Chapter Text
It was a saturday morning when Larry found him. He’d cracked open his eyes only to be met with a familiar mask and mop of blue hair. Only.. it was much smaller than normal. He opened his eyes fully and there on his pillow was a tiny Sal.
“What the-” He rubbed his eyes in shock, surely he must still be dreaming or something.
This small version of Sal was still there on his pillow, looking up at him.
“Holy fuck.”
He’d seen Sal not more than twelve hours ago, when he insisted that he go back to his own apartment to sleep after they hung out for most of the night. Surely Sal couldn’t have gotten himself into trouble in the time it took him to go from Larry’s apartment to his.
“Sally?” He asked apprehensively.
The small version of Sal looked up at him and tilted his head, tiny pigtails swaying.
“Oh fuck Sal, what have gotten yourself into now??” Larry dragged a hand down his face.
The brunet was hushed by the crackle of his walkie talkie. He waited, and Sal’s hushed mumbling came through the speaker. Confused, he picked it up and pressed down the button.
“Sally face? You there?” He let go, waiting for a response.
“Larry face? What’s up?”
“You.. radioed me first. I thought you might need something.”
“Oh, no I’m fine. I must have pushed the button down somehow. Sorry.”
“No, no you’re fine, I was just confused.”
“Well I’m good, while we’re on the line do you need anything?”
“No, no I’m okay Sally face. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later Lar.”
And with that the line went dead.
Larry stared at the tiny doppelgänger of his best friend. “If you’re not my Sal..” he scooped him up. “Who are you?”
Larry studied him a little closer, he looked the same as his Sally face but smaller. He poked the tiny Sal in the stomach with his index finger, earning him a squeak and little Sal’s tiny hands holding onto him. The small blue haired boy looked up at him, eyes pleading. For what, Larry didn’t know.
Small Sal leaned his head on Larry’s finger and the brunet couldn’t help the “aww,” that escaped his lips.
“Well you seem chill..” Larry was hesitant to trust the small clone of his friend, what if it was some weird monster that was just trying to trick him by taking the form of a tiny adorable Sal?
The small Sal just looked up at him, eyes soft. Larry felt his resolve whither and die.
“Fuck. you’re too cute to be evil."
That seemed to please the small blue haired boy in his hands.
“Wanna listen to some music while I paint?” Larry asked, finally getting up from his bed.
Little Sal nodded quickly. The brunet chuckled at his eagerness to listen and set him down on the dresser next to his easel before moving to turn on his stereo. The harsh instrumentals of a Sanity’s Fall song instantly filled the air. Larry smiled as he took his seat on his stool and picked up his paintbrush. He stared at his canvas, already primed with a deep blue. Sal wasn’t the only one who had nightmares, but rather than talking about his Larry painted them. His most recent was him drowning. Black tendrils tightening around his legs pulling him down, down, down. The closer to the bottom of the lake, the more inky tendrils wrapped around him. His arms, his throat. And squeezing tighter, tighter, tighter. As he painted he hardly registered how much time had gone by, the music becoming static in his head. He didn’t even realize when it went silent. Eventually he finished his painting and stopped to look at the full picture. It wasn’t as dark as some of his others but it definitely had an eerie feel to it.
He sighed and took it off the easel, putting it away to dry. A squeak caught his attention as he was about to go lay back down.
“Oh shit, sorry little guy.” Larry said picking up small Sal and taking him back to bed with him.
He laid down and put his tiny friend on the pillow next to him. Little Sal laid down on his side, mirroring Larry. They just looked at each other for a long while. Eventually the small blue haired boy got up and made his way closer to Larry. He put his little hands on the brunet’s face and tilted his head as if asking “What’s wrong?”
Larry chuckled softly. “You’re a lot like my Sally face.” The brunet offered his pinky to the small Sal. “I just.. I know my nightmares aren’t nearly as bad as his, and I don’t have them nearly as often but they still rattle me, y’know? Then I think ‘fuck, Sal must be so scared to sleep. I know I am when I have bad dreams, if I sleep at all. I just.. I wanna hold him until all the bad goes away. I wanna make it so he can sleep peacefully and not worry about nightmares anymore.”
The little blue haired boy rested his head on Larry’s finger and looked up at him intently, nodding as he talked.
