All the warning Jin gets is a slap to his back and a cheery ‘Hey Hyung!’ and then Taehyung falls into the seat across from him at their usual corner table in the university’s cafeteria. The noodles in Jin’s mouth almost get stuck in his throat. Coughing, he thumps his chest and sends Taehyung a glare. Taehyung ignores it in favor of rearranging the plates on his tray to his liking.

“Do you want me to choke and die?” Jin grumbles.

Taehyung grins.

“Hyung, you’re fine,” he says and picks up his chopsticks. “You’re breathing, aren’t you?”

“Barely,” Jin mutters and takes another bite of his noodles, scowling.

Silence falls, which is quite an unusual thing for Jin since he’s used to Jimin always chattering beside him. He doesn’t think much of it until he looks back up at Taehyung and sees he hasn’t eaten his food yet, only poked at it, eyes far away.

“Hey,” Jin says softly and Taehyung looks up at him. “What’s wrong?”

Taehyung stares at him for a moment. Then he swallows a few times, lip caught between his teeth, before he puts his chopsticks down and leans back with a sigh.

“Someone asked me out today.”

Jin’s heart skips a beat and he’s glad Jimin isn’t there right now. He’d barely be able to hear what Taehyung says next.

“Oh?” he says. “Why do you look so dejected then?”

Taehyung grimaces at the table, opens and closes his mouth a few times. Jin watches him struggle for a moment before he sighs and puts his own chopsticks down. He hasn’t really had this talk with Taehyung before, especially since Jimin is always there with him, but he thinks maybe he should have. As far as Taehyung knows, Jin has very little information about Jimin and what happened, and Jin has never pressured him to talk. Jimin did it well enough for both of them.

“Is it because of Jimin?” Jin asks.

Taehyung winces at the name but nods.

“Taeh–”

“I know. Everyone keeps telling me,” he interrupts. “I’m just being stupid and self-pitying and cowardly. It’s been a year and I should have moved on by now. But do you know how hard it is Hyung? I… I never got to–,” his voice breaks and he closes his eyes.

Jin blinks and wonders who told Taehyung such things. Though Jimin usually sits beside Taehyung during lunch and tells him he needs to move on, it’s not like Taehyung can see or hear him. Jin reaches over the table and places a hand over one of Taehyung’s.

“That’s not it,” he says softly. “You’re ready when you’re ready, you shouldn’t force yourself. But you shouldn’t wallow just because you’re afraid to let go either. You have to know when you’ve healed and then move on. Though sadly, I don’t think the pain ever really goes away.”

Taehyung looks up at him, eyes glassy, and Jin gives him a faint smile. Jimin won’t be happy about this, but Jin has no desire to lie or force Taehyung into anything, especially if he has not healed yet. Taehyung sniffles a little and rubs at his eyes.

“I’m not into girls anyway,” he says and a small smile makes it onto his lips as well.

Jin chuckles.

“Well, there you go,” he teases.

Taehyung manages a weak laugh and begins eating. Jin grins and goes back to his food as well. The rest of their lunch is filled with pleasant chatter about homework, awful professors, and games.

When their lunch hour is close to running out Jin follows Taehyung halfway to his department’s building, which is humanities, before he has to break off towards his own, law. It’s a sunny day and many students are lounging on the stretches of grass between the buildings, studying or napping or simply enjoying the warmth.

“Hyung,” Taehyung says just as Jin is about to step onto the grass to take a shortcut to his building.

Turning, Jin raises his eyebrows questioningly. Taehyung hesitates, moves a little out of the way to let a few students pass around him.

“Can we hang out after classes? Study together or something and then like get pizza since it’s Friday and all?” he asks. “I don’t want to be home alone with my thoughts today.”

Jin is about to tell him ‘of course’ but remembers he has an appointment with two ghosts at the cemetery. He can’t very well bring Taehyung there; neither can he explain why he’s looking for a specific grave.

Taehyung’s face grows more disappointed the longer it takes him to answer and Jin steps forward to put an arm around his shoulders.

“Sure,” he says. “But I have something I have to take care of first. It should take about an hour or two.”

Jin doesn’t actually know how long it will take, but he can always go back to the cemetery later and continue the search. Besides, there’s Jimin and Namjoon. They should have already covered a lot of ground.

“Oh,” Taehyung says, miserable. “Sorry, of course you have other things to do. I was just thinking about myself.”

Pulling him into a one-armed hug, Jin ruffles his hair.

“Stop it,” he says and pulls away. “I’ll text you later.”

Taehyung nods and gives Jin a weak smile before he turns and continues towards his department. Jin watches him go, worry shimmering in his stomach.

When the day at university is over, Jin finds Jimin and Namjoon in the farthest corner of the cemetery, where the new tombstones are. Both are walking from grave to grave, stopping a moment to read dates and names, then continuing on. Namjoon is closest to Jin, as he has taken a row down from Jimin, and is the first to notice him. He smiles and Jin returns it with one of his own.

“How’s the search going?” he asks.

Namjoon sighs.

“Nowhere.” He runs a hand through his hair, making it stick up in odd angles. Jin wants to reach out and fix it for him. “We’ve nearly covered every tombstone put here in the last few days but if the name fits, then the dates don’t and if the dates are right, then the names are wrong. We even looked at older graves.”

Jin wrinkles his nose.

“Well, it’s not like this is the only cemetery in the city,” he says. “Maybe we can go to another one whe