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It hadn't been easy getting here, in any way or shape or form, but Travis never expected it to be.
He's lying on his back, hair a tangled mess around his head, tickling his neck and shoulders. Sal is curled up next to him, his head thrown over Travis' arm, his mouth wide open to snore. The hole in his cheek looks smaller with his mouth open, shivering almost comically with the rhythm of his breath. His hair is a wild mane too, the color of an overcast sky in the dim lighting but electric where the light hits it.
It used to take him ages to fall asleep, Travis remembers. Back when they first came together, neither of their bodies could relax long enough to trust in sleep.
It was just friendly sleepovers then. They were so new to each other then. Two people with big hearts and big feelings facing in completely different directions.
They used to lie there, back to back, until one night, one of them laughed. Travis doesn’t remember if it was him or Sal who did it first, but they’d turned towards each other in the awkwardness of it and smiled. They talked and talked and talked every night they shared a bed from then on. After a while, Sal even stopped hiding his face.
He isn’t hiding now. He looks so free here, the light from the streetlamps outside shining yellow through the window and painting his face in strange shadows and orange hues. He looks content.
Travis knows exactly how he feels. He feels it too, heavy in his chest, like a tether hooked into his heart and holding him from the ceiling. He’s floating. With Sal, he’s always floating.
It's been years since their first date, their first kiss, their first "I love you", but Travis still can't believe this is real.
He almost wants to reach out and wake Sal, yell at him to “Pinch me! Pinch me!”, and demand it again and again as Sal’s beautiful laugh fills the room around them until he knows. Until he feels it and knows it’s true.
For now, he looks out the window and at the dreary grey of the sidewalk beneath the streetlamp. He stares at the road. He sees the sky, just above the horizon, dark and glowing with distant life, and smiles. Sal’s head is heavy against his arm.