STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

16: BE OKAY

"What are you doing here?" Salem asks, the disbelief and panic clear in his tone. Donny frowns, appearing confused at the question. Yeah, that's understandable. Donny literally just said what he's doing here.

"I— uh, I mean, my wife made you a lasagna. I don't really know the details..."

"How do you know where I live?" Salem asks in confusion. Donovan just stares at him, not appearing to understand why Salem's so freaked out.

"We share locations? I tried to call— are you okay?"

Oh, shit. That's right. When Salem and Donny were pretty new, one of their coworkers gave them a tip that they should share their locations with each other as some sort of safety precaution—they don't always have their equipment, and things can happen outside of work—but Salem had completely forgotten about that. Donny has been able to track him this entire time?! It's been years!

"Is this a bad time? Just wanted to see how you're doing."

Salem feels kind of bad. Here Donovan is, just trying to make sure he's okay after the incident a few days ago, and all Salem can do is question him. He feels the need to make up for it, and makes a split second decision.

Salem's pretty sure Atlas isn't even here, he's usually gone in the mornings so it doesn't make sense for today to be any different. Also, it's really rude to make someone stand on your front porch and not invite them in. Especially when they've brought a gift. Salem would feel really shitty if he didn't invite Donny in. Hopefully he says no.

"Do you want to come in?" Salem asks the guy, hoping he will say no. As per usual, luck is not on his side today.

"Sure!" Donny replies, brightening up at the invitation. Honestly, Salem is completely open to spending some time with this guy. He missed the normalcy of their bickering. However, he's really concerned about Atlas' whereabouts. He doesn't think Atlas is home, but still.

Reluctantly, Salem moves so Donny can enter the house. He walks to the fridge and puts the lasagna in there, before turning around and finding Donovan by the counter.

"So, how have you been holding up?" Donovan asks conversationally. Salem purses his lips, already wanting this to be over. He'd like to spend time with Donovan, but not discussing this. He's been such a fucking wreck over that incident for days now, and he just recently started to get past it. He doesn't need those memories brought up again.

"Fine." Salem says hesitantly, pursing his lips. He wishes there was a polite way to kick people out of your house. "You?"

Donny completely ignores that, taking a seat at the countertop. Salem just stands on the other side, trying to hold the conversation yet visibly distracted. No doubt Donny is probably a bit confused. Salem is just figuring out how to get out of this without hurting his feelings.

"Not about me." Donny says dismissively. Salem keeps his ears peeled for any noise. He hears Ruby playing with Rocky upstairs, probably not wanting to confront any strangers. He's not hearing anything else, though it would be difficult to do so over Ruby and the music.

Wait, music?

Sure enough, Salem hears music coming from another room in the house. He's pretty sure it's somewhere on the same floor, but he can't tell what direction. Then, he recognizes the playlist.

Atlas' exercise playlist. Uh oh.

"Let's go to the living room." Salem pushes, because that's the furthest room away from the weight room. They need to make this quick, Atlas cannot come out here and immediately be faced with a stranger. Salem doesn't know how it will go, and he really doesn't want to find out. Oh god, if Atlas hurts Donny...