Wait A Minute

Chapter Thirteen: Saving Pages

a/n: I'm so, so sorry that this took so long.

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The only sound in the small bathroom was the gentle buzz of Sal's electric toothbrush and the almost inaudible trickle of water from the sink faucet. Larry's tongue burned as he swished Todd's 'Oral Health Care Extreme' mouthwash around. The dull pain was nothing compared to the thudding ache that had rooted itself in his head right after he had pulled away from kissing Sal. A couple of hours had transpired since the incident, and everyone was preparing to go to bed now. Ashley was making tea in the kitchen while Todd was ransacking the apartment to look for extra pillows and blankets. Despite night falling, Larry doubted he'd be getting much sleep.

The sound of Sal's toothbrush powering off and him spitting into the sink broke Larry out of his thoughts. He was relieved as his friend moved over, so he could rid his mouth of the ridiculous gargle.

"Oh, that's hot," Sal joked, watching Larry with amusement as the brunet kept spitting into the sink, trying to rid himself of a stubborn piece of drool stuck to his lip. The metalhead whipped his head around to glare at the other, and Sal snorted when he realized there was a bit of dried toothpaste stuck on Larry's upper lip.

"Sorry that not everyone can be as charming as you," Larry shot back. Sal watched, his amusement only growing, as the brunet wiped his face off with a towel but still managed to miss the toothpaste.

"You're actually killing me here," the blunet snorted as he stood on his tiptoes. Larry's eyes watched his every movement with caution as Sal rubbed the toothpaste on his lip away with his thumb.

"What are you doing?" The metalhead's voice came out guarded. The hard shift in tone was almost enough to make Sal flinch away. Instead, he slowly pulled his hand away, letting it fall back at his side.

"You had some toothpaste stuck on your lip," he explained. Larry's posture immediately relaxed, and his hands wringed together as he chose to stare in the mirror and not at Sal. The shorter male let out a small sigh before reaching to grab his prosthetic that laid by the sink.

"I'm sorry," Larry apologized. His eyes darted from his own reflection over to his friend. Sal paused his motions, not lifting the prosthetic up to his face yet. Larry let out a sigh of his own and ran a hand through his hair before choosing to stare at the mirror again. "My mind's just been a mess since I, well I mean since we-"

"Kissed," Sal finished for him. He was sure the taller male would've just rambled around the subject unless he intervened. Larry's face paled, and his hands gripped the edge of the counter. Sal laid his prosthetic back down, sensing they were about to have a serious conversation. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" Larry's reply came fast and nervous. His eyes were blown wide with fear, and Sal was sure the other would have curled in on himself if he was alone. A few moments dragged by in complete silence before the brunet calmed down. "I mean, kind of," he admitted.

Sal struggled to keep the smile that threatened to overcome his lips at bay. He felt like some progress was being made between them if Larry was finally willing to talk. "Okay, talk away." His friend shot him a panicked look. "Pretend I'm Todd or Ash if you can't talk about this to Sal Fisher."

Larry let out a slow, long exhale as Sal walked behind him, so he could sit on the edge of the bathtub. The metalhead took a minute to process the bluenet's proposition. "Pretend you're Todd?"

"If you can talk to Todd about this then yeah," he replied. Sal mimicked pushing nonexistent glasses up the bridge of his nose, and Larry let out a chuckle. The brunet shook his head, disbelief that pretending Sal was someone else would actually work. He supposed it was worth a shot though.