The Blue Boy

Go Away, Johnson!

Sal's POV

I wake up in Larry's bed, sunlight just barely coming in through the blinds. I hear quiet crying, but I'm too tired to open my eyes right now.

A sheet is tossed over my shoulders.

The crying turns into sobs and I wake up fully, worried.

When I sit up, Larry is sitting on his beanbag chair and crying into his hands. He's muttering some words under his breath but I can't make them out.

"L-Larry?" He looks up at me, "What's wrong?" I quickly get out of bed and kneel down in front of him.

"Why didn't y-you tell m-me?" His lip quivers and his hands are shaking.

"Tell you what?" I grip my hands onto his shoulders and look into his eyes.

He sniffs before talking, "about y-your dad,"

His eyes are red and puffy from sobbing, and his cheeks are stained by tears. Some strands of hair are stuck to his face, and his pupils are big and pierce into my soul.

"I just...I thought you wouldn't care," I force out.

His face goes from sadness to slight anger. "Thought I wouldn't care?" He furrows his eyebrows. "Thought I wouldn't care about my best friend hurting at home?! Thought I wouldn't care about you?!"

I back away a little bit. When he's upset, he's very scary. "Larry, I--"

"Why wouldn't I care, Sal?!" He stands up and pulls at his hair in annoyance, "Do you really think that just because we haven't known each other long, that I would be an asshole about it?!?"

He's towering over me at this point, and I'm starting to cry. "L-Larry...it's n-not like that--"

"Then what is it like, huh?!" He steps closer and I scoot backwards until my back hits the wall.

"Larry, y-you're s-scaring me," My hands start shaking and hot tears race down my face. What's gotten into you?

"I'm scaring you?!" He steps closer again, "You scare me when you don't tell me what's wrong!"

He's still crying, but by now they're tears of anger.

My whole body is shaking and I can feel the beginning of a panic attack coming on. The sweaty palms, my racing heart, it's getting hard to breathe.

I use what little strength I have to run out of his room and up the stairs to my apartment.

He needs to calm down. Fuck, I can't breathe.

I slam the door to my apartment and slide down to the floor.

My breathing is hectic and my heart is thumping out of my fucking chest.

In...out..in.....out, breathe, Sal.

Gizmo comes up to me and sits in my lap, trying to calm me down. I tear off my mask so I can breathe better.

"Fucking hell.." I finally get my breath back and focus on not shaking.

There's a quiet knock on the door and I jump up, quietly apologizing to Gizmo.

I run into my room, closing the door harshly. Fuck! My prosthetic!

I left it sitting by the front door without realizing it. I hear the door open and I try to stay quiet.

"..Sal?" Larry's broken voice echos through the empty apartment. "Sal, I'm sorry," His voice sounds so weak.

I stay quiet and try to calm down again.

He walks across the carpet to my door and stops. "Sal? I have your prosthetic," His voice is quiet and I almost don't hear it.

"G-go away, Johnson," I whisper out, almost hoping he didn't hear me.

Instead, he slides down to sit against the other side of the door.

"Sal, I know I was a major asshole, and I don't think I could say sorry enough," He stops, "I hope you'll forgive me...I hope we can still be friends.."

He continues to spill out apologies.

I finally have had enough and sit up on my knees to open the door. I don't care about my mask right now.

When I open the door, he looks at me with a blank expression at first.

Larry's POV

He opens the door and looks at me. No mask. No hair hiding his face.

It's shocking, but he's..beautiful. It's a lot worse than what I imagined, but he's far from ugly.

I do something that I never thought I'd do, especially in this situation.

I hold the sides of his tear stained face and pull him close to me, closing the gap. He flinches, but doesn't stop me. I look down at his busted lips and connect them with mine. He tastes like strawberries.

He kisses back almost instantly, and his hands fall to my shoulders. It ends quickly, but he locks his lips with mine a second time.

I trace my hands around his cheeks, his neck, and down his back, stopping at the small of his back.

I love this--I love him. I want this moment to last forever.

Sadly, it ended, but what I see afterwards is so much better. His puffy eyes are filled with love. The curves of his face are so perfect. His lips, his nose--what's left of it anyway--everything is so beautifully perfect. Almost like god sculpted it himself.

"I'm sorry that I was being an asswipe, Sal," I say, looking down shamefully.

"Shut up and kiss me again, Johnson," He pulls on my shirt and I see that he's smiling. So beautiful.

I gladly kiss him again and it feels like it lasted an eternity.

His hands rest around my neck and I hold his scarred cheeks lovingly.

This is like a dream come true.