A/N: I'm going to Darwin on Friday, and I'm super fucking excited to fly somewhere again!

Just like a wall of water going over a cliff, the moment JJ woke up on the day of qualification, the confidence she had spent all year building up rushed away in the same amount of time it took her to get out of bed.

She spent most of the morning relatively quiet, trying to fight away the doubts that were crawling into her mind, but it felt futile. Her stomach was twisting into knots, and she didn't know how to stop it. Why, why after all this time was she suddenly so nervous again? She had gone to the Olympics and had an absolute showcase of a competition, she had competed domestically again in front of an American crowd who were surely expecting amazing things from her... but a post Olympic world championship qualification round was enough to crush her like a tin can?

They were in the training gym at the arena later that morning, waiting for everyone to complete their qualification. Because it wasn't a team worlds, but an individual competition in which a country could send up to four competitors, they weren't all necessarily competing together. McKayla had competed in the first subdivision, Kyla in the second, and JJ and Simone had ended up together in the fourth subdivision. They still had around twenty minutes until they were due to head out into the arena, and so after a morning of drilling every routine until it was perfect, JJ was focusing on stretching out properly so that she was warm and relaxed when it was time to go.

Simone was beside her, chatting quietly with Ellie Black, who was in the same subdivision and had come over to join them in their stretching. Across the way, JJ could see Marta deep in conversation with Artur Akopyan, the short Soviet coach of McKayla who somehow reminded JJ of Danny DeVito. McKayla was sitting on the floor a short distance away, a stony expression on her face as Larry worked on her feet and ankles.

A gentle tap on her shoulder made JJ jump. She whirled around, looking up to find Nick standing behind her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly. "Can you come with me for a minute?"

She nodded, getting to her feet and zipping up her warm-ups as she traipsed off behind her coach. He led her away from the main training area, through a dark curtain and into a hallway that led down to the locker rooms. It was here that he stopped, after glancing around to see if anyone else was in the vicinity.

"Nick... what's wrong? Why are we here?" she asked softly.

"What's going on with you this morning?" Nick asked, lifting an arm and resting his elbow up against the wall as he stuck his other hand in his pocket. "You're not your usual self today... in fact, to be honest, you're reminding me a lot of when we were in London"

JJ bit her lip, her gaze dropping to the floor as she leant back against the bricks. They were clearly painted with a thick layer of paint, and suddenly she really hated it.

"You've been doing so well all year," Nick said gently. "You were awesome at Nationals... why are you suddenly so rattled? It's Worlds. You've been to Worlds before"

"But I barely competed at the first one because I was injured and then the following year I was still competing watered down stuff to protect my shoulder," JJ countered. "I just... I've never come into Worlds at full strength before, and there's so many amazing girls here competing... I should know, I flew over with three of them!"

"JJ," Nick said softly, leaning down slightly towards her. "We've been here before. And like now, you were wrong back then. You are good at what you do. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. Hell, you wouldn't have five Olympic medals sitting at home if you weren't. And I know, I know sometimes doubt creeps in and leaves little room for anything else, but you have got to start believing in yourself, because we're barely a year into the quad... if you're going to have this hesitation every year when it comes time to go to Worlds, you're going to crack"

JJ exhaled heavily, looking up at her coach. "I've spent all year telling myself I'm doing gymnastics for fun, I'm doing it because I love it, and I don't want to put the same pressure on myself that I did last year. And that was true. But now it's different. I'm going out there as the most decorated gymnast of last year's Games. People expect things of me. And it's not like Nationals, Nick, where random people just buy tickets because they think it'll be fun, Worlds attracts actual gymnastics fans who actually know their shit... I don't think I'm good enough for what they're expecting of me"

"But their expectations don't matter," Nick said firmly. "Even my expectations don't matter, and my only expectations are that you go out and feel good about what you do. The only person you need to impress is yourself"

"And Marta. Because if I go out there and flop, she's never going to give me another assignment," JJ said darkly.

Nick let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "Alright. Wait here. I'll be right back"

JJ watched on, confused, as he walked back to the hallway entrance and disappeared behind the curtain. Surely he wasn't going to go and get Marta? God, Marta was going to be sick of her and her doubts. If Nick really was going to get her, she could count on this being her last assignment for the USA.

Maybe she could compete for Great Britain? Her dad had been born in the UK after all.

Before she could get too carried away, Nick was back, holding out his phone to her.

