Name: nycRENTgirl

Title: Let's Go Dancing

Disclaimer: I only own them in my dreams... well, only the dirty ones. sigh

Notes: Sorry that the title for this chapter is so weird... oh well. But the length of the chapter makes up for it! Oh, and I promise that they will actually leave the loft in the next chapter! I will update possibly during this week, if not then definitely next weekend (hey, just be glad it's not another four months!). Love you all, whether or not you review!

The Moisturizer Story

By the time Mimi had picked out some clothes for Roger, he was out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"Clothes?" he asked her, shivering in the outside-the-steaming-bathroom air of the loft's living room.

"In the bedroom. I still want an explanation, you know."

"I know, just let me get dressed first."

"Ok."

Roger walked quickly into the bedroom to get dressed, and Mimi sat on the couch, relaxing her somewhat serious face into a mildly amused expression. She had wanted to make Roger a little nervous, since he obviously was embarrassed about being caught moisturizing his legs, but she wasn't disturbed by his behavior at all. Mimi was looking forward to hearing the probably very amusing story behind it, and making Roger nervous about telling her about it was all part of the fun. After all, so little made Roger nervous; the only people he ever got nervous around were Mark and Mimi, and even then it wasn't often. So Mimi exploited every chance she got to make him nervous. Besides, he looked so cute when he was all awkward.

Mimi was brought out of her reverie when the door to the bedroom opened and Roger emerged, dressed in the tight black pants and green t-shirt exactly the color of his eyes that she had picked out for him. He looked at her sheepishly as she quickly put a serious look back on her face.

"Well?" she asked him.

"Well…" he started awkwardly, standing in front of her looking at his shoes.

Mimi patted the couch next to her, and he sat down, still not looking at her.

"Well?" she asked again, looking at Roger expectantly, though still with the serious look on her face. "Do I get an explanation now for why you were moisturizing your legs? As far as I know, that's not something you normally do."

"Well…" Roger began, lifting his head hesitantly to look at Mimi. "I usually don't moisturize at all; it's not really a guy thing, you know?" She nodded, and he continued, "But my first girlfriend used to do it after every shower; not in the summer, but the second the temperature went under 70 degrees she would do it every day. I always wondered what the big deal was, so I asked her about it one day and she just jumped at me and rubbed moisturizer all over my arms.

Roger looked down at the couch again. "The next day, my arms were so soft, and I really liked it. Of course I pretended I thought it was girly, but I just loved the feeling of my skin being so soft.

I didn't think about it again until the next time I had a big gig coming up. I remembered the really nice feeling of it and figured that feeling so nice would give me an extra confidence boost. So the day before the gig, I stole some of my girlfriend's moisturizer and used it on my arms and legs and chest. The next day, I felt so good before the gig that I decided I would use moisturizer before every gig I had. …And I've been doing it ever since."

Roger looked back up at Mimi with a look pleading her not to laugh at him. She had kept her serious face on throughout his story, but it was starting to crack and give way to laughter. She fixed it and thought about what she should say. Roger came off to most people as just the rock star who loved attention and kept his feelings behind this brick wall, but he was surprisingly sweet and insecure about his rock star persona. His insecurities shouldn't have been something to laugh at, but all of his friends who knew them couldn't help but do so: he was insecure about the oddest things, and completely confident about the things they'd thought would make him insecure.

"It's ok, hon—you know I would never laugh at you about something like this," Mimi said soothingly.

"I guess… It's just embarrassing for me; you know?"

"I know, sweetie." They paused, Roger looking much less nervous. Then Mimi thought of something.

"Umm, Roger?"

"Yeah?"

"If you only moisturize before gigs, um… how come you did it tonight?"

"Well—" he stopped. "Don't laugh?"

"Ok."

"It seemed really important to you that we go out dancing, and I wanted to make you happy, especially if we were going to have sex afterwards, so… I thought I'd put moisturizer on so you could feel how soft my skin could be."

"That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Mimi said immediately. She scooted over right next to him on the couch and gave him a big hug, resting her head on his chest. He hugged her back, and they stayed there for few minutes.

Mimi eventually half pulled away and asked, "So do you have your own moisturizer by now, or did you use mine?"

"I have some dignity," Roger retorted, immediately shedding the last of his awkwardness. "I have my own. Yours is sparkly, purple, and smells like perfume."

"Hey! Don't be mean about my moisturizer! You like it when I wear it! Besides, it's shimmery, not sparkly, and it smells like jasmine!"

"Oh, sorry!" he responded sarcastically. "I should have known!"

Mimi laughed, her serious face finally dissolving into amusement. "What kind is yours?"

"How should I know? The cheapest the drugstore had that actually worked."

"Exactly how long have you been doing this?"

"Since before I came to New York. Umm… four years?"

"Wow. So you really know your moisturizers by now, don't you?" Mimi laughed again, letting go of Roger and leaning back against the couch.

Roger started to grin, "Oh, absolutely. You know, I think Neutrogena is just overrated, don't you?"

Mimi collapsed in laughter on the couch, making it shake. Looking at her, Roger started laughing too. Mimi kept laughing, occasionally trying to stop, but then looking up at Roger and collapsing into new fits of near-hysterical laughs.

Slowly they both calmed down, with only bursts of giggles here and there.

"Wow, I haven't laughed so much in ages," Roger commented, chuckling again.

"Me neither," Mimi agreed. She reached up a hand to massage her cheeks. "My face hurts from laughing so hard." She giggled again.

Roger sighed, finally getting control of himself. "Ok."

"Ok." Mimi sighed too, a grin still on her face.

"So let's go."

"Huh? Where?"

"Out dancing!"