"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away..."

The song was so faint that Roger had almost missed it. Almost. He sat still, his guitar held in his lap as he looked up from the notebook he had been scribbling lyrics in, blue eyes locked on the opened door of the loft. How long had it been open? How had he not noticed? He sighed softly and tossed the ragged notebook aside, tucked the pen behind his ear and set aside the guitar gently before standing and heading towards the door. He had made the movement to close it, his hand gripped tight around the handle, arm flexed to prepare to pull but immeadiately regretted the metal slamming against the frame once the song reached his ears again.

"The other night, dear, as I lay dreaming I dreamt that you were by my side. Came disillusion when I awoke, dear, you were gone and I cried. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away..."

Fingers twitched and the muscles flexed beneath the layers of clothing he had donned to fight off the cold air that was creeping in through the windows, the panes frosted over around the edges. He peeked out into the hall slowly, almost as if afraid that someone would run up on him but that had never happened before and it probably never would. Stepping out he moved towards the stairs and peeked down over the banister before looking up, trying to pinpoint where it was the song was coming from. Downstairs.

The voice was soft and melodic, soulful, almost as if the song was their's and they were telling the story, with Nat King Cole singing back up. He crept down the stairs carefully to find the door before him wide open, the music flowing out into the hall and he was about to move forward when she passed in front of the door and gave a twirl in the living room before plopping down onto the couch with a sigh as she began to pull on a pair of boots.

"You told me once dear there'd be no other- that no one else could come between. But now you've left me to love another, you have broken all my dreams. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away... Please don't take my sunshine away."

The music faded and she laughed softly at herself, a good hearted laugh, the simple action making Roger smile to himself. But upon finding that he was somewhat happy for even the barest of seconds it faded and he returned to his usual stoic appearance.

"Hey. You ok?"

Shit, how long had he been standing there? The girl was now standing in the doorway and staring directly at him with a genuine look of concern, though there was amusement dancing in her eyes. What the hell was he going to say? "I overheard you singing and thought I'd stand out here like an idiot and be all stealthy at it?"

"What?" He furrowed his brows and straightened up, hands automatically going into the pockets of his leather jacket before he was turning around and making his way upstairs. Not bothering with an explanation.

"If you wanted me to serenade you all you had to do was ask."

Roger turned around and deadpanned, her dark eyes lit up with the laughter she was holding back for the sake of not wanting to hurt his feelings. Hey, he looked moody and it was better to stay on the safe side then to deal with someone who could be bipolar.

"I'll make sure to sing louder next time." And with a coy smile and flutter of her lashes she disappeared back into her apartment, the door closing behind her.

---

"Of all the times of year." Mark reached up to rip the eviction notice from the door while he balanced his bike on his shoulder, a frown curling his lips downwards as his eyes scanned the page quickly before heading inside and upstairs to meet his roommate. "We've got a problem."

"The power's out." Roger announced from his positon at the fuse box, trying to work a little magic but to no avail. Squinting in the dark he gave a growl of frustration and slammed the door to the box closed before having a paper shoved into his face. "What the he-"

"Read it."

Roger snatched the paper out of his friend's hand before moving towards the window to get some light, his head bowed as he read the words "Eviction or pay" typed across the sheet in his possession. "We can't pay this." Eyes flickered up as he turned around to face Mark, who was just setting his bike aside and removing his scarf only to toss it on the couch as he moved towards the window.

"And guess who we have to thank for that."

"Collins."

"Ye- Wait, what? No." Mark stared at Roger as if he had gone stupid for a moment before Roger was opening the window and pointing across the street.

"Collins."

Then the phone rang and Mark crossed the room in the dark to pick it up, knowing who it was. "Collins!"

"I know you two saw me. Hook me up with the key, I'm freezing my ass off down here."

Mark smiled and hung up before heading towards the open window and stepping out onto the balcony to toss the key down. "Don't mind the power, we forgot to pay the bill apparently."

Collins reached out to catch the key with a laugh before saluting. "Don't worry, we all look the same in the dark."

Mark disappeared back inside, closing the window behind him with a laugh before hopping down off the ledge and heading over towards the open space that was the living room/kitchen. He was starving and much to his dismay that the power was out- they had no real food to "cook".

"So we get to thank Benny for this." Roger was on the couch, currently pulling Mark's scarf from beneath his ass with a smirk before tossing it on the coffee table and motioning around him for a quick moment as he finished lighting the last couple of candles they had.

"Yup. Good 'ol Benny. Never lets us down, huh?"

"Never."

"Where the hell is Collins?"

"Maybe he got detained."

Mark ran a hand through his short hair with another frown, looking towards the door for a sign of their friend to come barging in with a grand entrance and in not seeing him do just that he got even more worried than usual.

"What are we going to do about the power?"

Mark looked over at Roger, who was now standing and looking out the window to find the rest of the buildings around them in the dark as well. "They can't keep the lights off for long, it's in violation of something or other."

Roger chuckled and shook his head, long blonde tresses swayed with the movement before he was looked back at his friend. "Is this where you tell me you should have studied law?"

Mark had always had that habit, when there was a problem and he felt like he wasn't fully informed on the situation he felt he should have studied something different instead of taking up a camera. But that only lasted for about the span of five seconds.

"Shut up."

The phone rang again and Mark sprinted for it, snatching the reciever up off the cradle. "What's taking you so long?"

"Ho ho ho."

Mark turned to stare at Roger with wide eyes. "Benny."

Roger groaned and threw his head back. "Shit." He moved towards Mark and put his ear to the phone to listen in on the coversation with a frown.

"Dudes, I'm on my way."

"Great!" Mark exclaimed as Roger leaned in to place his lips on the receiver.

"FUCK."

"I need the-"

Roger dropped his hand on the cradle to cut the call, a feigned look of innocence on his face as Mark gave him a look of disbelief. "Oops?"

"Right."

Only ten minutes had gone by before there was the sound of shouting voices coming from the street and both men knew Benny had arrived. Roger crossed his arms over his chest and quirked a brow at Mark, who was now on the couch rubbing his forehead. "You're going to go save him, right?"

"No, we both are." Mark rose from the couch and crossed the room to grab his friend by the upper arm and dragging him out of the loft to meet up with their former roommate.