Larry wanted to kiss his best I friend. It's not weird. Right? He was straight, he just wanted to kiss him in a friend way, that's normal. Totally. It was probably just the anticipation of seeing his face that made Larry wanna kiss him when he finally did, that makes sense, that's gotta be the reason. It's not like seeing the bluenette's face had confirmed he'd look better in his date's chocolate lipstick and that the boy was totally better than any girl the brunette had met before.

He wasn't pretty like the girls, he was just attractive overall, in a way Larry couldn't describe since he could tell Sal wasn't the kind of good looking everyone liked and every girl on the dates tried to be. He wouldn't say he imagined worse, because he didn't, he never really spent time thinking up what was under the mask, Sally's face was always the prosthetic in Larry's mind. Maybe sometimes he'd look up when the other was eating and see a few scars and his mind would try and fill in the rest, but that didn't compare to exactly what he saw.

He felt almost mad at the world because Sal had to live like this, covering up his own face all the time because of what a stupid dog did, he didn't deserve that.

Sal wasn't crying anymore, he didn't think, but the boy wasn't moving away. Not that Larry was complaining, really. He enjoyed this, not in a gay way, no like a friendly way. It's friendly to want to hold your friend and comfort him and kiss his head, but he kinda felt like he was gonna fall over just standing there with Sal leaning against him.

"Do you want me to go get your mask?" Sal probably just wanted to hide his face, he figured. He didn't expect his friend to instantly be fine with showing his face; if he was ever gonna be fine with it.

"Prosthetic. No, it's fine. It's still broken anyway." The boy pulled away, looking down at his feet so his hair fell over his face. Larry brought his arms back to his sides, swinging them slightly while glancing around. The apartment was cleaner now than last night, he figured Henry must have tidied up that morning, but it still didn't have a homely value to it, at least in Larry's opinion. In his apartment, there's always at least one scented candle burning, and it feels warm, even in the winter. The carpet is so worn down from the years and there are a few stains that come as a side effect of raising a child without hardwood. The pillows on the couch don't match and there's a dip in the armchair where Larry throws his backpack every day. The counter has a chip in the corner from when the brunette, a few years back, had thought it'd be a good idea to just throw a coffee mug when he got mad.

The fact is that anyone could tell that people live there and had lived there. In Sal's apartment, you could tell someone had been in there and you could tell a cat was there but it didn't feel like anyone's home. The furniture was bland and old but without any 'home-ly' stains or anything, just dust and dirt, any mess seemed more fitting to be a mess you'd see maybe in the emptiness after a concert ended. There were no pictures on the walls, there hadn't been any picture-worthy moments and any old ones saddened Henry too much to have hung up. Everything but Sal's room felt like the embodiment of 'alive but not living.'

"Do ya think your dad will... get better?" He spoke before he realizied he'd even opened his mouth. He'd thought the question a lot before, he'd asked it before, he expected the same answer as always.

"No, he doesn't want to... Maybe some movie-like event will happen that'll get him to want to." Gizmo suddenly sprinted forward, winding around Sal's legs and meowing annoyingly. He reminded Larry of a herding dog trying to herd Sal away. The cat hated Larry, everyone knew that, but he never really did this, he mostly just hid away from the brunette.

"The hell is he doing?" Larry bent down closer to the cat, being greeted by a hiss, but he didn't have to dodge any claws so this was the friendliest the orange fluff ball had ever been to him. Gizmo started pawing at Sal's leg until the bluenette also bent down.

"I don't know." The shorter teen picked the cat up, only for him to sqiurm out of his owner's grip and pad back and forth between the teens and the bathroom door. "He's just being weird."

Despite Sal's dismissal of the behavior, Larry could still see he had some lingering worry. Not only did Larry know Sal well enough to recognize his mannerisms and posture, but now seeing his face it was much easy to tell what the other was feeling. Before, it was the bluenette's eyes that gave him away, the taller teen could understand how he was feeling with just one look into their blue-ness. But now, with Sal's mask off, Larry could see the other never really learnt to keep a poker face.

The other glanced back at the brunette for a moment before taking large strides to get to the bathroom. The door had been open, the lights off, and Sal stiffened in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Larry never really saw his friend freeze up like he was now, only when there was a dog or if Travis made a particularly insensitive comment. But before he could question it Sal abruptly shut the door and turned back to face the brunette.

