Salem and Atlas were happy together, believe it or not. It doesn't seem like it now, what with the way they treat each other-well, mostly the way Atlas treats Salem-but their relationship used to be perfect. Salem has never found someone who felt so right. Who felt like fate.

He still avoids thinking about their relationship, though. The happy memories only make him feel worse about his present life. They only make him miss something he should never have had. Salem tries to look after his mental health, considering the fact that he's already somewhat unstable. He  doesn't want any incidents, he doesn't want to take after his mom.

Salem wants to stay positive. To keep his aloof, easygoing attitude. The best way to do this is to not think about it. To stop that train of thought as quickly as possible, every time it appears.

Still... sometimes, he indulges.

He remembers the first time they met. They ended up partners for a project long forgotten. Salem had introduced himself, because that's the polite thing to do, when;

"Salem?"

Salem had never met this guy in his life, but now that he'd actually been looking at him, he admittedly wasn't... ugly. Messy black hair sweeping into his bright hazel eyes, lean and muscular with bandages on his knuckles for whatever reason. It was kind of distracting, and Salem found himself frozen for a moment.

"Uh, yeah."

"What are you, a witch?"

Salem scrunched his face up, feeling irritated. He had always been aware of the connotations surrounding his name, as well as it's lack of popularity. Still, it's not that crazy. He doesn't understand why that is what people always jump to.

"Maybe." Salem had replied, giving him an unimpressed look. The boy simply raised an eyebrow. "What's your name, then?"

Since he wanted to be all judgy, Salem decided to make sure he had a normal name. He didn't.

"Atlas."

Salem had paused, then given him a disbelieving look. Seriously? And Atlas thinks he has room to talk?

"Really? What are you, a map?" Salem replied, eyebrows raised.

Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Atlas is also a god." He said it like that somehow made the name any better. What, was he calling himself a god? What the hell was going on?

Not to mention the fact the Titan Atlas, in Greek mythology, lost and has been forced to hold up the sky forever. Just generally not a great name, so this dude has no business calling Salem a witch.

Salem continued staring at him, unimpressed. "Okay, and he lost. I'd rather be named Salem than GPS."

One would think that this conversation would make them dislike each other, but it ended quite the opposite. Atlas began hanging around Salem as a sort of default, and Salem didn't mind his company as much as he should've. They grew fond of each other. This, obviously, ended in romance.

Well no, actually. It ended in heartbreak.

Still, Salem tries not to focus on that, even now. He tries not to think of it at all, as a matter of fact.

Atlas staring down at him with nothing but pure love and adoration in his eyes. The way his hands shook and fidgeted when they kissed for the first time. How hard he tried to be confident, to act like he knew what he was doing, the first time that they had-

"Hello?" The word breaks Salem out of his trance, as do the fingers snapping in front of his face. Wow, he hasn't zoned out that bad in a while.

Salem looks up and finds an officer standing in front of him. He is currently seated at a table in the main entranceway of the command staff offices. His father had called him over here ASAP because he has exciting news, evidently. Salem is quite curious, though, because it takes a lot for Jack to call anything exciting. He is not an easily impressed man.

Anyway, when Salem got here his father had been in a meeting. That was about fifteen minutes ago, and he's still waiting. Or, he had been, until this man interrupted whatever the hell was going on in his head. Honestly, it's probably for the best.

"Hey." Salem replies. The guy has blond hair and blue eyes, along with a professional expression on his face.

His name tag says, J. J. Ellis, and he appears to be no older than about 21 or 22. This means he must be somewhat new, since you have to be at least 21 to join the force at all. He moves further into Salem's view frame, and continues;

"May I ask your purpose? Are you waiting for something?"

Oh yeah, he's definitely new. He doesn't know who Salem is, that's a pretty telltale sign in and of itself. Everyone knows who Salem is. Everyone.

Well, okay, except this guy.

"Yeah, my dad's in a meeting." Salem replies. Ellis raises his eyebrows, so he decides to elaborate. "I'm waiting for him to be done."

