Chapter Text
Jimmy opened his wall entrance slowly, peeking out and taking a look around. His entrance was hidden behind one of the humans’ desks, so he was safe to check and make sure there were no humans in the room.
Once he deemed the room empty, he came out of the walls fully and prepared for a quick raid of the dorm room. It had only been a week since classes had started up again, which meant things were still a mess in a lot of the dorm rooms. Especially the ones used by freshmen. Humans who were fresh to college, still learning and getting all of their stuff together. These were the rooms where Jimmy found the most things and he was always excited about what kinds of things he would find.
He adjusted the strap of his bag as he came out into the open, glancing warily at the door for a brief moment. He should be fine, it was still early enough that if the humans weren’t here, then they were still in class. He should have plenty of time to borrow and then get out.
Confident in his reasoning, Jimmy’s gaze left the door and wandered around the room. There were some clothes strewn about but with them on the floor like this, Jimmy stayed away from them. He couldn’t be sure if they were dirty or clean and he would rather be safe than sorry. Besides, humans usually noticed when clothes went missing. Jimmy really only felt comfortable taking clothes if they were already lost.
That’s how he had gotten his current bed, a sock that had fallen between the bed and the wall as the human was trying to fold their laundry. They never noticed it missing and so Jimmy had dragged it through the walls and back to his home. That had been years ago now, and the sock had been good to him.
It didn’t look like he was going to get anything like that out of this room though. He’d probably do well to focus on getting some food. He was running really low, so some crumbs, maybe a full chip if he could manage it, would be great.
So Jimmy walked around the room, looking behind the piles of clothes and underneath the nightstands for any food that would have dropped. So far, there wasn’t anything but Jimmy still had a lot of the room to go. He headed over to the opposite desk, heading underneath to see if any crumbs had gotten stuck in the carpet. The desks and beds, both under and on top, were most likely to have food, since that’s were he noticed the humans eating the most.
But as he made it to the desk, there was a sound that made Jimmy’s blood run cold. The jingling of keys and the turning of a knob. Wasting no time, Jimmy ran the rest of the way underneath the desk and hid himself behind one of the far legs. Just in time too, because as he settled the door fully opened, revealing two humans. They were just legs to Jimmy from this angle but that did nothing to lessen his fear.
“--try to finish it all tonight.” One of the humans spoke, in the middle of talking already as they had entered the room.
“How much did you get? Aren’t you only taking three classes this first semester?” The other one asked. Jimmy tried to peek out more, to try and get a better look at the humans in order to see what they were doing. He wasn’t afraid of being seen from here, he knew humans barely ever looked down, let alone in the corners and underneath their own desks.
The human who had just spoken was wearing a red sweater and just threw his backpack underneath his desk. Jimmy winced a bit and then was thankful when the other human, one who appeared to have a green streak in his hair, placed his backpack at the edge of his bed.
“Yeah, and two of them aren’t super homework heavy. But my other class definitely makes up for that .” The green-streaked human said, letting out a sigh. “I want my weekend free though, so if I focus I can probably get it done before dinner.”
The red wearing human hummed and Jimmy watched him nod. “Yeah, I’ll probably do the same. I’ve got no more classes today either and having the weekend off sounds great.”
Jimmy bit his lip. That did not sound good. Both humans seemed to plan on staying in the rest of the day and since Jimmy’s exit was currently on the other side of the room, he had no choice but to wait. Hopefully they would both leave for lunch or dinner. Otherwise he had to wait until they both fell asleep.
And knowing college students, that could be a while .
Jimmy sighed and started to settle into his spot, only to jump and just barely hold back a yelp as the chair in front of him got pulled out. Jimmy slammed a hand over his mouth and pressed himself back into the wall. The human was just taking a seat but the suddenness of it had caused Jimmy’s heart rate to spike.
The human pulled himself forward but Jimmy was still far back enough that he was still at least a foot away from the human. Still, he was no longer comfortable staying here to hide. One wrong swing of the human’s foot and he was as good as dead. Or caught. Either one was very bad.
Thankfully, the desk was pushed right up next to the bed and so Jimmy shimmied along the wall until he was out from the desk and hidden under the darkness of the bed instead. Jimmy let out a little sigh of relief, no longer feeling cramped from having the human so close.
He stayed by the wall and took a seat, leaning against it. Might as well get himself comfortable with how long he would have to wait. He ducked his head a little and watched as the other human’s feet disappeared, probably getting into his bed to do his homework there. Both backpacks were still where they had left them, so Jimmy could only assume they were doing their homework on laptops.
“Alright, let’s get this done.” The human with the green-streak said. He heard the other human hum and then the air was filled with sounds of typing and clicking.
Jimmy sighed and waited.
Nothing interesting had happened and no opportunity for escape had presented itself throughout the rest of the day. Grian and Joel (he had learned their names as he sat there waiting) had continued to talk with one another as they worked on their homework. He had perked up when they had talked about getting something to eat but was disappointed when only Grian left to go pick something up for them.
