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.

By the time he reaches Atlas, the guy he'd been talking to is gone. Atlas appears as though he's about to get on his motorcycle and leave, so Salem speaks up first.

"Atlas!"

The guy looks over, appearing confused. Yeah, he's probably wondering who is talking to him, due to it being a rare occurrence. Once he lays eyes on Salem, he immediately looks annoyed. Salem tries not to feel offended by the change in attitude.

Atlas doesn't even answer him, just raises his eyebrows. This is his way of telling Salem to continue, and also hurry up.

"We need to talk about earlier." Salem states. He's expecting refusal and hostility, like usual, but instead he sees Atlas frown. Salem was keeping a good distance, about three feet, between the two. However, Atlas closes it pretty quick just from a single step. Salem's eyes are wide at the proximity, and he can only stand frozen as Atlas reaches towards his face.

Salem closes his eyes as Atlas grabs his glasses, removing them. He does not look happy as he lays eyes on the damage. He reaches out and takes hold of Salem's chin, and Salem can feel the fresh bandages that cover both of his hands against his skin. Salem seriously can't move, every alarm going off in his head as he internally freaks out. He seriously can't function when Atlas touches him.

Atlas moves his head, inspecting the damage that Levi did. He just looks irritated as he takes in the fact that half of Salem's face is bruising and his eye is in horrible shape. Seriously, it's quite literally black and blue.

"It's worse than I thought." Atlas mumbles, and the look on his face is cold—an expression Salem is all too familiar with seeing. It's almost never directed at him, though, thankfully.

"It's not a big deal." Salem says. "Why did you do that?"

Atlas lets go of his face, then crosses his arms. He just stares down at Salem, and it's clear that he doesn't want to answer that question. Salem thinks it's pretty valid, though. This guy needs to make his actions match up with what he says. He can't go around saying that he doesn't care about Salem and then go beat the shit out of a guy for punching him. It doesn't work like that.

"You know why." He says simply, like that answers Salem's question. No, Salem does not know why, that's the entire reason he asked. Before he can interrogate Atlas on it further, he continues. "And you should tell Cameron, next time he drags you into this shit, it'll be him."

That completely changes the tone of the conversation, Salem's patient and slightly irritated expression turning to one of disbelief. There's no goddamn way, absolutely not. Atlas is messing with him. Cam? He's been one of Salem's best friends since elementary school!

"W-What?"

"I don't want to hurt your friends," He continues, possibly at the shocked disbelief he's met with. Salem takes a step away from him. "But I will."

Sure, Cam is kind of stupid, and he's basically incapable of thinking anything through. Still, Salem doesn't want him to get hurt. Especially by Atlas—Salem knows the damage Atlas can do. He hasn't really seen it first hand, Atlas always tried to shield him from that, but he's heard about it. Also, Atlas has been fighting since he was 15. Salem has no doubt he could really mess someone up if he wanted to, and he'd never wish that on Cam.

"No you won't," Salem replies, and his tone is lower. Atlas just raises an eyebrow. "He's my best friend."

"No, Zona's your best friend."

Salem narrows his eyes, irritated at the fact that Atlas is right. However, Cam and Milo still matter quite a bit to him. "Either way, I care about him."

Atlas really doesn't seem to give a shit about how close Salem and Cam are, though they used to be closer. Salem can tell that he hasn't changed Atlas' mind even a little bit, and that bothers him. He doesn't want Cam to get hurt, though, and Atlas could really hurt him. So, maybe he should give up on helping with all the stupid stunts.

"You care about everyone." Atlas says, and Salem is growing frustrated. Why does he make it sound like a bad thing? So what if Salem cares about everyone? He thought that was normal.

"You're not my bodyguard, Atlas."

Atlas doesn't respond, which means he doesn't acknowledge the bodyguard statement. Instead he just changes the subject. Still, Salem knows he didn't change his mind.

"Don't you have work today?" Atlas asks, and Salem frowns, dissatisfied with how this conversation is going. Yes, it's Wednesday, so he has work. How does Atlas even remember that? Why is it relevant to begin with?

"Yeah?"

"Go to work," Atlas orders, and Salem had honestly been planning to call out. No way he's going to run around at work—being a server entails a lot of that—with his leg in the shape that it is. Also, this guy has no right to tell Salem what to do.

"No. Tell me why you care so much." Salem demands, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

"About what, exactly? It's normal to look after the weak." Atlas says, like that makes any sense. "Doesn't mean I care."

Salem rolls his eyes, not in the mood for this guy's games. That doesn't add up, and Atlas knows it. Oh, it's normal to look after the weak? Salem knows that's a dig at him as well, but he's not offended. He knows how this guy works, knows when Atlas is trying to distract him.

This time, he's insulting Salem to distract him from the fact that Atlas doesn't do this shit for—doesn't protect—anyone else.

Salem just watches Atlas get on his motorcycle, strapping his helmet on. Salem can no longer see his face, which does not aid in his irritation.

"Whatever," Salem huffs. "Answer my question, Seriously."

Atlas hands Salem his sunglasses, and he absentmindedly takes them and places them back over his eyes. He does this right as Atlas answers;

"Or what?"

Salem glares at him, not in the mood for these games. Or what? Really?

Salem is about to answer him, but then Atlas starts up his motorcycle. It's loud, and it turns several heads. Salem winces but is able to resist the urge to cover his ears.

"I'M JUST—" Salem starts, and his voice is not naturally loud. It's very hard for him to raise his voice at all, but he's doing his best. He snaps his mouth closed in frustration when Atlas revs the engine. God, this guy should learn some manners.

Being tuned out or ignored is a serious pet peeve of Salem's, and Atlas is aware of this. Atlas' behavior causes a spark of rage, and he takes a step towards him. He reaches out and rips off Atlas' helmet, who narrows his eyes. His hair is now ruffled, and it's clear that he is completely done with this entire situation. Salem leans forward, so his mouth is right next to Atlas' ear.

"I'm just sick of being confused about how you feel." The towards me is silent, but there.

Atlas turns to face him, and Salem jerks away when that movement makes their faces way too close. Atlas reaches out and takes his helmet, before responding. "You know how I feel."

He puts his black helmet back on, which covers his face, and doesn't spare Salem another glance before taking off. He's going far too fast for the student parking lot, and Salem tries to ignore his concern. God, Atlas pisses him off. Salem already knows? Seriously? No he fucking doesn't, because if he did then he wouldn't have asked to begin with. Ugh.

Fuck that guy. The shit that Salem would do for Atlas to not be confusing for like, two goddamn minutes.

The anger doesn't leave Salem the entire way home, and as planned, he calls out of work and spends the evening studying with Zona on the phone.