Arg I hate writers block. It killed my brain and I had to steal ideas from Charlie- but you are a wonderful idea-giving person! So this is going to be random pointless fluff. Yay! Um… maybe the plot will be hidden in here somewhere, but I kinda doubt it. So... Whee! Here goes nothing!

Disclaimer: I own not the RENT characters, nor the bad grammar that attacks my brain so evilly.

--Gifts and Fluff--

-Angel's POV-

It's almost Christmas! I'm so excited! It's the season of giving and goodwill, and all that jazz. I even managed to get a new outfit for Christmas, too! Is everyone excited yet? Well I love just spending time with everyone and being happy. It can be stressful, but I guess I'm just good at handling stress.

Well today Collins and I are going to the mall. We're meeting Mark and Josh there. We invited everyone else, but they were all busy so it's just us four today! I can barely sit still through breakfast. I'm also happy to finally be somewhere I can call home- somewhere I can be myself and feel loved and accepted. But enough sappy ranting about home and love and peace on earth.

"Whee! The mall!" I squeak as we get out of the car. "I can't wait to see Marky and Joshy again." Collins grins at me and grabs my hand as we walk inside.

"Collins! Angel!" We hear Mark yelling. He waves at us, jumping up and down. Josh stands next to him, looking confused, awkward, embarrassed, and annoyed all at once.

"Hey Mark. Josh. How are you guys doing?" Collins asks.

"Good I guess." Josh answers.

"Wonderful!" Mark says, jumping again. "Aren't vacations wonderful?"

"Indeed they are, Marky!" I say, imitating his jumping movements. "Is everyone ready for some holiday shopping?"

"Yeah!" They say together, laughing. We start wandering around the mall, walking into any stores that look interesting. Eventually I suggest that we split up for a bit.

"Okay, Collins you go with Mark. I'll take Joshy."

"But why are we doing this?" Mark asks, confused.

"Because… I want to? Just go for a while and we'll meet in the food court in… an hour?"

"Okay." We go off in our separate groups, and I laugh at Mark being clueless. Josh grins and blushes a little.

"So… Christmas shopping. It's fun…" He says, watching his shoes as we walk. "Are you getting something for Collins?"

"Yeah, that's why we ditched him and Mark! And that's why Mark is clueless."

"But he's cute when he's clueless…" Josh mumbles. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"What was that? Does Joshy have a crush on Marky?" He blushes and glares at me. "Okay! I won't say anything if you don't want me to."

"Thanks Angel. I appreciate it." We keep walking and soon I see a bookstore. I grab Josh and drag him inside, and we look at books for the better part of an hour. I end up leaving with a copy of some book on modern philosophy. Josh laughs at my choice, so I gently smack him in the head.

"Hey! No laughing. It's for Collins. I thought he would like it…"

"Yeah you're right. He always reads Plato and crap like that for fun."

"Well we should get to the food court now."

-Collins' POV-

"Okay. Well, Mark, we have an hour away from those two. How are you lately?"

"I'm okay…" He says, glancing at me and then down at the floor. "Well, mostly okay."

"What's wrong? Come on, you can tell me."

"I kinda… like someone."

"Ooh, who is it?"

"Do I have to tell you?" He asks. I shake my head.

"Only if you want to. I won't make you say anything you don't want to."

"What if I want to?" He looks at me confidently. "I like Josh. I think he's cute, even if he was a total bitch before. He's nicer now."

"That's cool, Mark. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into." We laugh and start walking. I hate to admit it, but I'm really not sure what I'm going to do about a gift for Angel. I think she would appreciate something interesting, possibly glittery, definitely special. We keep wandering around the mall, until Mark spots something.

"Hey, look at that! It's so… sparkly…" He points at a little box covered in blue and green glitter. "I wonder…" He reaches out and opens it, and we hear a light melody- I recognize it as "My Favorite Things."

"Wow." I pick it up and close it, stopping the music. I look at all the different patterns the glitter makes on it, sparkling when the light hits it just right. "I think this is perfect."

"Yeah. She'll love it."

When we get to the food court, Angel and Josh are already sitting at a table. Angel has a bag with her, but she moves it out of my sight.

"No peeking!" She giggles. "So are we getting lunch or what?"

"Sure. What do we want? Pizza?"

"Yeah. Pizza sounds good." Josh says, smiling. He seems awfully cheerful today.

"Okay." We all walk over to the only pizza place in the mall and get our lunch. Angel gets pepperoni, Mark gets plain cheese and so do I. Josh has every topping imaginable on his pizza. We eat and talk and laugh, but I notice Josh isn't as happy as he was earlier. After a few minutes he falls into silence, staring into space. Well, sort of space. Space in the general direction of Mark.

"Josh? Are you okay?"

"Huh what?" He looks up and grins at me. "Yeah I'm fine." Angel leans over and pokes him. She whispers to me to distract Mark for a minute or two, so I start asking him about the new movies that are playing. He goes off on some tangent about the special effects in a new horror movie, and I'm able to hear a little of Angel and Josh's conversation.

"Are you going to tell him or just keep staring at him?" She asks quietly.

"I don't know. What if he doesn't like me? What if-"

"He's bi, so don't worry about him not liking guys. He might like you too! No way to know but to ask him."

"Thanks Angel. You're really good at helping people."

"Josh, it's nothing. Just talk to him soon okay? The staring thing is getting a little obvious."

I almost laugh, but then I notice a lack of sound. Mark is staring at me and Angel suddenly starts giggling. Josh shrugs.

"I asked if you understood my explanation of the CGI effects. I guess you weren't listening…" He sighs and goes back to his pizza. "Not like anyone listens to me anyway."

"I'm sorry Marky. I think Josh wants to talk to you though." I grab Josh's arm and get him out of his seat. "Yeah, Josh you had something important to tell him right?" Josh blushes and moves away from me.

"Um… Mark… Could I talk to you for a sec… like, over there?" Mark nods and walks with Josh to a quieter corner of the huge room. Angel and I look at each other and laugh.

"So, do you know what Mark's going to say?"

"Probably the same thing Josh is." We return our attention to them, and see Mark looking shocked, Josh probably apologizing, and the two of them blushing a lot and smiling at each other. They walk back to our table and sit down in their respective spots, still smiling.

"Well, um, thanks for telling me that, Josh."

"Oh you're welcome. Um… I uh…" He shrugs. "I should probably be going home soon. I'll call you, Mark." He stands up and leaves, and we sit in a semi-awkward silence.

"So… I should go too." Mark says quickly. "I'll see you guys soon. Bye Collins. Bye Angel." We say goodbye and are left in silence again.

"Well they kind of abandoned us. Want to do something else or just go home?" She asks, gathering up paper plates from our lunch. We take the plates to the trash can, and I shrug.

"I don't know. Do you want to see a movie or something? That thing Mark was talking about sounded like fun."

"Sure."

You know what? I decided to leave you with a cliffhanger-ish ending. :P Maybe the next chapter will be during/after the movie. But I couldn't write any more without fear of angering the writing-demons that attacked me before. So I just finished this like 2 minutes before posting it… Reviews, as always, are love. And… that's it.