Okay, I needed to get this out. I was listening to Rent, and then I heard that Renée used to be in it...So yeah. This kinda sprung out of me!!! -C

   Slowly, John jots down the title at the top of his page. His old sketchbook has gotten full of prepared sketches. This brand-new one is more of a...Photo diary, he supposes. He draws to get all of his emotions out. Pictures of his friends, of his situation...Of practically anything to be frank.

   'December 24,' John Laurens quickly writes. He picks up his pencil slightly, glancing towards the clock. '9 PM, Eastern Standard Time.'

   He then smirks at his paper and lifts his head slightly. "From here on in, roomie...I'm winging this! No more me forcing people to sit still so I can draw out their faces...No more impromptu trips to the turtle pond to sketch them out. I'm actually just winging it, going about this as I go...It's more...A reflection on life this way! Maybe I can actually make something out of this instead of the usual. Wouldn't that be nice?"

   John swivels on his chair, grinning brightly. He examines his roommate, hunched over his own notebook. His pencil drags on the paper hopelessly, writer's block crippling him.

   Quickly, John connects his pencil with the paper and starts sketching him out. "First drawing in my new portfolio...Aaron Burr! Trying desperately to actually write something rather than just stare at his paper...Like he's done all year."

   "I have writer's block," groans Aaron frustrated, breaking his pencil lead once more.

   John smirks at his roommate brightly, happily capturing the sneer on the paper. "So I can see!"

   Aaron snorts and looks up at John. He immediately sees the paper and groans, ducking his head once more.

   After awhile, John has everything he needs...Except for shading and coloring. That's why he brought his trusty bag of colored pencils! Underneath, though, he starts writing a caption. 'Suffered from half a year of withdrawal.' He really wishes that it wasn't true, but hey. Heroin is hard...Ugh.

   Maybe he'd be better off not writing it? Then, John could completely forget about it.

   No, this has to be actual reality. The sketchbook is supposed to capture the grittiness of his real life...Not some fairy tale that he had painted for himself!

   "Are you writing about me?" Aaron snaps slightly. His dark eyes flash in the dim lighting of the room. He has already pushed the only lamp they have as close as he can to him on the coffee table...To see the blank sheet of white paper continue to mock him. It might not be the smartest idea, and John needs light too, but who is John to protest?

   Mischievously, the curly-haired man shakes his head. "Not at all!"

   Aaron flicks his pencil at him.

   Reaching upwards, John snatches the pencil out of the air. "I think you need this to write stuff down."

   "Okay then," Aaron replies, catching the pencil as John flicks it back. "I'm still not sure what I'm going to write about."

   "When are you ever sure...About literally anything?"

   "You're hilarious."

   "Fine, then. Tell me what you're doing."

   "I'm writing-"

   Their phone suddenly rings. Aaron smiles brightly. "Saved!"

   "We screen. Just talk over the answering machine," John shoots back. "I'm so interested about how this crippling writer's block is preventing you from writing any poems. You used to write them high on heroin."

   "John," Aaron slowly says. "No."

   Before John can protect anymore, their answering machine starts screening. John's and Aaron's voices, half-drunk, come over. "Speak!"

  Beep!

   "What the heck was that beep?" Henry Laurens grumbles over the answering machine. "Are you five too broke to even realize that I'm calling? What the heck, boy. I told you not to move up to New York to follow your so-called dreams. John, it's your father. Your mom asked me to call and say we love you. Am I done yet?"

   Aaron sniggers, hiding his face. John is slowly and steadily turning a bright red from all of that.

   "I'll take over!" John's mom sings out. There's a noise as the phone exchanges between people.

   Aaron situates himself more comfortably. "This should be good."

   "Shut up, Burr," John shoots back.

   "We're sorry to hear Maria dumped you...But hey. I'm pretty sure that she was just a rebound from when Alexander dumped you to go marry that Schuyler. So let that woman go be with other women! There are other fishies in the sea for you, dear!" The woman takes a deep breath, which is hard to hear over Aaron's laughter. John is going to kill him. "Love Mom!"

   Cocking his head slightly, the younger of the two smirks. "So John..."

   "If you say one word, I will leap out of my seat and strangle you," warns John, pointing his colored pencil at him threateningly.

