taehyung tossed in turn in his bed refusing to get up out of bed his mind still reeling from the beautiful tzuyu he met last night and the soul crushing news of the entertainment company she was from.

he wrestled with the idea of telling yoongi. it would bring up too much of the past. but there was still something from last night that needed to be let out of the bag—taehyung finally spoke with his crush! and performed with her.

the performer rolled on his stomach and whipped his phone out. he found raena's number and called. he kicked his feet while he waited for her to pick up.

he frowned at how long she was taking until finally he hear her unusually sad tone.

"hey tae..." she sighed.

he laughed. "raena what's wrong? i can hear you pouting from here."

"nothing it's just brother trouble and yoon-"

"do you wanna come over?" taehyung interrupts, getting the sense that they didn't need to just talk, they needed to rot away their day on taehyung's couch and watch kids from "the return of superman" variety show be better at adulting than they are.

before he could take back his request from the contemplating silence that came afterwards, raena announced she would be coming immediately so closely to the phone's mic, taehyung had to pull away at how loud it was.

she hangs up and taehyung picks earwax from his ear.

"ow," he mutters, and rolls off his bed to get snacks from the kitchen.

little did he know, yoongi was 15 minutes away after stopping at the farmer's market for yummy breakfast for his famished stomach headed straight to his best friends house.

now did yoongi like admitting he had a best friend? eh. but where else was he gonna go. realistically, he would have been there anyways going over song lyrics and having energy drinks for focus.

after his encounter at raena's house he wondered if taehyung needed a heads up that he was on his way—not that he had any way of giving it to him.

yoongi shook his head and ran a hand down his face before leaning against the bus window. now he was overthinking everything. he doesn't need to give his best friend a heads up. they have nothing to hide from each other. they aren't in the middle of a fight or anything.

gosh yoongles—

yoongi eyes widened. he slapped a hand over his face and sat there thinking over what he's just done.

i called myself "yoongles"! what the hell else can raena influence me into doing?

he couldn't help biting his lip to resist from laughing because although he hated the nickname it was absolutely ridiculous that he called himself that in his thoughts without needing to hear her voice in his head either. no matter how much he tried to push her and everything brought up this morning out of his mind, she returns.

he rested his head back on the window as the bus reaches a stop and shut his eyes in thought, a faint smile playing at his lips.

raena enters the bus in a rush, taking the first seat she sees at the front. her heart was still racing from having just argued with jeongguk over the phone he threw on the coffee table with enough force to crack the screen.

the same phone that happened to be the one yoongi left. she had no idea how she was going to explain this to him but maybe if she spoke to taehyung, they can break the news together to him.

she shifted in her seat uncomfortably, the guy next to her taking up a lot of room with his knees. having to keep swiping away jungkook's test messages while she was typing a draft of an apology to yoongi on her notes app was not helping.

she hated the way tension now existed between them. she knew it. like she could feel it in the very bus, no matter where he was right now.

this was bad. he would never forgive her after seeing the crack on his phone. ugh stupid jungkook!

raena hated the feeling of her forehead crease and her frowning lips. if her face was gonna wrinkle or crinkle in any way she wanted it to be from laughter or from smiling to much. she sighed loudly.

yoongi swore he heard the exasperated sigh of raena. he shrugs it off and believes it another figment of his imagination. except he was so wrong. and when he got off the bus at the same spot, following shortly behind a girl of the same height as raena and the same messy hair she woke up with, yoongi had no choice but to run in the other direction and hide behind a tree.

—

ding dong!

taehyung jumps from his bed prepared to shout to his aunt and uncle that he'd get the door then remembered they were out for the day. he slid on his socks to the doorway and quickly opened to see raena holding a silly face for him to see.

her freakishly wide smile and wiggling eyes disappeared with a quick exhale the minute taehyung laid eyes on them.

"what took you so long?" raena panted, "i was holding my breathe for two minutes!"

taehyung laughed and pulled her in the house with an embrace and a ruffling of her unkept hair. "liar, it's been ten seconds." he noticed her unusual attire. "raena your buttons are mismatched and you're not wearing any socks in your sneakers—raena! that's a criminal offense." he cringed at the thought of toes scratching shoes and lead them to the living room.

