OK! I have had this idea for YEARS and I just now got it finished! SO HAPPY! I am a HUGE fan of RENT and of Eraman, so I absolutely freaked out making the connection between the lyrics of "Tango Maureen" and Eraman's character Justine for the first time. As you'll notice, all the spoken dialogue in Mitch's dream sequence is word-for-word the lyrics of Jonathan Larson's brilliant song, with there only being a few places where I needed to edit a word or two, mostly just changing 'Mark' and 'Austin', 'Joanne' to 'Mitch', and, of course, 'Maureen' to 'Justine'. Hopefully those of you who are familiar with both Larson and Eraman will agree it fits!

Thank you to Eraman for helping me make sure these were true to character (Originally I had Mark Cohen=Austin or Mark Connors and Joanne=Mitch... it was weird.) I am so happy you approve of this!

And now, without further ado, onto our story!

"OK! Here you go baby boy!" Justine said, passing her partner in crime a pair of scissors.

She and Mitch were cramming to prepared for their first BIG magazine shoot the coming weekend, and Justine was kicking herself for showing up at the studio late today and not doing more of the work ahead of time, leaving so much last minute stress for her and her bestie. She swore she'd try to be more punctual and do more planning ahead next time so she and Mitch didn't have to work down to the minute, but that didn't exactly help them now. In this moment, she and her sweet little lightweight were running on 7 cups of coffee and 4 hours of sleep each, drawing inspiration from the RENT soundtrack blasting in the background.

Mitch giggled, "Thanks darling! I feel like I'm buzzing right now...though...I don't know if it's a good buzz of excitement or a bad buzz from nerves."

"I know Mitchie." Justine came over to him, "I feel the same...though, I'd guess that it's likely mostly from all the caffeine flooding through our blood streams. Don't worry. With your metabolism, it should all be out of your system by tomorrow morning...though you're gonna have one HELL of a crash..."

"Hey! Justine! Mitch!" Logan Smith called across the room. The Warbler was there as their photographer for the shoot. "Take a break and get over here! You GOT to see this tabloid trash about you! It's HILARIOUS!"

The two designers giggled. They'd seen their fair share of magazine shit about them since they'd started to gain a following in fashion. Thankfully both of them had fairly thick skins to gossip now, and generally they found immense entertainment in the absurd things people came up with.

"Don't tell me..." Mitch called back, "Something about how Justine and I are MADLY in love and using our relationships with Austin and Nathan to hide our insane sexual tension from our fans?"

"That was last week!" Avery, another one of their friends from Parsons, called from the other side of the room, "And after the ANGRY voicemails the editor got from Nathan and your parents threatening to sue slander, I DOUBT anyone is gonna be saying that for a while."

Mitch blushed as the entire room cackled. "I swear...if I didn't love that man so much I'd MURDER HIM!"

Justine giggled, "Oh! I got it! Is it about me being some sort of seductress having affairs with all the models hired to walk last month's show?"

"No way!" Logan snorted, "THAT would trigger a rare temper tantrum from YOUR POOKIE, and as the warblers know from all the Jesse drama, and half of New York learned when your mama tried to claim connections after you guys started getting success, HELL hath NO fury like Austin Diaz's scorn!"

Justine shot him the finger, "Shut up! I only ever called him Pookie ONCE, and that was as a JOKE! And enough with this guessing! What does it say?"

"First one," Logan chuckled, "is citing an 'anonymous source' saying they've worked with y'all in the past and that Justine is, and I quote, 'an out of control diva, requiring ridiculous pre-show rituals to be of stable temper, who will go of on random angry tangents if the slightest thing is out of place'. Um...wow. THAT is a far stretch from reality..."

"I don't know..." Avery teased, "Justine can be a LITTLE high maintenance..." He laughed and ducked as the girl threw a spool of thread at his head, "not to mention temperamental!"

"You speak falsely, you rogue!" Mitch defended, giggling, "My lady is of the lowest of maintenance and the evenest of temper!"

"Thank you darling!" Justine smiled, kissing his cheek.

Logan chuckled, "Ok! number two...is claiming one of you two is going to be making a cameo replacing Joseph in Austin's next big dance competition"

Justine snorted, "And I'm GUESSING, based of your laughter, it's not ME, meaning it's MITCH, making it even MORE ridiculous."

