"Okay, I'll let you guys eat lunch now. Don't forget to bring some gLitTeR- OKAY, I SAID I SURRENDER," Larry screeches.

"Ha! Okay, I'm kicking you out for real this time. Thanks for helping me not have a panic attack," I laugh and push him out of my room after hitting him with a pillow a couple more times.

"Anytime, dude/dudette," he chuckles and pats my head before exiting.

"Hey... You can call me anytime. I don't care if I'm in school, or my dad wants me at home. I'll always come over if you need me," Sal hugs me from behind.

"Thanks, but I don't want to get you in trouble," I sigh and lift one of his hands from my stomach to kiss his knuckle.

"I won't get in trouble. I know how to lie," he chuckles and kisses my neck softly, letting me hold his hand.

"If you say so, love," I smile and let go.

"Come on, get ready to go," Sal kisses my cheek and drops his arms from my figure. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes."

And with that, he walks out, shutting the apartment door behind himself. I get ready faster than I ever have before (legwarmers and wool shorts in the middle of winter ftw), and quickly shove my stuff in the pockets of my oversized sweater. As soon as I'm done adjusting my legwarmers and tying my shoes, I grab a jacket and hat, and knock on Sal's front door.

"Oh, hello, um..."

"Hello, Mr. Fisher. I'm Y/n, Sal's partner/boyfriend/girlfriend," I smile up at the tired, blue-haired man holding the door open.

"Ah yes, I remember now. Come on in," he gives a halfhearted smile in return and gestures me in. "Sal is on the phone with Larry in his room."

"Thank you," I nod and knock softly on his door, but he doesn't respond. What's that about?

I frown and press my ear against the door like the nosy bitch I proudly am, only to hear Sal raising his voice. He's not yelling, but he's damn close. I can't figure out what he's saying, but I can hear Larry yelling back over the phone as their argument continues.

I pull away from the door and cover my mouth with one hand. How am I supposed to feel? I've never seen my own boyfriend act like this, and to hear him treating his best friend like that? What the hell?! Maybe Larry yelled first, but I doubt it. I pull my sleeves over the palms of my shaking hands and take a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself.

It doesn't work as well as I would like. I silently curse Henry for not stepping in and leaving the room, before wiping the tears from my face. I hesitate, debating if I should knock, walk in, wait for him and pretend I didn't hear anything, or leave. None of these options sound like they have a pleasant outcome, and I wish I don't have to choose one.

I let out an involuntary squeak when I hear a bang from the other side of the door. I dig my nails into my sleeves covering my palms, praying to every deity and God I can think of as I sink to my knees. I'm not worried Sally Face is going to hurt me, I'm worried that he's just going to brush this under the rug. And I didn't expect him to hit something, of course. Poor Larry.

I hear someone mumble something unintelligible from the other side of the door, so I assume it's an apology, and let out a shaky sigh as I relax and lean against the wall. Until the knob clicks.

"...Y/n," although his voice is confident, Sal hesitates.

"Was that you yelling?" I look up at him with watery eyes.

He stares down at me from behind his prosthetic wordlessly.

"That's what I thought," I chuckle bitterly and wipe the tears from my face.

"Listen, I was-"

"No, Sal. I will not be listening to someone who treats their best friend like shit," I sniff and stand up.

"Come here," he requests, holding out his arms to me.

"What makes you think I want to be touched by you? I may not know what you said, but I certainly heard enough," I glare at Sal sharply and turn to leave. I'm not responsible for his happiness. He can deal with this himself, Larry is my main concern right now.

"Come. Here."

I keep walking, ignoring him. I can't believe this... Did I really fall for such an asshole?

"Last chance, Y/n," he warns, leaning against the wall with his arms now folded over his chest.

I open the door and walk out, staring him down with a straight face for just a moment before slamming it shut and storming back to my apartment. I'm so stupid... I'm sorry, but taking care of Larry is gonna have to wait until I can get my shit together. I pull out my key and unlock my door, doing everything I can to hold in a sob.

