Title: The Love Affair Between Two Blow-Up Dolls (working title)
Author : Lindsey
Feedback: much appreciated!
Pairing : Roger/Mimi, Mark, and Collins briefly. Angel and Benny are mentioned.
Word Count: 3,722
Rating : PG-13
Genre : Fluff
Summary: Roger and Mimi try to figure out how they can spend Valentine's Day together when Mimi becomes ill.
Notes : for challenge 32 at speed rent. Even though I am an electronic geek, I don't know everything that could possibly be known. So please, if something I've written is inaccurate just ignore it, or better yet tell me so that maybe I can find a way to fix it. Also, the doctor being senile and thinking Mimi and Roger are married is just a little inside joke between my friends, Nikki and Teresa, and I. Please ignore that also if you think it's a disgrace or just plain stupid.
Special Thanks : Jonathon Larson
Spoilers : none
Warnings: language
Disclaimer: only in my dreams…

"Achoo!" Mimi sneezed against her pillow. She sat up from her position on the bed and grabbed a tissue from the wooden box that was next to her and Roger's bed. She sneezed again. "Achoo!"

Roger stirred in his sleep. "You okay, Meems?" he mumbled.

"Yeah," Mimi answered before blowing her nose.

"You sure?" Roger asked again as Mimi started to cough.

Mimi laid back down and rested her head on Roger's chest. "No," she said sadly.

"What's the matter, babe?"

"I think I've got the flu or something," Mimi said, snuggling closer to him.

"Aw, Meems," Roger cooed, kissing her forehead, "you wanna go to the doctor's?"

"Do we have the money?"

"Yeah," Roger replied, getting out of the bed and picking up a pair of old, dirty pants off the floor. He pulled some cash out of its pocket and looked back at Mimi. "Get dressed and we'll go," he said, smiling down at her.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," Roger said, moving towards the bed again and gave Mimi a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day," he mumbled against her cheek.

x-x-x

"Thanks for seeing me today, doctor."

"Oh, that's really no problem at all, Mrs. Davis," the doctor replied from his little desk in the small, white room.

"So, do you know what she has?" asked a nervous Roger.

"Well, Mr. Davis, I think your wife has a slight case of influenza. Although she is HIV positive, it seems she's healthy enough to overcome this small attack on her immune system as long as she keeps taking her AZT and the antibiotic I'm going to prescribe. She also needs lots and lots of bed rest."

"That's good. That's good," Roger said, holding Mimi's hand.

"Mr. Davis, you're also HIV positive, correct?" the doctor asked.

"Yes."

"I think it would be wise then, that you stay away from your wife as long as possible until she is fully recovered."

"What? Why?"

"Mr. Davis, if you do not keep your distance from her you could become inflicted with the influenza virus. Your immune system may not be as healthy as your wife's and you may suffer the consequences."

"But it's Valentine's Day!"

"I know and I'm sorry, Mr. Davis, but do you really want to risk your health just to be with your wife today?"

Roger looked at Mimi and then back at the doctor. "Doctor's order?"

The doctor nodded his head. "Doctor's order."

x-x-x

"Roger, you heard the doctor! You can't be around me!" Mimi yelled at Roger, who just kept nibbling on Mimi's neck. "He ordered you to stay away from me!"

Roger looked up at Mimi and smiled. "Meems, my parents hate you. They 'ordered' me to stay away from you. I didn't listen to them, you really think I'm gonna listen to your doctor?"

"But, Rog—"

"But nothing." Roger leaned down and kissed her pale, dry lips. Mimi broke the kiss, seconds later and erupted into a fit of coughs.

"You okay?"

"No," Mimi said harshly and pushed Roger out of the bed. "Get out, Rog. I don't want you to get sick."

"If you insist," Roger said, acting like a dog with its tail between its legs. He gently killed her right temple and headed towards the bedroom door.

x-x-x

"I see you and Mimi got back from the doctors," Mark said as he saw Roger exist from his and Mimi's bedroom.

