Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
MATEO
Mateo hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He’d just wanted to close his eyes for a little while.
For once the night prior, it hadn’t been the guy across the hall who’d woken him.
It was actually Owen, the chaotic accountant always covered in food stains that caused the problems. He’d somehow set off the fire alarms making a midnight snack, and in an attempt to douse the flames, he stuck the pan in the sink and turned on the water.
He ended up making it ten times worse, and if there wasn’t magical intervention for fire, it could’ve been really bad.
With the placement of the kitchen next to the door, they would’ve been trapped inside, too.
Luckily, magic suppressed the fire, but it did nothing to contend with the smoke.
Being that high up in a high rise, they couldn’t open a window.
The fire alarms kept going off, and it took a while for the local emergency services team to show up to deal with the smoke and check for structural damage.
Even after they deemed it safe to return to the building, Mateo couldn’t just leave the mess for later like the rest of his roommates wanted to do.
He wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that mess was waiting in the next room.
He stayed up scrubbing it all by hand since he didn't have the ability to do any cleaning spells.
By the time he got to bed, he got maybe two hours of sleep before his alarm went off and he had to head back to work.
He’d made it through the morning with copious amounts of coffee and sheer force of will, but by the time lunch rolled around, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He didn’t remember what happened after that. Did he fall asleep at his desk?
A light panting sound made Mateo’s brows furrow. It stopped and the pillow beneath him went rigid. Confused, Mateo forced his eyes open, looking around with a frown. Why was he outside?
Fingers gently combed through his hair, a familiar voice soothing him gently. “Hey. You don’t have to get up if you don’t want to.”
Was it him or was that voice strained? Rolling onto his back, he looked up at Dax. Somehow he’d ended up falling asleep on the man. He smiled down at Mateo, still petting his hair, but Mateo didn’t miss the tremble in his hands or the heavy breathing he was trying to hide.
“Dax? What’s wrong?”
Dax shook his head, his smile of reassurance more of a grimace. “It’s nothing. Go back to sleep. You need the rest.”
There was no way Mateo was just going to ignore that look. He sat up abruptly, spinning around to face Dax completely. It was then he noticed a weird white dusting on his skin. He was looking a little pale too, and his normally very active tentacles were all still and unmoving.
“Are you sick? Why do you look like that? What’s going on, Dax?”
“It’s nothing, I promise. I–”
“Dax? What the hell?” a sharp voice spoke behind them.
Mateo’s head whipped around to see a tiny twink in a security uniform marching their way, his eyes wide with shock and fury.
A boyfriend, maybe? The thought made Mateo’s stomach clench, both because he hadn’t realized Dax was taken, and because Mateo sleeping on Dax probably looked really bad.
He jumped up when the guy got close, trying to give him space, but the guy barked at him, pointing a finger at Dax.
“Grab that arm. Seriously, Dax, you know better. You’re lucky I’ve got a teleportation charm on me or we’d be in trouble. ”
Mateo didn’t have enough time to ask what he meant, sliding Dax’s arm over his shoulders to help pull him upright, before the guy whispered something and dropped what looked like a small bag onto the ground.
In a puff of smoke, they went from standing in the park to standing right on the edge of the pool.
“What–”
He didn’t get the words out before the twink physically pushed Dax into the pool. And because Mateo had been holding onto him tightly and didn’t know to let go, he went with him.
The cool water was a shock after being in the sun, but not so bad that it made him gasp and inhale water. He was dragged down by Dax’s weight and when he opened his eyes, he realized they weren’t the only ones in the pool this time.
Two kelpies watched on with confused frowns, but it was the merman who came closer, looking between Mateo and Dax with concern.
“Are you in danger?” he asked, his words slightly distorted in the water.
Mateo looked down at Dax, whose eyes were still closed, his face twisted in a grimace. When Mateo tried to pull away so he could get back to the surface for a breath, Dax’s hand that was fisted in the back of his shirt tightened, a heartbreaking whimper escaping him.
Shit. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t stay under the water, but he couldn’t leave Dax either. He still had no idea what was wrong. His chest was starting to hurt though. He hadn’t managed to draw in a deep breath before he went under with Dax.
The merman swam closer, capturing Mateo’s chin in one hand and making Mateo’s attention jerk up. “Here. This should help.”
The last thing he expected was for the merman to lean in and kiss him. It wasn’t more than a light press of his lips, but Mateo felt a tingling spread through his chest and the tight feeling of needing to take a breath disappeared. Whatever the merman did gave him more time under water.
Before he could fully grasp what the man had done, a tentacle lashed out, making the merman jerk back to avoid it grabbing him around the neck.
