STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

31: LOOKING FORWARD

"Why did you leave my room?" Is the first thing Atlas asks, after entering said room and glaring at Salem. He has his arms crossed, which unfortunately makes his muscles more noticeable. This is distracting.

Atlas has a t-shirt and grey sweatpants on, but his hair is messy and he's not wearing any rings or bandages or anything, including his piercings. It makes it apparent that he put next to no effort into his appearance today, and Salem finds himself even more curious about where this guy has been.

"Why did you leave first?" Salem retorts, raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't matter. You should've waited."

Salem scrunches his face up a bit, still laying flat on Atlas' bed with a dog on his legs. He stares at the guy, unimpressed. "You shouldn't have left."

"Rocky was supposed to take care of you." Atlas says, looking genuinely confused. Salem was growing irritated, but that dissipates because for some reason he finds that unbelievably cute and thoughtful. So Atlas had to leave Salem, and despite the fact that he'd still be back before noon, he still decided to have a dog keep him company.

"And he did a great job," Salem reassures. Atlas seems to relax a bit. "But I'd rather have had you here."

"Well I had business."

Salem doesn't like that word. That's what Atlas always called it when he'd disappear for no reason—honestly, most of the time Salem asked him about something he'd been doing and he didn't want to answer, that was the reason. Business.

That answer isn't enough anymore. Not now that Salem knows everything. Well, not everything, but a pretty decent amount... probably. Most of it? He's probably figured out most of the secrets, right? Right?

"Like what? Don't lie to me."

Atlas purses his lips, staring at Salem for a moment. He doesn't seem to think about it for long, and Salem can't really read his expression right now. It's annoying.

"Okay, since you want to know." Atlas says, "I was meeting Sykes—you probably just know him as the owner of Burnhouse, though."

Salem freezes.

"You wanna tell me anything?"

Oh shit. Oh no, Salem really shouldn't have pried. No wonder Atlas gave in so easily. He has to know. "No."

Atlas hums. "Didn't know you changed your name."

"I couldn't think of anything!" Salem snaps, sitting up and glaring at Atlas. He is mad, but honestly, he's mostly just embarrassed. Atlas was not supposed to find out—honestly, it never even crossed Salem's mind that the man would talk to him about it, though it probably should've. "What, would you rather I tell him my real one?"

"Why are those the only options? I know you know other names." Atlas says, but he seems to find at least a little comedy in the situation. Salem huffs, then overcompensates because he's nervous.

"Uh, if I could've thought of one then I would've." Salem says, "all of your names suck, so."

Atlas raises an eyebrow, clearly not believing that. "Really? All of them?"

"Yeah," Salem says, averting his eyes. He's not sure where this conversation is going, but he's getting the sense that it won't work out for him. "GPS."

Atlas' expression doesn't change, and Salem isn't even sure if he heard him. He appears to be thinking about something, giving Salem some sort of knowing look. Honestly, he has no idea what is going through Atlas' head right now. It's making him nervous.

Atlas seems to move on from the previous conversation when he finally responds. "Let's go. I'm taking you back to your car."

Salem doesn't budge, frowning at him. He's not surprised, though, he fully expected Atlas to try and cut this short. He's never been all that great when it comes to conversations, especially ones as unpleasant as the one they need to have.