A/N: Aannnnndd we land on chapter 2. Where is this going, you may ask me? I have no idea, I will answer. Still, it's a really fun fic to write so far. Enjoy, and for the love of god, REVIEW! Roger will go all angsty again if you don't. True story. What can I say, he depends on those reviews.

Little got done in the way of new material in the time that followed. Other than deciding that they were branching out and doing more RENT, Will had just been waiting in tense anticipation of Sue for almost a week now. He had seen Sue in the hall several times, but she had never shown any indication that revenge was at hand. He was beginning to think she wouldn't even bother.

That is, until she ordered him to call the club to the auditorium on a Tuesday afternoon, giving him no other clues as to what she was planning besides "have them ready to...perform, or whatever it is they do."

He was honestly not sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't Sue walking in with a crowd of eight people that looked vaguely familiar. They made their way to the front, and sat down on the stage. A very made-up woman and a man with a white knitted cap immediately fell into seats side by side, as did an African-American woman and another woman with long, dark hair. A blond man clutching a camera sat on his own, beside another man with long blond hair, holding a young Hispanic woman on his lap. Will searched for their names in his mind, and it came to him just as Sue began her introductions.

"Glee clubbers. I hear you are pathetically attempting to cover Rent this week. Thought I'd lend a hand and help out. You may recognize these fine people in front of you, but seeing as how you are teenagers, and therefore wildly uncultured, I'll let them make their own introductions."

The man with the cap waved. "Tom Collins, how's it going guys?"

"Pussy Galore, in person," the made up woman giggled, before sobering and introducing herself as Angel.

"Mark Cohen."

"Joanne Jefferson and Maureen Johnson."

"I'm Mimi Marquez. This is my boyfriend, Roger Davis."

The man lifted a hand in greeting, wrapping the other around Mimi's waist.

They seemed to be a perfectly normal bunch even if they were dressed a bit oddly for a school presentation. Roger was dressed in jeans with a chain hanging off the pocket and a leather jacket, and Mimi wore a tightly fitting black shirt, a multi-coloured miniskirt and fishnet stockings.

Will walked up to Sue.

"Sue, what is this?"

"What's the matter, William, is your hair product seeping in and destroying what I can only guess is the remnants of the spider webs that once passed for a brain?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Who are these people?"

Sue mock-dropped her jaw at him. "These, my dear William, are who your Glee clubbers are pathetically trying to emulate. These are the originals."

"The originals?"

"Did you not hear their introductions?"

Will's brow furrowed...they couldn't be...these were the people the kids were playing?

Sue's smug smile spoke for itself, and Will had to turn away, his head spinning. The kids were confused also. Sue was looking more and more pleased every minute, while the guests just looked uncomfortable.

Silence reigned for several minutes, until the blond man, Mark, finally spoke up.

"Soo...are we doing this or not?"

Will cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry, but we're all still a little confused. Who are you guys, first of all, and what are you here to do?"

Angel leaned in and whispered in Collins' ear, and they both giggled.

"I mean," Will continued. "Are you guys actually the characters the kids are playing?"

More giggling from Angel and Collins. "Not so much characters honey. Those songs are our lives. And to answer your other question, we're just here to play a little music and make sure your guys know what to do with these songs."

"Hold it," called Puck. "So that guy is the actual Roger Davis?"

Will's head was spinning as he gave a brief nod to Puck.

"And he actually has..."

"What, HIV?" Roger grinned. "Yep, that's me right here. Every day, one step closer on the road to AIDS."

Questions raced through Will's head. These people were the actual...how did Sue find...how did she convince them to come...when...why...

Finally, Will could take it no more. The situation needed to be simplified.

"You guys are here to show the kids some of your songs?"

Mimi snorted. "Those aren't kids. When I was sixteen I had already dropped out, moved to New York and started at the Cat Scratch."

"Mayybbbee not the best place to mention that, Meem." Joanne cut in, among the various sniggers around the room.

Will sighed. Not exactly inspiration to stay in school. "So do you guys want us to perform first, or you?"

Collins leaned back in his seat. "We're here to help you guys. Show us what you got first. What's the first song you guys are doing?"

