I Should Tell You Chapter 11: Means The World To Me, a rent fanfic

Yay! Yet another chapter! I really hope you enjoy this one, the idea for it has been on my mind for a while.

Okay :) I just wanna bring this up to see who agrees with me. So I was watching the Rent movie this afternoon for about the bajillionth time. In Angel's funeral scene, there are multiple shots of Roger crying. Not bawling his eyes out crying just like puffy eyes, red face, tears (ect.). Okay...is it weird that it makes me cry too? It's just like, whenever I see Adam cry it makes me sooooo upset! I feel like some how I did something wrong and I feel like I need to go into the tv and give him a HUGE hug and make him feel better. He's just so pathetically adorible! AHHH IT KILLS ME! Sorry just thought I'd bring that up. He's just so...UGGH! teddy bear-ish! I like need to hug him ssooooo bad! Sorry. Okay. I'm done. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Rent!

Ch 11: Means The World To Me

The sight that awaits me after school the next day makes my heart plunge into my stomach. My father leans up against the door of his shiny Toyota, arms crossed impatiently. As soon as he sees me his eyes narrow. I approach him cautiously, heart pounding.

"D-dad," I stutter. "What are you doing here?"

He continues his ice cold glare. Finally he speaks, "Mark, what the hell are you doing?"

"What?"

"First you get rip-roaring drunk and pass out in my living room, then you disrespect me in my own house," he hisses angrily. "And next thing I know, you're out the door without so much as a good bye!" His voice is steadily rising. A small crowd of people have started to stop and point at the scene. "Who do you think you are? You scared your mother half to death! And not to mention, the cost of all the damages to the living room!"

"Dad, I-I..." I can't put the words together. I can see the animalistic glint in his eyes. The same glint that causes him to lose his head. The same glint that causes him to hit my mom, Cindy, and I. The same glint that causes me to want to turn and run.

"Mark?" A voice comes from somewhere behind me. "Mark, are you okay? What's going on?" It's Roger.

My suspicions are confirmed by the way my father glares in the direction of the voice. Suddenly, his hand shoots out and grabs my arm roughly. "Mark, get in the car, you're coming home right now!" He begins to pull me back towards the car.

"Dad!" I squirm desperately, trying to free my arm from his grasp. I succeed, falling to the ground. I stand and steady myself, trying desperetly to run. Before I can, my dad's arms encirle my stomach, pulling me back towards the car. "Dad-fuck-let me go!" I thrash and kick wildly. Then I remember the existence of Roger. "Roger! Shit-Roger! Help me!" I scream as if my life depends on it.

Roger's at my side in three seconds flat. "Mr. Cohen! Mr. Cohen! Please!" he begs desperately. His hands are on my dad's wrists now, trying to break his grip on me. Dad just uses his shoulder and rams sideways into Roger. Roger is sent flying backwards, hitting the ground hard. I hear him grunt in pain. "Shit!" He's back up again though and at my side. "Mr. Cohen!" he's pleading now, trying to pry my father's arms from around my waist. "Mr. Cohen please! You're causing a scene!"

It's true, a large crowd of students have now gathered around us. This doesn't even faze my dad though. He manages to push Roger off again and somewhat sling me over his shoulder. With one hand he opens the passenger door of the car and tries to shove me in. "No! Dad! Let! Go!" I'm kicking and writhing frantically but his grip seems to be made of steel. Roger is here again and he and I are using all of our power to keep my dad from shoving me in the car. We're getting tired though, and I know we're running out of options.

"Hey!" I hear another farmiliar voice in the crowd. "Shit! Mark, Roger hang on!" There's some shuffling and an a near hysterical Tom Collins pushes through the wall of students, followed by a concerned looking Angel. Collins decends upon us. He helps Roger pull on my dad's arms until I can finally feel his grip loosening. His arms are suddenly pulled away and I'm thrown onto the pavement. My head slams into the ground, and the world starts to spin. One of the lenses on my glasses shatters and I feel my nose begin to ooze blood. Angel grabs me up in her arms and pulls me off to the side.

"Mark?" her voice sounds far away. "Mark, you okay honey?"

I can vaguely make out a car engine rumbling and I see the shiny Toyota speed away. I'm being picked up and carried somewhere else. Next thing I know the soft leather of Collins' car seats are beneath me.

"Mark?" Someone takes my hand. The farmiliar callouses tell me that it's Roger. "Mark, we're taking you back to the loft. Stay with me okay?"

"M'kay Roger," I whisper. My head is pounding and my vision is incredibly blurry. All of a sudden I panick because I can't see him anymore. "Roger? Are you still there? Roger don't leave me!"

I feel Roger's hand on my face. There's hot breath on my forehead. Suddenly Roger's lips press into my temple. They travel from my temple and rest instead by my ear. He whispers so that Collins and Angel can't hear, "I'm still here. Don't worry. I got you baby, Roger's got you. I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Marky."

That's the last thing I hear before I black out.

SPPPPEEEAAAK! The answering machine cuts through my deep sleep. My head is still throbbing so I can't even open my eyes and look around.

