El Tango De Sal

Chapter 7 - Hold On

Hold On - Chord Overstreet

TW for:
-Self-Harm
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When his head hit the ground, Sal saw stars in his vision. He groaned as he blinked his eyes open in confusion. One minute, he was feeling such relief, and now he just felt pain in his head and a bit... angry that he had been saved. He sat up slowly to see Larry, breathing hard.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Sal?! Oh my God..." he held his head, facing away. If he had gotten here a second later, Sal would've been gone. Gone forever. He turned when he heard Sal stumble to his feet, his expression softening.

"Sal, your hair.." he started and Sal shook his head, "don't fucking talk about it..." he muttered, going to fetch his cell phone and mask, nearly falling over. Larry went to him, grabbing his arm so he wouldn't fall over. He retracted his hand after, looking down at his palm that felt sticky now. He blinked, seeing the bright red blood.

"Sal... Sal, what happened to your arm? Was it your father, or.." he trailed off. Sal shook his head, starting to the door. Larry started after him, "hey! You can't leave like this didn't just happen!" he yelled. Sal turned to face him, a mix of anger and sadness on his features. "You don't care." he said simply, turning and sliding his mask back on. Larry let out a sigh of frustration.

"Look! Sure, we had a fight or whatever, but God, I didn't know something like this would happen! Did this happen because of me?" he asked softly. Sal sighed, "no. Not entirely." he muttered, turning to look at him. "You deleted my number..." he said quietly.

Larry looked away, guilty. "Didn't think you'd want anything to do with me anymore..." he paused. "Was it you who texted me today? Oh, God I'm so sorry..." he ran a hand through his hair, tears dripping down his cheeks. Sal glanced away, "how'd you know I was here?" he asked.

Larry shook his head, "a frantic phone call from Travis. He's REALLY freaking out, dude..." he said. He looked at him, "why did you choose to tell him, and.. Not me?" he asked, sounding a little hurt. Sal stared at him, "is that a real question? Larry, we've both been ignoring each other, you deleted my number, I... hurt you... who else would I tell except the person that's been with me through this?" he asked. His tone wasn't aggressive, just defeated.

Words failed Larry, so he simply stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and pulling him against his chest. Sal was surprised, but it felt like everything hit him at once. All the emotions he was holding in around Larry just collapsed on him. He wrapped his arms around Larry, sobbing ugly, loud cries into his chest. He missed Larry so much, and he had to obviously care for him if he came to save him.

He pulled back after a bit, still hiccuping with the cries as he took his mask off, wiping his eyes frantically, "a-are we friends again? Please say we are..." he whimpered, looking up at him.

Larry simply smiled, ruffling his hair, "how can I say no to those baby blues?" he said. Sal chuckled out a laugh, sniffing and wiping his eyes. Larry patted his back, looking down to find the blood from Sal's arms on his side. "You uh... what's going on with this?" he asked, looking at Sal.

At the drop of a hat, Sal looked away, an icy grip on his heart. "Uh... i-it's nothing. Nothing serious, don't worry." he muttered, and Larry shook his head. "Let's go to my apartment. We can talk there, ok?" he said. Sal felt defeated, but nodded as he trailed after Larry. He looked down at his phone, seeing frantic texts from Travis and 3 missed calls. He sighed, shaking his head.

Sal: it's ok trav. im fine now. with larry.

Despite still being out of it and intoxicated, the whole situation had sobered him up quite a bit. He stepped into the elevator, looking at his phone.

Trav: Oh thank fucking GOD. Please, tomorrow is Saturday. Can I come over? I need to see you, make sure you're really ok.

Sal: yeah sure, no problem. id say tonight but i think larry's gonna kidnap me tonight.

He pocketed his phone after, stepping out of the elevator with Larry as they made their way to his room. He thanked his lucky stars that Lisa wasn't home as Larry closed the door, sitting them on the bed.

