Junsu leaned over the fence, of the bridge, staring down at the water swirling beneath him as his fingers tapped out a vague rhythm on the cool, damp metal. Turning around, he glanced over at the empty road. The streetlights flickered, throwing out a dim yellow light that scattered on the ground, barely visible at all. 

No-one really ever came to this road, this bridge, and Junsu liked it this way. 

It had been abandonned - no cars ever went on it, although it had never really been closed. They were still allowed on it - he was still allowed on it - but no-one had ever been on that bridge apart fom himself for the lat five years that he had known the bridge. 

It was just ... there.

So he was fairly certain that he was going to be safe when he leaned against the lampost, pulled out his notebook, plugged in his earphones and settled down for the night. 

Humming quietly under his breath, Junsu let the music drown out everything else as he scribbled down anything that came to his mind. Lyrics, words, ideas - 

He fiddled with the iPod, changing the music. 

After maybe an hour or so, he glanced at his watch, stretching his arms out as he yawned. Pulling up knees up to his chest, he stared out at the water, the music still playing in his ears. 

And that was when he felt something was wrong. 

Opening his eyes, he had just enough time to see a bright light hurtling towards him - when something solid grabbed his arm, and all of a sudden, he felt himself stumbling to the ground - several metres away. 

He watched, stunned into silence, as the truck hurtled into the strangely pale figure standing in the middle of the road, careening wildly - and carried on, leaving the figure standing there still, as if the truck had just gone right through it.

What?

He watched in silence as the figure took a few steps forwards, peering at where the truck had disappeared into the shadows, shrugged, and then turned and began waling back to him. Junsu blinked as he saw the pale figure take the shape of a human, a boy around his own age and height, but as it - he - drew closer, he took a step back in shock.

There was no face.

No, it wasn't like, ailen-with-no-features no face, but it was like a cloud of mist covered it - the featuers were almost blurred but not quite, just ... faded. 

"Hey ... um, are you okay?" The boy asked. Junsu stared wordlessly. He shrugged. "Uh ... I guess so?"

"Okay. Good thing I was there, though, it could have been a lot worse," the boy laughed, and Junsu found it strange how he could somehow see the expressions on the other boy's face, know what was there ... but somehow not be able to see his features.

"Oh, and what's your name? I'm Kim Minjun. You know, good manners and all that?" The boy smiled. Junsu found himself similing back. 

"Kim Junsu," he said. 

And from that moment, Kim Junsu had a proper friend. 

One day, Junsu asked Minjun whilst they were going to school why nobody else seemed to see, or hear, or touch him. 

Minjun didn't reply - for a moment, Junsu waited, thinking that Minjun was playing with him, but it became clear after a few minutes that Minjun actually didn't - and couldn't - hear his words. Frowning, Junsu tried again with a different question.

"What should we do after school?"

Minjun replied cheerfully. Leaving Junsu confused. 

Another day, Minjun asked Junsu whether he found being with him uncomfortable. Junsu asked why. 

"Because of my ... well, my non-existant face?" he questioned. So he did know what he looked like - but Junsu almost found it normal. So no, he shook his head. 

A few days later, Minjun floated through the wall in his bedroom, 

Junsu had fallen off his chair in surprise, and Minjun had just laughed. Junsu asked how he could do that, but Minjun gave no real answer, cocking his eyebrow (Junsu somehow knew what was going on on his face but still couldn't really see) and replying mysteriously that he didn't need to know.

Of course, Junsu had always known that there was something incredibly different about his new friend. But somehow, it didn't bother him, and from the very start, Minjun's prescence had seemed almost ... familiar. Normal. 

But it was when Minjun had started to vanish when Junsu became curious. 

It was the last hour of school. Junsu had been watching the film in drama, and when it had ended, he looked ot his side where Minjun should have been sitting. But the chair was empty. 

He probably went to the toilet or something, Junsu had reaasoned. But for the whole lesson, Minjun hadn't shown up. And not for dinner. Or when he was doing his homework that evening, Minjun wasn't there to chatter on to him and pretty much completely distract him. 

It was only when he was about to turn off the lights when Minjun drifted through the wall, and grinned at him. "Hey Jun!"

Junsu looked at him curiously. "Where did you go?"

Minjun frowned. "I didn't go anywhere - I went to the toilet after we had dinner, after you came back late from football. remember?" he looked confused.

Junsu blinked. He had football yesterday. Cautiously, Junsu asked him, "So ... have you got an idea of the drama homework?" 

Minjun frowned. "What drama? We have it tomorrow, right?"

Tomorrow? Then Junsu put two and two together, and he stared. "Minjun, you're forgetting. This is a Thursday."

"Thursday? But it's a Wednesday -" Minjun halted as he saw the cleander, then looked at the clock on the shelf. "This isn't some prank, is it?" he asked suspiciously. Junsu shook his head. "No, really. Check my email - the teacher sent us an email about the homework. On Thursday." 

