Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MATEO
Mateo stared wide eyed at the space Dax had been standing a moment earlier.
He was so shocked by what had just happened, it took him a second to figure out Dax had run away.
He had to shake himself out of his shock before he rushed out of the alley and toward the subway he knew Dax took to get home.
But when he looked past the turnstiles, he couldn’t see Dax anywhere.
And Mateo wasn’t entirely sure which subway he took to get home, having only been there the one time.
Still frowning to himself, he turned around and froze when he noticed Dax pressed against a wall near the entrance.
Hiding from him.
What the–
Slowly, since Dax looked close to panicking, he stepped up to where Dax had plastered himself against one wall, his face turned away and his eyes squeezed shut.
It was like he was trying to become one with the wall, and in a fascinating display of magic, he actually started to turn a different color, blending into his surroundings.
If Mateo hadn’t seen it happen, he might’ve looked past the area entirely when searching for Dax.
“That’s… I didn't know you could do that,” he murmured, stepping closer. His attention shifted from the colorings to the way Dax’s chest rose and fell rapidly, his muscles so tightly wound, Mateo wondered if he’d turn to stone next. “Dax… Look at me. Please.”
Dax just barely shook his head, and he still didn’t open his eyes.
It was obvious he hadn’t meant to maul Mateo like he had.
Mateo assumed it was a supe thing, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t interested.
He just hadn’t been comfortable doing that in the alley.
Anyone could walk by, and he knew some supes had night vision so good, they could see like a human would during the day.
He wouldn’t know if someone was watching them and that freaked him out a little.
Not to mention being in an alleyway near the dumpsters.
Yes, there were spells out there, and in general, the supe side of the city was cleaner than the human side, but it was still a little gross to think about hooking up there.
He’d only tried to pull away so he could suggest they go upstairs instead.
And maybe take a shower first because he wasn’t sure the alley wall was clean and the smell of nearby trash felt like it’d cling to his clothes.
Carefully, since he didn't want to upset Dax further, he touched his chin, urging him to turn his face. Dax kept his eyes squeezed shut, and when he let out a little sob, it made Mateo’s chest ache.
His hand slipped behind Dax’s neck, pulling him closer until he could bury his face against Mateo’s shoulder.
Mateo wrapped his arms around the shaking kraken, hugging him as tightly as he could.
It took a few minutes for Dax’s color to shift back and the trembling to stop. Mateo did his best to hold him as tight as he could until he felt better, but when his muscles started to get tired, he mumbled, “You’re way better at hugs than I am.”
Dax let out a hiccuping laugh, tightening his grip where he’d wrapped his arms around Mateo’s waist. “I am not,” he croaked.
“You are,” Mateo countered, hoping Dax could hear the smile in his voice.
“You use way more limbs, and it's like an all over hug. I’ve never felt so relaxed during a hug before. I kind of feel like I can’t blame myself for falling asleep on you so many times since there are always multiple limbs involved. ”
His teasing comments seemed to help. Dax slowly straightened, his eyes flicking over Mateo’s face to study his expression. Mateo tipped his head, lifting his eyebrows.
“You okay?”
“I– I don’t–”
He seemed at a loss for words, and Mateo got the feeling he was still too upset to talk about it just yet. He took Dax’s hands, squeezing them gently and gave them a little pull. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”
Dax followed, still looking uncertain, and stayed quiet while Mateo let Dominic know Dax would be an overnight guest. It was a worknight, and he probably shouldn’t be asking the man to stay over, but Dax looked too upset for Mateo to be able to send him home.
Whatever just happened freaked Dax out and Mateo wasn’t letting him leave until he was sure Dax felt okay again.
The ride up the elevator was quiet but not tense. They held hands, and Dax rested his forehead against Mateo’s shoulder, taking a few deep breaths. When the door opened, Mateo urged him out without a word, leading him to the door and unlocking it with his key.
His intentions to bring Dax to his room and the tub to rest flew out the window the minute they stepped inside and it was his turn to panic when greeted with an actual dirt path trailing from the front door down the hallway.
He froze, eyes wide and horrified as he noticed shoe prints in the dirt, like his roommates either didn’t notice or didn’t care that the condo was now covered in dirt.
Which also meant they were wearing shoes inside now.
Like things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
“Oh gods,” he croaked, his hands actually starting to shake with the need to clean up the mess.
He couldn’t live like this. It never stopped.
Every time he got one mess cleaned up, another one appeared.
He was getting flashbacks of living with his sister, and that was somehow this was worse.
It felt like his eye was almost constantly twitching, and his jaw hurt from grinding his teeth from the strain.
He tried just cleaning up after them in the past, like with the incident when Oliver lit the kitchen on fire, but Oliver spent days afterward practically falling over himself to apologize and promising he’d clean up his own messes from now on.
Which, if he was in a hurry to clean up, he always made it worse.
It was better to keep his mouth shut and let the guy clean up at his own pace so the issue wouldn’t get ten times worse.
But this? He couldn’t handle this. He–
“Mateo?”
Mateo jumped, forgetting entirely that he hadn’t come home alone. Dax was upset, he needed to be Mateo’s focus, but how the hell was he even supposed to get to his room with a mess like this? It was everywhere.
He shot Dax an apologetic look. “Sorry. We can–”
“We should ask whoever made the mess to clean up after themselves,” Dax suggested. “I don’t think anyone would appreciate coming home to a mess like this. It’s possible they were going to clean it up and forgot?”
Mateo shook his head. “Who can even forget a mess like this? I just– If you go sit down for a bit, I’ll just clean it up myself and–”
It was Dax’s turn to take on the reassuring partner role, which felt wrong, but Mateo was too upset to argue. His brain felt itchy, and it was hard to think about anything other than where the dirt came from, whether it got onto the furniture and not just the floor, how many rooms it might be in.
“It’s not your job to clean up after your roommates. That’s not how this works. And you shouldn’t have to come home to something like this either. Let’s go talk to whoever made the mess and see what can be done, alright? I’m sure it was an accident.”
Reluctantly, Mateo allowed Dax to lead him toward the hallway, following the path of dirt that led directly to Nylian’s open doorway.
It was honestly a surprise that the mess hadn’t come from Oliver for once.
It only took a second to figure out where the dirt had come from.
Nylian’s room, which was laid out like most of the other rooms in the condo, had turned into a veritable forest, with potted plants in every space available.
It was so crowded with plants, it was hard to see a path to the bed or bathroom. And he couldn’t see Nylian at all.
“Knock, knock,” Dax called out through the open doorway.
Mateo wasn’t sure how fae felt about their spaces.
He’d known enough shifters in his life to know some supes were territorial about their spaces, but he knew barely anything about fae aside from the rumors that would make any human want to avoid them.
He didn’t want to step into Nylian’s room and somehow invoke some kind of spell that would wind up with him in the fae realm for the next hundred years.
“Yes?”
Nylian appeared between the foliage, a watering can in hand and a blank expression on his face.
He usually looked like that. Mateo hadn’t seen the man express much emotion since he moved in.
It was a little disconcerting, honestly, and didn’t make Mateo any more confident that they weren’t interrupting something important.
“Hiya! I’m Dax, Mateo’s boyfriend.” Dax gave him a friendly smile and gestured to the plants in the room. “Did you do this today?”
“Yes,” the fae replied again, looking between the two of them with slightly narrowed eyes. Like he didn’t understand why Dax was asking. But how could he not know? Who wouldn’t notice a mess like that?
“It looks great,” Dax continued. “But it looks like you left a trail of dirt in the hallway and living room. Did you need help cleaning it up?”
Nylian blinked, almost surprised, and came closer, looking over their heads down the hallway.
“I see. I’d been in here to direct where the plants would go.
I didn’t notice there was a mess.” He looked at the plants behind him almost longingly, like the idea of walking away from them bothered him, then back at the dirt on the floor.
“I will need to water them first,” Nylian said, gesturing vaguely behind him.
“They’ve just arrived, and the transition is stressful.
The dirt can be dealt with afterward. I’ll find a cleaning charm once they’ve been properly tended. ”
Which would be how long? Mateo wanted to ask. He didn’t, he didn’t want to seem like an asshole. The guy said he’d get to it. Normal roommates let it go. Right?
“How about this?” Dax interjected before Mateo could do more than whimper.
“Mateo and I will do a quick clean just so it doesn’t end up everywhere, and once you are finished with the plants, you can get the charm to do the deep cleaning and make sure the dirt didn’t end up somewhere it shouldn’t. Does that sound fair?”
Mateo considered it, and while the part of his brain that thrived on cleanliness and control wanted him to be the one to do the deep cleaning since that was the only way he could be certain he got everything, he didn't want to spend the rest of the night scrubbing the whole condo when he was supposed to be comforting Dax.
At least if they got rid of the visible dirt, he might be able to sleep without it keeping him up all night.
Nylian’s gaze flicked to Mateo, studying him. “If you’re sure.”
“It’s fine,” Mateo said, his voice sounding strained with his attempt to maintain his composure. “It won’t take long.”
If he didn't at least get the basics done before Owen got home, the little menace would get it literally everywhere. Nowhere would be safe.
Nylian dipped his chin once. “Then I’ll leave it to you. The plants need attention.”
He turned his back on the both of them, giving his focus back to the plants that crowded his room.
Mateo didn’t even want to think about the amount of dirt on his floors.
Would the cleaning charm fix that, or would Mateo need to keep an eye out for dirt being trailed from the fae’s room on a daily basis? Inquiring minds needed to know.