Yesterday my mom got the RENT book from the library, and I have to say that Adam Pascal looks goooood! It was also really interesting to read the entire play and see the things they took out of the movie. Plus it gave me a couple new ideas to fit in here…so enjoy the next chapter!

---------------------------------

Roger's POV (a week later)

Mark and I have been alone in the apartment everyday this week. It seems everyone else has dropped off the face of the planet. Not that I mind.

We've talked ourselves dry. Politics, religion, music, movies, television, food, people, everything is a worn out topic by now. But unlike last time, there was no touching of bodies, skin or breath. He doesn't want me near him, so I'm staying away. Occasionally he'll stick his camera in my face, smiling giddily behind it. I wink and smile smoothly before pushing it away. Might as well give him something to work with for now. I know he's an artist, a better one than me at that. He doesn't leave his camera for eight months without touching it.

Every time I see Mark's face I light up, he breathes life into me. I zone out too often with thoughts of him in my head. I need something to distract me. Something to get my mind off Mark. Sometimes I think kissing him once would give me what I need, but then I know I would need more.

I see his eyes open wide when I come out with just a towel on, hoping he's thinking what I'm thinking. All I do is go to my room as fast as I can. All I have is myself. My own imagination, my own body, my own thoughts to work with. I have to imagine how Mark feels, how he smells, how he kisses. To me, Mark would have soft lips, able to run over my chest as his hands comb through my hair. Sadly, all of this must stay in my head.

"Mark, I'm going to take a shower." I shut the door behind me, pulling my towel off the back of it. My clothes slip off my body as the hot water drips rapidly out of the showerhead. Before I know it, my jeans and sweatshirt are in a heap on the floor. The curtain of the bathtub is green, an unusual color, and I don't think it's been washed in a couple years. For all I know the green might be all the mold that's built up on it. Now that thought is in my head, I refuse to touch it. My leg slides around it, and into the accumulating puddle on the floor. I let my hair collect water and rub the rest all over my body. Reaching up I notice my shampoo isn't there. Fuck. Where the hell could it be? Determined to get clean, I grasp my towel and quickly wrap it around my waist before heading out of the door. The cold hits me like a sheet, and goose bumps appear like they were there the whole time.

"Mark, holy shit, it's cold! Mark! Where is my shampoo?" I grab my arms and shiver, when I see him coming from his room. He's looking at the floor, and I'm glad. I should have thought before coming out in a towel. But who takes my shampoo out of the shower?

"I have no idea, why do you think I know? I use my…" His eyes stop on me. Water is dripping down my body, and the towel is slowly slipping off of me. These damn things never stay on.

"Huh?" I know why he stopped talking, but I pretend not to notice he's staring. "Mark, come on, I'm freezing my ass off!"

"Sorry!" His eyes snap back to my face. "I think Maureen might have taken it. I have no clue why she would have, but it's possible."

"Well…now I don't have shampoo."

"I can tell. Aren't you cold?"

"Just a little, yea." I shrug and walk across the room to peek around the corner to the kitchen counter. Nothing is there. No shampoo. Shit!

"Roger! You're getting water all over the place! Get back in the bathroom!" He points to the door, and I realize I've made a puddle in the living room.

"No, I'll help you clean it up. We need another towel."

"I don't think we have one." He sighs, and looks up at me. We stare down at the towel around me.

"Well, I'm not taking it off! It's just gonna have to wait."

"Yea." He looks down at the growing water spot and stands up. "Go take your shower. Stop dripping!"

"Ugh, fine!" I whip the towel off of me and flip it onto the ground. My foot wipes it along the ground and I try frantically not to look at Mark. I'm hoping he's turned away, not looking at my naked, wet body, but I doubt it very much.

"Roger…I…" He stumbles over every syllable, and I shut my eyes in regret. I clean up the rest of the puddle and slowly stand up.

"What?"

"You…didn't have to." He smiles through his beat red face, and I laugh as my body begs to touch him.

"Oh well. It's cleaned up." I return the towel to my body again, covering up the part of me he's tried not to stare at. "Happy?"

"Not now."

"Wh…oh." I look down at my chest. "Mark, I don't think…you said I'd fuck you up."

"Well, that was when…I mean now, you're clean and…" He scoots closer to me, and his hand reaches cautiously for my body.

"I haven't taken a shower yet, I'm not…"

"I meant the drugs, Rog."

