Hoi, peeps! Holy crap its been a while. I'm so sorry its been so long, I was in hospital and then a bunch of shit went down. My (now) ex cheated on me with their best friend, my mental health has spiralled down the drain, my home life is a mess and the lack of inspiration hasn't helped. I'll be ok. Now, I am REALLY struggling for ideas so if you have any, PLEASE let me know. Plus I know the last few chapters have been really shit but I hope I can redeem myself. .

"Hmm...?"

Sal sat up, peeling himself away from Larry's sleeping body. He looked around the messy treehouse, smiling as he remembered their earlier activities. He combed his fingers through his matted blue hair before putting it up in a single ponytail. Larry stirred next to him, letting out a small groan, probably his head hurting as usual. Sal put out his arm and stroked Larry's head in hopes of comforting him.

"Go back to sleep, Lar-Bear. You'll feel better later, I promise."

The brunette nuzzled his head deeper into the bean bag and was soon asleep again, muttering in his sleep as he always did. Sal looked down at him, still smiling and thinking of how lucky he was that Larry was still here.

Tears filled his eyes, not wanting to imagine his life if Larry had died in the hospital. Even though Larry was alive and well, curled up sleeping on the bean bag, he still saw him as a pale body with needles and wires sticking out of him, not even being able to breathe without machines whirring in the background. Sal grabbed Larry's limp wrist and pushed down with two fingers. A pulse. Despite the proof that Larry was alive, Sal couldn't get rid of the idea that he wasn't.

The tears rolled down his face, he couldn't take his eyes away from his boyfriend. Sal stood up and paced around the treehouse, trying to shake the image from his head.

"No, he's here now. He's alive, he's ok..." He kept repeating to himself as he walked around, attempting to convince himself that everything was ok. Larry started to mutter louder in his sleep, his teeth chattering at the same time from how cold he was.

Snapped out of his focused state and knelt down beside a shaking Larry, pulling a blanket over him. He leaned in closer so he could hear Larry mumbling,

"I'm sorry...never...leave..."

Even though he now had the blanket over him, Larry was still shaking in his sleep. He reached out to the empty space next to him, probably expecting Sal to still be there but was met with nothing. His hands turned into fists and pulled back towards him, his body curling into a fetal position thinking he was alone. Sal couldn't stand seeing Larry think he was alone, even in his sleep he felt alone. Sally flung his arms around Larry and sobbed into his shoulder.

The taller boy woke with a start, not quite knowing what was going on. He instinctively wrapped his arms around Sal, pulling him close.

"Hey, Sal, don't cry. What's wrong? Talk to me, dude."

Sal replied with even harder sobs and tightening his grip on Larry, almost crushing him. Larry started to laugh,

"Come on dude, I need to breathe, tell me what's wrong."

Larry pulled Sal from his shoulder so he could look into his weeping eyes. He wiped away his lover's tears and held him there, trying to calm him down. Sal didn't even answer him at first, he simply looked down and tried to control his tears. A wave of sudden anger came over the small boy, he was so angry with himself for letting him get in this state. He bashed his fists against Larry's chest, but Sal was so weak, it didn't even phase him.

"I-I'm so s-sorry, Larry! I failed you..."

Larry's eyes widened with concern, he tried to pull Sal closer to him but the blue boy sat stiffly.

"No...You haven't failed me. Why would you say that?"

Sal's sobs subsided, he reached for his prothetic, wanting to hide his face. Larry tried to prise the mask from his fingers but Sal fastened the claps around his head instantly, feeling slightly relieved that Larry couldn't see him anymore. Even though Sal had his mask on, Larry always knew what he was feeling, no amount of metal and plastic would ever stop him from knowing that.

"Because I have... I wasn't there for you when you needed me most, I couldn't even tell when you needed me. Every time I look at you, Larry, I still see you lying in that damn hospital bed, not even being able to breathe because of me!"

A single tear rolled down Larry's face, he and Sal had never properly talked about his attempt, but he began to think that they should have.

"Sal... I made a mistake trying to...kill myself. You have been here for me more than anyone else ever has, you're the reason I'm still alive, you found me, you saved me. You could never fail me, babe. We should have talked about this a long time go..."

Larry started to cry harder, his eyes slowly turning red from his salty tears. Sal was crying as equally hard, letting out small sniffs from under his prosthetic. He nodded slowly, agreeing that they should have spoken about this before now. Sally wiped his tears from under his mask but didn't take it off.

"I just can't help it, Larry... Every time I look at you, even when your asleep, I just see you lying in that hospital bed, needles and IV tubes coming from your arms and a tube shoved down your throat. The noise of the heart rate machine flatlining still rings in my ears! You were so p-pale and looked..."

Sal couldn't finish his sentence before screaming and falling backwards onto the floor so he was away from Larry. The brunette sat dazed on the bean bag, he didn't even look around while he tried to process what his boyfriend had said to him, he simply finished his sentence,

"...dead..."

Larry gently slid off the beanbag and onto the floor. Sal was curled up into a ball, crying on the bare planks of the treehouse floor. He was crying so hard that he was almost screaming, as if he were in excruciating pain. Larry pulled Sal by his shoulders so the blue's head was in his lap. He gently stroked his hair, hoping it would begin to calm him down while he was at a loss for words.

The two sat there for at least an hour, after a while, Sal's throat went sore and his screams faded. He had run out of tears a long time ago but the pain and the need was still there. Larry had fallen into a blank state, absent-mindedly still stroking his lovers hair, occasionally curling it around his fingers.

"Sal..."

Sal jumped, not expecting him to speak at all. He looked up to see Larry while still resting his head on his lap. Sal couldn't speak, his throat was raw and even if he could, the words would just stick in his mouth. He raised his hand and rested it on his Larry's cheek, showing he was listening.

"I want you to hear something..." Larry lay down, his back against the bean bag propping him up. Sal raised his head in confusion. Larry reached for Sal's hand and pulled it towards him, Sal coming closer with it. "Lie on me." Sal tried to speak but only a few strangled noise came out. Larry understood his confusion, "Just do it." Sal obeyed and lay on the brunette's chest. Larry guided his head so it was laying in the right place.

"You hear that? That's my heartbeat. It means my heart is beating and I'm alive. And I'm gonna keep that heart beating for you, it is never going to stop again as long as I can help it."

Sal started to make choking noises, his body wanted to cry but it just wouldn't let him. He clung tighter to Larry, trying to show that he was listening to what he had said. Sal tried to stop crying and pushed his head further onto Larry's chest.

Thump Thump

Thump Thump

He was right. He was alive. Larry had said exactly what he needed to hear. The brunette smiled, knowing he had done something right. After a few minuets, Sal raised his head and looked into the most beautiful pair of eyes he'd ever seen, even if they were all red and puffy. He cleared his throat to the best of his ability, which wasn't very well, and barely managed to speak loud enough so his voice was audible.

"Can we go inside? I'm cold."

Larry smiled down at his lover and nodded, carefully getting up and then helping Sal to his feet. The blue-haired boy flashed him a cheeky grin from under his prosthetic but Larry knew.

"Well I must say, this is the strangest aftercare I've ever had."

Larry chuckled as he threw his shirt on and then helped Sal into his.

"Well, babe. I'm a weird person. It's what you signed up for."

Sal unclipped his mask, threw it to the floor and flung his arms around his tall knight in presumably leather armour. He kisses his neck before tightening his grip around him.

"I love you, Larry..."

Larry chuckled and did the same.

"I love you too, little blue..."

Oof well there ya go. Hopefully it's ok. I may have started to cut onions during this but it's fine... Please give me some requests! I'm bad at continuing unwritten stories... .