” Hyesung said awkwardly, looking back at the Leader. “How long you’ve mastered AP, Eric-ah?”

“Mastered… What?” Eric startled.

“AP. Why didn’t you tell me you can do it, too?”

Eric needed seconds to register Hyesung’s words, but when he did, he exclaimed in shock.

“WHAT?!”

Hyesung covered his ears. “Geez, why are you being so loud? Yah!”

“But I don’t… I didn’t…”

Eric had just realized he was too surprised to see Hyesung in his apartment that he forgot he wasn’t supposed to be able to see or hear Hyesung when the other was in his Astral form. And only then he noticed the non-existence of gravity, and how light he felt. Eric turned around and got even more shock when he saw himself sitting on the couch, eyes closed, lips parted, snoring lightly. He turned back to Hyesung who was waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t do this intentionally.” He said apprehensively.

Hyesung frowned. “You too?” he sighed. “Dongwannie is still donggumong even in this matter, then, since both of us can do this without even trying.”

Eric chuckled nervously. Even though he had always heard about AP from Hyesung’s story, experiencing it was an entire different thing. Hyesung noticed the nervousness in the Leader’s face.

“Don’t worry.” The Little Prince said nonchalantly. “You’ll get used to it.”

Eric grunted. “You’ve certainly forgot about your first-time, haven’t you?”

Eric flinched when Hyesung approached him, sliding and floating inches away from the floor.

“W-wait, wait! Don’t come near me! You’re frightening as hell! You’re not Hyesung! You’re ghost!”

Hyesung put his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

“You should see your face when you said that.” He laughed. “Well, whatever, I’m going out of here. Bye bye, Gomdori-ya.” He waved goodbye to Gomdori, who was sitting obediently beside him with his tongue stuck out. Gomdori understood the gesture, because he got up and followed Hyesung outside, barking lightly again.

Hyesung floated out from the room, passing Eric, heading to the window. Eric was still freezing as he saw Hyesung’s translucent body—why did he only realize it right now? Eric thought—went through the wall and vanished. Eric shuddered, staying still where he he was, brain packed with things again. How came doing an AP was actually this easy? He didn’t even try, as Hyesung said.

Hyesung…

What was he doing there?

Eric felt sudden increase in his heart beat. Did Hyesung come here often? Did Hyesung… Check on him from time to time?

Next time they met, Eric would ask him that. He knew it would cost him a kick or two from the Little Prince but it was gonna worth it anyway. Why would he secretly come here, in his Astral state, while he could actually come anytime he wanted? Had to be because he didn’t want Eric to know about it, right? Eric smiled at the thought. Maybe… Just maybe, Hyesung was interested in him, too?

“Gomdori-ya, Daddy is smart, right?” he asked Gomdori, grinning widely from ear to ear. “What do you think? Is he really interested in me?”

Gomdori gave a soft woof.

“Really? He is?” Eric’s eyes widened, heart fluttered. “Yah, if apparently he’s not, you’re not welcome here anymore, you understand that?”

Gomdori tilted his head and stared at him questioningly and Eric came back to his sense. He sighed and face palmed, feeling like an idiot.

“Now what sould I do?” he murmured to himself, glancing at his body. “Should I just go back there? Wait, what to do? How do you go back to your body?”

Eric approached his body nervously. From Hyesung’s story, he only needed to ‘enter’ or ‘crash’ this body of his, but how precisely he should do it? After thinking for a moment, Eric sat down, letting his soul entered his body. He then closed his eyes, and opened it again. But he still felt the same, and as he looked down to his hands, what he saw were the translucent ones. Eric tried again, this time making sure he had the exact same pose as his body, with the parting lips and all.

Still no result.

Eric tried again. He closed his eyes longer this time. And with the snore.

He failed.

He started to have panic attack. Why couldn’t he get back to his own body? What was wrong with him? A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead. There was no way he would be trapped in this astral form forever, right? No, it couldn’t be, Hyesung was always… A bulb appeared beneath Eric’s head. He needed Hyesung.

“Hyesung-ah…” Eric called out desperately, getting up and standing still, didn’t really know what to do. Why did he let Hyesung go? Why didn’t he join him? Obviously Hyesung knew about this world much better than him. Why was he so stupid?

