Sorry about the wait...a little less than a month isn't too bad, though? ...Also, sorry that this chapter is quite long...I just couldn't get myself to cut it off anywhere. I had to keep going until it felt finished...and that took a while. Anyways...its a BIG chapter...please let me know what you think...after this, things kinda progress a little faster in the story, plotwise. Keep me informed of your opinions of how things are going! Feedback is very much of the good.

I do not own RENT...nor much of anything, actually...kinda the life of a college student...

Tea, Fights, and Last Resorts

Mark yawned. He hadn't come home from his date with Marshall until late. After the movie, they had gone to a 24 hour diner for too-sweet pastries and horrible coffee. Marshall had wanted him to come over afterwards, but like usual, he had declined. He'd spent a lot of time at their apartment, sure, and had even taken naps there, his head in Marshall's lap or laying on his chest as they split the couch, but he was wary to go at night…at the end of the night, actually. He wasn't sure what Marshall would expect and he didn't want to be a tease when he knew that he just wasn't ready for some things yet.

Even though he had gotten home before three, he hadn't gotten to sleep until almost five. But he was determined to get an early start on his day, so waking up at nine was necessary. He planned to go the café early, and spend a few hours with Reye before going out to the market and getting some much needed groceries. After that, he wanted to make him and Roger some dinner before going out to that party at night…if he still felt up to it. He told Marshall that he would, but it really depended on whether he was still awake by then.

He got ready, and was surprised that Roger still wasn't up. He decided to just leave him be, though, and so bypassed the closed door. He had wanted to let his roommate know that he was dipping into the Floor Stash in order to buy groceries, but he figured he could just let him know when he got home. Sliding the coffee table away, he used a flat end screwdriver to pry open the loose floorboard there. Inside sat a mason jar. Pulling it up, he inspected the contents: it added up to just over twenty-four dollars, most of it in coins.

Mark frowned, thinking that Roger should have had more money than that from bartending last week, before shrugging it off. Roger probably was keeping most of it on him. The Floor Stash was only meant for money that was forfeit to the good of the loft.

He pocketed the twenty-four dollars. It wasn't a lot of money, but Mark didn't have much left in his personal stash, and he tried to keep that for AZT and emergencies. He decided that he would need to see if Collins couldn't 'program' a new ATM for them the next time he came to visit… or he supposed, he could try to get a job, something in the way of a nice, respectable minimum wage career that left his soul clean and hands dirty. Until then, he could make money stretch. He had plenty of practice in that field.

He replaced the floorboard and slid the coffee table back in place. Opting to leave both his camera and bike, he set out to the café on foot.

LINE

He grinned as he opened the second door of he café, his eyes immediately focusing on Reye, sitting on the table, a bag of caramel corn in her lap. She turned to face him and a matching grin quickly crossed her face.

"Sweettooth!"

"Hey Miss Reye." He greeted, going over only to be driven back a step by the force of Reye's body colliding with his and her arms wrapping around him tightly. "I missed you too, Reye." He laughed.

She pulled back, laughter in her eyes. Mark took the moment to inspect her hair better. The layer of faded red-brown was gone, replaced by a solid black that better matched her roots, and she now had thick layers and chunks of two different shades of purple.

"Nice hair…its punky."

She grinned, fingering a strand of plum. "Thanks…I needed a change."

Going over to the counter, she hopped up onto the surface and he took his usual place in the stool by her.

"So…" he began, steadying himself for a very long and enthusiastic conversation, "how was Chicago?"

LINELINELINELINELINELINE

"So...he finally came to his senses; its about damn time."

Mark smiled. "Yeah, I suppose it is. I really don't lnow what's changed...but I think things are going to change for the better...keep getting better...It'll never go back to normal...but that's fine. I don't need normal...just Roger back to being my friend is good enough for me."

Reye grinned. "Well, I'm happy for you...and if things continue to get better, maybe we can all hang out together? ...You can introduce me to him...and introduce him to Marshall, eventually?"

Cold chills went up Mark's spine at these words. He was still anxious of actually telling Roger everything...of letting him meet...his boyfriend...and actually, just letting him meet Reye was iffy. She was an easy enough person to like but she was still, after all, a heroin user. But of course, he couldn't tell Reye that....

He faked a smile. "Yeah...hopefully he and will be getting along well enough for that soon...it would be nice for my two worlds to collide." he said, only partially lying.

She grinned, popping her gum. "Good."

They talked for a while more, until Mark decided that it was getting late and he needed to get to the grocery store.

"Are you going to the party?" Reye asked.

