No Day But Today
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
Roger took a deep breath before leading Cindy into Mark's hospital room. He knew he was about to get his ass kicked by Maureen and Joanne, but he didn't really care. Cindy and Mark needed to reconcile before anything else could happen.
"Hey Rog," Mark said. He didn't notice his sister coming in, but Maureen certainly did. She got up and walked over to Roger.
"What the hell are you thinking bringing her here," she hissed, glaring at Cindy.
"Just trust me, Mo," Roger said. He plastered on a smile and walked closer to Mark's bed, leaving Cindy next to the door with Maureen. "I brought someone to see you." Cindy went over to the bed, glad to be out of Maureen's reach.
"Hey little brother," she said, smiling. Mark turned to look out the window.
"Why are you here? Want to accuse me of being a brat in front of all my friends, too?" he asked bitterly. Her smile faded.
"Mark, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you," Cindy said. She sat down on the edge of the bed. "If anything, you should have been saying those things to me." He refused to look at her. "Mark, please. I don't want to fight with you anymore. I'm not going to lose you, too."
"Cindy, don't start with this shit again. Every time we have a fight, you pull this. I'm sick of it, because as soon as I agree to give you another chance, you go back to treating me the exact same way you did before," Mark said. He began coughing violently, causing Maureen to rush to his side.
"Cindy, maybe you should just go," she said, shooting daggers at the other woman. Cindy obliged, and Roger went after her, leaving Maureen with Mark.
"Cindy, I'm sorry," Roger said, stopping her at the end of the hall. "I didn't think he'd take it that bad."
"It wasn't your fault. I knew this was a bad idea before I even started driving down here. Tell Mark I'll send him some money at the beginning of the month," she said, leaving. Roger raked his fingers through his hair and sighed, returning to the room.
"What the hell were you thinking, bringing her here?" Maureen asked as he walked back in. She was still at Mark's side.
"I didn't know things were that bad," Roger replied.
"Cut him some slack, Mo. He didn't know the problems with Cindy," Mark told her. She just shook her head and sighed.
"God, I need a cigarette," she muttered, grabbing her jacket and leaving.
"I really didn't mean to upset you, Mark," Roger said. "What the hell happened to you two? I thought things were okay between the two of you."
"There's just too much in the past, and it really needs to stay there," Mark replied. He closed his eyes. "You should go… Collins said there's a meeting this afternoon. They've missed you." He paused. "We all have." Roger shook his head and sat down in the chair.
"I can't believe myself. I've had my head shoved up my ass the past few months, I guess," Roger said. "It's a shitty two months for me."
"For all of us… we lost Angel, too. And we were there when we almost lost Mimi."
"I guess I haven't been the best friend I'm supposed to be lately, huh?" Roger asked. He took Mark's hand. "I feel bad… it's always left up to you to fix things for the rest of us. None of us ever really thought about what we were doing to you."
Three days later, Roger helped Mark up the stairs to the loft. "God, you've lost weight," Roger muttered. "When was the last time you actually ate a decent meal?"
"Like a week before I left for Scarsdale," Mark replied. Roger could tell he was getting winded.
"That was more than two weeks ago, Mark," Roger said.
"Yeah. I know. And I'm really sick of Cap'n Crunch."
"We'll get Collins to go find something decent to eat for dinner." Roger sighed as they reached the top floor of the building and their loft. "Not much further, man."
"Why couldn't we have rented the first floor apartment?" Mark asked. Roger smiled.
"Because we can't afford it, remember? Just like we can't afford the doctor's bills or the AZT." Before Mark could worry, he added, "But we'll find a way to pay. We always do."
"There's always my camera," he muttered. Roger shook his head.
"No way in hell. I'll beg my mom for money before I'll let you sell that damn thing," Roger replied. Mark shook his head.
"I've got a job, Roger. I don't have time for filmmaking anymore," Mark said.
"You're not going to give up. You were doing so well," Roger said. "Today 4 U was really popular."
"Yeah, because it played three times in a tiny ass theater?" Mark replied.
"It sold out twice." Roger decided to end the conversation, at least until he had Mark in the loft. "We can talk about this later, okay? You need to get some rest."
A/n: I swear, I'm not writing Mark/Roger slash. But they're best friends, and Roger's been so obsessed with helping Mimi stay clean, he hasn't really been paying attention to Mark… no one has.