Real Care : A Sal x Travis Fan Fiction

Take Me Into Your Mind.

Sal had taken some time to himself, and he was glad he did, He needed a mental health break. Sal folded some laundry and cleaned the house a bit, picked up his room. Things Sal needed to get done he did, it made him happy to have a clean space. Sal watched tv, played with and fed gizmo- and ate a quick meal. He hadn't been hungry lately. The weekend went by fine, however the group took a bit of time to talk about their plan to get the records on Monday. They needed to get those records of the town. They hoped they would find history of the cult- and hopefully a weakness. Sal was pretty happy to see travis on Monday- and even happier to hear Travis would be trying to get a job at the apartments now that his time was up working there for free. Travis and Sal no longer worked on their math project from a few weeks before, but slowly started to grow closer and closer in the classroom, eventually just sitting together. The group told Lisa that they needed to spend time after school at the library, all of them. Though Lisa knew they were up to something, as Larry would never agree to go to the library, he barely went to school as it is, but she knew that they were teens- and let them go, smiling as they left in her car...she prayed they wouldn't crash it.
However, much to Larry's dismay- they were actually going to the library. Sal sat in the back seat of the tan colored car, crushed between Ashley and Travis as Larry drove, window rolled down as he smoked a cigarette. "Anyone want one? Sal?" Larry asked, and Sal shook his head. "I'm fine after my last one a while ago." Sal said, and the rest of them shook their heads. "That was a while ago- I'm glad you're pacing yourself Sal" Larry said, and Sal shrugged. Sal was okay with a blunt or a cigarette every now and again- but of course it wasn't a regular thing, Sal was deathly afraid of becoming addicted to either ever since his dad became addicted to alcohol. The first 5-6 years after his mother's death was the worst..his dad never really came home, Sal knew he didn't want to. He was never really physically hurt by his dad at all, but a lot of late nights and early mornings cleaning vomit, taking his dad from the floor to his bed, caring for him during his hangovers. In the 6th grade, henry decided to start getting help, and had worked to keep away from alcohol since. A particular event jumpstarted the decision- and he started taking Sal to a more serious therapist after that night. Sal didn't like to think about it- glancing to his wrist for a second before looking to Travis, and pulling his sleeve down a tad, feeling colder than he was before. It was a snowy day. Sal adjusted his prosthetic on his face as they pulled up to the nockfell library. It was built about 50-80 years after the oldest building, the phelps ministry was built. records were kept in the churches before library's were built- Apparently. He remembered hearing it during a field trip learning about Nockfells 'colonial' times. Ashlry had just bought a coffee and put some sleeping pills within the drink, putting some half and half in it and giving it to Travis. "Alrighty preacher boy, you ready to do this?" She asked- and Travis looked down at the coffee. "Listen Travis, you don't gotta do this if you don't want to-" Sal started
"Well then how are we gonna-" Larry interrupted before Ashley elbowed his side, turning in her seat. "Ow!"
"That's what you get." She commented before Sal continued "but seriously Travis- we don't wanna pressure you to do this, okay? You're involved enough- and we don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with." Sal said, and Travis sighed, taking a breath. "I want to." Travis stated, and Sal patted his back "just know Travis- you can say no to these things any time." He said, wanting to teach Travis to avoid that kind of peer pressure and understand consent to basic things. Travis had grown a habit to agreeing to anything the gang had asked him to do, from something like throwing away random trash to...literally anything. Since Sal found out about Travis' abuse, he decided to try to teach him to say no- cuz even Sal knew Travis really didn't want to say okay to folding Larry's laundry. Sal honestly thought that Travis was gonna do anything to please them, make them appreciate his presence and not be mad at him. But Travis didn't understand that the entire group wanted him to be around with no strings attached. Though Larry would take advantage of anyone who was willing to do his chores, Sal quickly corrected Larry. He hadn't told the group about Travis' abuse, not even Larry. Travis placed his trust within Sal and he planned to keep that trust. The group got out, and walked through the doors of the old brick building. It was honestly too cold to go out anywhere besides work and school, the town was deserted, and so was the library. "Go on, you got this Travis." Sal whispered in Travis ear, and the feeling sent a shiver up his spine "o-okay.." Travis said, walking up to the front desk and smiling at the librarian "h-hey ms. Dubose." Travis said, the lady looking up in a bit of surprise, unaware of the others in the room since they had scurried away to the back of the library. "Well hello mr. Phelps, how lovely it is to see you today! My, it looks like you've gotten younger..have you been to the beach? You seem quite tan!" The old woman said, and Travis almost cringed. "S-sorry ma'm, you must be thinking of my father, I'm Travis phelps- not Kenneth phelps." He said. The Lady nodded "ah yes- sorry! I must have forgotten- are you here to study? Seems like a cold day for that.." she said, setting down her book "um- yeah! Just catching up on my studies! Um- I brought a coffee for you actually. I know it must be a cold day, thank you for working this late." He said, setting the cup on the counter, letting her take it. "There's um..some cream in there too." He said, waiting nervously as she inspected it, a bead of sweat forming even in the cold room. Was he doing this right? Oh God, what if he got caught- oh god- oh god- oh god-