Day 4

Namjoon stared at the new costume in disbelieve. How was he supposed to work in something like that?

"You don't like it?" the magician asked, "I think it's one hell of an improvement."

Namjoon looked back to the costume in his arms. It was a traditional Hanbok. Blue with white wide sleeves and trousers, and a black headdress with golden patterns.

"Do you know how to put this on?" he asked the blue-haired.

"Nope, no idea. Let's ask Jin," the older replied and went through the backdoor, Namjoon following behind.

The magician still wore the jacket with the ripped off sleeve, but at least the scratch marks had disappeared over night. The smaller raised his bare arm to knock on the door with the pink writing Jin. Delighted, Namjoon realized that it was next to his room.

When Jin opened the door, Namjoon was slightly taken aback. The beauty wore a big, colorful onesie that must be a clown costume and his feet were tugged into hilariously giant red shoes. But what startled him the most was the makeup: red lips on white, and black plus signs on the eyes. The pink hair was sweaty and tousled.

"Oh hey," Jin greeted them.

"Do you know how to put on a Hanbok?" Suga asked without greeting back.

"Ahm, yeah, why?"

"Because Namjoon has to wear one," the magician explained.

"Okay..." Jin stretched the word making it sound like a question, but then he gestured them inside.

Again, Namjoon was surprised. The walls were striped pink, the floor was a pink carpet and the bed on the left wall, again, was a white poster bed (What was it with those circus guys and poster beds?) with pink silken curtains and snow-white bedlinen. On the right wall was a giant, white dressing table that looked like it came out of a burlesque movie, and on the wall opposite the door was a white double door closet. This looked like a damn girl room, not like a room of a grown-up, broad-shouldered man!

"I like pink," Jin said and smiled brightly.

"Never would have guessed," Namjoon murmured in response and let his eyes wander over the dressing table with all its makeup and supplies.

"Give me some time to change into something more comfy, please," the beauty asked while he wiped off the paint from his face with a cotton ball.

When the older was done he opened the right door of the closet and stepped into it, closing the door behind him. Confused Namjoon stared at the spot he had vanished.

"Don't worry," Suga rasped, "He knows his way back from Narnia."

Namjoon chuckled but still could not take his eyes off the closet. While Suga let himself fall on the bed, he stared at the doors and waited for Jin to come back out. Ten minutes passed until the pink mob of hair appeared again and the beauty stepped out of the closet (a/n: lol ambiguous). Now he wore a long, pink, oversized hoody and black jeans.

"How..." Namjoon wanted to ask, but got interrupted by the pink-haired.

"Let's start. Hobi is waiting for you." With that he came over and took the costume out of Namjoon's arms. "Take off your clothes."

A little nervous, Namjoon started unbuttoning his shirt and stripping down his jeans (Yes, he had decided to wear jeans to fit into the place a little better.) to get ready for the Hanbok. Jin came towards him with the puffy white trousers and made him put them on. After he fixed the cloth with the attached ribbon around his waist, he crotched down to tie up the legs around the ankles. Attentively, Namjoon watched every move of the pink-haired.

"Are you the clown?" he asked curiously.

"Yes!" Jin announced proudly and stood up. Who would have guessed that the most hansom man he ever had met would work as a clown? It absolutely did not seem to fit the tall and slim man with the rosy lips and soft smile.

When the elder's fingers slipped between his stomach and the fabric to check the waistband again, Namjoon had to hold back a gasp. His stomach's muscles flexed from the unexpected touch of unfamiliar fingers, and his hands clenched into fists. But the other seemed like he did not notice and looked as concentrated as before. Next were the jacket with the wide sleeves and the blue jacket, both in one go.

