Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

the sinner who saw heaven.
By: dollsmade
Inspired by: Sally face the game.

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Chapter one
The night you called

Sal’s phone rang and rang but he was nowhere to be found. Only Gizmo was found laid out on the bed. But he didn’t bat an eye to the noise.

Sal walks into the room to see what all the noise is about, he sees his phone ringing off the chain. He rushes over thinking it may be an emergency.

He picks up his phone to see 20 missed calls from Travis. This couldn’t be good. As he was looking at the texts he got one more call from Travis, he picked up and heard a heavy breath and a sniffling sound.

“Travis is everything alright..?” he questioned from the other side of the line. “No.. no.. everything isn’t fine.” a hoarse voice and whimpering moans in between each breath replied.

Sal replied, “Where are you i’ll come get you just.. Tell me where you are.” Travis sits there on the other side of the line not replying just crying and whimpering.

After a few minutes of waiting Sal got a mumbled answer, “I'm between Lakeside Glas and Orchard Causeway..” he sighed deeply and said, “Please hurry Sal..”

Sal grabbed his jacket out from under Gizmo making Gizmo fall, “sorry bud I'm in a rush.” he said in a hurry and grabbed an extra for Travis just in case and rushed out of the house.

Todd tried to talk to Sal but he was in too much of a rush to even get a straight answer out of him, “Sal it’s raining really hard where are you going dude?!” he shouted as Sal ran out the door.

Sal started to run through the rain, it would take him about 15 minutes to get there. He can make it sooner if he knows it.

He rushed as quickly as he could, stopping for nothing. He got to a road and cars were zooming past and the light just turned green. He had no time to wait. He needed to get there now.

Be booked across the road probably almost getting hit a couple of times. Cars stopped and started to honk and shout at Sal but he had no time to sit around and get yelled at.

He continued rushing as fast as he could. Because he was gonna be okay. He was gonna make sure Travis was okay.

He didn’t stop till he finally got there. He made it in 5 minutes. He looked around till he found Travis sitting in an alleyway near this small cafe.

He bent down in front of him and covered him with the jacket he brought. As he said, “Are you okay..?” Travis looked up, his eyes filled to the brim with tears.

He tightly wrapped his arms around Sal and hugged him as he began to sob into his chest. It was.. heartbreaking. What hurt him so bad..?

Sal held him close as he got rained on. It slowly ran down his prosthetic. But they sat there till Travis was ready to leave.

Travis slowly whipped his eyes and looked back up at Sal as Travis let a mumble fall from his mouth, “I’m sorry.. You’re all soaked now.” Sal smiled softly as he replied, “It’s okay, I’m more worried about you right now.”

Sal replied to himself before Travis could answer, “Let’s head back to my place.” Travis panics and starts to wave his hands in an ‘ok’ movement.

“I think I'm good Sal..” He looks away upset. Sal gave a stupid look. He already knew why he didn’t want to come so he continued, “Let's go or I'm carrying you there. You aren’t sitting out in the rain all night.”

Travis wasn’t so sure but he knew Sal wasn’t messing around. And it wouldn’t help with the cuts on his face from his father to sit out in the rain all night.

Travis ended up agreeing and following Sal back. He was hesitant but he didn’t have much of a choice. Travis slowly followed behind as he gripped the jacket that Sal gave him.

Sal grabbed Travis and pulled him up next to him as he said, “You don’t have to walk behind me.” Travis looked away and nodded slightly as his response

Travis wasn’t exactly close with Sal, I mean they had gotten closer since school but they were more like one text every two weeks type of friends.

So this was pretty awkward for Travis. Why was Sal being so caring? And acting like they’re friends? This was all too weird. He acted as if they knew each other well for years.

But it was nice.. He looked different from the last time he saw Sal. no more pig-tails. He wears his hair all down now.

They walked for a few more minutes and finally reached Sal’s place. Here comes the hard part..

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Chapter 2
It’ll be okay.

They approached the front door as the roof of the steps covered them from rain, Sal grabbed the door handle and slowly twisted it open.

Todd and Larry were both just standing there and as they saw who was behind Sal their look of worry turned to shock. Sal turned to Travis and fell from his lips were, “Go to the third room on the second floor at the end of the hallway.” Travis just nodded and gripped his bag

Larry watched as Travis headed upstairs and then turned to Sal and waved his hands in the air as he quietly shouted, “What the fuck dude?! Why is he here??”

Sal looked at Todd and Larry both and sighed. “He needed help. Just.. give him a chance guys. Please.” Todd snarled at the comment and walked away hurt and pissed.

