Alari was going to get beaten. One way or another. So, he just figured he'd reduce his punishment by, at least, giving Tolu a heads-up.

"You're staring again," Tolu said, through clenched teeth where he'd stuffed a pencil in his mouth while tapping a pen on the mixer before him. "If you're not going to be useful, get the fuck out of my studio."

Tolu wasn't a very tall man. He was average, on a good day, with a slim build and shiny, dark skin that glistened in the sun. He'd recently cut all of his hair and had, somehow, managed to make a childish plain barb look stunning. His eyes were cartoonishly slanted against a flat nose and dark-matched lips. All in all, Tolu was a walking marvel made up of features that ought not to work, but somehow made him the most handsome person in any room.

"We need a roommate," Alari stated.

"No, we don't," Tolu replied, the pencil hanging and dancing from his mouth.

"This house was built for five people."

"We're managing."

"I can't afford it anymore."

"We don't need anyone else."

"We used to be five and now we're only two."

Tolu turned and faced him, taking the pencil out of his mouth.

The room they were in was one of the smaller rooms in the apartment that Tolu had turned into a studio. He had a couple of sofas they'd dragged in from the sitting room, a table and a bunch of mixers and laptops. There was a tiny rug at the center of the room that Tolu vacuumed every other weekend and scented to keep the room as awesomely fragrant as possible. The wardrobe was where Tolu kept his stacked piano, and his guitar sets when he wasn't using them.

"We're alone because of you," Tolu said, narrowing his eyes at Alari.

"No!"

"You slept with all our roommates-"

"Two-way street."

"-broke their hearts-"

"That's debatable."

"-and they left."

Alari wavered, staring intently at his last, remaining roommate. Tolu was exaggerating –of course– but there was a time Alari had labored under the impression that Tolu was right. But then he'd gotten over that pretty quickly when he'd realized that he'd never lied to any of them. He'd never promised them forever. And he'd never told them they were exclusive.

Unlike Tolu, Alari wasn't that much to look at. His features were realistically homely, what with his bulging eyes, and oversized lips. He didn't like to look in the mirror too much because he hated the way he looked. He'd tried growing his hair out, when Tolu started growing his out, and it had come out dingy and scanty, so Alari had cut it off. No matter how stylish he had his barber make it, Alari hated everything about his hair, so he'd taken to ignoring it, wholly. He wasn't tall, his skin was patchy, and he had a pimply face that only a mother could love.

So, when people fell into bed with him, it was to be understood that Alari didn't expect any commitment from any of them. They wanted a quick fuck and Alari could give them that. He wasn't ready for a relationship; he didn't want to be beholden to any of them and he was consequently vocal about his intentions. He had nothing to offer but sex. If they chose to want more, that was their business and not Alari's.

"We have a good set up here, Alari," Tolu said, pushing his chair as it rolled over so that he was sitting directly in front of Alari. "I have my studio now. And you were talking about turning the other room into an art room."

"Yes, but what about the fifth room?"

"Can't it just be us?"

Something swirled in Alari's belly as he looked into Tolu's earnest eyes. If only Tolu knew what that question meant to Alari. If only he knew the torture it was to watch him every day and not be able to do anything about it. How he'd come in here to listen to Tolu work just so that he could get a live-feel for how great it would be to just bend Tolu over his mega mixers and fuck him till he couldn't breathe.

He could do it. Alari knew how to make it good. He'd suck him off and lick it all up and press against Tolu till he was dizzy. And then just when he started to get all melty, he'd fuck Tolu again till he, himself came. And if God loved Alari so much, he'd have Tolu's dick hard again by the time Alari was finished... just so Alari could blow him again. It would be so good.

But Tolu was straight as a needle. And that was that.

"Does it mean so much to you?" Tolu asked, looking at Alari with concern.

"Yes," Alari said.

"Okay. Fine." Tolu pushed himself back to the mixer. "We can start looking for another roommate."

Alari cleared his throat and got to his feet.

"See that's the thing..."

"What?"

"I already did," Alari said, moving closer to the door.

"What!" Tolu faced him.

"I got someone."

"WHAT?!"

"And he's coming to see the place today-"

Alari had to duck as Tolu's book hit the door before he opened the door and ran out.

~|~

Alari's cheeks were red from where Tolu had grabbed on and pulled till Alari had to get up from his bed, just so his cheeks wouldn't leave his face. But it was all so worth it. It had seemed like a brilliant idea to live as a duo, but Alari's bills were piling up and now, he was forced to admit that a painter's salary didn't pay like a music producer's salary. They needed, at least, one more person to share the rent and he was glad he'd gone ahead and posted the ad online.

Waiting for Tolu would have taken ages.

As the doorbell rang, Alari rushed to it, eager to see the man for himself, but as he opened the door, he froze in his tracks, blinking at the stunning specimen of caramel-skinned beauty standing there in jeans, a shirt and jacket and looking as if he'd just stepped out from a modeling shoot.

"Hi," the man said, waving stiffly. "I'm Fame? I filled the application for-"

"Yeah," Alari said, recovering. "Yes. Come in, please." He held the door aside, standing and waiting as Fame walked in just so he could get a nice view of his pert behind. "You just moved to Lagos?"

"I just moved back, actually," Fame said, taking off his jacket to reveal a well-defined upper body, scarcely hidden by the flimsy excuse for a t-shirt he was wearing. Alari could not believe his luck. "Is it just going to be you and me?"

"Ye-no!" Alari said, trying to remind himself that they needed another roommate. He needed this roommate. If he was going to survive, he needed to behave himself. Frowning and feeling a little bit constipated, Alari suddenly hated that Fame was as hot as he was.

Because Fame was definitely –oh, so definitely, off limits.