Soulmates - Salvis

XIII : Concern

                              CONCERN

     Sal's eyes widened, clearly concerned, "Travis? Oh my god! What happened?" Travis asked in pure worry.

"My.. My father.." Travis explained in a pant, he was a mess.

"Come in! I'll— Ill help with your bleeding." Sal hurried his concern, gently taking Travis's hand and leading him inside to his bathroom, rushing to take out any medical supplies he had.

His hands were trembling, his breathing had quickened, it was obvious he was deeply concerned.

"Sal.. Sal," Travis put his hand on Sal's shoulder, causing his head to turn, facing the poor states boy, "You need to calm down. I'm fine, okay? I'm not dead." Travis had a certain kind of softness towards Sal, something he's never had, not even with his ex-childhood friend, Larry.

"You're— You're not fine! You're bleeding, and clearly bruised!" Sal's emotions were already on a high after what happened at school that day, but this felt even more severe, due to the circumstances and all.

"I know, and I know you'll help with that, but you need to calm down, okay?" With that, he felt gentle arms wrap around his waist.

Sal would've hugged him way tighter, to the point where breathing was impossible, but he couldn't dare hurt him, especially in this state.

"I love you." Travis confessed, he knew it was a poor time, but he couldn't wait any longer.

Travis felt Sal's arms stiffen, along with his breathing, "you.. Really?" Sal questioned, pulling away from the hug to look up into Travis's deep brown eyes.

"Yes." Travis answered honestly, feeling more scared for the outcome than the pain he was feeling.

Sal nodded, just simply nodded, "Let's get you fixed up, yeah?" Sal spoke up after a moment of intense thinking.

Sal not replying to Travis's hard confession, made Travis overthink, a lot.

Sal just focused on Travis's visible blood first, taking a wet wash cloth, dabbing it on the dried blood, attempting to wash it off, which had worked.

"Do you have any other injuries that I can't see?" Travis nodded, taking off his shirt, exposing a few open wounds and bruises.

Sal's pity grew even more, letting out a sigh, taking peroxide (i completely forgot what it was called) and dabbing it onto another wash cloth, "This is gonna sting, just so you know.."

It had taken a little bit, but Sal finally cleaned all the wounds and cuts. "You can stay here all you want. My dads about to come home, so I'll tell him everything. But, I really need to ask you something." Sal's voice was careful, hushed.

Travis was already on edge after everything, but he was now certainly worried about Sal's dad. He didn't want him to be anything like his father, he was scared, "Uhm.. Okay."

"You don't need to answer now, you can think it over if you need to, but.. Do you want to go to the police? Because what your dad did is not okay." Sal wanted justice for Travis, he wanted something done about the situation.

"It wouldn't work anyway. As much as I wanna see that asshole in jail, they wouldn't believe me anyway. I've gotten in trouble with the cops before, and my father's the pastor. They'd believe him over me any day." Travis explained, though his breath and his words were trembling, he was sincere.

"But you have bruises all over your body. Surely you have messages of him showing signs of abuse and or negligence, right?" Travis nodded in response, pulling out his phone to recall any messages that would show those possible signs.