anonymous ? multi

| january 14th 2020
north broward hospital
8:29 pm |

michael fucking hated hospitals.

everything about the building made him sick, to the overwhelmingly dreary white walls, floors and LED lights seemingly all working together to blind him, to the sounds of various machinery, sirens, and tools. and don't even get him started on the smell. every hospital had a certain smell to it, a chemical-like aroma that made michael feel as though he was choking on it.

all those little annoyances really began to build up, especially when the reason he was in the waiting room was because he was waiting on results on his best friend's health.

the scene stayed on a loop in his mind like a boomerang: stokeley slowly becoming delirious and out of touch with reality before dropping like a fly.  it was all so sudden and unceremonious, that michael didn't even have a chance to process what had just happened, or why it happened, all he was worried about was making sure stokeley was okay.

michael bounced his leg, unable to even play a mindless game on his phone or read one of the outdated tabloid magazines that were spread across the wooden coffee table sitting in the waiting room to distract himself, he was all too wrapped up in his own anxiety, wondering if stokeley was going to be okay.

he felt as though he'd been sitting in that claustrophobic porcelain room for both too long and not long enough somehow, as he didn't realize that he had been sitting in there for about 8 hours before he checked his phone and the time read "8:29 pm." 

it didn't matter. he'd be willing to sit in that room for days for stokeley. they were friends, and friends checked up on each other.

jahseh showed up to the hospital too after he caught wind of what went down, but he bailed not too long ago, claiming he needed to go get something to eat. michael didn't fault him for leaving, in fact, he probably should've left a long time ago as well. 

just as that thought traveled his mind, he was approached by a nurse, a short, thin asian woman who looked to be about in her mid 20s, carrying a clipboard and donning prescription glasses. 

michael immediately bombarded her with questions. "how is he? is he going to be okay? what happened? is he alive? is he improving?" 

the nurse simply smiled back at him and answered the questions. "your friend is going to be fine, don't worry. he passed out earlier today from dehyrdration and starvation. apparently he hadn't eaten in two days and his eating beforehand had been spotty at best, but as for mr goulbourne, he'll be fine."

michael perked up at the news that he's ultimately okay, but just as soon as his smile rose, it fell once more. starvation. of course stokeley had been starving himself. how did he not notice?

"the bad news is, we're going to have to monitor your friend for a couple of days. it appears that he has an eating disorder, and we can't discharge him without stabilizing both his mental and physical health. his parents have already been notified of his inpatient status, by the way," she spoke with caution, not wanting to startle the teenage boy with the hefty amount of information she just dumped onto him. michael's facial expression may have been blank, but on the inside, he was running around in circles. stokeley has an eating disorder. stokeley has an eating disorder and he didn't notice. he was a terrible friend.

"c-can i at least talk to him? is he awake?" michael piped up in a small voice, "i just wanna talk to him please, i won't be long, i promise."

the nurse had half of a mind to tell him no, as visiting hours were over in about 30 minutes anyway, but as she took one more look at michael's forlorn face, she realized she couldn't deny the boy a chance to speak to his friend. 

she nodded, "yes, he's awake," was all she replied with, before leading him down the hall to his room.

when michael opened the door, he almost wanted to cry again. stokeley looked like a shell of his usual self.

his expressive brown eyes were grey and dull, his face almost zombie-like as his natural glow was stripped from him and his chocolate skin had an oddly pale tone to it, and to top it all off his chubby, round, inviting cheeks looked sunken in and bony, he looked like he aged 30 years overnight. 

when the two of them were left alone, tears began to well up in michael's eyes. stokeley wanted to cry too, seeing what he's done to his friend. all the redhead could do was ask a simple question. 

"why?"

three letters were all it took to break stokeley, bringing tears to his eyes as well. stokeley wasn't a frequent crier; he saw crying as a form of weakness, and would rather bury his emotions deep beyond the surface instead of addressing them, which is how he got in this mess to begin with, but when he saw how much he hurt the one he loved with his own reckless behavior, it made him realize just how stupid he was being.

michael sat on the side of stokeley's hospital bed, holding onto his boney hand as stokeley struggled to get his words out.

"it's complicated," stokeley began, "it's just...i've been fat all my life. even when i was a newborn i weighed like 10 pounds. ever since i could remember i've been taught to hate my body. i been putting myself on diets since i was 6 years old and they never seemed to stick. so i just got fatter and fatter and when my mom started having health problems i decided enough was enough. i didn't want to be like her so i just..."

stokeley trailed off, not knowing what else to say. michael got the gist anyway, simply nodding as stokeley spoke.

"stoke...." michael started, "i'm so sorry that i didn't notice i, if i realized you were doing this to yourself i would've done something sooner. i got suspicious that you were losing so much weight so fast but i just-"

"it's fine, mikey, i promise," stokeley cut him off, "i was trying my best not to make it too obvious anyway. shit, i been doing this before we even knew each other, it just got more extreme as of late, but please don't blame yourself. if anything i appreciate you the most because you're the one who's by my side right now. you stayed here this whole time to make sure i was alright and i appreciate you."

michael flashed a weak smile stokeley's way, "what else are friends for."

stokeley smiled back at michael, "i know you probably don't get it, but thanks for trying to understand anyway. anybody else would've just started yelling at me and told me to start eating like it's that easy," he rolled his eyes a little at the end.

"oh no, i understand what you're going through. i know it's not really the same as your situation but like...i hate my body too. you think i want to see titties and a pussy every time i step out the shower? sometimes i have mental breakdowns just from seeing myself in the mirror because all i see is a female. i'm saying all this to say that i understand that you can't just magically start accepting yourself and your body just because somebody else tells you to, but you can work towards it," stokeley nodded as michael gently ranted towards him. 

"you're right," stokeley agreed, "we both have things we gotta work on. maybe we can help each other out?"

michael flashed an even brighter smile at stokeley as he stood up, noticing the analog clock on the wall read 8:51. visiting hours were coming to a close, much to michael's chagrin. he wanted to stay with stokeley for the rest of the night, but he couldn't. 

as he stood up, he planted a soft kiss upon stokeley's full lips, immediately panicking after he did so. his freckled cheeks flushed bright red, what the hell has he done?

michael was only supposed to check on stokeley, not reignite their past flame that never really grew to become a fire in the first place. what the hell was he thinking?

-

the way y'all all guessed right that michael liked stokeley lmao i tried to hint at it by always having them be together in basically every chapter but, congrats on guessing correctly.

i'm sorry this chapter is so short, i cut it in half because i wanted this chapter to stay serious bc...what happens next chapter is funny as hell LMFAOOOOOO i deadass couldn't write it with a straight face

only one question: what do you think will happen between mikey and stoke after the kiss?