Larry put his hands down as he watched Todd walk away then looked back at Sal, “You know how he treated Todd. And what about the way he treated you?” Larry stated.

Sal stayed quiet for a second till Larry started to speak up again, “Sal I can put up with Travis for your sake but if Todd doesn’t want him here well, he can’t stay.”

Sal just stayed quiet and gave that blank stare that he always did as he nodded. Larry walked off to the kitchen probably to grab a beer. It was a stressful situation for them.

Sal went to the garage to find Todd sitting there working. He worked when he was pretty pissed to not yell at others. So Sal knew he fucked up.

But what was Sal supposed to do? Travis was his friend too. He walked up and put his hand on Todd’s shoulder. Todd’s eyebrows fell soft.

“Todd, I'm so sorry. I know this is hard for you, but he had nowhere else to go.. I promise he’s.. he’s changed. A lot.” Sal softly said. Todd spun his chair around and looked at Sal.

”Sal, just because you said he changed, I'll try. I trust you. But it doesn’t change what he’s done. He has to show me, HE does. You can’t make up for HIS actions” Todd replied with a stern look

Sal nodded in response and hugged Todd, “Thanks for trying man, I know this is hard for you too.” He stated

Todd stands up and looks at Sal as he puts his hand on his shoulder, “You should head up to him he probably needs you, I'm gonna grab a beer..” Todd walks off after he says that

Sal grabs his hair and pulls it back, putting it up and taking his mask off to breathe for a second, “What did I get myself into..” he thinks about it for a while.

He put his mask close to his face and held it up for a second then took a deep breath before putting it fully on and clipping the straps. He begins to walk off.

He walks past the kitchen to see Todd and Larry drinking and talking, he heads up the stairs and walks to the end of the hall. He grabs the handle and twists it open

when the door fully opens he sees Travis sitting on the bed petting Gizmo in the same wet clothes. Sal walks in and closes the door behind him, “why are you still in the same wet clothes, “you can change you know” Sal stated as he sat down on the bed

Travis looked at him and asked nervously, “I-Is that okay?” Sal begins to laugh and replies, “Yeah man get out of those wet clothes, The bathroom is right over there” He finishes and points to the corner of the room where another door sits.

Travis puts his bag down and then Sal gets up and goes to his dresser, he pulls a shirt and some shorts out hoping they’ll fit him since he is a bit bigger than Sal

Travis stands there waiting and grips onto his arm, Sal turns around and hands him the clothes. “If those don’t fit let me know, I think I have some of Larry’s old clothes,” he said

Travis nodded even though hesitant because what if Larry found out? He’d probably be mad. He walks to the bathroom and Sal sits back down on the bathroom

About 17 to 20 minutes had passed and still no Travis, Sal started to get worried so he got up and went to knock on the door as he heard.. sobbing..

”Travis.? You okay?” Sal leaned his head against the door as he questioned. Travis stopped sobbing for a second and they sat there in silence.

Sal sat down against the bathroom door and started to talk, “What’s going on Travis.. you never called me so something pretty bad must have happened”

Travis sniffled and quietly said, “My dad kicked me out..” Sal then asked, “Why is that.? What happened this time.” Travis begins crying again but tries to hold it back

”He-He found out Sal..” Travis muttered through tears and whimpers, “He found out.. That you're like Todd..?” A muffled ‘mhm’ is heard from the other side of the door

”Travis, can you open the door?” Sal calmly answered after carefully listening. It took a few minutes but.. he finally got Travis to open the door.

“Come here” he paused after and hugged Travis “It’s all gonna be alright Travis. I’m here..” He held Travis as he cried in his arms once more.

To Be Continued….

Chapter Text

Chapter 3
They’ll come around.

Sal holds Travis close as he sobs quietly, Sal begins to rub his back slowly. “I’m.. sorry Travis. I wish I could say something more, something that would make everything better but I’ve never been good at this kind of stuff.” Sal says

Travis wipes his eyes as he sniffles, “I-It’s okay this is more than enough Sal..” Travis slowly pulls away from Sal, “Do you wanna try to get some rest..?” Sal replies

Travis nods and looks around, “Where will I be sleeping..?” Sal tilts his head and questions, “What do you mean? We’ll be sharing the bed? I-I mean- if that’s cool”

Travis bites his lip debating what to say, “I uhm.. don’t mind but won’t you be cramped?” Sal shakes his head and chuckles slightly, “It’s a queen size, unless you spread out I don’t think we’ll have a problem” he responds

Travis scratched his head and then shook it “Okay then..” he rambled, Sal then chimed in, “Go ahead and go to bed, I need to get into the shower I have an early class tomorrow”

Travis nods and goes to lie down, it was definitely weird for Travis. Laying in Sal’s bed. Alone. He covers himself up and tries to head off to sleep.

