So I was feeling inspired to work on a new story, since the others are being slowly updated. Not sure how many chapters this one will take, but it's something I've been tossing around for a while now.

So, I know there are tons of RENT high school fics, and tons of Mark/Roger fics, and tons of Post- and Pre-RENT fics, but bear with me. It makes the Mark/Roger scenario more logical, or so I can tell... Anyway, now I'm rambling.

To days of inspiration...


I walked in the loft to see Roger sitting on the couch, guitar on the floor in front of him, head in his hands. His shoulders were shaking just slightly, and he obviously hadn't heard me come in. When the door closed, his head shot up and he wiped furiously at his cheeks, trying to make it look as if he hadn't just been crying.

I sighed, walking over to him, and sat on the couch beside him. He kept his gaze from me, looking anywhere else he could find. After a moment, I reached a hand out and put it on his shoulder. "What happened, Rog?"

At that moment, his emerald eyes finally locked on mine. For a moment more, he was silent, and then he started to cry.

Instead of waiting for him to speak again, I wrapped my other arm around him and started rubbing his back in what I hoped was a comforting manner.

Slowly, he calmed. Instead of backing away, as he had done in the past, he rested his head on my shoulder. "She's really gone, isn't she, Mark?"

Letting my eyes slide shut, I nodded nervously. "Yeah..." I said, my voice cracking.

His arms had come around my torso at this point, and his hands were tracing small little designs on my back. "Why did she have to go too? Weren't April and Angel enough?"

I sighed, leaning back on the couch to lie down. Roger kept his head resting where it was, but shifted slightly to get more comfortable. We drifted into a comfortable silence, albeit a sad one. It was a short time before I felt his breathing slow. I turned my head down just slightly to see him asleep.

It was a couple minutes before I realized I wouldn't be able to move out from underneath him without waking him up. Sighing, I rested my hands lightly on his back and closed my eyes again, finally falling asleep.

XsXeX

The next morning, I woke to the feeling of a hand lightly tracing a spiral pattern on my side. I looked down to see Roger still laying on me, with what looked like no intention to move.

After a few minutes of remaining there, I cleared my throat. "Morning Rog."

He turned his eyes up to me, the striking green no longer clouded with misery. "Hey." He kept his gaze on me, asking silently if I wanted him to move.

Clearly, my eyes betrayed my desire to stay there, because he didn't move. We laid there for the morning, neither speaking nor moving until the door to the loft opened. "Merry Christmas, bitches," Collin's voice rang out. He tossed the keys on the table before finally looking at us. "Well, don't you two look cozy."

Roger sighed inaudibly, but got up nonetheless and wrapped Collins into a hug. "Merry Christmas, man."

I sat up and Collins walked over to me, wrapping me into a hug of my own. "Merry Christmas, Collins," I said, voice slightly raspy at its lack of use.

He sat on the chair across from Roger and I, pulling out a bottle of Stoli as he did. "So, what's goin' on guys?"

"Nothing," Roger said, offering Collins a smile as he took a cup.

Collins raised an eyebrow. "You taking things okay?" he asked, looking at me as he did.

I nodded, lowering my gaze, as Roger said, "Yeah, fine. Better now."

We sat around the table, making small talk and drinking Stoli for much of the rest of the afternoon.

Later on, Collins revealed that he was staying in Angel's old apartment. I offered to walk him out, though Roger didn't want to go. He had "an idea for a new song," he said. So the two of us started toward the other building, leaving Roger with his guitar.

Upon exiting the house, Collins threw an arm over my shoulder. "What's going on with you and Roger?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing when I walked in, man."

I sighed. "He was upset. Mimi's death just sank in last night, I guess. So I comforted him. He fell asleep. It happens."

"You guys looked awful awake when I came in," Collins said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I looked down at the ground. "Well, it was... I just... We were comfortable. Didn't feel like moving." I looked back up, meeting Collin's gaze. "Not like it's the first time. Remember, after Angel? And April? And his mother? All three times... I was there. I'm the comforter. That's all."

Collins nodded, still looking skeptical. "Whatever you say, man. Just seems like more, that's all."

At that point, we reached Angel's old apartment. Collins hugged me tight for a moment before opening the door and heading up. "See ya, Collins," I said before turning away.

The walk home, though short, allowed me time to think. My mind was still churning when I walked into the apartment, hearing the strum of guitar strings and Roger's barely raspy voice ringing out, "Hate feeling the pain, hate giving in to the desire, hate letting you see me when I'm down to the wire. Hate feeling so useless, hate letting disease win, hate that I can't seem to just let you in..."

I shifted my gaze from him to the floor beneath my feet, letting out a sigh as I looked up. Roger's head turned and he smiled a bit at me, shifting the guitar so I could sit next to him. "You haven't worked on that song since we were in high school, Rog."

He nodded. "I know. I felt the need to do something more with it." He looked down at the guitar in his hand. "It just seems right now."

I nodded, resting my head on the back of the couch. "Geez, high school seems so far away now, doesn't it?" I stated more than asked.

Roger didn't reply, just rested a hand lightly on my knee.

I looked at him momentarily before letting my thoughts take over again, thinking back to our high school days.

XsXeX

It was the first day of my senior year, our senior year, and my camera was rolling, as usual. "Zoom in on Maureen, already planning her newest protest," I said, taking a close-up of the chattering girl. "Next shot, Collins, who's already graduated but decided to come see us off." I shifted the frame to include the smoking man. "Pan left, over the crowd of gathering students, mixed with new freshman and older upper classman. And there... Is that a new senior?" I lowered the lens from my eye, gazing out across the crowd to see a man in a leather coat exiting a beat-up car. He pulled a guitar out of the backseat behind him, then started our way. I raised an eyebrow, raising the camera again and focusing on him.

The man stopped in front of us, causing me to zoom out. "Something you like, Camera boy?" he asked, voice emotionless but with a grin playing on his face.

I looked at him before holding out a hand. "I'm Mark. I'm a filmmaker, working on our senior class film. Gotta get everyone in the shots, ya know?" I laughed sheepishly.

The conversations going on around us left Maureen and Collins unaware of my newest interaction, so when the man leaned forward, I blushed a little bit. He got very close to me, close enough that I could have seen him even without my glasses, still grinning. "Name's Roger. Musician. Band. Well Hungarians."

I raised an eyebrow, laughing at the band name.

His grin stretched into a smile. "Congrats, camera boy, you're the first person to get that without it being explained." He backed up then, looking at the door. "I'll see ya around."

Confused at the blush that had crawled up my cheeks, I nodded, returning the camera lens to my face, though my mind was no longer on the film. It would be an interesting year.


Ah, and there it is. There's another RENT high school fic out there now. But hopefully it won't grow all cliche on me and such... Anyway, I'll continue this if I get reviews. Let me know what you think! REVIEWS make me a happy author! There's only now, there's only here...