Mark shrugged a little guiltily. "Well...I know I told your brother that I would...but I'm just so beat, I don't think that after everything I'll still be awake enough... Sorry."

She shrugged offhandedly. "Its fine, Sweettooth. I understand. We can always party this weekend."

He smiled and up the souvenir she had gotten him, he left. He still couldn't believe that she had bought him a handpainted tea set from China Town. It was a beautiful set, and so he carried it very carefully down to the market, vowing to drop the eggs before he'd think of dropping this box.

LINELINELINELINELINELINE

"What did you do with it?" Roger screamed.

Mark stared at him blankly. From the moment he had walked in, Roger had started yelling at him, accusing him of taking something.

"Do not play dumb with me, Mark. The money, from the floorstash, where is it?" he yelled.

Then it clicked in Mark's head. "Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you. I took the floormoney and bought groceries. We were completely out of food." he explained, hoping that staying calm would calm down Roger. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"You liar. How could you take my money? You spent it all on yourself, didn't you? You're always wasting our money, that's all you do, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend!" he shouted.

Mark sighed. "Look, you can check if you want, I've got the food and receipt right here. It cost me exactly $23.73. Here's the change." He put the money on the counter.

Roger looked unimpressed. "There's only about eighty cents here."

Mark nodded, not understanding the problem.

"I put more than twenty-four dollars in the floor two days ago, it was more like thirty and some change." he accused.

"There was only twenty-four dollars there this morning." Mark answered calmly.

"You are fucking lying! Where the hell is the rest of the money?" Roger demanded, advancing so he was in Mark's face.

"I told you, there wasn't any more." Mark tried to stay calm and took a few steps back, things got too far out of hand when he lost his temper too.

"So where did it go, Mark? It had to have gone somewhere."

Mark gritted his teeth. "I really don't know. Why don't you keep track of your things?" he snapped.

"That's another thing, who the hell gave you the right to spend my money?" Roger shouted.

Mark finally got mad. He shoved the grocery bags on the counter and rounded to face Roger. "You fucking know very well that any money in the floor is the loft money. If you don't want your money going to groceries or rent, don't put it in the fucking floor-stash." he shouted.

Roger stepped forward, getting right in Mark's face. "If I don't put my money there, we wouldn't have anything. Its not like you ever fucking contribute." he snarled before shoving past Mark and going to the groceries.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Mark demanded, following him to the counter.

Roger laughed harshly. "What the hell do you think I mean? You haven't put any money in the floor for weeks, months even. You don't have a job, you haven't made a decent film since "Today 4 U", you don't contribute anything." At this point Roger looked up, catching Mark's eyes with his cold ones. "You know what, Mark, you are fucking useless. I don't even know why the hell I put up with you. No, let me correct myself, you're not useless, you're worse; you're fucking worthless."

Mark just stared at him. He could hear every breathe from his lungs, feel every heartbeat. A knot formed in the center of his throat, choking him. He wasn't used to this. Roger yelled, screamed, shouted, shoved him, and that stuff he didn't like but he could deal with, it was just anger... His voice hadn't even been angry, it had just been hateful. This... this was cold, calm. This fucking hurt. Roger meant this. He wasn't saying it out of anger, he really meant it. …And he was right. What the hell use was he?

Roger looked back down, getting the groceries out of the bag. "Get out of my face, you're beginning to disgust me." he said dismissively to Mark.

Mark couldn't find anything to say. He didn't understand. This wasn't right...things had been going so well...he'd been so sure that things'd changed...that Roger was finally becoming his old self again...but now...He breathed heavily, he couldn't even find the thoughts...just the pain.

After a moment, he just walked out of the loft, completely numb. He walked around for a while, having no direction in mind. He didn't even feel like going to the cafe, because he knew that Reye would make him tell her all about it, and he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to think about it. He just wanted it all to go away. More than anything, he wanted things to go back to the way they were. He wanted anything but this.

Eventually, having no other place to go, he did end up at the cafe. It was very late somehow, and he wondered for how long he had been walking. Reye was talking to a teenage boy, who was behind the counter. Mark assumed that this was Hector, the kid who worked the night shift. He went in and Reye grinned at him, saying bye to Hector and coming over.

"Heya Sweettooth. Decide to go to the party after all?" Mark looked at her blankly for a second before remembering that Marshall had invited him to a party that night for Reye and her traveling buddies. He'd decided not to go because he'd wanted to sleep...but at the moment, sleep was the farthest thing from his mind.

"Yeah, I'll go." he answered.

Reye's grin grew. "Great. Marshall wouldn't have had any fun if you weren't there." she winked at him before looping her arm around his and pulling him outside and down the sidewalk.

