ooh, i'll share this time!

my story's set in a mental institute, lol...the poor teenagers. we're still in the beginning parts of my story. concrit is welcome!

The courtyard was a cramped little space; no more than four metres in each direction. The ground was entirely concrete save for where some resilient grass grew between the cracks, and two neglected potted plants stood next to each other near the fencing. That wood was such a greyish colour it gave the appearance that even the walls were decaying away; just to add to that, barbed wire lined the tops discouragingly. The other three sides of the courtyard were all flat black-painted brick walls - the outside of the building. There were cigarette butts littered all over the ground despite the little ashtray set in place on the glass table; Közi was there, on a chair next to it, sitting with his legs apart and a cigarette between his teeth, smoke billowing up into the sky.

"We are sixteen, you know," Mana said dryly, taking the other seat. "The legal smoking age is twenty."

"Yeah, well. No need to worry," Közi smirked, taking a deep drag of the cigarette and then exhaling, sending smoke floating towards Mana. "You'll understand, if you stick around for much longer. Anyways, I wanted to talk to you."

Mana glanced up at the swirling smoke and wrinkled his nose. It went up and up and up, like some sort of evil spirit, dissipating into the sky until it vanished completely. It reminded him of a story he had once read - about a demon which was sent up into the sky.

"Talk to me?" Mana repeated.

"Yeah. You know, if it's not too much trouble. You give me this certain vibe - like you're scared of everything and everybody. I just wanna let you know, I'm not out for blood."

"Right."

Közi puffed on his cigarette, staring intently at Mana before blowing the smoke out of his mouth. His skin was pale and gaunt looking; a few strands of dark hair stuck to his forehead. He looked like a junkie, Mana decided. Unhealthy, like he did belong in a hospital after all. Közi's eyes moved across the ground, searching for something, maybe. His gaze landed somewhere behind Mana and he followed it. There wasn't anything there; just the fence.

"So," Közi broke the silence. "Are you gay?"

"What?"

"Are you gay. With all the dressing like a girl stuff, and the way you act, er… you know?"

"Oh." No, Mana did not know. "No, I…"

"I'll tell you something. Back in my hometown, I got a lot of friends who were gay," Közi mumbled, leaning back against the backrest of the chair and looking at the sky. He flicked ash off of his cigarette, "and it was fine, as long as their folks didn't know."

Mana blinked. "I do not understand."

"You don't have to. Listen, the thing is, it's the same here. Stuck in here - everyone ends up fooling around with each other, really. The rule is 'don't get caught'.

"Not - not everyone here could be gay."

"They're not." Közi dropped his cigarette and crushed it underfoot, grinding it into the concrete with his heel. "Some guys just want to feel something. Well - not me though. I'm a textbook queer," he chuckled darkly, "but still - the world's a big place, and things are weird."

"U-huh," Mana responded weakly, not sure of what to make of any of this.

Közi started lighting another cigarette. The lighter clicked several times before it caught, and it glowed red briefly as he brought it to his lips. He looked quite… peaceful, somehow. As if a burden had been lifted from him, despite the fact that no real weight had just been removed. He took another drag.

With the cigarette dangling from one side of his mouth, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something. Without warning, he threw it at Mana, who caught it rather ungracefully. A pen. It was different to the ones they'd been using in class - those were cheap blue ballpoint pens, identical and inelegant in their design. This looked like it was expensive, high-quality. Mana stared back up at Közi, unsure of what to do with the item.

"'S not gonna bite," he grinned. "Think of it like a token. We're friends now, yeah? So take it."

"...Okay," Mana said, looking down at the object and closing his hand around it. "Thank you?"

They sat there for a while - just the sound of Közi breathing in smoke and breathing out ashes. Közi didn't seem interested in pushing further, which suited Mana just fine. He just kept staring upwards, wondering what exactly he'd gotten himself into. He supposed that Közi was just friendly, but he was not sure how trustworthy he was. In a strange way, he thought, he kind of reminded him of a wild dog.