Chapter Text
"What are you doing?" Sal asked, his voice flat and somewhat distant over the digital chirp of his Gear Boy. He didn't shift or even turn his head, and Larry suspected that the question might be less about identifying the specific activity Larry was doing and more about reaffirming his presence in the room.
"Bead lizard," Larry told him simply. The Gear Boy's bit crushed hum lowered to nothing. He could feel the air shift in the room, could imagine the way Sal sat up to regard him at the unusual string of words.
"Bead lizard?"
Larry couldn't help but smile. It was nice to feel like the interesting one once in a while. He heard the bed creak as Sal stood, padding the carpeted floor softly before sidling up to Larry at the easel. Blue eyes passed over the colorful crowd of pony beads that sat in the dip where Larry normally kept paint brushes before following a line of craft cord up to Larry's hands.
"Bead lizard," Larry confirmed, holding up his creation as though to demonstrate. He gathered both ends of his string, pulling them taut and running his fingers along the length. To Sal's great pleasure, he spotted the shape of half a flat lizard in the cluster of blue and green beads.
"Looks like roadkill," Sal replied, a delighted sound muffled against his mask. He drew closer now, his eyes gleaming as he took a beaded foot between his thumb and forefinger. "Where'd you learn this?"
"Abuelita, natch."
Larry couldn't help but smile at the thought of her.
"She could do all that crafty stuff. Everything I know about anything is from her. At least when it comes to creative junk like this."
Sal gave a nod, already familiar with tales of Larry's grandmother. Half the paint and drawing stuff had been from her, but Larry always seemed to love her to pieces even when she wasn't spoiling him with art supplies.
A comfortable silence washed over them for a time, Sal's eyes trained on Larry's deft hands as they worked another foot onto his new plastic friend. He settled on the floor by Larry's stool seeming surprisingly enraptured by this simple activity, so much so that when Sal finally spoke again, it jolted Larry from his concentration.
"Show me…?"
Larry glanced down into icy blue eyes and found something apologetic there. He wasn't sure what it meant.
"Yeah, man, of course."
With that Larry settled himself on the floor by his friend, describing at once the process of measuring two arm lengths of string so that Sal might thread a bead creature of his very own. Sal seemed to find the concept simple enough. It was the actual threading that proved daunting. Other than taking lots of medicines, Larry had rarely thought of Sal as being in any way inhibited by day to day life. The difficulty was more apparent now as Sal brought his hands to his left side, pulling the beads closer to his face than expected. He ran his thumb over each hole before working the string through.
"I thought you didn't like stuff like this," Larry said at length. Sal shook his head instantly, but took a beat to elaborate.
"No, it's fun," Sal began, trailing off to give the frayed end of his string some extra attention before shoving it through two more beads. "I'm just not good at this stuff like you and Ash are. Seems a bit shit when I do it. Makes me feel like maybe I should leave it to the pros."
Larry nodded, understanding.
"That's how I feel about you and your guitar," he said with a laugh, giving Sal a patient pat on the back. If he was bothered by the pace of Sal's threading, he didn't show it. Instead, Larry passed his gaze over the beads, mentally patterning his next bead creature.
"But you know, it's not like I was born good at this stuff. Had to do it a bunch to get anywhere decent with it. Especially the painting."
Sal paused, giving Larry an uncertain glance before he seemed to accept this line of thinking.
"Mhm."
At Sal's dismissal, the two returned to silence again, Sal growing engrossed in his threading as his lizard's body grew fatter, leaving him with several beads to manage at once. Sal's color selection remained fairly random while Larry began to gather black and white beads for a decidedly more goth animal. By the time they finished, Sal had birthed Rainbow Roadkill and Larry's blue and green lizard was joined by Sanity's Frog.
"Told you," Sal said, giving his lizard an indulgent shake. It looked almost like it was headbanging, and Sal enjoyed the clattering sound of the beads against his hands. "Mines a bit shit."
"Nah, it's perfect. It's got beads and it's shaped, it doesn't need anything else."
Larry mirrored Sal's movement, turning Sanity's Frog in his hands rapidly, its floppy bead arms flailing as though trying to slap Rainbow Roadkill. Sal let out a soft chuckle in return, allowing Rainbow Roadkill to flop lazily in his grasp before moving forward to touch its nose against Sanity's Frog as though giving a beaded kiss.
"The little cousins fucking love these," Larry said at length, to which Sal replied with no hesitation.
"Dude, I fucking love these."
"Even if yours is a bit shit?" Larry asked with a grin.
"It wouldn't be mine if it was normal."
Larry couldn't help but laugh.
"Fair enough."