(Sorry again for the late update!!)
*3rd person POV*
Pebbles crunched under Sal's sneakers as he and Travis walked down the street. They were a couple blocks away from the apartment now, and Sal was pointing out everything he thought Travis would like. Travis was hardly paying attention to his surroundings, sneaking glances at Sal whenever he could.
"Oh, this is my favorite place!" Sal said, dashing forwards. Travis perked up, watching Sal bounce ahead of him towards what looked to be a park.
The road divided into 2 turns ahead of him. The grass dipped down into a hill, rolling upwards to form a solidly large dip in the ground. On the raised part was a cement sidewalk path, which is what Sal was running towards. The path appeared to circle a large lake, the sun glistening off the surface.
Travis grinned widely and began sprinting after Sal, sliding down the hill on his heels and almost falling over. Sal turned back, seeing Travis pinwheeling his arms to catch his balance. He laughed, his pigtails bouncing. Travis felt a sharp strike in his chest, but not the bad kind. He couldn't contain the smile breaking across his face. He caught his balance and struggled up the other side of the dip, meeting Sal on the sidewalk.
Sal smiled. I mean, it's not like Travis could see his mouth, but the way his eyes crinkled at the edges conveyed it enough. He turned back and began walking down the path, beckoning Travis with his hand. Travis quickly jogged to catch up, stumbling to Sal's side. Trees lined the sidewalk, growing thicker and creating a wall on either side as the two boys walked on, making conversation among themselves.
Eventually, they came upon a wooden bench facing the lake. Travis sat on the left side, relaxing against the wood planks and closing his eyes. He heard Sal sit down next to him, then felt pressure on his legs. His eyes shot open and he looked down. Sal was resting his head on Travis's lap, his legs swung over the metal arm rest of the bench. He looked up at Travis, seeing his taken aback expression, and propped himself up on his arms.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry, is this okay? Do you want me to move or-"
"No no, it's fine!" Travis said quickly, waving his hands in the air. "I was just- uh- caught off guard! You're- you're fine."
Sal laughed a bit and lied back down. They sat in silence for a moment. Travis looked down at Sal. He slowly lifted his hand and gingerly placed it on Sal's hair, running his fingers through one of his pigtails slowly. Sal opened his eyes, feeling his face heat up. Travis looked down at him, smiling awkwardly.
He'd never noticed how pretty Sal's eyes were. They were bright blue, one of them slightly off colored. The sun glistened across his mask, accenting his
blue hair. Travis could hardly take his eyes off him.
Sal reached up, his hand brushing the side of Travis's face. Travis flinched, squeezing his eyes shut. Sal drew his hand back quickly, half sitting up.
"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I should'a asked-"
Travis grabbed Sal's hand with his free hand and brought it back up to his face, blushing brightly. Sal smiled and rubbed Travis's face with his thumb. He leaned into Sal's hand, closing his eyes and continuing to run his hand through Sal's pigtails.
They both wished they could stay in that moment forever.
Word Count: 597 words