I'm glad you guys liked the first part! Well, here's the next part. You'll get to see Roger and Collins drinking even more coffee, and the Mark/Maureen fight. God, how I love it.

Disclaimer: Nah, I don't own RENT, Jonathan Larson does, because he totally kicks ass.


Roger sipped his coffee. "Well. That went better than expected," he said, and Collins raised an eyebrow.

"Better than expected? Look, a half-sloshed Mark running around half-crying and half-yelling is not my idea of fun." Roger shrugged.

"Well...it was better than I expected." Collins became intrigued.

"And just what did you expect?"

"That they'd make up and I would never be able to sleep again." Roger sipped his coffee as Collins raised a weary eyebrow.

"Roger, I have a massive hangover. Don't fuck with my head." Roger chuckled.

"Honestly, I was hoping that everything would be okay. You know, that Mark would be too drunk too realize what was going on and all."

"Really? Did you actually dare to hope that Mark wouldn't recognize Maureen with a bunch of other practically naked people?" Roger met Collins's incredulous stare.

"Remember that time you had that dude over, and Mark was totally wasted and walked in on you guys?" Collins rolled his eyes.

"How could I forget? The boy was so drunk he though I had lost something and the guy behind me was trying to find it." Roger smiled.

"Exactly. Of course, since that time, Mark's developed a higher alcohol tolerance—"

"And who wouldn't with friends like us?" Collins grinned, and Roger nodded. "But, man, seeing him go crazy like that...I was surprised Maureen wasn't out the door."

"Well...all Mark managed to do was knock over a few pillows and probably annoy the people downstairs with all his stomping around. And after all that, he fell asleep on the couch," Roger finished, turning his head to glance at the passed-out film maker on the couch. "He didn't cause much havoc. Mark could never cause much havoc. It's Mark, for Christ's sake. The sweet little Jewish boy from next door."

"Well, now what?" Collins asked, also stopping to look at the sleeping Mark. "Maureen has broken his little heart, and is incidentally sleeping in your room."

"Which I would promptly like her out of," Roger replied, "because I never wanted the words 'Maureen', 'sleeping', and 'in my room' in the same sentence."

"So what are we going to do?"


What had happened the night before is that, after giving Roger murderous glares, Mark and Maureen then decided to have a huge argument.

"Pookie," Maureen said with a sheepish smile on her face, "I love you—"

"What?" Mark said. "You love me, but you're about to have sex with not just one, but TWO people? Cheat on me with TWO people!" He slurred his words together, and both Roger and Collins could see this wasn't going to be pretty. Mark drunk was a funny thing. Extremely funny, in fact. But Mark drunk who just saw something that would threaten his relationship was not. Maureen walked up to her boyfriend, smiling, trying to calm him down.

"Marky, now, just hold on—" He shook her hands off.

"No, no, I don't want to hold on," he said, waving his hands out and walking away from her. "I want these people to get out of my loft!" He pointed just to the left of them, and both people looked at each other skeptically. Were they really supposed to listen to this obviously wasted guy with the scarf on his head? "Out!" Mark yelled, stamping his feet. "Out of my LOFT!" The poor boy was making a complete spectacle of himself, but he didn't care. Roger, who was just sober enough to know that these people weren't listening, walked up, and picked up the mound of clothes that was on the floor next to these two strangers, and threw it at them.

"You heard him," he said, giving them the best glare he could manage at the moment. "Get out of here." The couple glanced at each other, glanced back at the other four, and then quickly went out the door.

The instant it was shut, Mark whirled on Maureen. "You. You cheated on me."

"I was about to cheat on you," she replied. "That's not the same thing." Anyone in their right mind could tell that Maureen was also very tipsy as well, being less inhibited with her words as she usually was with Mark. He pointed his finger at her.

"But you were just about to cheat on me! If I hadn't walked in here, you would have been cheating on me!" He paused. "In MY loft!"

"My loft, too," Roger protested, pouting in the corner. However, he quickly shut up with twin death glares from the angry couple.

"Well, I just wanted some excitement," she said. "Why are you such being such a square about this, Pookie! I just wanted a little fun!"

"I'm not being a square about this!" Mark yelled. "But you had to go and try and fuck people behind my back!"

"Ooh," Roger said quietly.

"What?" asked Collins as the battle raged on.

"Mark never uses 'fuck' to describe sex. He must be really mad," Roger slurred, and Collins nodded.

"You're right. He's serious."

"Jesus, Mark, it was just a harmless little screw!" Maureen screamed, hands on her hips.

"Yeah, but you're important to me!" Mark backed, starting to finally get to tears. "I mean, you're everything to me and then you just go have sex!" Pause. "For FUN!" He started knocking the pillows off the couch in a 'rage'.

"You take everything so fucking seriously, Marky!" Maureen screeched. "Sex isn't all that important!"

