‘Your phone’s vibrating’ Eric said, his voice lingering in the air together with the distinctive sound of the buzzing device. After having waited for few good minutes for Hyesung to answer it, he was sure he would lose his mind. There should be a law of how long a person was allowed to ignore someone else without giving them a notice of some sort. The person calling Hyesung, or him for that matter, was really trying to get in touch and it made Eric nervous. He had tried to strike up a conversation a couple of times but, with Hyesung having taken a seat on the sofa as far as possible from him, he hadn’t made much of a progress. Then the phone had started its silent rampage on Eric's sanity. Otherwise, who knows, they wold probably sit here until morning. Then an angry Minwoo would exorcise their demons all by himself and an angry Minwoo was much more scarier than any demons Eric could muster up in his mind.

‘It’s your ex,’ Hyesug awarded him with an answer, formulating it in a way that made it sound like it was somehow Eric's fault. He took the phone out and threw it to him, nonchalantly adding, ‘you answer it’ afterwards.

With a look of disbelief, Eric tore his eyes off the taller and steadied his frantically beating heart before taking a look at the screen, confirming that Hyesung had been telling the truth. He pushed the reject button as soon as he read the name, proceeding to type a short text message in hopes it would suffice. He would deal with the rest tomorrow. Somehow. He switched the phone off, tucking it away.

‘You know that this is not a drama’ he turned to Hyesung in hopes to now attract his attention, despite the other having ignored his attempts at conversing so far. That, together with all the he had been put through the last two weeks, didn’t bother Eric nearly as much as the fact that Hyesung refused to tell him the reason why. A tiny bit of trust was expected from their years-long friendship, yet he felt like he was at square one, or minus ten thousand, at the little game of Hyesung’s they appeared to be playing.

‘Why don’t you just talk to me?’ he tried again, the feelings of helplessness and desperation being ones to best describe his current state. The basic for solving problems was talking. It brought people closer, it helped to end-or start wars- or whatever the order was, the point being Eric wanted some answers.

Groaning in frustration, he put the heels of his hands to his eyes, rubbing them vigorously. All the crying from earlier had made them dry and painfully sore. His fingers threaded in his soft hair, his breath catching in his throat as the feeling sent shivers through his body. He needed to put a stop to this.

‘Does it really bother you so much,’ his voice was barely audible under his breath as he kept his face covered, just in case the other was watching him, ‘that I love you?’ He didn’t quite understand. Hyesung was clearly aware of Eric's feelings, he had to be. Did they offend him? Eric had never acted upon them, never initiated anything with any impure reasoning behind it. Why didn't Hyesung just let it be? He wasn’t harming anyone with his one-sided problem.

‘I mean, I would never-’ he took a glance at Hyesung stiffly sitting at the other side of the sofa, in the same position as he had been there since the other members had practically dragged him here, and a flare of anger lit up in Eric's heart. Hyesung hadn’t honored him with as little as a simple side-eye. Eric stood up, crossing the space between them with determination and plopped down in front of the other, his hand unceremoniously clasping Hyesung’s knees, his eyes looking up. He tried to look in Hyesung's eyes but he avoided his gaze like he was Medusa herself.

‘It’s a one sided thing’ that was the first thing he needed to clear up, ‘and it’s been going on like, forever’ he also needed to make a reference at that, ‘and it never bothered you before-’ which was not quite true. Hyesung was clearly being bothered by it now so Eric decided to rephrase himself ‘-or it has bothered you and you just never told me. The fanservice is for fans, right? It’s just that, ok? I’d never take it any further than that, I never intended to. That’s not what I want, not that kind of thing. Not in front of cameras-’

He fell silent for a while, wondering if maybe Hyesung was taking this wrong. Any way he looked at it, the troubled expression on the other’s face was his fault. And it was Hyesung’s face he was looking at. The expression, the emotions, the slightly burrowed eyebrows all carved in a different face were still clearly Hyesung's. Because of all the fanservice, Hyesung had always been wary- But that, that was all games for laughs, he'd never meant anything serious. When on cameras, he could kiss or push around or play with s equally. Maybe there had always been a touch of gentleness with Hyesung but that was to be expected. Hyesung was the little prince, a very reasonable little prince. When not drunk. One couldn’t just push him around like the others. And anyway, Eric didn’t want to play with Hyesung. He wanted to-

‘If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop that from now on. No more Ricsyung or all the water and oil bull. I promise.’ But it didn’t seen good enough, there wasn't enough sincerity in his voice. Eric needed for Hyesung to believe him, so he reached up and put a hand on the other’s cheek, making the stubborn man face him, 'I swear’

He wasn’t sure what exactly happened or how he ended up on the floor with Hyesung pinning him down, but he was trapped underneath the bigger, one hand pinning his shoulder, the other holding the wrist of the hand that had touched the other’s face. He didn’t feel threatened, not like he had felt before. He felt- there was something in the other’s eyes he couldn’t quite pin down. Passion? Fear? As Hyesung kept staring, clutched at his wrist with unnecessary strength, Eric realized that maybe getting to this point was what the other had tried avoiding so hard.

‘You just don’t get it’ his voice was deep, too deep even for his normal speaking tone, and, if Eric hadn’t known better, it would have appeared threatening. ‘You are just-’ Hyesung was stumbling over his words, searching for the best ones to pick but discarding them and rethinking it over again. ‘Why are you always just so-’ the pressure on Eric’s wrist increased, alarm bells ringing in the back of his mind, telling him that it’s going to be bruised the next morning and his band mates are going to think the worst of them, when his heart stopped as the realization that Hyesung face was only inches away from his own. Eric’s head felt light and dizzy, the bells exchanged by a churning, almost painful feeling of nervousness. Those were no butterflies, rather a soft kitten clawing its way out of his gut.

