Truth Be Told (G/t)

.3.

One night, it suddenly struck Colan how easy it had become for him to borrow; and not because of his incredible skills as one would believe.

He realized that the bean got a bit messier by the day, dropped and lost many useful little nothings and rarely bothered looking for them afterwards. He didn't pay attention to small sounds and solely stayed focused on his computer device. Most importantly, his sleep got far, far heavier; he no longer shifted with every step the borrower took, he only shifted about twice a night and didn't move a muscle for the rest of it.

Maybe Colan had made a wrong assumption from the beginning. Or maybe the bean was going through that stressful phase they called 'exams'. Or maybe it was his incredible borrowing skills after all.

Whatever it was didn't matter. What mattered however was that it took a lot of stress off the borrower's mind. Not that he'd ever drop his guard around the human, but his heart wouldn't jump out of his throat every time the bean moved a finger in his bed either.

The realization gave him a newfound burst of confidence, and since then, he'd many times tried to borrow more useful supplies, got closer to the bean's bed in his trips, even attempted once from the vents to see how loud he could be before the sleeping human took notice of him. All of his tests were of course done behind Kaye's back, and came with greatly satisfying results.

So when he needed anything from anywhere in the small expanse of the apartment, he rarely thought twice about the risk and hatched his plan on his way.

Right then, for example, he needed some wire and swore he'd seen a roll of it around the bedroom once. It was all he needed so it wouldn't matter if he spent the night searching around for it.

The bedroom was by far the darkest place in the apartment, which complicated things a bit for Colan, but it wasn't so bad of a complication.

Once inside the room, the borrower decided the best place to start would be to get a higher view around. The highest surface was a pile of books on the desktop, which he didn't like as it was the most unstable surface as well as it directly faced the sleeping bean's bed. However, he had a good few hours left in the night so he had enough time to be careful.

A few moments of climbing later, Colan found himself on top of the book pile; it gave him a good enough view of the room. He spotted the roll in a far corner of the room and slapped himself realising how close it had been to his exit.

He slid off his rope and tugged his hook off the books. It was caught in a bit of an awkward angle, so it was harder to pry off. Not only that, but the pile wasn't so stable. He cursed under his breath and stepped back to try a more methodical pull. When that didn't work, he stole a glance at the bean, sleeping deep as a well. He looked back up at his hook and after a moment of hesitation, gave it a sharp tug. The book it had caught on moved a little inch, and Colan held his breath as he watched the motion.

For several tense minutes, he waited to see if anything would fall. When nothing happened, he gave a couple of sharper tugs and waited carefully again.

The clock was ticking with every passing second back in the kitchen, and it wrecked Colan's nerves. He didn't have time for that kind of complication, but he couldn't leave his hook there. Cursing further under his breath, he slowly climbed up his rope and to level with the hook to free it. His hands shook a bit and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He knew he risked falling and alerting the bean with the sound, but he could try to catch himself and run off; he couldn't do anything if the pile of books fell.

He managed to free his hook and attached it to his side, then began his descent. The uneven pile made it near impossible to find a good spot to grasp, and at that rate, he'd probably have to come back for the wire another night. But Colan had to take his time no matter what.