A/N: See? That didn't take as long as you thought. Since I actually got a review (which I wasn't expecting to, really!) I worked on this extra hard to have it done. Anyways, enjoy this chapter… Still no MarkRoger, unfortunately, you'll have to wait for that for a few chapters for that luxury.
Disclaimer: Mark and Roger aren't my boys, I'm afraid. They belong to RENT, which isn't mine.
Chapter Two: I've Got Room!
The cracked pavement of the sidewalk became more and more interesting to the bespectacled filmmaker as Roger ushered him towards the doors of the Life Café. The songwriter, in his customary ripped jeans and leather jacket, couldn't stop grinning as he pulled Mark along by the waist. One or two passerby gave them dirty looks, glancing pointedly at Roger's arm around his reluctant friend, but he just flipped them the bird and gave them a suggestive smirk.
People were so ready to make assumptions about two starving artists walking down the street together. They deserved any dirty images he gave them.
He looked at his nervous friend as he narrated the day, or perhaps the upcoming events. Mark mumbled under his breath for the camera, cheeks flushed in embarrassment already. "Shouldn't have told Roger… knew it, knew he'd do this… don't think I need to tell everyone else, I mean…" Only snippets of what he was saying reached Roger's ears, but they only served to amuse him further.
As they finally stopped in front of the glass double doors, Mark sighed and switched off his camera, lowering it along with his head. The filmmaker looked up only to glare at his roommate with a pout on his lips and pleading in his piercing blue eyes. "I'll get you back for this," he threatened.
"Please. You think I'm scared of you, camera boy?" he taunted. A raindrop chose that moment to fall from the overcast sky straight into Roger's eye, and he blinked it away, rubbing absently at the moisture irritating his eye. Then, realizing what he'd done, the former rocker groaned loudly. "Shit. Hey, did I smudge my eyeliner?"
Mark stared at him for a moment, a bemused expression on his face. "You know, between the makeup and the sappy love songs… How didn't I already know you liked dick, again?" He gave a short bark of laughter before pushing the door inwards and entering the quaint establishment with Roger not far behind, still overly-concerned about the state of his eyeliner. It was filled with cheery yellow fluorescent lighting and a warmth that enveloped them in a wave, fogging the lenses of Mark's glasses. "You'd better be scared, guitar boy," he mocked, rubbing the lenses on the bottom of his sweater before replacing them on his face.
"Hey, Mimi, is my eyeliner smudged?" Roger asked distractedly as the Hispanic dancer squealed and bolted forward from her seat to fling her arms around his neck. She pulled back and scrutinized him for a moment- his dark brown eyelashes framed his vibrant green eyes beautifully, and they were coated with a thin layer of miniscule water droplets. As usual, his makeup was as flawlessly applied as hers.
"Good as always!" She smiled and shrieked, "Marky!" as she twirled around and bounded gracefully towards the filmmaker where he was, quite unsuccessfully, trying to blend into a corner. He flushed a nice shade of Humiliation Red. Roger mused to himself that maybe he should embarrass Mark some more at home. This was rather amusing, and God only knew how often he got bored.
Meanwhile, to curb her obviously tipsy girlfriend's enthusiasm Joanne had practically wrestled Maureen to pin her against the wall. She sighed in exasperation. "Is this REALLY necessary" she griped, rolling her eyes as Roger approached.
"Roger, make her let me go!" Maureen huffed, breasts heaving in quite a distracting manner as she breathed. Her top was ridiculously skimpy for the chilly weather, and if he squinted he could probably see her nipples right through the hair-thin material. Not that he was squinting. He knew perfectly well that if the chocolate-skinned lawyer ever caught him in such a scrutiny of Maureen Johnson that she would scalp him.
"No, I think I'll let you two have your fun," he said drily, and caught the beer thrown at his head purely on reflex before turning around with a grin already stretching across his face. "Collins! You made it out in time!" Collins caught him in a bear hug, laughing deeply, and Roger could see out of the corner of his eye the way that Mark was shrinking away from the unreasonably excitable Mimi.
What the hell? Had Collins been doling out his stash before Mark and Roger even got there?