More tentacles wrapped around Mateo, pulling him away, and a very pissed off Dax straightened and moved between them, glaring at the merman and baring his teeth.
It was so unlike the man Mateo had met the day before that he just gaped. “Don’t touch him,” Dax growled.
The merman raised an eyebrow slowly, his expression almost smug. “You’d rather I let him drown? He couldn’t breathe without my help.”
Dax looked ready to throw hands, which finally snapped Mateo out of his shock.
He couldn’t get free of Dax’s hold with the tentacles wrapped around his legs, so he grabbed Dax’s face to get his attention, pointing to the surface to urge him to go up.
Whatever was happening right now, he didn’t have the mental faculties to handle it on his own. Maybe the boyfriend could help.
He didn't look happy about it, but Dax did as asked, swimming them both to the surface and helping Mateo to the edge of the pool. He kept himself between Mateo and the merman when he surfaced, glaring at him while the merman ignored him completely.
“The spell wears off when you get out of the water,” he explained to Mateo, crystal blue eyes locked on him. “Don’t go back under without a charm or something. Or ask me for help. I’m more than happy to do another spell.” He added a wink after that, which made Dax growl.
Clearing his throat, because that magic was a little odd and felt a lot like he’d breathed in a bunch of menthol, Mateo said, “Thanks. I’m good now.”
The merman studied him for a moment before nodding and disappearing under the water again. When he came back up at the other end of the pool, he launched himself out of the water, landing on two legs at the edge.
Completely naked.
Mateo nearly swallowed his tongue, and the twink from before only waited long enough for the merman to disappear into the locker room before letting out a low whistle. “The gods really do bless merfolk, don’t they? Did you see his ass?”
Startled, since he didn’t expect Dax’s boyfriend to make that kind of comment right in front of him, he jerked his head up to look at the twink who was still staring in the direction of the locker room. The smaller man put up a finger.
“You know what… I’ll be right back…”
He wandered away without looking back, leaving Mateo even more confused than he already was. What was going on? Ever since he woke up, it was one thing after another, and it came at him so fast, he couldn’t get a grasp on any of it.
“Are you okay?” Dax asked. He still had one tentacle around Mateo’s waist, but he’d released his legs at least, hovering at his back with an anxious expression.
“Uh, yeah. I’m good. Let me just–” He sucked in a sharp breath when the tentacle around his waist helped him out of the pool so he was sitting on the edge of it. Dax didn’t immediately follow but he did get as close as possible without getting out of the pool, looking Mateo over worriedly.
“I’m okay,” Mateo promised. “Just… confused. What happened?”
Wincing, Dax finally explained, “Krakens can live on the surface, but we have to be careful about direct sunlight. We get dehydrated a lot easier than other species and too long in the sun can cause some serious damage.”
Mateo’s eyes widened in horror. “Why didn’t you say something? You could’ve woken me! I–”
Capturing his hands, Dax squeezed them gently, giving him a soft smile. “It’s okay, Mateo. You needed the rest. And I’ll be okay, too. I’m sorry you got dragged in with me. I wasn’t expecting Miles to push me in while I was still clinging to you. I never meant to put you in danger.”
Mateo shook his head. He never felt like he was in danger. It wasn’t like Dax did it on purpose. But it bothered him that Dax put himself at risk like that just so he could have a nap. He vaguely remembered Dax inviting him to the pool first. He should’ve mentioned it was the safer option.
Noise from the locker room had Dax looking over his shoulder with a frown, but he ignored it when a group of kappa filed out and headed for the pool. Mateo looked in that direction too, realizing the twink hadn’t come back yet.
“Do, uh… you need to go check on him?”
Dax looked up at him with a frown. “Who?”
“Your… boyfriend?” Maybe it was a human thing, but he’d be really bothered if his boyfriend wandered off to go check out another guy. He wasn’t like possessive or anything, but he had boundaries and that would make him really uncomfortable.
From the spluttering noises Dax was making, Mateo wondered if maybe it was a species thing. Why else would he sound so weird?
“N-No! Miles isn’t my boyfriend! You–” He cut himself off, his mouth working like he wanted to say more but didn’t know what exactly.
Was it wrong that he was relieved? He wasn’t in a position to date right now, but even a blind person would be able to tell how cute Dax was.
Combined with the awkward fumbling conversations when he was embarrassed, Mateo couldn’t help but want to kiss the man.
Or at least get to know him better. Maybe once he managed to move out and finally stop feeling like he was drowning on dry land. If he was still single by then anyway…