Sal takes a good 15 to 20-minute shower then heads out ready for bed, he takes off his mask and sets it down on the nightstand, he crawls into bed and lays down covering himself up

Sal turns over and looks at Travis asleep, Sal knows he had a hard day so it’s no surprise he’s sleeping like a baby.

Sal sighs and closes his eyes, tomorrow is gonna be rough. Larry has tomorrow off so Travis will be stuck with him for the day. Let’s hope nothing bad happens..

As Sal continued to worry he slowly started to drift off to sleep with his worries. And just as fast as he fell asleep morning came as well.

Sal wakes up to one arm off the bed and something pressed against his back, he sits up to find Travis all the way on his side of the bed..

he let out a soft laugh, but there was no time to chill. He had to get ready, he stood up, scratched his lower back then headed to the bathroom with clothes in hand.

By the time he was done and came to grab his bag and mask Travis was up, “Good morning” Sal exclaimed with a smile on his face

Travis rubbed his eyes, his vision still blurry but he could make out a figure who wasn’t wearing a certain mask, his mask that always left a blank expression. Travis groaned and flopped his head back down and closed his eyes with a muttered sleepy voice he says “mornin’”

Sal walked over, grabbed his mask, and put it on, anddddd it was gone. The little bit of skin his blurry vision could make out earlier, he opens his eyes again, not so blurry anymore, to look at sals prosthetic. He had never actually seen sals face.. just a hint of his chin when he would eat or drink something.. or the occasional glimpse of him without it on from the side.

“Wanna head downstairs with me to get breakfast or some coffee?” Sal asked, Travis smiled for the first time since yesterday and replied, “Y-Yeah sure” Travis knew he wasn’t exactly hungry or liked coffee but he didn’t wanna just sit in Sal’s room.

Sal grabs his bag on the way down and closes the door behind them, they head downstairs and find Todd and Neil having a cup of coffee together.

“You’re already here Neil, damn I thought I had more time to eat…. Looks like I’m running on just coffee today” Sal stated in a joking manner, Travis standing behind him, hiding.

Neil sees Travis and asks, “Babe, who is that? Or Sal whoever answers first.” He shrugs his shoulders and takes a sip of his coffee

”uhh.” Todd replies with a frustrated tone. Sal looks away with that. Same blank face, “He’s a friend of mine..” he chuckles awkwardly.

Neil knows when he fucked up so he just kept his mouth shut after that and finished his coffee. Travis sighs and tries to politely ask, “Todd.. can we cha.. chat real quick.”

Todd looks a little shocked and looks at Sal suspicious of the situation, “Uhm. Sure, Travis.” In a not quite irritated tone but not happy-go-lucky either.

Todd stands up from his slouched-over position and begins to walk over to Travis. He gulps nervously. “L-Let’s go over here” Travis responds. He picks at his fingers

Todd reluctantly follows, “Say your peace.” He states, “W-Well, uh.” He pauses, “I-.. I wanted to apologize and thank you for this. Letting me stay.. I know this must be hard on you.”

He sighs and bites his lip as he continues, “Growing up things weren’t-“ he gets cut off, “Travis. I only agree because of Sal. You would not be here if Sal didn’t want you here. What you did growing up..? I. I don’t know if I can forgive you for that shit.” Todd ends his sentence there.

Travis sighs and nods his head, “I don’t. I understand Todd. I was called the same hurtful things I called you. I can’t forgive the one who did that.. so I understand why you can’t do it either.” He replied in a soft tone almost as if he was about to cry.
”You’ve grown up a lot. I appreciate the apology but right now.. I don't think I can forgive you, or let it go.” Todd says in response Travis nods and doesn’t say anything else as Todd walks away.

”Everything alright babe?” Neil asked as Todd came back into view of the kitchen, “Yeah. let’s get going. You cool with that Sal?” Todd questioned, Sal nodded in response

“Buttttt I gotta say bye to Travis first,” he says as he walks off towards where Travis went, “Hey, I’m heading out now, take this. We don’t really have anything to eat in the house so order something if you get hungry okay?”

Travis looks at the card and just nods in silence. “Travis.. it’s progress.. don’t worry they’ll come around.” Sal hugs Travis one last time before having to leave..

