Jimin was silent for the first three minutes. Hoseok stood over him and stared expectantly. He would wait an hour if he had to. Jimin had some damn explaining to do. Once was a fluke, and twice was a coincidence, but Hoseok didn’t plan on waiting for a third time to prove itself true. Jimin had something seriously bothering him. It was ruining his concentration on the dance. It was riling up his anger and irritability. It was slowly deteriorating the sweet little trainee that Hoseok swore he once new. This was not the Jimin that danced in a freaking chicken suit to a song he’d never heard with a completely improvised dance. This was not the Jimin that literally made him speechless with his vocals. This was not the Jimin he’d found screaming into that toilet the first time they’d met. This was a Jimin Hoseok had never met before. And he wanted the old Jimin back now.

“I’ll stand here all day till you talk to me Jimin-ah.” Hoseok said. He leaned over to look him in the eyes, but Jimin cast his head down instead of forward. Hoseok squated in front of him and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up.

“You will look at me when I'm speaking to you, and do as I say. Now talk.” Jimin snatched his chin away and looked off to the side.

“What is there to talk about hyung besides the fact that I’m the biggest up in this company?” Jimin said bitterly. Hoseok sighed. Oh Lord not this. Anything but this.

“Jimin, you missed a couple of moves. That doesn’t make you the biggest-”

“It wasn’t just a couple of moves! It’s everything hyung!” Jimin said, his eyes wetting. Hoseok felt his breath dry up. Oh no, please not this. His heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

“Everything, literally everything I do is inadequate or wrong or just plain stupid! I can’t sing that well, even freaking Rapmon said it to Suga when they thought I couldn’t hear them. You all saw my video and said it was decent at best. My dancing is nothing compared to yours or Jeongguks. My sessions with Suga are bringing along my composition skills at the pace of a snail. I’m doomed to make every single person in management hate me at this point. Suga-nim even got in trouble today because he was taking time out of his day just to help me improve my skills. Face it hyung, I can’t do this. I’m not good enough. I’m just a loser.” Jimin was fully in tears. He was shaking and holding his head so Hoseok wouldn’t see the snot slipping out of his nose. He felt two arms snake around his back and clutch him tightly. The warm embrace only made him cry harder.

“Jimin-ah you are more amazing and precious than you know. I-” Hoseok started, not knowing what he was going to say. He just felt so pained seeing him cry like this. Oh it hurt somewhere deep in his chest like he was burning. He couldn’t stand it. He needed to hold Jimin. He needed to. He needed to hold that shaking body against him just to settle that painful throbbing in his heart. He had to wrap him up because Hoseok felt as though he would fall apart if he didn’t.

“J-J-J...Ju...Jus...” Jimin tried. His words were garbling in his mouth from the sobbing and sniffing he was doing.

“Use your words Jimin-ah, your words” Hoseok whispered. He began Jimin’s back, hushing the child’s sobs and murmuring encouragements in his ears. Because if they were being honest, that was exactly what Jimin was, a child. He was only sixteen. And whatever stress he was under had just simply been too much. Too much trying to make everyone happy. Too much time spent being told he was not enough. And it had resulted in this. Breaking down because he just couldn’t seem to improve himself fast enough for everyone else. But Hoseok didn’t see it that way. Jimin had proven himself that day in the audition. Why couldn’t he see that now? Eventually Jimin regained the ability to speak, but not without a dense croak to his tone.

“Just do it without me. You don’t need me anyway, I’m just getting in the way.” Hoseok shook his head vehemently.

“Jimin-ah, how many times do I have to tell you. We need you. You’re an amazing singer, dancer, and even composer. Yoongi told me himself that you were doing so well. He said you knew so much already and were learning much faster than even he expected. Stop dwelling on things that don’t matter. You messed up the dance steps. So what? Just keep practicing. You can’t give up and beat yourself up over something so little. It’s just a few steps.”

“I-it’s not just the steps hyung, it’s everything.” Jimin cried, his tears starting to pour again. Ah, so now we’re getting to the real issue, Hoseok thought. It was what he’d been waiting to hear all along. Was Jimin finally going to come clean about his roommate now? Hoseok had given manager Hobum the name and had him do some background. The kid was not a good one. He’d had multiple behavior and attitude issues with the trainers and administration. He’d also had a pretty interesting record on file with things like anger management, substance abuse, even physical assault. It was a minor miracle he hadn’t kicked out yet. He'd yet to figure out just what their relationship to each was currently, but to think such a kid had even anything to do with Jimin was scary. And if that bastard was messing around in Jimin’s life...

