STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

14: HASTE

Salem has never seen, or even heard of, Atlas losing a fight. At least, not recently. Seriously, the guy is obsessed with winning at everything. This is why Salem is not surprised to find Levi a bloody mess, laying on the ground, and Atlas in the process of walking away. He appears to have almost no injuries, aside from bruised and bloody knuckles—though that's pretty typical—and it's clear that Salem and Milo only caught the tail end of the conflict.

"Fuck! We missed it!" Milo curses. Salem can't take his eyes off of Atlas' back, though. Atlas isn't limping or anything, and there's no sign of any injury. It appears as though he quite literally just beat the shit out of Levi and moved on with his day.

Salem watches one of the cheerleaders—Mercedes, actually—helping Levi up. He is seriously in bad shape, and Salem can't help but feel bad for him. Most of his face is already bruising, and there is a lot of blood. He limps, leaning against Mercedes a lot. She's struggling to hold him up, so someone else walks over to help. They all walk past Salem, and Mercedes makes sure to give him a nasty glare. Like this is Salem's fault. Well, maybe it's more directed at Atlas. She really hates Atlas.

Cam is now standing by Milo, and all three are watching Levi's retreating form. After a moment, Cam remarks, "I told him it was a bad idea."

That's when Salem takes pause. Hang on a second, is Cam hinting that this was some sort of revenge thing? How could Atlas have even known? Did someone film it? Actually, yeah, there were cameras everywhere. Someone definitely filmed it.

"Wait, what?" Salem asks, turning to face Cam, who raises an eyebrow. "Why were they fighting?"

Milo and Cam both look at each other, then at Salem like he's stupid. "Uh, you?"

Cam says it like it should be obvious, and Salem frowns. Sure, he knows that Atlas cares about his safety. The guy has made that pretty obvious, but this is insane. Then again, it's not like Salem can put it past him. He can't disagree, because Salem is generally pretty well liked. This is the first time anybody has ever really harmed him, unless you count the wrestling matches he'd have with Cam and Milo when they were kids. Those weren't anywhere close to serious, though.

Now that Salem thinks about it... well, maybe the lack of conflict in his life isn't exactly a coincidence.

Salem doesn't know what to do with this information. How can Atlas constantly remind him of how much he doesn't care, if he's going to do stuff like this? Salem genuinely has so many questions.

The crowd disperses and before Salem knows it he's walking to his first class. He follows his typical routine, attending his classes and spending lunch studying for exams, which are next week. Salem is pretty confident that he's going to do well, and he's excited for next semester's classes. He's not sure what all he will be taking, since they won't release the schedules until after exams. Still, he likes the change, and he's pretty sure he's going to have art.

The entire day, Atlas' fight bothers him. He seriously just wants to know why, and maybe it's the fact that he likes excuses to talk to the guy. Maybe it's because now he's supposed to be some sort of undercover spy, maybe he just can't help himself. Either way, by the end of the day, Salem is planning on asking him about it.

He's sorry, okay? Still, he has a reason. Aside from his curiosity, he tells himself that this is just part of his whole undercover operation. Yeah, sure, he's doing this for Catrine.

Once school lets out, Salem makes a beeline for where he assumes Atlas will be. He doesn't even try to hide his haste, practically running to the front steps of the school. He scans the student parking lot until eventually spotting Atlas' motorcycle. He finds Atlas leaned against it, speaking to another guy about god knows what. Salem doesn't give a shit, and wastes no time before making his way that direction.