U-N-I

It was 1pm and we were finishing rehearsing in our studio for the morning when my phone rang and Damien's name appeared on the screen. He was a sound engineer, who had worked with us in the studio for about four months. He had done a great job on the album. He had a really good ear for music and was good at his job.

"Hey, Mark, how you doing?" he asked.

"Good, you?"

"Great! Look, I'm calling because I've started recording with a new band at

'Soho Sonic

."

"Yeah? Do I know them?"

"I don't think so, but I think you'd really like 'em."

We talked about the band for a moment, until he said, "Listen, they're having trouble with one of their songs here, we're completely stuck and I immediately thought of you. I'm sure it's gonna take you five minutes when we've been at it for hours. D'you think you could maybe swing by today?" he asked me, with hope in his voice.

"Uh -- well, " I hesitated as I thought that Rob might give me shit if I went, but he seemed like he really needed some help, so I quickly decided to agree. "We're rehearing, but, the guys actually want to stop for the day... so yeah, I guess I could do that. You're only like half an hour away."

"Yeah? That'd be so great!" he said, sounding very grateful. "Plus there's something I've been meaning to give you for a while."

"Alright, well, then, I guess I can be there in a couple of hours, is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's perfect! Thank you so much."

We had rehearsed all morning, starting pretty early. I still hadn't showered so I did and fixed myself a sandwich because I had barely eaten anything. While I was doing so, I told Rob that I would go help Damien in the studio where he was working for a little while. He obviously had something to say about that and wasn't too keen on me going to see him, even if it was to work.

"The band he's working with is having trouble recording a song or something. He just needs some help," I explained.

"Oh that poor bastard," Rob said sarcastically, "I bet that's just an excuse to get you alone."

I feigned a bit of laughter and told him,

"Don't be ridiculous, it's not!"

"Of course it is!" he exclaimed.

I shook my head at his wariness. I knew that he had made it pretty clear that he didn't like Damien and didn't want me to keep hanging out with him. It was the first time in our relationship that he was actually this jealous and watchful of someone. I might have given him a few reasons to be if I'm totally honest.

Indeed, Damien and I had talked a lot and we had many things in common. He was twenty-seven, American, but he had a French mother, so he could speak French pretty well, he was handsome, gay, and even if he hadn't openly told me, clearly interested in me. He had dark hair and beautiful blue eyes, cute dimples and I hadn't seen him without his shirt on, but I was pretty sure he had a nice build too. He was just very attractive and charming. He had that French energy, look and attitude that I thought was really sexy.

I wasn't really sure whether he was gay or not until when late one evening, Rob came back to the studio to see if we were done. I thought that I could use a break while Damien worked on the take I had just recorded, so I sat on a sofa with him and we chatted mindlessly for a moment.

He could see that I was tired so he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I snuggled up against him, kissed him softly a couple of times, and soon, we were making out a little. As usual, the intensity of his kisses and his hands touching me in all the right spots soon made my cock beg for some attention. I started getting way too horny for what I still had to do so I stopped him and he grinned at me.

"Don't be too long!" he just whispered as he stood up and leaned down to kiss me one last time, before leaving.

As I walked back to the studio desk, Damien asked,

"Ready for the riff?" We only had a couple a takes left to record but there was no way I was going to do that considering my state of arousal.

"Uh, no, we're done. You can go. We'll finish this tomorrow."

"But we're almost done!"

"I know, but it ain't gonna happen," I said, matter-of-factly.

I actually saw his eyes slowly move down to my crotch as he relaxed into his chair and smiled,

"He got you all worked up?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna go have sex now!" I said with a laugh.

I grabbed my sweatshirt on the chair and headed toward the door.

"Close the studio for me?" I asked him. I didn't feel like waiting for him or asking him to leave in a hurry.

"Sure, will do."

"Thanks, good night."

"May I join?" he asked boldly as I was opening the door to leave.

It didn't take me long to put two and two together, since I was suspecting that he was gay from some of his behaviours and comments, just like Rob did. I turned around as I raised an eyebrow,

"So Rob was right, you are gay," I said nonetheless.

"Yeah!" he confirmed seductively, "That was hot, got me a little horny."

"Oh," I just said and added playfully, "well, sorry!"

