The next day, both Mark and Roger found themselves exhausted from the events of yesterday morning and were startled by the piercing ring of the telephone. Mark blindly reached over Roger and yanked the phone from its cradle, mumbling groggily into the receiver.
"….Hello?", Mark answered, unsure of what time it was, although he really didn't care, since he felt like he'd only slept a matter of minutes, instead of multiple hours.
"Hey…it's Collin's….I'm at the door!", Collins responded, rather cheerfully, not taking notice to Mark's exhausted tone.
"Mm….give me a minute", Mark grumbled, gently shaking Roger awake, and trying to locate a pair of pants at the time, before returning the phone to it's cradle.
Mark stumbled out of bed, and located a pair of khaki colored jeans lying at the top of a heap of random laundry, pulling them on, as he scanned the room for a suitable top. Collins would have expected Mark and Roger to come to the door topless, with ragged pants on, inferring that they'd made use of their dirty thoughts while they were apart from each other, during Roger's overnight gig, but Mark didn't want to give Collins any reason to rag on them, not today, not now. Spotting a sweatshirt nestled in another pile of laundry, Mark pulled it on, smiling softly to himself with the realization that it was another sweatshirt of Roger's. Now appearing decently clothed, Mark returned to the bed for a minute, to see if the rousing of the guitarist had worked. Surprised, the filmmaker looked at a smiling guitarist, lying on his side, facing him, with a slight grin on his face.
"You're dressed", Roger observed.
"That was Collins", Mark answered, nodding at his clothed appearance.
"He's here?", Roger asked, pouting, hoping that Mark's getting dressed, was just a matter of instinct, and that there was no one at the door to be let in, and that Mark could come back to bed, and they could act on the dirty thoughts they'd both had while apart.
"Yeah….but he doesn't have to know….not now….", the filmmaker answered the guitarist reassuringly.
Roger nodded, and grabbed the same t-shirt he'd flung off due to the spike in heat of the loft in the middle of the night, tugging it on again and looking over at Mark. "Let's go".
Mark opened the door of the loft to find an exasperated but observant Collins waiting for him, with two large brown paper bags.
"You're dressed!", Collin's remarked.
"I've heard that one before", Mark scoffed, ushering Collin's inside, and returning to the couch where Roger had sprawled out – now eyeing Collin's cautiously. Collin's placed the bags on the table and opened them slowly, using suspense to his advantage before removing the contents. Collin's picked up a bottle of Stoli with a wide grin, and used his other hand to display it, as would Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune, with the prize someone had one. Roger grinned from the couch, and Mark grinned when he saw Roger's expression, a true grin, even if it was because of alcohol. Placing the bottle of Stoli back on the table, Collin's emptied the other paper bag, which had been filled with multiple powdered sugar donuts.
"I figured you could use these", Collins remarked, laughing. "There's nothing like New York food and drink. So how was the gig?"
Mark reached the donut, handing it to Roger, before reaching for a paper cup and the bottle of Stoli, unsure of how Roger would answer Collin's question.
Roger took a bite of the donut and looked at Collin's nodding. "It was ok…we did our regular set, but then the audience wanted an encore. There were a bunch of screaming fan girls as always.". Collins nodded, with a wide grin "As always", as the filmmaker protectively put one arm around the guitarist, taking the hand that wasn't covered in powdered sugar from the donut, and laced his finger's through the Roger's. Roger smiled at Mark's gestures, truly appreciating them, but his eyes were still clouded with thoughts of Mark's newfound knowledge, and how in turn, it would be better if the rest of them knew at some point.
"How'd you get a cell phone?", Mark asked Collins, honestly curious.
"MIT", Collin's grinned back. "They still love me there".
Roger grinned again, moving closer to Mark, resting his head against Mark's chest.
"I should go…", Collin's smiled, taking the continued affection as a clue to leave. "Maureen's having another performance at the Life Café tonight. Shall I save two seats?".
Mark and Roger both looked at each other, before nodding at Collin's offer.
"Great!", Collin's remarked. "Show's at 7, dinner's at 8. You know where." Collin's then got up from the chair and headed out the door, softly closing it behind him.
The guitarist turned to the filmmaker with a wicked grin. "You've eaten some of my powdered donut, and you have sugar all over your face!". Mark blushed, and continued blushing as the guitarist placed a soft yet desire filled kiss on Mark's lips. "How many hours before we have to head to Maureen's show?", Roger asked, grinning, looking at Mark, extending his hand to Mark's, his eyes gesturing towards the bedroom.