"it's just that kind of morning taehyung," raena shrugged.  she plopped herself down on his couch sinking into its comforting pillows. "your shirt is inside out taehyung."

taehyung looked down at himself with a gasp only to realize she was lying. "boo you. that was a very yoongi thing of you to do."

raena's smile is quickly gone and she turns to grab the remote to avoid her friend's potential narrowing eyes.

but he seemed to have missed her reaction to yoongi's name.

taehyung plops down next to her and grabs snacks he laid out on the coffee table.

"anyway what did you want to talk about?" raena asks.

taehyung widens his eyes at the memory.

"she finally talked to me."

—

yoongi swatted yet another pesky fly as he peeked his head out from the tree. raena had been there for at least 10 minutes. he could have changed his "hiding spot" and avoid looking like a creep, or he could further embarrass himself and stay there contemplating while attempting to look like he's simply observing the beautiful morning sky.

he wasn't very good at pretending so he slowly began walking down the street headed toward's taehyung's door.

it was where he was going anyways but he didn't want to see raena so soon. especially when he didn't know whether to tell her he knew her brother or to simply not mention it at all. he was the one who made this morning especially uncomfortable.

gosh I need my phone. all he wanted some tunes in his ears and all he had were his dang airpods in his pockets. sure he could put them in his ears but like he said he wasn't very good at pretending.

"whatever, whatever," he groans to himself as he quickens as pace.

eventually he got to the door and with shut eyes pressed the door bell.

a moment later the door swings open and raena's smiling person meets yoongi.

"thank you so much—oh," she stops after realizing yoongi wasn't the pizza guy 30 minutes early. she smiles sheepishly. "h-hi yoongi." taehyung slides into view accidentally bumping into raena with a bag of doritos. he immediately hides it behind his back.

yoongi stares blankly at his bestie "so this is what you do when i'm not here huh."

raena opens her mouth to say something but backs up when yoongi walks towards them with no intention of stopping.

taehyung follows him to the couch and explains the debacle. "yoongs i promise i eat right every other day!"

raena chuckles but not entirely relieved. "don't tell me yoongles has you on a diet?"

"he says good food is good for my energy and my voice. also exercise which i never see yoongi himself do which is ironic since he always tells me to do it," taehyung tsks. raena stifles a laugh and then finds herself under taehyung's joking glare. "raena's the one who wanted pizza!"

"of course it was," yoongi teases.

now the three of them were seated on the couch.

"what? no I didn't—wait, yoongi are you saying i'm a bad influence?" raena gasps.

"yes she is she made me call the number," taehyung accuses.

"yoongi can you pass me that pillow," raena asks calmly. yoongi does so chucking it over taehyung's head so raena can catch it, eyes trained on the tv avoiding her eyes skillfully. "thank you."

she wacks taehyung in the head. "ow!"

yoongi shakes his head, "you had like ten solid seconds to avoid that. that's on you tae-tae."

raena laughs and finds herself looking for yoongi's eyes. any sign that meant they were okay and if she could possibly predict how he would react to his cracked phone.

taehyung felt his phone zing from his pajama pocket and jumped up from the couch running towards the door. he opens it with a song in his voice only to find packages.

"ooh my new piece for my sax. i'll be right back guys!" he exclaims running upstairs.

that left yoongi and raena alone with the tv to keep them company.

"um..." raena starts. "so..."

yoongi avoids her eyes nervous as though with his eyes alone he would reveal he knows her brother. "we don't really have to talk about—"

"but i have a lot to explain and—"

taehyung's loud steps shut them both up. he joined them with an amused smile and went back to his seat continuing to rot their brains with reality tv.

—

at some point during the quieter moments of reality tv when the one guy they weren't rooting for was getting more screen time, the three had unknowingly dug themselves deep into their own holes of thought, somehow connected to each other.

raena bit her lip nervously after sharing a look with taehyung. he was up to date on yoongi's phone situation and was waiting for an opportunity to spill. she could feel the different in atmosphere in the room as their eyes remained on the tv. did i ruin the mood with my thoughts?

yoongi held back an exasperated sigh. why is taehyung being awkward right now. i thought it was only raena i needed to worry about. did i...interrupt something?

taehyung was harder at hiding his thoughts as he kept shifting in his seat, apologizing every time his knee bumped yoongi's. he had a riveting conversation with raena about his crush and then an equally interesting one that involved her twin and yoongi's phone. when they were interrupted and there's no way he could talk about tzuyu now after what he saw on her business card. and the phone thing? raena can take care of that all on her own.

taehyung signaled raena for some more popcorn, leaning forward with his right arm and holding the couch with the left. he bumped yoongi's head in the process and mumbled about ten apologies to which his best friend rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch.