"Who's your father?"

Well, here goes. "Jack Heart."

As expected, his eyes widen. Salem feels uncomfortable, wanting this conversation to be over. He doesn't really know why, though. It's not like he doesn't talk to cops all the time-way too much, actually. Hm.

"Wait, the Chief? You're the Chief's son?"

Salem frowns, wondering how new this guy is to not know a member of the command staff's rank. Jack is not the Chief, he's a Captain. Salem has no idea how Ellis doesn't know this.

"Huh?" Salem asks. "He's a Captain-probably your Captain, actually."

Ellis looks confused, but before he can respond to that, he's interrupted by Jack's voice.

"Salem?"

Salem glances up and finds his father standing in the doorway to his office. There are a few people in the process of leaving, but Salem still stands up. He doesn't spare Officer Ellis another glance, because why would he, before he enters the office with his father.

He takes his usual seat in the chair by the man's desk, and patiently waits for his father to finally sit down. He does eventually, and types something on his computer, before finally acknowledging Salem again.

"I have been promoted."

Salem raises his eyebrows, because he honestly wasn't expecting that. Sure, his father is a great cop. He has thirty years in the profession, he is amazing at what he does. However, the only rank above him is Chief. Well, and there's Assistant  Chief. Wait.

"Uh, to what?" Salem asks. He does remember hearing that the Chief in Astren is going to be retiring really soon, but that's crazy. The Astren City Chief of Police? There's no way.

"I will be Chief."

Salem raises his eyebrows, unable to contain his shock. Honestly, he was expecting his father to retire within the next year or so. This is a huge promotion, though. There's going to be ceremonies, parties, it's possible even Salem will need to give a speech. Ellis' words from earlier make sense now, he just found out before Salem. Obviously.

"Oh my god." Salem says, "holy shit, really? In Astren?"

Jack gives him a swift nod. Jack has always been somewhat stone faced, but even Salem can tell that he's happy about this. He's about to be a political official. He's about to be making a lot more money.

Jack Heart. Chief of Police.

For some reason, Salem can't shake the feeling that this will cause some complications in his life.

-

"He said what to you?" Zona asks, voice beyond pissed off. She and Salem have been friends for a really long time, like elementary school long. She's a bit older than him, so she tends to get somewhat protective at times. This is why she despises Atlas.

"It's not a big deal!" Salem groans, because they've been going in circles about this. "He's just mean. He can't help it, it's his personality... or something."

"Stop defending him." Zona replies from the other line. "He's a dick. I will never understand how you kept a relationship with him for so long."

"Because we were in love," Salem huffs, slightly sarcastic, glaring at his ceiling fan. Stupid ceiling fan. It has so much dust.

"No fucking way-Have you been taking your medicine?"

Salem ignores the spark of irritation he feels at just the question, especially because he can't even remember. He has alarms set to remind him, and his medicine is kind of important in terms of keeping him... normal, but still.

"Yeah," He replies, because he knows he took it yesterday and that's good enough. He wants to be irritated with Zona, but he knows her rage is coming from a place of love and care for him. Reminding himself of that helps.

"Salem, he treated you like shit." Okay, now that's not true. Towards the end of their relationship? Maybe. There was a good year and a half or so where things were great, though. "You should not be talking to him, ever, for any reason, at all. If you won't do it for your health, do it for mine."

"Fine." Salem grumbles, still lying flat on his back. He closes his eyes after a moment, trying not to get emotional about this. Then, as an afterthought, "he wasn't always like that."

Zona just continues talking about how much she hates Salem's ex, and eventually conversation fades off. She says bye only a minute before Salem finally falls asleep.

He's hoping he won't dream of Atlas. His wish is not granted.

They were in Salem's bed, and it was his birthday. He was a sophomore in high school, and it was October, and he was turning sixteen. They were snuggled together and watching a movie, and at this point they'd been together a few months. Salem felt content in Atlas' arms. He felt safe, he felt so happy it was distracting-he wasn't used to it. It always seemed like his default emotion was just... sadness. This was new.

