The hand, with which Chim balanced the tray while using the other one to push open the door, was trembling slightly. Unlike Hobi, who made every small move look elegant and effortless, Chim still had troubles walking and carrying the tray at the same time. Even though it wasn't that much of a complicated task. But all the stairs and the bad lighting in the building only added to making that job more complicated than it had to be. And of course, all the doors that he somehow had to open with one hand. He didn't even bother with knocking on this one. Around this time Namjoon was usually still busy with the fire either way. Actually, Chim's task was only to bring him his food and then leave as soon as possible to get ready for the night. But on the few occasions where he had taken this task on so far, he didn't really follow that rule too strictly. And as long as he still showed up to work on time no one had a reason to complain about his behaviour. So Chim usually spent a bit more time down here than he should. So far no one had really noticed. Or if they did, at least no one had complained about it until now. Well, he also didn't really give them a lot of chances to complain yet. He had only been down here one or two times so far. If at all. Or maybe it had been more. He hadn't been here for that long after all. Or had he?
Usually, Hobi always volunteered for this job, but last night he had asked Chim to do it for him. He didn't give him a reason, but when Chim had crawled out of his bed early this evening Hobi had already been gone from the dormitory room. Maybe he just had something else to do.
The small basement room was really still more or less empty. The light bulb on the ceiling flickered a little while Chim searched the room with his eyes. Not a trace of Namjoon to be seen. But he spotted a pair of shining eyes looking at him from a dark corner of the room. With quick steps, Chim crossed the room to set down the tray with the food on the mattress in the middle of the room. He almost stumbled over the stuff scattered on the floor. Since his last visit a few more things had accumulated, whose function Chim couldn't really figure out. Among other stuff there was an empty box of matches, a rusty pocket knife and a porcelain cup with a thin crack, cutting the carefully painted flowers on the surface in half. Chim didn't pay any more attention to all the stuff than necessary to not stumble over it and rather focused his attention on luring Soot out of her hiding spot. Apparently, she had gotten comfortable in a stack of old jackets and other clothes somewhere on a shelf and wasn't fully convinced yet whether getting up just to greet Chim was really worth it. He kneeled down on the floor and put one hand into the pocket of his pants to search for the tissue in which he had wrapped the piece of sausage that he had gotten from the kitchen earlier. With a smile on his face, he waved it around for Soot to see. For the first time, she seemed to really show an interest in Chim. For a moment she sniffed his hand curiously, then she grabbed the piece of sausage with her teeth and almost bit Chim in the process. He bit down on his lip to not scare her away right away with a pained gasp. At least she allowed him to pet her after that. The first time he had gone down here she had been so trusting, but lately she seemed to get more and more moody. As if she was suddenly too good to let just any random person pet her. Last time Namjoon had told him that Soot was even scratching him a lot more these days.
Suddenly the door behind Chim was opened with a loud sound. Soot hissed and out of reflex hit Chim's hand that he had used to ruffle the fur behind her ears just a moment ago and then disappeared somewhere under one of the countless shelves in the room.
"Ungrateful beast", Chim muttered. Soot had hit his thumb with her claws, the scratch wasn't really that deep but a few drops of blood were already forming and it was burning like hell. Feeling a little aggrieved Chim put his thumb into his mouth to stop the bleeding. And Namjoon even had the audacity to laugh about the whole situation. Chim turned around to give him the angriest glare one could give someone else while still sucking on their thumb. Namjoon flashed him an apologetic smile, then he sat down on the mattress next to Chim.
"Never mind her, she's a little petulant these days. This morning she almost scratched my eyes out. Suddenly she was on my face. I can really imagine nicer ways to be woken up. I think she is sulky because I didn't take her outside with me when I last went. The basement is no good place to keep a cat. But I can't always let her go outside. Actually, I shouldn't even have her inside. I'm afraid they'll take her away when someone notices her."
Namjoon threw a thoughtful glance in the direction of the shelf under which soot was hiding. For a moment he seemed completely lost in thought. A few seconds long Chim quietly waited if Namjoon would say anything else, but apparently, he had completely unlatched from reality. Chim sighed and then reached into his pocket once again.
"Here, Kookie gave me this for you, he said you got him something from the outside as a trade", he said while handing Namjoon the box of playing cards Kookie had handed him in passing yesterday. Namjoon observed the box with interest, turned it around in his hand to look at it from every possible angle before he finally opened it to take a look at the actual cards. Jimin couldn't make out anything special about them. Something that would give them some kind of value. If anything they already looked somewhat worn out, a few of the cards actually had tears in them already, so they couldn't be used for playing anymore since they were more or less marked. The box itself also looked almost noticeably boring, a simple red rose printed onto a white cardboard box. Absolutely nothing spectacular about that. But Namjoon seemed to be satisfied with it. He nodded before he let the cards slide back into their box and then reached into one of the pockets of his overall to produce a package of cigarettes from there.
"Here, give that to him. I hope it's the right brand. He barely comes down here himself and Hobi doesn't really know much about those things. He only handed me a note Kookie had given him for me. If it's not the right type, tell Kookie to come down here himself next time so he can tell me exactly what he wants."
Chim took the cigarettes hesitantly. For a moment he skeptically looked at the packaging but then he put it in his pocket with a shrug. He would aks Kookie about them later. Even though he didn't really expect to get an answer from him. If he had learned one thing in his two weeks of being here so far, it was that Kookie didn't really like talking much about himself. Then again... had it really been two weeks? Or maybe two months? Two whole years maybe?
"Did anyone else give you something for me?", Namjoon asked, cutting through Chim's thoughts. Quickly he shook his head to get rid of the nagging questions in his mind and answer Namjoon's question at the same time.
"No one else."
Namjoon nodded slowly, his fingers made their way back into his pocket almost on their own, they seemed to find something in there, closed around it for a second but then let go of it again. When Namjoon pulled his hand out again it was empty.
"How about you Jimin, is there anything I can get for you the next time I go outside? We could make a deal if you want to."
Jimin? The name sounded unfamiliar and yet Chim was sure that he had heard it before somewhere. It took him a moment to realise that it was his own name. Park Jimin. That was his name. His real name. How could he have forgotten it so quickly?
"Is everything alright, Jimin? You're looking kind of pale." For the second time, Namjoon's voice cut through Jimin's thoughts and took him back to reality. If this could even be called reality. Maybe it was all just a very long, very weird dream. He had fallen into a hole in the ground and suddenly everyone had gone mad. Or maybe it was Jimin himself who was slowly but surely losing his mind.
"How long have I been here for?", he whispered. He didn't really dare to ask the question out loud. Although he wasn't sure whether it was the fear of the answer of the fear of the question itself that was holding him back. Namjoon furrowed his brows.