"You good?" Almost if by instinct, Larry's hand was on the side of Sal's face, pushing stray strands of hair behind his pale ear. What was he doing? He was being weird, he'd never done stuff like this before so why was it so natural for him now. He needed to stop acting without thinking, he was gonna make his friends think he was a freak. He pulled back his hand only after a moment, giving a somewhat nervous smile in return to the other's questioning stare. Good going, genius, he thinks you're a weirdo.

"I'm fine, there's bugs." The other's hand reached up to where the brunette's hand had been and Larry couldn't help but notice the light blush the shorter teen was sporting. It only lasted for a moment before Sal seemed to snap back to his normal self, smiling brightly. "Let's go do something, I hate staying in all day." Larry knew that was a lie, but Sal clearly didn't wanna stay here so he wasn't going to argue.

"What do you wanna do?" He walked over to the kitchen, casually rummaging through the cabinets, like usual, he was always hungry.

"I... don't know." He heard Sal's quick footsteps follow him and saw the teen hop onto the counter out of the corner of his eye.

"Of course." He mumbled, opening a few more cabinets before shutting them with a sigh. "God, you only have nasty vegan shit." The other stuck out his tongue at the brunette as he went to lean against the wall.

"Hmm." Sal sucked in a a breath, biting his lip while thinking. It was weird for Larry to see all his expressions, he almost felt like he was being invasive. "Can you take me to a gay bar?" His crooked smile was hot... He shouldn't be focusing on that.

"You're 16, Sal." The bluenette rolled his eyes, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged on the counter. Larry took a step forward, raising his eyebrows in a sort of accusatory way.

"Yeah, but," He drew out the vowels in the words, leaning forward with a mock pleading look. "It's so fun and they're all too drunk to notice anything but your ass!" Larry could tell he was making a disappointed face any parent would be proud of by the falter in Sal's actions. "But I don't actually wanna go right now I'm only making a joke because you know now." The blunette spoke quickly, sitting up straight again while Larry took more steps forward.

"Ignoring that you've apparently been to one before, why didn't you tell me sooner? Aren't we best friends or something?" He didn't mean to sound so accusatory, it wasn't his place to be mad or sad, he knew that, but he couldn't help feeling like he hadn't been approachable enough.

"What, that I'm gay?"

"Well, yeah, unless there's other secrets you're keeping from me." Would Sal keep secrets from him, what did he really know about his friend? If Sal has been dating that blonde dude that must mean other people knew before Larry, did he do something?

Sal bit his lip, making eye contact for a moment, something Larry knew was uncommon. He couldn't tell if the bluenette was acting suspicious or ashamed of keeping the secret. "I didn't want things to be weird or anything."

"Yeah, because I'd be fine with Todd and his mega homo-ass but as soon as you came out I'd, what, join Travis in beating you up?" He switched to a more defensive demeanor faster than he could realize, his mind was running so fast he couldn't help but try and defend himself for nothing.

"No, not that." He sighed, looking off at nothing in the apartment. "Todd's your friend, yeah, but he's not at your house every night and you've known each other for a lot longer than I've been here." The bluenette had that recognizable blank look in his eyes, he must've been thinking about this before. Larry couldn't help to think maybe Todd and Ash already knew, that he was the only unknowing one.

"You're afraid I'd think you liked me just because you like dudes and I'm so clearly the most desirable dude?" He gave a joking smirk, trying to just push all his thoughts aside for now.

Sal smiled, which made Larry's heart flutter somewhat as he returned the grin. "Yeah, I guess. I got a rule against liking my friends, though."

"And what's that rule, exactly?" He casually took a step closer to the counter the other was sitting cross-legged on, resting his palms on the cold faux granite.

"To not like them." Sal looked into his eyes once again, it was strange but not unlikeable.

"Could you ever break that rule?" Did he sound quieter, he couldn't tell, those blue eyes were kinda distracting.

"Would I need to?"

"Hmm." Larry just hummed in response, was he flirting? He couldn't tell, he wasn't really trying to, did Sal think he was flirting? They were definitely closer at the moment, or he was just overthinking things. It's only friendly banter, nothing more or less. Friends, two guy friends, two dudes that were friends, two single bros hanging out... Was Sal single?

That last thought was kinda gay.

Sal quickly averted his eyes and Larry blinked quickly, feeling a little hazy all of a sudden.

"Um—uh, did you, maybe, want to go down to my apartment? Mom found this vegetarian recipe that she's excited to make for you so she's at the store and we'll have the place to ourselves for a little." Why was he nervous? He shouldn't be, he invited Sal to his house every day so why would he be nervous. God, what was so wrong with him lately?

Sal smiled, nodding happily but all Larry could focus on was the thought of kissing his best friend.