Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DAX
When Dax mentioned that he wanted to encourage communication between Mateo and his roommates, he’d honestly not expected Mateo to go along with the plan so easily.
He’d thought he would’ve fought a little harder about it.
The fact that Mateo was willingly facing the kitchen without so much as a complaint about the possible mess was… odd. And maybe a little concerning.
Dax felt like maybe he’d made a misstep somehow.
He wanted Mateo to feel comfortable speaking up about his needs, but he didn’t want to pressure the poor man either.
He’d struggled enough with the transition into shared housing.
Dax had planned on taking things slow and steady, maybe suggesting a few meetings with Mateo’s roommates outside the condo so they could get to know each other better on more neutral ground.
That way, when things did pop up that bothered Mateo, he’d feel more comfortable talking it through with them.
Making him feel like he had to start right away in the kitchen felt like a bit much.
Especially knowing just how bad a kitchen could get if there were any messy chefs in the house.
Curiosity got the better of him and he eventually turned off the shower, drying off and stealing some of Mateo’s clothes for the day.
He hadn’t intended to sleep over and hadn’t ever needed to bring over clothes for whatever reason.
Wearing some of his mate’s clothes did help settle that unhappy feeling that had been writhing in his belly since the day before with the merman, though.
It was just a simple button up, but it smelled like Mateo and made Dax’s instincts all happy and floaty.
Distracted by his mate’s scent on him, he wandered to the kitchen to find Mateo climbing on the counters. He yelped, scurrying over to wrap a tentacle around his mate’s waist to steady him, while demanding, “What are you doing?”
“I was looking for a specific pan I needed. I found it, but I couldn’t reach it without climbing…
” He trailed off as he stretched to reach the top shelf and the large heavy-looking pan sitting there.
If he’d managed to climb all the way up before Dax had stopped him, he likely would’ve reached it just fine, but not without risk given how heavy it looked, and definitely not with Dax holding him back.
Begrudgingly, Dax lifted him a little higher, hands out to catch him in case Mateo fell.
Mateo grabbed the pan with a grunt, carefully lowering himself and setting it down on the counter with a frown.
As he slid off the counter and onto the floor again, he frowned at the pan.
“It’s one of the heavier pans. Who puts it on the top shelf? ”
Good question. Dax would’ve thought it’d be obvious that heavier pans went lower to mitigate risk of it falling on someone’s head.
And this pan was heavy. He moved it for Mateo, setting it on the stove, and hefted it a few times just to get a feel for the thing.
It was cast-iron, wide enough that it probably could feed half a dozen people easily, and also be used as a weapon if necessary.
If that fell from a top shelf, someone could be seriously hurt. Like his mate.
He shuddered at the thought, asking, “What else do you need? I’ll grab it for you.”
Mateo waved him away with a strained smile. “I’m good. I can do it. You relax.”
He did because he didn’t want to come off as pushy or overbearing, but it was…
a trial. His instincts told him to care for his mate, and feeding him would be an easy way to do that, but Mateo obviously wanted to do the same for him.
He didn’t want to take that away from him.
Rovan warned him that he’d need to rein in his instincts.
He watched as Mateo gathered the ingredients, cutting tortillas into triangles and putting on the oil to heat.
While he waited for that, he diced jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, putting them into a smaller bowl with some seasonings.
Salsa. He was making salsa. From scratch?
Dax grew more curious as he watched his mate work.
He couldn’t tell what he was making, but whatever it was, Mateo seemed more than comfortable making it.
He was in the middle of testing the oil to see if it was the right temperature when Nylian joined them, giving only a nod of greeting before pulling out ingredients for his own breakfast. It meant Mateo had to work around him, but two people in the large kitchen wasn’t too bad, and Nylian only needed a small pot with water and milk to make his oatmeal so he didn’t bump elbows with Mateo too much.
Dax could practically feel the tension rise in his mate when Kaz joined the cooking party.
The orc had zero ability not to get in someone’s way, and Dax could see Mateo’s eye twitching as he darted around him to grab the salsa he’d made and mix it into the pan.
But it was when Owen came into the kitchen that things took a turn for the worse.
Nylian was just finishing his meal, so Dax thought a little breathing room would make things easier on his poor mate, but he and Owen went for the eggs at the same time and the small human somehow ended up knocking the whole carton out of Mateo’s hands.
All the eggs flew out of the package, cracking at their feet and covering Mateo’s socked feet in raw eggs.
