He had an early morning at the studio in the company building. Director wanted to hear what he'd been working on. But Tolu knew his track record. He'd request new songs for the new female artist, but after Tolu wrote them, the Director would turn around and recommend they be added to the vet male artists' roster. He'd done it twice before. And it wouldn't be such a problem if he didn't feel like he was being lied to all the time.

Already feeling irritable, he yawned his way into the kitchen as he noticed a not-so-familiar, tiny form prancing around in there.

"Matthew?" Tolu asked as the artist turned around, looking guilty and caught, before he smiled brightly.

"Tolu! You're awake."

Tolu was confused.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as Matthew handed him a cup of something. When he took a sip, he realized it was juice. "I didn't know Alari was showing you anything this week."

"I'm not here for work," Matthew said, shaking his head.

He wasn't here for work. If he wasn't here for work, then why was he...

Tolu set the cup down on the table and struggled to calm himself. This was so stupid. This was ridiculous. Alari was going to fuck EVERYONE but Tolu. He'd moved on from peers and passing one-night stands to his own boss, but Tolu was somehow off limits? Tolu practically had to force a promise out of Alari and Fame or he was sure Alari would have fucked Fame already.

Was Tolu so unattractive that Alari couldn't touch him? Did he stink? Was his breath or his body? Did he look that bad? Tolu had never had anyone complain about his looks before, but maybe he'd been living in ignorance, and he was too plain for people to actually take note.

"I..." Tolu stuttered, searching for what to say, so as not to look like an idiot. "I thought you were seeing someone. A bartender?"

"Yeah," Matthew said, nodding as he waved at the sitting room behind Tolu where Tolu looked and found a tall, lean, beautiful man giving him a mock salute.

"Morning," the other man said. "I'm Tunde."

Scoffing in disbelief, Tolu turned away and stormed off.

~|~

Fame was sleeping when Tolu got there, but he wasn't going to have any of that. Tolu shook the man till Fame grunted and woke from sleep, eyeing Tolu in anger.

"What the fuck?" Fame asked, sleepily, one eye still closed.

"Alari just brought two guys home!" Tolu said. "He fucked two guys. In this house. Last night."

Fame yawned.

"He's fucking them because of you."

Tolu stopped moving.

"What?"

"He's bringing all these people home because he wants to fuck you and he thinks you don't want him."

"He... does not!" What a foolish thing for Fame to say. Alari didn't want Tolu.

"He found us in bed yesterday morning."

"Yeah, so?"

"He was angry."

"That I broke the roommate agreement?"

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I-"

"Alari and I promised not to fuck each other. You and I never made any promises."

"Because neither of us is a man-whore."

"Keep telling yourself whatever you want," Fame stood to his feet. "But if you can't see how much everything you do affects Alari's life, then maybe you shouldn't judge him whenever he brings home a man... or two."

Stunned into silence, Tolu stood there as Fame made his way to the bathroom to take a piss.

~|~

The apartment got more uncomfortable over the following weeks with Alari ignoring Fame and Tolu just as much as Tolu had tried to ignore him earlier. Add to that, the fact that Matthew and Tunde seemed to be permanent fixtures at their apartment, Tolu was about ready to burst in frustration.

Everywhere he looked, the other two men were there, hovering around Alari, doting on, spoiling him, fucking him. Tolu couldn't even get two seconds with Alari to try and confirm Fame's suggestion that Alari might want Tolu. He was equal parts elated and scared. What if Fame was right and they'd lost so many chances already? What if he was wrong and Tolu put his heart out there and got rejected? Or worse, what if he was somewhere in the middle, where Alari got into Tolu's bed and left the next morning like he did to everyone else?

Tolu knew he wouldn't be able to handle that so Tolu stayed away.

Which wasn't very hard to do. Not when he had Fame. After the first night, it took a couple of days before frustration sent Tolu crawling into Fame's bed. He was sure he'd get punched. He was even ready for the pain he'd get along with it. He could never have anticipated the relief he felt when Fame obliged, pulling the covers away so they could slide in together. Tolu hated himself for it. Hated the amount of comfort he found in it. He wasn't in love with Fame and it didn't seem very fair to use him like that.

But then, Fame had come calling himself, closing the door to Tolu's studio and looking at him with lust and uncertainty. He wanted Tolu too. He wanted what they'd done before. Tolu could see it. Tolu was too thankful to recognize it. Whatever they were doing with each other, Tolu wasn't going to examine the weight of what either of them was taking away from it. Because he was sure he'd crack under the pressure if he did.

Days morphed into weeks, and soon, Alari's time with Tunde and Matthew slowed to a stop. Tolu was happy with that change, praying that Alari's isolation would cease, and cause him to re-join their little circle. But Alari never did. Whatever had happened between Alari and his boss and his boss' boyfriend didn't change how Alari felt about his roommates and that scared Tolu more than anything.

His only whiff of hope stemmed from the looks of wistful anger Alari showed whenever Fame and Tolu spent the night together. It wasn't often he reacted to any of it, but when he did, Tolu's heart skipped, giving him a momentary surge of courage that never seemed to last long enough for Tolu to do anything about it.

"Are you going to talk to him?" Fame asked one morning, when Tolu had woken up to find Fame leaning over him, watching him sleep.

"Talk to who?"

"Are we pretending to be stupid?"

"Please," Tolu sat up, pressing the heel of his palms into his eyes. "It's too early."

"Get out."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't come back until you talk to him."

Tolu couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"I beg to differ."

"Then maybe you should talk to him."

Because even though Fame and Tolu were sleeping together, Alari was choosing to ignore only Tolu. Which didn't seem very fair.

"I'm not the one he wants to talk to."

"He's in love with you."

Tolu didn't think he'd go as far as calling it love, but he could hardly deny that there was something there, anymore. There had to be. But they'd wrecked it too much to fix anything. Alari was bitter about Tolu and Fame, and considering how much time they spent together, Tolu was slowly becoming addicted to having Fame right where he was. He'd need to distance himself from Fame to have that conversation.

"He doesn't want to talk to me."

"If you don't, don't bother coming back here because I can't stand this anymore."

"Talking to him isn't going to magically solve everything."

"Do you even understand what you're playing with? What you're taking for granted?"

"Fame-"

"To have a best friend who knows every secret, every flaw, and yet, cherishes everything about you to the point of idolatry is too precious to treat the way you're doing."

"I'm not the only one who treated it any type of way," Tolu said, hearing his own voice rise in volume. "I'm not the one who spent every waking day fucking half of Lagos."

"Because he thought you were straight."

"He knows I'm not straight, now. What's stopping him?"

Fame's lips trembled as he looked into Tolu's eyes, resigned anger lurking in his gaze.

"Get out," he repeated.

Tolu snatched his boxers from the ground and began to put them on.

"Think about what you're doing." Tolu searched for his shirt and found it. "If I leave, I'm not coming back."

"I'm sure I'll survive," Fame replied.

He walked to the door, watching Fame and waiting for Fame to cave, but as soon as he stepped out of the room, Fame slammed the door on his back.