"Ohh." My eyes close in ecstasy as his hand makes contact with my skin, smoothly moving up my neck and onto my cheek. His body moves into mine, I feel the warmth of his chest against mine, as his fingers skim over my lips. One slips into my mouth, and touches my teeth and my tongue caresses it. "Mark, kiss me, please."

"You want…" I grasp the back of his neck, pulling it to me, joining our faces and lips together. I never want to leave his arms. My top lip rests in his mouth, hugging his bottom lip. His hands move down my body, tugging on the towel that hangs on my hips. "Roger…" He moans, and I drown, lost in his kiss. This moment I've been waiting so long for.

"Take it off, pull." I say, and he complies quickly, ripping the fabric off of me. My body pushes him into the wall, pinning him between my skin and the wooden board. Hands, fingers, lips, noses, everything moves too fast. He's touching me everywhere, every inch, and I feel him all over me. I begin to lift off his shirt, and he breaks our kiss, saliva rasping, to help me.

Our skin together is sensational, I can feel his heart pounding heavily against me. Our lips separate, and I gasp hard, wanting more than I knew I would get.

"Take them off." I command, I'm quite bossy, but he doesn't protest. He slips his pants down around his ankles and I lift his body up to press him harder into me. My tongue unhitches from his and rolls down his body, letting him slowly slide down the wall, to his feet.

Lips make contact with the tip, and he gasps. I never thought it would go this far, and I don't think either of us is very practical at the moment. I knew if he wasn't so out of it, he would tell me to stop. Leave me restless and in need. But he's in the moment too. He wants it as much as I do.

His hands feel my hair and dig roughly into my scalp. Mine massage his thighs, trying to calm him so he'll last.

"Roger…I…Rog!" I take my tongue off of him, long enough to press my lips against his and thrust him onto my bed in the other room.

"Wait…" We keep eye level, and my hands do all the work now. He groans in pleasure, grasping onto my thigh. I use my free hand to entwine our fingers and moan with him. Our tongues tangle together, but I need air. I lean my cheek on his, moving my hand at an increasing speed. "Touch me…" I manage to breath, and his hand immediately moves to my ass, then around to the other side. "Mark! Mar…" I don't last long, the sound of his moaning is more enjoyable than his hands on me.

He follows soon after, and we lay in my bed, breathless and satisfied.

"Roger…I…I've wanted that for so long." He smoothes the hair out of my face and brushes his lips on mine.

"Really? I thought…"

"I don't know why I stopped you. It ached inside to see you looking so hurt when I rejected you. I didn't mean to…" I put my lip to his, but without a kiss.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Me too." His eyes droop shut, and before long he is sleeping next to me, pressed against my lips. I pull his body into me, feeling his breathing become steady.

-------------------------------------------

I'm walking down a white hall, I see April at the end. She's beautiful, just like she always was. She smiles, motioning for me to join her. I begin to walk towards the white light when I hear a voice come from behind me.

"ROGER! DON'T!" I spin myself around and see Mark's face, but he looks hurt and sad, tears running down his cheeks. I'm in the middle….who….I don't…I start to sweat, and I can't see….

"Mark? April…I don't…."

"Roger? Roger? Rog, are you okay?" My eyes snap open and I'm covered in sweat. My body has no control over the shaking and breathing. It's like a panic attack, but worse. I hear Mark but I don't see him. The world is spinning. "Roger…I'm here." Mark is beside me, blankets cover him, and me. I sigh in relief.

"Mark…you were dying…April…I don't know.."

"Shhh….I'm here now. Calm down." He pulls me into his arms, cradling me while whispering sweet nothings into my ear. "Don't cry." I see tears fall onto my pillow from my face. "It's okay."

"Mark." I hug him tightly, in fear of what would happen if I let go. He's so warm, so safe, so loving. "Mark, don't leave me."

"What? Never."

"You…oh, Mark."

"I promise. Never." He stares into my eyes and gently kisses me. I can feel my tears rubbing onto his face, and my body shaking beneath him.

"Love you Mark." I whisper, tears spraying out of my eyes and into the blanket over his body.

"I've always loved you Roger." I smile and sob. He's finally mine.

-------------------------------

Note: This isn't the last chapter, although it may seem like it. Still no muffin but I swear it will come back! Now, we introduce Mimi eventually and I love Mimi, but you know, this is Mark and Roger. Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming!