Work Text:
Terence Lam is a songwriter.
Or, at the very least, he's a songwriter by night and a corporate slave by daylight, and perhaps the only saving grace is that he's able to work remotely. He's saved a lot of time and money on transport, although the funds have now been redirected to his electricity bill.
And, well, of course. There's the other saving grace, he supposes, in the form of his roommate — Ben.
Perhaps Terence has written a song about Ben. Or two, even. He isn't really keeping count. It's not as if he's going to find out anyway, that the latest songs written by a certain Lam Ka-him about the exquisite pain of pining for someone you can't have are all about him anyway. The man is, well, as much as Terence is reluctant to admit, rather attractive. Especially after he dyed his hair a flattering shade of platinum blonde. It's been a good couple of months or so and he's turning out to be the best roommate that Terence has ever had — he pays rent on time, has excellent hygiene and best of all, he can actually cook. That makes up for his other shortcomings, like how he always has a fuckton of laundry and his terrifying disregard of personal boundaries when it comes to personal space and oh, how he might just be Terence's favourite Twitch streamer and OnlyFans content provider.
Fuck.
It all started innocently enough.
Terence had started a Twitch account to support a friend's channel; he bought a subscription, made a song request or two, and even appeared on the channel once for a couple of duets. On a whim, he'd decided to click around and he ended up stumbling upon TysonYoshi's channel. To his surprise, Tyson wrapped up his session of Pokémon Legends: Arceus after dealing with an Alpha Snorlax, then someone gifted him a subscription, saying welcome to the tyger family ;). As Terence attempted to figure out just what the hell it meant, the stream switched to a man in a black tank top, holding a guitar, he lost all ability to form any coherent thought when he began to sing one of Terence's songs.
It was a song he had written a couple of years ago, when he had just started to forge his own path in the music industry. It was a mid-tempo ballad, the debut single of a rising starlet who had since faded into obscurity. It had been his first big break, and he hadn't heard it in years. To hear it once more, stripped down to just a guitar and vocals? It had been refreshing, in its own way, listening to Tyson breathe new life into his song. To think that up until moments ago, Tyson had been speaking in British-accented English, and to hear him sing in Cantonese? What were the odds, anyway? After the song ended, there had been a flurry of activity in the chat, with Tyson responding to what his viewers had to say. In the end, all Terence could muster up was that was a sick cover in Cantonese, to which Tyson answered about how Terence's song helped him get over a particularly rough breakup in university, and he was glad that he enjoyed it. Terence barely had any time to think of a reply before it was all over, with Tyson saying I'll see all our night owls on the flip side, leading to an explosion in the chat before the stream ended.
If you know, you know ;) was the message from the person who had gifted Terence the subscription.
See, TysonYoshi wasn't just a budding singer and a Twitch streamer, but also an OnlyFans content creator.
Apparently, Tyson did a bunch of other things too, beyond just posting stuff on his OnlyFans account. Truth be told, Terence would've never considered someone like Tyson to be his type, and yet there he was, subscribing to Tyson's account, jerking off while he watched Tyson bounce up and down what was probably the thickest dildo he's ever seen in his entire life. The moans leaving Tyson's lips were the filthiest thing Terence had heard in his life, but then again, it isn't as if he's had plenty of experience listening to such sounds.
Terence had settled into a routine of sorts in no time — he'd watch Tyson stream while he pushed through with work in the evening (it's companionship and entertainment, he supposes, that's a justifiable expense) and in the wee hours of the night... It's a one way ticket to a good night's sleep, with Terence hiding underneath his blankets, cheeks flushed with one hand wrapped around his cock, biting his lower lip as he watches yet another of Tyson's videos. Tyson fucking himself with his fingers until he comes hands free, all over his chest. Watching one of Tyson's streams, where the viewers had the chance to control the three Lovense vibrators in his ass. Tyson playing with his nipples while pressing a bullet vibrator to his cock until he comes. Tyson on his hands and knees, with his ass to the camera as he gets railed by his fucking machine, and then a closeup on how his cock drips all over the towel on his mattress. Tyson wearing different outfits and underwear as requested by those with a higher subscription tier, from that of a tennis player fucking himself with the handle of a tennis racket to that of a schoolboy coming in his booty shorts. And well, it had been just one of those nights when Terence realised that wait a minute. That jockstrap looked really familiar, like he might have seen it before in the laundry... Ben?