When Jin surrounded him to stand in front of him and stared at his bare chest, Namjoon felt his cheeks getting warm. Why the heck was he blushing? The older was just helping him dressing up for work. But the touch on his neck and chest when the pink-haired was fixing his collar made him block out every other thought. Carefully, the slender fingers set up the double collar and held it in place while one hand grabbed the belt he had hung over his shoulder. Jin had to feel his heartbeat. His fingers were placed exactly over his heart and it was impossible that he did not notice, but still there was no sign of realization on the pink-haired man's face.

Why was he reacting that strong anyways? Suddenly, the beautiful face was only inches away from his own and he held his breath. What was happening here? But when the older stepped back again, he understood that he had just fixed the belt around his waist. God, he should really think before assuming. But what had he been assuming? His cheeks no longer felt warm, but hot. No, he had not. He would never. Jin was a man. This was ridiculous.

Again, the face with the chocolate eyes and plump lips was directly in front of his, making him forget everything. The other was fixing the headdress and therefore ran his hand through Namjoon's light-brown strands a few times to push them back. This felt much too good. When had been the last time someone had simply stroked through his hair? He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle touch, feeling Jin's breath on his cheek. The familiar sweet scent of the magician's cigarettes suddenly surrounded him. Was Jin smoking those, too?

"Done," the soft voice announced, and he opened his eyes again. The sweet fragrance faded away. Satisfied, the pink-haired looked at his work and winked at him. Winked? Did he really just-

"You ready?" the husky voice came from the bed, and a yawning Suga sat up and ran a hand over his face. "Then let's go!"

He grabbed Namjoon's wrist and pulled the other with him over to J-Hope's room.

"He's all yours," were his words of goodbye when he shoved Namjoon into the snake-man's room and headed off, yawning.

"Hello again," J-hope welcomed him with his beaming smile. Again, the older only wore the black ninja-pants. "Nice outfit."

"Well, thanks, I guess... hyung," Namjoon murmured with a doubting look at his clothes.

"You don't wear shoes?" the black-haired asked him, pointing at his bare feet.

"Oh, I guess Suga made me leave a little too early," Namjoon mused. "Do I need shoes?"

"No, don't think so. We'll work on the stage," the other answered and gestured to follow him. They went into the direction of Suga's room, but before they reached it, J-Hope slipped through a door on the left side of the hallway which Namjoon had never noticed before, maybe because of the fact that it looked like the wall.

The room behind was filled with equipment one would expect in a circus: tools for performing as well as for installing. Hope walked over to a pile of metal poles with the diameter of Namjoon's upper arm and about five feet long.

"This is part of my performance," the triad-man explained, "We need to carry those onto the stage, and then we'll build it up. You ready?"

"Yes, hyung."

The artist grabbed two of the poles and went through a curtain opposite to the door they came in. Namjoon, too, took one of the segments, realizing they were hollow. Nevertheless, he groaned when he lifted up one of them and tried to carry it. It was damn heavy. When he tried to go through the curtain the pipe got stuck in the fabric and he almost let it fall down, but instead he tried to force his way through and ripped down the curtain, making himself fall forward from the sudden lack of resistance.

Loud laughter filled the room when he tried to stand up and pull off the curtain that had buried him together with the segment. He looked over to the black-haired and looked apologetically. Again, his clumsiness struck. But the other did not seem to care at all; he was a ball of laughter on the dark blue carpeted floor. The dark snickering sound was rather charming and Namjoon had to join in. This situation was just hilarious, he had to admit that. Slowly, J-Hope calmed down and helped him getting the metal pole out of the curtain. Together they carried it into the middle of the tent and placed it next to the other two.

The room was much bigger than Namjoon would have expected. The ranks surrounded the round stage with the blue carpet floor and behind him was the stage entrance which he had ruined just now, above of it a balcony with many chairs and music stands. They had a live band? That was pretty cool. And it explained the many people he always met during dinner.

Above himself was what must be the framework for the tightrope. He shivered slightly at the sight of it. Heights had always been horror for him. The reason why he never had joined his friend on skydiving, helicopter flights or climbing.