"okay i hate to be the one to point things out but am i the only one feeling pretty awkward right now?" yoongi asks rather awkwardly, hands stuffed in his jean pockets as if the act would turn him invisible.

raena bit her lip even harder. "yoongi i'm so sorry i have to tell you—"

"—i just feel like none of you want me here or like i interrupted something—"

"ew—"

"you're right!" taehyung exclaimed over her voice, silencing everyone's overlapping claims. raena's eyes widened at taehyung. he pulled raena closer to his side and said dramatically, "we're in love."

yoongi raised a brow despite the fact that a millisecond prior his brain had believed the lie and thought of a thousand different reasons why that was weird, wrong, awkward and well a lie. why did he panic for the duration of that millisecond?

"okay i know that's not it," yoongi scoffs. he watched in disbelief as raena slapped taehyung's  shoulder with a pout. he felt like he was the punch line of a joke he didn't get. why was this bothering him so much? is being a trio all of a sudden going to be this hard?

raena frowned at taehyung confused as to why sharing what he told her about tzuyu would be so hard.

"well as you might know i have a crush on an employee at the bar," taehyung sighs. "she actually is  a really talented at piano. things went well with her she even performed with me. the reason i was hesitant to tell you is 'cause..." he scrambled his brain for a good half truth. "i didn't want you to think having a crush or being in a relationship like that would be distracting when I'm trying to hone in on my musical skills and be locked in. as my mentor/friend that type of stuff matters to me."

yoongi hated that he had to pretend it didn't sting how his friend thought about him. he pursed his lips as he considered it. he plopped down on the couch back where he was.

"yoongs?" tae asked.

"you seriously think i care that much about who you're with and what you do when you're not doing music with me? you work hard, tae. you deserve whatever you want. i challenge you because you used to have pretty bad habits that kept you stuck where you were. you couldn't have become the musical talent you are now without that discipline. i know when you like someone it consumes you," yoongi sighs. "just be careful, man. i trust you."

taehyung felt his gut drop at the expression on yoongi's face. gosh i'm making him think feel guilty for being a good friend. and he had been a good friend since the very beginning.

"thanks, yoongs. i'm sorry i was being weird," taehyung apologizes with a blush on his cheeks.

yoongi waves it off and returns his eyes to the tv, mind still reeling.

raena watched the moment with tender eyes.

"awww," she cooed.

taehyung jumped, forgetting she was there. "you know it's gonna be weird seeing the two of you in my house at the same time." he gasped when a memory came to his mind , definitely something he picked up from raena. "raena i realized i stole your thunder. it's your turn."

raena felt her cheeks redden at the ways both heads swiveled towards her.

she locked eyes with yoongi. "it's nothing it's just—"

"—tae can i talk with raena for a second?" yoongi asked quietly, eyes searching taehyung, attempting to say he'd explain later and he understood the weird request. taehyung nodded and hopped upstairs. the two young adults left, shared a small smile. "look raena i'm telling you, you don't have to apologize or anything—"

"that's not it. but yes i do. in fact my brother should too. that's not how i ever wanted you to experience spending the night—pretend i rephrased that please—and im sorry you had to experience his attitude—"

yoongi saw no reason for the apology, hoping the tension in the room would just disappear just as quickly as it appeared in the first place.

"—it's all good just thanks for even letting me in the house. you were a good hostess. i think maybe i should just steer clear of him for now just in case—" definitely not because he will recognize me.

