Todd's eyes bugged out, almost comically. If there wasn't a serious undertone in their conversation, Travis would have laughed. "Who did this to you? Do you remember or were you drugged?"

"W-well, the main leader it seems. The minister." Travis tried to dance around the fact that daddy-dearest had permanently disfigured him, but Todd put it together fast. Of course he did, Trav, you made it way to obvious. "You mean your father did this to you?"

Travis lowered his eyes as far down as possible, a silent plea for Todd to stop. The orange-haired boy dropped it, afraid of upsetting his former bully. Quiet whines left Travis's lips as the ice pack was removed and replaced with white cotton pads. His nerves sang in waves as gauze was wrapped in an precise manner. It was weirdly efficient, like Todd had been forced to do this one too many times. Maybe Trav and he were more like each other than first thought. "Todd, I-I am sorry for how I have treated you. I had no right to call you those names. I am trying to be a better person and I will do anything to make it up to you."

Todd's eyebrows raised in surprise. To be fair, he had seen changes in the temperamental blond just in these few minutes of interaction. Each second that past made Travis's already minimal confidence shrink. "Alright, I'll give you a chance." He said, not nearly as begrudgingly as expected.

His heart leapt in exhilaration. He had a chance to be friend with Todd. Travis could start making amends with Sally's group of friends. "T-thank you." Travis shuddered at the sudden cold on his spine.

He glanced up, toward the kitchen, only the feel more cold. Suddenly, two red eyes emerged from the wall. Travis screamed, falling back in his chair and hitting the floor hard. He heard a crack. Dizziness made all the colors of his vision swim. Todd jumped up and lugged Travis over to the couch so he could lay down. Travis tried to lift head head, but nausea climbed up his throat and forced him to eject. Those poor Eggos ended up on the carpet, but Travis was useless in cleaning up. Mumbled apologizes swam from his tired lungs as he laid back down. Cursing Todd grabbed a bucket and cleaning supplies. He shot a quick text to Sal to come collect his boyfriend and set to work.

When the knock rang from Todd's door, Travis was still conscious. He felt a hell of a headache coming on, but that was about it. Sal walked in and had a few quick words with Todd before kneeling next to the golden boy. "Hey Trav, can we get you back to Larry's or do you want to go to mine?"

"T-take me to yours, please. I just want to be by myself for a bit."

Sal smiled gently at him and helped Travis stand up. Thanking Todd, they left for Sally's place. A few pained groans later they entered blue boy's apartment. "Oh, haha, I guess I have never really been in here." Travis giggled.

Sal bobbed and settled Trav down on his bed. The Puerto Rican sighed in relief and settled into the pillows. He sat against the wall and rested his chin on his knees. Sal moved his mask up and kissed the top of Trav's head softly. Travis stiffened, unsure of how to proceed. Oh just go for it, fag. Sal stepped away quickly, but was stopped by a fist grabbing his shirt. Sally Face tried to duck away, afraid of being hit, but his chin was lifted to meet the lips of Travis upon his. Sally Face felt his knees weaken in surprise as Travis softly pushed against him. The tan boy felt his insides light up in glee as Sal began to kiss back with his rough lips. Travis finally pulled away, his lungs looking for air. Sally's lips twitched into a grin, one that Travis could finally see. The blue-haired boy slipped off his mask, revealing bright red cheeks. Connecting their lips again, Travis threaded his hand into one of Sal's pony tails. Sal let out a small moan, making his entire face go bright red. "Oh?" Travis's eyebrow quirked.

Travis tugged his fistful of hair lightly, making Sal shiver. "T-travis, s-stop-," Travis immediately let go of Sal's hair and sat back, "You didn't let me finish, stop t-teasing me."

Laughing in relief, Travis took in the beautifully flushed face in front of him. He stole another brief kiss before moving down Sal's neck. A hand quickly found its way into blue hair, grasping at pieces. Soft groans left his scarred mouth while his hair was tugged. Travis grinned into his bluebird's neck and continued to work on the hickey he was creating. It was a rather fetching dark red. Sal moved sat on Trav's lap, putting his hands underneath the cursed pink shirt, He could feel Travis's soft skin, granted there were bumps and scars, but he felt wonderful to Sal. Travis giggled and pulled off his shirt. Sally's eyes widened while blood flowed to his face.