To be continued…

Chapter Text

I’m working on chapter 4 of the sinner who saw heaven, I know it’s been almost a year my bad guys……… I burnt out…. But I’m working to make a new chapter, and hopefully more after that. Expect an update soon, however these will be short chapters so hopefully I can get more out quickly. ((Honestly the first three chapters are a lot shorter than what I usually write))

-Dollsmade.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4
Chilling with Larry.

After Sal left, Travis stood in the foyer for a while, unsure of what to do. Larry was still asleep. And Travis.. is practically in a stranger's home. Travis looks around.. it seemed most of the men who lived here might have just been raised in a barn, Travis can see beer bottles left on the coffee table and so much other trash just lying around in the living room.

Travis picks at his fingers while staring at the mess.. maybe, maybe he could clean..? Travis gulps before walking around, he’s living for a closet or a nook where maybe cleaning supplies may be. Hell, even a laundry room.. but he had to be careful, he didn’t want to stumble into a room that either Larry was preoccupying or Todd’s room. Sal told Travis he couldn’t go in the garage but most of the house was welcomed to be explored.

Travis looks around and finds the door to the basement, there’s neon purple lighting illuminating the room, he walks down.. it seems unfinished but there’s the cleaning supplies, tucked under the stairs with the washing machine that’s rumbling like it's ready to knock the whole house down. He walks over, there’s a.. certain smell that seems to be stuck in the walls down here. Weed.. no doubt Larry’s doing.

Travis looks around as he goes to grab the cleaning supplies, there’s an old worn-down couch, a beaten chair that is barely standing, a scratched-up coffee table, and the source of the neon purple lighting, string lights hanging haphazardly. Travis seems to get a little distracted and walks over looking at the seating area, they have another TV hanging up down here on what seems to be the only finished wall down here. There’s a drum set tucked away in a corner and a guitar, on the floor with a snapped string. Travis looks at the scratched up table, the stench he smelled is stronger, there’s a bong on the table..

Travis gulps and scratches his head. He should get back to what he was doing.. he walks back towards the washing machine tucked under the stairs he grabs the broom sitting there as if it hasn’t been touched in months and the mop that seemed to be in the same state.

He heads back upstairs with supplies in hand and gets to work after grabbing extra items from the kitchen (trash bags, gloves, floor cleaner, etc) and he gets to work.

A few hours had passed, about two maybe.. Travis wipes sweat from his forehead with an exhale of air from deep in his lungs. It was spotless.. this was the best he had felt in months. Cleaning was therapeutic for Travis; it took his mind off everything he wanted to avoid, and at least here he could wipe away anything he found.. disgusting.

Travis frowned to himself and plopped down on the couch.. why couldn’t he just? Accept it.. why did he have to find himself so repulsive. He was doing okay about accepting others. But he can’t manage to get over this speed bump with himself. All he could hear full volume in the ringing in his ears was, ‘fag. fag. fag. fag. fag. fag.’ over and over. It rang like a scratched record on repeat. He slouches over on himself and presses himself to his knees as he buries his face.

He tears up, making sure to keep quiet.. he doesn’t want to wake Larry.. but suddenly he feels a nudge against his leg, a tucking rub on his pant leg. He lifts his heavy head to have his watery eyes meet Gizmo's. He meows and continues to headbutt Travis’s leg. “Are..” he pauses. His voice sounds raspy, “Are you hungry..?” He sniffles out the question. A loud meow is met as his response. Gizmo stretches out in front of Travis as he needs the carpet. “I'll take that as a yes..”

Travis wipes his eyes and stands from the couch, Gizmo rushes to the kitchen, Travis follows steadily behind. Once he walks in he sees Gizmo go into a cubby. He raises an eyebrow and bends down, a silver feeder is sitting underneath. Travis grabs it and picks it up, he looks around, no cat food in plain sight..

Travis places the food bowl on the counter while he squats and begins to check the lower cabinets for the food. Suddenly a voice rings out, “It's in the pantry, in a container tucked in the back.” Travis becomes startled, trying to lift his head quickly he smacks it against the top of the cabinet he was searching for. “Oh shit..” he mumbles before peeking over the counter while rubbing his head.

It was Larry.. he sounds as nonchalant as ever, “okay thank you..” Larry just stares before averting his gaze and walking over to the fridge, which opens with a popping noise from the suction.

Travis finds the cat food in the pantry where Larry had said it would be, he begins to fill Gizmo’s feeder. The heavy silence echoes as Larry browses through the fridge. Travis finishes up quickly and puts the feeder and food back in their rightful spots, gizmo meows loudly as if to say a sweet ‘thanks’ Travis smiles a little but is brought back to what’s happening as the fridge closes.