“Where did he go?” Eric asked himself, anxious. Hyesung could go anywhere with his astral form. He might be in Japan or somewhere far away right now.

Without thinking, Eric moved to the wall and went through it.

“Wha—aaaaaargh!” he startled and screamed as he fell without warning. Eric had completely forgotten that he didn’t live at the ground floor.

A pair of hands caught Eric halfway, and Eric panted as the owner floated down, supporting him, and let him go as they touched the ground.

“Why are you so stupid? That was reckless thing to do!”

Eric looked up and saw Hyesung’s terrified expression.

“Hyesung-ah…” Eric exhaled, feeling relieved. He opened his arms and pulled him closer but Hyesung pushed him away, embarrassed.

“What are you doing?!”

Eric pouted. “I’m just so happy you’re here.”

“You moron, you’re not a natural-born traveler like me, you need time to adapt to the non-existence of gravity.”

“Tch, you showoff bastard.”

Hyesung glared at Eric.

“Hyesung-ah, I can’t go back to my body.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t go back to my body.” Eric repeated. “What should I do to be able to get inside my body?”

“Well… You just need to… blend.” Hyesung frowned. “Or maybe… Wait… You were tired, weren’t you?”

Eric stared at Hyesung questioningly, but nodding his head as an answer.

“Maybe that’s why you couldn’t go back, you need someone to wake you up, because you can’t wake up by your own.”

“…then wake me up!”

“I can’t, can I?” Hyesung pouted cutely. “How am I supposed to wake you up with this form?”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Eric queried.

Hyesung shrugged. “Just wait. When I got back to my body, I will go to your place and wake you up.”

“But what am I supposed to do while waiting?”

Hyesung sighed peevishly. “You can do whatever you want, Eric-ah. You can go back to your place and wait there, sounds like a plan, no?”

“I don’t wanna be alone, I’m afraid.” Eric said stubbornly. “Can I go with you?”

Hyesung startled. “You want to go with me… where?”

“Wherever you want to go.”

Eric saw Hyesung’s nose wrinkled, and he knew the main vocalist was preparing words of rejection.

“Please, Hyesung-ah? You can’t leave me there alone, I’m not familiar with this world, and didn’t you tell me there’s this thing called Predator? What if it comes when I’m alone and I become its prey? What will happen with Shinhwa and Shinhwa Company? We’re preparing for our comeback, aren’t we? We can’t—”

“Fine.”

“Huh?”

Hyesung pursed his lips, looked away and said in a very low voice. “You can go with me.”

“Hyesungiiiiie~”

“No hug!” Hyesung slapped Eric’s arms, snorted and turned away, but it didn’t erase the grin on Eric’s face. “Okay. Where are we going now?”

“I was heading to this one place when I heard you calling out my name.” Hyesung crossed his arms over his chest. “I found it last night in my travel book. I’m going there.” Hyesung jumped lightly and floated in mid air. “Come on.”

Eric gave Hyesung another questioning look.

“What?”

“I can’t do that floating things, remember?”

Hyesung sighed. “Right. Aish, such a burden.”

Eric startled when he felt Hyesung’s fingers around his wrist. Hyesung tried not to look at him but his voice sounded strange as he spoke. “Don’t do anything and just follow me.”

Eric smiled to the back of the Little Prince who leaped on his feet and took both of them into the sky.

“Wow.” Eric said in amazement, looking down to the ground as they flew higher and higher.

“Charming, isn’t it?” Hyesung was still not looking at him.

“Hyesungie, this is amazing.”

“I know.”

If this was a dream, Eric would definitely not want to wake up. Hyesung was grabbing his hand, taking him to fly over the ever changing scenery... Eric’s heart went ballistic and stayed that way. He forgot to speak, he forgot to think, and butterflies in his stomach went frenzy.

Eric had lost count of how long they had been flying when Hyesung suddenly slowed down and said.

“We’re here.”

The Little Prince pulled him down, touching the ground.

“Hyesung-ah… But this is…”

Eric’s mouth parted as he looked at the azure lake in front of him, the surface was sparkling and rippling, reflecting sun light, it was like looking at a sea of crystals. In the end of the lake was a waterfall, which sound reverberated softly in the open air. It was dazzling, breathtaking.

“Beautiful, right?” Hyesung smiled, eyes twinkled in excitement.