"Someone wants to talk to you. I figured if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to them," he said, giving her a soft smile. She frowned, slowly taking the phone from his hand and lifting it to her ear. Nick smiled, quirking an eyebrow at her as he turned and walked away, leaving her alone again in the corridor.

"Hello?"

"Well hey there my little beam queen"

JJ relaxed, her entire body softening as she melted into a smile. There was no mistaking that accent.

"Will," she breathed, her body suddenly flooding with warmth.

Will chuckled. "You ok? Nick said you're giving yourself a hard time"

JJ let out a long breath. "Just... nervous. Really nervous. Like... it hit me this morning that I'm going in with all these achievements to my name and people are going to be expecting so much from me"

"Maybe. But that's just how it is, right? Spectators have expectations because they don't truly understand the hard work that goes into the sport. They have expectations because all they see is the gold medals and the fact that you're an Olympian. But they don't see the hours in the gym, the fact that you still want to have a normal life outside of gymnastics, or the fact that you're simply a human who can't be perfect all the time. Even though you make everything you do look amazing"

JJ couldn't help but smile as Will let out a little chuckle.

"It's just... it's daunting. And I feel stupid for being nervous but I can't help it"

"Nerves is ok. I'd be surprised if you weren't nervous, I mean, you're competing at the world championships! But second guessing yourself helps no-one, least of all you"

Exhaling, JJ turned so she was leaning back against the wall. "I don't really know how to stop it though"

"I know Nick has told you that you just need to go out there for you. Perform for you, because you love it. And go out there knowing that your mom and dad are watching in the crowd, and I'm watching from home, and even if you fell eight times, we're still going to love you and be just as proud of you as we are right now. Just go out there and have the best time. After all, you're at the world championships... you gotta enjoy it Jayje"

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" JJ asked with a smile.

Will chuckled. "Aw, you know, a few times, but it never hurts to hear it again"

"Well, I love you. So much," JJ said softly. "I don't know how you do it, but you make me feel so calm"

"I'm always here for you. Especially when you have your cute little freak outs and start saying you're not good enough when you're literally better than everyone I know, myself included"

JJ laughed. "Ok. Point taken"

"Exactly, because I'm always right"

"Bullshit," JJ scoffed, getting a laugh out of Will as she started walking back towards the curtains. "Look, I should probably go, we're heading out any minute now, but thank you... for everything"

"Anytime babe. Just don't think about anyone else out there but yourself, ok? You're doing this for you"

"So I can't even think of you? Naked, in my bed?"

"You will definitely fall if you think of that, you know what I'm hiding under my sweats"

JJ laughed. "Ok. Me, and me only"

"Exactly right. Now go be that crazy little badass you only ever are when you're out on a competition floor"

Bidding goodbye, JJ ended the call, pushing her way through the curtain and finding Nick waiting a few yards away, watching as Simone and Aimee ran through a few last drills.

"Thanks for that," she said softly, holding out his phone as she approached. He smiled, taking it from her hand and putting it back in his pocket.

"Feel better?"

JJ thought carefully for a moment before nodding. "Yeah... I don't really know what got into me, but... he calmed me down. He always does"

"I thought he would," Nick said with a smile, putting an arm around JJ's shoulder as he guided her back over to where their bags were sitting.

"Gymnasts, please prepare for walkout!"

JJ looked up at Nick, managing a much stronger smile than earlier. "Time to go kick some ass, hey?"

Nick laughed. "Sounds like a plan kiddo"

The qualification round had gone off without a hitch.

Simone had qualified easily in first place into the all-around final, with Kyla just under a point behind her. In addition to that, the tiny little superstar of the US team had also qualified into the vault, beam, and floor finals, in second, fifth, and first place respectively. Kyla had netted herself a clean second place rank into the bars final, as well as being placed in the beam standings to become a reserve if Simone or JJ got injured.

McKayla had, as expected, qualified first into the vault final, meaning she would have the chance to redeem herself after the slip-up in the Olympic final the previous year.

After her morning of self-doubt, JJ had hit it out of the park for the first round of competition, qualifying fourth into the bars final, first into the beam final, and fifth into the floor final. She hadn't gone all out on any of her events, so placing in the top five gave her confidence in her abilities to move up in the standings come the day of the finals.

It was a new quad, new code, and most importantly, new opportunities for her to smash her goals.