Author's Note: Just a bit of holiday fluff, since I failed so miserably yesterday.
It's quiet outside, unnaturally calm for the city at night. The back door of the Life Café seems to echo as it clicks shut, and the fresh snow crunches under their feet. Mimi hesitates just a little, and Roger takes her by the hands to pull her out into the moonlight. His hands are rough, she realizes, calloused from his guitar. Somehow she has not noticed this before.
"Mimi…I should tell you, I'm not a nice guy." His voice is low, intimate, though there is no one there to hear them.
"I don't believe you." He starts to let go of her hands, and she laces her fingers with his, holding on. He doesn't fight it.
"I…what?"
"I don't believe you're not a nice guy. Assholes don't admit they're wrong."
Roger starts to smile for just a second, but then his eyes go serious again. "I don't even know what I'm doing out here. Hell, what am I supposed to do with you? I forget how this part of it's supposed to work."
Mimi laughs, a little of the nervous tension draining away as the sound echoes off the walls of the alley. "You think I have any idea? You think I've ever had anything that didn't involve shooting up and fucking ourselves silly the first damn night?"
"Jesus." He just keeps looking at her, a series of emotions she can't quite read playing across his face.
"I left home when I was sixteen." Now that it's started, she can't seem to stop. "I got AIDS from my father, because he…well, he must be dead by now, but I wouldn't know because I haven't been back there since I found out. After that there was no reason not to do anything else, and I didn't even realize I didn't like it until…"
"What?" asks Roger gently. She's surprised he hasn't started to run by now.
"Until I met Angel. And saw you that first time." Roger smiles just a little. "I've been watching you two fucking years, you know? That day I saw you in the stairwell I just figured…what the hell, right?" The snow is starting to melt in her hair, and she realizes they should probably be going back inside. "So?"
For a moment, Roger is completely still. Then, slowly, he leans in and gives her the lightest hint of a kiss. Mimi snakes one hand up to the back of his neck, pulling him down further and smiling against his lips. Because for the first time in a long time, it feels good.