I can hardly see the lock since my vision is blurred by my tears, so I just press my forehead against my door and cry. I'm so pathetic, is this really what my life has come to? Sobbing on my own doorstep? Wow... I sit down with my back to the wall and hug my knees to my chest. I hide my face in my arms and shut my eyes with a shudder.

"Hey, bro, are you okay?"

I look up to see a person with violet eyes and a red mohawk walking towards me with a worried face. I nod and rest my chin on my knees, staring off into space while tears continue to fall silently down my face. Leave me alone. They sigh and kneel down next to me, resting their elbows on their knees.

"Listen, I don't know you, but I think you could use someone to talk to."

I look back at them through half-closed eyelids without moving my head. They smile softly and hold out a hand.

"I'm Robert, he/they. You don't have to trust me, but I hate seeing people just sit alone, man."

"Y/n, [insert your pronouns here]," I say and take his hand.

"Come on, dude. You've had a long day, haven't you?" Robert pulls me up into a hug, letting me cry into his shoulder.

"Yeah," I whisper, hugging him tightly.

"You wanna tell me what happened?"

I briefly explain what happened this morning, and Robert nods along. Somewhere along the lines, we sat back down on the floor. We're leaning on each other and talking now. He asks about the very faint bruises on my legs.

"They're not from anything bad," I assure him.

"You sure, bro? It sounds like your boyfriend is a little too possessive, I just wanna make sure he isn't physically abusive," he frowns and puts an arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah," I smile weakly. "I hate leaving you after this, but I should really check in on my friend."

"Don't sweat it, man. Good luck," they grin and help me up.

"Thank you so much, Robert."

"If you need anything, you can always knock on my door. Even if it's three in the morning," he chuckles and returns to his apartment before I can respond.

That was certainly unexpected. I take a deep breath and press the elevator button. When the doors open, I see Sal. He's not paying attention, just looking at something on his phone. So, I decide to just ignore his presence- against my better judgement, of course. I use my card to go to the basement, but when I put my hand out to insert it, Sal finally looks up.

He grabs my wrist almost immediately. I wince when his hand wraps around my sleeve and avoid meeting his gaze, which I can feel is on me. I already know he's going to ask me what I'm doing and why, so now I just have to decide if I should tell the truth, or ignore him.

"I... I'm sorry. Please tell Larry I'm sorry. I don't think he'd be happy to see me," Sal says softly in that stupid voice of his I love.

"Let go of me. You can tell him yourself, come on," I mutter with a sigh and grab his upper arm as soon as he lets go, guiding him to Larry's apartment.

"Okay."

I knock on his door, and he opens it to see me looking up at him with a blank face and Sal sighing. He tugs his arm away from me and gives me the side-eye.

"Go on," I urge him. "Stop being an asshole, you're making me respect you less when you refuse to apologize."

"Larry, I'm sorry, man," Sal shifts his weight uncomfortably.

"I'm not accepting an apology that I'm only hearing because Y/n said something. Fuck off, Sally Face," Larry frowns slightly.

"Actually, he asked me to tell you he's sorry. On the elevator, I mean. He didn't want to come down and make you even more mad, but I made him," I say.

"In that case, I'll think about it. Can I talk to you privately, Y/n?" Larry shifts his gaze.

"Thank you for doing this, Sal. You can go back to whatever you were doing," I let Larry gently pull me into his apartment.

As soon as the door shuts, Larry looks at me with a hint of worry in his eyes. He motions for me to follow him into his room. I sit down next to him on the bed and he pulls out... Sal's phone?

"Why do you have his phone?" I look at him, astonished. Damn, did he really swipe it?

"I grabbed the wrong one, I swear I didn't steal it. Anyway, are you... Y'know what? I'm just gonna show you," Larry sighs and hands me the phone.

I read the paragraphs in the notes app.