"but also I'm sorry for acting weird. that's not even the only thing it's a little awkward actually—"

"—yeah you said something about us wanting to meet at some point, i think he got pretty mad at that?"

raena nodded quickly, almost impatient to get to the truth. "yes, yes i just meant maybe you could help him with his creative side like you basically do for taehyung. jungkook is super talented and i just think he needs to be reminded of it."

yoongi's heart dropped to his stomach. shoot. "look, i don't know if that's—"

"it's okay!" she put her hands up, "you don't have to entertain my fantasies of my brother being besties with my besties," she chuckles, putting a pin on that conversation for later. "what's really bothering me is—"

what else in the world could be bothering her that's awkward to bring up? just yesterday he got a glimpse of her range of emotions in one night and surely something like this wasn't enough to make her so desperate to apologize.

he watched as she desperately stood up to explain, biting her lip nervously through every inhale. his mind went back to through every moment and thinking of every conversation that might have been reason for weirdness. before he knew it the next words blurted out of his mouth.

"—is it because i uh called you pretty?"

raena paused, her mouth agape as she does so comically.

oh my sh*t. yoongi thought. how far away is the ground from the window. surely if i blast out of here hard enough i wont survive the fall? i dont think I'll survive this friendship.

"i-i just mean because it kinda got awkward after. i dunno, did that make you feel weird?," he quickly added, sinking in deeper into the couch.

raena felt the corner of her lips twitch. she wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream. she was hoping every single heart fluttering moment she had with yoongi would be pushed under the rug like in normal guy girl friendships where little things just make your heart race but mean nothing. because in reality it hadn't meant much that he had said that. well, coming from his mouth it did, but it didn't make anything different if that was what he was implying. to make matters worse, raena was pretty sure addressing their heart fluttering unsaid moments out in the open was common sense not to do.

but she could see he was only mentioned it in that conversation where his words did make her heart flutter it was because she so badly misunderstood something he said to mean she didn't look good.

ugh stupid insecurities have put my friend in a sticky situation.

"yoongi," she cooed, "you can call me pretty anytime you want. in fact add that to rule number 8!"

"7."

raena laughed at his remaining stoicism. "i don't mind you calling me something i already know. yes it makes no sense, i have a big ego but low self-esteem it's part of what makes me so charming." she jokes with a shrug.

yoongi sighs in relief, hoping the red in his cheeks were not evident. "you can be very confusing sometimes and definitely not charming"

"the truth is probably harder to take and i'm so so very sorry that this time i will make sure you get a new one," raena adds quickly, whipping out yoongi's phone from behind her. she bits her lip again as she watches his face go from neutral to concern. she scootches closer in the couch and apologizes. "it was my brother i promise it was an accident and he will pay for it. i'm pretty sure it still works it's just cracked a lot."

yoongi fingers brush hers in the passing making a chill go down his spine. he caressed the phone carefully, trying not to shut his eyes in frustration.

"it's..." he started, forging a plan on how to solve this.

raena searched for his eyes, still not meeting them yet. dang it. he's super mad.

"it's okay, raena. i'll figure it out—"

raena refused no for an answer. not this time. she scooted closer and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to look at her.

"don't. we're not doing this back and forth anymore. my brother did something. i will fix it. it's not fair for you. this is what friends do." she says firmly. before he could speak up, she grins crazily at him. "refuse and i will flirt with you."

yoongi couldn't help but laugh. "what?"

she let go of his shoulders and shrugged. "i didn't want to admit it but you're kinda hot yoongi. sigh...it's not fair."

if he had water in his mouth it would be out right now.

"um no," he chuckles nervously with red cheeks. he stands up and she follows.

"i will keep going until you accept," she laughed. "yoongi are you an angel? did you fall out of heaven—wait, i said that wrong—"

"—taehyung! please come back!" he exclaimed a seriously concerned look on his face, finding himself running upstairs genuinely afraid she was too quick for him.

taehyung opened his door and caught on quickly. he shrugged at yoongi and pushed him in raena's direction.

he fell right into her arms and was a victim to her bear hug. she squeezed so tight, laughter eventually bubbled out of him a light to both raena and taehyung's ears. somehow, raena knew she didn't have to ask if he was okay with it.

raena looked up in her hug, finding her own grin widen at yoongi's shut eyes and gummy smile.

when they settled down, yoongi cleared his throat and brought his facial expression back to neutral.

"next time can you guys just be straight up? i hate when people don't tell me things."

raena nodded along with taehyung. "of course," she says. but taehyung isn't so eager, tzuyu's face shining brightly in his mind.

with a hesitant smile going unnoticed by yoongi he agrees.

"of course, man."

—