A/N: Hey, guys. Here's another one shot for you guys to check out. Let me know what you think!!! =0)
Disclaimer: RENT is not mine. But I do own Adam Pascal's "Blinding Light" album and Anthony Rapp's book, Without You. I got both autographed, so that's just as good as far as I'm concerned.
But anyways...
Seven
Mark ponders what time changes, and what it doesn't. POST RENT. Mark/Roger friendship.
Over time, the box at the back of the closet had gathered dust. After all, it hadn't been touched in years, a decade, at least. Maybe more. But today, as dark clouds hung over Alphabet City, Mark Cohen pulled the box out and looked inside. Spring cleaning would serve as the perfect distraction from the maddening silence, he figured. They were all things of his childhood, no doubt mementos his mother had hung onto for an eternity then shipped to him as a Hanukkah gift. There was a shoebox full of box of baseball cards, a few picture books, and a patched up teddy bear, among other things. At the bottom of the box, a small scrap of paper caught his attention. It was an old school assignment from when he was in first grade. For a moment, Mark contemplated just tossing it aside. Then, he read it. It was a series of questions--seven of them, to be precise--each one answered in the childish scrawl of a six-year-old boy.
MY BEST FRIEND BY MARK COHEN
1) MY BEST FRIEND'S NAME IS Roger.
2) MY BEST FRIEND IS 7 YEARS OLD.
3) MY BEST FRIEND'S FAVORITE COLOR IS Blue.
4) MY BEST FRIEND'S FAVORITE TOY IS His dinosore.
5) MY BEST FRIEND LOVES His mommy.
6) MY BEST FRIEND AND I LIKE TO Play tag.
7) IN TEN YEARS, MY BEST FRIEND WILL BE A rockstar.
Mark smirked. It was just like children to be so naïve; kids in first grade didn't have to worry about real things, important things like paying rent, or AIDS, or making every second count. Their biggest worry was making sure there were no monsters under the bed.
What he wouldn't give to be six again.
Suddenly, Mark felt compelled to act. He ran and tore a piece of paper out of his roommate's songwriting notebook--he was sure Roger would forgive him--and scribbled down the same set of questions.
MY BEST FRIEND BY MARK COHEN
1) MY BEST FRIEND'S NAME IS Roger Davis.
2) MY BEST FRIEND IS 26 YEARS OLD.
3) MY BEST FRIEND'S FAVORITE COLOR IS Plaid.
4) MY BEST FRIEND'S FAVORITE TOY IS His guitar.
5) MY BEST FRIEND LOVES Mimi Marquez.
6) MY BEST FRIEND AND I LIKE TO Get drunk.
7) IN TEN YEARS, MY BEST FRIEND WILL BE Dead.
He winced as he wrote the last word, but deep down knew it was true. Now Mark picked up the old sheet and compared the two. Only one question remained the same.
Roger had been his best friend then, and he remained his best friend now.
That was one thing time couldn't change.
And in that one fleeting moment, Mark was six-years-old once again, proud to have Roger as his best friend.
Then the moment ended, and Mark was an adult again, with real problems, like scraping enough money together to catch a cab to go visit Roger in the hospital.
He shoved the box back into the closet, and left without looking back.