Larry stands there with a beer in his hand, he looks Travis up and down.. “Did you clean the house?” Travis jumps a little, he stays silent for a moment but he quickly speaks up, Larry looked like he was getting a slight discomfort from sitting there in silence, “uhm..” Travis’ mouth goes dry he rubs his eyes irritating the already autumn red circles underneath, “yes.. I hope you don’t mind.. I just.” He trails off before looking down “I wanted to be helpful..”

Larry just hums. “Cool..” he says, letting it slip slowly before turning and walking to the living room, he quickly sits down on the couch and powers on the TV. Travis stands there before following somewhat, at least to the doorway that leads to the living room, he peeks out.

Travis closes his eyes before pacing. He finally gets up the courage to quietly walk in and sit down on the couch next to Larry. He doesn’t say a word, just watches what Larry is watching, Larry doesn’t even glance at Travis. Again another heavy silence hung over them.

Travis knows what Sal said.. ‘They'll come around’ but Travis is anxious. He’s trying to act mature but he can’t help but hate this silence, to know he’s in a house of people who hate him. Travis takes a deep breath, he needs to calm these racing thoughts.

Travis glances at Larry’s side profile. His long brown hair in a messy bun and a slightly resting bitch face. That doesn’t help the way he’s feeling.. Travis balls his fists tight before gathering what courage he can, “hey.. Larry?” Larry jolts a little but shifts his gaze to look at Travis from the side of his eyes.

Travis gulps. “Y.. You know it’s only eleven in the morning right..?” Larry cocks a brow but doesn’t respond, Travis opens his mouth before quickly closing it, his almond skin becoming flush.. he’s embarrassed but he tries again, “you’re.. You know.” Travis avoids Larry’s stare “drinking at eleven in the morning.” Larry lets some sort of laugh scoff escape his lips before raising his bottle and tapping it to his forehead as he finally faces Travis “It’s eleven somewhere.”

Travis’s redness quickly evaporates, and now he just stares in confusion as Larry downs his bottle. It’s.. Eleven here.. is he saying he’s gonna drink no matter the time..? or is he just.. drunk already?

Travis stares and doesn’t know if he should ask a follow-up or what.. but he quickly loses train of thought as a hand comes crashing to his head and begins to ruffle his hair. “W-What the hell?” he asks, stammering as his redness returns. Larry is messing up his hair.

“Thanks.. for cleaning up. I expected Sal to be dirty, don't get me wrong, but Todd.. he’s a mess” Larry laughs as he places a hand to his scruffy chin.. Travis is in disbelief. Larry thanked him and even ruffled his hair.. Why did Larry change his mood so quickly.?

Travis sits there quietly and embarrassed. But before he can process what happened, Travis smells something.. the same scent from the basement, it’s on Larry.. oh. That’s why he’s being nice.

“Hey.. you’re being nice to Sal, right? No bullshit comments right?” Larry asks seriously. Travis looks down but in Larry’s direction, he nods as he picks his fingers. “Okay.. Todd texted me too. He said you apologized.. we’re all here now. So, let's get along okay.. I really do appreciate you cleaning.” Travis looks up when Larry finishes. His eyes are red again he looks like he’ll cry any minute but he smiles.

“Thank you, Larry..” Silence falls after. But it isn’t making Travis anxious, and it isn’t scary or hanging over his head with guilt. It’s comfortable.. Travis and Larry sit and watch TV together.

”They’ll come around..” Travis mumbles to himself. Sal was right.. Sal’s always right..

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Chapter 5
“I’m normal”

Sal walks up to the doorway and throws his bag over his shoulder before gripping the handle and slowly twisting it, “I’m just asking, why is a witch calling me out and saying I cum a lot?!” Neil is waving one hand around as he spoke, shouted, Todd rolls his eyes as he walks beside Neil, “Babe you’ve got to stop watching those tarot readings.” Sal and Todd both laugh.

Sal walks in and drops his bag next to the door, he stretches as he shouts “Lar! We’re home.” he pauses before he realizes, “Travis too!” he says awkwardly trying to fix his mistake. Todd and Neil both come in as well, they hang their bags next to each other. Neil waits as Todd takes his shoes off, it's just something Todd always does.

Travis peeks around the corner from the living room, his hair sticking up a little, Sal laughs underneath his mask before walking over and brushing Travis’s hair down, “Did you just wake up?” he questioned as he looked behind Travis to see Larry knocked out on the couch.