"I am sensing that today hasn't been a great day." she commented as they walked.

Mark laughed shakily. "That could be the understatement of the fucking century." he muttered.

"Wow, that bad, huh? Want to tell me about it?" she asked.

He sighed. "No, not really."

She nodded. "Okay. The party'll cheer you up." she said.

Mark stared at her, surprised. This was the first time she had just let him drop it, the first time she hadn't made him talk about it. Maybe she could hear it in his voice that he really wasn't in the mood to talk this time. They walked the rest of the way to Tank's place in silence.

Reye was greeted enthusiastically, as usual, upon their arrival. Several people greeted him as well. It wasn't always all the same people at these parties, but the bulk was generally the same crowd. He was finally getting to a point where he knew at least half of them.

But for once, he was wishing that he didn't know any of them. He was suddenly regretting coming. He didn't feel comfortable with all these people, all talking, laughing, dancing, having a good time... he didn't fit. All he wanted to do was crawl into his bed and lay there until the world ended. More than anything, he felt a strong urge to get out...to escape, but there was no where he could go where he could escape from his own mind.

Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around his waist. He turned to see Marshall smiling at him. "Hey Babes." he greeted.

Mark smiled slightly, feeling his stomach warm a bit. "Hi Marshall." he answered quietly.

Marshall slid his other arm around Mark's waist and leaning in, kissed him softly and shortly. Mark opened his eyes to see Marshall's warm brown ones starring at him, concerned. "Bad day?" he asked softly.

Mark nodded. Marshall leaned in and kissed him again, longer, but just as gentle. "Any way I can cheer you up?" he asked softly.

Mark shook his head, looking up at Marshall. "I just don't want to think about it." he answered.

Marshall nodded in understanding. "Let's go get a drink."

They went into the kitchen and Marshall snagged a couple beers out of the sink, handing one to Mark. Mark smiled his thank you and drank half of it down in one go.

Right about then, Reye reappeared. She grabbed herself a beer. "Heya boys. Having fun yet?" she asked, taking a drink.

"Would be better if Tank played any decent music." Marshall answered, wrinkling his nose as another loud Paula Abdul song played in the background.

"He's got some kind of obsession with her, sorry. I'll go see if he can play anything else, right after I go get myself a good time." Reye responded before walking out of kitchen and down a hallway to the backroom.

Most of the time, Mark would pretend that he didn't notice her go back there, because he knew what she was going to do, but this time was different and, after a moment, Mark put down his beer and followed her. "I'll be back in a sec." he said to Marshall as he left.

He went down the hallway just in time to see Reye disappear in to a room at the very end. After a second he went in. There were about half a dozen people sitting around in various circles.

Reye sat on the couch, pulling out a spoon, lighter, and syringe from her coat pockets. Mark went and stood next to her, and she didn't seem to mind him watching her prepare her hit. As she melted down the powder and began loading the syringe, Mark stared in a newfound fascination.

Mimi, April, Roger, Marshall, Reye, Tyler...all good people...all users at some point...there has to be something to it. ...There has to be something that makes it...worth it. ...Is it enough? Is it enough to forget?...Does it make you stop feeling?....Stop feelings? ...Roger used to tell me that it made everything good...made everything nice...does that mean that it takes away the things that aren't nice?...Can it stop the pain?

As she pulled the now empty syringe out of her arm, Mark found himself reaching for it. Startled, Reye snatched it away from him.

"I want to try it." he explained shortly.

She stared at him. "You know, neither I nor anyone here expects you to or anything, we respect that you don't use." she said slowly.

"I know, you're not the reason. I just want to try it." he answered, reaching for the syringe again.

Yet again she pulled it from him. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I want to try it." he said, his voice strong, much stronger than he felt. He had no idea what he was doing...he just felt like he had to. If it stops the pain, it'll be worth it...if not, one hit is no harm done...Just try it, Cohen...what else have you got to lose?

"Okay...but not this. You have to start slow or you'll get sick." she explained, putting the syringe away.

Grabbing his hand, she led him over to a group, and Mark recognizes Lillia and Tyler in the circle. They were sitting around, passing around a lighter and a piece of tin foil with heroin on it, breathing in the smoke through a straw as it was heated.

"Hey, can Mark join?" Reye asked. The people in the group smiled at him, and Lillia patted the spot next to her.

"Of course. I'm leading, and you're a nice enough guy...is it your first time?" a guy that Mark recognized but didn't know asked.

Mark nodded as he sat.

Reye sat next to him. Leaning into him, she whispered in his ear, "Are you sure you're not going to regret this in the morning?"

