i am udpating this! yay! and if you don't get a reference in this, just check the note at the bottom.

"Oh! Roger! Um…so…nice to see you," Mimi stammered. Angel rolled her eyes.

"What's up, Roger?" she asked. He sighed and leaned on the wall, scratching his neck.

"I just got out of the weirdest fic…you know when little kids insert themselves into fics and then make out with me or Maureen or whoever until their parents catch them writing? Well, I had one of those. A guy. A twelve year old guy. A twelve year old guy with—" He winced. "—hormone insecurity."

"Ooch," winced everyone else. Joanne shrugged.

"At least he wasn't Mark." Roger half-laughed.

"Yeah, there's always that. At least he's not Mark. Hey, speaking of Mark…" He drew a rolled-up piece of pink paper out of his pocket and tossed it to Angel. She caught it and unrolled it tentatively. She read the few lines on it, then groaned. Mimi leaned over her shoulder and read the note aloud.

"MARK, ANGEL, JOANNE, MAUREEN for NEW BEGINNINGS. Summary: As a new couple, Mark and Angel seek Joanne and Maureen's help to understand their relationship. Rated T for language and touchy-feely stuff. Collins bashing, not for CollinsAngel shippers." Mimi patted Angel sympathetically on the shoulder. "It's okay, hon. It's only…um, six chapters." Angel looked pale. She buried her face in her hands.

"I can't do it, I can't do another Mark/Angel fic, I just can't..." she moaned. Joanne laughed slightly.

"At least Maureen will be happy that it's a MoJo fic and not Mark/Joanne. Damn, Mark's been busy today. Has anyone seen him outside of a fic at all?" Roger shook his head.

"He spent all morning screwing Meg Giry and random chorus girls in that Phantom of the Opera crossover. That Raoul guy is so gay, it's not even funny…why Christine doesn't dump him on his ass and just hook up with the Phantom is a mystery to me." Mimi glared.

"They're cute together!" Angel sighed and stood up, brushing down the front of her shirt.

"Jo, we have to go. If I don't leave now, I'm not going to be able to stop myself from hiding under the couch." Joanne nodded and went out the door, followed by a hangdog Angel. Roger took her place on the couch.

"Alone at last," he said in a low voice. Mimi rolled her eyes.

"That's Angel's line," she reminded him. Roger frowned.

"From what fic?"

"From the play, you idiot. God, I can hardly remember the thing now myself," Mimi said sadly. Roger shrugged.

"What do you expect? The movie came out on DVD and squished the play into the ground. Now my hair is only short in fics written by old fogies who're mad that 'Christmas Bells' was left out of the movie. And even they're forgetting the play. I mean, how long has it been since you weren't a in a fic MaureenJoanne that mentioned Maureen and Joanne's engagement party? Or a New year's fic that didn't use Angel's really long, swishy Pussy Galore wig, instead of the short one?" he asked with one eyebrow raised. Mimi sighed.

"We'll always have the memories. And anyway, we are alone now…" Roger grinned and pulled her into his lap.

Just then, Benny said angrily, "Hey! I am still here, you know!" The two of them ignored him. Benny ground his teeth together and then glared up at the author. Said author loomed overhead, contentedly drinking a soda.

"Why do they not notice me? WHY DOES NO ONE EVER NOTICE ME??!!" The author sighed and patted Benny on the head.

"Silly Benny. They never notice you because you're a mean character. You're grouchy and you make them pay rent, so they just forget about you in the grand scheme of things. Plus, all us writers can't use you for any happy fluff fics, so you're pretty useless. Now go back to the coloring book." The author smiled and pushed Benny back towards his book. Benny humphed.

"Can I at least leave so that I don't have to watch that?" he asked, motioning at Mimi and Roger. The author sighed.

"Fine. Go molest the Harry Potter people; I'm fed up with them anyway. The last book depressed me…" The author lapsed into a moody silence as she pondered the exact meaning of the word "Animagus" and Benny slipped away.

It was a little while before anyone else entered the RENT dressing room. When the door opened again, it was Collins, rubbing his face with a paper towel that on closer inspection proved to be a page from the Wicked Grimmerie. He seemed to be wiping nail polish off his nose. Roger and Mimi disentangled their lips long enough to realize he was there and greet him.

"Hey, Collins. Fluff fic?" Roger asked, spying the nail polish. Collins laughed dryly.

"I think you know these fics all too well, Rog. However, no, it wasn't an Angel or Mark or whatever fluff fic this time. Those crazy-ass monkeys from the Wicked guys went berserk and started flinging stuff from their dressing room at me. The mail polish bottle just sorta exploded." He shrugged ruefully and wiped at his nose again. "I figured they might as well lend me something to clean up with." He held up the page. Mimi and Roger grinned.

"What kind of fic have you been in, then?" Collins went and sat in Benny's vacated chair.

"Nothing big, just a little narrative about Angel and all. Not badly written, for once. Speaking of Angel, where is she? And where's everyone else as well?"

"Doing a Mark/Angel fic," Mimi told him. Collins ground his teeth together.

"I hate those. And hasn't Mark been screwing since this morning? The least they could do is give the little guy a break." He crossed his arms. Mimi smiled.

"I think you two are so cute. After all, you are the only canon pairing who like each other for more than just…well, you know." To demonstrate what she meant Roger buried his face in her neck. Collins rolled his eyes and looked away.

"That's because we actually take the time to talk sometimes. It's not all tonsil hockey. Mostly, but not all. That's the thing with both of you." Mimi giggled and squirmed, all the while making sure that Roger was in no way impeded in his activities.

"We do talk…we just don't care about what we say." And with that, she turned her attention Roger. Collins groaned and glanced at Benny's abandoned coloring book.

"I'm not that desperate for something to do," he muttered. But after a few moments of listening to the slurping sounds coming from the couch, Collins shrugged and said to himself, "Ok, I was lying." He picked up a green crayon and started on the torso of Angel's shirt in the La Vie Boheme scene.

weeeee! anyhoodle, reference for those who might possibly not know: the Grimmerie is a magical spell-book from Wicked. just so y'all know. and for an added bonus, here is a tidbit. mentioning the word "Animagus" and the last Harry Potter book is significant to happenings in said book, more specifically Dumbledore's wellfare.

see if you can get it.