"Are you paying attention?" Atlas asked, and Salem glanced up at him.

He didn't want to tell this guy about how distracted he'd been by his thoughts. He didn't want Atlas to think he was crazy, and he really didn't want to freak him out. He kept his thoughts to himself. "Yeah, sorry."

Atlas looked like he didn't believe him, and in the dull glow of the TV light, Salem remembers thinking Atlas looked beautiful. Before Salem could think about it, he said quietly; "I'm so lucky."

Atlas raised his eyebrows, and Salem immediately felt his cheeks turning red. Wow, he did not mean to say that aloud. If this guy knew how much he meant to Salem, he'd probably be freaked out. Salem gets it from his mom, his obsessive nature. He can't just like someone romantically, or think they're okay or whatever. He falls completely and hopelessly in love or he feels nothing at all.

Atlas genuinely appeared confused, though. "You are?"

Salem inclined himself on his elbow, staring down at the guy in curiosity. What kind of reaction was that? How could Salem not think that? Did Atlas not agree?

"Uh, yeah?" Salem replied like it was obvious. He'd been deeply shocked by the troubled expression on Atlas' face. You'd have to be blind not to see that the guy is a total catch. He's smart, sweet, attractive... okay, sure, he's a little mean sometimes, but still. Some masochistic part of Salem likes that too.

Atlas seemed unsure about what he was about to say. Eventually he sighed, averting his gaze back to the TV. He wasn't really watching it, though. "Thank you."

There was something on Atlas' mind, Salem could tell. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me," Salem pushed, frowning at him. After a few moments, he finally gave in.

"You..." He sighed, "you could do so much better, Salem."

To say salem was shocked was an understatement, he seriously could not believe it. He fully sat up and continued staring down at Atlas in both disappointment and shock. He was trying to tell if Atlas was serious, and the look on his face only solidified that he fucking was. Of all things it could have been, Salem really was not expecting that. He genuinely thought Salem could do better.

"What do you mean?" Salem asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was going to need this guy to specify, because it made no sense to him. He'd always thought Atlas was way out of his league, but apparently that mindset went both ways.

They just stared into each other's eyes for awhile, Atlas conflicted and Salem a mixture of curious and disappointed. Finally, Atlas replied.

"You're just so... good." Atlas mumbled, then his eyebrows furrowed. Salem had never seen him so unsure of everything. He went back to watching but not watching the TV. "I don't know. Nevermind."

That moment was when Salem made a split second decision. He didn't think it through at all, but it didn't make the statement any less true. "I love you."

Atlas' eyes widened quite a bit, and Salem felt instant regret. Fuck! It was probably too soon. They'd only been together, like, four months, despite the fact that they'd known each other for a little over a year. Is that a normal amount of time before saying it? Either way, Atlas is different when it comes to intimacy and relationships. They had to move really slow.

Salem should have waited. He knew he'd freak Atlas out. He knew he'd scare this guy away. Salem is just way too passionate about everything-

"I love you too, Salem." Atlas replied. Salem actually wasn't expecting the guy to say it back. He wasn't expecting the sheer magnitude of his feelings being returned. He couldn't help the mixture of shock and excitement that took over his features, believing Atlas without a second thought.

They embraced after that. Salem can't remember a single time where he was so unbelievably satisfied with how his life was going. He really, truly loved Atlas.  He knew even then that he always would. Atlas was flawless to him.

That was the problem, though. He was so blinded by love that he couldn't see the problems.

He didn't notice the secrets, the lies, the distance. It was almost like he didn't want to. Salem just wanted to be happy, and Atlas made him happy. He would pretend like everything was perfect for a million years before he let go of these feelings. This sense of life, of wanting to wake up and get out of bed every day.

So Salem believed that Atlas loved him back. That the feeling was mutual. That they'd be together forever. They'd never face any hardships or problems, and even if they did they would at least have each other. Salem thought he and Atlas were perfect. He thought Atlas, generally, was just perfect.

In the end, that was his downfall.