THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE REVEIWERS!! YOU GUYS ROCK!! And my brother, my brother rocks too. He's cool. I would like to apologize for the Angel/Collins, I love them way too much for my own good and so I apologize to all the Mimi/Roger, Mark/Roger, and MoJo fans. I will put some in there eventually. I wallow in my non-ownership-ness of RENT. I grovel at the feet of The Holy Larson. Can I have one? Please? How about for my birthday? NO? What do you mean no? I WANT A RENT CHARACTER!!

Early October

"See Mimi? Just like I told you! A mini door!" Angel cried excitedly. They were outside Collins house, the bright red door standing out especially vivid against the gray of…well everything else. The sky was gray, the sidewalk was gray, the trees were gray, the house was gray, everything was very dull and muted. In early October most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees, an early winter this year, and their feet crunched on the leaves that hadn't been blown away by the wind. Crunch, Mimi trampled a leaf, turning it instantly to dry, brown, confetti. She knelt down, scooping up a hand full, and promptly dropped it on Angel's head. Angel screeched and hurried to crush leaves of his own to retaliate, so that by the time they reached Collins' front door their hair and shoulders were sprinkled with the pale flakes. Mimi glanced at Angel and giggled. Paz sighed, but made no attempt to brush it off, knowing full well that they'd just put it back in. She rang the doorbell, which immediately set off a dog inside. The barking became more pronounced when Gran opened the door. The grown ups shook hands, exchanging the polite 'how nice to see you's and 'thank you for coming/inviting us'. Mimi pushed passed them, dragging Angel with her. It was easy enough to find Collins- he was right in the middle of things, trying to calm down Roger and Maureen who were screaming at each other.

"YOU TAKE IT BACK!!" Maureen was shrieking. Angel sat himself beside Joanne, who was watching the exchange without much enthusiasm.

"NO! PLUS YOU RUINED MY PRESENT!"

"IT WASN"T A GOOD PRESENT ANYWAY!!"

"WELL YOUR PRESENT IS STUPID!!" The room was silent for a moment, all eyes on Roger. Maureen's lower lip quivered.

"Wow, you're as bad as Marky." Mimi said, trying to ease the tension. The incident in which Mark had insulted Mimi's game had been forgiven long ago, but it seemed like either a really good or a really bad time to bring it up again. You never could tell sometimes. Maureen turned big eyes to Roger. If she widened her eyes anymore she could star in her own Disney movie.

"Roger?" Roger looked at his feet.

"Sorry," He spat out the word like it was something foul tasting- like fish- Mimi hated fish. Maureen's lip stopped shaking, and her eyes returned to normal instantly.

"That's okay Rogy-poo! Is it okay if I call you Rogy-poo?"

"No."

"To bad," Collins slapped his forehead.

"Is everyone here Tom?" Gran asked, Collins blushed, already becoming more attached to his new name and less fond of his original. It was funny to see Collins blush, Mimi mused. He looked so…cute. Angel voiced this almost immediately after Mimi had thought it.

"You're cute when you blush." Of course this only made Collins blush more.

"Now what?" Joanne asked.

"OH!" Mimi cried, remembering something suddenly. "Here!" She said, shoving a large clumsily wrapped package at Collins. Angel handed him a smaller tissue paper wrapped parcel as well.

"Thanks," Collins said, grinning and placed them with the other four gifts.

"I know what we should do!" Maureen cried in her hyper way.

"What?" Asked Joanne suspiciously.

"Hide and Seek!" Maureen said with an official air.

"What's that?" The others looked at Joanne. Not know hide and seek? Who had heard of such a ridiculous thing? Everyone knew hide and seek - or so Mimi had thought.

"You don't know hide and seek?"

"NO, should I?"

"Yes! You should! You should, you should you should!" Maureen repeated herself for emphasis. "Don't worry, it's easy, you hide and I seek you."

"That's it?"

"Well, yeah. Who's going to be it? No one? I will!" Maureen nominated herself.

"You should let Collins be It, it's his birthday." Mark put in. Maureen pouted, knowing he was right. Mimi would have felt sympathetic, except that she was always like this.

"It's all right," Collins assured her. "You can be It."

"YAY! I'm counting to 26, because that is how high I can count." And without any further warning, she began. Angel and Collins raced upstairs. Joanne grabbed Mark, pulling him towards the dinning room, leaving Mimi with Roger.

