east of eden 𑁋 salvis.

XVII

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Travis ended up spending the night at Sal's. And then the next day, when Travis woke up tangled in blankets and Sal's limbs, it was obvious something had changed. Almost like a shift in the universe, something had changed. Something in Sal and Travis' dynamic, and almost like something in their fate. The vibe of the world had changed. At least for Travis it had.

He woke up at the crack of dawn, cuddled against Sal, head on Sal's chest and bodies tangled as close as they could get. Travis didn't get up immediately, only squinting his eyes at the sunlight streaming in through Sal's thin curtains for a moment before he closed his eyes again. He listened to the soft beat of Sal's heart in his chest, smiling a bit to himself. It was comforting to hear it still beating, though bittersweet. Only bittersweet thanks to his knowledge that the beating would end, and it would end soon. That these moments were extremely limited.

Travis fell back asleep after a few minutes of lying and listening to Sal's heartbeat. When he woke up again, Sal was gone. His prosthetic was gone from where it hung on the bed frame, his glass eye gone from its glass. Travis groggily sat up, immediately going to worry. What if Sal had done something? What if he'd decided to just end his suffering early..? God, Travis could hardly stomach the thought. He lurched out of bed almost as soon as the thought graced his mind, setting into motion though it brought hunger induced spots to his vision.

Travis began breathing heavily when he saw Sal's shoes were gone, as was the hoodie Sal always wore, the one that Travis knew at this point always laid on the floor next to the bedroom door so Sal could grab it and go. Travis hastily shoved his feet into his shoes and searched for one of Larry's hoodies-though one would still be a bit too small, it was too cold outside to go out without anything.

Though the fast movements of course hurt Travis all over, he was worried about Sal. And for the moment, the worry was turning into adrenaline that quickly overthrew his physical pain. He just wanted to make sure Sal was okay.

He first checked the parking lot of the apartments, thinking maybe Sal was smoking there. But he wasn't there. He checked Larry's apartment and treehouse after, finding so trace of Sal there either. After those three places, Travis didn't know where to check. He was out of ideas, as he didn't know where else Sal could possibly go. It was still too early for any of Sal's friends to be awake and hanging out with him.

He was at a loss, sighing as he started to make his way inside from Larry's treehouse. That was, until he heard someone shout his name. But not just anyone, Sal.

Travis looked in the direction the shout came from; up. And there Sal was, sitting on the edge of the roof, a cigarette in his hand and prosthetic sitting in his lap, his legs dangling off the roof. Travis rolled his eyes, of course he put in all that effort of searching for Sal just for Sal to be on the roof the whole time. He playfully shot a middle finger up at Sal, to which Sal returned the gesture with a laugh Travis could barely hear. Travis smiled up at him, shouting to him that he was a dumbass, but his smile dropped when Sal began to cough.

Travis' heart lurched with worry, a concerned frown quickly taking over. Sal coughed for a minute, doing as he had the day before and gripping tightly at his chest as he did. Eventually the coughing died down, ending with Sal groaning and flicking his cigarette into the snow below.

"Guess no more smoking for me." He muttered, the words barely being heard by the blonde below. Sal stood, clearly agitated, clipping on his prosthetic before he started walking away from the edge of the roof without another word. Travis watched until he couldn't see Sal anymore, making sure Sal wouldn't collapse or anything like that before he finally went back inside, only now starting to get affected by the mix of the cold and the pain of his injuries.

Travis made his way back inside and to Sal's apartment, where Sal was already waiting in his bedroom for Travis, a first aid kit open on his lap where he sat on the bed. Travis sighed, toeing off his snow covered shoes and taking off Larry's hoodie, tossing it across the room. Sal pats the bed next to him, to which Travis nods and sits next to Sal. He silently pulls his shirt off with a wince, feeling the fabric scrape against his burns. It's just now that he's really starting to feel the full pain of everything, now that he's not experiencing an anxiety induced adrenaline rush.

Travis watched Sal's face, trying to see a reaction. Luckily, Sal's prosthetic was discarded on the nightstand, allowing Travis to see Sal's reactions to his injuries. Sal grimaced, staring sadly at the injuries. At the peeling burns and the bruises and the self inflicted cuts up and down Travis' arms. Sal almost looked like he was going to cry. But he schooled himself, composing himself and making his face go numb as he reached into the first aid kit.

"This is going to hurt." He warned as he pulled burn cream out of the kit, squeezing a shit ton onto his hands and moving slowly towards Travis' abdomen. Travis nods, closing his eyes and gripping at his jeans as Sal's hands made contact with his burns. And yeah, as Sal said, it hurt like a bitch. It burned. But Travis tried not to show it hurt because he wasn't supposed to show pain. Travis was strong. He was a man. Men don't feel pain. Men aren't weak. Men don't cry.

Travis bit his tongue as Sal took care of the burns, trying to distract himself from all that pain with pain that hurt just a little bit less. And he tried not to cry from the pain, though his shoulders were already shaking from the pain and every time Sal would pull his hand away for a second to give Travis a break and then put his hand back Travis would flinch so hard he'd almost fall off the bed. It was obvious it hurt. But Travis still refused to show it.

Until he heard Sal sniffle. He opened his eyes at that, looking back to see a few tears fall down Sal's face. That was Travis' breaking point, letting himself cry. Not because he felt bad for himself, as he was sure that's why Sal was crying-because he felt bad for Travis. But rather because he was in pain. Physical and mental. He was in pain and he was stressed. Travis' whole body hurt and his heart hurt because he was going to lose the person that meant most to him.

Despite the physical pain though, Travis thinks the pain of knowing Sal was going to be gone probably hurt the worst. And so he cried. He let himself cry with Sal as Sal bandaged him up, and then when Sal was done and helped Travis put his shirt back on, he kept crying. He kept crying as Sal brought him into the gentlest hug possible and they cried together.

And as Travis cried, hugging Sal back, he resolved that this, crying, would probably become a common thing now that Sal was withering away right in front of Travis' eyes.

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