Chapter 10

S alem came in from work absolutely dead tired. He'd had one emergency surgery after the next, with upset parents—one had actually attacked his nurse, and Salem had jumped down the man's throat before security got there, throwing his screaming ass out—then he went an hour over his shift time due to the paperwork about the incident. He'd not eaten the lunch Gregori had dropped off—had in fact left it in his office—breakfast was a faraway memory, and honestly, he was so tired he wasn't even sure if he was hungry at this point. Appetite? What was that? Must be something for people who had energy. AKA, not him.

He really should eat, though. Salem had been exhausted like this many, many times before. Ever since he started med school, really. He and energy deprivation were old buddies at this point. He knew from experience, if someone put food in front of him right now, he'd consume every bite like a starving wolf. He also knew if he didn't eat, and slept instead, he'd wake up at three a.m. absolutely starving.

All right. Food. Food that was fast. Ramen?

Maybe ramen. Yeah.

He stumbled over to the stove, turned it on, rummaged for a pan, found a clean pot and got it on the stove. Then he rummaged in the pantry.

Ramen? Raaaamen? Yoo-hoo? Dammit, where was the ramen? Oh no. Oh no, was he out? Dammit, unless the ramen pack had developed ninja powers, there was none to be found in this pantry.

Salem leaned against the counter and felt like crying. He didn't have the energy to think of what else to eat. It was too complicated of a question. He didn't even have food in the house. Just ingredients to make food, and that wasn't the same thing at all.

From the exterior hallway, he heard footsteps—a very familiar heavy tread—and he knew who it was before the man even arrived.

"Why's the door open?" Gregori questioned. He stripped off his shirt the second he came in, throwing it in the general direction of the laundry cubby, nose flaring as he sniffed. He had his hair in a braid today. He should braid it more often, he looked great with his hair pulled back. "And what's that smell? It's like burning metal."

Salem focused on him and all those lovely muscles. He never got tired of looking at the muscles. "You only wore a shirt today?"

"Yeah, weather was nice."

The weather had not been nice. It had been above freezing. Then again, for an ice dragon, today was probably balmy.

"You're fine shirtless," Salem murmured.

"I know," Gregori replied, tone rich with amusement. He came in closer, nose still working. "Uh, is the burner on?"

Oh. Right, Salem had turned it on for ramen. But there was no ramen. And he'd forgotten to put water in the pot. Oops.

He moved, fetching the pot off the stove and then putting it in the sink.

"Ack!" Gregori swooped in and snatched the pot up. "What are you doing, there's plastic Tupperware in there—ugh, it's now ruined."

Oh shit. Salem took the pot away from him and set it on the counter so he could survey the damage.

Gregori quickly sidestepped around him, snatching the pot up again. "Don't put it down on the butcher block, it's still hot!"

He watched as Gregori put the pot under the water, cooling it off, and felt like a failure all over again. Fuuuuuck, this always happened when he got so tired. He just made one stupid mistake after another. It always made people upset with him. For the matter, Salem got upset with himself as well, but he unfortunately lived with himself, too.

Gregori put the pan back down, then crab-stepped to the side to turn off the burner.

Aw shit, Salem should have turned it off. He'd forgotten about it completely.

Only then did Gregori look down at him, confused, his brows drawn down together in an unhappy line.

"It's okay." Salem sighed, already turning for the couch. Fuck it, he'd just sleep and scrounge in the kitchen after he took a nap and could function better. "You can leave. I understand."

"You think I want to leave?"

"Everyone does by this point." Salem flopped onto the couch—an inelegant sprawl that had nothing to do with dignity. Between talking to Alexis earlier and being reminded of the last ex-boyfriend who had gone off the rails because of stupid shit Salem had done, and now this? When he'd again done something stupid? He honestly felt like crying. Even he wasn't sure why because there was too much to cry about. "It's why I don't do relationships anymore."

Gregori came in closer, kneeling at his feet and looking up at him. For some reason, he didn't appear mad. Which made no fucking sense to Salem.

"What happened with previous people?"

Why the fuck was he asking questions? Why wasn't he just leaving like everyone else had? Salem was an asshole. He'd been an asshole since Gregori had met him, he'd denied they were mates to the man's face even when he knew those words hurt Gregori, and he'd just shown the man what kind of walking disaster he was when dead tired. Shouldn't Gregori, even with his vast store of patience, have gotten fed up by now?

Salem thought about not answering, but when he was this tired, he had no filter, so words started pouring out of his mouth.

"They left. I told you. I'm an asshole even on good days, although honestly, I try not to be, but the asshole just slips out. And after dating me for a while—generally takes three weeks—I'll have a day like today. Where I'm super tired and I can't focus, and I make one stupid mistake after the next, and they get mad. One boyfriend accused me of weaponized incompetence. Which isn't true. I do my best at everything. Except dishes because I hate doing dishes?—"

Gregori snorted at this for some reason, like it was funny.

"—and really, who likes doing dishes? Are there people who do? And can I hire them? I will pay them a stupid amount of money to do my dishes."

"It's okay, I'll do your dishes."

"You will?" Salem smiled, relieved. Then frowned again. "But that means you're staying. You want to stay?"

