STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

12: SALEM DOES

Salem doesn't see Atlas at all, not even in passing, for almost two weeks.

It sucks, he won't even lie. He's gone all these years without Atlas and been absolutely fine, and it's not like any of their interactions have been all that pleasant! It makes no sense for Salem to care about or even notice his absence, but he does. Somehow, in this short amount of time, he's already becoming attached again.

Salem can't deny it. He misses Atlas.

He resists it with every fibre of his being. He refuses to even acknowledge it, let alone admit it to himself. Salem tries to busy himself with other things as much as he possibly can. It's not like there's anything he can do—Atlas is just respecting his wishes! No matter how miserable it makes him, he knows the distance is necessary.

So, he makes due. Kind of. Eventually, Salem gets a day off, and sadly... that's when loneliness really starts to set in.

He does his best to distract himself. He goes to the store, even though he doesn't really need anything. When he's done with that, he decides to utilize Atlas' gym. Then, after that, he still has a couple hours to spare before Ruby gets home. So, he decides to make himself lunch and watch a movie.

The entire time, however, he can't stop thinking about Atlas. Still, he'd rather endure this than go back on what he said. He knows it's for the best, anyway.

"Can you help me with my homework?" Salem hears, and he glances up to find Ruby standing in the entrance to the living room, where Salem is seated. He was watching the end credits roll, but at this he gives Ruby his full attention.

"Sure."

"Okay," she says, taking a seat next to him and laying out her things on the coffee table. Salem leans forward, taking the notebook she offers to him. He scans the paper, finding a bunch of strange little tables and graphs, with abbreviated elements in various spaces. "I'm really lost."

Chemistry. Thankfully, Salem is good at chemistry. He was good at pretty much every school subject, aside from the debate class he took. His teacher said he was too passionate and unprofessional, which he thought was fair. He would basically turn everything into an argument, and thought the structure was stupid. It probably just had something to do with how emotional he is—was!—though.

Anyway, he can do chemistry, thank god. It's basically just a combination of math and science, both subjects he was strong in. Helping Ruby should be relatively painless.

For the most part, it is. Ruby seems to understand the material on a basic level, most of her mistakes were very small. It doesn't take long for Salem to clear most of it up, and he finds joy in educating her. The happiness on her face when she finally gets it feels quite rewarding. Unfortunately, it gets cut short when they hear the front door slam.

"Salem?!" Oh, and Atlas sounds fucking pissed. He sounds more angry than Salem's heard ever since they reunited, even when he was calling with one of his employees that first night. Ruby jumps, and turns to look at him with her eyes wide in fear. Uh oh, Atlas better calm down or this could turn ugly.

"What?" Salem calls back, but he makes sure his voice isn't nearly as loud. Also, he doesn't sound angry. Atlas' boots are loud on the tile as he walks towards Salem's voice. When he enters the room, he looks just as angry as he sounded. His eyes flick to Ruby, and his expression softens. When he looks back at Salem, however, he looks mad again. Salem gets the sense that Atlas wants to speak with him one-on-one.

"How about you go check on Mars and Rocky?" Salem whispers to Ruby, and she nods at the excuse to get away from Atlas, who is definitely scaring her. Salem starts to feel irritated, not understanding why Atlas isn't being more careful. Salem warned him! He told Atlas to stop being scary!