The alarm beeps, ripping Jin from his peaceful sleep. He groans as he rolls over to find his phone and turn the damned thing off before his head explodes. The faint notes of music makes its way to him from the living room and he lies in bed listening to it for a moment, eyes closed as he gathers himself for the day.

Yesterday his mother called to tell him his cousin is coming back to South Korea to study at the same university as him. Obviously he needs a place to stay and she offered up the guest room in his apartment. His uncle and his family moved to Japan at the beginning of the year for his job, but apparently his cousin has had a hard time there and feels he would much rather go to university in Korea. Which is why he decided to move back in the middle of the semester.

Jin has nothing against his cousin, they don’t meet very often so he doesn’t know all that much about him, but he would still like more than one day’s warning as he’s apparently arriving tomorrow afternoon. Now he will have to reschedule every plan he has of going off to look for clues about Namjoon and keep in mind not to talk to either Namjoon or Jimin without checking first if he is alone at home.

Eyes half closed, Jin drags himself out of bed, shuffles out of his bedroom and to the bathroom.

“Good morning!” Jimin chirps as he passes him and Namjoon on the couch.

Jin mumbles something unintelligible and continues without pausing. It’s not until he takes care of business and splashes his face with a little water that he begins to feel awake. He pulls a wet hand through his hair so it won’t look like a total bird’s nest and grimaces at his reflection before he exits the bathroom again and continues on to the kitchen.

Namjoon is already there, fiddling with the coffee machine, something he has taken to doing over the weeks so Jin may get his coffee without too much effort. Jin figures it’s some sort of thanks for letting Namjoon stay with him and helping him find out what happened, though Namjoon never explicitly said so and Jin never asked.

Namjoon looks up when he comes to a stop right beside him and Jin smiles at him. It earns him a small smile in return.

“I heard we’re going with you to classes today!” Jimin calls from the living room as Jin accepts the cup of coffee Namjoon hands him.

Jin cradles the cup in his hands and inhales the scent. Namjoon watches him, small smile still on his lips.

“Yeah,” Jin calls back. Then in a softer tone he says to Namjoon: “Thank you.”

Namjoon shrugs.

“It’s not like I don’t have time,” he jokes.

Jin wrinkles his nose at him as he opens the fridge to get himself some breakfast. Namjoon keeps him company as he eats, the show Jimin’s watching serving as background music. They don’t speak much, barely at all, but it’s comfortable. This is how his mornings have transpired lately and he’s a little afraid he’ll grow too accustomed to it. He shakes the thought off as he finishes his breakfast and goes back to his room to get ready to leave. He knows he shouldn’t get too comfortable but something about Namjoon’s presence is just so easy.

“So, I spent the night thinking,” Jimin says as they ride the elevator down to the lobby. “Is your cousin nice?”

Jin nearly chokes on the breath he inhales and he’s coughing as he exits the elevator, drawing a concerned look from the concierge. He tries to send him a reassuring smile and catches Namjoon biting his lip to hide a smile while Jimin thumps him in the back.

“Jimin!” Jin hisses under his breath once they’re on the street. “What?”

Jimin shrugs.

“Well, isn’t it worth a shot?”

Jin takes out his phone and puts it to his ear so he won’t look completely insane. Namjoon looks on, amused, and Jin narrows his eyes at him before turning his attention back to Jimin.

“First of all,” Jin says and makes his way down to the subway station, “I don’t even know if he swings that way.”

Jimin presses his lips together, disappointed.

“Second,” Jin continues, “forcing someone on Taehyung is not going to make anything better.”

“I just want him to find happiness,” Jimin mutters as the subway arrives and they board.

“He will, with or without a lover,” he says but when Jimin’s expression doesn’t lighten he relents with a sigh. “I can make them meet but that’s all.”

Jimin smiles at him.

“By the way, what major is your cousin in?” Namjoon asks. “Is he also a law student?”

Frowning, Jin thinks for a while, trying to remember what his mother said yesterday.

“I think he’s doing something with linguistics?” he answers. “I’m not too sure.”

“That’s the same as Taehyung!” Jimin exclaims excited. “Then at least Tae will get another friend if nothing else! He can show him around and stuff!”

Jin can’t help but smile back.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I guess.”

Jimin spends the rest of the way to the university speculating ways to make Taehyung happier. Jin puts his phone back in his pocket, but listens to him anyway. It’s not that Taehyung doesn’t have friends; he’s quite the social butterfly. Though Jimin says they’re more acquaintances than anything because according to him, Taehyung never truly let them in and mostly keeps their relationships superficial. The closest friend he ever had was Jimin. He’s hoping that since Taehyung seems to trust Jin and has become quite close to him, he’s going to trust Jin’s cousin as well and have more people to turn to when he feels down.

“By the way Hyung,” Jimin says as they make their way across campus. “You should get some more friends as well. You’re like Taehyung, only superficial relationships and acquaintances.”

Jin shrugs. He always just finds it easier to keep people at a distance since it’s hard to concentrate while always having ghosts around somewhere in his vision. He will see a ghost and get distracted and people usually think he is either extremely rude or just not interested. Not to mention the whole “rich kid” label he has.

“Maybe you should–”

“Wait,” Namjoon says and stops.

Jin and Jimin turn to him, questioning, but he’s staring across the lawn at two guys sitting at one of the bench tables scattered around the campus grounds, to-go cups in their hands. They kind of stand out, since they have different colored hair, pale blue and red. Jin would have noticed them earlier had he not been preoccupied with Jimin. The one with red hair is speaking animatedly, waving his free hand around. The other guy, with pale blue hair, is concentrating on his cup, nodding every now and then as he listens to his companion.

“What is it?” Jimin asks.

Namjoon glances at them, uncertain.

“I think I know those guys.”

Jin’s heart skips a beat.

“You recognize them?” he whispers, trying not to attract attention from the students moving around him. Luckily most of them have headphones in and are more concentrated on getting to class than what Jin’s is doing.

Namjoon frowns.

“No. It’s more like an extreme sense of déjà-vu,” he mutters and turns away. “Never mind. It’s probably nothing. I mean I kinda had the same feeling of déjà vu when I saw you first and you didn’t know who I was.”

He begins moving in the direction they were walking, but Jin ignores him and approaches the two guys. Both Jimin and Namjoon call after him, saying he’s going to be late, but he pays them no mind.

As he comes closer Red Hair stops speaking and looks up at him, curious. When no more words flow out of Red Hair, Blue Hair looks up as well, deep frown on his forehead.

“Hi,” Jin greets them with a friendly smile.

“Hello?” Red Hair answers, and Jin thinks he sees a spark of recognition in his eyes. He’s not sure though.

“Uhm…” Jin fumbles and Blue Hair’s eyes dart behind him, gaze intense. “I was just wondering… do you by chance know someone named Namjoon? Around my height, bleached hair?”

Red Hair gapes and Blue Hair’s eyes snap back to him.

“Man, I owe him five bucks,” Red Hair blurts out.

Now Jin is confused.

“What?” he says. “Who?”

Red Hair opens his mouth to answer but doesn’t get the chance as his friend speaks instead.

“Nothing,” Blue Hair says and glares at Red Hair. “We do know him. But he’s not here if you’re looking to speak with him.”

Jin blinks, his heart skipping a beat. Blue Hair makes it sound as if Namjoon isn’t dead.

“Where is he then?”

They exchange a look that makes Jin’s stomach drop.

“In the hospital,” Red Hair says, lips turning down in a frown.

Jin swallows nervously.

“M-may I know