A/N: Background: postRENT, Angel Mimi, and Roger are dead from AIDS, Collins is depressed, Benny's done being an ass, and everyone except Maureen has pretty much forgiven him. I'm too lazy to write that all out in story format, so what the hell.
Disclaimer: Johnathan Larson owns RENT and its accompanying everythings. noooot me...:(
Maureen was shivering. She could swear she had never been this cold in her life. Fuck February. It wouldn't have been as bad if she had someone in bed with her to keep her warm, or even some triple cheese pizza, but no, she had to go fuck things up with Joanne.
For good.
Too much flirting, too much drinking, too much diva-ness, not enough commitment. Joanne had had enough and packed her bags and left.
To be honest, Maureen really didn't care that much. All she regretted was that she had no one to keep her warm. And to feed her inhuman sex drive.
Someone knocked on the door, and Maureen looked over at her alarm clock. 10:30 at night? Who the fuck would be out this late? She rolled back over in her and Joanne's queen-sized bed.
Her queen-sized bed.
But the knocking persisted. Maureen groaned and got out of bed, stumbling to the door. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "Go away you motherfucking son of a bitch! Let me sleep!"
She pulled the door open.
"How'd you know it was me?" Benny stood there, holding a suitcase and carrying a backpack. He did not look happy.
"Shit," Maureen swore. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
He looked at the ground uncomfortably. "IdecidedtoleaveAllisonandihavenowheretogo."
"What?"
He took a deep breath and said more slowly, "I left Allison and I have nowhere else to go."
"Why the hell would you want to stay with me?"
"Because…"
"Why can't you stay at the loft with the boys?"
"They wouldn't take me."
"I'm shocked. Why the hell should I take you?"
"They said Joanne left you and I thought you might be lonely!" Benny said, all in a rush.
Maureen stared at him. "What?"
"I thought you might be lonely," he said. "And I don't have anywhere to go, so…"
Maureen kept staring at him for about a minute, trying to decide if he was serious. "Fine, I guess, if you wanna stay here until you find a place…as long as you pay for heat. It's the Ice Age in here."
"No prob," Benny said, carrying his suitcases in.
"Um…I guess I'll order a pizza."
Several hours, pizza slices, and wine bottles later, Maureen and Benny decided to watch "Rear Window". Maureen popped the cassette into the VCR and settled down on the couch. Benny sat down on the other end as there was no other place to sit. When the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion appeared on the screen, he roared along with it, and Maureen started laughing uncontrollably.
"You're drunk, Mo," he said, smiling.
"So are you!" she laughed, and opened another bottle of wine.
By the movie's climax, Maureen was lying across Benny, who had his arms wrapped around her, her head on his chest. James Stewart was about to confront Thorwald, and Maureen tensed up when the man started advancing across the room toward him.
"You've seen this a million times, Maureen," Benny whispered into her hair.
"I know," she whispered back, and lifted her head to look into his eyes.
Benny's breath caught in his throat. He had never taken the time to look in her eyes, or even look at her at all. But the stunning, enchanting green seemed to swallow him whole, and he felt a tightening in his pants.
Maureen must have felt it too, because she shifted on top of him and brought her face closer to his. Slowly, she brought her lips to meet his. She closed her eyes in anticipation, when Grace Kelly started screaming at James Stewart being pushed out of the rear window. Benny and Maureen both jumped apart and looked at the screen.
Mo couldn't help it; she started laughing. She was lying on top of Benny, Benny of all people, about to kiss him, and a man in a wheelchair was being pushed out of a window by a crazy wife-murderer.
Benny started laughing as well, and Maureen lay back down on his chest. Within minutes, she was sound asleep.
The movie finished, the credits rolled, and the tape stopped. Benny looked down at the sleeping Maureen on his chest.
"Mo," he whispered, shaking her gently. "Maureen. Wake up."
"Umph," she mumbled incoherently.
"Mo, where's the guest bedroom?"
"Wha- what guest bedroom?" Her voice was still groggy from sleep. "We only have one bed."
"Where am I going to sleep?" asked Benny.
Maureen sat up, suddenly wide-awake. She straddled Benny's waist, a deviously diva-ish plan forming in her mind. She could still feel his arousal through her jeans.
She bent down over his chest so that her hair hung over them like a curtain, her lips brushing his earlobe as she whispered seductively, "You could sleep in my bed."
Benny grinned; he liked where this was going, so he wrapped his arms around her waist.
Maureen pulled back a little, smiling. "You cold?"
Benny nodded. "Warm me up?" he said.
She grinned like a Cheshire cat. Bait, line and hook, she thought to herself.
My first RENTfic!!
Might be a oneshot or I might continue it, if anybody reads it….and if you read it, you have to review it or I will be very sad :(
SO GO REVIEW!!! pwetty pwease? just an eensy teensy little something? three words:)