My mother's voice echos around the apartment, worsening my headache. "Mark? Why aren't you answering? I heard what happened at school today. Mark, darling are you alright? Please call me honey. We're so worried!" She continues to ramble on but there's no way I could ever get myself up to the phone right now.

I hear a door close and some footsteps come down the hallway. My mother's voice is cut off. "Hello?" a gruff voice says.

"Mark?" I can hear my mom from the other end of the line.

"No, Mrs. Cohen, this is Roger. Roger Davis. You know Mark's friend, and Collins' roommate?" Roger answers. He sounds tired and I wonder how long I've been out.

"Oh." My mom sounds a bit disapointed. "Is Mark there? Is he okay?"

"He's gonna be fine ma'am, we're taking good care of him. He's not seriously hurt, just a black eye, broken glasses, and a ton of scrapes and bruises."

"Can I talk to him?"

"He's sleeping right now." I can feel his eyes on me.

"Well, alright. But please tell him to call as soon as he's up."

"I will Mrs. Cohen."

"Roger?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"T-thank you. And tell Collins and the rest of your friends that too." The phone line clicks off.

Roger hangs the phone back up. There's more foot steps and the weight of someone sitting down on the couch, near my head. Roger's hand begins to stroke my hair. I decide it's a good time for me to wake up. I stir lightly, pretending to wake from my slumber. Roger pulls his hand away from my hair.

"Mark?" he asks.

I open my eyes and find him leaning over me. My vision has gotten better now, except for the fact that one eye is swollen and has a cracked glasses lens above it. I'll need to get new glasses. "Hey, Rog." I smile up at him.

"Shit, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay I was awake anyways." I try to sit up and Roger cringes.

"Be careful," he warns. I keep going anyway, ignoring his overprotective motherly nature. "How you feeling?"

"Better..." I'm fully in a sitting position now. "How long have I been out?"

"Well school ended at 3:00 and its 11:30 pm right now," he looks at me. "You do the math."

We sit in silence for a few more moments. I start to get scared. All I can think about is what happened after I blacked out. "Roger? Do you know what happened to my dad...after the..." my voice trails off.

Roger bites his lip. "No. When Angel got you away from him, it kinda started to sink in I guess and he just bolted. He got in his car and drove away."

"Shit." That's all I say. My head is swimming. What if he went home and hurt Mom? Or Cindy? What if he just left them and never goes back?

"Mark...is he...typically like that?" I look up at Roger. His eyes are filled with worry.

"Well," I start. "Only when he get's really mad about stuff. I mean, you saw how he acted when he walked in on us all hungover. He's been like that ever since I can remember." I feel the tears start to build behind my eyes. Images of him hitting mom, of little Cindy's bruised face, start to enter my head.

Roger reaches out his arms invitingly. I crawl into them, as he pulls me into him. The tears can't be with-held any more, I bury my head in the crook of his neck and just let it all out. He rubs my back in small circles. "Shh, Marky," he cooes in my ear. "It's okay. I've got you baby, Roger's got you."

I've got you baby, Roger's got you. That rings a bell but I'm not entirely sure why. I put it out of my mind and continue to sob into Roger's shoulder for what seems like forever. Finally, when all my tears are spent I go still and just let him hold me. The feeling of being wrapped in his arms is so comforting and relaxing. I breath in deeply and take in his wonderful smell.

"Ehhem!" Someone clears their thoat roughly behind us. We pull apart and turn to face a smirking Collins in the hallway. "Sorry boys, am I interrupting something?"

"N-no," I stutter blushing like a tomato. "We were just talking."

"I can see that," Collins muses. He comes over and sits between us. "Nice to see you're alive," he pokes me in the side.

"Shut up." I poke Collins back.

"Well, I'm sorry, there was a while there when we seriously thought you were never gonna wake up." I can tell he's only somewhat kidding.

Roger stands up suddenly and distractedly. "I need a drink," he mutters. But he completely walks past the kitchen and down the hall instead. His bedroom door slams and a few seconds later I hear his beautiful song drifting down the corridor.

Collins sighs. "He was really worried about you Mark. You had him really scared for a while, although he would never dare show it." He looks me in the eyes. "You know you really do mean the world to him."

That's when it all comes back to me. I can vaguely make out a car engine rumbling and I see the shiny Toyota speed away. I'm being picked up and carried somewhere else. Next thing I know the soft leather of Collins' car seats are beneath me.

"Mark?" Someone takes my hand. The farmiliar callouses tell me that it's Roger. "Mark, we're taking you back to the loft. Stay with me okay?"

"M'kay Roger," I whisper. My head is pounding and my vision is incredibly blurry. All of a sudden I panic because I can't see him anymore. "Roger? Are you still there? Roger don't leave me!"

"Mark?" Collins snaps me back to reality. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," I stammer. My mind is still racing. R-Roger loves me? I can't process it. Still I find myself saying, "You know what Collins? He means the world to me too."

Hope you liked it!The next chapter is gonna be some turkey lovin' (Thanksgiving!). R&R please! XD