Travis grinned and wrapped his arms around Sal's waist. Bluebird sighed happily and kissed Travis's shoulder. Cold fingers touched Sally's skin as the slipped further up his shirt. "WAIT! Wait, stop. There is something I should tell you…" Sal protested.

Travis removed his hands instantly, afraid of upsetting his bluebird. "Whatever you tell me, I won't be upset."

"I-I'm t-trans. I have to wear a b-binder and a-a packer. I am not what you imagined." Sal began to shut down, preparing for rejection.

Travis wrapped his arms around Sal's smaller framed and hugged him to his bare chest. Sally Face buried his head into Travis's warm shoulder, breathing in his scent. "This doesn't change how I feel about you."

"A-and how do you feel about me?"

"...I have had a crush on you for a long time, Sal. Just getting to know you has been a fantasy of mine. I don't care about who you are externally. I just want to know you." Travis said, red-faced.

Sal's face was as bright as the sun, shining happily. He lifted his head to Travis and connected their lips. "Come on, let's go to sleep."

Travis settled back into the blankets, pulling Sally along with him. They laid together with Travis's arm snagged around the smaller boy's waist. Warmth enveloped the touched starved boys peacefully, quiet sighs of relaxed contentment.

When the alarm rang out in the morning, both boys quickly remembered that school was today. Travis groaned and swung up, removing the blanket. The two boys got ready sluggishly. Once they finally flounced down to the lobby, they waited by the mail slots for Larry.

"Huh, maybe Larry slept in." Sal wondered aloud.

Travis sighed, "Let's go look for him. He might still be asleep."

They marched to the elevator and headed down to Larry's floor. The door swung open easily and they entered Larry's room. Odd. It was chilly in there, like someone had turned the thermostat way down. The two looked all around the apartment, but no sign of either Larry or Lisa. "Maybe he already went to school, Sal. Let's just head there and see if we find him."

With more speed in their step, they quickly hiked their way to school. The mildly crumbling building appeared before them, but the yard was quiet. Travis's nerves began to sing with anxiety. Sally Face led the way as the started down a long hall of lockers. When they arrived at Larry's locker, only Ash and Todd were there to greet him.

"Have you guys seen Larry?" Travis asked, almost in a whisper.

"No, we were hoping he came with you. I needed to talk to him about a sculpture project." Ash said, quirking her eyebrow.

Sal pulled at one of his pigtails, anxiously. "If one of you guys hear from him in any way, text us all immediately. After school, we will search the apartments then the temple. We have to find him!" By the end, Sally was nearly in tears. Travis hugged Sal into his chest, trying to comfort the distraught boy. Internally, he was worrying if his father had anything to do with this. The school bell rung, signaling a stressful day of 'learning' ahead. As Travis and Sal went to first period together, Sally couldn't help but shoot Larry a text.

Where r u?

Read 8:23

By the final minutes of class, Sally was squirming to leave. Sal had never been this happy to hear the bell ring. The minutes seemed to crawl by as Sally impatiently waited at their group at the lockers. Travis could feel the nervous energy running off of Sally in nervous waves. He placed his arms around Sal's slim waist and kissed his forehead. After another minute, the rest of the ghost gang walked up. Together, they walked out of the school and towards the source of all their worries.

They had searched the entire building, but there was no sign of Larry. Sally directed the group towards the temple, but Travis pulled him away for a moment. "I cannot go back down there, you understand, right," Sal nodded, "So, I will go search both the treehouse and the woods behind it." Sal straightened up and began to protest, but Travis just began to speak louder, "I know it is dangerous, but so is going in that temple. This is something I have to do."

Trying to ignore both the hurt and understanding in his bluebird's eye, Travis pecked Sal's mask and turned away from him. "Call me if you find him." And with that, the golden boy walked out.

Travis clambered up to the treehouse. He began to trifle through the chest that he had once hidden in. He quickly found the object he was looking for, Larry's treasured leather jacket. He searched through all the pockets, hoping to find some hint as to what was going on. He heard something crinkle inside the coat. He flayed it open, cutting away the polyester lining with his trusty knife to find a small index card filled with Larry's messy scrawl.

Goodbye, blondie