"It's important to ME!" he yelled, stomping his foot on the ground. "GOD. Don't go around sleeping with people!"

"Stop being such a bitch, then!" Maureen countered.

"Then you should stop being such a slut!" Mark threw, and all other three gasped. Mark had never insulted Maureen before, and never liked to say 'slut' to anybody ever.

"He must be really drunk," Roger said, nudging Collins.

"Bastard!" Maureen cried.

"Hussy!"

"BITCH!" And with that, Maureen stormed into Roger's room and slammed the door.

"My room!" Roger cried out.

"Why do you care?" Collins asked.

"Because I'm certainly not sleeping with Maureen tonight," he quipped, "and I'd like to sleep in my bed." Mark huffed up, and the two stared at him. "Are you finished?" Roger asked. Mark glared at him.

"No," he yelled. Mark stomped his foot, looked around, glared at Roger's door, glared at Roger and Collins, then passed out on the couch. Collins looked at Roger.

"Now he's done."


Collins and Roger had awoken the next day to find the couple still knocked out, sleeping soundly in their respected places. Actually, the two had thought Maureen had up and gone until they discovered otherwise. Collins was brewing coffee when Roger went in his room to get dressed...then he heard Roger shout from the next room. Collins rushed to the door. "What the fuck's the matter, Roger? Mark's still sleeping."

"She's still here!" Roger said, pointing to a hand visible from the comforter. "I was just about to get dressed when she rolls over! She scared the shit out of me! I thought she was gone," he said, glaring at the mass of Maureen and comforter.

"Ah, get dressed later," Collins said, gently shutting Roger's door behind him as Roger scampered out. "What's the deal, anyway? You don't hate Maureen, and I'm sure she's seen you in your skivvies before."

"Well, that was before she practically cheated on Mark, and no, Collins, Maureen's never seen me naked before," he huffed. Collins laughed.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Roger." Roger rolled his eyes and walked over to the counter, retrieving some coffee for himself. "So, what are we going to do with them?"

"Hope they have a massive memory loss because they drank so much alcohol and forget they ever fought in the first place." Roger sighed. "So much drama. I never cause this much drama with my girlfriends." Collins snorted. "What? I don't!"

"Well, let's just say you and Maureen can both be drama queens." Roger raised an eyebrow, and then sipped some coffee.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say I was a drama queen, Collins," he said. "Because I'm totally not."

"You keep on living that lie, Roger," Collins chuckled, "that you aren't a drama queen." Roger pouted while Collins laughed. Then, they heard Mark moan on the couch.

"The sleeping beast awakens from its slumber," Roger announced, taking a big swig of coffee.

"Yeah, screw you too, Roger," Mark muttered, looking over at his two friends at the table.

"Ah, the morning hangover anger," Roger murmured, grinning. "How it brings out the best in you, Mark." Mark glared at Roger but didn't respond to his taunting. Instead, he turned to Collins.

"What happened and what time is it?"

"It's about nine in the morning. Pretty early," Collins added, considered what time they usually woke up. "What do you remember from last night, Mark?" Collins asked, and Mark scratched his head.

"I vaguely remember getting into a fight with Maureen because she was about to have sex with two people." Mark watched Collins and Roger exchange looks, and then groaned. "Oh god. What else happened? What did I do?"

"You called her a slut and a hussy and couldn't believe she would 'try and fuck people' behind your back," Roger chirped, and Mark looked at his face in horror.

"I said that?"

"Yes, and Maureen stormed into Roger's room after that," Collins added, and Mark smacked his forehead.

"I can't believe I said that to her."

"Believe it," Roger quipped. "You also stamped your foot a couple times and threw some pillows around." He gave Mark a serious look. "Really, Mark, you need to stop rampaging around the house every time you get angry. Beat-up pillows, cracked floorboards, I mean, seriously." Roger dodged as Mark swung at him.

"Asshole." Roger drank his coffee.

"That's what I'm here for." Collins pointed to Roger's door.

"Last time we looked, Maureen was still sleeping in Roger's room—"

"Didn't I say something about never using those words in a sentence ever again?" Roger said, glaring at Collins, who merely laughed and got up from the table to put his coffee mug in the sink. Mark looked at the door with apprehension.

"She'll bite my head off."

"Or maybe she'll aim lower," Roger suggested, and Mark's face turned pale. Collins lightly smacked the guitarist on the back on the head. "Heey!" he yelped.

"I'm sure if you just explain things," Collins said, "everything will be fine. Maureen may be a little crazy at times, but I'm sure she'll listen to you." Mark sighed, finally taking his gaze off the door.

"Well, better sooner than later." He took a deep breath, and opened Roger's door, shutting it behind him quietly. Roger finished his coffee.

"I wonder if he knew he was still wearing the scarf around his head."


Heh. Next: Mark and Maureen talk, and April finally shows up! Hurrah!