"Yeah." Roger plopped down on the couch.

"What did you and Mimi get in a fight or something?"

"No."

"Then why are you out here instead of with her on Valentine's Day?"

"Because of the doctor's fucking order."

"What?" Mark asked, confused.

"Mimi's doctor told me to stay away from her, that if I caught the flu from her that I might die."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"And this is from the senile doctor that thinks you two are married?" Roger nodded his head. "Wow," Mark breathed.

"Yeah."

"So, uh, how are you guys gonna celebrate Valentine's Day?"

"We're not," Roger mumbled angrily, walking to the kitchen and pulling a beer out of the fridge.

"What do you mean, 'you're not'?"

"I mean," Roger took a sip of his beer, "we're not celebrating Valentine's Day."

"But you have to! It's the most romantic holiday of the year!"

"I know," Roger grumbled.

"And technically this would be your first Valentine's Day together. Usually, you guys break up two or three days before."

"I know, Mark."

"Then why don't you do something?"

"Because I can't, Mark. I tried to celebrate the holiday even though I might get sick because of it, but she wouldn't. She told me to leave her alone."

"You know, Roger, there are different ways of celebrating Valentine's Day than sleeping with each other all day."

"And how would you know this? You haven't been with a woman in years."

Mark shook his head. "Even though I haven't been with a woman in a long time, I still know a thing or two about how to make them happy."

"Whatever."

"Trust me, Roger. Although there's a door between you two, you can still make this the most romantic day of her life."

Roger stared at Mark. "How?"

x-x-x

"Hey, Meems," Mark said, entering her room carrying a tray. "I brought you some soup and a little present from Roger."

"A present? He didn't have to do that." Mimi grabbed the poorly wrapped box from the tray and opened it. "What is this?" Mimi asked, looking at it. She pressed one of the many buttons on the electronic device and in return, it made a crackling noise.

"I think it's a walkie talkie."

"A walkie talkie? Why did he get me a walkie talkie?"

Mark shrugged. "Why don't you ask him?" Mark then walked out of the bedroom, leaving Mimi alone.

Mimi pressed the big button again. "Roger?"

The walkie talkie crackled and popped before she heard Roger's rough voice. "Hey, babe."

"What are you doing?"

"You mean, what are i we /i doing. Well, we are celebrating Valentine's Day."

"How? I can't even see you!"

She could hear Roger laugh. "Well, Collins is working on that part."

"What?"

"Don't worry about that right now, Mimi. Right now, all you need to worry about is getting better as soon as you can."

"Okay. So, uh, where are you Rog?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Oh, come on Roger! Tell me!"

"No, when Collins gets to the loft he'll show you. Oh and when he does get there, you're gonna have to leave the bedroom. After all, if I can't be around you, he can't either."

Mimi laughed. "Okay."

"Well I gotta go, babe. I'll contact you again later, okay? And not before Collins gets there."

"But Roger…" It was too late. He was gone.

x-x-x

"Mimi?" Mark asked, knocking on the door lightly before poking his head in. "Collins is here."

"Okay," Mimi replied, unsure still about what Roger was doing. Although she was bewildered, Mimi still went along with and started to make her way out of the bedroom so Collins could do whatever he needed to do. Hopefully, he wouldn't catch the virus.

Mimi was wearing Roger's old black t-shirt, which he only liked when she wore it, and a pair of red, plaid boxers that also belonged to Roger.

As she made her way over to the couch, she noticed Mark and Collins were hauling a small, thirteen inch TV and a lot of wires.

"Is someone going to explain to me what is going on anytime soon?" Mimi shouted across the loft.

"Roger will in about ten minutes," Collins answered from the bedroom.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Collins replied, holding back a smile.

"Oh, come on, Collins. Just tell me!" Mimi urged.

"No. I have nothing to do with Roger's plan at all. He just called me because he knows absolutely nothing about electrical appliances. If he hadn't called me, he'd probably be electrocuted by now."

Suddenly, there was a small crash from the bedroom. "Is everything alright in there?" Mimi asked.

