Disclaimer: I don't own RENT. I also don't own any of the songs that are mentioned in this chapter.

Author's notes: This is the humorous chapter of this series of updates, it has very little plot. As in it doesn't have any. But next chapter will be a big plot development, so I'm not going to apologize. It's OOC, but I think I explained everything behind that in the last chapter. Thanks for the reviews.

Chapter Six

Collins was reading a very old newspaper in the loft. It had somehow escaped being burnt for heat over the years. It was late, and he was tired, but he stayed up, waiting for at least one of the permanent residents of the loft to get home safely. They had watched earlier as Mark had entered a seedy looking bar, just minutes after talking to Angel. This was concern enough for everyone. Roger had gone out a few hours later to find him, claiming that he wasn't about to let Mark lose himself like that.

So Collins was holding down the loft, because he had a feeling that the night would not end well; that the two would fight and at least one of them would end up in jail. This however was not the case.

The door was opening, and in came Roger, supporting a stumbling Mark. This was a reverse of what Collins normally saw. "A little help?" Roger asked quietly.

"I get by with a little help from my friends." Mark sang out off key. There was nothing quiet about his tone, as he started to stumble into a sorry excuse for a coffee table. "I get high with a little help from my friends."

Roger caught him quickly, and started leading him to the couch. "Hate to break it to you Mark, but you're not high."

Collins laughed as Roger forced Mark onto the couch. "Is he…"

"Completely and utterly hammered?" Roger suggested, quickly leaning up. "Yeah. I found him at Lola's."

This got Mark started again. "Her name was Lola…she was a showgirl!"

"And has he been doing that all night?"

"Uh-huh." Roger nodded, taking a seat next to Collins. "He keeps pulling random songs out of his ass. He has some interesting tastes in music."

"Woah-oh-woah! Listen to the music!" The crooning continued.

"He makes a very happy drunk." Collins observed quietly. "This is the most I've heard his voice in two weeks."

"Yeah, well, let's hope it lasts." Roger sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He's forgotten how much he hates me."

Collins looked for a moment to where Mark was in his own world dancing on the couch, and an idea came to his head. It's not that he would possibly want to take advantage of his friend, but this was a good opportunity. "Think we can get anything out of him about what happened?"

Mark heard this. "And oh, what happened then was rich! The house began to pitch, the kitchen took a … oh shit I can't remember the words." He giggled and started standing. "Roger!" He called out stumbling over.

"Oh son of a bitch." Roger muttered.

"Roger I can't remember the words." Mark sort of whined, grabbing onto his friend's shirt.

"Then I guess you'll have to sing something else." Roger pried Mark's hand off his shirt.

"But I wanna sing that one." At the end of his sentence Mark yawned.

Collins grinned. "Looks like it's time for somebody to get some sleep."

"Sleep in heavenly peace!" Mark got over his need to sing that particular song. "Sleep in heavenly peace!"

"Oh for heavenly peace." Roger's head went down to the table.

"I'll get him into bed." Collins volunteered, and he stood. "Come on Mark." He grabbed onto Mark's elbow.

"Come on people now, smile on your brother. Everybody get together, try to love one another right now."

"Yeah that's it Mark." Collins muttered. "Let's just get you to your room." Mark was stuck on this song until they got into the room. It was the messiest that Collins had ever seen it. Film canisters were scattered everywhere, clothes were put all over the floor. This was unlike Mark, he knew. It wasn't that Mark was an overly neat person, but normally there was a semblance of cleanliness. "OK, Mark, into bed."

"You." Mark pointed, tripping over a pile of clothes. "You are always trying to get into bed with me."

At this point Collins had a hard time keeping a straight face. "Another time another place Marky. Now get into bed."

Mark flopped onto the bed. "Collins, you've always been a great friend to me."

"I know." He started pulling the blankets up for his friend.

"And when I am elected King of this fine city, you shall be rewarded."

"How so?"

"You shall be allowed to bed me."

Collins finished with the blankets, and he had to laugh. "Mark, the last time I checked, you liked girls."

"And girls, just wanna have fun!" Mark started bouncing again in song. "Girl's just wanna have-…"

"Mark, Mark, Mark." Collins gently restrained him. "Settle down. It's time for bed."

"No. I said you could bed me after I became king." Mark protested quietly. "But sleep sounds good."

"Then go to sleep Mark." Collins readjusted the blankets that Mark had disturbed. "I'll see you in the morning." He started to turn around and put his hand on the light switch.

"Collins?"

"Yeah Mark?" He turned back.

"Could you tell Roger…" Mark paused as though he was thinking about what to say. "And you have to say this exactly as I say it, OK?"

"OK Mark." Collins agreed.

"Did you ever know that you're my hero? You're everything I would like to be. I can fly higher than an eagle. 'Cause you are the wind beneath my …" And then he passed out.

With another laugh and a smile Collins flipped the light switch and exited the room back to the kitchen table. "Man that boy is wasted."

Roger's head lifted up from the table. "I believe the correct term is shit faced. Did I just hear Bette Midler?"

"Oh yeah. Those were his feelings about you." Collins sat down. "But you missed his proposition to me."

"What?" Had Roger been drinking, it would have been spewed across the table.

Collins explained, and for a moment all either could do was laugh. The humor that had been missing for the past two weeks, if only for a night. Neither were about to let it slip through their hands. "I don't think I've ever seen him like this."

"I have. I took him out on his 21st birthday, determined to get him drunk and with his first woman. But I completely underestimated what he'd get like drunk, and he made a complete ass of himself."

"And he felt it in the morning didn't he?"

"Nope."

"What do you mean no? If the boy was half as smashed as he is right now than…"

"Mark doesn't get hangovers." Roger explained. "Lucky bastard."

"You mean to tell me that he can drink like that, and not have a headache or the need to throw up, or anything?"

"He won't remember a thing tomorrow, but yeah."

"Man, the one guy who never gets drunk..." Collins trailed off.

Roger sighed. And they had lost the humor. "Exactly. He never gets drunk. He's trying to forget or something, and you can't just ignore problems you have to deal with them."

Collins did a double take. "Do you have any idea how much like him you sounded, just now?" He stopped the joking at Roger's pointed look to him and didn't say anything for a moment. "You know, the Roger I know would care less about how Mark deals with his issues."

"Look, just because I've never been vocal about it…or whatever…that doesn't mean that I don't…"

"I get it man. And you're right. But you've got to look on the bright side for now."

"And what's that?"

"He was happy tonight."

"He won't remember that in the morning."

"But we will, and we are gonna get a hell of a laugh out of it."

There's this one. Thank you again for the reviews. I'll have the next chapter up soon. Remember, that's the one where we're actually going to develop the plot a little. Scary, I know.

So far, it's five votes for a happy ending, one vote for a sad ending, and one vote for a sad-happy ending. Please vote if you haven't already.