Disclaimer: All Jonathan Larson's. R.I.P.

Okay, so I decided to continue this. Mark and Maureen's relationship is way too much fun to write to let it go. I'm not sure how long this will end up being, as I'm not sure how much of their relationship I'm going to cover. This takes place about 2 years and 6 months before RENT. It is also dedicated to volitaire, who is continually awesome.

Maureen was confused. She had been thrust into an unfamiliar situation. Maureen had a group of friends. She had never had a group of friends. She had always had her one best friend, April, and that was enough. Maureen had never seen a need for a big group of friends. She had April, and she was all she needed. But after meeting Mark and Roger two weeks ago, they had taken her in and given her friends. Friends who didn't judge her and who actually liked her for herself. They didn't even mind how clingy she was. In fact, Maureen sometimes thought that they liked that about her. Normally that drove people away. But these guys were…different. They were amazing.

After that night at the bar, Mark and Roger had invited her to come back to their loft, which she had immediately accepted. When they had left, Maureen never thought about how dangerous it was to go home with two strangers in the middle of the night. She even asked them about their murdering repertoire on the way there.

"So…you two wouldn't happen to be murderers or anything like that, right? Because if you are, then that's really going to put a damper on my evening." Mark and Roger burst out laughing.

"You caught us, Maureen. We're taking you back to our loft so that we can murder you. Damnit, Mark. Get us a stupid one next time!" Roger giggled some more as he slapped Mark on the arm. Maureen was laughing now while Mark hung his head.

"I'm sorry, Roger! She was so pretty and then she came up and made out with me, paid for my drinks, and I figured that she'd be good for us!"

"Wait, she came up to you and made out with you? You had nothing to do with it? Damn. That would have fooled me, too," Roger turned to Maureen and put his arm around her shoulders, "You know, Maureen, if you go around making out with nerds such as this one, it's bound to get you in trouble." Maureen laughed.

"Well, when I came in, he looked so cute and disarming. He couldn't pay for his drinks. He was too adorable to pass up! Can you blame me?" Roger started laughing so hard that he had to clutch his sides and nearly doubled over.

"Okay, Maureen, you're going to give me a heart attack!"

"Well, we can't have that. I don't think Mark's strong enough to murder me all by himself."

"Hey!"

"If I put up a fight, there's no way."

"Hey!" Maureen laughed again. When Roger finally calmed down, they continued down 11th street. Maureen could see a large warehouse looming in front of them. And Mark and Roger were headed right for it.

"Is that were we're going?" Maureen pointed.

"Yep. Home sweet dilapidated home." Mark said. Roger laughed. Maureen whispered to Mark, who was on her left.

"Roger knows what dilapidated means?" Mark let out a huge laugh and nodded his head.

"Oh. Paint me surprised." Roger turned his head.

"Hey! Secrets make baby Jesus cry!" Now Maureen and Mark were laughing again.

"What does that mean?" Maureen said.

"And why do you care?" Mark said.

"I was raised Catholic. They said that all the time."

"Ahh, yes. The only thing better than Jewish guilt is Catholic guilt."

"Amen!" Mark and Roger both said at the same time.

"Dude, I hope Collins is here. He's going to love you."

"Oooh, who's Collins?"

"Sorry, Mo. He's gay."

"That's never stopped me before." Maureen replied, while she rejoiced in her head. I've only known these guys for a couple of hours and Roger's already giving me nicknames? Wow. Maureen snapped out of her thoughts as Mark unlocked the door to the warehouse. Mark held open the door for her and Roger. Roger was about to let her go first, then stopped her.

"Wait, I should probably to check to make sure there's no crazy person with a gun."

"I thought you two were going to murder me."

"Yeah, but I don't want someone to steal our fun!" Maureen smiled. Roger went in, looked around, and proclaimed the hallway safe. He ushered Maureen inside while Mark closed the door. They led her up the stairs all the way to the top floor. Well, not quite. Roger pointed out the stairs to the right that led to the roof. Mark slid open the door and Maureen was standing in their loft.

"Welcome, Maureen Johnson, to the home of Mark, Roger, Collins, and Benny." Maureen clapped. The loft was huge. It was messy and the individual rooms were separated by three walls and a curtain, but Maureen felt an extremely homey atmosphere.

"I love it. It's loads better than the piece of shit April and I live in."

"There's another one?" Roger asked.

"Oh, yeah, my best friend April. I've known her literally my entire life. She's six weeks older than me and our moms were friends. We've been inseparable since birth. She and her mom even moved into the house next door to us when we were six. Then when she and I graduated high school, we moved to New York City from Hicksville…sorry. Way too much information."

Mark shook his head. "Nah. You'd be amazed how much Roger can pour out at one time." Roger frowned and smacked Mark on the arm. Mark sucked in air and grabbed his arm.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself!"

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," a disembodied voice said. Maureen looked up to see a handsome black man walking through one of the curtains into the room.

"Collins!" Mark and Roger yelled at the same time.

"Hey, crackers. Who's this?"

"This is Maureen. We met her tonight. She made out with Mark."

"Poor thing. Did he try to film you?" Maureen giggled.

"No. He was filming 'The Well Hungarians'." At the mention of the name, Maureen started giggling again. Roger smiled.

"You like the name?"

"Sounds like you guys are trying to compensate for something." Roger glared while Mark and Collins laughed.

"I like her." Collins came up and gave Maureen a huge hug. Maureen smiled as the big man wrapped his arms around her.

"We aren't compensating for anything. Well…maybe Eddie." Maureen giggled.

"Which one was that?"

"The bass player with the weird hat. Looks sort of punk, but not."

"Ahh. I remember him. He kind of looks like you."

"Yeah, but I'm way hotter." Maureen giggled.

"So…now what?"

That's all for now. I should get another update up soon. I'm going to get into Maureen and Mark's relationship very soon. I just felt that the beginning of her friendships with the other Boho Boys was important. Reviews are lovely. Cookies to anyone who can get the reference about Roger's bass player.