||The Secrets We Keep|| - Salvis

Chapter XXIX

        Sal hands his prosthetic to Travis for the time being, Travis looking away from him respectfully once he has it in his hands as Todd does the polar opposite, staring at the black lines engraved in Sal's face. He stays still for a moment, shocked and unable to form words, his mouth dry and his hands having a slight shake to them. "There's, uh, more." Sal mumbles, refusing eye contact as Todd moves a bit closer to Sal to see him better, fumbling to fix his glasses to ground himself.
       Todd starts to bring his hand up to Sal's face, though pausing it before he can actually touch him, fascinated but terrified at how fast it had spread. He silently wonders how much worse it'll get so quickly, and how to even begin to stop it. "May I touch them?" He asks quickly, it breaking the small silence he had given them.
        Sal's eyes widen, quickly looking at the ginger, about to say no before rethinking the situation and sighing quietly. He slowly nods, itching at his arm before Travis moves his hand away, leaning a tiny bit closer. Todd slowly traces the blackened veins on Sal's face with his fingertips, Sal warm in embarrassment and shame of his own face. "Is there anything else I should know about, Sal?" Todd questions, emphasizing Sal so Travis doesn't answer, unsure if he could trust the blonde while moving his hand away and nodding to himself.
        "Yeah, actually." Sal groans quietly, tugging at his sleeves before pulling them up and showing his wrists, silently regretting not reaching out a lot sooner so it didn't get this bad.
(According to my calculations- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?! 😰 -Original Travis 2023) Todd immediately freezes at the suddenness, staring down at the marks that seem to continuously spread, unsure of what to say or tell them. Sal holds them out just in case Todd wanted to touch them, just trying to get this over and done with as soon as physically possible, waiting for anything. A response, reaction, anything. It takes another minute for Todd to snap out of it, tracing the veins lightly. "And h-how long have these been here for?" Todd stutters out quietly, adjusting his glasses with his free hand.
        Sal fixes himself uncomfortably on the couch, his hands twitching from the contact. "A couple days, I think. It wasn't that bad at first but eventually it kept spreading..." he shrugs, his leg shaking anxiously, and Travis smacks Todd's hands away after a minute upon seeing Sals behaviour.
      "What kinda things have been happening, if anything." Todd murmurs, stunned by the pace that this is going, making multiple mental notes to somewhat help him figure this out, the only thing able to conclude is that Sal will have to come back to his to find out further what's happening.
      " My eyesight is a bit darker now, a bit harder to see, you can say I guess. Headaches and lightheadedness.." Sal stops short on his words,  looking to Travis, not remembering too well with some of the other things as he does and waiting for him to continue.
     Travis nods in understanding, talking for him, not caring of the slight look of disapproval in Todd's expression. " He was having trouble sleeping at one point, and one time he threw up black." he says quietly, Sal's eyes dulling and tugging at his loose hair nervously.
      Todd pales, pointing to Sal's face subtly, not trying to bring offense. "And I'm assuming everything started with that..?" he asks, both Sal and Travis nodding in response.
      "Any more questions?" Travis asks, seeing how antsy Sal is getting based on how he subtly itches at his arms and twitches in his seat, moving a bit closer to him so he can take the prosthetic as soon as he is done.
      "I guess not... but please update me if it gets worse than this, especially if it's quicker now. I will try to figure out something to counteract or delay this, at least until we can figure out why it's happening and how to stop it. Though next time I do believe it's better for Sal to come to mine next time " Todd sighs, not getting anywhere, standing from the living room couch and fixing his orange curls and his thick circular glasses.
       Travis nods, Sal giving a subtle thumbs up as he takes his prosthetic from Travis quickly, clasping on the straps securely onto his face and looking down at his socks, relieved that it is over and pulling down his sleeves. "Thank you Todd." Sal whispers, stressily running a hand through his messy hair.
      Todd hums in response, fixing himself and calming down before leaving the apartment, leaving the two alone once again.
       Sal shudders, leaning back against the couch, and Travis looks over at him worriedly. "Hey, why don't we go back to the field? Get your mind off of everything, yeah?" He asks, changing the subject and trying to lighten the mood.
         A small smile forms at the side of Sal's lips, and he stands up quickly, trying to get his mind off of everything and finding this to be a good opportunity too. "Sure Trav, wanna get ready now? I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be warm out today."
         Travis stands after him, a silent agreement, and he leads them back to the bedroom, beelining to his bag of clothes as Sal gets to the closet. "Travis we really need to get you new clothing." Sal chuckles, grabbing a light sweater with a dotted pattern.
          Travis changes quickly, rolling his eyes at Sal's statement but grinning at the offer. "Maybe at one point. But that isn't a problem for now" he says as he looks over, Sal putting on comfortable boots.
          "We will figure it out. Maybe then I can also get you toner." Sal hums with a laugh, redoing his hair and walking to the door, taking Travis with him as he speaks again, "But for now let's go down to the field."