There were only a few times in his life that Jung Hoseok was ever wrong about a person. Generally, he was good at reading people. He could tell the liars from the honest. He knew if you were the type of person who wore their feelings on their sleeves, or if you kept everything all bottled up inside. He could tell if you were loyal, or if you would stab him in the back. Generally it only took one interaction for Hoseok to get a relatively accurate idea of just who someone was. And most of the time, he was right. Whether he was proven so early on in the relationship, or several months after, he was always right. And even in those rare cases when he wasn’t, he wasn’t very far off.

That’s exactly what this case was; the case of Park Jimin. He was right in his assumption that the kid was a pushover, an idealistic fool who had ‘big dreams’ of becoming a star. And so far, the way he had put him on the spot like that had proven him right. However, where Hoseok had made his mistake was in also assuming the kid had very little talent. He had assumed his skills were mediocre at best and he wouldn’t have what it took to stand up on that stage. How very wrong he was when this little boy, this squeaky, stuttering, emotional wreck of a boy literally shat all over his preconceptions. He not only stunned Hoseok to silence, he had stunned Namjoon, Seokjin, and even hard-to-impress Yoongi into silence with his performance. Never had he heard such a powerful, but soothingly angelic voice like that before. He hit notes that Hoseok had only heard the best of female artists hit, and he did it with as much clarity and wholesomeness as a professional. Even if a few patches were rough here and there-some work on control was in order-those few moments of utter emotion and heartbreak overshadowed anything elese. Hoseok, in his bewildered state, could do nothing but grin mischievously at the rest of his bandmates and say the exact thing that everyone else was thinking.

    “That was ing amazing.”

While the judges were still enthralled with Jimin’s stellar performance, the poor boy was doing what he did best. Having an emotional break down.

    “I-I c-c-can, *sniff*, can’t do th-th-thiiiiiis, *sob* an-ny-mooooorrrrrrrreeeeeee.” Jimin balled into Taehyung’s shirt. Taehyung rubbed Jimin’s hair soothingly while whispering comforting words into his ear.

    “You’re fine Chim Chim. Just calm down, Jeongguk told me you did great! Why are you crying like this?” Jimin moaned into his lap as his tears started to slow.

    “I-I did hooooriblllllllllllle! D-did you s-s-see the w-way they looked at me? *blows nose* I might as well leave now cause I’m such a...such...su-wahhhhhhhhh!” Jimin’s wails renewed, even harder than before. It was all a bit dramatic for Jeongguk, who stood by the doorway to ensure they’d have some privacy. He thought their looks had been one of amazement, not disgust. He didn’t understand why Jimin was acting like the world was going to end, he had done something Jeongguk hadn’t, moved the judges to complete silence. They had merely exchanged impressed hums and enthusiastic nods when he had sang.

    “Jimin, come on, this is ridiculous. You’re acting like you’re five, not sixteen. Pull yourself together, you don’t get to wail until they’ve officially cut you from the list!” Jeongguk yanked Jimin away from Taehyung and shook him hard. Jimin’s wide and bleary eyes stared at him.

    “Are. You. Listening. To. Me.” Every word he gave him on hard shake, until gradually Jimin came back to earth. Sniffling, he released Jeongguk’s hands from his shirt.

    “Yes…” He mumbled. Taehyung sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

    “You don’t have to be so hard on him! He’s delicate and needs affection more than harsh words.” Jeongguk groaned and threw his hands in the air.

“Like your soft and tender approach was working any better? We would have been here all day if I hadn’t stepped in!” Taehyung glared at him and crossed his arms.

“I was doing fine until you showed up! Why don’t you out huh? He didn’t run to you, he ran to me!” Jeongguk glared right back.

“I don’t care who he ran to! I’d rather him make a spectacle of himself somewhere private than in front of all the other candidates! Stop babying him. It’s the main reason he has zero confidence in himself.” Taehyung scoffed.

“Oh right, Sir Arrogance sure can teach a thing or two about confidence can’t you!” Jimin looked between them awkwardly. They were arguing over Jimin as if he was their child and not their best friend. Jimin was about to say something when someone barged into their room. It was the dragon lady from before. Her glare had now been to Jeongguk.

“Mr. Five, would you be so kind as to follow me for the second segment of your audition.” She spat. Jeongguk gave Taehyung a warning glare, like they would talk about this later before following the lady out the door. Now that he wasn’t weeping, he realized just what an of himself he made. He just rushed off again, rude as can be. He didn’t even wait for a response, fearful of what they would say. If they were to be his future bandmates-God willing-then he would need to get a grip. Jeongguk was right. This audition wasn’t over until he was cut. Which meant he still had a chance. Wiping away any remaining tears, Jimin went to prepare for his dance. Taehyung followed him nervously. He wouldn’t be participating in the dance portion of the audition, so this segment was his only one. He wasn’t really concerned though. Even if he didn’t get into this, he would still have plenty of time to try for something else. But Jimin was acting different. His manic behavior was completely ungrounded for just one audition. Something was going on and he wasn’t telling anyone about it. Taehyung went and sat in the lobby. He would find out later tonight if he had passed the first set of auditions or not. It was wholly unheard of for a group to announce cuts the day of, but this must be a big group. They must have wanted to start promotions early for the group as a whole and launch teaser images of the new members. Taehyung didn’t get it. All the hubbub about them.

“Bang. Tan. Boys.” Taehyung said. He rolled the words around his mouth. The name wasn’t all that impressive, neither were the members. They were okay, that Seokjin guy seemed like the motherly type since he kept fixing something on one of them. Wiping sweat off of a forehead, adjusting a color, organizing a set of papers in front of them, petting someone’s head, or patting someone awake-yoongi-or telling them to sit up straight-namjoon-or telling them to be quiet-hoseok. Namjoon seemed like the leader on tv, but he had moments where that facade broke and Taehyung got the sense that he was actually a dull person once you got to know him. It seemed the only time he effectively expressed himself was when he was answering something asked by Seokjin. Then a small smile or eye crinkle would come out. Yoongi seemed positively dreadful. He was bored, or sleepy, or some combination of the two with absolutely no enthusiasm over being there. The lazy type that demanded respect but wouldn’t equally go out of his way to receive it. Taehyung hated those kinds. And Hoseok, he was an anomaly. He acted both parts mature and both parts playful and childish. He seemed like the impish fool that would gladly be the of anyone’s joke just to keep everyone happy, but then would turn right around the minute after with some secret pain weighing down his heart, like a soldier with a battle wound who bled out without a single person knowing. He also hated these people too. The kind that hid everything behind with a smile. The kind that was afraid to let people in. It was one of the reasons that Taehyung had practically attached himself to Jimin the first time they had met.

Taehyung smiled fondly at the memory. Little Jimin had been pacing for a good ten minutes before he had seen him. Taehyung had been intrigued by his consistency in staying in the exact same pattern. Five steps forward, pause, turn, five steps forward, pause, turn, over and over again. It had been a singing competition and Jimin was supposed to go on in an hour. Taehyung was scheduled for a while after him, so he had time to spare, and he had really wanted to meet the kid behind the angelic voice during rehearsal. He wasn’t perturbed as he placed himself in his direct line of sight. He pretended to mumble randomly and stare at the wall hard. After a while, the clacking of Jimin’s boots stopped, and came in his direction. Not long after, Jimin had stopped and asked him if he was okay, and Taehyung had liked him all the more. Any person willing to put aside their own problems for someone they barely knew automatically won Taehyung’s adoration. Taehyung had made it h