Logan nodded, cackling.

"Hey!" Mitch defended, "I can dance!"

"I know you can baby." Justine crooned, "But the idea of YOU tangoing with MY boyfriend...ya...THAT is a mental picture"

Mitch had to admit that it was, and soon they were all laughing. Just then, the power went out, shutting down all their equipment and leaving the designers and their friends in the relative darkness.

"Ah shit!" Avery cussed "Not again!"

"Seriously?" Logan scoffed "Didn't your building manager say he'd hire someone to fix this A MONTH ago!?"

Mitch sighed, "Yes, but I don't think he's called any sort of electrician or engineer yet, meaning Justine and I are stuck either waiting for it to flip back on by itself or asking friends who know somewhat better than we do what they're doing to come and patch it for us."

"Lots of nights freezing our butts off working late after the heater craps." Justine said, "This is why we have a savings account to get the hell out of this place! We started renting it when we were on a college student budget, and I guess you get what you pay for. NOW, we are adults and need an ADULT level studio that doesn't SUCK on ICE!"

Mitch sighed, getting up and going to the circuit breaker. "I'll try to fix it."

"Mitch," Avery whined worriedly, "Are you sure that's a good plan? I mean, electricity and wiring can be tricky and dangerous business for EXPERTS, and you don't exactly know what your doing, NOT to mention you're so sleep deprived you're running on caffeine fumes, AND you can't see anything very well in the dark."

"Ya." Justine agreed, "Why don't we just call Austin? He and Joseph had to do something like this just last week in that crappie artists apartment they've been staying in."

Logan nodded in agreement, "We can wait for him to come fix this and work by flashlight till he gets here."

"No!" Mitch said firmly, "We can't. We NEED the machines and the lights in order to keep our deadline. With no power, we'll be slowed WAY down. Besides, as Justine just said, we are ADULTS! We should be perfectly capable of handling minor issues on our own WITHOUT calling our boyfriends to save us. I can do this myself."

"Mitch..." Justine warned, coming after him.

"Look! I've watched our friends fix this a hundred times." Mitch said, opening the fuse box and reaching in, "Line..in...line...OW!"

Mitch screamed as his hand accidentally brushed a live wire. There was a spark and the lights shot to life...at the same moment flew Mitch backwards across the room.

"MITCH!" He heard Justine screaming his name, though it sounded far away. As he vision blurred and started to black, he saw her terrified face appear over him. Then...he was unconscious.

It was midwinter. Mitch was in a warehouse, wearing a designer jacket that did NOTHING to keep out the cold, bent over the electronic light and sound equipment for his and Justine's latest fashion show. Justine was supposed to be there 3 hours ago. As was the technical engineer he'd hired to run the show. However, both of them were inexplicably missing, leaving Mitch screwed on ice to figure this shit out on his own. He'd know what he was doing IF he could just follow the instructions in the manual, but one of the damn cables for the sound system was defectively cut too short to reach from in-port 'I-don't-know' to out-port 'I-don't-give-a-crap'. He'd talked to Justine earlier, and she had suggested they just call Austin to help. Mitch knew she was right, because Austin DID know how to do this sort of thing, but he still told her explicitly NOT to call him. While Mitch didn't consider himself at all insecure or the jealous type, he was still not comfortable with asking his girlfriend's ex for help.

Yes...Justine was his girlfriend now. How the hell that had happened nobody really was quite sure, but it had. They'd been together for a few months, and while Mitch loved the girl DEARLY, he was starting to wonder how the hell Austin and her had stayed together so long. Had she ALWAYS been this a high-maintenance, or was Mitch just only really seeing it NOW when he was the one that had to bend over backwards to please her? Either way, he couldn't figure out how someone as calm and rational as Austin had dealt with the loveably spontaneous fire cracker that was his Justine. Maybe opposites really do attract sometimes. Either way, they had broken up. Now she was Mitch's girl, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Though...he would admit that he did sometimes miss the simplicity he'd had when he was with Nathan...

Mitch was so wrapped in his thoughts, he didn't hear the door open and shut. He was startled from his revelry by a throat clearing behind him. He turned to face the last person he expected...or for that matter, WANTED to see. "Austin?!" He asked in shock, looking the man up and down.

