girls of effulgence | bts

epilogue

It was the issue that they would be performing in front of people. As soon as that thought advanced and made its presence known in Jungkook like a rapid growing flower, it was as if someone had turned up a power switch inside him from three to 20.

Normally Jungkook was elated every time he and the rest of BTS got on stage and they were blown away by the wave of uncontrollable screams by the ARMY. He thought and always thought, never speaking it out loud, that the screams were a bit much sometimes, especially when a fan would be shrilling with an already raspy voice.

Nonetheless, he would always feel a great crescendo of pride through his body infused with his adrenaline. The screaming was for him, and all these fans paid money to see Jungkook sweat and sing on stage.

But now Jungkook was the one that wanted to scream. He didn't understand what was the matter with him, this was just any other performance, but with people. He had performed in front of thousands of people more times than he could count.

Get yourself together, the maknae scowled himself when he saw a worried look from one of the techs walking by.

He took a few deep breaths and did his best to do so, though that was about as effective as trying to fix a shattered vase with scotch tape. There was no sense worrying alone, Jungkook decided, when he could feel better with others.

That was the answer, the perfect answer the young man calculated. Others.

A small smile crept up at the thought of his hyungs, the elders of BTS, which were all of them to Jungkook since he was the youngest. Seokjin could crack a joke or make a horrible pun to make him more relaxed or Taehyung could make him laugh and help him forget his reoccurring nerves.

The singer's eager happiness-searching feet led him to where he thought the others were. By going down a staircase, Jungkook would reach a large room that was not backstage, but in fact the understage. It was called that because the room was actually underneath the stage, where a few seats lay for sitting and mics could be adjusted, and if needed, dropped.

The real magic happened there in Jungkook's opinion. Without a few moments of calm, there would be no use trying to be an energy giver on stage if there were lurking dissatisfactory emotions inside. Perhaps the calm would take away Jungkook's feelings that certainly were not much to worry about. Were they even feelings?

Passing by the top of the stage, he could practically feel the screams and hear the heat that the ARMYs released in anticipation for the band. There were so many, so much more than he thought a large auditorium could hold. He stayed low and made sure he wasn't seen (which was unlikely anyway, the lights weren't on yet), then walked into the large room, the understage, with his hands in his pockets.

Jimin was the first one to notice the young man coming in. The other members, who were all sitting on chairs or standing near them, were all getting their mics. Jimin already had a cream colored sphere taped on his cheek, and when he saw the younger member, the dancer left his relaxed position leaning against the wall and unfolded his arms, now smiling. Every time he moved, his enormously sparkly jacket caught particles of light and refracted them somewhere else, like Jimin was brighter than all of the lights and the particles were ashamed.

"Jungkook-ssi!" The dancer called out joyfully. "You're here, finally." Jungkook smiled enormously and shrugged his shoulders up in embarrassment, then cried out when Jimin threw an arm around his shoulder.

"I am very excited for the performance, are you?" Jimin asked immediately, a little louder than his regular high voice because behind him the other members of BTS had burst into laughter over something Taehyung had done. Jungkook wished he could lie, but he knew if he did Jimin would find out instantly. After all, they had known each other for practically five years and Jimin knew him better than he did himself.