Jimin locked himself in one of the many stalls and buried his face in his hands as the tears cascaded down his face. He quietly sobbed as he tried to get his emotions in check. He couldn’t quite place what it was that made him cry. Yes, Taemin not coming contributed but that couldn’t be the only thing. Jimin knew himself to be a strong person, he wouldn’t cry over just that, but the tears going down his cheeks weren’t stopping and he couldn’t quiet himself down no matter how much he tried.

“Why are you being like this? There’s no reason to cry,” he whispered to himself as he wiped away his tears and tried to calm his somewhat erratic breathing. A couple of minutes passed and Jimin had managed to calm himself down a little, enough to stop sobbing, but there were still tears running down his face, which he continued to wipe away.

“Jimin hyung?” Jimin heard Jungkook call out as the younger entered the restroom.

Jimin stayed silent, hoping the younger would think he wasn’t there and go away. However, a minute later, Jungkook came to a stop in front of the stall he was in and knocked.

“Hyung? Is something wrong?” Jungkook asked sounding concerned.

“N-no,” Jimin stuttered out, cursing himself mentally for stuttering. There was no way the younger hadn’t heard the waver in his voice or picked up on the small sob that followed. A moment of silence passed before Jungkook spoke up again.

“Jimin hyung… can you please open the door?” Jungkook requested. Jimin made no move to follow the request and a few seconds later he heard the younger sigh.

“Hyung, what happened? Why’d you run off stage like that? Do you think your performance was bad? Because it really wasn’t. It was really beautiful, I was awestruck while watching. Everyone who was looking at you was blown away by your performance,” Jungkook said trying to lift Jimin’s spirits.

Jimin smiled faintly at that as he wiped away some more tears. Hearing the younger say that was sweet and did help ease the turmoil inside Jimin, despite the fact the younger was completely off about why Jimin had run off stage.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Jungkook asked sounding sad. Jimin made no reply.

“But you really should. I would never lie to you about this kind of thing. You really were spectacular hyung. Hoseok hyung even said he was so glad you weren’t doing the hip hop category because he’d totally have lost to you if your hip hop dancing was anything like your contemporary dancing,” Jungkook continued.

“That’s not true,” Jimin whispered just loud enough for Jungkook to hear. His voice was steady this time and the tears weren’t coming down his face as much as before.

“It is, you were amazing on stage. If you don’t win, I’ll be surprised. The judges were blown away by your performance as well, I could tell because they were wide-eyed while watching you and as soon as you left they seemed to be in a daze for a whole minute afterward,” Jungkook proclaimed.

“Really?” Jimin asked, perking up at the mention of the judges.

“Yes really. There’s no reason to cry, you were incredible,” Jungkook answered.

Jimin had stopped crying at that point and he was wiping away the last of his tears. The turmoil he’d been feeling inside had finally dissipated just as suddenly as it came on. After taking in one last deep breath to fully calm himself, Jimin unlocked the door and looked up at Jungkook with a small smile.

“Thanks,” Jimin whispered and proceeded to hug Jungkook, burying his face in the younger's neck.

Jungkook hugged him back after a moment, his grip light and gentle. “I meant every word I said,” Jungkook promised.

“I know,” Jimin whispered, feeling infinitely better then he had only a minute ago.

* * * *

“You two came back just in time, they’re starting to announce the winners. Hip hop winners are going to be announced next,” Hoseok said as Jimin and Jungkook joined him amongst the other contestants near the main stage.

“They’ll be calling your name soon then,” Jimin said with a smile.

“I can only hope that’s the case,” Hoseok replied with a small smile of his own,