Chapter Text
Sally grumbled to himself as he rushed out of Addison apartments, messily pulling his hair to his signature pigtails as he walked. He hadn’t really realized before just how dependent he was of Larry, especially with his morning schedule since usually he would’ve been walking with him, the two sometimes even eating breakfast together. Today, however, Larry had had morning detention for cursing in class, and Sal’s first class wasn’t until a bit later, and even when he wanted to the metal head specifically told him he wasn’t allowed to just come to hang out and wake up too early just to accompany him to his detention. Which would’ve been the better opinion if he thought about it now, although somehow he managed to make it to school in time. What joy.
As he arrived at the parking lot Sal swerved between the maze of parked and still moving cars, no matter how much he got made fun of his height it came in handy sometimes, letting him move quickly, and how Larry had once described it, very ninja-esque. When he walked up to the bulky and worn stone steps in front of the building he turned his head around as a car speeded by, making a sudden stop only meters away from him. Out of the car stepped Travis, making Sal sigh. Great. Just what he needed. Although the way the blonde slammed the car door shut and quickly wiped his face, or more specifically, his eyes with his sleeve, Sal raised his eyebrows under his mask. He followed Travis inside, and was just about to call him but was interrupted by the way too loud and screeching bell, making him give up with a sigh. He turned on his heels and got to class, making a mental note to talk to Travis at recess.
*******
As per usual, Sal was one of the first ones out of class since he had finished his work early and had packed his stuff up already as the bell rang. He brightened up a little when spotting the familiar blonde head, and walked towards him, tugging on his sleeve gently.
“What do you want, freak?” Travis spat almost immediately as he whipped his head to look at Sal with a snarl on his face.
Said boy just sighed at the usual reaction, and paid it no mind as he still held onto the sleeve “Is everything okay? You seemed a little… emotional this morning-”
He had barely uttered the words before he was slammed against the lockers roughly, making his eyes widen and all the air drain from his lungs. It took him a few seconds for his ears to stop ringing enough to hear Travis yelling, something he would’ve gladly left unheard.
“-little fucking faggot? Why the hell do you think you have any right at all to try and question me or pry into my life? I don’t want you here, so keep your queer self and your fucking mask away!” Travis was almost screaming to his face and did the one thing Sal didn’t think even he would do and reached for his mask. Since having the air knocked from him and still feeling weak he wasn’t able to stop him in time, just lifting his hand to weakly try and pull the hand yanking his mask away, but too late.
He could feel the slightly cold air hit his face as his mask was sent flying to the ground, Sal staring forward for a few seconds with wide and panicked eyes before his hands flew to his face, trying to cover as much of himself as he possibly could. Fortunately for him, if there were any possible ‘good’ timing for this to happen it was probably now, seeing as only seconds before had Larry left his classroom, grumbling something to himself about the amount of homework they had been given and had happened to walk in on the scene just as it happened. It didn’t take more than a blink of an eye from Travis ripping Sal’s mask off to him being pulled backwards by his shirt, a now seething Larry standing behind him. He practically threw the blonde on the ground, yelling something at him while punching his jaw and face a few times, only the pained cry leaving Travis’ lips reaching Sal’s ears, who was enveloped inside his own mind, brain screaming over and over again how he was exposed, he didn’t have his face, he was exposed and people would see the monster he really is.
It was the small whimper from his best friend that snapped Larry out of his rage eventually, although he was still basically boiling. He gave Travis one last hard shove before crouching down to pick up Sal’s mask and hurried to him, gently placing it on the shaking boys face on top of his face where he could hold it himself, and without giving it another second of thought ended up picking him up and shielding him with his own body, and carried him out of the hallway, and out from the staring eyes directed at him alongside with hushed whispers.
*******
Even after the two had arrived at the tall building towering over them, with Larry still holding the smaller in his arms, just fleetingly thinking just how damn light he was- almost worryingly so. Seeing as it was closer, and also didn’t have anyone home for now to question them, he had taken Sal down to his room, gently laying the short boy on his bed. The mask was still in his tight grip but was never clipped on, and was borderline shaking by now as Sal clutched it with his knuckles turned white. Larry could recognize the laboured breathing, the way the boy curled up in himself, and how his wide eyes looked around without focusing on anything, and especially after the both of them had lived and seen the panic attacks everything that had happened to them and their nightmares gave, there was no question that this wasn’t one. This time though, it wasn’t caused by something undead and terrifying, but something just as bad in Larry’s book, if not even worse.
He held the small teen close to his chest, basically curling around him to shield him from the rest of the world with his body acting as a shield between them while he whispered soothing words in his ear. To make the situation even worse, Sal’s phone buzzed a few times, neither of them picking it up. Although after Larry’s phone started to ring too, the caller being Ash, he sighed and untangled his other hand from around Sal and answered “Hi Ash... You’re on speaker.”
“Hi, Larry- I assume Sal’s with you?” She received a small hum from the blue-haired boy, making her continue slightly unsurely. “I guess you didn’t see yet, but after you two left someone posted a new chain message to pretty much the whole school… Sal, someone took a video of what happened, and it doesn’t show your face, but it zooms to Travis’s and his expression... Tells a lot more than words could. Everyone here knows, and I just figured you’d like to find out before someone else blurts it out. I’m sorry”, the call cut off with a click, leaving Sal and Larry in stunned silence.
