If You Think I'm Pretty [Sal FisherxFem!Reader]

The Christmas Panic.

Placing your spoon into your empty bowl as you finished chewing and swallowing the last mouthful of your dessert, you look around the table with a smile. Despite prior events, everybody was happily chatting to one another as they finished their own desserts.

Your gaze moves to Sal and you watch as he lifts his mask slightly in order to take the final mouthful of his own dessert. You smile as his gaze meets yours and he drops his mask back in place before putting down his spoon.

"You alright?" You ask the bluenette, noting that he was quiet but then again Sal was never a very loud individual.

"Yeah," He says but his gaze shifting from yours to the table in front of him told you otherwise.

You sigh softly before gently taking his hand beneath the table. "Come help me take these dishes to the dishwasher," You say, squeezing his hand before letting go and standing up.

Picking up your empty dish and heading to the kitchen, Sal picks up his own dish before following you. You crouch down, opening the dishwasher and place both your dishes and spoons inside before closing it and standing again.

You wash your hands quickly before turning to look at Sal, who was leaned against a kitchen counter as he gazed at the ground.

"Sal, what's going on in that head of yours?" You ask, leaning on the counter beside him.

"I shouldn't have showed Travis my face." He murmured, fiddling with the rings on his slim fingers. "...It was all I could think of to distract him, though."

"He didn't say anything mean about it, Sal." You say, watching the movements of his fingers.

"...He was going to," Sal says after a moment.

"You don't know that. Besides, the guys love for you seems unwavering." You tease, nudging him playfully and you watch his eyes crinkle, indicating he was smiling.

Sal laughed, running his hand through his blue locks. "Yeah, it's still weird... I mean the guy made our lives hell through out most of high school but it turned out he just had a crush on me? On me?"

"Yeah doesn't seem like a healthy way to deal with your issues." You smile at him. "Why are you surprised he'd have a crush on you? You're a very sweet guy, Sal- And you're hot."

You note the tips of his ears turning red and laugh before shifting to stand in front of him, taking his hands. "...There's something else, isn't there?"

He gazes down at your entwined hands for a moment before he speaks. "I'm also... I'm also worried about leading him on." Sal admits, moving his gaze to yours. "He has even less experience with love than I do thanks to his dad so I'm worried he may get the wrong idea,"

"Is that why you don't talk to him much?" You ask, tilting your head.

The bluenette nods. "Part of the reason,"

You lean up and kissing the cool lips of his prosthetic gently. "I think he's just happy to have friends right now, Blue. Besides if he does assume theres something more going on for whatever reason, just tell him the truth." You shrug and he nods once again.

You shift to glance over at the table, Travis was deep in conversation with Neil. "I'm glad he seems to be getting on with everybody,"

Sal hums in response, letting go of your hands to wrap his arms around your waist and you smile, turning back to face him. "You're so clingy," You murmur as he pulls you into a hug which you happily return, leaning your head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," The bluenette simply says in response, rocking you both gently in the hug.

After exchanging presents and the others leaving, Travis helped you clear up the apartment while Sal went to the bathrooom. Your head lifts to face his direction when you hear him leave the bathroom and smile at him as he walks over to you. "You better have washed your hands," You murmur as he pulls you into a hug.

"Of course I did, I'm not Larry." He laughs softly.

"Hey, Sal?" A voice perks up beside you and he lets go of you to look at Travis. "Thank for what you did back there... And, uh, you don't have to wear it around me. I-If you don't want to, I just-"

You hear Sal suck in a breath in an effort to not panic. "I don't know if I can do that, Trav." The bluenette glanced away. "I can tell you've changed but you still used to bully me about my appearance a lot. It may take a little while for me to trust you enough to not wear it."

Travis seems to visibly wilt at Sals words but nods in understanding. "Right, um- I'm sorry." He mutters before heading to his room.

"You alright?" You ask the bluenette as he turns back to you, the expression in his eyes unreadable.

He takes your hand, pulling you into your bedroom and shutting the door. Sal lets go of your hand in order to quickly unbuckle his mask, placing it on your desk before slumping down into the desk chair. Sal was hunched over and gripping his hair, his breathing fast and erratic. You recognised that he was having a panic attack and crouched down in front of him.

"Sal? Sal listen to me." You place a hand on his thigh. "Breathe in one, two, three, four, five- Breathe out one, two, three, four, five- That's it," You repeat your words as Sal follows you instructions, his breathing soon returning to normal.

"Good, you did so well Blue." You murmur, cupping his cheek and brushing a stray tear away from his face with your thumb. "You wanna talk about it?"

Sal shakes his head 'no'.

"You wanna go cuddle?" He nods and you take his hand, gently leading him to the bed. You both lay down, leaning your head on his chest as he holds you close.