He faked a smile. "I'm positive." It was a lie, but Reye didn't seem to notice.

She grinned. "You're going to love it, I swear, Sweettooth. It just makes everything...nice." she shut her eyes and Mark recognized the signs of the drug hitting her system.

Everything nice...sounds good.

The supplies were handed to Mark, and he stared at them, unsure of what to do. Reye smiled, and took the foil and the lighter. She grabbed a straw from a pile and handed it to Mark. "I'll drive. You just take that straw and suck it up when I put the lighter under it...oh, and just so you know, its going to taste bad...real bad, like dirt....but its worth it, girl scout promise." She held the foil near his face, flicking the lighter. "Suck in, and hold Sweettooth." she whispered. Mark took a breath, his heart was hammering, but he watched as she slid the lighter below the foil, and putting the straw in his mouth, he slowly sucked in, following the flame slowly across the foil as she went across. It did taste awful, but he kept sucking until she flicked the lighter off. He held the smoke in his mouth and throat before he couldn't stand it and let it out in a big exhale.

Reye giggled at him. She examined the foil, deeming it still good enough to pass on, not doing any herself.

Mark frowned...he didn't feel anything. He went to stand when Reye grabbed his sleeve. "Not yet...you need at least one more hit."

Deciding not to argue, Mark stayed sitting and watched as a new batch was made and started going around the circle. When it came to his turn, Reye did it for him again, but he didn't hesitate this time.

He sat there for a moment and shut his eyes as a warm, pleasant feeling started to travel through his body. It grew stronger as he sat until he just felt good. Everything bad in his mind, every ounce of pain and hurt, drifted away until he just felt...nice. He didn't immediately notice Reye pulling at him, but when he did he got up, following her to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway and watched her disappear to the living room to talk to Tank.

He took a deep breath. His head felt light, but his arms felt like they were heavier than usual. He was also moving slowly, but he liked it. He felt good...pleasant and calm and peaceful. Shaking himself a little, he looked around for his boyfriend.

He found Marshall working on his second beer and talking to a skinny blonde kid, who, in Mark's opinion, was standing a bit too close to Marshall. Mark felt a tinge of jealousy touch him. Marshall looked over and must have noticed because he beckoned Mark over and as soon as Mark reached his side he slid an arm around his waist.

"Kev, this is Mark. Mark, this is my friend, Kevin." he introduced them.

Mark nodded his greeting, feeling himself shift closer to Marshall. Marshall and Kevin talked for few more minutes, but Mark stopped paying attention as he felt what he had to assume was the drug kicking in even more. In an instant, he could feel his blood rushing through his veins, his heart hammering. A strange, amazing, awesome feeling built up in his body. A thick warmth spread over him, as if he's inwardly melting. All in all, it was a pleasant feeling, to say the least.

He looked up and realized that Kevin was gone and Marshall was looking at him with a grin.

"Jealous." he taunted.

"Am not...was not...waznot..." Mark laughed softly.

Marshall paused, leaning in and examining Mark. "You're high." he noted quietly.

Mark grinned at him. "Mhm. Not quite as a kite, but...quite kite... quitekite... damn it, I hate it when I rhyme." With that Mark laughed again. He wasn't giddy or silly like when he smoked weed, but there seemed no reason not to laugh, everything was just so good.

Marshall chuckled. "You are definitely cute when you're high, Babes. Speaking of that, I'm guessing this means the ban on me using is void, so I think I'm going to go cutify myself..." he said before suddenly pausing. "Babes, is this the only hard drug you've done?" Concern cutting his voice as he studied Mark, who nodded.

"Yep...Well, I've done weed before...but this stuff is so much better. Its so...warm. Marsh, I am so...warm. Why didn't anyone ever tell me? Its like an eraser...a soft, warm eraser..." he smiled and sighed.

Marshall shook his head with a chuckle. "Okay Babes, in that case, I better find you a babysitter so I can go get myself some of this warmth."

With that Marshall led Mark out into the living room and found Reye.

"How much did you give him?" he asked her.

She bit her lip, trying to remember. "He smoked it...only two hits, but it was Garrett's stash so it was good...Like, two miligrams, maybe, four at most. Not more than that."

Marshall stared at her in surprise. "Isn't that a little heavy for his first time?"

She laughed. "Don't think so. He was serious. Marsh, you should have seen him, he wanted to shoot up. Besides you know it kicks in slow when you chase...he'll be fine."

Then her eyes get wide as she remembers. "Ha, that reminds me! He sucked it. Ha, Mark sucked it up. I gave my stick to Mark to suck!" with that her speech dissolvd into a fit of giggles.