Junsu watched in silence as Minjun flipped over his phone on the desk, unlocking it (Junsu had long since stopped bothering to change the passwords constantly after Minjun kept sneaking onto it to play games) and scrolling through the email. He stared, his jaw dropping. "But - I would have remembered ... oh."

Minjun's eyes widened, and once again, he vanished. 

Junsu sighed, switched off the lights after a few minutes, and went to bed. 

The morning after, Minjun came back. 

"It's Friday," Junsu reminded him. Minjun's confused expression flickered over his face, but he remianed silent, nodding and grabbing his bag.

"Why do you think you keep disappearing?" asked Junsu once. "Can you remmeber where you go?" Minjun asnwered with a shake of his head. "No. Never ..."

"Huh." Junsu huffed slightly, crossing his arms and staring out of the window. "This is weird." 

"And you're too lazy to keep working on a prank like this for so long, so I know it;s not a prank either." 

"Hey!"

"Minjun ... what are you?"

Minjun blinked. "Huh?"

"You can't be really human, right? Normal humans don't ... go around and noody sees them. They don't ... float through walls, or through things ... I mean, I can't do that. No-one I know can do that." Junsu hoped he hadn't offended his friend. 

Minjun sighed. "I ... I'm -"

And he vanished, again. 

"You're ...?" prompted Junsu as soon as he came back. Minjun frowned. "I'm what?"

"Wh-" Junsu stopped. When had the last times Minjun had vanished been? 

Once in drama. Once when Minjun was about to talk about his past. Once when he was about to answer who - what - he was. 

"Oh." 

"What?" Minjun asked curiously. "Junsu?"

"No. It's nothing." Junsu smiled reassuringly. 

But ghosts aren't real! his mind yelped. Minjun can't be a ghost!

And why else could he do all that stuff? he retorted back. 

His mind stayed silent. 

Is there something he doesn't want to tell me?

Junsu watched Minjun concentrate on the game he was playing on his phone, making little whining noises every time his virtual caharcter died. 

Maybe it's something he can't tell me.

"Hey, Minjun?" he suddenly said, surprising himself. The boy turned, and looked at him expectantly. "Yeah?"

"Can you ... touch me?"

"Ew." Minjun scrunched up his face, and only then did Junsu realize how it sounded aloud. "No! Not like ... that. Like ... touch my shoulder or something, because if you can float through walls and stuff ..."

"Oh. Right." Minjun laughed, and shrugged. "I knew you couldn't be -"

"YAH!"

"Okay, okay." Minjun giggled, then stood up and bounced over and stopped next to him. "Should I try, then?" 

And without waiting for an answer, he extended his hand, and touched Junsu's shoulder. 

"- god -" Junsu jumped, and Minjun hastily withdrew his hand. "Sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"No ..." Junsu shook his head, concentrating on the lingering feeling it let behind. It was ... cold. But he couldn't really feel it, either ... it was like a cold gas had been released into his blood in his arms, and it spread slowly, fading away into a slightly discomfort as it spread, then into nothing at all. "Do it again."

After hesitating, Minjun pressed his hands to his shoulders, and Junsu watched with an almost fascinated feeling as the boy's hands just disappered into his shoulders once more.

Once again, his mind whispered, He's a ghost then?

`

As the days passed, Junsu almost became used to Minjun's frequent disappearing. Apart from a nagging worry that maybe he might disppear and not be able to come back, he was pretty much fine.

Suspecting his only "friend" in the world to be a faceless ghost, but fine.

Something told him that he would have to find answers one day. He couldn't just carry on like this forever. Right?

Just the small fact that Minjun disappered every time he tried to talk about it.

God, stop being so sarcastic about it, he scolded himself, fiddling his with iPod as he leaned back on his chair. You're turning into Minjun, seriously ...

Oddly, that sounded almost right.

When Minjun finally drifted through the wall half an hour later, Junsu flashed a smile at him and for a while, the two of them sat in near silence, the only noises being an occasional question, and the scratching of pencils on paper. Staring down at the numbers scribbled on his maths homework, Junsu pondered vaguely about what he was going to say.

"Junsu?" Minjun nudged hin and he looked up. "Yeah?"

"Europa is Jupiter's moon, not Saturn's."

"..." Junsu gaped at Minjun wordlessly. "That doesn't ... what?"

And suddenly he found himself laughing alongside Minjun.

Talk to him later, he promised himself, slapping Minjun - or rather, his hand passing through Minjun who jumped away as if he actually had been slapped, giggling.

But then he will just disappear, won't he? a voice whispered in the back of his mind. He'll vanish before he can tell you amything.

Junsu sighed. He needed answers.

Just how was he going to get to them?

He couldn't talk to Minjun directly.

Maybe a letter? Junsu glanced over to the keyboard. Maybe if he emailed Minjun? Would that work? Or a written letter?

He could just leave the ... issue.

Shaking his head, Junsu denied the thought quickly. I need answers. And i'm getting them.

It was only an hour later as Junsu played with the pencil in his fingers, staring down at the letter scrawled on a torn-out page of his note book, when Junsu realized that he was dreading what the real answer would be.

