Ballin' [slumptacion]

Thirty fouR

[ omniscient ]

It's been about a week since X came into the picture. Things were odd.

The doctors told Stokeley that X would soon be clear to leave the hospital, he was doing better physically, ribs healing and all. Stokeley had no idea how X was doing mentally though. He was still trying to get to know him, but it was hard. Hell, X was still trying to get to know himself.

When Jahseh was around, he was open about his feelings to a certain extent. There were some things he never told Stokeley, but mostly he trusted him. X was way worse. The walls he had around him were crazy high, and steady. He made everyone around him feel like he didn't want to be there, and regardless if he did want to, they wouldn't know... because he wouldn't tell them. Stokeley felt very lonely, he went from having a boyfriend that had just started trusting him again, giving him another chance to do better - to being left with a stranger that has an attitude problem.

Stokeley, Symere and Jordan were unsure if X even liked them or not. You'd think since X found out his newly made friends were so accepting of him, especially since he thinks DID and intersex are such strange concepts, he'd be accepting of them back. But nope, he's still on some homophobic shit. A homophobic man, with someone who pretty recently came to terms with his sexuality after years of being homophobic as well... and they used to date. Well... technically they're still dating because they were together before the accident. But Stokeley doesn't know if X knows that, and it just doesn't feel like that right now, so he has to pretend everything is okay... Even though Stokeley somewhat feels like Jahseh has died in a way.

He wasn't really comfortable around X, he barely stayed overnight at the hospital with him anymore. Partly because he didn't know if X would even want that, and partly because he wasn't comfortable doing so himself. He wasn't giving up though. The talk him and Jahseh had before the incident with Shéyaa, it meant a lot to him. He really did want to change, so he wasn't giving up on either Jahseh nor X. He finally rekindled things, he wasn't going to let it go that easily.

Stokeley didn't have an exact plan, but even if there was a risk Jahseh wouldn't come back he still wanted him in his life in one way or another. That's why he still wanted to get to know X, and give X a chance to get to know him and their friends too. After all, all his alters are in the same body, they're part of each other. No matter how different the alters are, they still come from the same place. And that's exactly why he built up the courage to invite X to stay with him.

A few days ago the doctors had told Stokeley that it was best if Jahseh stayed at a loved ones place, who could take care of him until he was strong enough to get back on his own two feet. Both physically and mentally. It was a lot of responsibility, but nothing Stokeley wasn't used to. He asked the doctors if it was okay to bring X back to the college dorms and take care of him there. They said that shouldn't be an issue, but that Stokeley had to make sure the college were still okay with X living in their dorms because that was out of their control. He was still a student there, but he wasn't going to be able to attend classes for a while, and he hasn't for a while either.

So that's exactly what Stokeley did. He talked to the principle, who was surprisingly understanding and accepting. When Stokeley told Jordan and Symere about it, Sy said it was probably because they felt so bad about Shéyaa beating Jahseh up so badly in their premises. Maybe they're scared of any type of legal action.

Stokeley also talked to Miles about switching dorms with him, so that Miles lived with Jordan and Stokeley could live in Jahseh's dorm that he used to share with Miles. Miles is close to both Stokeley and Jahseh separately, so he was of course understanding and willing to adapt. He also had no problem being roomies with Jordan, since they're homeboys too.