So I have a confession to make...I actually had this chapter finished...about four days ago (the day after I last updated...) but I put off posting it...because I was busy, and I wanted more reviews hehehe...and also because I kinda wanted to make people wait...mwahahaha. :P

Its still a pretty fast update for me, though, so don't hate ;o

Don't own RENT. The End.

Make-up and Highnights

Reye giggled quietly as she slid lipstick over a full lower lip. She admired her handiwork, making one last stroke over a now perfectly painted ruby mouth. The eyeshadow was a touch too blue for her liking, but it worked well enough for the occasion. At the sound of the front door opening, she quickly scrambled to her feet and disapeared from her spot beside the couch.

Marshall walked into the apartment, setting his camerabag down on the table. "Honey, I'm home." he called jokingly.

Mark woke up at the voice, yawning as he got up to greet his boyfriend. "Hey Marsh." he murmured sleepily.

Marshall took one look at him before bursting into laughter. "Aw, babes, you got all dolled up for me! I'm touched."

Mark frowned in confusion. "Dolled up?" he echoed. It was then that Mark heard Reye's badly stifled laughter from her hiding place in the hallway. "Reye! What did you do?" he cried, rushing over to the bathroom. He gaped for a moment at the image of himself before chuckling himself. He went to turn on the faucet when a hand stayed his arm.

"Leave it...you look kinda hot like that." Marshall teased.

Mark laughed. "Well, aren't you kinky."

Marshall tugged Mark close, running his thumb over a red bottom lip. "Mmm, you have no idea, babes." he breathed, leaning in for a kiss, quickly deepening it as he slid a strong hand to the back of Mark's head. They parted several moments later, Marshall's lips now as red as Mark's.

Reye laughed loudly, her face partially obstructed by Mark's camera in her hands. Mark pulled away to swat at her playfully.

"Oh, you're so funny, aren't you, Miss Reye? You just wait until you fall asleep. You may just wake up with a shaved head some day."

Reye laughed., dodging away from Mark. "Oh like you would, Sweettooth...actually, that's an interesting idea...I bet I could pull off a bald head..." she mused.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Teenagers."

They all laughed for a few minutes before Marshall pulled Mark back in for another lipsticky kiss. "You want to go to an art show downtown? It starts in about an hour."

Mark smiled. "Sure...do we know the artist?"

"Canvas' older sister. It should be good. And hey, you don't even have to wash your face if you don't want to. You do look so purdy after all." he teased.

Mark swatted him.

LINELINELINELINELINELINELINE

Mark sighed as he walked into the loft. It was a little after two am, and he had basically only come home to sleep. It'd been three weeks since he had confronted Roger, and not much had changed between them. He never did move out. He'd thought about it a few more times, but he found himself never actually making any effort to. Instead, he'd started spending more time with Reye and Marshall, not just at the cafe and going out, but also just staying at their apartment for hours on end. He always left for the night though.

He'd also found good friends in Tyler and Gina. Tyler was an intense history buff with a love of conspiracy theories, and Mark found himself never bored by his ranting about scandals throughout US history. His girlfriend, Lillia, was pretty cool, too. She was kind of quiet, but when she did speak, she was very insightful and surprisingly and, usually bitingly, witty.

Gina was, Mark was convinced, at least partially insane. She pulled Mark, and sometimes others with them, along on her crazy adventures, and although always initially reluctant, he could never deny that he had fun. She made great footage, too. There was the day that they tried to commit minor crimes while holding clipboards (Gina's theory was that if you held a clipboard, you looked official and therefore people would assume you were doing what you were supposed to...they had gotten away with stealing/defacing some government property) and he had a whole reel of them making graffiti on public buildings using their genitals as paintbrushes (Gina had gotten into this a lot more than Mark, and her boob prints were seen all along Alphabet City that week).

If Mark had to overlook certain habits that they had (Tyler was hopelessly addicted to heroin and Gina was a recreational user of ecstasy, acid, and even crack on occassions), he only counted himself lucky that they spent a few lucid moments with him.

He'd caught Reye using three times so far. Twice were at parties, and he'd overlooked those because he was beginning to understand that it was rather usual for her to chase at these parties. The second time, Marshall and he had come back to the apartment to find her doped up on the couch, syringe still next to her arm. He'd went through waves of fury and near-crying that day...but in the end, Marshall had talked him down and he let it go. He'd tried talking to both of them again, once or twice, to Reye about quitting and to Marshall about him being an enabler...it hadn't made any difference and he found himself resigning to it. She wasn't addicted, after all, and she was smarter than she acted. The best he could do is make himself available when she would need him.

Roger wasn't anywhere around when he came into the loft. He momentarily assumed that he was sleeping before he remembered that he had a gig that night. He wasn't particularly tired, so he pulled the baggie that Marshall had given him out of his pocket, and inexpertly rolled a thin joint. Lounging back on the couch, he smoked lazily for a few moments before he heard the door open.

He didn't bother looking up until he saw the shadow over him.

"Ya know, its unhealthy to smoke alone." Roger's voice came down at him.

Mark looked up. "How so?"

Roger shrugged. "Sharing makes the world better?" he tried, snatching the joint out of Mark's hand and crashing down on the couch next to him, a light smirk dancing on his lips.

Mark shifted to make room, and watched Roger hold in the smoke for a moment. Slowly exhaling, he handed the joint back over to Mark.

"There was a crazy chick at the bar tonight. Climbed up on stage and tried to give Gerry- you know Gerry right?, the new drummer- a blow job while we were playing." he laughed softly as he took the joint back. "We had to get the bouncers to pull her off stage...sure bummed Gerry out when we did." he took a long drag, holding it in.

Mark chuckled. "Thats insane. How drunk was she?" a part of him realized that Roger was being unusually nice...but his weed addled mind didn't even question it. He felt too good.

Roger laughed, smoke streaming out of his mouth and nose. He handed back the joint, and coughed a bit before speaking. "Surprisingly, not that drunk. I mean, she could walk and all...I think she was just fuckin' nuts." They both laughed a little, before they lapsed into a comfortable silence as they finished off the blunt.

"I miss this." Mark said after a long moment. Roger looked at him in a silent question, and Mark gestured between them, momentarily forgetting what he had meant to say and gesturing for much longer than necessary. "This...us...just sitting here...Remember when you, me and Collins used to just smoke and chill for hours? ...That was fun..." he trailed off.

Roger was silent for a moment. "Man, this shit ain't bad, Marky. I'm already high as fuck...Nice job." Roger complimented as he stood up, not responding to Mark's mini rant. The room spun a little as he started heading over to his room. "I'm going to bed, fuckin' tired as hell...'Night."

"Night Rog." Mark mumbled, before curling up on the couch and falling asleep right there.

LINELINELINE

The next day, Mark was a little surprised at Roger's temper, and that his good mood hadn't stretched until morning. He finally shrugged it off, deciding to take the memory as what it was: just a good night.

LINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINE

Sorry, another short chapter...The next chapter though, is going to lead into much more eventful stuff...its actually almost completely done (it has been for...like 5 months, I've just been waiting for the story to progress enough for me to upload it)...unfortunately, its on my flashdrive...which I can't find right now...so who knows when I'll update again. ...I really, really, REALLY do not want to rewrite it...mainly because I don't remember it completely...and things are never as good as originally when I rewrite them from scratch...however, if a couple months go by, and I still can't find the blasted thing, I will rewrite it. Thanks for the great reviews, and I'd love to see some more ;)