   In mock surrender, Aaron holds up both hands. "Talking less, then." To emphasize his point, he smiles real big.

   "You know what? We still haven't heard anything about the mysterious subject of your so-called poem," John suddenly says.

   He leaps off his seat to get closer to Aaron, who is spluttering and awkwardly looking away. "Well, it's about-"

   The phone starts ringing again.

   "Better pick it up. It's the polite thing to do," Aaron deflects immediately.

   John groans.

   "Speak!" their voices shout out again.

   Mockingly, a deep singing voice comes across. It's easy to tell exactly who it is. "Chestnuts roasting..."

   "Mulligan!" the two of them call, staring at each other.

   Reluctantly, John pushes himself off the couch. He knows that there is no chance that Aaron is going to do the 'polite' thing and pick up. There's a possibility that the younger man will have to say 'good morning' which is an opinion...So no. John really hates his friend when he does stuff like that.

   Hercules isn't one for patience. The larger man knows for a fact that they're screening...So there's really no deflecting when it comes to anything like that. "I'm downstairs so if one of you idiots would like to pick up."

   "Hey!" John singsongs into the phone.

   Hercules' voice is a little disbelieving at first. "Aaron picked up the phone?"

   "Nah. The lazy poet continues to lounge on the couch. It's me! Yo, I'm John Laurens," John mockingly raps into the microphone, cracking up to himself. He can remember the time that Hercules and John went out to drink and ended up rapping the entire night away. Aaron had to show up and drag them home...Which came to be a very awkward conversation when they woke up.

   Chuckling to himself, Hercules scoffs. "Throw down the keys then, Jacky boy."

   Reluctantly, Aaron gets up and snatches the keys off the counter. He always walks so slowly nowadays. Pulling up his hood so he's subtle, Aaron goes out to their balcony to spot Hercules and quite literally chuck down the keys.

   "Yes! Are we going to go out drinking again? Rap to some brown-eyed beauties?" John excitedly asks. Every time Hercules rolls back into town, it's always a wild night. That's why John is hoping that they're going to go to the bar. The bar practically knows them by name now...Which is awesome.

   Aaron gives him a dirty look as he reenters the room, knowing that bar trips usually end with him attempting to bring the two drunken fools back to the apartment by himself.

   There's a sudden cuss over the answering machine. "I might be late." Hercules abruptly hangs up after that.

   "What the heck does that mean?" John whines. "I was looking forward for something fun."

   The phone starts ringing again. Fat chance that John's going to screen first. "What the heck do you mean late? We literally just saw you outside our apartment!"

   "Ho ho ho!" John's ex replies instead of Hercules.

   Aaron and John exchange wide-eyed glances. John mouths the name first. 'Alexander.'

   Both of the boys swear.

   "I'm on my way you two! Don't go anywhere," Alex continues jokingly, sounding like he is probably grinning at the phone.

   Lying through his teeth, Aaron calls out. "Great."

   Then, they swear yet again.

   "Oh, hey, Aaron! I need the rent tonight, by the way," he adds off-handedly like it's not too big of a deal.

   John takes a backwards step, looking upset. The phone calls from Alexander have started disturbing him more and more as time goes on. He always ends up steamed up, ready to fight. "What rent?"

   "The past year's rent?" shoots Alex, sounding all of a sudden bored with them...He also has a bit of pompousness in his tone. As if this conversation is too low-intellect for him.

   John's going to punch a wall. He's shaking all over, speaking to his ex. "The past year's rent? You said that we were good!"

   Aaron gently coaxes the phone from his friend, not wanting to have any sort of fight go on that night. It might be a little bit awkward. After all, Alexander and John both have surprisingly big tempers for so short of men. "You said we were fine without paying the rent after you bought the building, Hamilton."

   "When we were roommates!" calls John, trying to shove Aaron away from the phone.

   Curling his fingers around more tightly, Aaron leans slightly into the phone while dancing away from John. "Come on, Alexander. It was before you moved out to live with your precious Eliza. You lived here?"

   "How could I forget being a street rat with you guys? I'm a bit higher than that now...I'm making my own legacy now! But, anyway. It was a little simpler when it was you, me, John, Hercules, and Maria...How is Maria anyway?" There's still a bit of longing. Nobody can forget Alex's secret affair with Maria.