I just want them to be obsessed with me the way I'm obsessed with them. I can't scare them off, but I can hardly let them out of my sight. It's not that I don't trust them, it's that I don't trust everyone else. Especially after what Larry did. He knows they're mine. He knows I'd beat the shit out of him if he touched them, but he still went that far.

I feel like Y/n is messing with me sometimes. Don't they know what they're doing to me? They can't, they're... too pure. But it still makes me want to teach them a lesson. I wish they only wanted to talk to me, only needed me. It's so hard to keep my hands to myself sometimes. I want to keep them all to myself. It's so close to a need.

The way they hate getting up but love mornings is adorable. The way they can watch Mulan over and over without getting tired of it is cute as hell. When Y/n talks about RDR2 (or something else u like, RDR2 is my placeholder), they get so excited. They get this sparkle in their eyes, and I wish that they would talk about me like that. When they play with my hair and kiss me everywhere but my lips, it drives me crazy.

God, I love when they look up at me with that frustrated face, especially when they blush. I would take so many pictures of it if they let me, but I don't want to scare them off. It's always about me having to restrain myself to keep them around. I want nothing more than to touch them however and whenever I feel like it. Is that so much to ask?

I turn off the phone and say nothing. I have no idea how to feel. I mean... I'm flattered, but... My face is definitely red.

"No offense, but your boyfriend is scary as hell," Larry comments.

"I honestly don't think I should say anything. I don't know what I would say. I mean... As long as he's not hurting anyone, then I guess it's fine," I sigh. He better not lay a hand on Larry.

"If you change your mind, lemme know. I'll be there to back you up, dude/dudette. Oh, and I took a picture of that from my phone, I'll send it to you. You should take that back to Sal," Larry rests a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks, Larry. I'm gonna go wallow in self-pity for a while, I'll see you around," I give him a small smile and put the device in pocket before heading back to my apartment.

"Adios."

I realize I forgot to ask Robert for his number when I step off the elevator, but think better of it. I reluctantly knock on Sal's door. Unfortunately, Sal is the one to answer, not Henry. He looks down at me with slightly widened eyes. He's never been good at hiding when he's surprised.

"Here, Larry said he grabbed the wrong phone, so he asked me to bring this back to you," I hold out the item.

"Thanks..."

"Um, why did you... ah, nevermind," I avert my gaze and turn to go back to my place.

"Wait, tell me. Please."

"I don't think I should. It would just make things more complicated, and I genuinely don't think it's worth it," I sigh.

"Hey, why is my notes app open?" Sal asks. I freeze in my tracks instantly.

"That... Larry showed me that. I wasn't going to say anything," I sigh.

"Hm. You're not... scared, now... are you?"

"No, of course not. I'm sure it's just that you love me, plus a temporary infatuation," I lie. "You seem to be a bit frustrated with my boundaries, but you also respect them. And I guess it's the last part that matters to me."

"So... you're not angry, either?"

"No. Like I said, I didn't think it was worth bringing up," I finally look back at him. He's leaning on the side of the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Alright," Sal nods after a moment of thinking. "My dad wanted me to invite you over for dinner, by the way."

"Oh... What time should I come over?"

"Probably around six."

"Okay, I'll see you then, I guess," I muster up the best smile I can and continue going back to my apartment.

"Hold on, I don't know if now is the best time to ask, but... do you still want to have lunch?" Sal asks. I can hear a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Actually... Yeah, I do. I completely forgot about lunch until now," I smile in an effort to make him less uncomfortable.

"Awesome," he lets out a sigh of relief and grabs his coat from the rack by the door.

Well, that worked out surprisingly really well. For what happened, at least. I extend a hand for Sally Face to take, but he ignores it for a moment to drape his jacket over my shoulders. I frown, but I know if I take it off, he's just going to put it back on. I accept my fate with a sigh. Sal ruffles my hair before finally taking my hand.

"You know I hate when you do that."

"Sounds like a you problem," he chuckles.