"You said it was important. I didn't like that job, anyways, so I up and left as soon as you called," Tom shrugged, smiling fondly at the thought of just leaving his detestable teaching job completely on a whim. "Where is Mark, anyways?" he asked suddenly, looking around. He spotted the blonde filmmaker quickly before turning his attention back to Roger. "He seems a little bit nervous… Why did you drag us all out here?"
There's something suggestive in Collins' tone, and he glances between Roger and his roommate. The rocker scowls. Angela and Collins had developed a theory the previous year that he and Mark were the perfect soul mates and that one day they would end up in bed together, which Roger found to be a ridiculous notion.
He wasn't stupid enough to ruin his friendship with Mark for a night of amazing sex, no matter how adorable his friend could be sometimes.
"It's just some news I heard yesterday," the songwriter said, fighting back a fit of laughter as he recalled Mark's horrified expression when he suggested that they tell the bohemians about this revelation. It was likely that if he didn't force the matter, the rest of their friends would never get to know.
"MARK!" he called in his most obnoxious voice, earning a few glares from the suits dining nearby. He cheerfully flipped them off and used the same finger to make a come-hither gesture at the startled filmmaker.
"Fuck you…" Mark mumbled, slowly dawdling his way towards his roommate. "Why did I agree to this…"
The bohos had gathered around him in tight circle at amazing speed, all curious and eager to hear his news. "Did you get a new girlfriend?" Maureen gasped, but Mark jerkily shook his head and looked away with tight lips.
"Well? Get it over with, Mark!" Roger egged him on, nudging him with his elbow. He smiled encouragingly at the shorter man, and with that Mark took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Okay. I can do this," he pep talked himself under his breath. Roger snatched his camera so fast Mark almost didn't notice and thanked whatever God there might be that he knew how to work the contraption, because this moment would be priceless later. He gave Mark a lazy thumbs up and grinned in his most bastard-like fashion, training the lens on Mark who scowled in embarrassment.
"Um… I don't really know how to start… But no, Maureen, I don't think you're ever going to hear that I got a new girlfriend so you can cross that off," he chuckled nervously. She blinked, a slow smile creeping onto her face, but before she could voice her thoughts Collins butted in.
"Did you test positive?" he inquired, a note of worry in his voice. Mark stared at him for a moment uncomprehendingly.
"What…? No, no, I'm negative as always I just got tested last month," he heard himself reassuring his taller friend, still nonplussed. Huh, I might have to start worrying about that more now won't I?
Roger had had enough of this waiting business. If he let this continue then Mark was just going to keep stumbling over himself. "Tell them or I will," he sing-songed, eyes glimmering with barely-repressed laughter. Mark always made him want to laugh, with his nervous mannerisms.
"I'm gay!" he squeaked automatically, eyes widening as he realized what he'd just done. Panicked, he marched to Roger and stole his camera back.
"Give me that…" he muttered, so red in the face that he could have been mistaken for the world's largest tomato.
Shiiiiit. Fuck… it wasn't supposed to come out exactly like THAT.
"Oh my GOD!" Maureen and Mimi squealed at the same time, turning to each other and hugging ecstatically. Collins dark face split into a blindingly white grin, and he patted Mark on the back as Joanne's eyes lit up.
"I'm glad you decided to tell us," she said sincerely, offering an encouraging smile that was significantly less evil than Roger's had been.
"Join the club," Collins added, eyes flashing to Roger once again. He wasn't going to voice his opinion, but from the way Mark was glaring at him he seemed to know what he was thinking anyways. Their silent communication was interrupted by Maureen's glass-shattering shriek.
"I DID THIS! I TURNED YOU GAY!" She flew at Mark, and his baby blues widened comically as he awkwardly embraced her. "Oh, Marky! I'm so happy! How many guys have you slept with? Do you want me to take you to a gay club? Ooh, let's all go tonight! It's on me!" She looked up with a tearful smile.
If Maureen were any more dramatic, she could be on Broadway. Mark thought this to himself even as he heaved an internal sigh of relief. He was feeling just a bit more confident now that he'd already blurted out his big secret and seen everyone's positive reactions. He shrugged at Maureen's questions.
