Trigger warning: mention of self harm
Sal got out the bath and started drying himself. His hair was down and dripping on his back. He looked in the mirror and at the scared face he hated. Sighing, he picked up the mask and fastened it at the back also putting the glass eye back into his empty socket. He then started rummaging through the medicine drawer to find new bandages for his wrists. He knew some where there because he had placed them himself incase of an emergency. He found some and wrapped them round his wrists. He looked over at the pile of clothes Lisa had left out for him and cursed under his breath at the sight of a short sleeved t-shirt. He might be able to ask for one of Larry's hoodies with the excuse that he was just cold. He put on the t-shirt and almost fainted at how much it smelt like his best friend, after putting on the rest of the clothes he walked back over to Larry's room.
He walked into the room to see Larry still trying to dry his hair.
"You do realise you're gonna have to wash it right?" "So it'll just get wet again."
"Ah, you're right, by the way what took you so long?"
"I was making sure I got all the mud out my hair"
Larry got up carrying a pile of clothes and a towel and went into the bathroom. Sally quickly bandaged his wrists and got up to grab a Sanity Falls hoodie from the back of Larry's door. He was sure Larry wouldn't mind. About 15 minutes later Larry returned to the room. Topless. Sally was sure he was about to go into cardiac arrest at any second.
"I forgot my t-shirt" Larry said with a smile.
"Idiot" Sally replied chuckling.
"What's with the hoodie"
"I was cold, you don't mind do you?"
"No of course not except...."
"What?"
Larry sighed.
"Nah, it doesn't matter."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, it's nothing"
Sal was suspicious but decided not to pry. From outside he could hear a dog barking. Sal wasn't a big fan of dogs anymore for obvious reasons. Small dogs were fine, big dogs he wasn't too happy with but if it looked friendly enough it wasn't as bad. He had told Larry his fear but not any details about why he was scared of dogs. The bark sounded like it came from a big dog, it was deep and had a slight tint of aggression in it, and it was getting closer. Larry was looking at Sal noticing how he had stiffened up.
"You ok Sal?" He asked.
Sal nodded but he had started to shake slightly. The barking was getting closer and more aggressive.
"Hey, don't worry it probably just smells a squirrel or Gizmo." Larry had stood up to sit beside Sal on the bean bag. Putting his arm around his friend, knowing that would help him calm down. Sally tried to calm down but the barks were getting really bad. Even Larry was looking a bit worried.
Sally couldn't take it.
Without warning he got up and ran into the bathroom with Larry calling after him. He locked the door and slid down onto the cold floor, shaking with his hands over his ears. He ripped the mask off his face and from the other side of the door he could hear Larry talking to him.
"Dude are you okay?"
There was no answer.
"Look, it's gone now it's okay."
Sally grabbed his mask and put it on, he then opened the bathroom door to see Larry standing there with a concerned look on his face. He removed his hands from his ears to listen out for any barks.
It was silent.
"See, it's gone now, I scared it off by blasting some Sanity Falls."
Sally laughed.
"I've got some beer in the treehouse let's get drunk ok?"
Sally's face lit up upon hearing this.
Larry smiled and went to grab his red hoodie from his room. They left through the back door. The rain has become more of a drizzle now so there wasn't much need to run. Sally was sticking a lot closer to Larry and also looking around for any sign of a dog. Larry took his hand to reassure him and Sally immediately felt a lot calmer. They got to the tree house and Sally quickly found the beer cans behind a beanbag. They opened one each and began to drink. And hour later and Larry was clearly drunk while Sal was just a little tipsy.
"S-sally face come over here" Larry said in a stutter.
"Why" he replied chuckling.
"I wanna cuddle with youuuu"
Sally laughed and made his way over to the other bean bag, flopping down onto Larry with a thud. Larry wrapped his arms round his friends waist and pulled him in closer. He smelt very strongly of beer, but that was no surprise.
"Y-you know I love you right?"
"Yes Larry, I know you love me, I love you too."
"G-good."
Sally didn't really expect what happened next. Larry had gently moved his mask and kissed him on the cheek. It was short, not quite a peck but before Sal had time to react it was already over.
"I didn't know you would kiss a boy" He said while adjusting his mask.
"I've kissed many boys actually"
Sally was still in shock about what happened so when Larry handed him a can and instructed him to 'drink up' that's exactly what he did. Hours later he was even more drunk than his best friend, who had started to sober up a little.
"Sally we need to go back"
"Noooooo my dad's gonna kill me"
"Your dad's not in town idiot, but you'll probably do something stupid if I leave you so stay over at mine"
About 10 minutes later they both stumbled back to Larry's room through the back door, Sal almost collapsed on Larry's bed which was probably the comfiest thing to exist. Larry let Sally borrow one of his Sanity Falls t-shirts which was far to big for him and looked more like a dress. Sal took off his jeans and lay back down on Larry's bed wearing just the t-shirt and his boxers, he had forgotten all about the bandages on his arms but to be honest he didn't care. He curled up on one side of the bed and felt Larry lay down beside him.
"This bed is taken" he said jokingly.
There was no answer from the other boy in the bed, just deep breathing. Sal took off his mask and hung it over the edge of the bed. Before long he was asleep.
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Holy crap another long chapter, and 650 reads omggggggg. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far, plz let me know if it gets boring/if a character doesn't seem accurate. :)