"Perfectly fine," Mark answered, strolling out of the bedroom.

"What was that crash, then?"

"What crash?" Unfortunately for Mark the sound Mimi had heard earlier in the bedroom, repeated. "Oh, that. Um, well it was just…uh…"

"It was just Roger," Collins answered for Mark, as he too came out of the bedroom. "Damn kid is a klutz."

"Roger? How could Roger make that noise? He's not even here."

"He may not be here physically, but he could be here spiritually, no?" Collins asked. "Or on an electronic apparatus," Collins added, walking towards the door. "Well, I did what I came here to do, Miss Marquez. Now, if you will please go to your bedroom, there is a special surprise waiting for you." Mimi was confused but still listened to Collins and walked towards her bedroom.

Mark heard her mumble something like, "What the fuck is an electronic apparatus?" and he laughed silently to himself. He liked seeing Roger and Mimi on these kinds of days; days that weren't filled with yelling, screaming, and—if the fights were that bad—people moving out.

Mark heard Mimi scream so he bid Collins farewell and walked over to the bedroom to find out what was wrong.

x-x-x

"What the fuck is going on, Roger!" Mimi yelled at the television. On the TV, Roger's face was shown and huge dorky grin lay on it. He had apparently not heard Mimi yell at him.

"Meems, you there?" he asked, his voice being heard over both the walkie talkie and the television. He couldn't see or anything so he was relying on the walkie talkie to be their communicator. "If you are, please say something…"

"Roger I am so going to kick your ass once I—"

"…into the walkie talkie," Roger continued, oblivious to Mimi's little rant.

"Roger Davis what the hell are you up to?" Mimi asked, this time, using the walkie talkie.

"Good, this weird plan of Collins's does work."

"What?"

"Nothing. Can you hear me?" Roger asked, not using the walkie talkie.

"Yeah," Mimi replied, still a little angry.

"Good," Roger said, putting the walkie talkie down. "I'm not going to use the walkie talkie anymore because I think you can probably here me better on the TV, but I'll keep it on so that you can still talk to me."

"Okay," Mimi said, quietly, still confused about what was going on. "Can you please explain what you're doing now, Rog?"

"Sure, babe. You see, after you kicked me out of the bedroom this morning I was going to give up on celebrating Valentine's Day today. It seemed like you didn't want to anyway. But then Mark, who I'm guessing is in our room with you, put this idea into my head. He told me that there were different ways of celebrating holidays. You don't always have to be together, in the same room."

"That still doesn't explain the walkie talkies and the TV."

"Well Meems, how else are we supposed to celebrate today? I'm not allowed to be in the same room with you at any given time, so I was talking to Collins and he told me about maybe borrowing Mark's camera and taking it with me here. He said something about a live feed and hooking it up to a TV or whatever. You know, so we could be together today, celebrating Valentine's Day, in the same room technically while not being in the same room."

"Aw, babe. That's so sweet."

"Don't you want to know what we're going to do first on this lovely day?" Roger asked, growing anxious.

"Yeah. What more do you have up your sleeve Davis?"

Roger smiled. "Small and innocent things today, Meems. We'll save the otherthingsfor when you're recovered," Roger said, winking at the camera. In the corner where he stood, Mark blushed. "Anyway, we will begin our day at the bar, playing darts. I know it's your favorite game."

Mimi squealed. How she wished she was actually standing next to Roger, witnessing first-hand this romantic day Roger had planned out for them.

"A bar down the street, I think, has the best dart board ever. Shall we?" Roger asked, meaning he would only continue if she wanted to. After all, he was only doing this because he loved her.

"We shall," Mimi quickly answered, not making Roger wait too long. Roger smiled and the camera turn, revealing only scenery; Roger was now behind the camera, guiding it along the sidewalk.

Two blocks later, the camera entered a dark, smoky bar that was very much occupied even though it was only one or two o'clock in the afternoon. The camera made its way over to the dartboard. As soon as Mimi saw what was on the dartboard, she laughed so hard. Mark joined her, saw the image also.

