[for Roger]

[toshiko_san]

She hadn't actually thought this through after the part where she found Roger and said thank you to him. Very few of their conversations had ended what Tosh would call well, but still, she felt that she should try. She was dating his best friend after all.

"Roger?" She tapped on the door frame, calling his name softly, "it's Tosh."

Comments

[one__song]

Sweet fucking Gibbons, what time was it?

Roger blindly reached for his watch off the nightstand and snatched it up to squint at it tiredly. Yup. It was officially Ass O'Clock in the morning. And someone was fingering at his curtain like an attention-starved kitten.

It's Tosh.

And suddenly Roger was upright. Had he been awake, he figured his balls would be working on scrambling up into his stomach and taking shelter there until the winter was over. Tosh. And he was in nothing but his pirate boxers. That didn't stop him from kicking the covers off and padding the short distance to the curtain.

"Mmn, 'ey, Tosh," Roger croaked, wincing as the artificial light poured in from the hallway. And there he stood, squinting and scratching a hand through his hair, completely shirtless in front of his best friend's girlfriend. "'S up?"

[toshiko_san]

It wasn't actually that early, or at least Tosh didn't think so. Jackson and she had been up for hours before they'd even come up to the compound, and now Abby was watching him while she did a few other things.

"I'm sorry-" she was, her face pulling down as she took a step back, slightly dismayed, "I didn't mean to wake you. Should I come back later?"

[one__song]

Roger had yet to meet Jackson. He didn't really expect Tosh to bring him over or anything, since Roger was far from her favorite person, he was sure, but still, he figured he should meet the kid that would probably call him Uncle Roger. Also, the terrified look on Tosh's face would make the whole thing worth it.

"It's not gonna bite you," Roger murmured at the look on Tosh's face and he held out a hand in pause. "Just... let me put something on." He pulled the curtain closed before she could say anything. He sleepwalked over to his trunk and pulled out a pair of torn jeans and his Only The Good Die Young shirt. Once into them, he opened the curtain and rubbed his eyes.

"You wanna stand in my doorway or you wanna get some coffee?" He was going to need coffee, he figured.

[toshiko_san]

In the minute or so it took him to get dressed, Tosh started to wonder if she should have come down here. She started when he came back through the curtain. "Coffee would be good. I'm a scientist. We always vote for more coffee."

[one__song]

"Common ground for a scientist and a musician. Didn't see that one coming," he said, as he began to walk. He made a point to walk beside her. Not behind, suggesting he had something to prove in the way of chivalry, and not in front of her like she was a concubine that needed to be led. He figured scientific girls looked at shit like that.

[toshiko_san]

"There had to be some somewhere," she said, actually managing a bit of a smile. It wasn't the sort of thing that Tosh actually would have noticed, "pure science can be like art, in it's way."

[one__song]

She was adorable, and therefore it was really, really hard not to smile back. There was a time when Roger had no association with Tosh but The Girl Who Jumped Off A Rock With Him. That was a simpler time. A time before he knew she'd dated Mimi and now Mark? Yeah, OK, that was weird. Why hadn't he thought of that?

He did his best not to think about it again and pulled two mugs from the cabinet, setting them by the coffee mug.

"How d'you take your coffee?"

[toshiko_san]

"Sugar and milk, thanks," she'd opened the fridge, pulling out the remains of a cake. "It looks like someone even provided breakfast. That is, if you're up to more sugar first thing in the morning?"

Roger wasn't a devil, she reminded herself. He was Mark's best friend, and there'd been a time that they'd actually gotten along for more than a few minutes at a time.

[one__song]

"I... actually can't," Roger admitted, eying the cake against his better judgment. "Something about pills and sugar first thing in the morning." He shrugged and got the milk and sugar for Tosh, sliding it her direction on the table. He then took a seat of his own and took a spit of his- black, thanks- coffee.

"So uh... You wanted to talk to me?" The wince was in his voice.

[toshiko_san]

Tosh grimaced, the cake going back into the fridge before she sat at the table. "I'm sorry. I should have known."

"It isn't anything awful," and yet in that instant things had become awkward again. "I wanted to say thank you. I know we've not always gotten along, and now..."

[one__song]

"Don't worry about it," Roger murmured over her reply, genuine as it was, it was still shielded by miles and miles of damage, though it really had nothing to do with her. He didn't blame the people who didn't think about it every moment; hell, he envied them.

"'Thank you'?" Roger echoed, perpetually cold hands curling around the warmth of the coffee cup. He decided to let her finish, though, feeling like a dick for cutting her off when all she wanted was to be honest with him. "Sorry. Go ahead."

[toshiko_san]

"It's alright. I don't know- I've never been very good at this," she admitted after a moment, looking down into her cup as she spoke. "I like him Roger. I didn't expect this, and I'm not screwing about with this."

[one__song]

For many moments, Roger remained as he was, across the room from Tosh and leaning against the counter, eying her sidelong, suspicious. How could she just move on from Mimi like that? How, after she'd died loving Tosh could Tosh cast that aside for someone else? It seemed cruel, it seemed wrong. How could she justify forgetting like that?

But it wasn't forgetting and Roger knew that. Because he'd managed to do the same thing after April. And with the very same person.

He sighed and took a seat at the table, suspicion melting to something much warmer and in the empathy family.

"I know," Roger said, staring into his coffee cup. "I mean, I'd hope so. He... Well, Mark doesn't really fuck around at all." A fond smile graced his face. No matter who he was with, what course time took them through, he was still Roger's, and in no small way.

[toshiko_san]

His thoughts echoed her own. She sat up wondering how it was she could do this. What Mimi would have to say about it, what other people must think. It weighted on her heavily, and her only defence was that she truly cared about Mark, and how unexpected this had all been.

"I don't either," she said seriously, looking back up at him, "I won't make any promises, it's complicated, with Jackson, and with our pasts. But I wanted to tell you that. That he does mean a lot to me. It's something I never imagined."