Chapter Text
Campbell sat in his room, strumming on his guitar. There was a knock on the door, then it slowly opened for Isabelle to peak her head in, ‘Hello Campbell, May I have a word?’ Campbell nodded in response and put down his guitar.
‘what’s up?’ he grinned; Isabelle sat on the bed beside him. ‘Listen, there’s a new kid around your age and he’s a tad skittish, do me a favour and show him around,’ she said and rubbed Campbells back, ‘Right on it, Isabelle!’ Camp went to leave the room before Isabelle spoke, ‘Campbell!’ he turned to face here, ‘Try not to scare the poor thing, you can be a little much.’
Campbell went to the front desk where a dark-haired boy with a black eye was sitting in a chair patiently. ‘Hello! Names Campbell, I’ll be showing you around,’ he held out his hand for the other who took it hesitantly and stood up, ‘I’m Joe,’ he said in a hushed tone. Campbell began to point out each room.
‘There’s the bathroom, there’s our radio station, I’m the presenter, and there’s the common room.’
Joe held his head down and trailed behind Campbell, who noticed this after a while. Once they came to Joes new room, Joe began to put away his clothes and books. He looked back at Campbell and smiled nervously, his eyes were kind, Campbell thought.
Campbell sat on the end of the bed and patted the space beside him. ‘Hey, I get it,’ He sighed as Je sat beside him, ‘Your new, people have convinced you that you need help,’ he put an arm around him.
‘I’m here by choice,’ he admitted, ‘I used to be in a mental hospital for my depression, now that my mental health is worse with a severe case of…sorry go on,’ he shook his head. ‘Hey, it’s okay,’ he gave the other an encouraging smile. ‘So, why are you here?’ he asked and sat expectantly.
Joe sighed, ‘Where do I start. as I said I had already been in a mental hospital not too long ago for my depression, but I ended up leaving and became homeless and sunk deeper into depression to the point of trying to commit suicide, that’s when I met Sandor…he saved my life, so my life belonged to him as he put it. He spoke lies that felt like truth, think of cult leaders, he would hurt me if I spoke out of line and continuously insulted me, and he had me help him in kidnapping an Italian princess. And then he killed himself right in front of my eyes, same way was going to, I’ll never unsee it.’
Campbell listened intently, ‘I’m sorry that happened to you Joe,’ he said and hugged the other boy. Joe was silent for a moment before he hugged him back and broke down in tears. Campbell tried to soothe him the same way Isabelle would do for him when he was having a depressive episode. ‘It’s okay Joe, let it out,’ he began to stroke his dark curls.
‘I’m sorry, oh how silly of me to be crying in the arms of a stranger, how history repeats itself,’ he sighed with a weak laugh. Campbell smiled, ‘I don’t judge, I’m a loony so how can I judge?’ he admitted. ‘Hey, how about, as honour of you being new year, you can pick the first song I play on our radio tomorrow?’ Joe sniffed and looked at Campbell with a soft smile, ‘that would be nice,’
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‘Hello and welcome back! This is Campbell Bain coming at you live from your very own hospital!’
Joe sat beside Campbell with a bright smile on his face, he was quite enjoying hanging out with Campbell, he had an upbeat energy that went nicely with his own calmer one which balanced each other out. ‘Today I have a very special request from the newest loony to join us in our humble abode! Hope you like “The Rolling Stones” folks,’ and at that, “She’s like a rainbow” began to play.
‘Your kind of like a celebrity, only your popular within a small community,’ Joe chuckled, sway slowly in the chair to the beat of the music, ‘Yeah! I guess I am,’ he leaned back and crossed his arms, nodding slowly.
Campbell was silent for a moment before he stood up, ‘dance with me,’ he looked at Joe with an energetic gleam in his eyes, Joe started back at him shocked. ‘Oh no, I can’t, I have a case of two left feet,’ he chuckled, but Campbell just smiled so Joe sighed and stood up, being pulled close and they began to sway around together while the song played and echoed through the hospital. They laughed together, smiling as they danced close to each other. Their faces were pink with blush.
The music was the only thing they could hear, all they knew was this for the minutes that the song lasted…and then it went silent. They broke apart suddenly, ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Joe apologised, Campbell shook his head, ‘nah, I just need to-change the song,’ he smiled nervously. And so that’s what he did, but they didn’t go back to dancing, now the air felt awkward and thick.
Campbell looked at Joe for a moment, he felt odd looking at him. what just happened, he felt like Joe was the only thing that mattered, but they’d only met yesterday, and they’ve already become great friends. He felt protective over him.
Joe looked at him as well, beaming at him as if he had forgotten what just happened and all the tension left the room. ‘What is your dream career?’ Campbell asked, ‘I’m not sure, I’d like to be an artist,’ he admitted with his face pinking at the cheeks. ‘You draw! Damn can I see some of your drawings?’ he asked, ‘when your finished.’
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An hour and a half later, Joe led Campbell to his room and took a sketchbook of the shelf. He began to flip through, showing Campbell his art. His art style was highly reflective of comic book styles, ‘That’s a drawing a did of Sandor, he got mad at me for drawing him, but he said it wasn’t so bad,’ he explained, ‘not that…not that bad? Joe this is amazing!’ he smiled.
Joe seemed passionate about his drawing, he loved drawing people and dingy look streets and shops, ‘It matches how I feel most of the time, so it’s kind of like a coping mechanism,’ he admitted and looked at the other. They smiled at each other in understanding.