The image on the dartboard was of an African American man's bald head, a bald head that resembled an old friend, Benjamin Coffin the third. Mimi still couldn't stop laughing. It looked like Roger wasn't the only one who didn't like Benny that much, for there was far more than two or three hundred holes on the dartboard.

Roger moved the camera so that it faced him again. "I knew you'd like it." Roger placed the camera down, sideways, on a small, wooden table. Mark cringed.

They both could here movement off screen and we're growing with anticipation every second that they couldn't see what Roger was doing. Finally, he picked the camera up.

"Lady and gentleman, I now present to you the second most sexiest woman in the world, next to the real Mimi of course, and the world's second most hottest guitar player, Miemie and Rooger!" Roger then moved the camera to face two blowup dolls sitting down at a nearby table. The two dolls were fashionably dressed and actually did look like the real Roger and Mimi, Angel's doing probably.

"Omigod," Mimi said, quietly. She did not believe her eyes.

A waitress soon walked over to where the two blow-up dolls sat. "Can I take your order, please?" The waitress didn't seem to be phased at all by the scene. Maybe it has happened before? Let's hope not, for the sake of humanity.

"I'll have a cheeseburger—" Roger started before the waitress cut him off.

"How do want it cooked?"

"Oh, uh…well done."

"Is that all?"

"No. I'll have a basket of french fries with that and a beer," the camera turned to face Miemie, "What would you like, babe?" Roger cleared his throat. "I'll have the same thing, but please, no onions, tomatoes, or pickles on the cheeseburger," Roger said in his most girly voice.

Mimi looked back at Mark. "I'm not really that picky am I?" she asked, seriously.

"Yes-no," Mark answered. Mimi eyed him but then turned around to face the TV when she saw Mark wasn't going to clarify his answer.

A few minutes later, the same waitress returned with their meals. After setting the plates of food down on the table before Miemie and Rooger, she walked towards Roger.

"I'm guessing you'll need two boxes so that you can take this meal home to your actual girlfriend," the waitress semi-whispered to Roger and then smiled into the camera Roger held. "Happy Valentine's Day, Mimi."

Roger smiled nervously into the camera and Mimi had a feeling that the waitress and Roger had a past. She picked up the walkie talkie.

"Roger Davis, will you kindly explain to me who the hell that was? How did she know my name?" Mimi asked, somewhat angrily, into the walkie talkie.

"Oh, you mean you don't know Cynthia? I thought you did, I mean she seems to know you very well."

"Roger…"

"She goes to the Cat Scratch Club regularly. Apparently she has a major crush on you."

"Roger, be serious!"

"I am, baby! While I was talking to her earlier about it being okay to film here, she told me how much she loved you and how you had so much talent. I then told her I was your boyfriend, and she told me she knew, that she had seen us in the alleyway a lot doing… I things /I ."

Mimi shook her head and laughed. This wasn't the first time a girl had had a crush on her. It probably wouldn't be the last, either.

"Anyway, on with the date!" Roger said into the camera, just before turning it back to Miemie and Rooger. "So how much is the sexiest dancer at the Cat Scratch liking Valentine's Day this year?" Rooger, well technically Roger, asked. "It has been the best day of my life. I'm so lucky to have such a caring, loveable, sensitive, and hot boyfriend like you Roog." Roger squealed and made kissing noises. "I love you, too, Mimes." Roger then sat the camera down on the table, right-side-up this time, and walked over to the two blow up dolls. He pushed their heads together and Miemie and Rooger were now "making-out" on top of the table.

"Woah, slow down, babe," Rooger panted. "Save it for tonight." Roger winked into the camera, smiling while he did so. Roger walked back over to the camera and held it up so that anyone seeing the TV would only see his face.

"Part two of this date will be showing shortly, please use this break to eat, drink, and if you must, shit. I'll see you in a few. Love you, Meems," Roger said and turned off the camera.