Travis looks down at Sal a little, he nods. He feels a little weird having someone touch his hair, but it isn’t bad. He looks at Todd and Neil down the hall, he shifts a little awkwardly. He’s not sure how he should act around Todd. “Yeah, after Larry nodded off, I followed shortly after..” he spoke softly, a bit groggy-sounding, as Todd and Neil talked further down the hall.

Sal stared up at Travis through the holes in his mask, with a pause before he asked, “Wait, you and Larry hung out?” Travis looked at Sal, the awkwardness he felt a moment ago slipping away, he let out a small chuckle before looking away and scratching his neck.. “Y.. yeah I guess we did..” Sal smiled underneath his expressionless mask. “See, I told you, Travis.”

Travis smiled a little as he looked away from Sal, Todd came up to Sal. He pauses and looks at Travis for a moment before turning his attention back to Sal, “Sal, when did you wanna go grocery shopping?” he asked before Neil chimed in, “Yeah.. I really need Larry to cook before I die off ramen cups.” Todd’s face flushes.. Nobody’s a better cook than Larry if Larry is the only cook.

Sal looks at them both, he crosses his arms a little before going and grabbing his phone he looks at the clock, 5:30pm. “Uhhh I mean. If Neil doesn’t mind me stealing the car for a bit me and Travis can go now?” Travis flinches at the mention of his name. He looks at Todd and Neil before staring at Sal with a look of, ‘Why the hell did you say me?’. Todd stands there with a look a disappointed parent might give before looking at Neil, “Hm.. Yeah sure why not? Just.. don’t get pulled over again Sal.. I cannot pay off another speeding ticket” Neil whines.

Sal laughs a little, “It wasn’t my fault! How was I meant to know I was going over the speed limit when Larry had sanity falls playing so loud?” Sal argues as if it’s a valid point. It isn’t. Travis looks a little scared to be with Sal behind the wheel now. Neil rolls his eyes before tossing Sal the keys. “Not a scratch or a ticket Sal,” Neil said with a narrowed gaze.

“Thank you Neillll” Sal dragged out with a bit of a chirp before turning to Travis and continued, “Get your shoes on,” Travis stared at Sal, a little dumb founded. With a sigh Travis just nods, he quickly heads up to Sal’s room getting his shoes on. Once he comes back down Sal is staring at his reflection in the mirror hanging up in the hallway. Todd and Neil have disappeared as well, Sal pulls a stray hair out from his mask.

Sal looks at Travis and quickly removes his hands as if he wasn’t doing anything. “Ready?” Sal asked, hands behind his back with a tilt to his head. “Yeah.” Travis nodded in response as well. Sal turned heel and reached for the doorknob, he opened it and held it for Travis. “After you,” he laughed softly with held out arms.

Travis covers his mouth before laughing, the skin around his eyes crinkles as he does. Sal gulps, he mutters something under his breath that Travis doesn’t quite catch, “What was that?” Travis asked as he stepped closer, “What? What do you mean?” Sal asked, staring at Travis through the holes in his mask. “You definitely just said something,” Travis replied as he stepped onto the front step. “Nope, nothing,” Sal said curtly before turning on his heel and following Travis out.

Travis looks over his shoulder with a cocked brow, “uh-huh.” Sal walked to the car, swinging the keys around his index finger, “yep.” Travis’s eyes followed Sal as he walked to the car. Travis opened the passenger side door and slid in. He closed the door and looked at the windows before his head turned to look at Salo in the driver's seat, “You really aren’t gonna tell me?” Travis asked. “There's nothing to tell ya if I didn’t say anything,” Sal hums out with a teasing tone

Travis’s lips fall to a thin line as he makes a noise while looking out the window, “You suck.” Sal laughs and nods as he starts the car, “Yep I sure do.” They both fall silent. Travis slowly looks at Sal who’s already staring at him. Travis' neck begins to redden, that was a dirty joke right..? It had to be if Sal was also looking at him. Travis opens his mouth to speak but the words die on his tongue as he stares at that expressionless mask. God, why did that serious ass mask make him want to die laughing after such a stupid comment?

Travis covers his mouth and looks away as he tries to hold back laughter, but it's no use he starts to laugh harshly. Sal rests his head against the steering wheel as they both begin to laugh. After what feels like 30 minutes had gone by they finally stopped laughing and headed to the store.