As the humans ate their food, Jimmy’s stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since early that morning. He pushed the feeling away though. Even if the humans made some mess and dropped something, he couldn’t go get it right now. Not without being seen.
He settled back in as they had continued to work, until finally, after many hours, Joel let out a short exclamation. “Done! Finally.” He heard Joel close his laptop and the human leaned back in his chair, stretching. His feet hit the back wall and Jimmy was glad he had moved.
Joel pushed the chair back and stood up, stretching again once he was standing. He heard Grian chuckle. “It’s about time. I’ve been done for an hour now.”
“Oh good for you.” Joel said, his voice taking a mocking tone. Grian laughed.
Jimmy placed his head in one hand, leaning against it as he watched (though all he could see were Joel’s legs at the moment) and listened. These humans were interesting, that was for sure. He hadn’t been as bored as he could have been, listening to them talk and go back and forth with one another.
But even so, no matter how interesting a pair of humans appeared to be, he would much rather be back in the walls and away from the threat of being caught. He didn’t expect to be seen, he was careful and in a spot a human wouldn’t look in, but the longer he stayed the more his anxiety began to grow.
Unfortunately, it looked like he would have to wait longer. “Want to celebrate with a movie night? I’ve got some popcorn in my bag.” Grian said and Jimmy barely heard Joel’s reply of yes as he sighed in frustration. He knew this would be a possibility though. From his time in the dorms and watching many college students, he knew they tended to stay up way later than they probably should. It was one of the things that made borrowing here hard, which was why Jimmy tended to go out and borrow while the humans were in class rather than at night.
He heard them shuffling around, talking as they got the movie set up. The smell of popcorn filled the air and once again Jimmy’s stomach reminded him how long he had gone without food. And once again, he pushed it back down.
The two humans settled into bed and the sounds of the movie began to play. Jimmy leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the movie and imagining what could be happening on the screen. Despite his want to get out of there, it was kind of nice. He had never been this close to actually watching a movie before. It sounded fun.
Eventually, the movie ended and the humans went to their own beds. The lights turned off and he heard the shuffling of blankets but Jimmy still waited. After maybe another hour or so, Jimmy finally felt confident enough to try and make his way back to his entrance into the walls.
He stopped short of the edge of the bed, looking up and at Grian, since he was currently the only human he could see. His eyes were closed and his breathing was even. He was definitely asleep.
He then stuck close to the nightstand and rounded the corner in order to peek up and look at Joel. He was the same, steady breathing and closed eyes. Jimmy let out a little sigh of relief. He wasted no time in running back across the room, back to Grian’s desk where his entrance was located.
Jimmy grinned, relieved he would finally be able to get back home. Grian’s backpack was still there but he went to the side of it to get to his exit. His smile turned into a frown, however, when he realized the bag was too close to the wall in order for him to get through. “No…” Jimmy let out a little noise of frustration, going over to the other side of the bag to see if it was any different over there.
It wasn’t.
The bag was too full, making it a heavy roadblock. Meaning, despite how small Jimmy was, he couldn’t push his way behind the bag. He tried, he really did, but it didn’t so much as budge and Jimmy quickly got scared at how much weight it held. He backed away, wondering what he was going to do now.
This entrance was the only one he had in this room and going out into the hallway was definitely not a good idea. It didn’t matter how late it was, there was always a chance some human would be walking down the hall and then Jimmy would be as good as caught.
No, he was well and truly trapped within this room.
But that was fine. He would just wait until tomorrow. Grian would pick up his backpack to go to class and then there wouldn’t be…a…problem…
Wait, today was Friday, wasn’t it? Friday was the last day of the week for classes. He knew that and Grian and Joel had just been talking about it earlier too. Tomorrow was the weekend and both humans had already completed their homework. Which meant…
Which meant there was no reason for Grian to pick up and move his bag for at least another two full days.
Jimmy leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down it until he was sitting against it. He threw his head back and let out a quiet noise of frustration and worry. He was trapped in this room for the rest of the weekend at least .
Honestly, he felt like crying a little.
He shook the feelings away though. Crying wouldn’t help him.
He stood up and went underneath Grian’s bed. He didn’t want to stay underneath the desk, just in case Grian did need his backpack before the weekend was over but staying underneath his bed at least left him on the right side of the room. Once the bag was lifted and the humans’ backs were turned, he could take the opportunity to get back into the walls.
For now though, he let himself lay down, using his bag as a makeshift pillow as he tried to get some sleep. He wasn’t sure he would be able to, but he at least had to try. Just because he was trapped in this room, his anxiety growing more and more at the thought, didn’t mean he could forgo his rest. He needed it more than ever in this situation anyway.
He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the way he could hear the humans’ breathing and shifting.
Eventually, he did fall asleep.