Austin stood there awkwardly, dressed in a simple, warm woolen coat and a scarf Ma Trixie had knitted him for Christmas. He clutched to his latest notebook with one arm, waving sheepishly with the other. "Hey" he said pathetically.

Mitch sighed in exasperated defeat. He knew EXACTLY what had brought the writer to this disheveled, freezing old warehouse. "I told her not to call you."

Austin chuckled softly and shook his head, "That's Justine, but can I help since I'm here?"

Mitch bristled slightly at the offer. He knew Austin was just being nice, but he didn't WANT his help. He was perfectly capable on his own WITHOUT his girlfriend's ex's getting involved! He stood up as tall and straight as he could and looked Austin dead in the eyes. "I've hired a engineer." He said calmly, with all the bravado and confidence he could muster.

Austin looked around and saw no one but Mitch. He smiled fondly. Oh, how often had he been in THIS position before! He nodded to Mitch. "Great!" he turned around.

Mitch bit his lip hard and looked around. He had NO CLUE what he was doing, and at this point the engineer was likely not coming at all. Austin was his best chance at figuring this shit out...and he'd just sent him away. Should he tell him to wait? No! He couldn't admit defeat! But...if he didn't get this done in time, all of the work he and Justine had would be for nothing. He couldn't do that to his lover...or to himself.

Austin SLOWLY startled walking away, waiting for Mitch to call him back "Well, nice to have..."

"Wait!" Mitch cried, stopping him in his tracks.

Austin turned, arms crossed and eyebrow cocked, waiting to hear Mitch admit he needed him.

Mitch groaned, swallowing his pride. "She's three hours late!"

Austin didn't know if Mitch meant the engineer, Justine, or both. At this point, it didn't matter. He smiled warmly and put his notebook down on a nearby table. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work on the equipment.

Mitch sighed in relief that SOMEONE knew what they were doing. He stood by Austin and started explaining the issue. "The samples won't delay, but the cable..."

Austin hummed and nodded, seeing what he was talking about, "There's another way.." He gestured over his shoulder to the tiny little DJ booth, "Say something...anything!"

Mitch went over into the booth and spoke into the microphone "Test - One, Two Three..."

Austin snorted, trying not to laugh at Mitch. Really? Dude was a fashion designer and he couldn't be a LITTLE more original?! He looked back at Mitch. "Anything but THAT!"

Mitch rolled his eyes at Austin. He looked around him, silent for a moment or two. "This is weird..." He mused finally.

Austin nodded in agreement, "It's weird."

Mitch huffed slightly, feeling his frustrations growing inside, "Very weird..."

Austin chuckled slightly under his breath, sensing where this was headed, "Fuckin' weird!"

Mitch let out a a little cry at the back of his throat before storming out of the booth and FINALLY letting loose the exasperated rant that had been building for the past few hours. "I'm so MAD that I don't know what to do!" He gestured to the DJ booth "Fighting with microphones!" He shivered and wrapped his coat tighter around him, "Freezing down to my bones!" He glared at the back of Austin's head "And to top it all off, I'm with YOU!"

Austin smiled softly. He wasn't offended. He had the feeling he knew EXACTLY where Mitch was coming from here. He didn't even turn away from his work as he spoke, "Feel like going insane? Got a fire in your brain? And you're thinking of drinking gasoline?"

Mitch froze as Austin put into words EXACTLY what he was feeling. "As a matter of fact..."

Austin laughed and stood up, wiping his hands on his pants, "Honey, I know this act!" He turned and face Mitch, looking his dead in the eyes before sliding into a latin dancing pose. "It's called the 'Tango Justine'."

Mitch cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at Austin. No! He and Austin could NOT have the same relationship with Justine. They were SUCH different people. There was no way!

Austin saw this and smirked. Oh he knew all too well! He walked almost seductively towards Mitch, teasing his warbler brother a little, trying to make him see. "The 'Tango Justine'! It's a dark, dizzy merry-go-round! As she keeps you dangling..."

"You're wrong!" Mitch argued.

"Your heart she is mangling..." Austin continued on.

"It's different with me!" Mitch tried to defend.

Austin smiled softly, KNOWING he was hitting home here "And you toss and you turn, because her cold eyes can burn, yet you yearn and you churn and rebound!"

