There is a story behind this story, which I will attempt to explain to you... It all began with a conversation between me and one of my best friends. We were discussing the song 'Contact' from the musical version of RENT, and being the Mark-a-holic that I am, I wondered where he was, so my friend was just like 'Maybe he went to Benny's!' and and I was like 'Maybe he's having an affair with Muffy! That would be epic fanfic material!' And so here it is. I just thought it would be something interesting to try, not to mention the fact that no one seems to really write this pairing. So here I go, attempting this even though I have a bazillion other ideas and projects that I should be finishing...

ANYWAY. Mark and Alison and everything else were the brainchild of Jonathan Larson, and thus they are not mine. The title comes from a line from 'As Long As You're Mine' from Wicked, which I also do not own.

So. Prologue. Enjoy it?

He is cursed with poverty. In this day in age, it is nearly impossible to get by with nothing, especially in a city as large, hectic, and unforgiving as New York. This is a city of opposites. On one side, you have the wealthy, the financers and businessmen who wear suits and carry briefcases and make deals with others of their kind from their offices in skyscrapers, and then they go home to their comfortable houses or high-rises and greet their families. On the other side are those who have nothing, or very little, the ones who will do anything to get a paycheck, the ones who live in shitty apartments and tents and cardboard boxes, the ones who can hardly afford a decent meal, let alone anything else.

The East Village is a home to the people like that, and Mark is one of them, has been ever since he moved to New York at 21 years old. He and his roommates have been living paycheck to paycheck for years. Sometimes there is no paycheck. But there are still bills to pay. The rent. Heat. Water. Electricity. Groceries. AZT. Doctors. They all have debts, and sometimes they just have to go without. Roger and Collins always come first. What little money comes in goes to keeping them alive for one more day. Mark can recall particularly rough times when he would go without eating because there was hardly anything left and he was saving it for his friends. They needed it more than he did. He can afford to go hungry for a few days. Going out and filming takes his mind off the desperate situation sometimes, at least for a little while. It reminds him that there are people even worse off. At least he has a roof over his head. At least he is mostly healthy. At least he's still alive. Not very well, admittedly, but it was a life, wasn't it? They would make do with what little they had and try to keep their spirits up, though that could prove difficult sometimes.

Especially as he looked at Benny. Benny had been one of them once, and then he married into money and they lost him. That family has it so well. Their money makes them comfortable and untouchable. While at times he can say he's proud of his meager existence, other times Mark is downright envious of Benny and Alison. Some days he would choose that stuck-up existence over what he has now. Some days he would rather be a them instead of what he is now.

Because he is cursed with poverty.

She is cursed with wealth. When you have money, people always jump to conclusions about who you are. They assume that you love nothing but your money, that you look down on other people less fortunate than you, that you love having expensive things and blow your money just because you have it when there are others who really need it. These things may be true when it comes to her father, and, to a certain degree, her husband, but it's not necessarily true for Alison Grey. She didn't choose to be this way. Hell, she didn't even have to do anything. All she had to do to get this small fortunate dumped into her lap was be born. Her father was one of the biggest real estate directors in all of New York, so of course he's rich. The Greys are a privileged family with money to burn.

Secretly, Alison despises everything about her life. It all feels so fake. She goes to parties and social events like a true New York debutante, eating fancy meals and drinking fancy wines and wearing a fancy new dress she bought just for the occasion. She smiles the same fake smile that they all do, laughing half heartedly at the supposed wit of her supposed friends when she would rather just be doing something simple at home. None of these people she knows are really her friends, honestly. They just spend time together because they feel like they're supposed to. They're the daughters of rich business men who have inherited their own fortunes and pretend to like each other. Half the time Alison can't stand them at all. She acts like it, though she doesn't even really know why she does. Sometimes she stops and realizes how empty her life is. She's got Benny, but half the time she feels as though she hardly interests him at all. He's more interested in the family business. He doesn't seem to understand that his humble demeanor and simple lifestyle when they first met was what attracted her in the first place. She wanted to become more like him, not the other way around.

Sometimes she stops and she looks at Benny's friends, the one he abandoned, the ones who blame her for taking him away from them. Mark, Roger, Collins, and Maureen. They live a hard life, but at least it's something real. That's more than she can say for her own sometimes. She would go through the struggle to feel what a real life feels like, just once. But she stays in the same lifestyle she always has, the meaningless smile always on her lips as she feels like she should be thankful for what she has.

But she is still cursed with wealth.

Reviews and opinions are greatly appreciated it. Any criticism or anything, I'll take it all!