This was definatly my most interesting peice to work on, to say the least. It's definatly taking the longest to write, and I've changed things around so much I can't even count. I will also add, that I did not intend for this to come out as an M/R fic at all, I was actually quite against it. But many of my female friends are M/R fans and pushed me into it...I ended up thinking of a way for it to work, so no harm done.
Case in point, this was definatly fun and interesting to write, and I put a lot into it. Hope you enjoy
Disclaimer: If I wanted to steal Mr. Larson's work, I would have changed the names...
It's a beautiful Spring afternoon. The sun is shining wonderfully, casting light onto all of New York. The view in Central Park is awe inspiring, sun flowing through the trees, whose leaves have recently grown back after the crude winter. The view is especially wonderful from where Mark was sitting, due to the blonde goddess standing twenty feet from him.
He is supposed to be here to possibly collect footage for a new documentary, but he finds himself unable to take his eyes away from her. Somehow, the light has caught her and she was moving in just the right way where it seemed like a scene from a movie.
He begins to envision what would happen if he went up to her, calm and cool, and just asked her out. Something simple, like a tea at the Life café. It's not exactly rocket science, something he should be able to do easily.
Somewhere in the time in which he was thinking about what he was going to say and how to say it, the woman had noticed his gaze. Slowly, she turns around a sudden wind picking up her hair, once again a moment too perfect to be real. Mark looks at her shyly, a small smile on his face.
"Take a picture four eyes, it'll last longer" The girl calls out to him. His face goes blank, eyes following her as she walks away laughing. It was then that he noticed the rest of the occupants of the park looking at him, blushing profusely. He tries to play it cool, flashing them all a small smile that looks more like a grimace. It's always nice to be embarrassed in public. He stands up quickly and puts as much distance between him and the scene he made as possible, going nearly at a run.
"Bitch…" Mark mutters bitterly, adjusting his glasses that had went slightly askew due to his quick pace. "I don't have enough money for tea anyway." Making the rent by random odd jobs he can pick up doesn't leave much money to splurge.
He brings his camera to his face, lens pushing against his glasses as he looks around once again looking for inspiration.
"New York City" He begins, mind racing feverishly to come up with something interesting to add to that. " 'The Big Apple' most call it, as for me…" His voice trails off as he lowers his hand from his face. "I'm just glad that the camera isn't on…" He says, shaking his head disappointed. Why is he so distracted now?
It's been a year since Today 4 You, and nothing has come to him since. He figured he'd take a few weeks off, then get right back to possibly shooting a new one, but nothing happened. His mind is as blank as a white canvas.
He finally makes it out of the park, far away from the people shooting him amused glances and to the main streets where everything is always busy. It's almost comforting to how isolated you can be, even in the middle of so many people. Everyone is busy doing whatever they're doing, so wrapped up in their agendas they don't bother to notice anything else. He likes this for times like there where he can just think and reflect a bit without anyone or anything bothering him.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" He thinks, running his fingers through his short blonde hair. "Why can't I concentrate on-wow…" His thoughts are cut off by a beautiful red head and, once again, things slow down in his mind like it is a movie. Their eyes meet for a moment, a goofy grin on his face. The girl smiles at him, then turns to face forward again. Mark himself looks forward just in time to catch a glimpse of the sign in front of him before walking headfirst into it.
"Oof." He spouts out as his forehead hit's the sign and he falls back. He lands on his back, sprawled out on the ground. He is unable to move, his blue eyes wide with the sudden epiphany he had just had. The smack on the forehead was just what he needed to realize what was wrong.
"I need to get laid…" He says out loud, sitting up and looking forward, blankly down the street.
"Yeah, don't we all buddy." A passerby mutters as he steps over the fallen film maker. Mark barely notices though, mouth gaped open at this realization. How had it taken him so long to see it? It's so simple.
He hasn't been laid since Maureen, he cringes at the thought. At first it wasn't so bad, it hadn't been that long and he had a lot of things to occupy his mind. He was still horny most of time, and he hit on Maureen as well as every other girl he knew, but he always had an escape from all that in his film. He wasn't bothered by the fact that he was still stuck on his ex girlfriend who wasn't into guys anymore.
Once he had finished his documentary and everything seemed to smooth over in his life, he had nothing to keep him busy. So, slowly but surely, he came to the realization that he really needs some ass.
He decides t skip searching for inspiration, a fruitless effort which he knew would yield him nothing more than a few more bruises and awkward situations. He hurries his way back to the loft, his eyes glued to the ground as to not meet eyes with anymore females and walk into anymore signs.
He unlocks the front door after a minute or so of looking fro his key, a girl walking by gave him a look and he dropped his keys. It seems that, knowing what he does now, all of his defenses toward the opposite sex are lowered.
He runs up to the loft at full speed, happy to not meet anyone on the way up. Opening the door, he stumbles over to the couch and throws himself onto it. He lays his camera on the floor and buries his face into the cushion.
"What's eating you Mark?" He hears from the left of him. He looks up from the couch and over to see Roger. He is sitting on a chair, feet rested on a stolen milk crate and a bowl of Cap'n Crunch in his lap. He takes one more bite of the cereal, giving Mark the once over.
"I need to get laid Roger." mark says without thinking about it. Roger just raised an eyebrow at him.
"I mean, besides the obvious." Roger mumbles through a mouth full of Cap'n Crunch.
"What do you mean." Says Mark, incredulously. To this Roger laughs so hard he nearly chokes on his cereal.
"You mean you just figured this out now?" Roger replies, voice still full of laughter. "What's the matter, Spielberg? Need something to be written in a script before you take a hint?" The words coming out rather difficult in his attempt to stifle his snickers at the look on Mark's face.
"Wow, is it that obvious?" Mark asks, taking of his glasses and buries his face in his hands. This day isn't going at all according to plan. "I mean, it isn't that bad is it?" he says, lying completely. He knew it was bad, but he didn't think others would see it so much before he did.
Um, yeah." Roger says looking right at him. "Mark, you haven't had an intimate experience with anything but your right hand for about two years."
Mark blushes once again at this. Of course Roger was right, Mark couldn't deny this fact but it didn't make him want to admit it. "Come on Rog, it's not really that serious." He lies once more.
Roger pauses momentarily, staring blankly at Mark, making him feel even more uncomfortable. In one of the calmest, most reasonable voices he has ever used. "Mark, if you don't get laid soon I will do it for you, because you are so depressed right now I can't even laugh about it." he finishes, small snicker escaping from his mouth after a few seconds. "Ok, maybe I can laugh at it, but it's getting old."
"Asshole…" Mark mutters, unable to look at Roger.
"Don't be bitter, it aint sexy." Roger say laughing. He leans over, reaching behind the chair for something. Finally, he comes back up with a small box. He throws it over to Mark.
Mark catches it and looks at the front. "Condoms? Are you kidding me?" He says exasperated.
"If I don't see you've used one in a few weeks, I'll resort to drastic measures." Roger says, still amused. He gets another laugh at the blank store on Mark's face, then hands him the bowl. "Cap'n Crunch Marky boy?"