"You know, I wouldn't mind being the middle man," he suggested sexily.

I let out a small chuckle,

"That's presumptuous of you," I told him, "see you tomorrow!"

"Damn," I heard him say and I looked back at him with a small smile and walked out.

We hadn't talked about it much but Rob had definitely noticed that Damien was gay, which was probably the very reason why he had come to the studio and made out with me, knowing Damien could see us and would most likely watch. He obviously did not agree at all to having a threesome with him when I suggested it.

"You said you wouldn't see him again," Rob told me, hoping it would make me change my mind about going.

I sighed,

"Oh Rob, come on!"

"What?!" he exclaimed, "Now that we're not working with him anymore, why would you want to see him again?"

"Because he's a friend, asking for some help."

"Oh please, he's interested in you."

"He never said that. Look, he knows we're together, he got it, you've made your point," I said and he gave me a tight-lipped smile, knowing exactly what I meant by that, "he just wants us to be friends, and so do I. He's cool and if you had tried to get to know him a little, you would have seen that."

"Oh come on, don't pretend you don't see it. He doesn't want to be your friend. No gay guy in his right mind would only want to be your friend, you're way too hot! He wants to fuck you Mark, that's what he wants."

I just shook my head and sighed,

"Ok maybe so. Does that mean he'll get to? Don't you trust me?" I asked even if I knew that he did, but I liked arguing with him about our relationship. I guess it was a way of making sure nothing had changed.

"Oh I trust you, I just don't trust him," he said resolutely.

"So what are you saying?" I asked, a bit annoyed.

"I'm saying that I'd rather you didn't go," he admitted.

"Are you serious?" I asked, knowing very well that he was.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Jeez, do you see me tell you who you can be friends with and who you can't?" I asked even though I didn't expect him to tell me that I could spend as much time with Damien as I wanted to, he sighed and went to pick a coke out of the fridge.

"Well, I don't give you any reasons to tell me that, do I?" he asked, getting a bit upset.

"Hey, it's not my fault if I'm so gorgeous the guy's got the hots for me," I joked.

He laughed,

"The hots for you, uh? See, you just said it, right there, you said it! He wants you. So you can't spend time with someone who wants to have sex with you. I'm sorry, I win," he announced.

"No, you don't!"

"Oh god!" he said with a sigh, "You're not gonna listen to me anyway, are you? That'd be a first!" he complained.

Indeed, he knew I didn't really like people telling me what to do, even him. I guess that was because I had had very little freedom growing up and I was making up for it.

"Well, tell me something I agree with, and I'll listen!" I joked.

"Fine," he said, "do as you please!" he added with a very British accent, "But don't expect me to be cool with it."

"Come on, why does this worry you so much? If he tries something, I'll just turn him down. I'm getting pretty good at this!"

"Not as good as I am, obviously!"

"Look, so far he hasn't even tried anything. Now if he does, ok, I won't see him anymore. But for now, he's just a friend who needs some help, nothing more."

He just looked at me in disbelief and said, his eyes not leaving mine,

"Alright, just go then! We'll see who's right and who's wrong! 'Cause that move he still hasn't made on you, that's gonna happen today. I'd be

very

surprised if it didn't!"

I sighed and looked up a little,

"Well, now that I think of it," I said a bit thoughtfully, knowing he would not like what I was about to say, "he did say he had something to give me..." I slowly added.

"Oh God!" he said, shaking his head.

I laughed as I finished my sandwich. I took the bottle of coke from his hand and had a sip before giving it back to him. Then I pulled him close to me and pressed my lips against his cheek.

"See you tonight?"

"Yeah, whatever!" he mumbled, clearly frustrated that I would not listen to him.

I playfully placed several kisses all over his face, the last one on his lips before saying reassuringly,

"I love you."

Then I walked out of the kitchen and as I was getting closer to the front door, I heard him shout,

"Just don't let him suck your dick on the studio desk!"

I laughed to myself but he had got me worried. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into with this guy.

"I'll do my best!" I shouted back.

Alright, so if he made a pass at me, I would just shoot him down. I could do that! Rob did it all the time, it couldn't be so hard. I had to admit that he didn't give me any reason to worry about him cheating on me.