Sal parks, it's not at all straight. He's going over the line even.. Travis squinted at the poor parking job after getting out, “They really weren’t lying when they said you were a bad driver huh?” he asked with a hint of teasing in his tone “Hey, I'd like to see you try and drive with a prosthetic mask. See how well you do.” Sal bit back with amusement in his tone. Travis rolled his eyes as they started to walk in, “So what all, are we getting?” Travis asked as Sal grabbed a shopping cart. Sal said from behind his mask, “Food” Travis looks at Sal as they walk, “Food?” he repeats.

Sal looks back at Travis, “What, I don’t know, we just.. Grab whatever.” Travis sighs, “You guys are so unorganized.” Travis responds as they walk down the first aisle, Sal starts grabbing stuff and throwing it in the cart, (Canned vegetables, spaghetti sauce, rice, mac n cheese, hotdog buns, and the ramen Neil is SO tired of.) Travis stares at the cart of assorted items, none of which go together to make a proper meal. “Sal.. you know what.” He sighs before grabbing the cart, “Come with me.” he says as he starts pushing the cart, Sal follows behind

Travis helps Sal put together meals as they go through the aisles and get the stuff for them. Once they’ve put together at least six meals they start looking for simple things that can be made quickly or to snack on.

Travis stops at the lunch meat section, “Hey Sal what type of lunch meat do you guys eat? We should get bologna" Travis says with a big smile, he loves bologna. Sal stops in his tracks and looks at Travis. “Nuh uh, no way,” Sal says, shaking his head, his already messy hair swaying with each shake. “What why? Come on Sal!” Travis pleads as he stares at Sal holding the packaged meat.

Sal winces and looks elsewhere “Ugh dude seriously how could you like that stuff..” Sal fake gags under his mask. Travis rolls his eyes, “It's soooo good Sal come onnnnn.” he drags out playfully. Sal looks at Travis from the corner of his eye and slumps with a sigh, “Fine. Just.. Don’t let it touch anything else.” Travis smiles brightly. Even if Sal hated bologna more than anything else on this planet, how could he say no to this cu.. Guy who was like a dog wagging his tail for it.

Travis threw it in the cart. Sal grabs the handle of the cart ready to push it before he curses under his breath, “Shit.” Travis turns around to look at Sal, “Hm?” he hummed the gentle noise. “Ah, I forgot bread, we go through it like crazy when we get tired of ramen,” Sal says, running a hand up his neck and through his hair as he scratches his scalp. “It’s across the store,” Sal grumbles.

Travis listens before looking away shyly, “I.. I can run over and grab it real quick..?” he fiddles with his fingers a little, Sal looks at Travis “You.. Don’t have to.” he responded. Travis looks at Sal’s vacant stare, "I don't mind!” Travis said way too quickly, “R..Really,” he speaks a little slower, softer this time.

Sal laughs a little, “Thanks, Travis.” Travis feels his neck becoming hot at hearing the muffled words that are his name. He nods and quickly heads off to find the bread. After wandering for a moment he stops, takes a few steps back then heads down the aisle.

Travis stares at all the different breads and brands. His eyes go a bit wide as he realizes.. “ shit what type of bread do they like..? There's so many.. White or wheat..? Uhh..” He's mumbling to himself in the aisle. He's clearly overthinking this, it’s just bread after all.

While Travis continues to stare at the bread, internally panicking, he doesn’t overhear his name being called. He only snaps out of it once he feels a hand on his shoulder, he jumps and covers his face before looking. It's an older woman and her husband and two small kids. Travis recognizes them, they go to the church.

“Oh my, sorry I didn’t mean to frighten you dear.” She said with a small chuckle as she covered her mouth. “O-Oh.. uh I.. It’s not a problem..” Travis says looking down. He can’t make eye contact with her. “How are you, Travis? We haven’t seen you at church the past couple of days.” She asked with a polite smile.

Travis starts to pick at his fingers as he barely manages a response, “Y-Yeah.. Uh. Yes ma’am.. Just a bit under the weather.. That’s all.” he gulps, he can’t look. What if she doesn’t believe him, god what if she knows? He can’t even stand the thought of what her face might look like if she knew he was a fag..

Her words get drowned out as Travis’s thoughts become louder. He's on autopilot, answering her questions just praying she doesn’t know. He doesn’t look at her once. ‘Don’t let them know, Don’t let them see you’re a fag.’ is all he repeats in his head as he picks at his fingers.

Travis squeezes his eyes shut until finally he’s snapped out of it. He lifts his head and looks behind him as he hears his name being called.. Sal’s walking down the aisle to them with the cart in tow.