“Those fuckers- I’m going to kill whoever took that video-“ Larry’s sudden outburst was stopped by Sal slowly taking his hands, shaking his head with a sad look in his eyes. “No, it’s- it’s okay..”
He swallowed and looked up to his best friend, one emotionless and one sad blue eye meeting the wild auburn ones. “It’s not the worst thing people have done, I feel like shit, yeah, but it isn’t the worst thing people have done. Plus it’ll just get worse if you do something, so just- please, don’t…” his voice faded into something resembling a shaky whimper as he clutched Larry’s shirt, cursing himself quietly for being so weak and pathetic, as always. He honestly had no idea how his friend stood him or his company, maybe it was just out of pity and– Larry’s long arms wrapped themselves tightly around Sal, pulling him against his chest with a simple “Shut up Sal, I can feel you thinking. It’s okay. No matter how much I want to do something to hurt those fuckers, I won’t if you tell me not to.”
The now messy pigtails bopped slowly as Sal nodded, not opening his mouth in fear of his voice giving out, so he just gave Larry a tight hug before looking up to him as if searching something. It didn’t take long for the metal head to catch on to the almost desperate need for a distraction, and reached for Sal’s bag on the floor. He pulled out the Gear Boy he knew the smaller one carried with him always and gave the console to him as he settled back against him, grateful that Sal was facing away from him, not able to see the blush settling on his face.
“How about you show me those few levels that you had trouble getting through, and I’ll try to help you with them, yeah?”
*******
The rest of the day went by pretty normally with the two friends hanging out in Larry’s room, raiding the fridge for whatever leftovers and snacks Lisa had left there (she always seemed to know when Sal gave over and had some extra food for him- or maybe she just saw him as practically living there already), and spent time listening to the newest Sanity’s Fall single, and if Sal was a slight bit jumpier than usual, neither of them mentioned it.
By nightfall they were just talking about everything under the sun and moon, Sal laying on his stomach Larry’s bed and hugging his blankets, and Larry lounging in his biggest bean bag. After a while when the silences between Sal’s responses started to get longer and his voice drowsier, Larry opted for tucking him in under the blankets gently. With confirmation that it was okay, he undid the clasps on the prosthetic mask Sal wore and lifted it to his nightstand. Without the smaller boy even having to ask Larry did a quick detour to get him a glass of water for his glass eye, by now more than used to his routine before bed.
Not having felt like he could actually sleep, Larry stayed up painting long after Sal fell asleep on his bed. For once he didn’t plug in his earphones, but rather just tried to enjoy the quiet, unwittingly focusing on Sal’s breathing and the little huffs he let out. He wasn’t really paying attention at the canvas in front of him, painting a scenery of a forest engulfed in a thick mist. He wanted to make animals hide behind the transparent grey clouds, but was pulled from his mind and vision at the small but broken whispers coming from his bed.
He set his paints and brushes down, wiping his hands on a paint-covered towel before getting up quietly, walking to his bed. He lifted the covers carefully, frowning as he could barely see Sal gripping his sheets, tears flowing down his face, the blue-haired boy still seemingly asleep.
The only thing that stopped Larry from shaking him awake was the mumbled words leaving Sal’s mouth as he writhed on the bed, all tangled up in the sheets, at first just murmuring his name helplessly before the sounds started to resemble words more “..no- No please… Larry please help I can’t- I can’t breathe I can’t get free!”
Larry sat next to Sal, but as much as it made him disgusted he didn’t shake the smaller boy awake, too curious to know what he was dreaming about. So he just pulled Sal to his chest, the latter clutching his shirt in his sleep “it- it didn’t have to end like this... I never got to tell you how much I loved you, even if it was too much, more than you’d think..”
It was those last words that finally snapped Larry out of his shock, his heart beating in his chest as he gently shook Sal, flinching at the panicked noise the trembling pile of bony limbs let out on his lap. He couldn’t tell what exactly it was that Sal was dreaming about, but he suspected it was the same one he had told him about vaguely a few times, the recurring dream where he was trapped underwater, slowly drowning as he saw his mom getting mauled by the dog, and could only scream and watch it happen, unable to help. But he had never mentioned Larry being in the dream before… He pulled Sal in a hug, stroking his hair as he tried to calm the other down, whispering in his ear softly over and over again “It was only a dream, I’m here, I’m okay, we both are.”
It took several minutes for the harsh sobs from Sal to die out and fade into faint whimpers, Larry rocking him and whispering hushed soothing words to him the whole time. When Sal finally lifted his head, he had his hands in front of his face, blocking it mostly from Larry’s view, although he could still see the tears gathering in his eyes. He could’ve sworn the whole damn planet could hear his heart break at the barely audible mumble that left Sal’s lips “Why do you still stand a hideous monster like me?”
