requested by: @S3cr3tSynth
Travis walked downstairs at around 7am and he made a beeline for the door, but was stopped by his father. "Travis." His voice sent a shiver down his spine, it always has. Travis turned. Kenneth didn't speak, he just rose a hand and gestured with his index finger for his son to come closer, which he did, very reluctantly. He looked up at his father, knowing that if he didn't, it would anger him. "I won't be here when you get home."
"Why?"
"What?" Kenneth spat out.
Travis cowered back. "Nothing." He replied rather quickly and Kenneth stared him down and Travis felt it, he felt the way his body shivered with fear. He turned when his father didn't speak after a long moment and he walked towards the door.
"I'll be back late tomorrow."
Travis nodded. "Yes, sir." Then, he left and headed off to school. Relief washed over him as he grew at least two blocks away. He couldn't wait to be 18 and be able to leave without a worry, life would be so much better. Maybe, he could be okay with who he is, with who he liked... He walked into the school and headed to class and during lunch, he sat outside the cafeteria with Sal Fisher. They always hung out during lunch at least twice a week, it was nice because they were never bothered, the halls were always empty and Sal's friends didn't know about it. He felt Sal's fingers brush against his on the cold tile floor and Travis briefly smiled as he locked their pinky's together. Just to be clear, they weren't dating, Travis could never openly admit his sexuality, but they both knew they had crushes on each other, so they were technically dating but it went without saying it. "So, my dad's on some kind of business trip, I think. I was wondering if you wanted to.. stay over?" His voice grew shakier as he went on and he was flustered at the thought of him and Sal sleeping in the same room, it was sort of comforting but scary as hell.
Sal smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Travis smiled. "Cool." He looked at Sal from their hands and Sal smiled at the sight of him, he wanted to laugh at how flustered he was, it was cute.
"Cool." Sal replied. The bell rang and the two stood and their hands lost contact. And before students crowded the hallway, Sal quickly left a kiss on Travis' cheek. "See you later." He turned. Travis watched as Sal walked away, he was flustered than ever before. He could still feel where Sal's cold plastic lips had kissed him and he smiled. He remembered he had to get to class and turned and walked the opposite direction. And as Sal walked, he felt a hand take his shoulder and turn him around.
"Woah, woah."
He met eyes with Larry and smiled. "Hey, Larry."
"Don't hey Larry me. I overheard you and Phelps. Are you seriously gonna stay over at that dick's house?"
"Yeah..?"
"Sal, dude, you know I love you but you gotta stop giving assholes second chances." Sal looked down. "He's just gonna bully you." He claimed.
Sal looked up. "But he hasn't done anything to me in months, he's changed!" He defended, he desperately wanted to be believed.
Larry laughed. "That's hilarious." He paused and took Sal's shoulders. "Guys like him don't change."
Sal looked down again, he knew there was no convincing Larry, once his mind was set about something, it was set. He had to just agree with him to get out of this mess and he hated lying to him. He looked up and nodded. "Yeah..." He said. "You're right, I won't go over."
Larry dropped his shoulders and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Good." And later that day as Sal was at Larry's, playing video games, he realized he had to leave now to get to Travis' on time if he wanted to stop by his apartment to pack up a few things, so he pretended to check his phone and he sighed. Larry noticed and looked over as Sal flipped down his phone. "What's up?" He asked.