The first time, Terence had dismissed it as pure coincidence. After all, loads of people in Hong Kong wore the same type of underwear if it was fast fashion, right? Right. Then there had been that hoodie that Terence had seen Ben wear before, the one with the exact same hole in the front pocket. And the time when he heard Ben sing that same song that Terence first heard him sing on his Twitch stream while fussing about in the kitchen. And well, Tyson went to university in Brighton, and so did Ben. And there was that unfortunate (or fortunate, Terence isn't really sure any more) time when he accidentally walked in on Ben in the shower, thinking it was empty and came face to face with Ben in his full naked glory and oh, fuck.
Those tattoos. There had been no mistake about it.
Ben is TysonYoshi. TysonYoshi is Ben.
Thing is, this revelation should have solved every problem Terence had — his terrible crush on his roommate Ben and his hopeless infatuation with Twitch streamer and OnlyFans creator TysonYoshi was now no longer a problem of him liking two different people at once. Yet Terence still found himself at a loss for what to do, because fuck, just what the hell should he do in such a situation anyway?
As if things weren't difficult enough, with how he was trying so hard not to like Ben because he hasn't the slightest idea if he's interested in men anyway. Ben hasn't brought anyone home, and he left the flat mostly either for 1. grocery runs 2. getting takeout or 3. collecting his online orders from the post office, but that doesn't mean that he's definitely single. But sometimes when their fingers touch by accident, when Ben hands him the TV remote, or a pair of chopsticks, or his mug of coffee? When they watch football together in the wee hours of the night, and Ben's yelling at the referee and Terence's laughing so hard that his shoulder knocks into Ben's arm repeatedly? When they watch movies on Netflix together and Terence ends up falling asleep, only for Ben to shake him awake gently afterwards with a ridiculous grin on his face, telling him that he drooled all over his shoulder?
Terence cannot help but wonder, what if?
Tonight they've ordered in, and Terence sits opposite Ben at their dining table, watching Ben slurp his hot and numbing rice noodles from TamJai SamGor, all he can think of is oh god, this is the same man he watches almost every night, with those plush lips that were made to suck cock wrapped around a dildo.
'Are you okay?' Ben asks, frowning as he looks up from his food. His glasses have slipped down his nose, and Terence's mind goes blank just looking at him. 'Your entire face is red. Did you screw up the spice level for your noodles?'
'I,' Terence starts, stopping abruptly. Yes, I've screwed up probably, but not with my food.
'No, wait, are you unwell?' Ben puts down his chopsticks, looking curiously at Terence. 'It's uncharacteristic of you to not come back with a suitable insult,' he says, leaning over the table, reaching out to touch Terence's forehead.
'I'm fine!' Terence exclaims, jerking backwards, away from Ben's touch. 'Just. Stressed out about a work deadline. That's all.'
Ben's right, to be fair. On any other day, he'd have a comeback ready, and they'd banter over dinner or any other meal and exchange friendly barbs, about the shit he has to put up with when it comes to his day job to how Ben's almost always lazing around the house whenever Terence interacts with him to their different tastes in fashion. Terence looks down at his noodles, poking at them with his chopsticks. He's been deliberately trying not to change his behaviour around Ben for the past few days to the point that Ben's starting to notice, and then there's how he's been acting in the chat in TysonYoshi's streams. Sure, he'd continued showing up, not wanting to change his habits after his accidental discovery, but the others in Tyson's streams had started noticing his reticence in the chat to the point that Tyson himself asked if he was alright. Terence hadn't meant for things to turn out that way, but how could he continue his conversation with Tyson about music and gaming like he hadn't uncovered his true identity?
'I'll help to clear up if you're unwell,' Ben offers. 'Maybe you shouldn't have insisted on ordering the hot and numbing soup. There's no shame in getting the clear broth without any spice.'
'I'm fine, really,' Terence answers, smiling weakly, electing to ignore Ben's attempt at banter.
Ben frowns. 'If you say so,' he says, clearly unhappy at Terence's answer as he continues with his food.
'Lam Ka-him,' Serrini guffaws, causing Terence to wince. They're in a cha chaan teng near Terence's place and honestly, he should've chosen somewhere else but Serrini said she'd arrive in ten minutes and the last place Terence had wanted to have this conversation was his flat. 'You mean you didn't know what Tyson does for a living?'
'He introduced himself as Ben,' Terence hisses. 'How was I supposed to know? Anyway, I called you to ask for help, not for you to laugh at me instead!'
'You didn't think to ask?' Serrini asks, leaning in, eyes gleaming.
'It didn't come up?' Terence retorts. 'How do you know anyway?'
