No Day But Today
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
A/n: Yeah, so Roger has a little bit of my personality in this first part… I had to have a good reason for him to get up, even though he'd worked the night before.
As the alarm droned on like always, Mark forced himself to get out of bed. He put on his glasses and threw a t-shirt on to disguise how thin he really was. The last thing he wanted first thing in the morning was to hear anyone nagging him to eat more. All he could think of was what his mother would say if she could see him. Oh, Marky. No, he wouldn't think about that. He wouldn't let himself get depressed about his mother again. Not now, when things were finally starting to go alright.
"Mark, turn off the fucking alarm!" Roger yelled. The walls in the loft had always been too thin. Mark obliged quickly, before leaving his room and going to the kitchen for breakfast. Thankfully, Roger had taken him seriously and started buying Frosted Flakes instead of Cap'n Crunch. Roger exited his room and walked over, taking the box of cereal and pouring himself a bowl.
"You could have gone back to sleep," Mark said.
"No, I couldn't. Once I'm up, I'm up. That's how it works," Roger replied. They were silent for a few moments as they munched on the Frosted Flakes.
"Collins told me you got a job. That's great," Mark said.
"Yeah, well, AZT doesn't pay for itself. It wasn't fair for me to expect you to pay," Roger replied. "Have you talked to Cindy lately?"
"I'd like to just ignore that subject for a little while longer, okay?"
"Sure. But I am always here, if you need to talk," Roger said. Mark nodded and put down his now-empty bowl.
"Yeah, I know."
Liz looked around her. She hadn't to this part of Alphabet City in years. "Wow. It's so different," she said. "I don't remember any of this."
"Yeah, well, it's home," Mark said, leading her into his building. They silently climbed the five flights of stairs and Mark slid open the door to the loft, only to be confronted by the sight of Roger and Mimi kissing on the couch.
"You know, the two of you have a room for a reason," Mark said, leading Liz into the room.
"But then we wouldn't have the fun of embarrassing you in front of your new friend," Roger said, smiling evilly. Mark just rolled his eyes and picked Roger's shirt up off of the floor and threw it his way.
"Just get dressed," Mark replied.
"Yes, Mom," Roger joked, without thinking. Then he remembered. "Oh fuck. Sorry man."
"Whatever." Mark walked over to the massive windows and ducked out onto the fire escape.
"Good going, ass," Mimi said, pulling away from Roger and following Mark out.
"I guess I've missed something," Liz said, looking out the window at Mimi trying to convince Mark to return to the loft.
"His mom died right before Christmas," Roger said, putting his shirt back on and sighing. "As you can tell, family is a taboo subject for him right now."
"I kind of noticed he never talked about them."
"His sister's the only one left, and they don't exactly talk anymore." Roger turned around and watched Mimi and Mark. "God, I'm such a fucking asshole.
After what seemed like an eternity, Mimi came back in and walked over to Roger. "We should get going. Work, and all," she said. Roger just nodded and followed her out, leaving Liz alone in the apartment with Mark still sitting out on the fire escape. She waited for a moment before going out to talk to him.
"You okay?" she asked. He just nodded and refused to look at her.
"I've had to stop hiding from grief," he said. "It's hard… I've had to deal with three deaths simultaneously. I bottled up everything I felt after Angel died, then I lost both of my parents within a month of each other. I'm just trying to not keep it bottled up any more, you know? I've always had to be the emotionless one, the one who keeps things together for everyone else. I just can't take it any more," he said. Liz silently put her arm around his shoulders.
"If it makes you feel any better, he called himself an asshole," Liz said. Mark smiled.
"Roger can be a little oblivious at times," Mark told her. "He also has a tendency to forget anything important."
"He seems like he means well," she replied.
"He usually does. But he says shit without thinking." Mark turned and looked at her. "But that's saved my ass so many times, I can't imagine not having him for a best friend."