"Love you too, Rog," Mimi replied, although she knew he couldn't hear her because she had not said it into the walkie talkie. Mimi smiled and walked out of the bedroom.

x-x-x

"And we're back," Roger said, the TV coming alive again after only ten minutes. "Are you ready for the next part, Mimi?"

Mark walked over to the bed. "Roger, Mimi isn't here."

"Oh, well I can wait a few minutes until she comes back. What is she in the kitchen grabbing something to eat?" Roger asked.

"No, Rog. She's not here. Hell, I don't even know if she's in the building," Mark clarified.

"What?"

"She said she needed some fresh air, that the bedroom was getting a little stuffy. I told her to go out onto the fire escape. I went to get her after a couple of minutes and couldn't find her anywhere."

"Shit, Mark. She's supposed to be on bed rest!"

"I know, I know. But she kept begging me to give her some fresh air. I felt like I had no choice."

"Fuck, Mark, you always have a choice. I'll be home in five minutes, I promise."

"Okay," Mark said and then sat the walkie talkie back down onto the bed. He looked over at Mimi. "You owe me big time. I hate lying to people."

Mimi laughed and kissed Mark on the cheek. "Thank you. Now, shoo. I have to get ready for Roger." She pushed Mark out of the room, closing the door behind him. She then walked over to her closet, looking at the many outfits that hung on old, wire hangers.

"Which one would Roger like best?" Mimi thought aloud.

x-x-x

"Mark! Did you find her?" Roger asked, worriedly, as came running into the loft.

"No," the camera man replied gently. "Do you have my camera? I was thinking about going out tonight to film."

Roger looked at Mark strangely before handing Mark's camera over to the Jewish man. "I don't see how you can be more worried about an inanimate object than Mimi," Roger stated.

"I'm not worried about Mimi." Before Roger could say something, Mark finished what he was saying. "I'm not worried about Mimi because I know you'll find her. You always do." Mark smiled at Roger and then added, "If you're going to go out and look for Mimi—which I'm guessing you are—may I suggest wearing something warmer? I think I saw Mimi put a sweatshirt in your dresser the other day."

"Okay," Roger said, still sounding worried about Mimi. He watched Mark leave the loft and then walked into his bedroom. When he opened the door he saw Mimi lying on their bed wearing her leopard robe that she usually wore at the Cat Scratch before revealing her goods. Roger was now confused. "Mimi, what are you doing here? Mark said you ran away!"

"I didn't run away, Roger. I mean how could I ever run away from you and your cute idiotic plans to show me off much you love me," Mimi purred, getting out of the bed. As she made her way towards Roger she seductively removed the robe from her small, fragile body, revealing a very short black mini skirt that she knew drew Roger crazy. She also had a sexy, lace bra on that covered her breasts; her stomach was bare and she had made a small effort to put glitter on it.

"So you made Mark lie to me so I would come back here?" Roger asked as Mimi finally was right in front of him, trying to resist the temptation.

"Mmmhmm," Mimi answered, her hands roaming through his hair and her teeth nibbling on his earlobe.

"Meems, what are you doing?" Roger asked, trying to escape Mimi's hands.

"What, are you not 'in the mood', Rog," Mimi said as she threw Roger onto the bed.

"Hell no, I was just…curious…why are…you suddenly…not caring…about my…health," Roger said in between Mimi's kisses.

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked, stopping her actions so that he could explain.

"Well when we got back from the doctor's and we were making out on the bed, you told me to stop and that you didn't want me to get sick."

"Oh," Mimi mumbled quietly, remembering what Roger was talking about. "Well, I don't know…I guess I just realized that I have something really special in my life that could slip away any day now and that I should cherish it more."

Roger kissed her lips softly and smiled as he looked into her gorgeous brown eyes. "God, I love you, Mimi," Roger whispered into her ear.

"I love you, too, Roger." Mimi started to kiss his neck before adding, "Happy Valentine's Day, Rooger."

x-x-x

an: what did you guys think? This was defiantly the longest RENT fic I have ever written so I hoped you guys liked it!