Title: Christmahannukwanzaakuh

Pairing: Mark/Benny, mention of Mark/Maureen (Markeen)

Summary: During the holidays, Mark and Benny decline to go home and instead spend Christmas together in their dorm, talking about everything from cookies to the meaning of life.

A/N: For Michelle (Angelic Prophecy), who was the first Mark Cohen I ever met! You introduced me to the roleplay that now keeps me sane and we've had some good times. Like when I commented on all of your pictures. :L You and Inky are adorable. And your tumblr greatly amuses me on a regular basis. I hope you enjoy this because I wrote it specifically with the pairings I know you like. MERRY CHRISTMAS MICHELLE.

Benny wrinkled his nose, looking around curiously and furrowing his eyebrows as he quietly let himself into his dorm room on Christmas morning. It smelled like… Frosting. Sugar. Christmas, if Chrismtas had a smell. He didn't understand it. Out of respect for Mark and due to his own derision for the holiday, he hadn't done anything with the dorm for the holidays, leaving it bare and boring as ever.

"Mark…?" he asked slowly, apprehensive. The business student slowly peeled off his jacket, dropping his mail on the desk nearest the door- his- and slowly entering. His strawberry-blonde roommate was lounging on his bed on the other side of the room with a plate of Christmas cookies, a textbook open in his lap.

Casting his blue eyes upward, Mark nodded to acknowledge Benny's presence, a small crooked smile on his lips. "Hey," he mumbled through a mouthful of sugar, swallowing before trying a longer sentence. "Where've you been?"

"Running errands… Had to drop off that late essay for Economics." He made a face, and Mark tossed him a sympathetic look. "Studying?"

"Yeah…" He shrugged, returning his eyes to the textbook. He didn't look bored to death as he should, and Benny guessed that had to do with the sugar. "Maureen and her friend Joanne made me Christmas cookies…" He held up the plate in question, offering. "Want some?"

"Why the hell not," Benny sighed, striding over to take a gingerbread-man shaped pastry and biting into it. He sat on the edge of Mark's bed as he chewed, giving him an amused look. "Doesn't she know you're-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Mark looked annoyed- it would have been more remarkable, as it wasn't in his nature to get mad at anyone, but Benny knew that Maureen had been borderline offensive for months now and it was getting on his roommates' nerves.

"You've been dating her for two years, man," he pointed out. "I don't want to be that guy, but…"

"I know." The scrawnier man sighed, looking forlornly out the window. Benny scooted closer to him, glad that it was hard to see the faint flush against his dark skin; Mark always complained about it, the way Benny could always tease him when he was embarrassed. It wasn't his fault his skin was practically translucent, but it just made things too easy.

"Hey. Don't worry about her. Christmas is overrated anyways, Hannukah is where it's at," Benny tried to cheer his friend up, grinning. Mark snorted and looked at him, mildly amused.

"I don't really celebrate either. Holidays aren't really my thing," he admitted, giving up and setting his textbook aside, shutting it with a snap. He picked up another cookie, a green-sprinkled pine tree shape, and bit into it thoughtfully. "It seems like they're all just an excuse for supermarkets to sell their entire stock of useless toys and trinkets."

"Commercial holidays," the other man agreed, throwing a casual arm around his friend's shoulders. This was always their pattern, this easy friendship. Benny came from a poor family, father always riding him to work his way up, earn his place in society; Mark had been forced, pressured by his father to study business, and they both knew that one day he was going to get fed up, take his camera and walk out. But no matter their backgrounds they had an understanding of one another and sometimes it became this, this unnamed feeling between them when they were alone in the dorm and Maureen was out with her "friend" disregarding her boyfriend's religious values.

"Maybe I should start celebrating Kwanzaa instead. Who knows, maybe Mo would jump on board- she wouldn't forget then," Mark laughed, nodding. He leaned his head on Benny's shoulder gratefully, eyes closing, and Benny could smell sugar on his breath. "You think?"

"Not very likely, but it's worth a try," he shrugged, offering an encouraging smile and tightening his arm just slightly. "Maybe just fuck it and celebrate everything at once."

"That's actually not a bad idea…" Mark seemed to mull the idea over for a minute, looking down at the bedspread and stroking the awful goatee he'd been growing that Benny had given up on advising him to shave. Finally, he looked back up, face scrunched in uncertain confusion. "Christmahannukwanzaakuh? … Is that right?"

"You tell me." Benny gave a small burst of laughter- whether he liked to admit it or not, Mark was a cute one. It was a shame he was already on his way out. He would miss him when he went. "You made it up."

"I'm sure I didn't. I'm not that creative." Mark snorted quietly, self-deprecating. Benny had noticed that pattern about him. Mark didn't take compliments very well. He had an ego, but it was a masochistic sort.

"You're right," he mocked, teasing him lightly and pulling him closer, practically into his lap. "Your screenplays suck. I don't know why you write them."

"Oh, fuck you! My screenplays are fine!"

There it was.

Chuckling, Benny turned his face and quickly pressed their lips together. It was chaste, a nothing of a kiss. But his counterpart immediately smiled, brilliant, like the Christmas lights that they hadn't hung in the dorm.

And from there on out it became the sort of Christmas Benny would be both fond and ashamed of when he recalled it years later, sitting in his living room petting the yappy Akita he didn't even like and listening to Alison whine about how he never spent enough time with her.

Sighing, future Benny held his face in his hands. He should have gone with Mark. It had been a long time, and too many bad things had happened between them to just forget. But they had that, that Christmas and maybe if he just reminded him…

Maybe. Maybe next time he saw him he would.