A/N: I'm starting this chapter Monday Night. It's quite possible I will not finish it until Thursday when finals are over. Oh, shout out to me buddy and new RENT-head companion! KitKat: Hey, Benny! (loads gun) I've got a present for you! Benny: What? –BOOM!- KitKat: -'Spanglish' accent- Go see Akita en doggy HELL! Kiwi: -cracking up- KitKat: Well, he is a bitch.

Note – This is musical based. So Mark doesn't accept his job for Buzzline until Halloween in the musical. Which I like better. So nyeah. :P

.-.-.

A Thing Like Life – Chapter Six

There is a soft knocking that seems to wake both of us up from the stunned silence. I stand up suddenly, having been crouched on the floor in silence for who knows how long, going over to my bedroom door and opening it up a crack. A concerned Mimi peeks through the sliver. "Are you two OK in there?"

I blink a few times. "Yeah. Sure." I say over my shoulder, nonchalantly, emotionless, "Rog, it's Mimi."

The springs on my bed squeal as Roger stands up and walks over next to me, opening the door a little wider. "Hey, Meems."

Mimi looks a little less concerned at the sight of Roger as she smiles slightly. I chance a sideways glance in his direction. His expression is utterly unreadable. I can't tell if he's angry, annoyed, scared, wanting to break down completely in Mimi's arms...he isn't showing anything, not even in his steady voice.

I step aside, removing any obstacle Roger had in getting to Mimi. "You go on out."

Roger looks at me for the first time since we started watching the film. His eyes are cloudy, and I still can't tell what he's thinking. That concerns me; even though he's always hid his feelings like this since I met him, it's not often I can't tell what he's thinking or feeling. Does it matter, though? What is there to even comment on after seeing that, old wounds opened up in our hearts we thought we had healed? His voice is still steady though. "Yeah, sure. I'll...be back later." He turns away from me, sensing that if I looked at him a moment longer I would penetrate through his shield he has placed around him to keep me out, though why he put such a wall up I'm not sure...He puts an arm around Mimi's waist, leading her towards the door out of the loft. Mimi gives a quick and confused look over her shoulder at me just before she and Roger disappear around the corner and Roger pulls the door shut behind him.

I sigh, shutting my own bedroom door, crouching back down on the floor, looking through the canisters of film I have left. I find the next canister due to be watched, and find it labeled 5/19/90. I give a sigh of relief. Maybe I should watch this while Roger's gone.

I pull the canister out of the box, changing the film in the projector, replacing the footage from April Fools with the new roll, hoping that my memory is serving me well in telling me I might be getting a break...I hope...

.-.-.

"May Nineteenth, 10 PM, Eastern Daylight Time. At the Life Café. I have invited many people to dinner, and currently it's only Roger and me waiting."

"You know, technically it's 'Roger and I'." Roger smirked at me slightly from across the table.

I rolled my eyes at him from behind my camera. "Since when did you become my English teacher?"

"Like that guy, what's-his-name, Professor Kroppe, who flunked you out of English your senior year?" Roger smirked.

I glared at Roger, and then turned away, muttering to myself about how I hated it when he came to my old house when we first met and he talked to my mother and she told him all those stupid stories. I began filming the entrance to the Life Café, knowing that some of the others would be coming soon.

Finally, the first person to arrive. "Enter Ms. Maureen Johnson, drama queen extraordinaire!"

Maureen smiled at me, one of her eyebrows quirked at an odd angle. "What the hell is this, Mark? Why did you and Collins invite all of us here?"

Roger looked at me suspiciously. "Who is 'all of us'?"

I gave Maureen a very nasty look, and then turned the camera to face my suspicious roommate. "I just invited some of the guys..."

Nothing got past Roger. Later I got quite angry at Maureen for messing it all up. "Oh, I get it. You're trying to –"

"Yes, I am, OK?" I grabbed his hand as he angrily stood up, pulling him back down. "Because...just because. Just stay." Because I'm tired of you and Mimi and Joanne and Maureen always fighting. Angel is sick, and I don't want her last memories of us to be...

I pushed those thoughts out of my head, knowing I didn't want to think about Angel right now. She had been getting sick since about March, only now Collins had taken her to the hospital. I was worried about her.

I heard the door open again, and I quickly turned my camera to the newcomer, eager to have something to do. "Collins! The next to arrive."

