Minseok finally gets worried when he hasn’t seen Lu Han for a whole week.

He doesn’t easily admit it, but he’s grown used to the ghost’s company by now. Even his annoying habit of not caring about being dead doesn’t bother Minseok all that much anymore. So, when he finally gets a week free of his dead friend, the building suddenly feels a lot quieter than before. Minseok’s not sure how that is even possible when he’s still surrounded by loud living beings such as Chaneyol and Baekhyun. He supposes he’s too used to Lu Han trying to talk his ears off whenever Minseok has class where everyone studies silently. He hasn’t known Lu Han for that long, but the empty space the ghost left behind feels bigger than it should.

Perhaps he never should have asked Junmyeon about Lu Han’s death. The worst-case scenario Minseok can come up with is the ghost remembering his accident again, making Lu Han somehow disappear from this world and/or from Minseok’s sight. Then again, Lu Han finding peace is the scenario they were aiming for, so maybe him disappearing is a good thing. Too bad he never managed to debut before finding his peace.

Minseok just wishes he could have at least said goodbye before whatever happened to Lu Han came to pass.

When another day goes by without a sound from Lu Han, Minseok’s getting sure he’s never going to hear from the ghost ever again. He sighs in defeat, getting ready to head home. Minseok doesn’t have a reason to stay after dance practice anymore, not when there’s no clingy Lu Han around demanding his company for at least one more hour just because the ghost feels lonely. Minseok walks out of the building with Sehun, giving one last look to the empty hallways behind them.

There’s nothing or no one to see.

“Hyung.” Sehun clears his throat when they’ve almost reached the train station. “You seem down lately. Did something happen?”

The question makes Minseok snap out of his thoughts He hadn’t realized he had missed Lu Han enough to make himself look depressed. He isn’t surprised Sehun noticed, though; the kid often worries over others despite being younger than most of the other trainees.

“It’s nothing”, Minseok reassures Sehun with a gentle smile they’ve been practicing in acting classes. “I just haven’t heard from my friend lately.”

“Oh.” Is Sehun’s response. It makes Minseok feel slightly guilty. He should have known better than to worry the youngster. Sehun bites his lower lip briefly before continuing. “Have you tried calling them?”

Before Minseok can stop himself, he laughs out loud. Maybe he should have gotten Lu Han’s phone number in case the other had a ghost phone with him.

“He doesn’t have a phone”, Minseok says while trying to force the too wide smile off his face. He doesn’t want Sehun to think he thought his question was that laughable. “But I’m sure he’s doing alright. You don’t have to worry about me or him, Sehun.”

“Alright then…” Sehun agrees quietly and Minseok pats him on the back. Most of the time Sehun is a little brat but he still only wishes the best for everyone, and Minseok likes the kid for it.

“There’s still time before your train departs, let hyung buy you a bubble tea for making you worry so much”, the elder offers, hoping to make Sehun smile again. When he sees the familiar, enthusiastic grin before him, Minseok knows he has succeeded.

It takes another three days before he sees the familiar out-of-fashion sneakers hovering above the floor.

“So, you’re not dead after all”, Minseok comments, raising his left eyebrow and trying to ignore the heavy load lifting from his heart.

“I am. In case you forgot”, Lu Han retorts back, not offering any other explanation and making Minseok dig for the information himself.

“Where did you go? I thought you found peace or something”, Minseok gives up and asks. There’s a silent accusation of why didn’t you say anything to me before going? You made me worry, you , which he doesn’t dare to say out loud. Lu Han seems to read it in his eyes anyway, because he hangs his head down like Chaneyol does when he’s seeking forgiveness from Kyungsoo.

“Sorry.” Lu Han pouts. It’s rather cute and Minseok finds himself looking away.

“I was practicing”, the ghost then adds, again letting Minseok be the one to ask for details.

“Practicing what exactly?”

“When I heard about what Junmyeon said, I thought… well, since I was stupid enough to step on a bottle and die, I thought I could use it. To make myself angry at bottles and…” Lu Han drifts off. Minseok suddenly understands what he was doing.

“Oh, were you trying to touch the bottles? Channel your bitterness towards them or something?”

Lu Han nods. “Yeah. Didn’t work though. And in the end, I missed you too much, so I gave up.”

The statement makes Minseok’s cheeks burn for reasons he doesn’t understand. Shaking his head slightly, as if he could get rid of the redness that way, he asks, “Why didn’t you just practice with me anyway?”

Smiling sheepishly, Lu Han explains. “I was trying to get angry. Of course I don’t want you around in case I lose it and try to kill you or something.” Minseok blinks at that. Sometimes it’s way too easy to forget Lu Han is, in fact, a ghost. And there aren’t too many stories about friendly ghosts. Still, he can’t bring himself to feel afraid around Lu Han. He hasn’t been afraid of him ever since that one Chinese class, and it’s hard to imagine starting to feel that way again. He’s even left his trusted iron spoons at home. Lu Han’s too pretty to become a killer ghost anyway.

“Well, did you? Lose control?” Minseok still asks, even if he’s pretty sure he already knows the answer.

“Nah. I only became bored. Reminded me too much of the time you were giving me the silent treatment for a week”, Lu Han sighs, and Minseok has to bite his tongue so that he doesn’t snap at Lu Han. Never again does he want to be reminded of the fact that Lu Han’s seen him dancing in the showers. Instead, Minseok drives the conversation in a different direction. Something he has been wanting to tell Lu Han ever since their conversation with Junmyeon.

“Do you want to know how long you’ve been dead? I asked Junmyeon. About the year of the accident. And how old you were. Since you once said you didn’t remember anymore.”

Lu Han’s eyes widen, like he hadn’t even thought about such a possibility. He stares at Minseok hungrily and nods.

Minseok tells him, and the ghost can only stare at him with a dumbdfounded look on his face.

“What do you mean”, Lu Han pipes up after finally finding his voice again. “It’s only been five years? It sure felt like fifteen! And…”

Minseok watches as Lu Han’s face gets more and more upset by the second. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. Nobody probably wants to know how long they’ve been dead.

“And… I can’t believe you’re older than me! That can’t be correct, you’re such a baby bao—”

Minseok smacks the ghost on the head, and this time he doesn’t even mind the shivers going through them both.

He’s already starting to miss his week-long vacation from Lu Han.