The pounding headache was the first thing Taehyung felt when he opened his eyes. He blinked, everything was fuzzy and disoriented, where even was he? Taehyung squinted and lifted his head, Jungkook was sitting at the end of the couch boredly scrolling through his phone.

Everything hit him like a truck.

He grabbed the wet towel off of his forehead and flung it angrily at the side of his head.

“Hey-” Jungkook hissed but Taehyung started kicking him hard.

“Where’s my sister you trash bag! What'd you do with her!” He yelled.

Jungkook tried to grab at his legs to stop him, but he managed to kick through and smack him in the face. “Ow! Jesus Christ, what the hell is wrong with you!”

Yuna came rushing in from the kitchen then. “Taehyung stop attacking him!”

“You piece of , put your hands on my sister again and I’ll kill you! I swear to God I’ll kill you!” He shouted.

Jungkook was about to strike back but Yuna quickly intervened. “Stop! Both of you!”

“God, you know what screw this, I’m leaving.” He tried to stand up but Yuna stopped him again.

“No.” She sounded stern. “You’re gonna sit right back down beside him or else.”

“Yuna-”

“Sit down Jungkook, I need to talk to you both.”

He sighed in defeat and sat down.

“And Taehyung,” She pressed. “Don’t. Touch. Him.”

Taehyung crossed his arms in a huff.

“Look, we might as well just get this over with now alright?” She put her hands on her hips. “You two need to start getting along with each other.”

Taehyung snorted and Jungkook just rolled his eyes.

Yuna sighed impatiently. “Taehyung, if I’m going to be dating Jungkook you need to lighten up on him and stop acting like he’s some sort of plague-”

“Why the hell was he touching you? You’re too young to have !” He interrupted angrily then.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“No! I’m the older brother here, I should be the one giving you a lecture!” He shouted back. “What if something actually happened and I wasn’t here, you need to be more careful-”

“God, will you just give it a rest already? We’re in a relationship, people touch each other in a relationship. Is this new to you or something?” Jungkook spit.

“You better shut your mouth before I rip it off you-”

“Taehyung!” Yuna yelled.

He groaned and slumped back into the couch.

“Can you please just listen to me for five seconds?”

“Fine.” He muttered.

Yuna closed her eyes. “Please, please for me. Please, I need you and Jungkook to start getting along. I can’t keep choosing between him and you, I can’t keep feeling like I’m caught in the middle.”

He frowned. “But I don’t even talk to him, I stay away from him for your sake so that we don’t start fighting.”

“I know that, but the tension is still obviously there and it’s hard to avoid. Literally every time you see us you’re just giving him death stares.” She replied.

Taehyung couldn’t argue back because it was true. He’d even tried practicing a few in the mirror.

Yuna walked over to Jungkook and put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re getting serious Taehyung. Like Namjoon said, you need to start supporting what I have instead of rejecting it.”

He watched them quietly.

“He’s never hurt me once, and I’m really happy with him.”

Taehyung clenched his teeth.

“Aren’t you happy that I’m happy? It’s been a long time Taehyung, ever since mom and dad died, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before-”

“And what about me huh?” He shouted angrily. “Did you just stop giving a about how I feel or something?”

“What? No, I never said that-”

“Well that’s how it feels! It’s like you just don’t care anymore and it’s all because of him!” He glared at Jungkook who was just giving him an emotionless gaze.

“Taehyung, listen to me, I’m not trying to replace you with Jungkook OK? I’m just at a point in my life right now where I don’t need to rely on you so much, where I need to start thinking and acting for myself.” Yuna pressed. “And I think It’s time that you start doing that too without always having me in mind. The best place to start is to just try and get along with the one person you feel you can’t accept because of me.”

Taehyung pushed down the lump in his throat again and looked back at Jungkook. Their eyes met slowly.

Everything was happening for a reason.

That rose ended up in Yuna’s locker for a reason, this moment where two of the most unlikely people on Earth were forcing themselves to come to terms with each other for the sake of one girl, was happening for a reason too.

They didn’t know it yet, but Yuna was the only variable between them. Once she was gone, everything would happen all at once.

Taehyung clenched his teeth, forcing himself to extend his hand. He didn’t want to be acquainted with him or even look at that as so much as a friend; but he had to. Yuna was right, he just had to accept it. Jungkook looked down at his hand blankly, then extended his too.

They both shook on it, agreeing to get along for Yuna’s sake.

But that was only the final part in the universe’s plan.

Everything was happening for a reason.

**

“And what about me huh? Did you just stop giving a about how I feel or something?”