"Uh… No, I haven't dated anyone yet, exactly… I'm not in my element yet, he explained, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "And I don't know about going to a gay club-"
Roger had disappeared and returned just as quietly, noticing how visibly more relaxed Mark was with the camera in his hands again. He was ridiculously attached to that thing. Roger would have to make a point of changing that soon.
"I think you should go, I'll come with you," Roger offered in an offhand tone, earning a raised eyebrow from Joanne. Of course, she didn't know about Roger's fluid preferences. "We can get wasted!"
"No!" Mark said, looking scandalized. His eyes followed Roger's gaze to the waiter a few tables down curiously, but he had other things to think about. "Let's just sit down and order and talk about this later," he pleaded, and the grumbling bohemians complied.
They may have been raucous people, but when you pissed Mark off you were asking for it. It would be wise about now to keep their mouths shut, for their friend's sake and their own.
Roger sat in the empty seat across from Mar, a smug grin on his face as he opened his menu. "What…" he started to ask the guitarist suspiciously, but the waiter had arrived and interrupted him before he could finish his question.
"Can I take your orders?" he asked, one had on his hip in a rather flamboyant fashion. Jimmy was a young Asian waiter who had started working at the Life less than two years ago, and he had no problem flaunting his homosexuality. That was, in fact, part of the reason he'd moved to New York City, something Mark knew only because they had as a group taken a liking to him. He was after all an interesting person, and the only waiter in the entire restaurant that would join in their antics from time to time when he thought he could get away with it.
"You go first, Mark, it's your day," Mimi said, positively beaming. The curly-haired girl had suspected since the day she had met him that Mark was in the closet, and here he was finally telling them all. It was a momentous occasion. Maureen giggled and she soon joined her. Rolling his eyes, Mark asked for a mug of tea and watched as Jimmy went around the table scribbling orders down on the pad of paper in his hand, tongue sticking out in concentration every time he looked down.
"Alright! Won't be long," he smiled, and out of nowhere he was leaning towards Mark and fluttering his eyelashes flirtatiously. "Have a good day, Mark." He rested his hand briefly on top of the blonde's, letting it linger long enough that it couldn't possibly be taken platonically before flouncing away with a wink tossed over his shoulder.
Mark blinked owlishly, confused and frozen, and he heard his friends snickering loudly at the face he was making.
"You asswipe," he growled at Roger, narrowing his eyes at the way his roommate was biting his lip to contain his laughter.
"What?" he tried, rearranging his face into a mask of innocence. It crumbled after less than a minute. "Maybe he just- Maybe he just overheard our- Oh okay, butyou should have seen your face!" he sniggered, dodging the packet of sugar that Mark threw at him in annoyance.
Collins, seeing the embarrassment that Mark was trying to keep hidden form his friends, stepped up to alleviate it by changing the subject.
"So, are you gonna tell your parents?"
Mark internally groaned. Not this AGAIN… He glanced at Roger and recalled what the guitarist had told him the night before. "I don't think I really want to… I guess I should," he confessed. "But my mom… you don't know my mom like I do. She's been trying to drag me to Jewish singles mixers since I was twelve years old. If I tell her I'm gay… Oh, not to mention that I'll be DISOWNED if my dad finds out."
"You're not going go out and find a date and you're not going to tell anyone. Why did you even bother telling us? Do we have to drag you out of the closet?" Maureen frowned, moving closer to Joanne and giving her a quick peck on the lips to demonstrate.
"I don't need to come out of the closet! I'm comfortable- you guys can all come visit me in here whenever you want, I've got room!" Mark exclaimed, troubled. Roger suddenly leaned across the table and forced his lips onto his roommates for a brief second, and before he could even react to this unexpected act of intimacy he was seated again looking as if nothing had happened. "Roger… what the fuck?"
"I was proving a point," he shrugged, wincing at the piercing shriek coming from Mimi's direction. "It's easy to come out. Just do something like that."
Mark sank further into his chair, face burning. His friends were never going to take no for an answer, were they?
What had he gotten himself into?