•The Note• {Travis x Sal}

5

Sal POV:

Sal prepped his breakfast for both him and his Dad, who was clearly hungover. Sal swore to himself he'd never drink because of his father, and how strongly addiction ran throughout the family. He laid the bowl of cereal next the coffee table where Henry was promptly asleep. And Sal quickly ate his before heading to the basement where Larry resided.

He knocked on Larry's door three times before opening it, seeing a zoned out Larry finishing the end of a blunt. "Dude, you're not supposed to smoke before school, dumbass! You're gonna be stoned by English class and you know she'll report you." Sal scolded Larry, snatching the remains and putting it out in a nearby ash tray.

"Meh, she'll be fine if a student has a little bit of a high, ain't nothin to fret about." Larry said calmly. "How much have you smoked, dude?" Sal asked, "uhh...two?" He raised an eyebrow. "Two what? Two puffs? Two drags?-"

"Two wholes, dude, I had a fucked up night, k? Let me indulge." Larry sighed, crossing his legs as he laid back in his bean bag chair. "No wonder your room is so damn foggy, your hotboxing your room."

"It's fine, sallym-" Larry was cut off, "you're not going to school. No fucking way I'm letting you get caught. You take the day off." Larry shrugged, leaning back and blinking slowly. "You do know ash and everybody is coming over later, right? And she doesn't smoke, nor does Todd. So open a window or something, jeez." Sal said, frustrated as he opened a window and cracked the door that led to the treehouse.

"Whatever, man. You're too serious sometimes, you need to chill out. Drink a beer, or hit a dab, man, I don't know. You're ruining my buzz." Larry said, not realizing how much his words hurt sal.

Sal paused, his eyes wide, hurt. He didn't say anything, he relaxed his shoulders, and made a blank expression. He knew Larry didn't know what he was saying, but to hear that from someone he considered a brother just hurt.

He stormed out of Larry's room, slamming the door. Lisa wasn't home so he could care less at this point. All he cared about was getting to school. He furrowed his eyebrows, a scowl almost resembling Travis' crossed his face.

Yeah, maybe he might've been overreacting but Jesus, why would Larry say something like that? He knew how sensitive Sal was about alcoholism and drugs and whatnot, especially when talking about Sal consuming said stuff.

He shivered as he made his way back to his room, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. He pressed the floor one button, better known as the lobby, and stopped by Mr. Addison to get some tea.

"Good morning, Sal! It's unexpected to see you visiting at such an ungodly hour, hm?" His voice rung, creepily almost. Not creepy as in Mr. Addison was creepy, his voice, mannerisms, and just how he sounded was..uncanny? Sal wasn't sure.

"Addison tea, please and thank you. I just need a jumpstart to my morning, it hasn't been so well." Mr. Addison simply nodded and his eyes disappeared from the mail slot momentarily, before his pale, lanky hands offered a small teacup.

"Good day, Sal. I hope your day is much better than your morning. Goodbye." And with that, he was gone. Sal took the cup gratefully and took a sip. It was bitter, and thick. Almost more like sludge than actual tea. Sal excused it for not having any sugar, and chugged the rest of it down before shoving the cup in his pocket.

The bus soon stopped in front of the apartments and Sal got on, suddenly more happy than before. He saw Travis' blonde hair blowing slightly from his window being cracked, and he decided to sit next to him, again.

Travis POV:

Travis felt the breeze quietly brush through his hair, it was nice. He felt at peace for a moment until he felt a weight drag him down slightly, and he turned to see Sal sitting next to him. It scared him, and practically made him jump out of the seat.

Just the sight of him made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. "Morning, Travis." Sal spoke softly, as to not startle him any further than he already had. "What are you doing here, freak!?" He talked quietly, but angrier none the less. "Shouldn't you be sitting with that other homo?" He said, sounding more curious than angry.

"Larry is staying home today, and he really upset me so I decided to sit next to someone else I consider close." Travis felt his heart race and the tips of his ears flushed red. 'Close? He considered me close??' "Okay." Travis spoke, looking away. His voice was shaky, and confused.

"You did get my number, right?" Sal asked, changing the subject. "Yeah, why?" He looked back at Sal, who displayed more of a puzzled look on his face. "I just wanted to make sure you could message me, or call."

"I don't think I'm ready yet." Travis said, surprisingly honest. He was holding back every instinct to punch Sal right out of his seat, which he was doing decently well at. "Okay! That's fine, that's perfectly okay. I just wanted to make sure you didn't lose it." Travis nodded.

"Why—why did Larry upset you?" Travis asked, nervously trying to start conversation. "I don't really want to talk about it, he was being insensitive, and high. Very high."

"—oh. Okay." Travis replied, embarrassed that he made Sal think about it again, especially if it made him sad. He began to fidget with his thumbs, intertwining and undoing his thumbs constantly.

Sal picked up on it, and realized what he had done. "It isn't anything horrible— it's just, I'm really sensitive towards the topics of drugs and alcohol and Larry got mad at me— and told me to drink a beer or something to quit being so serious." Sal looked away.

Travis' eyes widened. "I know, I know, I'm being dramatic-"

"No, no, not at all. That's reasonable. Very reasonable. I get sensitive to topics about bea—er—stuff. Stuff that I don't think I'm ready to talk about yet." Sal nodded. "Thank you for talking to me, I'm glad you're able to open up to me more." He smiled, they both did. Travis knew he was smiling because Sal's eyes crinkled, and you could slightly see his eyebrow lift up, if you looked hard enough.

"I like when you smile." Travis said, not realizing until it was too late. "I— I'm sorry—I didn't mean to say that." He looked away again, embarrassed. It made Sal smile harder. "Thanks. I like when you smile too, I think you look pretty with braces." Travis about died right then and then, or threw up, maybe both.

Sal was nearly the same, wanting to pull out a over exaggerated dagger and stab himself in the chest over the amount of embarrassment he felt saying that. "—thanks." Travis said, leaning forward slightly to rest his forehead on the bus seat. Mainly to keep himself from passing out.

"Anytime, Travis."

{time skip}

Sal POV:

Sal walked into math class, dreading the project Mrs. Packerton had brought up a week prior. "Good morning, class. As you all know, today is the day we start our projects! You will be given a partner, and will make a presentation breaking down a formula and giving the correct answer." She spoke, smacking her lips at the end of each sentence. It drove Sal up the walls, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

She began pointing at different people, pairing them up and giving them their formula. She eventually pointed to Sal, and then flicked her finger towards Travis, which made him slam his head into a desk. It made Sal laugh, but also concerned him.

"You will begin these projects tonight, I don't care how, when, or whatever. Just get them done by next Tuesday." She then sat back down and the class broke up into their respective groups.

Travis was forced to move next to Sal, and you could clearly see his expression was far from content. "Okay, so, it's just a basic division equation so it'll take us no time to solve it." Sal said, confident. "Yeah, because you're actually fucking smart. I have a F in this class." He said angrily, but sal took it as a compliment.

"Well, you can come over to my house and we can work on the project there?" Sal suggested. "Your house? Yeah if I wanted my dad to have my head on a stake!" Travis said. "Okay then we can go to your house?"

"Your house it is." Travis said immediately. "Okay, so we can meet up every day after school until, like, I don't know—5? Until Tuesday." Travis shrugged, and they both agreed to meet up.