Untitled RENT fic

[Bongo]

Author: Me!

Fandom: RENT

Disclaimer: Not mine, deal with it.

Summary: There really isn't much plot, so saying too much would give it away. And the characters didn't really want to stay in character. Sorry about that.

RENT fic

It was early. It was really early. And yet despite the earliness they were faced with, Roger felt someone shaking him relentlessly. He didn’t know who it was, and wasn’t willing to open his eyes to find out, but he felt nothing but the utmost hatred for this person. “Roger?” The voice asked as it’s owner continued to shake him. “Are you awake?”

“No,” he croaked, attempting to burrow down further into his thin blanket. The loft was never warm enough for his liking, especially that early.

The voice wasn’t happy. “Come on,” it urged, “it’s time to get up.”

Resigned and annoyed, Roger pushed the blanket off of his face and squinted up against the sunlight to see Maureen straddling him on the bed. She grinned at him. “It’s about time,” she teased, climbing off. “We thought you were just going to sleep right through your birthday.”

“We?” he repeated curiously. She stepped aside to reveal the whole gang peering at him just on the other side of the door. Mark, Mimi, Joanne, and Collins. But one person was missing. One person he’d never see again.

Pushing that thought out of his head, he pushed his blanket off completely and prepared to greet his friends before remembering that he slept clad only in boxers. Blushing furiously, he usher Maureen out of the room and slammed the door, before pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in record time.

When he opened his door again, he saw that the main room had been decorated with cheap streamers and some gift wrapped boxes lay on the floor by the couch where Mimi was sitting. Everyone else was standing and sitting in various places in the room staring at him. “Hey everybody,” he said as he plopped down by Mimi, leaning in for a kiss. She enthusiastically obliged.

“Happy birthday man,” Collins said warmly as he leaned forward and clapped a hand on Roger’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” he nodded at his friend. Then he looked around at everyone, fully understanding at last why they were all there at this ungodly early hour. “You’re throwing me a surprise birthday party?”

Mark nodded. “It does appear that way, doesn’t it?”

“But why did you have to wake me up so early?” he whined.

“Early?” Joanne repeated, astonished. “You realize it’s already half-past eleven, right?”

Roger checked the clock on the wall, Sure enough, the numbers read 11:32. He had had no idea it was that late.

“We wanted to let you sleep,” Joanne continued, “but we didn’t want you to sleep through your whole party. So we drew straws to see who would go wake you up.”

“I won,” Maureen piped up.

“I noticed,” he replied dryly. He surveyed his friends again. They were still gazing happily at him. “So you wanna get this party started?”

“It’s not really a party,” Mark admitted. “More of an afternoon of presents and cheap beer.”

“But on the bright side, you get presents and beer,” Mimi told him.

“Two of my favorite things,” he smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

About two seconds later,” Maureen was already impatient and whining at him to stop kissing the girl and starting opening the presents. Mimi stuck her tongue out at her in a show of superior maturity.

“Open mine first,” Collins urged, pointing to a shiny green bag by Roger’s feet. He reached down and picked it up while Mark and Joanne went to the kitchen for beverages.

It was a package of new strings, in case his broke. A fairly inexpensive gift, but Roger knew Collins was having a hard time. The only one of them with money had been Angel. Joanne had money, but Roger didn’t really know her that well. Now Mark did too, but considering he paid the rent all by himself, Roger didn’t want anything from him. And he was pretty sure Mark knew that.

“They’re great,” he told Collins. “Now That I’m playing again they’ll be really good to have around. Thanks.”

“Here, catch.” A small gold box was chucked in the general direction of his stomach from Maureen. “It’s from me and Joanne.” Roger could see Joanne was itching to correct Maureen, and it amused him very much. Maureen must have seen it too, because she quickly corrected herself. “Joanne and I,” she amended.

It was a watch. “We probably should have gotten you an alarm clock though,” Joanne chuckled.

“No way.” He shook his head. “Alarm clocks are annoying. I like this, thanks.” He slipped it and Mark tossed him a beer.

“I found the perfect present for you,” he told Roger. “But then I remembered how annoyingly proud you are, so I just supplied the beer.”

Everybody chuckled. “It is good beer,” Roger told him, taking a hearty sip.

“Of course it is,” Mark said. “You think I buy bad beer?”

“You buy terrible beer,” Maureen told him. “This is absolutely disgusting. Roger’s just being nice.”

Mark sighed. “I know. Thanks Maureen.”

“My turn?” Mimi asked. Everybody nodded, and she grinned and hopped up. “Come on,” she ordered, tugging on Roger’s arm to get him up, “your present’s outside.”

“Mimi, you didn’t have to get me anything,” he told her, nonetheless putting his beer down standing up. She led him out the door, down the stairs, and out of the building.

