Hey everyone. Sorry about the wait. It was Latino Heritage Month, and so my org was insanely busy and I was fighting off stress-related nervous breakdowns every other day...but now that's over, so I'm still really busy...but not unbearably so.

Me no own RENT...me can't pay rent...*le sigh*

The Days After

Mark groaned as he rolled over. Why the fuck didn't Reye warn me? Oh god…He groaned again in pain as his stomach knotted. He'd had some bad hangovers in his life, but never had a day after hurt so bad. He was pretty sure that he'd never been so constipated in his life, and to be constipated and nauseas as the same time just didn't make any damn sense. Plus, he had a minor headache that was quickly becoming a major headache.

There is no way in fucking hell that I'm going to work in a couple hours…sure hope I don't get written up for this… he thought as he slowly got up to make his way to the phone.

Roger was sitting out on the couch, reading. Mark wandered past him, ignoring his presence in his quest for the phone. Suddenly, he felt eyes on him and turned to see Roger starring at him.

"What?" Mark snapped.

"Are you okay?" Roger asked after a moment. "You look kinda sick."

"Obviously. Just leave me alone." Mark snarled, ignoring the fact that Roger was showing concern for the first time in a long, long time.

Roger flipped him off and walked out of the room. Mark used the opportunity to call his work. Dennis was understanding; he supposed that he probably sounded as sick as he felt, and if he laid it on a little thick, the ends justifies the means, he figured.

He decided to spend the rest of the day in bed, everything else be damned. But to his surprise, he felt better after another hour. His stomach was still giving him trouble, but not so badly that he was in real pain.

Maybe it was all worth it, then…

Roger stayed in his room for most of the morning. Mark didn't really notice, instead dragging himself out of the loft to film.

He saw the two teenage girls. He had nearly forgotten about them. This time, he didn't stay long. They were standing in the entrance of an alley, fighting. He couldn't make out what they said, but they were practically screaming at each other, the black girl crying in her anger. He wasn't sure what was going on with them, but considering it seemed that they had little more than each other, he hoped their friendship wasn't done.

LINELINELINELINELINELINE

The next day, after he'd yelled at Reye for not properly warning him and she'd apologized, with a laugh, he found himself hanging out in the apartment, laying on Marshall's stomach as he read Christine aloud. Mark usually preferred horror movies to books, but with Marshall's rich voice the words painted images in his mind.

They were just at the part where the main character had finished fixing up the car, with the car's help, when Reye came in.

"Hey there lovebirds. What're you reading now?" she asked as she came over, taking the book from Marshall's hands and examining it.

"Well, we were reading Christine." Marshall answered, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I think I read this once…this is the one about the telekinetic girl, right?"

"No, that's Carrie. This one is about a possessed car. So what are you up to, Miss Reye?" Mark asked, sitting up as he realized that Reye wasn't going to let them keep reading until she was thoroughly entertained.

"Oh…that's interesting… Me? Well, I'm bored. Want to go find something to do?"

Marshall shook his head, sighing. "Aw, Reye, I'm tired. What about Canvas or Lydia? Hell, Gina's always up for an adventure, did you try her?"

Reye shrugged. "You know Lydia is hard to get out. And Canvas, Gina, Tyler, Lillia, Baby, and Shauna are in jail again."

Mark and Marshall both sat up straighter. "You didn't tell me that, Reye."

"Me either. When did that happen? And what for?"

Reye shrugged again, twisting her fingers in her hair. "Destroying private property, theft, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and they caught Tyler, Shauna and Canvas on possession." She ticked off on her fingers.

Marshall frowned. "Did this happen to happen on Saturday? You know, the night I talked you and Mark out of going laundry cart racing?"

She grinned guiltily. "Yeah. The charges are so ridiculous! All they did was ride the carts down the big hill on second street. It was only a few blocks away from the Laundromat, they tried to explain they were going to return them. And…Shauna might've crashed through a window… As for the possession, well they're lucky that only Tyler had horse on him, the others just had liquor and weed. …And honestly, the resisting arrest? Who wouldn't run?" she shrugged.

"So how long are they in for?" Mark asked.

"Everyone but Tyler gets out in two days. They'll have a trial in a coupleweeks, but they could only keep them five days for those crimes. Lilliasaid they're going to try to get the store to drop the charges against Shauna if she pays for the window…which might take a while, but they don't know that. Tyler…because he had heroin on him, can't come out until his trial unless he makes bail. There's nothing any of us can do about that…but it should only be a couple weeks, and he'll just get a slap on the wrist…a fine or community service or something. Its not like they really have room in prison anymore." She shrugged, not seeming too concerned.

Mark felt bad for Tyler. He was a good friend of his, but he knew Reye was right: Tyler would probably just get community service. And, truth be told, Marshall didn't like him hanging out with Tyler so much. He wasn't sure why, but Marshall had started getting a little touchy when Mark had started hanging out with just Tyler.

"Do you want to go out for a bit? Maybe go get some food?"

Marshall sighed again. "I kinda just want to stay in tonight, mija. How often do I really get a day off?"

Mark watched Reye pout and shrugged. "I am a bit hungry though, Marsh."

Marshall considered him for a moment before smiling. "How about we order out? We can get some Chinese, maybe?"

Reye looked at Mark and winked conspiratorially. "But I'll still be bored! How about we go see a movie? Mark, you want to, right?"

Mark looked between the two. He'd actually been enjoying the down time with Marshall, but a movie didsound good...and Reye got incredibly hyper and sometimes mischievous when bored for too long...

He laid a hand on Marshall's arm and looked up at him through his eyelashes. "I think it sounds like fun." he said softly.

Marshall laughed and leaned down to capture Mark's lips. "You are getting too good at that!" With that he got up, pulling Mark up alongside him. "Alright, alright! Let's go grab some food and then hit the flicks...I get to choose the movie, though."

LINELINELINELINELINELINE

Marshall laughed, hoisting a slipping Mark higher up on his back. Mark rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, talking down to Reye. Despite Marshall's declaration, Mark and Reye had ended up picking the movie: a cheesy black comedy/horror film called "Dead Alive" or something like that. It had been absolutely horrible in every way, so of course they had loved it.

Now they were walking back, Marshall giving Mark a piggy-back ride as they joked around and finding himself not nearly as tired as he'd thought. They stopped outside Mark's building, Mark hopping down to his feet and suddenly wishing he didn't have to go home. I don't...really. I bet they'd let me live with them, at least for a little while...But despite these thoughts, he still found himself waving to Reye and kissing Marshall good night before heading up to the loft.

Roger was reading on the couch when he got up. Mark went to go straight into his room when Roger's voice stopped him.

"Where have you been?"

"None of your business." Mark responded airily, too happy to be upset.

"Fucking worthless bastard." Roger ground out in response, going back to his book. Mark looked at him for a moment before sighing and going to his room.

Why does he always have to ruin my good mood?

LINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINELINE

I have the next chapter planned out a bit...but not written at all...I'll try to update soon, because I was thinking about a fic I love earlier that hasn't been updated in 3 years, and probably won't ever be again...and I really, really, REALLY want to know what happens...like now... and then I thought of my own writing practices and felt bad... SO I will try not to be one of those authors that I get so disappointed with.

Much Love