Mateo froze and Dax saw his breathing sharpen as he fought to keep steady and not say something.
Dax pushed out of his seat, already moving around the counter and reaching for his mate to pull him away and suggest trying again another time, when Owen rushed to fix his mistake, grabbing a towel and hurrying to clean it up.
The gesture was kind in thought, but he ended up slipping on a rogue bit of egg and taking an unsuspecting Mateo down with him when he fell.
Straight into the puddle of eggy mess on the ground.
Dax winced, and he swore he saw Kaz and Nylian do the same. This wouldn’t be good…
MATEO
All his plans were completely demolished in the face of hurricane Owen.
Mateo felt what little control on his patience he had slip, and he tried to take a deep breath and work through the discomfort as he felt the egg soak into his shirt, but when Owen scrambled to get off him and managed to elbow him in the ribs, it was the last straw.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to–”
“Do you ever?” Mateo snapped, reining in his temper enough to only gently push the smaller man away from him so he could stand without getting injured again.
“Mateo–” Dax began, standing at the edge of the counter with his hands outstretched, a concerned expression on his face.
“No. This is why I don’t come out here. It’s always like this.
” He ripped his shirt off over his head, unable to stand a single second longer with the sticky egg dripping off him and unwilling to trail raw egg throughout the hallway just because Owen couldn’t walk more than a few steps without making a mess.
He shot a dirty look at the smaller man who was still sitting in the mess, looking up at him with hurt and confusion on his face.
“You should stay out of the kitchen. Let someone else cook for you or something. Maybe then we can at least avoid another fire.”
Ripping off socks and rolling up his slacks, he stomped off to his room, throwing his clothes into the tub so he could deal with them later.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding? He couldn’t leave it until later.
He’d end up at work late not only because he needed to shower again and clean off his clothes, but he knew Owen wouldn’t be able to do a good job cleaning the egg off the kitchen floor either.
Mateo would need to mop it himself if he wanted to make sure the floor didn’t end up sticky and gross.
“Mateo?”
His shoulders slumped when he heard Dax’s voice.
He’d just wanted to do something nice. He thought making Dax one of his favorite breakfast meals from when he lived at home would be a nice gesture.
He even kept going when his roommates came into the kitchen to join him.
He’d thought he’d been doing well too, managing to work side by side with Nylian and dealing with dodging around Kaz without snapping at him.
But with each interruption to his flow, he got more and more stressed out, and when Owen not only destroyed the last ingredient he needed to finish the meal but made a mess that would be hell to clean up properly, he just snapped.
In front of Dax. After swearing he’d get himself together so he could show Dax he could be a good boyfriend.
So much for good intentions.
“Hey… You okay?” Dax asked.
Mateo felt Dax’s hand brush his shoulder and flinched away from him, shaking his head. “Don’t. I’m gross. You should just–”
Without compunction or hesitation, Dax slipped off his shirt and laid it on the counter before wrapping Mateo up in a tight hug.
Mateo didn’t realize how much he needed it until two tentacles joined in, tightening around him until it was almost hard to breathe.
He loved it. It made him feel less like he was moments away from falling apart at the seams. And when Dax helped him finish undressing and shuffled them into the shower so he could rinse off the egg too, he felt a lump form in his throat.
How had he found such an amazing boyfriend?
And why the hell couldn’t he manage to be good enough for him?
They finished cleaning up, and Dax worked his magic on Mateo’s egg soaked clothes by filling up the tub enough to dip in a few tentacles.
Mateo hung them to dry on the edge of the tub so they wouldn’t smell all moldy later and changed into something new.
He considered changing into something dirty just so he didn’t soil fresh clothes when he cleaned the kitchen, but when they re-emerged from his room, the mess was gone and Nylian stood nearby, finishing the final touches on his packed lunch.
He looked up at the pair of them briefly before explaining, “I used the cleaning charms to clean up the mess. I vowed to clean the dirt anyway, so it did the job for both.”
Mateo blinked in surprise. He’d honestly forgotten about that. Since he and Dax cleaned up the night prior, he’d felt good enough about the whole dirt situation that it didn’t keep him up all night at the very least. And cleaning charms worked wonders. They’d work on egg mess as well.
“Oh, thank–”
He was going to thank Nylian for helping like that but before he could even finish his sentence, the fae went through a portal and was gone. Mateo’s head jerked back in surprise and Dax looked just as confused by his abrupt exit.