*Next day*

"Kim Junsu!" Minjun hissed - or rather screeched - in the boy's ear. Jerking awake, Junsu blinked groggily, before hurridly putting on a show of arranging his notes as the teacher swept past, glancing down at him with suspecting eyes. Breathing a sigh of relief when the teacher passed, Junsu twisted around to thank Minjun when he stopped.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked curiously as Minjun raised an eyebrow. No answer came.

"Ugh fine." He pouted and turned away, unaware of Minjun's fingers fiddling with a torn-out sheet of paper in his pocket.

Later that day, Junsu slipped into his room, heading over to his bed where he had left the note. Was it there still?

It was. Frowning, Junsu picked it up and turned it over, looking for any return message. But the sheet was blank.

Maybe Minjun hadn't seen it?

Sighing, Junsu made to put down the slip of paper when the light flashed on the surface of the paper and he saw something white.

"What ..." he said aloud, glancing around. Minjun wasn't here either. Raising the paper to the light again, he finally caught sight of the handwriting, a small note on the blank side of the paper.

Tonight. At the bridge. If you want your answers.

Minjun

Minjun didn't appear throughout the rest of the evening. Junsu watched the hour hand on the clock flick onto ten, then pocketed the folded peice of paper, walking out of his house. Glancing around, Junsu turned and began jogging down the street towards the empty bridge that he had first met Minjun on, his mind flicking through all the possible - and the impossible - answers that he might get.

"Minjun?" he asked quietly, stopping next to a lampost on the bridge. A few moments later, Minjun appeared - actually just appeared - in front of him. "Hi."

"Um ... Hi?" Junsu blinked. Minjun watched him in silence for a while, then crossed his arms. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You want your answers, so give me your questions." Minjun raised an eyebrow, a smile playing across his lips that somehow made Junsu relax. "Okay. Um ..." he trailed off. He had questions - so many - he just didn't know how to phrase them.

Staring mutely for a while, Junsu attempted to organise the whirl of questions and confusion. "I know you're not ... normal," he said finally, cringing at how blunt the statement sounded - but Minjun remained neutral. "Why are you ... here?"

"Long story," said Minjun simply. He grinned. "Um ... How do I explain this?" He scratched the back of his neck. "I am you."

"What-" Junsu stared. That was definitely not what he had expected. Minjun was ... him?

"Not really complicated though, once you look at it," mused Minjun, although it seemed to Junsu that he was talking more to himself. "I ... Er ... Well to put it short, I came here to help you."

"Help ... me?" echoed Junsu. Minjun did something between a nod and shake of his head. "You were failing. I came to change that."

"Failing...?" trailed off Junsu. Failing what? His grades were okay, not the best, bit considered good. He wasn't in any kind of danger. What did he mean by failing?

"Inside," answered Minjun, seemingly reading his mind. "With yourself." As annoyingly observant as ever, Junsu thought breifly, frowning. "I didn't need any help."

"Would it help if I said that you were a loner?"

"No."

"Okay. But you do know I can't be here forever."

Unfortunately, yes. Junsu blinked. "Are you ... going to go?"

"I guess I have to, don't I?" replied Minjun, raising his eyebrows (again). "And I also can't leave."

"Make sense for once, idiot," sighed Junsu. Minjun just grinned.

"Do you like me?" Woah. Junsu blinked at the abrupt question. "As a friend, I mean. As a person." Minjun shot him a I-cannot-believe-your-mind look.

Immediately, Junsu nodded. Minjun grinned again, a quiet satisfied look playing on his face. "Good."

"First step is to learn to like yourself, Junsu." Minjun smiled as Junsu blinked again, the confusion registering on his face. "I don't get it."

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Minjun patted him on the head. "One day, Junsu. Maybe in a couple of hundred years time, you will actually get something."

"Yah!"

"Told you." Minjun rolled his eyes. "Where was I? You were failing at life interally ... Yeah. I basically came to kick your and remind you not to let yourself drown in yourself."

"Minjun?"

"Yeah?"

"That was the deepest message ever conveyed in the most insensitive way I have ever heard."

"S'long as you understand," shrugged Minjun. Glancing back at the sky, he sighed. "I need to go."

"Go- what?" confused once more, Junsu stared at Minjun, who laughed a bit, punching him on the arm. "I can't come back. So make sure I count."

"I did not get a word of what you said," mumbled Junsu. Minjun quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sure you did."

"Then ... who are you?" asked Junsu, a part of him tingling as he waited for the answer. Minjun sighed and smiled. "Junsu, I am you."

And for a second, Junsu finally saw Minjun's face - only, it was his own features staring back at him.

And when he blinked, Minjun was gone.

It was only later when Junst realized that when Minjun has punched him lightly, he had actually felt the solid hand on his arm.

Just like that day when he had pulled Junsu out of the road.

"Pabo," muttered Junsu under his breath. But a faint smile still played on his lips.