Disclaimer: RENT is not mine. Wicked is not mine. Benny will probably never make it as a Wizard, on Broadway, but it's fun to pretend he could. Yeah, I'm focusing on just a few of the characters, but they're the funniest ones. Actually, this is a character development chapter in a humor fic. Live with me for two seconds, please. Story time! -LostOzian

Benny unlocked the door to his apartment, in the middle of singing 'Wonderful'. He raised his voice a little bit, thinking he was alone.

"They call me wonderful!" he sang, a few steps below belting, but still pretty loud as he took off his coat. "So I am wonder-" He stopped mid-word as he noticed Alison standing in front of him, arms folded and smiling at him.

"Feeling rather 'Wicked', are we?" she asked. Benny set down his keys, returning her grin.

"As always," he said, giving her a hello kiss.

"Well, if you're done being a Wizard-wannabe, dinner's ready," Mrs. Coffin said. Wannabe, Benny thought. If only I could tell her… Only problem was, Alison would be the kind of person to call up the Gershwin and tell them about the illegal staging.

"Perfect timing, then," Benny said, following his wife into the kitchen. She had two plates all ready, baked chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Benny dramatically made a face, sticking his tongue out at the greens.

"Still trying to make me eat my vegetables?" he teased. Alison smiled, setting forks, knives, and two wine glasses on the table.

"Well, since we're able to choose what we eat, I'd like to see us eat healthily." Benny thought of his lunch earlier with the gang. Collins had convinced them that they could find a vendor and order seven bags of roasted chestnuts, yet pass one off to the Squeegee Man on the corner so the vendor would miscount and give them another free. It had been strangely exciting, especially laughing about it after, letting Squeegee Man take pinches out of all their bags.

"What's so funny about a salt shaker?" Alison asked him. Benny looked up, realizing that he had been smiling while watching the salt shaker.

"Oh, nothing," he said. He started on the asparagus, wanting to finish the bitter vegetable before eating 'the good part'.

"You haven't been by the house lately," Benny looked up, the asparagus adding to the uncomfortable question. "Any particular reason?" God, he was going to have to lie to her.

"Some tenants have been finicky," Benny said, improvising. Alison also disapproved of his continued friendship with the Bohos; it had been one of the first things he had given up after moving out of the loft. "There are seven of them, and I think they're in league."

"What makes you think that?" Benny thought fast as he could.

"I've been asking for the rent for weeks," he said. "One on Monday, one Tuesday, you get it," Alison nodded because she got it. "Well, they all ask for a week from the day I ask for the rent. And a week goes by, and none of them have the rent." He could definitely have imagined his friends pulling something like that on him around the time of the rally; now, he wasn't so sure if they would. It had been a week since Roger made some reference to yuppie scum.

"Are they bohos?" Alison said, stirring her mashed potatoes.

"Yeah," Benny admitted. Alison started frosting her chicken with the potatoes.

"You should have evicted them by now," she said seriously. Benny raised his eyebrows.

"Well, they're not bad people, just-" Benny was about to defend the friends he was pretending were skipping on the rent.

"Not bad people? Benny-boo, they're cheating you!" Benny fought a grimace as Alison used his pet name. He stared down at his plate, spearing another piece of asparagus moodily.

"Benny," Alison said, her tone more gentle this time. She reached across the table for his hand. "I married you for more reasons than I could count. You're smart, practical, handsome… but another reason was to get you out of that Bohemia place." Benny looked up in surprise. This was something they had never discussed before.

"I didn't like seeing you in that drug-infested place riddled with homeless people." Benny set down his fork, thinking of Alison's attitudes. He had started thinking like she did, and he lost the best friends he could have asked for. Now, he had them back, and he couldn't look at his wife the same.

"You never truly lose what Bohemia teaches you," Benny said, wishing Alison would stop talking about the Bohos like they were trash. New memories- the dumpster diving for costumes and props, dance rehearsals, having Starbucks coffee cups thrown at them when they tried to sing 'Dear Old Shiz' and forcing them to use Roger's guitar and Angel's drumming for spare change- mingled with the old ones- finding the future Magical Metal Table of Saving Lives, nights out with Roger, April, Mark, and Maureen, and pretending to hit on the girls to annoy his roommates.

"You learn things about living that stay with you the rest of your life," Benny said. "It changes you."

"Benny," Alison said, bordering on begging. "You can forget all that. You don't have to live like that anymore."

"Sorry, Muffy," Benny said. (He was the only one allowed to call Alison 'Muffy') "It's just you don't easily forget the things it teaches you."

"Please… just try," Alison said. "I'd hate to see you become a bohemian again."

Too late, Benny thought. And, in a fit of recklessness, he ignored the rest of the vegetables and moved on to the potatoes. No day but today.