Are You Ok?
Disclaimer: RENT is owned by the Larson family not me
Warnings: None, may be a little too much angst here though
Notes: The couch is facing away from the door.
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"Are you sure there's something wrong with him"
"Yeah, it's been like this all morning...He's really starting to worry me"
"Well thanks for coming and getting us Mark." Angel, Collins and Mark jumped quickly up the last few steps leading to the loft.
"Mimi? It's me open up." Mark whispered through the door. He knew if Roger heard more people coming to try and help him, he'd leave. There hadn't been any cooperation with him up too now.
The door creaked silently open and Mimi smiled at them and gestured them in with her hand. "Has he said anything yet?" Mark inquired. "No..." Mimi replied worryingly, "He's just sitting there...quietly."
"Oh no honey, it's worse than I thought! Not even one tactless remark or crude joke about how loud my outfit is?" Angel cried.
"Shhh...no, that's why I told Mark to get you guys. Angel, you're so cheery all of the time maybe you could get him to feel better. And Collins, if he doesn't show any change after that...uh...you could use your teachers' logic on him and trick him into saying something." Mimi said.
Collins and Angel looked at each other and nodded. "All right," Collins said, "We'll see what we can do." Angels winked as she walked past Mimi toward the couch. "I'll do by best."she said.Angel crept up behind the couch, in heels, but she tried to keep it quiet. She cleared her throat readily and took a deep breath.
"Hello!!!! How's my favorite little rock star?"
Roger made no move toward the greeting. Angel came around in front of him and settled herself on Roger's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled up to him. "So... Mimi tells me you're a bit down sugar..." Roger continued to sit. "Well don't worry. Angel's here to help you baby. And if not... I'll sick the teacher on you." Saying this she leaned forward and purred into his ear. "Gr"
Angel leaned back and waited. Roger didn't move. "Ok this is pissing me off. That was my A material," She sighed. "I give up." Angel climbed off the couch and straightened up. She waved a hand toward Collins, "Get him boy."
"Ok Roger man it's you and me. So you wanna do it the easy way..." he punched his fist into his hand, "or do you wanna do it the hard way?" Collins was a sweetheart and nothing more than a giant teddy bear at nature, but he could be very threatening if he wanted to. And yet, Roger sat there, unmoving. This was making Collins look bad, and in front of Angel. "C'mon man, get up. Say something!!...please..." He frowned, defeated, and went to go slump against the wall. As Angel went over to comfort him, Mark stood up and placed himself directly in front of Roger.
"Roger," he said. "You are acting ridiculous and selfish. All of your friends are here trying to find out what's wrong with you, and all you do is sit there miserably. Really, way to go. If you were aiming on wasting all of our time today then..."
"Shut up."
Mark blinked, surprized at what he heard. "Roger?"
"I said shut up." Everyone around him stared. "I'm the one being selfish...a...and ridiculous." He was standing now, shaking and furious. "You, Mark, go around complaining about how horrible your life is and how you'll never be able to stand it when you get old and fat."
"Roger... I..." Mark started to say. " No," Roger continued. "You don't. You don't understand that while you're here...whining about how sucky your life will be when your 60-something, I will be dead by then." "I won't have grandkids. And if I do I won't know about them. I don't have to worry about pension because I won't need it. I'll be dead. Do you get it now?" At these last words he turned and stormed off into his room.
"Oh, baby." Mimi cried and followed him.
"Mark," Maureen questioned. "Are you ok?" Mark shook his head trying to make sense of all the things Roger had said. "Yeah I'm fine. You all should probably go now." No one moved at first but then Maureen and Joanne stood and walked toward the door, and Angel and Collins followed suit.
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"Hey honey?" Angel asked. "Yeah?" Collins said as he closed the door to their apartment. "About those things Roger said...well, do you ever worry about that kind of stuff?" Collins looked at her thoughtfully and replied "Of course I do. I think about our future all the time." Angel nodded. "Ok." "Why do you ask"
"Well..." Angel didn't quite know how to reply to this. "I was just wondering about it. Like what would you do if I ever got sick or hurt and it was all gonna be over soon." Collins smiled at her and came and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What else do you think I would do? I'd take care of you and watch over you as long as possible." They kissed briefly. "You really mean that?" Angel asked him. "Of course I do. But that's probably not gonna happen for a while. Now come on girl, let's get back to business"
"You're right." Angel said cheerfully. "We do have a lot of work left to do...and Halloween is in only 2 weeks!"