"Guys! Hey, guys!" Heechul called out to his friends, frowning when they failed to acknowledge his call. "Hankyung, Kyuhyun, Kangin!" He tried again. When none of them turned, he ran up to the group and reached for Kyuhyun's arm, crying out when his hand slipped passed the younger's arm and he stumbled into the center of the group, looking up at his friends, "Hankyung? Kangin?" He looked at the two as he said their names, their eyes seeming to peer right through him and at the others, Heechul turned around to face Kyuhyun again, the only one who seemed to be looking at him, "K-Kyuhyun?" He weakly tried to speak to the younger one, terrified when Kyuhyun looked directly into his eyes and shook his head slightly.

 

"Kyu, are you going to go with us to the arcade after classes or do you have a club meeting today?" Kangin suddenly asked, pulling Heechul from his reverie.

 

"Hey, aren't you going to ask me, Kangin?" Heechul interjected, placing his hand on his hip as he suddenly felt irritated. He was right here, for crying out loud!

 

"Sorry Kangin-hyung, I have something to do today." Kyuhyun apologized with a slight shrug before turning to Hankyung, "I think we should head to class, I over heard a teacher saying how the bells were malfunctioning recently- it seems it's going to ring a bit earlier than usual today."

 

"Ah shoot!" Hankyung exclaimed, "I can't be late to Mister Lee's class again or he'll fail me for the semester! Let's go Kangin!" Hankyung pushed Kangin as they ran off in the direction of their first class, never once acknowledging Heechul's presence.

 

"Hey! What about me?" Heechul called after them, "Jerks!" Frowning, he turned his attention back to Kyuhyun who seemed to be staring intensely at him, "W-What are you staring at?" He asked, a shiver crawling down his spine as he felt Kyuhyun's gaze was nearly dissecting him.

 

"You're not supposed to be here." Kyuhun stated as he stepped forward and held his hand out, his fingers sliding right through Heechul's torso, causing the older one to gasp and Kyuhyun's eyes to widen, "You're not here, but you are. Why can I see you? Why can't Hankyung and Kangin?" Kyuhyun continued, phrasing the questions for Heechul's perspective, but continuing as though they were simply rhetorical while moving his fingers about inside Heechul's torso.

 

"Yah! Stop talking like that!" Heechul exclaimed as he stepped back, "What the heck is going on here?" He yelled at the innocent Kyuhyun who sighed in response, "Answer me!"

 

"Fine, but not here. Follow me, hyung." Kyuhyun spoke quietly and glance about, giving a nod to a passing classmate as he rushed into the school building and hid in the empty auditorium with Heechul in tow.

 

As they walked, Heechul tried to understand what was happening. He was fine, he felt fine- but Kyuhyun's hand went through him. That- that definitely was not normal. He could speak- Kyuhyun heard him as proof- but Hankyung and Kangin didn't seem to hear him, or see him for that matter. He knew he had school this morning- he was here, after all, but... something felt different. Entering the auditorium, Heechul looked up at Kyuhyun, "What's going on?" He asked, suddenly terrified.

 

"Hyung, you're not really here..." Kyuhyun weakly started, trying to finish piecing together his thoughts before he answered Heechul's questions.

 

"I got that part, idiot! Tell me what the heck is happening! Why can't Hankyung or Kangin see me? Why can you see me? What the heck is going on?" Heechul's voice bored on panicked as he badgered Kyuhyun with his questions.

 

"Hyung, you were attacked by a gang when you were trying to protect me three weeks ago! You're in the hospital!" Kyuhyun shouted back, his eyes suddenly glazed over with tears as he lost his cool and pushed his bangs back, "Look!" He pointed to a scar on his forehead.

 

''What... what's that?" Heechul asked, his eyes wide.

 

"This is the last thing they did to me before you stepped in. I had gotten drunk and ran away from you guys and ended up bumping into the wrong person. I was cornered in an alleyway and they hit me over the head with a bottle, shattering it on my head and giving me his scar. You found me at that moment and raced in to save me... I-I... hyung... they beat you up so badly..." Kyuhyun stopped speaking as a sob racked his body.

 

"You're safe though." Heechul commented as he reached for Kyuhyun gently placing his hand over Kyuhyun's with painstaking effort so as not to let his hand slide through the other, "I'm sorry." Heechul apologized, unsure of what he was apologizing for, but not able to suppress the apologize either.

 

"Hyung, you shouldn't have stepped in! You would be fine if it wasn't for me! Y-you were supposed to confess to Hankyung last week!" He exclaimed as he beat himself up verbally in front of his friend, feeling guilty for their current predicament.

 

Heechul never wanted to smack his friend more than in this moment, "Are you really regretting that I saved you? I had a reason, didn't I? You're my friend, moron, if I hadn't stepped in when I did- who knows what could have happened?"

 

"You could have confessed to Hankyung-hyung." Kyuhyun reasoned dejectedly, his eyes not meeting the elder's.

 

Heechul sighed, "Listen, Hankyung can't see me right now, only you can! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and actually face me without regrets! Dang it! I saved you, that's that, end of story." Heechul cried out, frustrated with the whole conversation already. It took Kyuhyun a while to calm down after that, but they were finally able to face each other calmly.

 

Heechul discussed the last few weeks with the younger as he tried to piece together what he had missed, "Heechul-hyung, I'm really sorry. Hankyung-hyung asked out some girl from his science class yesterday." Kyuhyun added quietly as an after thought, his eyes once again looking to the ground.

