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Sal is so warm.
That's something that's always true, no matter how ice-cold Sal's hands or feet become. He's so warm , not quite like sunlight on freckled skin so much as a weighted blanket on a moonlit night. He's a warm gust of summer wind under a starlit sky. He's comfort personified.
Being with him makes everything okay.
Travis had known this feeling so few times before meeting Sal, and even then, it was a small and ephemeral thing, clawing its way out of his arms no matter how hard he tried to hold it to him. It's like trying to hold onto bubbles of air underwater.
With Sal, it's effortless.
Sal's chest is soft beneath him, clad in a thin-striped sweater that pillows Travis' head and back even more than his soft layer of squish. His thick legs are splayed around him, framing Travis comfortably instead of claustrophobically, and through the mirror leaning against the far wall of Ash's room, he can see that Sal's blue-haired head is thrown back against the verdant beanbag he's sitting in.
Despite seeing himself in that mirror, Travis doesn't feel ashamed. Sitting on the floor, Sal's GearBoy balanced on his knees, he looks… happy. He smiles at the happy thing staring back at him and silently congratulates his reflection on landing someone so truly and utterly fantastic. So truly and utterly warm .
Travis tears his eyes away from the happy picture when Ash comes back into the room, holding a hoard of juice pouches like a dragon holding her young.
"Yesssss," she hisses. Her grin is wild-eyed and intense. "Fuck you, Ben! Fuck you, Ben's friends!"
From Ash's loft bed, Larry snorts. All that can be seen of him is a denim-clad leg hanging over the side. His knobby knee pokes through a fashionable tear, paler than the rest of his skin. "It's weird he had friends over the same night as you."
"Right?!" Ash hands Travis a juice pouch, smiling when he thanks her, then gives two to Sal, leaving some for herself and Larry. "At this rate, there won't be enough food at dinner for everybody. He didn't even say he was having a sleepover, meanwhile I've had this planned for over a week and he just- Gah!"
Travis has only been over here a couple times before, being that, thanks to Kenneth Phelps' shitty rules, he's the one everyone needs to plan around, but he's managed to learn two things about Ben Campbell: (1) Ben is Ash's younger brother and (2) Ben is something worse than human: twelve years old.
"I have some money," Travis pipes up. Three pairs of eyes (well, two pairs and Sal's one) turn to him and he blushes hotly at the attention. "If we'd want to go out somewhere, I mean, to give your folks a break and not eat the kitchen clean. My mom snuck me some cash while Father wasn't looking."
"I can't believe he makes you call him Father . What a pompous ass."
Careful not to jostle Sal, Travis shrugs, but only because it's impossible to share just how much he agrees. Kenneth Phelps is a colossal shithead. Even when he thought he shared his father's ideals, he still knew that much.
Instead of arguing or agreeing, he digs into his pocket and pulls out the money. There's a little more than the money his mother gave him there and he hands it out to Ash, who takes it gently. When she puts it in her pocket, he lays back against Sal's now-familiar warmth again and sighs.
Sal's hand is in his hair suddenly, comforting and kind, and he fights not to show how good it feels. "I don't like eating out," he admits. His own sigh blows out through the bottom of his mask and tickles Travis' neck. "If you guys would want to pick something up and bring it back, though, I'd be down."
"We could order a pizza," Larry suggests. He's leaning over the edge of the bed now, lounging like a cat on the white wood railing.
"Travis hates pizza," says Ash.
"I don't hate pizza." He still has no idea where they got that information, but no matter how often he corrects them, everyone seems to believe it as science fact.
Sal curls his fingers, scritching Travis the way he scritches Gizmo. Unable to hide his happiness, Travis lays his head back and smiles.
"Pizza, then?" Sal asks.
Ash and Larry crack up. For a brief moment, Travis is anxious that Larry will fall.
"What?" Sal's hand stops its petting. "No pizza?"
Travis huffs, scowling. "They're making fun of me."
"No way!" Ash giggles into the long sleeve of Maple's stolen hoodie. "It's just so cute!"
"You guys are even cornier than Todd and Neil. And they backed out of hanging today so they could go on a romantic adventure in the woods."
Now, Travis laughs, snorting inelegantly. "I'm pretty sure their adventure will just be Todd telling him weird facts about the plants they find."
"Neil lives for that stuff though, man. They're adorable as hell."
Travis grins. He can't argue that.
"Pizza?"
Travis grins wider, turning a little to snuggle his cheek against Sal's chest. "You're that hungry, angel?"
"I really am." Blessedly, his hands continue playing in Travis' hair. "How much money do you have?"
"She gave me a twenty and I think I still have like sixteen bucks from last night's movie snack cost…"
"And I have ten!" Larry grins at them all. "Enough for meat-lover's and a veggie?"
"I think the local place is having a 2-for-1 too, if you want garlic bread."
"Hell yeah, garlic bread!"
"Hell yeah, garlic bread." Ash looks around with a smile. "I'll probably have to sit in the living room so Ben and his friends don't steal the pizza when it gets here. You wanna sit in there with me after I order, Larry?"
"And give these two some alone time, you mean?" Larry jokes.
Ash winks.
"Ugh," groans Travis. His face grows hot again, making his ears burn, but he can't help the bright joy that rises inside him. His friends want him to be happy. That alone does the job well.
Sal just laughs. "We're happy to sit in there with you guys."
Ash and Larry exchange elfish looks, smirking like Cheshire Cats. "Hmm… Nope! You two don't get a lot of time alone, so…"
"We'll wait for the pizzas, dudes. Don't even worry about it."
With the too-soft fabric of Sal's sweater against his cheek and familiar hands dug lovingly into his hair, Travis can't find any will to argue. It's always nice to get some time alone with his boyfriend; outside of what few times Kenneth allows Travis out of the house or the occasional shared bathroom trip (completely innocent!) at school, they get very little time together at all, let alone time for just the two of them.
Sal's chest purrs under Travis' head as he hums thoughtfully. "It would be nice… Thanks, you guys."
"No problem." Larry shoots him a thumbs up.
"We're friends. It's what we're here for."
Travis shoots Ash a broad, toothy smile. She turns with a teasing goodbye to go use the home phone, Larry leaping down from the loft bed to join her.
Then it's just Travis and Sal.
Putting down Sal's GearBoy, Travis rises up on his knees to lay himself more comfortably over his lounging boyfriend.
"I love our friends," he sighs happily. Sal is so warm. Ash and Larry are warm too.
Sal smooths his hair down, tucking a stray lock behind Travis' ear. "They love you, morning star."
" I love you , angel."
"I love you too."
Without hesitating, Travis rises and presses a kiss to the cool surface of Sal's prosthetic. These false lips are just as familiar now as Sal's real ones, and equally as talented at putting this airy joy into his heart. Kissing Sal feels like floating. Soaring.
Sal can't kiss back with the prosthetic on, but he makes a good attempt, running his hands up and down Travis' back and sides to make him sigh. It works - Travis is breathless and boneless in the knowledge that he is safe and beloved.
Sal is a starlit sky, but he's also the brilliant moon that shines a light over what Travis thought would always be lost to darkness.
"I love you," he whispers again, reaching back for the clasps of Sal's mask.
They have about forty-five minutes until the pizza gets here and Travis plans on making the most of it. He has no idea how to tell Sal just what he means to him, but he can sure as hell show it.