Salvis Oneshots

💔sleepover💙

A short one for y'all.
Comfort+one bed trope? Sign me the fuck up.

3rd person

Travis never thought he would be here again, laying stiff as a board in someone else's bed. His crush's bed. Sal's room, Sal's bed. He's been in this position a few times before, nothing extraordinary happened but the anxiety still plagued his mind.

His face burned, heart pounding. Did he breath loud? Was he too close? Should he move?

He shut his eyes. He decided he shouldn't make his presence known to the best of his abilities. Sal lay less than a foot away, face turned away. Travis had seen his face many times before, it was no bother to him anymore even if Sal had his shy moments.

That's what being friends is, right?

Both boys lay awake in their thoughts, believing the other was asleep long ago.

Sal didn't care that Travis lay so close next to him, wasn't the first time. Sal was more worried about his own demons, haunting him with hateful thoughts.

He held himself close, tears threatening to well up and have him break. Unfortunately, a shakey breath gave him away.

"Sal? Are you...are you alright?" He was met with panicked silence.

Travis sat up next to the shaking, silently crying boy in a stiff and uncomfortable manner. He dug his nails into his elbows. 'What would Sal do?' Travis leaned back on his clammy hands, thinking about how to go about this situation.

"Do you... want to talk?"

He was met with silence again. Sal cleared his throat, "I'll be fine." They both knew that was a lie.

Travis drew in a strained breath. He never knew how to handle these types of situations.

Sal wiped his eyes and sat up to face the other. "Can I ask you something kinda dumb?"

Travis nodded, "just so you know, I'm bad at words" he chuckled uncomfortably. Sal smiled and nodded even though they couldn't see one another.

"It's stupid," he chuckled and wiped his eyes and took a deep breath in. "Do you think I really matter? To the world I mean. To other people."

Travis's heart sank, he didn't know how to help Sal with something like this. Silence swept over the two boys, Travis bit his lip as he thought of what to say.

"Why do you think that?"

"I guess I never got treated like I do. My mom's death, my face, the bullying, and everything else wrong with me and my life. It feels like a sick joke the world is playing on me." Sal chuckled at his words, despite the serious subject matter.

"I'm sorry, Sal." He wasn't sure what else to say, he wasn't much of a comforting person.

"Yeah, it's fine. You weren't the worst bully I've had. It's just life kicking me in the fucking ass."

Travis smiled at that, but an awkwardness hung in the air. He tried to think of what Sal's friends would do here, and all he could come back to was something he's never really done before sincerely.

"Sorry if I woke you up, I can deal with this."

"It's fine, I wasn't really sleeping..." Travis furrowed his brows and took a breath. "Do you... Want a hug?"

The others breath halted, more tears threatened to spill. He hadn't been asked that in a long time.

"Please." Travis opened his arms hesitantly, and was surprised at how quickly Sal put his arms around him. Travis could feel his shirt and neck get covered in tears, but what surprised him most was how tight Sal held on.

He could feel the other's hands dig into his shoulder blades, tightening occasionally as if he was... Important to Sal. Travis loved it, and he held on for as long as Sal needed.

Occasionally Travis heard Sal swallow or let out a warm breath against his skin, but he didn't mind. He just didn't know what to do with his hands, so he gently grabbed the back of Sal's head.

Sal let out a breath and let go after what seemed like forever to the blonde boy. "Thank you. I know that's... Not something you'd do for anyone." Travis wiped his neck and covered his face, silently praying for the warmth on his cheeks to go away.

"Feel better, Sally Face?"

"Yeah," sal wiped away the remaining tears on his face. "I think I'm finally tired."

The boys lay back down facing each other.

"You matter, Sal. To your friends and your dad. And, somehow, you matter to me. I care about you." Travis turned onto his back in embarrassment. "And don't expect me to say that, ever again." Sal laughed in response, his ears becoming a light shade of red.

"You matter to me too, Trav."

(794 words)