“Tavis, did you get the bread?” Sal asked loudly from down the aisle, Sal didn’t care about the bread. He was trying to distract Travis.. He saw Travis picking at his fingers.. He wanted to try and ease Travis by getting him thinking about stupid unimportant things. “H.. Huh? Oh.. yeah the bread, right?” Travis responded as he rubbed a hand over his face.

Sal is now standing next to Travis leaning against the handle of the cart with crossed arms and one foot propped up on the railing below, Travis takes a slight breath before finally making eye contact with the woman in front of him. “Hm,” the woman hummed as her eyes found Sal before looking back at Travis, “who’s this.. Interesting young man,” she asked clearly implying something about Sal..

Sal rolled his eyes beneath his mask, just because of his prosthetic a lot of people just assumed he worshiped the devil or some backwards bullshit. “Oh.. uh” Travis stumbled his words as he looked at Sal then back at the woman.. “H-He’s a friend. We were.. Going to a.. Youth thing out of town fo-for some church fundraiser ahah..” He fumbles as he tries to lie.

Sal’s expression matches the one of his mask now underneath. It did hurt a little to know Travis was embarrassed to be seen with him. At least that's what it felt like. “Yeah, we have to hurry now. Sorry ma’am.” He says as he grabs Travis’ arm and starts to walk away, comments from the couple could be heard as they walked. “God that boy is rude.” the woman said “And what the hell was wrong with his face” her husband continued. Sal had heard comments like that before so it was nothing off his back.

Sal grabbed the bread, wheat, and headed for checkout. As they checked out, they both stood quietly. Sal pushed the cart till he reached the car, Sal pulled the keys from his back pocket and unlocked it. He continues to quietly put the bags into the trunk.

Travis scratches his wrist as he quietly asks, “Why did you do that..?” Sal stops, he looks at Travis. “What?” Travis’ face contorts in anger as he asks a little louder. “I said Why did you fucking do that?” Sal looked back at the trunk as he spoke, “Because they were being weird and making you clearly uncomfortable.”

Travis’s head snapped up to look at Sal, “They were being weird? You were the one being weird Sal!” he shouted. Sal pauses once more, he grips the edge of the trunk, “Travis.” Sal spoke calmly while not looking at him. “I’m not like you Sal, not a fag! I-I’m normal!”

Sal turns and looks at Travis, with that empty stare. Travis really hated that he couldn’t read Sal’s face. “Stop looking at me like that you freak!” Travis shouted as he looked away. His fist clenched at his sides, he could feel tears pricking his eyes.. Why was he being like this again? Like his old self.

Sal stares at Travis for a moment longer before his hand twitched, like it was gonna do something but it didn’t.. Sal closed his eyes and took a slight breath in before reaching up with a shaky hand. One-handed he unclipped his mask and slowly pulled it from his face, he cradled it in his hand. Slowly he walked a little closer to Travis.

Travis didn’t look at Sal, hadn’t seen what Sal had done for him, he just kept repeating, “I’m normal.. I’m n..normal.” Sal reaches out with his mask in his hand as he says, “Travis.. You are normal. I’m normal. We are normal..” Travis looks at Sal, with breath catching immediately. He couldn’t speak a word. “We’re normal Travis.. They’re the weird ones.” Sal gulped after he finished. He felt bare.. But it’s okay. This was more than worth it. Sal smiled.

Travis stared at Sal's ruined face.. No. Travis wouldn’t dare use that word.. Disgust was not what he felt at the sight of Sal.. Travis’ lip twitched as he stared. He could never be disgusted by this gorgeous face, not in the slightest. “I.. fuck I didn’t..” Travis failed to get even a half-sentence out. He covers his face and lets out some sort of.. Whine? “I’m so fucking sorry Sal.” he sniffled into his hands as the tears finally fell from his eyes.

Sal held his mask as he wrapped his arms around the taller man. “It’s okay Travis.. Healing.. Takes time. I don’t hate you for being human. For being.. Normal.” he said softly against Travis’ shoulder. Travis bites his lip as he tries to stop his sobs. “You’re not weird Sal or a fag.. You’re normal.. I don’t.. I don’t know why I said that.. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry..” Sal pulls back a little and stares at Travis’ still covered face. He uses his free hand to move Travis’s hand. He stares at him with his head tilted and a small smile. “I know..” Travis moves his other hand and stares back at Sal.

This was his first time seeing Sal’s face.. Not his mask. Not blurred. It was his actual face.. Travis stared, and stared.. Fuck he couldn’t stop staring. Sal pressed his lips into a thin line as he stared back at Travis.. It was silent between them..

To be continued…