Distracted by the rattle J-Hope made with the poles, he decided to go on working. Now that the way was cleared it should not be that much of a problem. Should... He still would stumble over the rim of the carpet or let the pipes slip from his fingers and crash it on his toes. So, after several outbursts of laughter, the black-haired made him sit down at the side to prevent heavy damage and carried the pole segments by himself. Namjoon was sincerely sorry for not being able to help though he knew his shoulders would have hurt afterwards. So, instead he watched the other doing his work. The play of muscles under the inked skin was quite mesmerizing, and the other's movements radiated strength, control and discipline. Namjoon even found himself to be envious of the graze and smoothness the other moved with. But then he remembered why Hope was like that and his mood fell. He still did not want to believe it.

How was it possible that he had laughed and joked with the triad-man like their heritage was not worlds apart? It was so easy to bound with the other. Being with the snake-man was so different from hanging out with his fellow students and friends. In a way, it was so free-and-easy to be around the other, but on the other hand there was this lingering fear, or maybe respect, that always clawed his back when he did not hear the black-haired man's laugh or see his smile. But then again, he did not feel like being watched and judged all the time. J-Hope accepted him instead of making a fool of him. Not being ashamed of his clumsiness felt damn good.

"Joon, would you come over?" he heard the artist and snapped out of his thoughts.

So, he stood up and walked over to the black-haired and his pile of poles.

"Do you see the thread on the one side of the poles. We have to screw them into one another to get three long poles. Four parts are one pole," the older explained, and Namjoon nodded. He could do that without failing.

Both sat on the floor and everyone took two of the segments to start their work.

"It's most efficient to first pair them up and then connect the pairs," Namjoon tried to be helpful.

Surprised eyes looked at him, and he lowered his eyes shyly.

"That's a great idea," the older admitted and Namjoon smiled softly. At least he was not completely unhelpful.

"Can you tell me your real name?" he asked the tattooed man to get a conversation going, "Jin's name apparently is Seokjin, so I wondered what your name is." He also wondered what V's name was, but one had to take little steps to reach the goal.

"I'm Jung Hoseok," the other answered nicely, "J-Hope is a fragment of my old life which I decided to carry on with."

"What is it like to grow up in the triads?" the younger asked, cursing himself because he knew he would not want to know.

"How do you expect me to answer that?" the older asked with a stern look. The shiver was back. "Should I tell you how I was treated, which drugs I took, how many ways of torture I know, whom I killed?"

"No, I'm sorry. It was a dumb question."

"No, it wasn't," the triad-man replied, his voice soft again. How could someone be so understanding, Namjoon wondered. "There is just no way of explaining something like that, and I'm concerned that if I'd try, I'd leave a scar on you, because you're simply not made for shit like that."

Namjoon lowered his head, so Hoseok would not see his pained expression. The other was right. He was raised to appear as a hard businessman, but in the end, he and his friends were nothing else but arrogant lightweights. Not that this was particularly bad, it just made him seem so damn small in front of someone like Hope, so damn weak. His own silliness was shoved into his face as well as his ridiculous wealthy lifestyle and the sickening parties where he and his friends pretended to be tough by drowning alcohol in life-threatening amounts. The real tough man sat in front of him. He had gone through hell and back, and he still could laugh with others (yes, with not at!) and did not judge someone by his appearance.

"I envy you," he admitted to the older, "Not for your life - of course not - but for the way you handle things now. For the patience and candidness."

The black-haired snorted amused, "I haven't always been like this. I've been fierce and short-tempered, always on my toes, always the first to snap back. I thought that I knew what was behind a face when I looked at it." He grabbed another two segments. "But then I met the circus, and I met V. And suddenly everything changed." His tone had gotten a loving tune in the end, almost dreamy.

So, it had not only been V who had been changed by Hoseok, but also the triad-man who had gotten changed by the lion-boy. Maybe it always needed two parts for a change?