“Tell me Minnie. I don’t know what ‘everything’ is to you. I can’t help if I don’t know.” Hoseok murmured, placing a warm hand on the younger’s lower thigh. Jimin’s eyes darted to the hand. Somehow it felt hotter than any part of his body. It was intrusive, invading. He didn’t want to be comforted, he just wanted to wallow in his own misery. This was too intimate. The hand was like an open door, beckoning him in. He was so tempted just to spill everything. But he couldn’t. Involving Hoseok meant endangering him. Anyone involved would just be one more target, one more bag on an already heavy load. Jimin couldn’t risk that. Their safety came first. Their safety came first.

He tried wiping away the tears so he could see, but that only made them burn and further blurred his vision. Eventually he just gave up and leaned his head on Hoseok’s shoulder. He was still on his side, comforting...threatening hand rubbing gently up and down his leg. His face was still lowered to Jimin’s, eyes still penetrating and inviting. He was just to his side, squatting beside him with his body turned towards him. Jimin could hear Hoseok’s heartbeat in his chest. He listened to the soft but rhythmic thumping in his chest. Was it his imagination or did it beat a little faster? Jimin focused on that and timed his breathing to it. He let his mind fall into a brief but necessary silence with just the sound of Hoseok’s and his own breath permeating the hallway. Jimin and Hoseok didn’t speak for a few minutes. They took the time to be in each other's presence and soak in it. When Jimin started to feel a little calmer, a little more settled, he let out a shaky breath and pulled away. He leaned his face up to the ceiling and opened his eyes. He turned back to Hoseok and met the elders stare. It was the first time Jimin noticed how brown they were. Had Hoseok always had such warm brown eyes?

“Sometimes I think all of this is a mistake. That I never should have joined the company or befriended Taehyung and Jeongguk or tried putting myself in the spotlight. That my life would be much easier if I hadn’t.” Normally Hoseok would have stopped him right there with his assuring words and praises, but something in Jimin’s eyes changed. He didn’t have a sad or forlorn look anymore. There was no despairing or pain. It was empty, accepting. So he stayed quiet and waited. Waited for something.

“I have this innate ability to just attract such...bad things to me. I find myself thinking that it’s my own fault. My light doesn’t shine as brightly as other people’s, and when I try to make it, it becomes an eyesore. That’s why people bully me. That’s why they spit and curse my existence. I have an ugly bright light that nobody wants shoved into their face.” Jimin looked away from Hoseok to his fingers. He began chafing them along the hemline of his shirt. Hoseok grabbed them and held the fingers in his hand. He gave Jimin a soft smile and nodded for him to continue. Jimin bit his lip, hesitating, but eventually continued.

“That’s why I never got really mad or upset at everyone else. To me, it was justified because I was the problem, not them. I just needed to make myself better, then people would respect me. I just had to try a little harder and I would fit in. But I’m starting to realize that’s not the case. Not anymore.” Jimin sniffled, a short moment of weakness creeping up on him and making him want to cry again. He wouldn’t. No more tears would be shed over Joohyung. Jimin made a promise to himself that until he saw this Joohyung mess through, figure some way out, he would not waste his tears over someone who didn’t deserve it. Especially not when he had people like Hoseok worrying about him.

“It never was Jimin. What people think and how they treat you, it’s so backwards that there is no point. You never needed to prove yourself to anyone. You know that.” Hoseok murmured, bringing his other hand up to caress the back of Jimin’s head.

“But I still act like it is. My mind may be able to understand that, but I still act like that stupid trainee trying to please everyone. I’m still acting like a pushover and a child. I can’t even hold my temper over a few dance moves because I know that if I don’t get it, I won’t be able to impress our dance instructor. I won’t be able to make Suga-nim proud because everytime I start to do something right, I mess up again. I have to keep secrets and tiptoe around different members and I just...I’m so tired of it.” Hoseok inwardly growled. He knew it. He knew there was something more going on. He had scheduled a meeting with Manager Hobum later next week. He would definitely have some new information to bring to the table, he just hoped that Hobum would too.

“Secrets? Who are you keeping secrets for Jimin? Why are you keeping secrets?” Hoseok pried. He knew he was pushing it, but he was close to a confession. He could feel it.

“I can’t tell you. I made a promise that I wouldn’t. Several promises