Mitch gulped as Austin described EXACTLY what he felt happening. "I think I know what you mean..."

"The 'Tango Justine'." They said, nodding in unison.

Austin leaned in and whispered teasingly in Mitch's ear "Has she ever pouted her lips, and called you 'Pookie'?"

Mitch sighed in relief. FINALLY! Something DIFFERENT between them. "Never!" He said proudly.

Austin shook his head. Maybe it hadn't happened YET, but it would. He cocked an eyebrow at Mitch. "Have you ever doubted a kiss or two?"

Mitch's eyes went wide. He HAD! Justine would often kiss him, and he wondered whether she really meant it. Or she'd kiss others in the friendly way she use to kiss him, and he wondered just how 'friendly' they were. Austin was describing it EXACTLY! "This is spooky!" he breathed.

Austin smirked in victory, knowing he was right. He went back to his work on the equipment.

Mitch, however, grabbed his arm, stopping him. He had to know! "Did you swoon when she walked through the door?"

Austin sighed fondly. He turned and smiled sadly at Mitch, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Every time...so be cautious."

Mitch tensed, gulping against the anxiety rolling through him. How alike WAS his relationship with Justine to what her former relationship with Austin? Were they doomed as well? He grabbed Austin's other arm. "Did she moon over other boys?"

Austin chuckled darkly and looked Mitch dead in the eyes. "More than moon.."

Mitch felt his world go topsy-turvy. He let go of Austin and put a hand to his spinning head, steadying himself against the speaker. "I'm getting nauseous."

Austin quickly grabbed Mitch again as he swayed unsteadily. He pulled a chair over with his foot and sat the slighter man down. He grabbed a water bottle from a near by cooler, putting it in Mitch's hands. As he did so, he somehow bumped the sound system...and suddenly the room was filled with latin music. More specifically...tango music.

Mitch looked up met Austin's eyes. REALLY?! Of all the songs that could possibly have started playing, they happened to get THAT?! What were the freaking odds?!

Austin snorted and shrugged. He stood, taking a long breath of the cold winter air. Then, throwing his scarf over his shoulder with a flourish, he stamped his foot and held out his hand to Mitch, silently asking for a dance.

Mitch nearly did a spit-take on his water. He cocked an eyebrow. SURELY Austin couldn't be serious.

Austin shrugged, cocking an eyebrow back. They were alone, so why not? He beckoned with his hand.

Mitch looked around. They were indeed alone...Oh to hell with it! He screwed the cap on the bottle and slammed in down on top of the speaker. He stood, popping the collar on his coat and taking Austin's hand.

Austin smirked and pulled Mitch close to him. And they danced. They moved through the motions of the music like magic. All the passion and fire and anger flowing through their veins powered them through the dance as they burned it off, and it felt SO good to let it out!

Austin was impressed with Mitch's moves. "Where'd you learn to tango?" he asked

Mitch gave him a superior smile, "With a French foreign exchange student in her dorm room at Parson. And you?"

Austin chuckled embarrassedly, "With Joseph, for our dance competitions, in the UK, at the college's Community Arts Center."

Mitch rolled his eyes before switching hand holds so he was leading and Austin was the follow.

Austin struggled to keep his balance and keep up with Mitch. "It's hard to do this backwards!"

Mitch snorted and kicked one of his feet up for Austin to see. "You should try it in HEELS!" He gestured to his 3 1/2 inch high, navy blue, ruby rhinestone encrusted boots. A 'Just Mitch' original design.

Austin glanced down at his own flat bottomed winter snow-boots. Touché... Mitch had him there.

They danced around a little more, Austin finally finding his footing, until Mitch's eye caught sight of a tabloid on the table. He sighed and dropped Austin on his ass in the chair from earlier before grabbing the magazine and showing it to Austin. The picture showed Justine kissing a man on the lips. A man that wasn't Mitch. "They say she cheated!" Mitch said sadly.

Austin gaped in disbelief before taking the article to look at it himself. "She cheated?" There was no way! Justine would NEVER!