They continued on like that for a while, Larry just talking about everything and anything with little Sal hanging onto every word.
“..I have to admit though.. I’m kind of jealous of Neil and Todd? They’re so happy together and they weren’t.. afraid. I am. I’m fucking terrified of coming out to anyone and there’s no reason. I know my friends will accept me and I’m pretty sure mom will love me no matter what but- I’m still scared. Isn’t that stupid?” He looked to small Sal for a response.
The tiny blue boy patted his hand comfortingling.
Larry laughed softly. “Well.. I guess you would count huh? You’re the first person I’ve come out to.”
Little Sal’s eyes crinkled up, presumably smiling.
“It’s so weird for me to say that, I’m gay.” He laughed. “I’m gay! God that feels good to say out loud!”
Even if it was just small Sal, Larry felt liberated telling someone. He bit his lip though, something new plaguing his mind.
“Can I tell you something else?” He asked voice quiet.
Tiny Sal nodded.
“I’ve known that I liked boys for a while, but when I met Sal I was instantly attracted to him like uh, I instantly knew I wanted to be friends with him because he was- is- so interesting. But the more I got to know him the more I felt.. different. I wanted to protect him and hold his hand and cuddle him and-“ Larry cut himself off, blush growing on his face. “It took me a while to realize I liked him as more than a friend. What kind of gay disaster am I huh?” He joked nervously.
Small Sal was silent. Larry looked back down at him to see him taking off his mask. He really did look exactly like his Sal. What caught him off guard was little Sal kissing his hand.
“Aww, that’s sweet little guy. C’mere,”
He picked him up and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.
“Thanks for listening to me being dumb, it’s nice to tell someone.” Larry said softly before putting the tiny boy down on his stomach.
Little Sal just smiled up at him before putting his mask back on.
It wasn’t long before Larry’s stomach growled, startling the poor small boy.
“Heh sorry little dude, guess I’m hungry. You want something to eat?”
Small Sal put a finger to his prosthetic lips in thought before nodding his head. Larry smiled and scooped him up as he checked the time. It was nearly noon anyway, good enough time for lunch. He cracked open the door and looked around, his mother nowhere in sight. He deemed it safe and made his way to the kitchen to look through the fridge.
“Milk, eggs, strawberries-“
He heard a squeak from the counter and looked over to see small Sal hopping up and down.
Larry remembered Sal had said he liked strawberries at some point. “You want a strawberry little guy?”
Little Sal nodded.
Larry chuckled and dug one out, rinsing it off in the sink and cutting the top off before he gave it to his little friend. “You might wanna pick out the seeds before you eat that. I don’t want you to choke or something.”
Small Sal grumbled as he started picking the seeds out of his strawberry, meanwhile Larry grabbed the milk, a bowl and some cereal. He set his things down on the table before going back for little Sal and setting him down next to his bowl. Larry sat down and watched the little guy flick out seeds and wondered when he should tell his friends, or at the very least Sal about this tiny clone of him. He was so lost in thought just watching the small version of his friend prepare his food he forgot to make his own. He was only shaken from his thoughts when small Sal squeaked at him through bites of strawberry.
“Huh? Oh I guess I just got a little lost in my head.” He said, pouring his cereal into the bowl.
Little Sal shrugged and went back to eating his fruit while Larry poured in milk.
They were quiet as they ate, content with the silence. It wasn’t awkward, Larry didn’t feel like he needed to fill it with meaningless chatter. It was like the comfortable silences that would pass between him and Sal, just being together was enough for them.
After they finished eating and Larry cleaned up, he brought little Sal back to his room and set him on his nightstand. He grabbed his sketchbook to draw in bed as he climbed on top of the covers.
-
The rest of his Saturday was spent drawing in his sketchbook and aimlessly chattering to his tiny friend, small Sal graciously offering to model for him which came in handy. Strangely he received radio silence from his best friend, normally one of them would have called to other to hang out by now.
By nightfall little Sal was itching for a shower so Larry just filled a cup with warm water and left him with it in the bathroom sink. He gave him a good fifteen minutes before knocking on the door to announce he was coming back to get him, thankfully the little guy was redressed.
Larry let small Sal sleep on one of his pillows while he stayed up much too late drawing in the dim light of his lava lamp.