"Done. Let's get them up," Hoseok stopped his thoughts and stood up. "One end goes into one of the slots in the ground." The artist pointed at three marked holes in a perfect triangle. "And then I'll secure them at the top."

Namjoon nodded and they lifted the first pole to carry it over to one of the holes. He placed the base inside and J-Hope started to uplift it by slowly coming closer towards him and pushing the pole over his head. When they were done with the last of the three poles, a visible layer of sweat covered both their faces. Namjoon was curious about how the other wanted to fix the upper ends.

Like the black-haired had read his thoughts, he pushed a thin rug into his arms that was forked at the ends and held a long screw with two nuts on every forked end. Confused, Namjoon watched him go to the first pole. And then he simply climbed it up like a monkey. Namjoon had only seen this in Jackie Chan movies before and stared in awe. When the artist reached the top of the twenty feet high pole, he slung his legs around it and let go with his hands.

"Hand me that!" he called out for him and Namjoon tried to lift the part that he was holding up high enough for the other to grab it. Like it was nothing, Hoseok leaned down and lifted the rod to screw it to the big pole.

Well, that far Namjoon could understand the plan, but how would he keep the other end of the rug up before he had climbed the second pole?

"Can you twist the pole I'm on until the connection points towards the other pole?" the snake-man asked of him. Nodding, Namjoon came closer and grabbed the metal to twist it slightly until the parts were aligned. This had been much easier than he had thought.

Now, he looked up to the other interested in how the older would solve the problem of changing to the other pole while holding up the rod. After all, the poles were ten feet apart. Hoseok aligned the rod with the pole he was on, making it stand vertically. And then he jumped. This damn snake-man just jumped from one pole to the other and caught the rod's free end that had followed his way.

"Oh my god," slipped from Namjoon's lips when he watched the stunt. Now, he had kind of an idea what this performance might be about, and his admiration for the older only grew bigger.

He could see how hard Hoseok breathed by the way his stomach muscles flexed, and the soft shimmer of sweat lay on his inked-up skin. He felt the tension in his own body while watching the performer. This must be insanely exhausting. The older held himself up with just his legs, that were tightly slung around the metal, while his hands were working on the screw.

They finished the hole framework with two more rods, and J-Hope slid down exhausted.

"Damn, man! I need food. Let's garb dinner," the snake-man breathed out, and they left the tent.

The blue and pink mob were already occupying a table together with V. Totally done, Hoseok let himself fall on the bench next to the blonde and leaned against the younger's shoulder.

"Feed me!" he grumbled with closed eyes. Who would have guessed a triad-man would ask to be fed? V chuckled and ruffled through the black hair of his friend.

"Why's Hobi half dead and you're fine?" Jin asked him while laughing when he sat down next to the pink-haired. His laugh was a strange sound, but absolutely endearing. "Were you not supposed to help him?"

"I did. But, unfortunately, I'm not able to climb up twenty feet high poles," Namjoon defended himself and felt a wide smile creep on his face when he looked at the beauty.

"Well, let's eat," Jin announced, clapping his hands. "V, help me get the food."

When the two went off, Suga turned to him on the chair he always sat on to sit at the head of the table.

"How do you like it so far?" the magician asked.

"I'm completely wasted in the evening, but I kind of like it here," Namjoon answered honestly. "The people I meet are interesting. Everyone in their own way."

Satisfied, the blue-haired leaned back and lit up one of his ciggies.

"Do you want to work with Hope one day more, or do you want to switch to the next one?" the older asked.

J-Hope intervened, "I don't have much to do for him. We finished the framework in one go, so tomorrow I'll just practice."

"Hm," the magician murmured, "then chose one." And he offered Namjoon the next three checkroom numbers.

With a sigh, he took one, and the blue-haired let the other two dissolve into thin air. 0429. Still no idea what it meant. Hopefully, his outfit would improve more.

>><<

I hope the description on how they did the framework was not too confusing.