Marshall rolled his eyes. "Mhm...okay, watch him, okay? I'm going to go to the backroom.... Do you hear me, you better watch him." his tone got hard.

She laughed, wrapping an arm around Mark and tugging him against her. "Okay, I won't let him out of my sight. Girl Scout Promise." she giggled.

Marshall stared at her reprovingly. "You better not, I don't want him to remember his first time as falling down stairs or kissing someone he never met."

Reye agreed, and Mark watched Marshall walk off towards the back hallway.

What stairs is he talking about? he wondered thickly.

Reye still had her arms around him as she talked to someone. Mark stared down at his own arms, which were hanging by his side. He tried to lift them, to wrap them around Reye, but they felt so heavy, like weights were tied to the ends of his wrists. His legs felt heavy, too.

He tried to figure out why and realized that he had no idea. Then he tried to remember why he had gotten high in the first place...something to do with Roger...but he couldn't be inclined to care enough to think about it. He smiled. It didn't really matter anyways.

Who gives a shit about Roger and what he thinks? It doesn't matter...I don't think anything does, just this...this feeling...God, please tell me it doesn't go away.

LINELINELINE

Mark sighed, nuzzling into Marshall's throat as the other man affectionately stroked his back. "We should get going soon." Marshall murmered.

Mark looked around. They had crashed on the couch what seemed like a lifetime ago, too lazy to be bothered to move as the party continued around them. Reye was...gone. He hadn't seen her in a long while. The place was mostly empty. A couple people were passed out or just lying around, like them, on the floor in random places. A couple still gyrated to the music, but they were the only ones still dancing. The booze was long gone, and both bathrooms occupied, the one nearest the living room stinking strongly of vomit. Hmm,...Party's over... Mark sighed. And I think my high is almost over too....I'm starting to feel...grounded...and normal.

"Where do you think Reye's at?" Mark asked sleepily, unwilling to move from his warm place cuddled on Marshall

"Hmm..." Marshall rumbled in his chest. "Probably in one of the rooms...she wouldn't have left without us, she knows I'd kill her if she just left by herself...or with someone."

Mark nodded, whining slightly as Marshall began pushing him up gently, but firmly. "Come on, let's go find her."

Whining more, Mark eventually got up, allowing Marshall to pull him along in his search for his sister. They found her in the second bedroom, asleep on the bed and, to Mark's immediate surprise and embarrasment, only wearing a bra on top, the rest of her body thankfully covered by the sheets. He hurriedly turned away in respect of her, but he had easily noticed that the naked, short haired blonde next to her in bed had not been a boy.

He kept his eyes averted as he listened to Marshall gently coax Reye awake, talking to her softly as he searched around the room for her clothes. A few moments later, a dissheveled and not fully conscious Reye wandered past him, hightops unlaced, socks missing, jeans up but not buttoned, and still pulling on her tank top. He was now sober enough to flush uncomfortably at the sight, and followed her out, careful not to look back at the naked girl in bed.

As he walked down the hall, Marshall slid his arm around his shoulders. Reye was concentrating on buttoning her jeans while still walking, and so just wandered out without looking at anyone or talking. Marshall smiled at Tank who was sitting in his armchair, a joint in his hand.

"Thanks, Tank. We'll see you later."Marshall said as they walked out.

"'Night, folks."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Mark looked over to Reye who was leaning against the building; just the climb down seemed to have made her more tired instead of waking her up, like it had him. Marshall smiled affectionately at her before moving to stand in front, bowing his back slightly.

"Vamos, m'ija." he said softly. She smiled and then hopped up onto his back, arms sliding around his neck, Marshall's arms hooking behind her knees and securing her. She laid her head against his back and closed her eyes, content to be carried the whole way home.

They walked Mark home first, Marshall only stopping to give him a short kiss. "I better get her home...I'll call you soon, okay Babes?" he said softly, trying not to wake the dozing teen on his back.

"Sounds good. 'Night."

He watched them walk off for a moment before sighing as he made his way up to the loft. He opened the door to find Roger sitting on the couch, chewing on a pencil as he stared down at his notebook.

Mark simply nodded his greeting, not looking at the musician as he hurried to his room. He could feel that the drug was no longer affecting him...but he was still afraid that Roger could see it in his face, if he just looked. Lucky for him, his roommate didn't even look at him, let alone acknowledge his existence.

Mark lay in bed for a few moments, thinking over the events of the day...and was surprised when he realized that he felt no regrets.

LINELINELINELINE

....Don't hate me!! *covers face with arms protectively*