   Aaron wrinkles his nose in disgust, passing the phone back to John. "This is your area of expertise, John."

   "Nice save," John groans. "She's doing a performance tonight."

   "I know," Alexander groans just as loudly as John. "Causing a giant fuss over literally nothing. Hey...John...You still her production manager?"

   "Two days ago, I quit," he lies.

   Aaron cuts in. "He was fired."

   "Still dating her?"

   John's eyes go wide. Frantically, he mouths to Aaron. 'Does Alexander sound jealous?'

   "He got dumped," supplies Aaron, avoiding the hope blooming in John's eyes. There's no chance that Alexander would ever go back to John...He married someone rich to elevate his own status. What a greedy-

   Aaron clears his throat. "Maria's in love."

   "That woman moves fast. What's his name?" Alexander smoothly says, sounding both playful and flirty at the same time.

   John and Aaron answer at once, both unsure whether it's hilarious or not that Alexander thinks Maria would go with another man. "Angelica."

   Alexander freezes. "Schuyler?"

   "Yup," Aaron replies.

   There's a loud bang. Eliza's older sister is dating Maria...Who has at least a dozen stories of the exploits between Alexander and John. As well as her and Alexander. If word gets out to Eliza how much Alex cheats on people, it might not end so well...His way to fortune and fame will wither and die. That, and everyone knows that Alex truly loves Eliza now. The two of them are practically inseparable.

   Alex slowly speaks again. "Rent...Is due. Or you're getting kicked out. Be there soon."

   Aaron furiously leans over and starts scribbling on his paper, writing down all of his frustration about it. John reaches over to grab his own notebook. Quickly, he draws a figure on top of a pile of money bags...Alexander. Eliza sits in his lap, and the two of them are kissing. Because that's how he used to get kissed by Alexander.

   Aaron almost looks satisfied with what he's writing when the lamp suddenly dies out.

   John tries to make eye contact with his remaining roommate in the darkness. "Did he just shut off our power?"

   "What a jerk," grumbles Aaron. "For an orphan, he's pretty heartless about literally anything."

   "We just need to pay?" John slowly says. "Then we can get our lights functioning again. I can start drawing every part of real life...Which is kind of a lie. We have the freaking drama of a soap opera. We have Alexander, the greedy, and we have a giant love octagon between Maria and the rest of the world. Don't forget us, down on our luck people who really should have gone to college."

   "Don't be bitter," scolds Aaron slightly.

   A laugh splits out of John's mouth as he starts picking his way across the floor. "Don't tell me you're not bitter?"

   "Well, yeah-"

   "Let it out then," John replies. "We can burn this place down with our words...Isn't that what Alex did?"

   "How are you supposed to be able to write anything when every word sounds like a betrayal? Every word used to describe her..." Aaron's voice trails off sadly.

   John senses the darker direction that this appears to be going...Any detail about his dead girlfriend usually makes the entire day just a little bit darker. Immediately, regret starts swelling up in him. There's a reason Aaron doesn't let out his real emotions anymore. Because if he does, he might hide under the blankets and never come out. John totally screwed up by saying that.

   He thinks of something else to get fired up about. "We're hungry and frozen!"

   "The expert life of artists instead of doctors and lawyers!" Aaron shoots back, recovering from the comment quickly.

   "And it doesn't pay!" John explodes.

   Aaron nods in agreement, recovering his own composure and calm now. "How are we supposed to pay last year's rent?"

   John dances around, an idea occurring to him. He sprints down the darkened hallway to their supply cabinet and starts searching around for Maria's old candles. After all, she was all for 'mood' dates. When she moved out to live with Angelica, Maria told John and Aaron they could have the candles for when they eventually move and get some more dates.

   He throws one of the long, red ones down the hall. "Light 'em up, Burr!"

   "Okay." There's the sound of a match being struck, and John can even make out a little bit of an orange glow.

   The candle is suddenly illuminating some of the room. Aaron then drags over an empty, tall bucket. They used to have it for the impromptu rap sessions. Aaron would thump on it while the other four attempted to wrap. Maria would end up dancing, and Alex's raps were much, much better than anything else John and Hercules could come up with.

