The Warmest Blue

Chapter Six

     "Soooo.... How are things with Travis?" Larry mentally slapped himself across his smooth stupid brain. Why couldn't he think of anything else to talk about with Sal? He awkwardly moved his long legs to a criss cross position, moving a bit closer.
     "Oh, its going good I think. We've held hands and I think he's my boyfriend? But we haven't made anything official..." He looked up and even though there was no facial expression to be read, those icy blue eyes told Larry that he was searching for something. Something to grasp, but what? What did he need, what did he want? He'd do anything in that moment and maybe it was his intoxicated smooth brain that made him lean in but he couldn't stop himself. He didn't even know where he was leaning to, the plastic mouth on the mask? The forehead? The cheek? The neck? He didn't know where contact was going to be made until he got there. He felt his heavy and awkward body shift and pull towards the other. He saw as it took a second for those eyes to register what was going on, but Larry stopped about 10 inches from Sal's face.
     "Do you want to be with him?" He asked in a hushed tone while memorizing every shine and eyelash on those beautiful eyes. Sally fell silent and looked down to pick at his sweater.
     "I want to feel something. I haven't in so long...." Larry shifted closer, carefully taking the pale hands into his own overworked ones.
     "You didn't answer my question. Does he make you feel something? Do you want him?" He asked again, slowly. He didn't want to terrify the boy but he wanted to get to the bottom of this. This wasn't how tonight was supposed to go, but at least he was getting some answers.
     "I-...." He looked up again, staring into dark brown eyes that could rival a lunar eclipse, they were almost black. Glossed over and bloodshot from the booze and drugs. "....no, but nobody else wants me so what am I supposed to do? I mean look at me." The answer came rushed, as if he was forcing the truth out of himself.
     "I have been since the day you came here." His voice sounded smoother. Calming. It felt like with that one phrase his words wrapped Sal in a hug and he felt warm for the first time in years.
     "Why....?" He gripped the hands holding his, knowing in his heart that this was too good to be true.
     "Why? Sally you're beautiful, don't you know that? You're incredibly unique and your eyes, god they drew me in and I've been stuck in them ever since." Word vomit just started pouring from his dry mouth. Everything he wanted to say since day one, and even some that he didn't. "Ash told me to approach you on the first day and I was going to. I was right there, you were in my grasp, but Travis got there first. And then you two started hanging out more, going places, holding hands, flirting, and every day I saw it my blood would boil and all I wanted to do was punch his stupid ugly mug for touching you. I would torture myself at night with thoughts of.... Well, ya know..." He stopped himself finally, biting his tongue before he finished.
     "Oh, we never... did anything like that." Was all Sal could say. He didn't know how to respond to any of the before, but he knew for sure how to respond to that much.
     "You two never did anything farther than holding hands? Has he kissed you?" Larry's liquid courage began to burn hotter on his stomach causing the tint on his cheeks to grow deeper, and maybe he had some blush too.
     "No!" He pulled his hands from Larry's, immediately feeling the cold nip of the February air. "I-.... I can never get my mask off in front of people. I don't want them to see my face, they always run away." He folded his hands into his lap, looking down at them. Larry brought a cautious hand to his chin and lifted his head to meet his eyes.
     "You're not ready to show me and I'm not going to push it, but can I kiss you? You don't have to take your mask off, I can do it right here." He used his thumb to tap on the plastic mouth shielding the real one.
     "You want to kiss my face? The prosthetic I mean...." He sounded surprised, and very slightly intrigued.
     "Yes. Or, if you want to, I could close my eyes and you could lift your mask. You're in control that way and I won't open my eyes if you don't want me to." Larry seemed to have tons of ideas on how to do this, how this could work.
     "And you won't look at all?" He asked, leaning into this idea.
     "No, unless you want me to." He raised his hand to his heart and held the other in the air. "Scouts honor." He grinned when he got a chuckle from the other boy.
     "Were you a boy scout?" He tilted his head, motioning to his hands.
     "Oh, no, I wasn't, but I really would like to kiss you right now?" He asked again, trying not to lose focus. Sal looked down at his hands for a minute, thinking, and then clenched his fists.
     "Okay. Close your eyes please, and don't open them until I say so." He commanded. Larry gave a firm solute before closing his eyes. He felt a shift and assumed Sal was waving his hands in front of his eyelids. He heard a decisive sigh and the unclipping of a clasp. He heard a soft knock on the wood when plastic was set down beside them, and felt the body in front of him shift closer. He leaned down slightly to make it an easier reach for him. Sal adjusted himself to be sitting on his knees and put his hands on firm shoulders. Larry's hands moved from his lap to Sal's knees, sliding very slightly up until they were resting comfortably on his lower thighs. He heard a hitch of breath followed by a dry swallow. His legs flexed as he pushed himself closer and closer. He felt his breath on his face, and leaned into it. Chapped, cushioned lips met scarred flesh. Larry sighed into his mouth and immediately pushed deeper into the kiss. Intoxication fueled the tension between the two, pulling body closer to body. Larry's hands tracked up Sal's legs to his waist before wrapping around to meet behind his back. The younger boy accepted the invitation and moved closer, not confident enough to climb into the lap in front of him but hungry enough to latch his hands together behind Larry's neck. Craving more, Larry gently pulled Sal onto his folded legs and moved his hands higher up his back for more stability. To Sal, everything was frozen in time. He'd never experienced anything like this before. The taste of pot, beer, and something sweeter danced on his broken lips. Larry's hair was too tangled to run his fingers through but way too soft to not try. His fingers caught a knot and pulled a bit too hard, causing a gasp to leave Larry's lungs.
     Suddenly it was all too much too fast. What was he doing? This isnt who he was, who he wanted to be. Travis is nice to him, he's warm and he's safe, yet here he is making out with someone else. No, Larry isn't just "someone else". He's the butterflies Sal had heard people talk about but never felt. He's the sun that's too bright when you're trying to get home at 3pm. He's everything he's ever wanted to feel, and it's too much. Sal suddenly pulled away, out of breath and studying the face beneath him. He saw a flutter of eyelashes before darting off of Larry, grabbing his mask, and covering himself. Everything was cold now, and Larry needed the heat back. He'd do anything to have it back. He threw his hands to his eyes and tried to recover.
     "I wasn't gonna look, what happened? Is it cause you pulled my hair cause that didn't hurt at all, I do it on accident all the time so my scalp is kinda thick at this point." He tried his best to not sound panicked, worried that he'd done something wrong.
     "No its not that I just, I'm here and you're there and you're so good and I'm just... I have to go, I'll see you at school." He didn't have time to process what was happening until the wooden ladder was already creaking under the weight of descending opportunity. He uncovered his eyes and ran to the small window at the opposite end of the tree house just in time to see blue hair disappear into the apartment building.

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