Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Jonathan Larson does. I'm just some obsessive fan..
Ch 2: I'm Working On It
Roger collapsed on the couch after practically forcing Mark to go to bed, promising that they'd spend the say together tomorrow.
"How the hell could I have forgotten his birthday?" Roger muttered, putting his hands over his face. He knew why, ever since he and Mimi had gotten back together he had been spending most of his time with her, or he had been practicing with his band. A small thought bugged him from the back of his mind. You've been avoiding him on purpose. Roger pushed that out of his mind as quickly as it had entered, not wanting to believe it. Instead, he started worrying about Mark. But what if I hadn't come down here tonight? Roger wondered. Would Mark have… have done something? He couldn't even bring himself to think the words. If Mark ever hurt himself Roger knew he'd be to blame. And yet, after the crappy way he'd treated him, Mark forgave him. Standing up, Roger decided that he had to make more time for his best friend; that decided he went back to Mimi's.
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Roger woke up early the next morning, waking Mimi to remind her he'd be gone for a while.
"I can remember what you told me last night, Roger," she rolled over, cranky because he'd woken her. "Tell Mark I'm sorry too," she said through a sleep filled voice.
"See you later," Roger said, kissing her on the cheek as she fell back asleep.
Upstairs in his and Mark's loft Roger glanced in Mark's bedroom to make sure he was still sleeping. Mark was sprawled out on his back, the covers were thrown off of him, and his shirt was all twisted, exposing some of his stomach. Roger quietly approached the bed and covered Mark, it was cold in there since they still didn't have heat. He looks cute when he's sleeping, Roger thought, resisting the urge to ruffle the sleeping man's hair. He stepped back quickly, knocking into the night table with a crash, realizing what he had just thought. The sudden noise caused Mark to stir and Roger hurried out of the room. It would be really weird if he woke up and saw me standing over him. Roger decided to try to make his friend breakfast, unfortunately he never had much experience in the kitchen.
"What should I make?" the songwriter started talking to himself. He spotted the coffee maker, it shined at him menacingly. "Think, you've seen Mark do this hundreds of times. Let's see, I need to put water in… here… and coffee… here!" Roger smiled, pretty sure he was right; he dumped some of each in their respective places, not bothering to measure. "Okay, coffee's set. Do we have any cereal?" he dug through the cabinets and found a box of Captain Crunch. He poured some of the cereal into two bowls and placed them on the table. "Not to shabby of a breakfast." Roger admired his handiwork before sitting down with his guitar and strumming quietly. Soon the smell of coffee greated him and he could hear Mark moving in his room. Roger looked up at Mark entered, all squinty-eyed and tugging his shirt down.
"Good morning Roge," Mark said, stilling squinting in the bright light. "Did you make coffee?" He sat down at the table in front of a cereal bowl as Roger served him a cup of coffee and poured milk in both bowls of cereal. "I could get used to this," Mark joked, taking a sip of the coffee.
"Does it taste okay?" Roger asked.
"The coffee? Yeah. Why? Is there some reason it shouldn't?" Mark eyed the coffee in his mug.
"No, it's just that it's my first time making coffee," he explained, sending the coffee maker a mental 'hah.'
Mark smiled. "What do you want to do today?"
"It's up to you. I'm trying to make things up to you, remember?"
"Anything I want, huh?" Mark said, finishing his breakfast and getting up. He put his dishes in the sink. "I'm gonna go get dressed.
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In his room, Mark dug around for some semi-clean clothes. Maybe it'll be like old times again. He was remembering how he and Roger used to hang out- before April and the AIDS, back when they were still in high school and when they both had left home to come and live in New York City... Mark hurriedly got dressed, realizing he was taking a while.
"Have you decided where we're going?" Roger asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
"Yeah," Mark said looking at Roger, surprised by the color of his eyes. They seemed to have transformed from a dull grey to a sparkling blue.
"Well?" Roger looked at his friend questioningly.
Great, now I've forgotten what I was saying, Mark scolded himself. He looked away, pretending to be searching for something in his coat pockets. "Uhm…"
"Did you forget where you wanted to go?" Roger laughed.
"No," Mark turned back, avoiding Roger's eyes. "I heard about this free independent film festival that's being held on tenth street. I kinda wanted to check it out." Mark mumbled, pretty sure Roger wouldn't be too thrilled about the idea.
"Okay, great!" his friend surprised him.
"Really?" Mark couldn't keep his mouth from dropping open.
"Come on, let's go," Roger said. This means a lot to Mark, I won't complain. After all, how many of my band's gigs has he sat through?
(What? That's it? No, no silly… next chapter please…)