When Kyungsoo woke up in total darkness, he was only afraid for a couple of seconds. Then he was glancing around for the boy who had to be around. He started when the other was only a foot away from him, kneeling at the side of his bed.

This was the clearest Kyungsoo had ever seen him, the closest the two had ever been. Kyungsoo could make out his cheekbones and hollows, the shape of his eyes and even his lashes, and his hair was no longer a part of the shadows; though still black, it was at least defined.

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asked, his heart trying to calm down. He wasn’t yet accustomed to waking up to people’s faces so close to him, especially in the dark, especially when it was a practical stranger.

“Looking.”

“At me?” Kyungsoo prodded. “While I’m sleeping?” The boy’s existence might have freaked him out, but that didn’t exempt him from creepy behavior like watching Kyungsoo sleep.

“Are you – an angel?” the other asked. Kyungsoo couldn’t help snorting.

“Um, no,” he laughed. The boy looked surprisingly serious, though. Maybe he’d really meant it. “Who are you, anyway?” He never had gotten the other’s name, despite having seen him several times. Then again, he might not have had one.

“Jongin… Are you a nurse, then?”

“No?” His name was Jongin, and he thought Kyungsoo was an angel or a nurse. Kyungsoo wasn’t sure how he seemed like either of those things (they weren’t even similar). “I’m just a boy,” he assured the other.

“What happens – if I stay here?” Jongin asked quietly. He sounded like he expected Kyungsoo to know the answer, but Kyungsoo had a feeling they were both completely clueless as to the answer, and he told him so. “Can I stay with you?”

Kyungsoo was just noticing that, not only could he see Jongin very well, but his voice was also the strongest it had been since they’d first met.

“If you want,” Kyungsoo replied, not really sure what would happen if the boy was there all the time. “It’s always dark when you’re here, though. I won’t be able to see anything.”

“I can’t see either,” Jongin said. “Except you; everything else – it’s too… it’s all gone.” Kyungsoo nodded. He knew what he meant. They didn’t say anything more, and Jongin got up, sitting on the edge of the bed. Kyungsoo realized he was waiting for him to move over, and he scooted to the inner side of the bed, holding up the blanket for Jongin to slip in.

For a moment, things were quiet, but then Kyungsoo had to chuckle quietly. Jongin was lying on his side facing him, staring, and his brows knitted at the sound.

“Usually the monsters are under your bed,” Kyungsoo explained. “Not in it.”

“Am I – you think I’m a monster?” Jongin mumbled, sounding a bit hurt.

Kyungsoo shrugged. “I haven’t decided if you’re a ghost or just part of my imagination.”

“I’m real, though.” As if to prove his point, he reached out a hand and touched Kyungsoo’s. To both of their surprise, his fingers just sank right through Kyungsoo’s flesh, as though he were smoke. It was as if he was made of the shadows surrounding him and nothing more. Kyungsoo’s heart rate spiked fearfully.

Jongin’s eyes had grown very, very wide, and he seemed to sink into the night, becoming darker. Kyungsoo knew this to be a telltale sign that he was afraid, and would disappear again, so he said quickly, “It’s okay, Jongin. You don’t have to go.” And though he still seemed fairly worried, he didn’t vanish any further.

It was hard for Kyungsoo to close his eyes and try to fall asleep knowing that Jongin was there, eyes not moving from him. But he couldn’t stay awake forever; his eyes wouldn’t let him, weighing down and drooping shut until finally he drifted into unconsciousness.

A little while later, he awoke again. He could make out the outline of his room – the walls, the door and window, the dresser and bookshelf – if only vaguely. It wasn’t as bright as when the boy – Jongin – was gone, but the fact that he could still see made him wonder if Jongin was there or not.

He was. Slumbering on, curled up under Kyungsoo’s blanket beside him, Jongin was there. Even bright as it was, though, Kyungsoo couldn’t see him any better than before he’d fallen asleep. He didn’t quite know what that meant.

Kyungsoo stayed awake for a while, and witnessed an odd phenomenon. As time passed, it seemed to get lighter in the room, and with that light Jongin seemed to fade away. After an hour lapsed by, Kyungsoo found himself on his own.

He wondered where Jongin went, when the shadows were gone.

(A/n: Hello, Jongin. Where did you go?)