Mitch shook his head. "Justine 'cheated'." He put air quotes around the word, making it clear that wasn't actually what happened. The Warblers all knew that kissing guys like that was perfectly normal for her...but the press apparently did not. Some lucky paparazzi got a picture of her laying one on Wes the last time the three of them had met up for coffee when Mitch was CONVENIENTLY out of the room, and sold it to the media...who INSTANTLY jumped to conclusions and ran a scandal story. It was the second time in his life such a thing had fucked up his love life. He knew Justine would never really have an affair, but it still hurt to see that some many people had such a lack of faith in their relationship.

Austin seemed to pick up on this and was appalled. "Fuckin' cheated?!" How could someone come up with such lies!? How could they not have TALKED to Justine or Mitch first!? He also saw the parallels to the Dalton Disaster, and could only imagine how this felt for Mitch.

Mitch sighed and sat on the speaker next to Austin, running a hand through his hair. "I'm defeated! I should give up right now!" Maybe the public was right. Maybe his and Justine's love was doomed to die.

Austin shook his head and pulled Mitch close to him. "Gotta look on the bright side with all of your might!"

Mitch smirked softly and shook his head. "I'd fall for her still anyhow!" Austin was right. He couldn't give up on his love for Justine.

Austin nodded and got up, pulling Mitch to his feet. They started dancing again. "When your dancing her dance you don't stand a chance! Her grip of romance makes you fall!"

Austin twirled Mitch out and shrugged, "So you think, 'Might as well...'."

Mitch smiled and spun back in, landing with a flourish in Austin's arms, continuing Austin's thought, "'...dance a tango to HELL!'."

They both laughed, finishing together as they turned back to being facing, "'At least I'll have tangoed at all!'."

They danced again together, gliding and twisting and dipping across the floor. "The 'Tango Justine'! Gotta dance till your diva is through! You pretend to believe her! Cause in the end, you can't leave her!"

They twirled dramatically apart, going to near opposite ends of the room. "But the end, it will come. Still you have to play dumb, till you're glum and you bum and turn blue."

Austin chuckled and shook his head as he knelt by the sound system, making funny faces as he worked on it, "Why do we love when she's mean?"

Mitch cackled and struck a RIDICULOUSLY provocative pose. "And she can be so obscene!"

Austin choked on his laughter. He gestured to the DJ booth. "Try the mic!"

Mitch went to the booth. He sighed into the mic. "My Justine..."

The sound echoed through the vast warehouse, the sonic effects playing out perfectly!

Austin smirked with pride and stood, wiping his hands on his pants. "Patched!"

Mitch sighed in relief. He nodded in thanks to Austin. "Thanks"

Austin nodded back and went to grab his stuff. As he was picking it up, he froze, chuckling softly "You know...I feel GREAT now!"

Mitch groaned and sat on the edge of the stage. "I feel lousy!"

Mitch's phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and sighed seeing Justine's name. Austin didn't know if it was relief or grief...probably both. He watched as Mitch answered it.

"Hi Honey. I..." He jolted suddenly, eyes wide, "POOKIE!? You...you never call me Pookie..."

Austin winced in sympathy. And so it started...

Mitch rolled his eyes and shook his head with a sigh "...forget it. We're patched." He sighed and placed the phone on his chest to drown out the rest of Justine's tirade. He looked at Austin. The nodded solemnly to each other.

"The Tango Justi-i-i-ine " They both sighed, Austin walking out and Mitch slumping in his seat.

"Mitch..." He heard Justine's frantic voice on the other side of the line, "Baby, please come back. Mitchie come on..."

"...Wake up!" Justine practically sobbed, and Mitch awoke with a gasp. He pulled his eyes open and looked around. He was in a hospital bed, with Justine standing over him, eyes bloodshot. He blinked at her, confused. Hadn't he just been in the warehouse...wait...no! He'd been in their crappy studio! That whole tangoing with Austin thing had just been a dream! He remembered going to the fuse box and...OH GOD! Had he been electrocuted!? Well...that would explain the crazy, screwed up dream he'd just had...and why he felt like he'd been hit by a bus.

"Mitchie?" Justine whimpered, "Baby, can you hear me? Please Mitchie, say something! Anything!"