Larry could tell where the other was going with this, it wouldn’t be the first time he saw Sal fall down the horrible and deep pit full of self-hate, and goddammit he wasn’t about to listen to his best friend put himself down like this, not this time. He didn’t deserve it, nobody did but him the least. So, still emotional from seeing his friend, and possibly his secret but huge crush, hurt like this, he did the only thing he was able to think at that moment. He pulled the small hands from Sal’s face, eyes sweeping briefly over the scarred and torn features on his face, and leaned closer and shut him up by pressing his lips on his before his brain managed to catch up on what he was doing and made him pull back with a mortified look on his face.
Sal froze almost immediately, a small and surprised noise leaving his throat as his eyes flew open, and he stared at the now completely red and embarrassed Larry in shock. He raised his fingers slowly to his lips, cheeks still damp with tear tracks down them, but at least he had stopped his full-on crying. And the self-deprecating words flowing out of his mouth. Larry was the first to break the eye contact, looking down on his lap and buried his face in his hands, shaking his head with a muffled groan “Fuck- I’m so sorry, I just- you said stuff in your sleep and I didn’t want you to talk shit about yourself, so I didn’t think before acting and I just fucked everything up I’m so-”
He could feel his heart jump out of his chest as Sal started to cry again, the heavy sobs wrecking his small frame as he clung onto Larry’s shirt as his life depended on it. Which honestly terrified Larry to the core, but he still hesitantly wrapped himself around Sal. He wasn’t looking at him in disgust and wasn’t trying to get away from him, so that was a good thing, right?
“Why did- why did you do that?” a bright blue eye turned to look at him, glassy with tears but with a small glimmer of hope in it, or maybe Larry was just hoping. Although at this point, he figured there wasn’t really any point in trying to hide why he had done what he did, so he just gave a defeated sigh, too scared to look Sal in the eyes. Eye. That felt odd to say, or think, but not necessarily that bad- focus Larry, fucking focus for once.
“You were rambling on and starting to really panic, and I just wanted to stop that from happening, and that was the only thing I could think of to do-” Bullshit, he hadn’t thought about it in the slightest if he had he would’ve chickened out. “Okay, maybe it was more of something impulsive, but I’ve... I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time, I just didn’t want to risk losing the friendship we have, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had Sal, but I- I understand if you want nothing to do with me after this.”
The next following seconds of just deafening silence felt like hours to him, his thoughts racing through as many worst-case -scenarios as he could possibly think of. What he didn’t expect however was the light touch of fingers on his lips, calloused from playing guitar but still pleasant. More than that, even. He tried to not let himself get his hopes up, but all that effort was thrown down the drain the second he gathered the courage to look up and saw the surprised but incredibly fond look in Sal’s eye as said boy shook his head, a small shadow of a smile tugging up the corners of his lips. He reached for Larry, pulling his hands from his face, not unlike the other had done just moments ago, and pressed his hand against Larry’s cheek with a sheepish look. In all honesty, Larry had no recollection of even lifting his hands, nor about the wetness on his cheeks that he felt when the air from the room hit him.
“Could you- could you do that again? But this time..” Sal took a deep breath, trying to stop his voice from shaking as he looked up hopefully “give me time to kiss back?”
It was fair to say that Larry was completely taken aback, taking a little while to process that yes, he actually heard that and didn’t just imagine it. So, while not trusting his voice at this point anymore, he nodded slowly and moved to cup Sal’s face before leaning in, giving him plenty of time to pull back if he didn’t really want this after all, and if he didn’t Larry wouldn’t blame him, not one bit. Still, for some reason, Sal didn’t lean back but did the opposite. He glanced in Larry’s eyes quickly before surging forward, almost as if Larry would disappear if he wasn’t fast enough.
All his life Larry had hated the cliché romance movies, especially the scenes where fireworks went off when two people kissed. And he still did, but… he also understood it. Because it was clumsy, shy, slightly shaky and neither of them knew what the hell they were doing, but holy fucking shit it was still perfect. He had imagined this happening more times than he’d ever like to admit, had imagined how Sal’s scarred lips would feel, and strangely enough having the torn lips with the remaining skin surprisingly soft on his own chapped ones created the perfect contrast.
And the expression on Sal’s face when they finally pulled apart, the barely visible flush under his scars sending butterflies free in his stomach. He glanced at his lap with a small and giddy smile on his face, fiddling with Sal’s fingers as he took his hand gently. He took a little while to just try and calm his breathing, and as he looked up he could see Sal giving him a small smile, somehow managing to get the message across. They’d need to talk about this, but that could wait. They were both exhausted after the emotionally and physically tolling day, and right now sitting in Larry’s messy room, slightly tangled up in the covers and each other was perfect, and neither wanted to disturb the peace and quiet that they never seemed to get. It was the kind of calm that mostly presented itself in only dreams, but even if it was something they had both dreamed of before they could somehow tell it was true and had actually happened. And thank the fuckever deity there was for that.
They settled down on the bed, Larry practically cradling Sal close to his chest as he pulled his covers on top of them both. They both felt safe, and honestly, it was a welcome change from their normal days filled with a bit too thrilling adventures and dangers always lurking around the corner. It didn’t take long for them both to drift off, having peaceful dreams for the first time in forever.