east of eden 𑁋 salvis.

XXII

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They stop as the sun begins to set on the horizon, at a gas station. Travis gets out to stretch his legs, debating waking Sal up as well but deciding against it. Sal needs all the sleep he can get, even if it means Travis has to leave his side for a few minutes at a random gas station in Iowa.

He watches Angela pump the gas, not saying a word to her as he does so. And yeah, he's sure he seems like a complete weirdo right now, but Travis has never been good at talking to people. Especially not strangers.

Angela looks up at him after a minute of him blankly staring at her, nodding and smiling at him. She doesn't seem to be all that talkative either, but she does seem friendly regardless. She, much like Sal, just doesn't seem to be much of a talker when it comes to new people. Travis understands and doesn't try starting up a conversation despite her friendliness, instead just smiling back.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Angela asks after a moment, looking through the window of the van at Sal. Travis turns to look at him as well, butterflies fluttering in his stomach at her question. His cheeks burn fire hot, though he's not sure why, as he shakes his head.

"No- Uh- Fuck- No, he isn't. We're just friends. I'm not gay." Travis mutters, stumbling over his words. Angela turns to look at him, clearly unbelieving of his words, and really for once Travis can't blame her. He's blushing and his stomach's got butterflies beating aggressively against the walls of it and he's stumbling over his words purely from being flustered at the thought of dating Sal.

What if he is gay? What if he likes-
Travis jumps practically five feet in the air as the door of the van slides open next to him. He turns to look at whoever's exiting, smiling when he's greeted with Sal's tired eyes.

"Hey, Sally Face. How'd you sleep?" Travis greets Sal with a soft smile, one that Sal quickly returns. Sal shrugs in response to Travis' question, coming to stand next to him and putting his head on Travis' shoulder. Travis flinches but doesn't back away, taking a deep breath. He's not used to these kind of touches, or any sort of touch that doesn't result in pain.

"I slept okay." He murmurs, voice still thick with sleep. Travis nods, trying to ignore the urge to turn his head and kiss Sal's head, or the forehead of his prosthetic. Angela gives Travis a knowing look, paying for the gas and closing the van door, since Sal left it open.

"C'mon, let's go get snacks." She states, waving the two in the direction of the gas station that the others disappeared into as soon as the van had come to a stop. Travis nods, waiting to take a step until Sal's picked his head up and switches to instead hold Travis' hand. His breathing, Travis notices, is still odd and labored. He tries not to think too hard about it for the moment, but it quickly proves to be hard.

Travis pulls Sal aside once they're inside the gas station, making sure no one's around as he turns to face Sal, placing his shaking hands on Sal's shoulders. His eyes are wide and his heart is beating fast from anxiety, though Sal doesn't seem to pick up on it, surprisingly. Travis assumes he's probably still tired, or he's too focused on breathing to notice much else.

"Are you okay?" Travis asks, voice hushed so no one else in the building hears. He doesn't want to catch anyone's attention, for multiple reasons. The biggest being that he isn't sure if Sal wants people to know about his heart condition.

Sal nods, though he's disproven when he takes a particularly deep breath and winces. Travis stares at him, hoping that if he stays silent for long enough, Sal will come clean.

It works.

"No, my chest and my ribs hurt really bad." Sal mutters, not looking at Travis. Instead, he chooses to look at the floor, almost as though he's ashamed. Travis' eyes go wide with worry, but he doesn't know what to do. Is he supposed to take Sal to the hospital? Is he having a heart attack?

"Why?" He knows it's a stupid question, but Travis really is at a loss for words right now. His thoughts are scrambled, and he's hoping maybe if he can get Sal to be more descriptive or just say more, then maybe he'll be able to get his thoughts together.

"I uhm- It's not 'cause of my heart, Trav. I promise you that." Sal mutters, finally looking back up at Travis now. His real eye races around Travis' face, trying to pick up on Travis' body language to see if he's upset or not. Which he really isn't, he's just worried. He doesn't want Sal to be in pain, he wants to help him.

"Then what is it?" Travis demands, grabbing Sal's shoulders and shaking him a bit by instinct. He instantly feels bad as Sal's eyes go wide and he winces again, muttering a small sorry to the other boy. Sal shakes his head and reassures Travis that it's okay, I'm okay, but Travis has a hard time believing it.

"I use bandages to make my chest look flat. And you're really not supposed to do that. But I do it anyways, and- I've been wearing them since the night we left." Travis' eyes go even wider, if that's even possible at this point. Sal's been wearing bandages to make himself look flat, like a boy, and he's been doing this for God knows how long.

"Take them off." Sal's eyes go wide again, and he goes to protest, but Travis' face goes dark and angry, and Sal quickly shuts up.

"Take them off, Sal." Travis repeats, not allowing any room for Sal to protest. He knows he's probably scaring the shit out of Sal but at the moment he doesn't care. What he wants is for Sal to be safe, and if that means forcing him to take these damned bandages off then so be it.

Sal nods, slowly taking a step backwards to escape Travis' grip. He stares at Travis for a moment longer before slinking off to the bathrooms, disappearing inside the men's one. Travis watches the door for a second after Sal's disappeared inside it, before he turns and begins to actually browse the isles for snacks. It's just now that he realizes he's starving.

Sal returns to Travis' side after a few minutes, announcing his return by slipping his hand inside Travis'. Travis doesn't look at him, too busy trying to figure out what chips to get, and Sal doesn't say anything to him. Travis takes that as a bad sign, so he keeps his mouth shut as well, not wanting to hurt Sal's feelings further.

They pay for their snacks soon after, walking out to the van and waiting inside for everyone else. Sal takes the opportunity while the others are gone to stretch out on the seats, placing his head on Travis' lap. His hair spreads out on Travis' legs-as much as it can while it's in pigtails at least- And Travis smiles down at the boy in his lap. This feels nice. He wants it to always be like this. Just the two of them, Sal's head in Travis' lap and a small, content smile on Travis' face.

He knows that's impossible, but for the moment, Travis hopes this feeling, this moment, could last for eternity.

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