“Ta-Da!” She beamed, gesturing to the gift she had gotten him.

“You got me a dog?” He stared at the small creature chained to the phone booth. “You got me a wiener dog?”

“known to some as a Dachshund,” she giggled. “a miniature long haired Dachshund.” She untied the dog and scooped it up. “Isn’t he cute?” she cooed, rocking the dog for a minute before holding him out to Roger.

“Adorable,” he agreed. The dog really was cute. It was tiny, smaller then most dogs he’d ever seen. A tiny ball of fur. However, a tiny ball of fur can be just as bad as a giant ball of fur, as his twitching nose was trying to tell him now. He quickly pressed the dog in the set of arms the reached for it.

“He’s just a puppy,” Joanne said in an uncharacteristic show of emotion. “He’s so cute!”

Maureen rolled her eyes. “You can’t keep it,” she told her girlfriend. Then she eyed Roger curiously. “Can you?”

Roger rubbed the bridge of his nose roughly as he glared at Maureen, willing her to keep her mouth shut. Mimi glanced at him curiously. “Why wouldn’t you be able to keep it?”

“Can we afford to feed it?” he asked, painfully aware of how much his voice shook as his nose itched liked crazy and his throat decided to join in on the fun. “I don’t know how much dogs cost.”

“We can feed it,” Mark told him, apparently having forgotten about Roger’s allergy as he didn’t catch on to what the musician was trying to do. “And we deserve him. It’s been a hard year.”

That much was true, but Roger was pretty sure he didn’t deserve this. The relentless itching was driving him crazy, and as much as he wanted to love the puppy for Mimi’s sake, this really wasn’t going to work. The itch migrated down his nose, making his nostrils flare out, and he realized he really didn’t have much choice anymore.

He took a deep cracking breath against his will, and barely had time to turn away from his girlfriend before succumbing to his long withheld sneezing fit. “HeAtchoo! Atchoo! KeEtschh! Achoo! Etchoo! KaEtchoo!”

“Are you okay?” Mimi asked worriedly, taking a step back from Roger subconsciously.

He nodded, but gave very little credence to the fact as he continued to sneeze. “Etchoo! Atchoo! Katchoo! Etcschh!”

He sniffled and rubbed his still itching nose into his shoulder. “Actually no,” he admitted. “I’m allergic to dogs.”

Mimi looked guilty, stepping up again and rubbing his arm. “I am so sorry,” she said. “I had no idea.”

“No one does,” he told her, rubbing his nose again as it continued to twitch slightly. “No one but Mark and Maureen. And apparently Mark forgot.”

“Sorry,” Mark shrugged. “But in my defense I remind you to take AZT. I can’t remember your entire medical history.”

“HeEtschh!”

“Maybe we should get you away from the dog,” Joanne suggested, tying the said canine back against the phone booth. He wagged his tail at her and yapped loudly.

Mimi put her hand on his arm and guided him back into the building as he started sneezing uncontrollably again. “Hetschoo! KaEtschoo! Achoo! Hetchoo!”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his itchy eyes to rid them of the allergic tears that had formed. When he could see clearly again, he noticed they were back in the loft. He smiled at Mimi apologetically. “I’m sorry,” he told her, “he really was cute.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him.

“Who’s gonna keep the dog?” Maureen asked.

Roger gaped at her. She was absolutely right, they couldn’t just leave the dog there forever.

“I’ll take him,” Collins offered. Everyone looked at him curiously, he wasn’t anyone’s idea of a pet man. “It’s been lonely at home,” he said quietly, “I could use the company.”

“He’s yours,” Roger promised. “What are you going to name him?”

“Angel.”

“See baby?” Mimi asked. “Everything will be alright.” She leaned in for a kiss, but the fur that had clung to her top irritated Roger’s still sensitive nose.

“Hetchoo! Atchoo! KeEtchoo!”

“I have a feeling Roger isn’t going to be visiting you any time soon,” Mark told Collins.

Collins grinned. “Then I’m taking all the beer!”

[tma]

Well I don't know the fandom- obviously I've Heard of it *haven't been living under a rock * but...

Anyway... I thought that it was very cute. I think that having Collins take the dog was a lovely finish.

Thank you for sharing this.

[Shay]

That was such a cute story, and I didnt' think the characters were too much out of character despite your disclaimer.

[Geist]

Awww, that was really cute! Although I'm not much of a RENT fan, I really did dig Roger.

This is off-topic, but I've tried to respond to that PM you send me like 5 times and it keeps telling me that your mailbox is full or that you have the option for PM's turned off.

Just wanted you know I wasn't ignoring your PM!

~Aku

[VoOs]

Oh, lovely story! I really like this one. Thank you!

[Guest HelloSexy]

thanks! that was great.