“Where… Where are we?”

“Plitvice Lakes National Park.”

“…where?”

Hyesung chuckled. “We’re in Croatia, Eric-ah.”

Eric’s jaw dropped. They had traveled that far?

Hyesung giggled when he saw Eric’s expression. “Surprised?”

Eric nodded vigorously. “You do this every day?”

“Not every day, no.” Hyesung shook his head. “Only when I really want to go. I mostly go to much closer places.”

“Like my place?”

Hyesung’s face bet red. “I told you—”

Now it was Eric’s turn to chuckle. “Really, Hyesungie, it’s not like I don’t like seeing you in my place but why?”

Hyesung was silence, lips pursed into thin line again and Eric was worried if the Little Prince would explode. What if Hyesung left him here? He wouldn’t be able to go back alone!

“I was curious.”

Eric blinked once. “Huh?”

“I was… Curios… About the picture…” Hyesung now blushed so fiercely. “I know you didn’t just put it there today.” He stared at Eric.

Eric shifted his gaze somewhere else, lost for words. His heart raced again.

“Well…?”

“Did you overhear my conversation with Minji last time?”

“…just a lil bit.”

“In what part…?”

Hyesung didn’t answer straight away and just fiddled with his fingers and Eric knew that little part Hyesung heard was the most important part he should never hear.

“About how long you’ve been in love with me…”

Silence.

“I didn’t mean to… I was passing by to go somewhere… And… Then…” Hyesung trailed off. “I thought I heard it wrong.”

Eric smiled, and in seconds the smile turned into laughter.

“E-Eric-ah?”

Eric’s laugh didn’t stop right away and Hyesung stomped his feet embarrassedly, floating away from him, heading to the center of the lake.

“Hyesung-ah… Wait, don’t go.” Eric tried to stop laughing. “Hyesung-ah, don’t forget that I’m an idiot beginner who can’t do anything without you. Don’t you dare leaving me here.”

Hyesung pouted. “You’re laughing at me.”

Eric shook his head. “No, I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at myself.” He smiled, looking straight at Hyesung’s eyes.

“Since you’ve found out… Yes, Hyesungie, I‘m in love with you.”

Hyesung expression turned blank at Eric’s words. Eric maintained the smile on his lips, even though his heart beat slowly decreased seeing the main vocalist’s expression which wasn’t looked so good. So what if he didn’t like it?

“Eric, you are… Ridiculous.” Hyesung murmured. “We’ve been friends for years.”

“I know.” Eric smile started faltering.

Another silence reigned.

Then Eric decided he had to do something. He moved his legs carefully, step by step, advancing towards Hyesung who was floating in the water surface. Astounded, Hyesung watched as the Leader approached him, walking on water as he did. Few other steps and Eric was standing in front off Hyesung.

“Wow.” He blinked. “I thought you’re supposed to be an idiot beginner?”

“I’m a fast learner as well.”

Hyesung didn’t move away as Eric took another step toward him. He didn’t even do anything when Eric took his hand with his.

“Since when it’s started?” Hyesung asked.

“I don’t know. It’s been for a while now.”

“Eric-ah. Your eyes have dark circles around them.”

Trusted Hyesung for throwing incoherent things whenever he was nervous.

“No wonder. It’s because of you.”

“Me?”

“This entire AP thing really gets into my nerve. Look at you, you’re not in a good shape, Hyesung-ah. Just how many nights your body missed sleeping already? You will get sick. You need to take care of yourself.”

Hyesung was silent.

“What should I do?” the Leader asked in low voice, eyes locked with the slender man before him.

Hyesung bit his lower lip, breaking the eye contact, cheek tinted pink. “Do what you want.”

Eric startled at his reaction. Was he dreaming?

“You better not take your words back.”

“I won’t.”

“Even if I say I want to kiss you?”

Eric’s heart raced as Hyesung lifted his gaze to him.

“Why did you never tell me before?”

Eric leaned forward. “I don’t want you to hate me.”

Hyesung chuckled. “How could I hate you?” he closed his eyes, waiting.

Eric smiled, closing the space between them, and their lips met.

=tbc=

A.N: PUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I saw Hyesung's instagram update and decided to write another chap because RICSYUNG IS REAL. I don't care anymore. Kekekekeke. Hope you'll like my update. ^^v