“Well that’s how it feels! It’s like you just don’t care anymore and it’s all because of him!”

“Tch.” Jungkook tipped his head back and closed his eyes.

Jimin ran his finger around the rim of his drink and glanced at him. “You tired or something?”

He pushed a hand through his hair. “Exhausted.”

“It’s about Yuna isn’t it?” Jin asked knowingly. “Did you even get anywhere with her the other night?”

Jungkook his lips and tapped his fingers against the side of the glass. “I would’ve if her stupid ing brother didn’t interfere.”

“I don’t get why you’re even still dating her and putting up with him,” Jimin said. “There are like a million other girls that want to go out with you and probably don’t have some annoying, overprotective older brother.”

His eyes wandered over to one of the women standing behind the counter of the bar, making cocktails for the guests. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of them or specifically him since they’d walked in there. A few other girls had also noticed and were checking him out too.

But he didn’t care about them.

He glanced at the man sitting by the window, deep in conversation with someone on his phone. Jungkook scanned him slowly, kind of liking what he saw. He had really nice lips-

“Jungkook?” Jin’s voice snapped him out of it.

He cleared his throat and looked back at him. “What?”

“Why don’t you just break up with her?”

“Because I like her.” He lied, the same lie he’d been telling for a while. “Why do you think we’ve even been dating this long?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Jimin chuckled. “Even if I had feelings for her, it wouldn’t even be worth putting up with her brother.”

Jungkook looked down at his hand. He didn’t even know she had a brother, or that he’d even be half as bad as he was. It didn’t really matter to him though, he just had to get some ing girl to go out with him, so he chose Yuna. If he was with a girl, no one would get suspicious as to why he wasn’t dating anyone, why he stopped giving out roses. He just had to stay with her until the end of the year when he finally graduated, and then he could figure out the rest from there.

In the beginning he was fine with dating around a lot, giving a rose to any desperate girl as a joke, just to pass time. But then he started to lose interest in them, girls just didn’t flatter him anymore and before he knew it, he was starting to pay more attention to guys. He’d kind of felt that way for a long time though, even before high school. But he just ignored it until eventually he couldn’t hold it back anymore. That’s why he gave a rose to Yuna faster than he usually would, just as a cover up, and then decided he’d date her for a while just to make people think he was committed to one person. Except it was really just because he was tired of girls, especially the ones at his school. He even bothered to put up with her annoying brother for the sake of his plan too. It did make things more difficult, but Jungkook still didn't give a .

Girls were easy, they all wanted to date him anyway, so it was easiest just to use them. Jungkook just had to keep making everyone believe he was straight, because would get too complicated if they found out he wasn’t. No one in his social circle thought being gay or biual was OK, maybe Jin and Jimin would accept him, but he was too afraid to say anything. And he couldn’t be afraid, not with his kind of reputation and status. It was best just to bury things away, put on a brave, confident face to the world.

No matter how much he wanted someone else; being with a girl was just easier.

“We’re on better terms now, I guess.” He muttered, thinking back to how they were both forced to agree that they would get along with each other. “But he still annoys the out of me and it’s pretty obvious he still doesn’t exactly like me either. I’ll deal with it though, I don’t care.”

Jin took a sip of his drink, looking at him over the rim. “You know, I never thought I’d see the day when you’re actually committed to a girl, it’s really unlike you.”

Jungkook looked at him again, his stomach twisting slightly. “What exactly are you implying-” His phone vibrated loudly in his pocket then and he pulled it out. Haneul was calling again. He cursed underneath his breath and just ignored it.

“Was that your brother?’ Jimin asked.

“Yeah.” He muttered, downing the rest of his drink.

“You need to start answering his calls Jungkook-”

“If he wants to talk to me, then he can come down here and do it face to face. I’m not in the mood to deal with him or his bull right now.” He grumbled.

Jin gave Jimin a look that told him to lay off. He sighed and ended the conversation there.

The atmosphere turned kind of awkward then, Jin cleared his throat. “Hey, a ham sandwich walks into a bar and orders a beer; what does the bartender say?”

Jungkook sighed loudly. “Can we not do this right now.”

“Come on, come on this is a really good one I promise.” He grinned.

Jimin shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure.”

“He says, sorry, we don’t serve food here!” He clapped his hands, laughing hard at his joke.

Jimin tried to stifle his laugh, but he eventually gave in and doubled over.

Usually he’d give in too, but Jungkook just drowned them out slowly and glanced back towards the window.

But the man was gone.