Collins smiled weakly as he took a seat next to me. I could tell something was wrong, but, since I already knew exactly what was wrong, I didn't ask. "Hey, Marky." He ruffled my hair like I was his little brother. I rolled my eyes, straightening out my hair a little bit with my free hand, still filming Collins. I could feel Roger's hard stare boring into the back of my head, and I knew he was mad at me for bringing him here.

I heard the bell of the door ring, and my camera snapped to the door immediately, knowing only two remained, and that sparks would fly the second one of them showed up.

Joanne froze in the doorway, seeing Maureen immediately. She looked at Collins harshly. "Collins, you didn't tell me -"

"HEY, Joanne!" I leapt up immediately, saving Collins at the last minute, filming her. "I heard you got a new client, right?'

Joanne nodded. "Yeah." She gave a sideways glance at Maureen, who was sitting on Roger's other side, and instead chose a seat directly across from me. I didn't let my disappointment that she didn't even try to reconcile with Maureen show as she continued talking to me. "Have you accepted that job from Buzzline?"

I started. "Are you serious? And sell my soul like that?" I heard a soft scoff from Roger from beside me, and I was about to glance at him to see what was up with him when I heard the bell of the door.

I turned my camera to face Mimi, and saw her shivering insanely. In the middle of May. It wasn't even cold outside...

Oh God...she didn't...

I heard the chair behind me scrape against the floor, just as Mimi fell to the ground suddenly amid gasps from Maureen and Joanne. Roger was at her side immediately, all thoughts of anger abandoned. My heart leapt, imagining the worst...

"Mimi, are you all right?" Roger sounded so worried...My camera kept filming as I watched my best friend hold Mimi so closely, watching them...

"R-r-roger? Is that y-you?" Mimi was shaking violently. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was wrong with her. I had seen it so many times with Roger, when he was so depended on things he shouldn't have been...

"Yes, Mimi...honey, I'm sorry..." Roger was shaking too, holding her so closely I didn't see how Mimi could breathe.

Mimi's shaking voice rattled out, weak and scared. "Roger...I feel sick..."

Roger had lifted her up almost immediately and began carrying her to the back where the bathrooms were. He didn't even glance at me and my camera, but I saw the look of fear in his eyes. For a moment I worried about Mimi, but I immediately told myself she would be fine. Roger was with her, and he would help her through it.

I turned back to the others. I blinked a few times. Maureen and Joanne were holding each other tightly, watching Roger. Only after Roger had disappeared did they realize what they were doing. They looked at each other for a moment, but neither pulled apart. On the contrary, they were suddenly trapped in an intense kiss that made me blush just watching them. I sat back down, glancing at Collins next to me. He still looked concerned. "What's wrong, Collins?"

Collins sighed, long and loud. "I just...it's not over. Between any of them. Roger is going to be suspicious...and those two won't last long..."

I blushed a little more, as I felt the table shake slightly as the two lesbians began making out on the table. "I hope it doesn't last much longer, or the waiter will kick us out."

Collins rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean." He turned away from me, and I knew that he wasn't done.

I tapped him on the shoulder, and he faced me again. I spoke, a little unsure of myself. "Um, Collins...is everything...I mean, is it all...?"

"Angel's not getting better, if that's what you wanted to know."

I turned away from Collins almost immediately, avoiding looking at Maureen and Joanne. After a long sigh, I turned off my camera.

"Mark? You in there?"

I stand up, going up to the projector, switching it off. "Yeah, Rog. Where did you two go?"

"Just got some tea and came back." Roger opened my bedroom door a small bit, leaning into my room and watching me as I took the film I had in there out.

"Cool." I put the film away, back into the box. Should I be happy I had just seen my friends all reunited? I should be. They had all come back together, all because of an idea of Angel's for me and Collins to invite everybody to the Life Café and have everybody make up. It had worked, hadn't it? ...Everybody had eventually broken up again. Had we only built up their happiness so that it would hurt more later on? The higher you raise them up, the harder they fall...

"Mark, you look...weird. What's up?"

I look up, and see (for once) a genuinely interested Roger. Or he is genuinely interested for the time being. "Nothing. Really. I, uh...watched some happy footage for a change."

Roger blinks, not sure what to say. "Uh...that's cool." We both stand there for a moment, neither sure how to continue. Finally, Roger breaks the silence. "Why don't we...just go out and walk? It's the warmest today it's been all winter, you know. You should...take advantage of it..."

I smirk slightly. "Thanks, Rog." I grab my camera bag off of the floor beside my bed, walking out of the door briskly with Roger. "I think I'd like that."