Serrini snorts. 'I was his roommate before you, remember? He was never particularly discreet then, although...' she trails off, giving Terence a once-over, eyes appraising. 'I can see why things might have changed.'
'What do you mean,' Terence says hotly, cheeks flushing, avoiding Serrini's gaze. Serrini was the one who recommended that he take over the lease in the flat when she moved out to start on her PhD, and with her being the only mutual friend he had with Ben, she was naturally the one he would turn to when asking for advice. But from Serrini's response, all that's left is a bitter aftertaste — here he was thinking that there was some sort of connection between him and Ben and they were close, in a way. Especially after the time when he had a bit of a health scare, coming down with flu after his weekly grocery run, and Ben had been there for him throughout, looking after him when he ran a fever. Guess he was wrong after all, huh.
'Just a feeling,' Serrini says, smiling sweetly. 'Anyway, back to business. This isn't the reason why you need my help, right? What is it?'
'I don't want to ruin things,' Terence sighs, stabbing viciously at the lemon in his iced lemon tea with his straw. 'I like what we have as Terence and Ben, and I like what we have as Breeze and Tyson—'
'And what you have as Terence and Tyson,' Serrini interjects, much to Terence's annoyance.
'Well, fine, yes,' Terence huffs.
'What's the worst that could happen? He thinks you're a stalker and you're gross, and you've got to find a new place to stay?' Serrini asks. 'Knowing Tyson, I don't think that'll happen, unless you've been particularly creepy.'
'Of course not!' Terence retorts, offended. 'He told you about his, uh. His many jobs,' he finishes, trying not to sound like a petulant child.
'You're jealous,' Serrini crows. 'Oh my god you're jealous. Never did I ever think I'd live to see this happen.'
'Shut up,' Terence says, but there's no heat in his voice. His shoulders sag as he leans back in his seat.
'Are you thinking of, you know,' Serrini whispers conspiratorially, wiggling her eyebrows. 'Confessing?'
Terence groans, burying his face in his palms. Perhaps he shouldn't have called Serrini for help after all.
By the end of his meeting with Serrini, Terence has signed up for a fifteen minute private Zoom call with Tyson against his will.
Serrini had argued that well, if Terence chickened out eventually, he could simply treat it as paying for a private show with Tyson, at which Terence had promptly turned crimson. Which, Serrini pointed out, was what Tyson offered anyway — conversation, advice, song requests or having some fun. Terence could not refute that, and grumbled as he let Serrini sucker him into paying for the call because holy hell, fifty US dollars on a Zoom call with his roommate, for crying out loud. But she had a point indeed — if he decided that he was okay with the status quo, at least he wouldn't have fucked things up too badly, right?
Right.
As expected, nothing goes according to plan and halfway through the Zoom call, Tyson, no, Ben is banging on Terence's door demanding that he open the fuck up.
'Terence Lam, what the fuck are you playing at. What do you mean you're Breeze, as in the Breeze who I talk to all the time on Twitch? What the fuck?'
'I am Breeze,' Terence shoots back, annoyed. 'And I told you. I wrote the song that you sang the other day on your stream too.'
Ben stares at Terence, jaw slack. 'No fucking way.'
'I'm Terence Lam, Lam Ka-him. Happy? Do you need to check my identification card too?' Terence snaps.
'And you hid it from me all this while?'
'Well why didn't you tell me that you're TysonYoshi?'
'What am I supposed to say, hi I'm Ben but you can call me Tyson, I'm a Twitch streamer and I do covers sometimes and make my own music and oh, I have an OnlyFans account too because I'm into exhibitionism?'
'What.'
'Oh fuck I did not just say that out loud.'
The rest, as they say, is hysterical.
Somehow Terence ends up on his bed, with Ben lying beneath him.
'So, which is the real you?' Ben asks, cocking his head to the right. 'Terence Lam, or Breeze?'
'They're both me,' Terence snorts. 'I could say the same about you.'
'That's true,' Ben chuckles. 'Oh man. I can't believe Serrini put you up to a Zoom call with me. And you actually went and paid for it. That's a lot, coming from a scrooge like you.'
'Tell me about it,' Terence replies, rolling his eyes, not bothering to disagree. 'It was such a disappointment, I didn't even get my full fifteen minutes worth,' he complains.
Ben grins, cupping Terence's cheeks with his palms. 'How about we make up for that now?'
Terence leans in, pressing his forehead against Ben's. 'Why not,' he says, grinning. 'Where should we start?'