"Well don't just stand there! She's already at 11!" Mimi yelped at Roger, pulling him away from Maureen. Roger had a look of pure terror on his face.

"Mimi…"

"Shh!" Mimi said, pushing him into the closet under the stairs. Roger squealed as soon as Mimi closed the door.

"Mimi it's dark in here!" Roger whined. This was true; the only light they could see was seeping under the door.

"Yes, Roger, it is. Glad to see your eyes are working."

"But it's DARK, there could be anything in here…like spiders." Roger tried to explain. Mimi rolled her eyes even if Roger couldn't see her.

"Shh, she'll hear you." It was Mimi who screamed next. Roger had reached out and grabbed her hand. "Roger, you scared me."

"Sorry," Suddenly a beam of light shone through the darkness and a smiling Maureen appeared in the crack between the door and the wall.

"You guys are very loud." She told them. By some miracle they were not the first to be found, and they followed Maureen in her quest for Angel and Collins. But after only two more rounds the game was pronounced boring. And just in time too, Gran called that they could come have cake now if they wanted. Mimi's eyes lit up at the thought of cake. They seven of them pounded down the stairs to the table where Gran sat accompanied by a round chocolate frosted cake, and a lighter. Gran made sure they were all seated before lighting the candle. It was a large number six, propped upright in the icing. They all sang the Happy Birthday song. Though their voices clanged discordantly Mimi thought they sounded pretty good. Collins blew out the candles with only a little help from Roger. Mimi smacked him, reminding him that his birthday was coming even if he had to wait till January. The cake was amazing. Moist, chocolaty, but not to rich and the frosting was like hot fudge but not hot. Once the cake was eaten, Roger declared that it was time to open presents and shoved his present under Collins' nose.

"Here, open mine first." Roger said. His present was rectangular. Collins ripped open the paper to discover an action figure.

"Isn't this the G.I. Joe guy you've been wanting for ages?" Collins asked, trying to act like he was excited about this. Collins wasn't into action figures. Mimi couldn't blame him; they weren't soft like stuffed animals. You couldn't cuddle an action figure.

"Well, yes." Roger admitted. Collins sighed, wordlessly handing it over. Roger grinned.

"Open mine next!" Maureen insisted. Collins obliged. There in the pale blue tissue paper sat a white Beanie. Without thinking, Collins shoved it onto his head. It slid down past his eyes, caught on the bridge of his nose, but he didn't seem to care.

"MO! Thanks! This is awesome!"

"I know," Maureen gloated, before turning to Roger. "See, I told you it wasn't stupid." Roger stuck his tongue out at her.

"Here," Mark said as a distraction. Mark's gift was a scarf, orange and white strips, and Joanne's was a book. Mimi watched proudly as Collins unwrapped her present- large cardboard building blocks. Angel was a little shyer about his gift. It was smaller than the others. It was a piece of paper. It had a dried flower in the middle, a yellow tulip.

"I couldn't think of what to get you so my Momma helped me make this with the last of her tulips." Angel tried to explain.

"Thank you," Collins said, gently tracing the flower. Mimi grinned, having watched them make it knowing the time it took to dry out flowers. There was a pause. All the presents had been opened, all the cake eaten, so what did they do now?

"Whose birthday is next?"

"Well, mine is in November." Joanne offered.

"December," Said Roger.

"Mine was in August, I'm older than all of you so HA!" Maureen cried.

"Mines in February," That was Mark.

"I'm in April," Mimi told them. She had always liked her birthday, April 11th just seemed like a good day.

"Mine's in June." Angel pouted, the youngest. At least Mimi was older than somebody.

Okay, sorry, weird ending but I was just pulling teeth there at the end. . Just to clarify, Mimi Angel, and Mark all turned five earlier this year, and Maureen Collins, Joanne, and Roger are turning six.

I made Collins' beanie white because that is what color it is in the first act of the musical. I realize that it is black in the second act and in the movie.

If you look up the meaning of flowers the yellow tulip will make more sense.

Last, I would like to give a shout out to my brother, who once again has saved the day and mad this chapter come to you that much quicker. He rocks, if he had a fan fiction account I'd tell you to send him fan mail. HE IS THE BEST!! There is waaaaay to much dialogue in this. PLEASE REVIEW, though I will not hate you if you don't.

link to flower meaning site i used, take out the spaces: http: /www. aboutflowers. com/ floralb5.html