Tofuudiger | Night talks ☁️

002

-Joe-
Poke grabbed my hand and pulled me out of our room, I just went along with it. The corridors were long and white with the occasional weird painting. Poke navigated around the halls with ease, but to me it seemed like a maze..Poke stopped at a big set of doors and let go of my hand. He opened the doors and I followed closely behind him and we walked into a medium sized room with many tables, it kind of reminded me of a high school cafeteria. I was scared.. Everyone's eyes turned to poke and i, there had to be at least fifty people staring at me.. The room just kept filling. I wonder how long some people have been here. A couple weeks? A couple months? Maybe even longer. "Come on, come to my table" Poke said leading me to the back of the room "I'll introduce you to my friends"

-Poke-
The tables were quickly filling with boys of many ages who all had the same problem as me. We were all wrong in one way or another. Gay, bi, trans... You name it, it was here. I led Joe to the back of the room where I usually sat. I had been here for almost seven months and I had made a couple friends. Joe was nervously shuffling behind me as we reached the table "Everyone this is Joe, he's my new room mate and friend" Joe peeked out from behind me and waved politely. "Joe this is Devon, will and isaac" they all waved back and Joe and I sat down with them. "So Joe is this your first day here?" Devon asked

"yeah" Joe looked up "I'm kinda scared" he continued

"don't worry about it, we're all here for each other" will added.

-Joe-
Just as I was about to say something, the man who I had been talking to earlier in the day walked in... Everyone stood up, so I did too. He confidently walked to the front of the room "you may sit down" his voice echoed loudly. Everyone sat down, the room was silent until he began talking again. "We have a new friend starting today, Joe could you please stand up" he scanned the room, his eyes locking on to me. Poke nudged me slightly and I stood up, my hands began shaking.

Please don't make me say anything

"Ok you can sit down again" he said blankly "we're here for you Joe, we will help you through this struggle in your life and rid you of your sin"

"We're here for you Joe" the room echoed with everyone else's voices. Mr Rell said some other junk that I didn't really listen too. I was just looking out the window waiting for him to stop talking when I noticed Poke looking at me.. I turned to look at him and he looked away. Weird.

-=+ Time skip \('w')/ +=-

-Joe- (still)
After we ate Poke and I went back to our room. I sat down on my new bed and looked up at Poke "thank you for introducing me to your friends... I really appreciate it" I smiled gently "it's all good, I mean you are my roommate" He took the book from under his pillow and put it back onto the book shelf. The door swung open and Mr Rell walked in "Hello Zack, Joseph, I should have gotten it before but I'll need your mobile phone and any other electric devices" he held out his hand. I sighed and handed over my phone knowing that there was no way I could win this. "Lights off in 5 minutes, I expect you to go straight to bed" he slightly nodded his head before leaving with my only communication to the outside world.

Poke walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder "tomorrow will be better, you'll see" he handed me a book that he had been hiding behind his back with his other hand. "This book really helped me on my first day" Poke smiled and walked back to his bed. I looked down at the book 'live your life how you want' "you don't think this place can fix us either do you?" I looked up and Poke gave me a solemn look "what's to fix?"

"Joe... Are you alright?" Poke asked and I noticed I was tearing up "oh, yeah... Just tired. Poke got changed in the bathroom and I got changed in the... Uh.. Sleeping? room. 

When Poke came back in I was already in my bed, He turned off the light and got into his own bed

"Goodnight Joe"

"Goodnight Poke"

And I swear at that moment, I realised I was falling for him.