|'Sally Face Oneshots'|

'Cracks' |Sal x Travis|

TW!!|| Swearing, mentions of blood, wounds, and violence
Made for my best friend and (not actually) adopted daughter, Ali :)
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December 3rd, 1993, 8:49am

     Travis' feet pounded on the sidewalk like rain drenching concrete, his tired legs restlessly trying to carry him to school. The frosty air bit at his nose and made his eyes sting as his fingertips went numb. For the past week, he had been late for school, and has had to walk, or more accurately run, which wasn't easy, due to the frigid weather conditions and him barley having any decent winter clothing, the only difference this time was that he wasn't ridiculously late. All he could manage was a white collar shirt, and a thin, black jacket he had retrieved from the back of his closet, along with a pair of ripped denim jeans. Due his painfully strict father, Travis had to leave without his father seeing the rips in the fabric of his jeans, since his dad didn't approve of them. Having been the only clean thing he could've worn besides shorts, he was frankly left without an option. Despite this, Travis was still freezing, especially with his sensitivity to intense weather. Travis simply refused to be late again, since the wrath of his father that had been permanently ingrained into his brain like a sunburn served as an painful reminder as to why he needed to hurry the fuck up.

     As the dreading image of the large school building came into view, Travis' feet finally halted after a good 20 minutes of on and off running, which shortened his walk from his house to the school by a good 35 minutes. His breath came out as ragged and his heart pounded against his ribcage as a result, sweat collecting above his brows, his legs and fingertips numbed by the cold. The school, surrounded by thick fog that peeked out from behind the brick structure, the limited amount of trees had now to rid itself of its leaves, which had once faded into the orange and red hue of autumn, now remaining plain, with a glazed over the layer of frost of winter. It was honestly beautiful, despite the painful numbness and the sore, dry throats caused by the icy air, and the fact that Travis despised school, as well as the rest of the students.

Travis' POV

     Fucking great, it just had to be freezing today, the one day my sweater is dirty, is the day it's 29°F. Don't get me wrong, I love winter, but this kind of crap just reminds me how the world is constantly working against me. My throat is killing me, I can't feel my fingers, or my nose, and my legs hurt like hell, or they would if I could actually feel them. Then again, I'd rather be at school than at home, so I suppose it was worth it, and I do love the scenery. I typically take the route on the trails, it's actually really pretty, the wilted vines crawling up the pine trees, dried leaves and pine straw like an awning across the pathway, frost coating the dead grass, I don't mind having to walk sometimes. The aftermath sucks though. There were plenty of kids that were just showing up to school, including a tall Spanish boy and a short bluenette with those stupid buckles around the back of his head. Of course, just my luck that Sal and Larry show up at school at the exact same time I do, and I look fucking ridiculous. I'm sweaty as hell, my face is flushed from the cold, and I'm completely out of breath. They were walking on the other of the two sidewalks, along with some kids running across the street to my left to reach the school. 

     I tried to gather myself and keep walking, but I knew that I still looked like I was about to pass out. My chest hurt like hell, it felt as if I just swallowed a glacier, but I kept telling myself that it would be warmer inside (it never is warmer inside, I'm pretty sure the heater was always broken). Once I finally started to walk again, I was trying to walk ahead of Sal and Larry, I was too tired to insult either one of them. At some point I could see what they were wearing, Larry had a bright red jacket that looked at least a few years old, and Sal was wearing a black windbreaker jacket with blue, fingerless gloves that almost perfectly matched his navy blue converse. Along with a pair of green earmuffs that fit in an odd way because of his mask—I mean—his prosthetic, and his pigtails. I'm observing him too closely, I need to hurry up. I could practically feel Larry's eyes burning in the side of my skull when he shot a glare at me, did my existence simply offend him or something? I glanced over right as he gave me a death glare while Sal was rambling about whatever, and I glared back at him.
     "What? You got a problem, asshole?" To be fair, I have been a pretty big asshole to Sal and his friends for the past 3 damn years, so he has the right to hold a grudge. Sal stopped talking and turned to look at me, and I averted my gaze from Larry over to Sal.
     "Well good morning to you too." Larry replied, blatantly irritated at my presence.
     "Travis, you look like you're about to pass out, are you okay man?" Sal asked.
     "Buzz off, Fisher, I'm fine." I probably looked worse than I thought I did, and I get guarantee that my face was more flushed than it just was, maybe the cold was really getting to me, I wasn't exactly wearing appropriate winter clothing, so it must've been that.
     "Chill the fuck out—he's just tryna be nice, jackass." Larry butt in, who of course couldn't keep his mouth shut.
     "Well, I said I'm fine, so leave me alone."
I ignored whatever Larry said next and I quickly walked ahead of them.
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