Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I don't own any of these characters or RENT. It's all the property of Jonathan Larson.

After a few weeks, the loft was transformed into a place suitable for them to live in. Their dorm furniture decorated the loft and Maureen and April decided to give the living room a paint job, which covered up all of the stains. They cleaned up the place so that it didn't look as bad as it did. Benny took over the large storage closet as his "room", and a portion of the living room was curtained off as Collins' "bedroom" (he didn't mind giving up the room he originally had for one of the couples). April's drum kit and other instruments cluttered bits of every room.

They were sitting on the furniture when April realized something. "Um, guys, since our parents aren't paying anything for us considering they're all still fuming that we've dropped out, we all need jobs."

Maureen smiled. "Guess where I was today?"

"Um, clubs?" Roger sarcastically asked.

"No, silly! I auditioned for the midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show! They want me as Janet!"

"That's great, Mo! Congratulations!" April told her best friend.

"Okay, well, A and I will go gig hunting soon," Roger said.

"Mo! Were they still auditioning?" April suddenly asked, completely blocking out Roger's comment.

"Yeah! Why?"

"Give me the address. I'm going to audition! I can sing and Time Warp and act. It'll be a blast!"

"April!" Roger whined, "don't waste your talent on that shit!"

"Its money, Rog! I'll stop by there later."

Benny had news for his friends. "I'm actually going to finish out college here in the city, or maybe commute to Westchester. I've got to complete school."

Mark was confused. "I thought you hated college?"

"Yeah, I do. But it's easier to get a job with a college education."

The other four rolled their eyes. "Okay, I guess I'll work at some store or something," Mark suggested to himself out loud.

"Alright. It's settled then."

It turns out, April was cast as Magenta, so two out of the five of them had jobs.

Roger gig hunted but couldn't find anything. When April wasn't doing the show, she was practicing with Roger. One day during their practice, she became really upset. "Roger, we're good together, but we need a bassist. Drums and guitar isn't cutting it. It's not like we're in high school anymore, you know?We need someone who can write songs that don't have that stupid waltz in them."

As if on cue, Maureen burst in. She noticed the upset look on her friend's face and marched up to Roger. "What did you do to her?" she screeched at him.

"Nothing, Mo! You're always accusing me!"

"Roger, calm down! Maureen, I think we need a bassist to make our band really good."

She gasped and grinned. "You know Dave who plays Riff Raff in the cast?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"He plays the bass and writes songs!"

April looked at her boyfriend. "That's it! Then we can go play for clubs and stuff! There's always stuff in the papers needing real bands that don't sound like classical music electrified!"

He shrugged off the comment about classical music. "Alright, April. Get him in here."

The next day, Dave, who was this tall blonde who had this annoying tendency of saying the word "man" after most of his sentences, showed up at the loft with his bass. The three of them had a long jam session. April was beaming, and Roger kept throwing her approving looks.

"Dave," he asked, "how would you like to be in our band?"

"For the money, sure, man. And chicks dig guys who play in bands."

And that was the start of the new Well Hungarians. Roger booked them gigs at CBGB's, the Pyramid Club, and other local clubs. Before their first gig, backstage, Dave was shooting up.

"What are you doing?" Roger yelled at him.

"Smack. Good shit, man. You ever done it?"

He shook his head. "And I'm not planning to." But he was curious.

"Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, man. Live it up. Drugs make you fly, man. You'll love it."

Roger looked around cautiously, hoping that April wasn't looking. "Is it really that good?"

"You ever try pot?"

"Sure. Me and April used to smoke it a lot in school."

"Think of a pot-high a million times better, man."

He was tempted. It did sound pretty good. He used to love getting stoned, and this sounded even better. "Alright. I'll try it." Dave gave him the needle, already filled with white powder.

"Do exactly what I did. Just shoot it up, man."

He shakily held the needle and pressed it into his arm. He bit his lip at the pain of the needle penetrating his skin. But then he felt lightheaded, like he was on a cloud, floating on air. It made him feel relaxed, like all of his worries just went away. His heart began to race a million miles per hour as he started to see two of everything.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Dave asked, referring to the weird grin that had crept across Roger's face.

"Uh, what's going on?"

"You're high, man! It's great!"

He started giggling uncontrollably and his entire body tensed. Everything he saw blurred together.

"Roger? Roger? Speak to me! Are you okay? Dave, what happened? What'd you give him?"

"Nothing heavy, April baby. Just some smack."

"That's… that's heroin! It is heavy shit! Are you fucking crazy Dave? He's freaking out over here!" Roger passed out. "Now what do I do, Dave? He's out cold!"

"He'll be fine, babe. Let's go play."

She telephoned Mark and worriedly left Roger on the back couch for someone to come and get him. That night, April played the role of front woman, singing a bunch of songs that just sounded strange coming from a female. Dave played drums. The crowd surprisingly liked it. The minute the set was finished, April ran home as quickly as possible.

Roger was completely passed out, laying on the couch, with Mark nervously sitting next to him. "How is he?" she frantically asked, rushing to his side.

"Steady pulse. Collins said he'd be fine."

She sighed in relief. "Thank god!"

The two of them watched him all night and into the morning, joined by Maureen at around 4 A.M. At around noon, he came out of his previous drug state.

He blinked repeatedly as the light blinded him. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

April had contained her anger at him for giving in to temptation all night, and now was her time to explode. "You fucking idiot, Roger Davis! What the hell were you thinking, taking heroin? I thought you were smarter than that! Just because Hendrix and Cobain did heavy shit doesn't mean that you can do it too, asshole! Don't ever scare me like that! I thought you were going to go into a coma or die or something! Pot is one thing, but smack is in a totally different league! You could've died! That's the last thing I ever want!" she cried.

"Sorry, A. I didn't know what I was getting into. I guess I won't do that again."

"You better not!"

"Sorry…" he mumbled again.

"Okay, no more gigs for a long time. I can't let you be tempted by anything again."

"Fine. Whatever." He got up moodily and disappeared into the kitchen.

"What do we do, Mark? I can't watch him 24/7!"

"I know. No one can."

She put her head in her hands. "I'm so scared for him! Roger's got a really addictive personality. He was a huge pothead and drinker in college. I only made us both stop because all he'd do was get high and drunk! How is he going to be like with this?"

He put his arm around her. "It's okay. He'll get through it. We'll just be here to help him. He's not a baby."

"Yeah, well, a baby would be easier to watch."

There you have it! Please review?I didn't really like this chapter all that much, and I promise the next ones are better...And I'm sorry if I got the facts wrong while Roger was high (I've never been high, so I'm not exactly sure what you feel... I came up with that after researching the internet)... Okay, more to come: Roger breaks some promises (surprise surprise), and an appearance from another RENT character not previously mentioned. Also, something bad happens to April... 2 more chapters left.

Amanda: Thanks SOOO much for your reviews! I'm glad you liked that Rog and April hooked up in the first and second chapters.