This, as Rachel saw it, was clearly her opportunity to cut in. "First, we've chosen the rock-based opening number, Rent, as a precursor to the rest of the musical's songs regarding financial woe and medical uncertainty."

The guests chuckled at her eagerness, and Maureen laid her hand on Rachel's shoulder. "We lived it, honey. We know it."

Face reddening slightly, Rachel sat back down. Finn squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Alright, our first song, Rent. Puck, Finn, get up here, you guys are Mark and Roger. The rest of you are the people of tent city. Get up here, let's do it!"

The glee club jumped up, and Finn and Puck ran to the forefront. The rock beat started, and Finn obligingly began spinning around, pointing the faux-camera at various pieces of scenery.

(Out of the corner of his eye, Roger noticed Mark clutching his camera a little closer, and smacked him on the arm)

How do you document real life

When real life's getting more like fiction each day

Headlines, breadlines blow my mind

And now this deadline, eviction or pay

Rent!

On the song went, with the bohemians scrutinizing the teens. Will had decided that since they could clearly not use real fire to drop, they would just have to settle on red pieces of paper.

How do you stay on your feet

When on every street, it's trick or treat

And tonight, it's trick

(As it turned out, Matt was a decent singer, although he seemed at a loss to deal with the fake blood they had smeared on him, and was more than a little uncomfortable with singing songs with Kurt)

Throughout the song, the boys narrated, running around the room and throwing papers in the fake fire. Some of them actually hit Mike, who was playing Benny, after Artie had said that for once, he'd rather be in the chorus and Tina, in a show of solidarity, had agreed to be one of Mimi's...backup dancers.

Draw a line in the sand

And then make a stand

Mike's singing voice had come a long way since his dancing days, and Will could now say with confidence, he was worthy of moving up from the chorus.

So wrapped up in the number, Will barely noticed when the music drew to a close, and Finn and Puck sat down on the stage, panting.

The bohemians, who had been watching the number closely, applauded loudly, eliciting grins from the boys.

"Thoughts?" called Mercedes, who, much to her chagrin, had not gotten a part, but Will had promised her and Tina the female leads in every chorus.

Biting his lip, Mark looked at Roger, who nodded back at him. Roger disentangled Mimi from his lap and he and Mark went up and sat on the stage, Collins joining them as an afterthought.

"Really kickass, guys." Roger stated. "The fact that you guys can do that in high school is really cool."

The boys' faced dropped a little. "But..." Finn probed.

Mark looked at Collins. "But...how do I put this...where's the fire?"

Finn's brow furrowed. "Dude, we couldn't use real fire. Mr. Shue said we'd, like, burn down the auditorium."

Roger and Collins stifled chuckles.

"No, I mean...where's the passion in what you're singing about? Think about it, man...we're dirt poor, we literally don't have two pennies, forget about rubbing them together, and this guy we thought was one of us is going to kick us out to live on the street."

"Yeah, you guys sounded like you were telling us a story, which is great, but it needs to be more than that. This is our whole life. We've been getting eviction notices for years, but now Benny –" Roger stopped to glare at Benny here – "is going to wipe out the entire tent city."

Puck cleared his throat. "So we should..."

"Try it with some passion." Collins looked around the room and signalled to the band.

"Like this."

The music started again, only this time, Roger, Collins and Mark jumped onto the stage.

As the music pounded, Roger and Mark circled around each other, arms thrown up in defiance, shouting out the lyrics. When Benny sang his part, they circled down and sneered at him.

Roger picked up an empty garbage can lying around the stage, and each picked a random piece of paper.

The music ignites the night

With passionate fire Mark complimented Roger, throwing the paper headlong into the garbage.

Roger nodded graciously, looking down at his paper/

The narration sparkles and pops

With incendiary wit he responded, his paper too tossed in the fire.

The glee club watched in fascination as the bohemians continued. By the end of the song, they were shouting at Benny in rage, their faces contorted as they gave all they had to the music.

By the time they were done, the men were panting as well, but flopped down in their seats with smiles on their faces.

"Kind of like that," Collins grinned.