Larry turned to face him, "let's start with what seems more, uh... pressing. Why are you bleeding?" he asked. "Please don't lie to me, either..." he added in a softer voice. Sal sighed heavily, looking away. He wanted nothing more than to lie, but if he and Larry were friends again, he could trust him again... right?

He looked at him, "Just... promise you won't be mad..." he said. Larry looked confused, but nodded. Sal nodded, biting his lip as he pulled his sleeve up, revealing the long, deep, vertical cut that ran from a little below the wrist to nearly the fold of his elbow.

Larry's eyes widened, taking it in as he held his wrist gently. He could see the scars of varying degrees underneath, and it immediately made him want to burst into tears. Tears wouldn't help right now, though. It wouldn't stop the blood from dripping.

He stood, "i-is it on the other arm too?" he asked. Sal didn't look at him, nodding in shame. Larry turned, going out to the bathroom and coming back with a first aid kit, sitting back down. He examined it again, "I uh... these look like they need stitch--"

"Absolutely not. I'm not going anywhere. Fuck hospitals." Sal suddenly snapped with such ferocity, Larry thought he had said something incredibly offensive. He pressed his lips together, not wanting to argue with him as he took out the alcohol pads. "This is gonna hurt, lil dude..." he warned. Sal simply nodded, then hissed in pain when he swiped the cut with the pad. "Jesus fuck..." he muttered, but didn't retract his arm. Larry sighed softly, feeling bad as he swiped it across his other arm, earning another mumble of pain.

Afterwards, he wrapped his arms with the gauze wrap in the kit. Afterwards, he patted it. "There you go.." he said softly, then pulled him into a hug. "You could've told me... I wouldn't have told... I still won't... I just wish you had come to me..." he nearly whispered, closing his arms.

Sal closed his eyes, sighing. "I know... I didn't want to tell anyone, though... Travis found out... not on purpose, though..." he shook his head as he pulled back, looking down. "Didn't want anyone to really know about it so it wasn't like, attention seeking, ya know?" he sighed, looking away.

Larry nodded in understanding, "that's ok.." he said softly. "What about your hair? What happened there?" he asked. Sal stayed silent, then ran his through his hair, shaking a bit.

"I was... I was tired of my dad being able to grab it to pull me back... I didn't think much, I just... did it..." he said, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm so stupid... I hate it now... my hair was the ONE thing i had..." he said, covering his face as he cried softly. Larry watched him carefully, then stood, "I'll be right back. Putting the kit away." he said, packing it up and leaving the room.

Sal took the opportunity to lay down, desperately trying not to pick at the bandages. He felt both lighter and heavier, telling Larry everything. It was a relief, not keeping it all in and constantly having to make up excuses and feeling guilty, but now he knew that Larry would be checking him for new injuries.

He was lost in his thoughts, and he didn't realize how long Larry was in the bathroom. He looked up when he came back to the room, blinking in shock as he sat up quickly. "L-Larry, your... hair..." he started.

Larry's hair was cut short, and he was feeling it, humming. "Very weird feeling... I haven't had short hair, like... ever." he chuckled. Sal bit his lip hard, "Larry... d-did you do this for me?" he asked quietly. Larry smiled, "of course I did... you seemed so upset, and I just... wanted to help, in my own way I guess..." he said.

Sal stood, smashing into him with a tight hug. Larry played with Sal's hair, "and for what it's worth... your hair doesn't look bad. Like, at all. Can't say the same for me..." he laughed. Sal sniffed as he smiled a little. Larry always knew what to say.

He pulled back, looking up at him. "Nah... doesn't look bad. Just... weird. Have to get used to it..." he said. Larry grinned, "and look, now we can grow it out together!" he said, starting to ramble about something, but Sal couldn't really hear him.

He was just so lucky to have him in his life again. Larry's confidence, what he did for him... everything. It was making him feel like the emptiness in his chest was getting smaller.

He really loved Larry.