As usual, Steven was missing again. Whenever they had any free time, before someone turned around, he disappeared. Personally, Rotimi didn't care so much.
However, that evening, as he finished a batch of pancakes, waiting for Nsemeke to get home before his shift so he could fulfill his quota of Get-my-star-partner-to-like-me, he heard the front door open and looked behind to see who was home. He knew Andem would be practicing so he assumed it would be Nsemeke.
Which was why he was exceptionally surprised to find Nsemeke entering the house practically glued to Andem's lips as they both shuffled their way up the stairs and into Andem's room.
Sighing and resigning himself to a long wait, Rotimi took his trusty ear phones and blocked his ears. Because after that first time that he'd mistakenly heard the beginning of one of Steven's… escapades, Rotimi knew that the only way to stay sane in a house as tense as this, during someone else' sexy times was to block your ears and not engage.
Rotimi cleaned the kitchen. And when Andem's door still hadn't opened, he went ahead to do some laundry.
As he sat on the tiny stool in the laundry room, waiting for the next song to play, he heard the loud shout.
"YOU'RE A FUCKING UBER-ALPHA?"
Removing his earphones, he sat up, perked and ready to hear the rest of it but whatever Nsemeke said was muffled through the house. Getting up, Rotimi inched out of the verandah that they usually referred to as the laundry "room". He knew he should probably go back and continue what he was doing. Or at least, just put back his ear phones and pretend like he didn't hear anything. But it wasn't everyday you found out that you were living under the same roof as an uber.
Rotimi had known from the first day he met Nsemeke that day in the garage when Jimmy had asked him to do Nsemeke's song for Eteli, that Nsemeke was an alpha. Nsemeke didn't smell like it or look like it, or act like it. But Rotimi clearly remembered Eteli referring to the two of them as a beta and an alpha. And if he, Rotimi, was a beta, then Nsemeke had to be the alpha.
But never, in his wildest dreams did he think Nsemeke was an uber. No wonder he was on suppressants. One miscalculated rut and he'd have betas in heat and alphas rutting against anything. Ubers were required to live on suppressants even before their second genders manifested, even before puberty. After all, if a person was born of two alphas, biology guaranteed that they'd also be alphas.
Rotimi could imagine the press that Nsemeke's second gender would garner. An uber with the ability to equip entire firms with world-class, top of the line futuristic tech wasn't a gamble. It was a sure hand.
Rotimi would just be his mimic partner lost in his shadow.
And he wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that.
"I never said that I was a beta," Nsemeke's voice said, shaking with worry.
Rotimi quietly climbed up the stairs, peeking into the empty corridor.
"You let me believe it," Andem accused, his voice thundering through the house.
"I thought you knew I was an alpha until-" Nsemeke stopped abruptly and Andem cursed. "I didn't understand why you were mad at Chima but you still wanted me. I thought you knew."
"Why didn't you stop me?" Andem asked, sounding hysterical. "Oh God! What have I done? With an alpha. That's just…wrong."
"Andem-"
The door opened and Rotimi fell away in guilt as Andem stormed out wearing a shirt with his pants scrounged up and blocking his front from view. He walked off and entered the main room as he banged the door behind himself.
When Nsemeke emerged, his eyes were red and his lips were so red and puffy it looked like they had been chewed on for hours. Walking briskly, he startled to a stop the moment he caught sight of Rotimi hiding on the stairs.
"Uh… I have a shift," Nsemeke explained. "I have to go to work. I should be back by ten." His voice sounded choked and Rotimi wondered why he was even bothering with conversation. "If you want to work on new designs when I get back…"
He trailed off and Rotimi nodded, looking away as Nsemeke's eyes watered. He wasn't sure if he was even supposed to be witnessing this.
"I'll wait for you," Rotimi promised and Nsemeke looked at him.
"Okay."
With that, he rushed down the stairs and left.
-*-
The managers were the first to comment on the tense silence in the dorms. Even Chima had never managed to stir as much discomfort as an unhappy Andem. While Nsemeke moped around and avoided the dorm as much as possible, Andem became scarily frightening. He snapped at everyone and was so difficult to deal with that the managers tried to give him a time out.
Which was a spectacularly wrong idea because Rotimi got to witness an alpha pull his weight and use his alpha voice on their beta and omega managers who quietly scurried back into their room to do anything but be anywhere near Andem at the moment.
It was surprising that of all the people Rotimi had expected, he never thought it would be Steven who managed to put Andem in his place.
After a rather quiet dinner from the restaurant one evening, Andem had gotten up to leave when Steven informed him that it was his day to clear the dishes. Already feeling trouble on the horizon, Rotimi stood and began picking up the packs when Steven moved, pinning Rotimi's hands to the table.
"Drop it," he said icily. "Now."
Rotimi had let go and retreated.
"You're supposed to clear up this evening," Steven said, carefully putting back the food packs that Rotimi had picked exactly where he picked them from.
"I don't feel like it," Andem said tersely.
"No one does," Steven commented. "That's why it's a chore."
"What is this? What are you doing?" Andem asked. "Are you bidding to become leader now that Chima is gone?"
"I want you to do what you're supposed to do."
"I already said that I don't want to."
"So who will do it for you?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "You could do it."
As he turned to leave, Steven stood to his feet. "You're not going anywhere."
Rotimi flinched as the room began to stiffen with Andem's mood, sending discomfiting thrills down Rotimi's spine.
"Who's going to stop me?" Andem asked.
"You don't really like your place here at Riddim, do you? You don't seem to care what happens either way," Steven sneered. "Alpha that you are, I'm sure you have options. Which is probably why you can go around behaving like a dick and not caring if your teammate hates your guts. I get it. But I've covered for you too long. Pack up right now or I swear to god I'm going to tell Eteli how difficult you've been. And seeing as you're not that great a spy, I doubt Riddim will miss you anyway."
Andem swung his fist, cracking into Steven's jaw with swift speed and immense power as Steven was flung into the wall.
"Oh god," Rotimi said, running to Steven's side as he took in the blood leaking from the back of Steven's head as he tried to get up, groaned in pain and fell back against the floor.
"Is that-" Steven asked through a bleeding mouth as he looked up at Steven. "Is that all you've… got?"
Staring at both of them, Andem clenched his fists in anger before he stormed up the stairs leading to their rooms.
"Why did you challenge him like that?" Rotimi asked, watching the angry alpha retreat.
"If we don't, he'll never learn."
"You're hurt," Rotimi said. "Is this really worth it? I could have cleared it up without a problem."
Steven shook his head as he flinched and raised his head to hold his head.
"Le… leave it," he stated. "If Andem doesn't clean it, no one will."
Rotimi helped Steven up and took him into the room to clean him up, wondering if their lives were about to get a lot harder because of it. Even with what Andem had done, Steven decided he'd go to a hospital on his own in the morning instead of telling Eteli. Much to Rotimi's displeasure.
But that night, when Rotimi emerged from the room to go to the toilet, he could hear someone packing up and cleaning the place downstairs. When he looked over the banister, he was surprised to find the surly alpha taking care of his house chore for once.