||What Lies Under|| - Salvis

Chapter XV

      Sal walks along the sidewalk, feeling an odd sense of deja vu as he slings his bag over his shoulder packed with some snacks and stuff for what he and Larry call 'weed hangovers'. Even if he doesn't touch that kind of stuff 99% of the time, he will take care of any of his friends if they are high. The air is cool against the back of his neck, his hair up in a loose bun on the top of his head. The streetlights are on, and he slightly shivers at the lower temperatures. He checks his phone, looking at the location Travis wanted to meet up at, glancing to his right to see the area he was supposed to meet up. Local Nockfell Park. He smiles, proud of himself, knowing how bad he is at directions and routes. He runs over, getting to the low metal fence surrounding the park and climbing over it, spotting Travis under the playground equipment almost instantly. Travis was in the middle of smoking his joint, eyes red and giggling incoherent words to himself. How much has he had? Jesus christ.. Sal thinks to himself, walking over and crouching under the equipment, plucking the joint out of his hand. "Wha– heyy, salllyy...'' Travis says, looking at him with an overexaggerated smile.
    "I think you've had enough." Sal mutters, though returning the smile before putting out the joint.
    Travis rolls his eyes, though not complaining and pulling Sal to sit down next to him. Sal fixes Travis's messy blonde hair, not used to seeing him like this. Phillip usually helps him through it, though Travis doesn't smoke or do drugs often. Only in stress and to loosen up. "Are you doing alright?" he asks, shrugging his bag off and putting it down behind him.
    "Mmhm." Travis hums, more focused on Sal's presence rather than his words. "You're warmm..." he mumbles, his voice cracking mid-sentence.
     Sal unzips his bag with one hand, his other still on Travis so he doesn't run off as he digs through the bag, looking for something. Travis moves closer to get a better look at the bag, curious as to what he is searching for. Sal takes out a coat, as well as two heart shaped lollipops. He puts on his coat, unwrapping the lollipops out of the wrappers, lifting up his prosthetic and putting one of the lollipops in his mouth. He offers the other one to Travis, and Travis looks at it for a moment before taking it, copying Sal and putting it in his mouth. He wrinkles his nose up in disgust, taking the lollipop out for a moment before putting it back in. "It tastes weird with the stuff mixed with it." he whines, and Sal shakes his head with a grin.
    "Looks like I'm babysitting you tonight." he chuckles, zipping up his back and peering outside.
"You're not babysittin nobody though..'' Travis says, still complaining, his words muffled as he brings his attention back to the sweet in his mouth.
    Sal rolls his eyes, spotting something beside Travis and noticing it to be a half empty bag. "Hey Trav, what's that?" he asks, moving Travis closer to look over his shoulder.
    "Nothin'.." Travis says, though trying to half hide it by tucking it closer to his body.
    Sal tries to look for a brand, though none is to be seen. He remembers Larry getting a mini version of it every so often from Todd, who even now isn't very happy about distributing it around himself. Realization hits him, and he moves out of the small space under the playground, helping Travis out next. He picks up both his and Travis's bag he tried to keep hidden. "Pip said I died earlier, he lied to me!" Travis mumbles out randomly, stumbling before standing up completely.
    "How much of that stuff did you take man?" Sal responds, moving them to a nearby bench and sitting Travis down on top of it, the bags right next to him.
    Travis shrugs, not noticing Sal grabbing a water bottle out of his bag before it is being offered to hum. He pushes it away, though it only being offered once more, and he finally takes it. "Im borrreed... wanna know somethin'?" he says, taking a sip of the water before lending it back ro sal.
    "I'm listening, shoot." Sal answers, putting the bottle back in his bag.
    "I fought lar today. Pip wasn't very happy though.'' Travis admits, standing back up from the bench and not giving Sal enough time to react before he pulls him up to his feet.
    "Why'd you fight him?"
    Travis shrugs, waving it off as if it was unimportant. "Did you know me n him used to be friends before you moved here n before I met pip? When we were lil'." he says, his words slightly on top of eachother.
    "You and larry? I think Larry has mentioned it in some way at one point." Sal answers, not really getting the point of the conversation.
    "Mhm. We were actually realllly close. Sometimes still miss the dumbass sometimes." Travis slurs, looking to the sky and away from Sal, who was staring him down.
    "Why did it stop? Your friendship with him?" Sal asks, tilting his head.
    "Dunno. Somethin' to do with our parents. My parents and his dad especially. Pfft- we both were pulled apart when we needed each other the most." Travis mumbles, a sad smile on his face.
    "Why do you guys hate eachother so much now then?"
    "Mm, prolly resentment for the way we randomly stopped talking to eachother. And I'm worried he will hurt pip sometimes. He is not always the nicest to Lar cuz of me." Travis answers, a small shake in his body from the cold.
    Sal doesn't say anything else, slight pity in his eye expression, though turning his face away so Travis does not see. "I dont really hate em. Never did, really. Just like you." travis says, leaning his back into the bench once he sits down .
    Sal nods, just letting him ramble whenever he needs. Travis stands up suddenly, pushing himself away from the bench and starting towards back to the playground, face unable to be seen. Sal follows him, slightly frowning under his prosthetic, knowing travis probably didn't want to say anything about that soberly, much less while he is high. Travis finally turns around to face Sal, his expression seeming to Sal as if he had forgotten everything they had just talked about. Travis puts his hands out as if he were about to fight, Sal pausing immediately and almost freezing up out of habit. He relaxes upon realiztion he is joking around, putting his hands up next in a playful matter. Travis moves to him, lightly kicking him before fixing his stance to laugh, barely able to walk in a straight line. "We should get you home." Sal says, it already past midnight when he checks his phone. 2:13 AM. he had been here for almost 3 hours already.
    "What? Noo, why don't we stay a bit longer?" Travis protests, not up to the idea, almost acting like a child. "I am not tired."
    Sal shrugs, grabbing their bags off the bench and starting to the fence. "I can just leave you behind–"
    "No! I'm coming, I'm coming, wait up!" Travis quickly scrambles, Sal pausing for him before they get out of the playground together.
    Sal checks his phone when he feels Phillip has messaged him, noting to talk to him after when he gets Travis asleep.

Word count: 1271 words