Denial (Salvis)

Breaking Down the Walls (pt1) {7}

A/N

I've been super busy recently with school stuff and haven't been updating, but most of it's over for now so I'll try to regain the somewhat regular update schedule I had before. Writing a single chapter takes me upwards of an hour with all the editing so it's quite time consuming, but I'm back now and that's what matters! This chapter will also be split into two, I realized halfway through that the word count was already over 1000 and panicked, so now it has to be split up, mbmb.

        Getting close to Travis was harder than Sal thought. He had to do this, Todd was counting on him to get information on the ministry and that was the only way. Sal fastened the straps of the prosthetic to the back of his head, begrudgingly grabbing his school bag while leaving his apartment. 

He adjusted his pigtails in the washroom, the school air always managed to flatten his hair. He quickly exited the dingy room as the bell rang, replaying what he would say to Travis when he walked into his next class. There he was, the boy was already seated, his fading blonde hair lay stiff against his head. 

"You're late." An unfamiliar voice diverted his attention away from Travis. Everyone in the class turned to look at Sal, everyone except Travis, who seemed to be either ignoring him or lost in thought. The woman standing at the front of class looked fairly young, her hair was a dark auburn and could almost match Mrs.Packerton's ice cold glare. 

"Sorry, ma'am. I had a spare last period and lost track of time." The lie was enough to satisfy her.

"Very well, please have a seat, don't let this be an issue again."

"Of course not, miss" Sal rushed to his seat, briskly grabbing a pencil and some paper. The substitute teacher began passing back marked assignments for the new unit, allowing the students time to work on other algebra sheets. Sal took this opportunity to speak with Travis. He stood over his desk, waiting for Travis to acknowledge his presence. The papers on his desk caught Sal's eye, every marked math sheet was below passing, each one worse than the next. 

"Hey, Travis, are you struggling with some of the work? I could help you if you wanted."

Travis's head lifted from the desk, glaring at Sal through the corner of his eye.

"No, and even if I needed help I wouldn't ask someone like you, Sally face." Sal grimaced, still standing next to him. He waited, considering his options, Travis's harsh glare drilling a hole though his prosthetic. 

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Sal turned on his heel, walking towards his teacher. Travis muttered a snarky response under his breath too quietly to be heard. 

"Excuse me, I was wondering if Travis and I could go to the library to study this class. I noticed that he was struggling with the work and think I might be able to help."

The woman glanced up to him, "I'm not acquainted with all the students yet, could you point him out to me?" Sal gestured to Travis, who took notice and quickly looked down in an attempt to prevent Sal from seeing his fixation on him. 

"Yes, that could be quite beneficial. Be back before then end of class, I expect you two to be well behaved." She had already continued marking other students work, waving at the boy dismissively.

"Thank you! We won't be too long." Sal rushed back to his desk and collected his things, turning to Travis with an unseeable smile. 

"Grab your stuff, Trav, we're gonna work in the library!" Travis wrinkled his nose in disgust at the name.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, freak!"

"Yes you are, I already asked the teacher, now hurry up." Sal laughed when Travis sighed heavily, cradling his textbook in his arms.

The halls were empty, the sound of their footsteps seemed to echo against the lonely corridors. 

"So," Travis broke silence, "Why did you volunteer to do this?" 

"I dunno, I just felt like it!" Sal shrugged, Travis merely scoffed in response, clearly agitated. The uncomfortable silence ensued, both boys unsure of what to say. 

"What's up with that teacher, is Mrs.Packerton sick or something?" Sal spoke first this time. 

"Didn't you hear? Mrs.Packerton died last week, car crash."

"What? How did I not know that?"

"I don't know." Travis furrowed his brow,  successfully shutting down the conversation. 

        Sal held the library door open behind him, allowing Travis to enter. They sat down next to each other at a large wooden table, Travis made sure to leave plenty of room in-between their seats, a detail that didn't go unnoticed to Sal. The blonde boy placed the textbook face down on the table, Sal supplied him a piece of paper and pencil.

"Here," Sal flicked the textbook open, scanning the index for the unit they were in, before systematically flipping to the correct page. "Write this down, I can explain it once you've done that." Travis grumbled at his orders, but still fulfilled the task. 

"In this equation we need to find x, so first we need to separate the variable term."

Travis's eyes remained locked on the paper, "What the fuck is a variable term?"

"It's just the number that's attached to the letter. Saying 15x just means that whatever the x is worth, was multiplied by fifteen." Sal pointed at the parts of the equation as he spoke about them, Travis watched his movements intently, almost as if he wanted to learn. 

Travis nodded slowly, "Okay, I think I get that part."

"Great! So the next we need to do is follow order of operations."

Sal looked up to the clock on the wall, "Shit, we have to get back to class now, Ms.Smith already doesn't like me and I don't wanna make it worse."

Travis silently stood up, collecting the book and the papers scattered across the table. He turned without looking where he was going, accidentally bumping into Sal. Sal stumbled backwards, "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

'It's alright, Trav!" He quickly regained his footing and looked up to that taller boy, his cheeks looking oddly flushed. "Are you alright? You look kinda red."

"Yes, I'm fine, and stop calling me Trav, it's weird." Travis walked past Sal, trying to avoid anymore intrusive observations.

"Sorry, I just thought it was a nice nickname!" Sal jogged to catch up to him.

"Hm." 

The two walked faster than normal, racing against the clock.

"Did that help you at all?"

"Yeah, I guess." Travis mumbled his words, seeming almost ashamed to admit it.

"Are you busy tonight? If you want, we can go back to my apartment and do some more practice, I'd say a bit more practice and you'd be perfect!"

Travis hesitated at his enthusiasm, trying to conjure a reply. "In your apartment?" He echoed. 

"Do you not want to?" Sal stopped walking, searching Travis's face for a sign of any emotion. 

Travis stopped soon after, facing towards Sal. He was about to loose a range of insults and slurs towards him for the offer, but the glint in Sal's eyes made him freeze. Travis's angry expression faded, replaced by a rosy tint. 

"I'll have to talk to my father, but I can't do it tonight." Travis averted his eyes, knowing it was too late to stop Sal from noticing the change to his face. 

"Cool! I'll be free again tomorrow, so you should ask him about th-" The loud ping of the bell stopped his sentence. In sync, Sal and Travis both started sprinting down the hallway, unable to avoid the rush of students exiting classrooms. Even as he darted through hordes of students, Sal couldn't help but think about how Travis had been acting. Although he thought about how Travis realized his sexuality, the idea of Sal himself had never been imagined. Even still, Sal wouldn't believe that Travis could possibly like him. Through his own eyes, Sal was unlovable, disgusting, a scarred monster, uncapable of being cared for in any romantic way. 

Word Count: 1339