 

Smiling weakly, Heechul shook his head, "It's fine. you have nothing to apologize for." He reassured the younger, "Besides, it's not like he can see me right now anyway." He paused as he looked at Kyuhyun, "Hey, Kyu-bear, do any of you guys visit me?" 

 

Surprised, Kyuhyun looked up at Heechul, "Hankyung visits every once in a while, Kangin visits every other day, your parents are there daily..." Kyuhyun listed off, using his fingers to keep track.

 

"And you?" Kyuhyun lowered his head and averted his eyes before mumbling a response, "What was that?" Kyuhyun mumbled the same thing, but Heechul still couldn't understand the younger. "You have to say it so that I can hear you."

 

"The only time I leave is to come to school." He answered loud enough so the elder could hear him, "I can't help it. I don't want you to be alone when you wake up. Your mom is by your side in the mornings, your dad in the afternoons, and then I stay the night. So no matter when you open your eyes, one of us will be there. I promise you that much... it's the least I can do." Kyuhyun trailed off.

 

Heechul was about to respond when the auditorium door swung open and a teacher entered, "Cho Kyuhyun! What are you doing hear? Get to class young man!"

 

"Hyung, meet me here at the end of the day." Kyuhyun whispered before running up to the teacher, "Sorry Mrs. Lee!" He gave a slight bow and ran out the door, the teacher following him out. As the door closed, Heechul threw his body up onto the stage and laid down.

 

"Kyuhyun... What are you doing and for who?" He found himself whispering into the air as he relaxed, thinking about everything that he had learned; and what to do from this point on.

 

~-~-~

 

It had been three more weeks since Heechul had started talking to Kyuhyun, his physical form had yet to stir, but he was still able to wander around. Three weeks and the only human he could talk to was Kyuhyun- although he had met another male, Leeteuk, who seemed to be in a similar predicament. Leeteuk had become Heechul's friend simply because neither of them had anyone else they could speak to while Kyuhyun was in class. It was during this time that Heechul found out that Leeteuk had been in a car accident nearly a month ago but had been in a coma ever since.

 

"They said I could be out for another month." Leeteuk said dejectedly as he watched a nurse run down the hall to respond to an emergency code.

 

"A month? At least you have a time frame. I've been out for a month and a half and they still don't know when I'll come to. They told my mother the other day it could be days, weeks, months, or even years." Heechul frowned as he kicked at the floor, watching the toe of his shoe scrape noiselessly against it, "How am I supposed to look perfect if I can't fix my hair?" He complained nonsensically as he continued to stare at the ground.

 

"Heechul, can we talk about our conversation from this morning? Something was bothering me." Leeteuk suddenly interjected after a few minutes of silence, causing Heechul to nod in agreement, "You were supposed to confess your feelings for Hankyung, right? But, you said that you didn't feel anything when you heard he had gotten himself a girlfriend."

 

"Yup, that's right." Heechul quickly agreed, "I didn't understand it at the time myself, actually... I still don't." He admitted with a slight shrug.

 

"What if I said I saw Kyuhyun with a girl?"

 

Heechul's smile faltered as he looked up at Leeteuk, "You did?"

 

"I said 'what if'..."

 

"So you didn't?"

 

"Heechul, answer the question- although I don't think you need to."

 

"Alright, alright, I get where you're going with this. There's no way though, Leeteuk. Kyu-bear is like a brother to me."

 

"Are you sure, Heechul? I don't think he feels brotherly love toward you..." Leeteuk tried to convince Heechul.

 

"I... I... No, okay. I'm not sure! It's these past few weeks! I'm not sure of anything anymore!" Heechul exploded on Leeteuk, "I'm going to go try to wake up now." He suddenly decided, walking away and into the room where his father was currently sitting in the corner, while his body lay lifeless on the bed.

 

Leeteuk followed Heechul to the room, "For a month and a half your body doesn't look half bad." he complimented.

 

Heechul smiled a bit and nodded, "Kyuhyun's been taking care of my hair for me and making sure that everything's the way I want it to be. He really is sweet." He admitted absentmindedly as he looked at his body, unaware that Kyuhyun had slipped into the room and was shaking Heechul's dozing father awake.

 

"I think you really should try, Heechul. I think you need to wake up. It's time to face reality in more ways than one." Leeteuk smiled softly as he pushed his friend forward.

 

"Fine, I will. But, tell me your room number. I'm going to leave a message for you for when you wake up, Leeteuk- and you better contact me. Or you'll be the worst friend ever!" Heechul exclaimed, pouting slightly.

 

"Fine, fine. Are you ready?" Heechul nodded. Smiling, Leeteuk pointed to the other side of the room, "I'm on the other side of that curtain. 205B. Now go, there's a certain friend of yours waiting for you."

 

Later that evening, while Kyuhyun was sitting attentively at his side, Heechul finally woke up from his coma. In his slightly weakened state he looked up at Kyuhyun and whispered, "Thank you for helping me." Before pressing the button for the nurse. As the room burst with a flurry of excitement at the awakened state of the comatose patient, Heechul smiled to himself. He won this battle against himself, but he knew there was something he would have to do later- first thing's first though, he had to get out of this hospital room and back to school. The auditorium was sounding like a good place to start.