"I do."

"You make no damn sense, you know that, right? Being mates can't be the only reason for you to put up with me like this. You're literally the first who wasn't family. You're very strange if you want to stay. I do not understand you."

"Then you can learn more about me as we go. Tell me more about the shitty exes you've had. You've had at least one break up with you because you did stupid things while exhausted."

Salem tsked him, wagging a negating finger. "No, no, all of them left because of it. They got tired of cleaning up after me. And because I'm an asshole."

"Hmmm. I think you were being an asshole to me deliberately."

"Yeah. So you didn't get attached to me. I tried telling you, I'm no good as a romantic partner. But you're stubborn. Are all dragons stubborn?"

"When we find our mates? You bet we are."

"Nice." Salem slumped sideways a little, head lolling on the back of the couch. "I bet Dimitri was able to catch Sam by being stubborn. But Sam's a good romantic partner. He always has been. He's had more long-lasting relationships than I have. My longest one was three months."

"Ah-ha," Gregori murmured, like he'd just been handed some piece of a puzzle and knew precisely where it went. "And when did you stop trying?"

Salem snorted a laugh and sank farther into the couch in the process. Really, the couch was a buddy. Couch would catch him when he fell. "Years ago, man. Years ago. I think it was three months into my residency? Somewhere in there. Boyfriend lost his shit because of some stupid stuff I'd done in my sleep-deprived state, and the next thing I knew, I was out on my ass. Sam came and got me, and I stayed at his place until I was awake enough to drive home."

"So to recap, you've never had a supportive partner who picks up the slack for you when you need it, you've had multiple people say you are an asshole?—"

"No, no, I am an asshole. I own my assholery. Is that a word?"

"It is a word, yes, but I don't think you're an asshole. I think you've been hurt too many times, you internalized it, and now you're keeping people at bay to avoid being hurt again."

Salem didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like it whatsoever. "How dare you do an armchair analysis of me."

"I now understand why you're fighting me so hard."

"No, no, you don't get it." A laugh erupted from Salem, but it had no humor to it. "You don't. You really don't."

"What don't I get?"

"How hard it is. How truly hard it is to be around me. You somehow managed to last three weeks, but I bet you're getting tired of my attitude now. I've been told how awful my personality is. At length. By various guys I dated. I only know how to work, they said. I don't know how to have fun. I don't know how to relax. I'd rather pay down my debts than spend money on luxury gifts for them. I'm only good for sex. I wear everyone out, eventually. And then you'll be disappointed."

For some reason, Gregori lifted Salem's fingers to his mouth and kissed them. He didn't look happy. "By chance, do you know where all of those exes of yours live?"

"It's been years of no contact, of course I don't."

"Pity. I feel like I need to rain down some hell and comeuppance. No matter, I'll find them later. Right now, I need you to understand two things. One, I'm not leaving you."

"Your stubbornness is your only flaw." Salem sighed. What was he supposed to do to convince Gregori that this whole thing was a bad idea? Especially when the man didn't want to hear it.

"Two, I'm not angry when you have these klutzy moments."

Salem blinked at him. Huh. Who'da thunk. "You're not?"

"No. Actually, watching one of the most intelligent men I know enact a comedy of errors was kinda funny. I have a feeling it's going to be hysterical by tomorrow. So I'm really, truly not mad. I am a little concerned because at the rate you were going, you might have destroyed the kitchen."

Salem held up two fingers with a sort of sarcastic pride. "I've destroyed two kitchens."

"Make that very concerned. New rule: You are not allowed to do anything when this tired."

"But I'm hungry," he whined. "I wanted ramen, but we have no ramen, and I don't have any more brain power so I can't think of what else to eat."

Was he too tired to see straight? Or was Gregori silently laughing at him? How could any part of this be funny? Salem didn't get it.

"You're seriously cute right now," Gregori murmured. "All right. How about this? You sit right here, and I'll run down to the bodega and get something to eat."

"Genius," Salem breathed, captivated by the mental image of food arriving, in its complete form, in front of him. " Buying food. Why didn't I think of that?"

"I'm questioning this as well, but I don't think you have any higher thought processes left right now. Not enough spell slots, I guess. You lie down, take a nap."

"Noooo, food first!"

"Take a nap," Gregori ordered this time, lifting Salem's legs up to encourage the whole lying-down thing. "I'll get you food and wake you up once I'm back so you can eat it. Then put you to bed."

"You're putting me to bed and everything?"

"I am."

Okay, if he had some adultier adult willing to do adult things like bedtime, then he could stop trying to function now. Salem was making a hash of it anyway—better for Gregori to take over. Salem yawned and yanked a couch pillow in closer. He felt a throw settle over him.

"No olives or mushrooms, okay?" he said as he drifted off.

A soft chuckle from Gregori before lips lightly touched his forehead.

"You got it. Sleep, Salem. I'll be back in a few minutes."

He settled into his nap with a smile on his face. This whole dragon roommate thing definitely came with perks. And you know what? If Gregori wanted to take over, Salem had no problem letting him. It'd be nice if Gregori never left. If, for once, someone stayed with Salem. That would be very, very nice indeed.