‘Do you always have to be so ing polite?’

Hyesung’s eyes, staring in his own, revealed to Eric everything he had wanted to known. And it dawned upon him hard. He’s been so set upon his own troubles, he hadn’t taken Hyesung’s feelings into account at all. All this time the other had been trying to deal with this alone. Trying to figure out what to do with Eric’s love forced upon him like that, all out of blue. Had he been confused? He must have been. Getting to know his band mate, his friend, and, most importantly, someone he could trust his life with, harboring such feeling without telling anyone about them. And on top of that, he’d been keeping it a secret for years. Had Hyesung been angry? Wouldn’t Eric be angry? He felt safe in Hyesung’s body but how had Hyesung felt in his? Scared? Lost?

‘I’m sorry’

That was all he could think of. He reached his free hand and curled its fingers around the back of the taller's neck.

‘I’m an idiot’ he pulled him down, met with no resistance, and kissed his lips. He didn’t need words to understand Hyesung anymore. Hyesung’s body was telling him what to do on its own. The cold shoulder, the harsh words, Eric felt so stupid for not recognizing the signs of his friend’s distress. The answer had literally been there, right in front of his eyes.

‘This still doesn’t mean anything’ a mumble escaped Hyesung as he cast his eyes down in guilt, as if he had just done something unforgivable. Instead of answering, Eric pressed their lips together. He’d been denied this for too long, he wasn’t going to let insignificant issues like the future of his whole existence or the sanity of his band mate to get in his way.

---

Minwoo knocked on the door, having rung the bell for seemingly unlimited time. It wasn’t much of knocking as more of hammering like a serial killer was hot on his heel.

‘Just open up!’ he yelled, waking the rest of the neighbors still asleep somewhere on the first floor. He just had to be the one to drag the others away from here yesterday, so now he was the one obliged to check upon these two in the morning. He had to admit he was slightly worried that one of them had not survived and they would have to somehow reform the band without Eric- or Eric in Hyesung’s body- or would that be Hyesung if his body. If it was murdered, would he return back or... and why was he even thinking such terrible thoughts? Minwoo wondered and he kept hammering the door.

His fists were tired and sore and he had almost given up when something clicked on the other side, a sleep-deprived, unkempt Hyesung looking back at him. ‘What do you want?’ his voice was horse, probably from all the screaming he had done with Eric. On the bright side, he still looked quite alive, or at least zombie-alive, looking like he had just been raised from the dead.

‘Woah- what happened to you’ Minwoo, despite having stressed about it all night long, was bemused and he took a good look at the taller’s disheveled hair. Half of them flat, the side he had apparently slept on, but the other standing in the air as if someone had treated their fingers through it. ‘Did Hyesung attack you or something?’ he wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the case. The man at the door didn’t find it half as amusing as Minwoo did.

‘I am Hyesung’ he deadpanned, the grumpy look undeniable that of their lead vocalist.

‘Oh’

Not knowing what else to say, Minwoo nodded, his hand shooting up to knead some of the nerves in his neck and shoulder. He was so tense lately. But this was some good news. There was one less problem on their hands now and, actually, he hadn’t hoped everything would resolve so quickly or so easily. He had been worried they would have to go all voodoo on them or, maybe, he had just imagined all of this and yesterday hadn’t even happened?

‘Oh, well-’ he took another good long look at the other’s sour expression, sleep in his half-closed eyes, the bags under his eyes prominent. There was a dark purple spot developing on his neck, half hidden by the sweatshirt he was wearing. Other than that, there was nothing extraordinary to- wait a minute.

‘Is that-’ Minwoo craned his neck, his eyes growing larger as if trying to help him see clearly if it wasn’t just some major birthmark he had not happened to miss on his band mate from their years living together, and not the unmistakable trademark bruise two people tended to give each other in a moment of passion, 'is that a hickey?’

Hyesung looked down at his shirt as in an honest attempt to look at the dark mark on his neck, then turning his head back and locking his eyes with Minwoo’s. 

‘Yes’ his voice was shameless, his eyebrows heightening in an expectancy of an answer. Minwow. Poor Minwoo, lost for words, his brain broken, just stood there, gaping. Hyesung, ​growing tired of his impression of a dead fish soon after, rolled his eyes and shook his head, closing the door in the other's face.

With the problem or body switch out of the way, they now had to concentrate on how to brake the news of their new-found affection in a better manner than how they had done it with Minwoo.

end

A/N: That was- the crappiest ending ever. Ok, maybe not the crappiest but so sappy. But that seals my first chaptered Shinhwa fanfiction. When I started writing it, I didn't have a clear direction of where it would go but I knew the ending... and while I was writing it, I knew where it was going but I had no ideas about the ending. But I finished it and I'm happy. I tend to drop a lot of my stories so 8 chapters are a lot for me. So ok, it had mistakes, lame conversations, plotholes, unrealistic situations and behavior and cheap ending. But hey, you only improve when trying.

Thank you everyone who read, subscribed, reviewed, voted or just enjoyed it. I hope you'll tell me how you liked the ending. Or complain about how you didn't. :)

And now I’m free to post my seriously long, already-written story that needs TONS of editing ... which I’m failing at due to lack of time.