We had met a lot of guys who had hit on us and Rob didn't like anyone who seemed to take even the slightest interest in me. I thought it was cute and amusing when he started being watchful of someone. I mean, ninety eight percent of the time, he was the friendliest, nicest, sweetest guy with everyone but when someone showed

too much

interest in me, he could be spiteful and he had been with Damien. It's not like he was insanely jealous though, but he was very protective. Let's just say that guys had better keep off his patch.

As for me, well, I didn't really have to be jealous because most guys who fancied Rob were just too impressed and in awe to even talk to him. No kidding, we had been going out in gay clubs in London during the recording of the album and most guys practically shit themselves when they saw him.

But Rob being picky, the guys he could have been interested in were too impressed to even talk to him and the ones who did flirt with him were being so bold and aggressive that after a while, he just couldn't take it anymore. He had developed a real skill in turning them down, and since he usually didn't even fancy them that much, he would just shoot them down without mercy. He was beginning to have a reputation for being unapproachable and untouchable. And I gotta say, I found it pretty funny. On my part, I didn't really have to shoot them down, he would do it for me. Plus, we had kind of grown out of the threesome phase. It was not totally out of the question but since the one with Rihanna's dancer, we hadn't done it.

When I arrived at the studio, I was relieved to see that Damien

was

actually working with a band, and that they really were in need of some help. I worked with them for a couple of hours until two of their songs were completely ready to be recorded, and I could indeed see why they were so stuck, their song writing approach being totally wrong.

As I was about to leave, Damien told me,

"Thank-you so much for coming over. I know the band really appreciates it. And they were thrilled to meet you."

"You're welcome, I kind of had fun. I'm glad I could help!" I answered.

"You did a lot more than that." he smiled at me and suddenly gasped, "Oh, shit, I almost forgot," he said, snapping his fingers. "wait right here!"

"Ok." I said as he quickly walked away.

When he came back, he asked me to close my eyes, which I wasn't sure was a great idea, but I did.

"Alright, you can open your eyes," he told me excitedly.

I did and saw that he was holding one of The Edge's guitars that I had played to record 'Up And Up'with U2.

"Happy birthday," he told me.

I laughed,

"My birthday was six months ago!"

"Alright, well, whatever. Then consider it a late or early birthday present, or even better, a Christmas present!"

"How did you get your hands on this guitar?" I asked with curiosity, knowing that if it had to be valued, it'd probably be a very expensive guitar.

"Don't ask, it's a present. It totally adopted you during the recording, so can you imagine how sad it's gonna be if you don't take it home," he joked.

"Did Edge actually give it to you?" I asked, a bit surprised that he would.

He just looked at me, letting me know he was not going to say more and handed me the guitar. I checked it out like I had never seen it before.

"Well, it's an awesome guitar. I really can't ask you how you got it?" I smiled and he shook his head no, "Oh well, whatever it is, thank you, I love it."

"I know... and I also know that you'd love to take it with you on tour, so there you go," he smiled, "consider it as a thank you. I've learned a lot working with you and I loved it."

I smiled a bit self-consciously,

"Well, it's been great to work with you as well," I told him.

We smiled at each other, not really sure what to say next.

"Oh well, look at that! I think a hug is in order here," he said stepping closer to me.

I placed the guitar against the studio desk and we hugged each other. He rubbed his hand up and down my back and held me tightly against him for what seemed like forever. I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to let go when my phone, which was on the studio desk, made the message tone and vibrated.

"Ahh," he laughed, breaking the hug, "probably your boyfriend's ears burning," he told me in French.

"We weren't talking about him."

"You know what I mean," he said, knowing very well that Rob didn't like him.

I quickly looked at my phone and saw that I indeed had a text message from him and I laughed to myself, thinking that he really must have developed a sixth sense to know when someone was hitting on me. His timing was perfect.

I had a quick look at it and chuckled as I read his message "fucked him yet? Blow your load and come home. we're going out with Jord and his new gf tonight. ur not gonna believe who she is. And seriously keep you dick in your pants!"

"What's funny?" Damien asked.

"Ah, nothing. It's just Rob being Rob."

"You need to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, I should get going. Apparently I've got plans tonight!"