Mitch gave her a semi-weak smirk, "Test 1-2-3"

Justine let out a sob of relief and hugged him gently, careful not to hurt him. "Oh thank god! You have no idea how worried we all were! I texted Nate to come over the minute you were stable...your heart stopped TWICE! He called your parents to let them know and to see about setting up a lawsuit against the building manger, because that man should have called a professional to fix the problem the FIRST time, and not left young tenants to risk our own safety to patch it ourselves. Logan called Austin when you fell and he's out in the hall with Joseph, who is STILL on the phone with Ethan, whom he called so we'd know what to do to help you and...dear god! The warbler phone tree on this thing is going to be NUTS when they hear you're finally awake!"

Mitch shook his head in disbelief. He'd almost died AGAIN? Damn! He tried to hug Justine, but was too sore to move "Oh my god! I...you were right Justine. I SHOULD NOT have done that on my own. And...you wouldn't BELIEVE the whacked out dream I had!"

"Would we?" Came a voice from the doorway. The two designers looked up to see their boyfriends in the doorway.

"Nate!" Mitch gasped, sitting up as much as he could and holding him arms open to his boyfriend.

Nathan was across the room in seconds and soon Mitch found himself cradled against the larger man's chest, feeling Nate trembling in fear.

"God Mitchie!" He choked, "Thought you promised never to scare me like that again?"

Mitch just curled closer and snuggled his head under Nathan's chin. THIS was why that dream would NEVER become real. Nate and him were meant to be. Other than that horrible fluke in high school, they'd never break up. "Hold me tighter?" He whispered.

Nathan did so, but only slightly so as not to hurt the electrical burns on Mitch's body, and Mitch sighed at the feeling of safety and security slowly spreading into his system.

Austin walked to Justine slowly and wrapped his arms around the still trembling diva. He sighed at the still somewhat unsettled look on Mitch's face. "Damn...you scared us man! And looks like you're still understandably spooked about this fuse box fiasco too... but I'm guessing it's also from that hell of a dream you just had?"

"Yes!" Mitch squeaked, "I...My God! It was YEARS in the future and...me and Justine had broken up with you and Nate" Giadiaz held tighter to each other and Nate's fingers tangled themselves in Mitch's hair possessively. "And Justine and I had gotten together and there was a warehouse for a fashion show and it was winter and I was freezing and Justine was 3 hours late and there was a microphone that didn't work and the engineer wasn't there and I had to fix it on my own and then Austin showed up to help even after I told Justine NOT to call him and then there was this tabloid article saying Justine was cheating even though she wasn't and Austin and I did the tango and...and..." His eyes widened in realization, "It was like the 'Tango Maureen' from RENT...only it was a little different...it was...it was the 'Tango Justine'!"

The room went silent as they took in Mitch's tangent...before they all four started laughing at just how ridiculous it was.

"Ok!" Austin snorted, "THAT is going on Warbler net!"

"No!" Justine groaned, though still giggling, "Then Bastian and the little birds are going to sing it to us at midsummer. Remember the picture he painted of Wes's sleep deprived wolf delusion?"

"Austin please don't." Mitch begged, "Can't this just stay an inside joke between the four of us?" He shot the older man his best attempt at Wes-worthy puppy dog eyes.

Austin smiled warmly, "Ok...but only because you are hurt, and you look especially pitiful right now."

Mitch nodded in thanks, then winced as his head spun.

"Dizzy?" Justine asked gently.

Mitch hummed in affirmative.

"Think you need some more sleep..." The diva whispered, "this time not filled with electrically disturbed nightmares. Don't worry about the photo shoot deadline either. Avery called the magazine and they said they'd postpone it till next month so you have time to get better."

"Here you are sweetheart," Nate cooed, laying Mitch back down on the bed and tucking him in softly with a throw blanket he'd brought.

"We'll leave you to rest." Austin said, taking Justine's hand and leading her out. "and go try to get rid of the press that have started to swarm outside."

Mitch waved goodbye to them, but grabbed Nathan's wrist when he tried to follow. "Please...stay?"

Nathan smiled and sat down in a chair right next to his fragile boyfriend's bed. "Mine." Nathan growled playfully.

Mitch sighed contentedly, slowly falling back to sleep "Yours...all yours...forever."

So there you go! I REALLY hope you like it! If you want to see me do other crossovers, just ask! This is my first and I LOVE IT!

Can anyone spot the other little RENT reference Easter eggs I put in the story? Review if you find one!

Until next time my darlings!