"Alright. Well, it was nice seeing you again. Look, I hope we can stay in touch. I know you'll be traveling a lot but maybe we can find some time to hang out once in a while. I should be working a lot in London during the year."

"Sure, that'd be cool. I'll call you, or you can call me, ok? Let me know what you're up to."

"I will, but you have to as well. I know you rock stars, you get so caught up in your lives. You always forget to let people know that you're still alive."

I laughed,

"Oh don't worry about that. I plan on living forever."

"So do I," he joked.

"Oh by the way, I've got the two backstage passes to the O2 that you asked for."

"Yeah? Thanks, that's great. I can't wait to see you guys live. I know you're gonna put on a great show with all those awesome new songs. And I wanna see if that boyfriend of yours is really as charismatic as they say he is!"

"Oh he is!" I confirmed as I reached for my bag and took out the passes. I handed them to him and he stepped closer to me.

"Okay, you take care of yourself, and don't be a stranger please," he said, as he wrapped his arms around me again and gave me another hug. It didn't feel like a regular friendly, goodbye hug though. He was holding me tight against him and again, he was showing no sign of letting go and I was pretty sure he had smelled my hair or something. Now, I was getting worried, and the worst thing was that it was only because I didn't want Rob to have been right! I didn't want to lose that argument to him.

"You too," I said.

He pulled back just a little so we were face to face. His arms were wrapped around my back. He looked deep into my eyes and I knew exactly what he was about to do, it was written all over his face. He was looking at me with a longing I had only seen in Rob's eyes before. He leaned forward and lightly pressed his lips against mine, closing his eyes. I didn't move and let him kiss me, as I almost rolled my eyes to myself, thinking that Rob had been right. His lips softly kissed mine and he opened his eyes again to see my reaction. I had a fixed expression and he apologized.

"Sorry," he said looking into my eyes.

"It's - fine," I said, thinking the kiss was over. I probably should have broken the hug but for some reason, I didn't. I guess I wanted to make sure I didn't feel anything for this guy, but he took it as a clue that he could kiss me again. His hands moved to the sides of my head and his lips brushed against mine again.

He kissed me softly and I started kissing him back, embracing him a little. I didn't know why I was letting this happen but I wasn't really thinking, yet. He was a good kisser, the gentle pressure of his lips was perfect and he was softly caressing my cheek with his thumb. We gently kissed each other's lips, and I could feel his emotions in the kiss. I could tell how much he was enjoying this. It brought me back to reality and I broke the kiss, slightly moving my head backwards. I waited for him to look at me but he kept his eyes closed. His hands were on my neck and he gave a soft sigh of disappointment as he felt that I was stopping this.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at me.

I slowly raised an eyebrow as I asked him,

"What was that about?"

"Mark, I...," he started saying taking a step backward.

"Don't, I know but..."

"But you're with Robbie," he interrupted, sighing again.

We stood face to face for a few seconds, and I didn't really know what to tell him. He knew anyway. I looked at him apologetically. I didn't particularly enjoy hurting him. I reached for my jacket and put it on. I looked at him again and I was relieved that he decided to say something, except that what he said didn't make me feel any less bad and self-conscious.

"Look, I hope we can be friends. I don't want this to make things weird between us but now that I've started, I might as well tell you how I feel," he told me, self-assured.

"Damien, come on, you don't have to say anything," I started saying uncomfortably, not sure I wanted him to pour his feelings out to me and not have me say them back, but he stopped me.

"No, I need to tell you this. I didn't want to risk losing an awesome job before, but now, I've got nothing to lose," he said, doing some serious eye contact.

I sighed and placed my hands on the studio desk as I leaned on it a little, getting ready to probably hear a few compliments, which was bound to make me feel ill-at-ease. He placed his hand next to mine on the studio desk, bringing his body closer to mine and he looked at me in the eye as he spoke,

"You're different from any other guy I've ever met. I've had the best time working with you. The more I spent time with you, the more I wanted to. I just love being around you. You fascinate me when you play. You're so talented. Everything you do just seems so effortless, and yet I know how hard it is... You're amazing. And you're so damn nice, sweet and fun, and .... so fuckin' attractive. If you weren't already with someone, I would date you in a heartbeat."