   Aaron grins. "This is perfect for a fire...Besides just the candles."

   "There's nothing to burn though..." John pauses thoughtfully, thinking it over. There has to be something to burn.

   Pretending to shuffle his feet, Aaron looks over. "We can't even shuffle our feet fast enough to get electric sparks. I can't even feel my feet."

   Wiggling his toes, the curly-haired man glances down to examine them a little closer. "I think mine are turning blue. Wow, this is so much better than anything a colored pencil could generate."

   "I have an idea," Aaron slowly says.

   John glances over, noting the glint in his eyes. "What?"

   Aaron hurries over to the wads of paper he's thrown on the ground. He has started many, many poems and stories that have fallen flat on their faces. He just can't write well anymore. "Light a match."

   "You tossing them in?" John asks.

   Approaching slightly, Aaron takes the burning match. It slowly swooshes towards the wad of paper in Aaron's hand. It immediately catches on the end, lighting it up...But there's a bit of warmth that goes to them as well. Transfixed, both of them just stare at it for awhile. Then, Aaron tosses it into the bucket. John can tell that Aaron will be quite happy to be burning them all down to ashes inside.

   An idea strikes him, and John scurries to his room. This is the ultimate way to spite Alexander...He pulls out a small box under his bed. All of Alex's letters written to him sit in there. "I'm burning that idiot!"

   "Good for you," Aaron calls back.

   As the two of them stare at the growing fire, the two of them sigh. "How the heck are we going to pay the rent?"

   Angelica paces around in the warehouse, anxiously debating whether or not to call her girlfriend. Most conversations end up with her not getting any of her work done, but Angelica had to go home early from work for that woman! She's getting a little tired of forcing her coworker, Thomas, to finish everything for her. He's a quite smart man, sure, but he's also arrogant and always relishes holding that victory of her head for quite some time.

   In the end, the oldest Schuyler knows Maria needs to be called. She always gets so anxious over every performance. Angelica dials the number quickly.

   Nobody picks up. Beep.

   "Maria! Don't screen," groans Angelica. "It's me? Your girlfriend? The one you're actually supposed to pick up too?"

   There's a silence as Maria continues to not pick up the phone. Angelica knows for a fact that Maria would still be in the house. The only other place she would be is the warehouse...And Angelica is pretty sure she would have known whether or not Maria was there with her and just silently lurking.

   "The one you forced to be your production manager-"

   The phone abruptly picks up. "Ang?"

   "Hey hey hey! Have you eaten?" Angelica knows what happens when people perform on empty stomachs. Both Eliza and Peggy, her darling younger siblings, have attempted that. Eliza dry-heaved on stage. Peggy didn't suffer, but she was exhausted afterwards.

   Angelica feels slightly bad that she has been putting all of her effort into Maria and her job as lawyer rather than tending to her sisters. Eliza, however, has gotten married and is living the dream with Alexander. She can work at the orphanages and live off their daddy's money. Peggy works and dances, though the nineteen-year-old refuses to disclose where. Angelica is starting to think Peggy is a club dancer.

   Maria clears her throat. "You sound hassled."

   "Don't change the subject, Maria." The motherly tone immediately comes out in Angelica's voice.

   Whining slightly, the other woman sounds more frustrated than anything else. "Honey, you worry too much. I love your concern...But I know where your concern better lies."

   Great, an innuendo that Angelica isn't quite sure what it means.

   "Darling," Angelica slowly says, "you haven't eaten all day."

   Maria makes a noncommittal noise. "I have an uneasy stomach, don't you know?"

   "You won't throw up," Angelica returns. "And scientifically, you need food to throw up. If you want to use that as an excuse, better start shoveling food in your mouth before I do it for you, Maria."

   "I'd be fine with that," she purrs.

   Angelica groans. "Not now. Later."

   "Oh. Of course, sweetheart. So...How's setting up my equipment? You wouldn't call me just to ask about eating, would you?" Angelica can practically hear the pout inside of Maria's sultry voice.

   The woman awkwardly laughs. "Nothing happened...Exactly. The digital delay is fine...Kinda. There may have been one teeny, tiny spark, but I can fix it."

   "I'm calling John."

   "You are not calling John!"

   Hercules cusses and swears out the people who beat him up. The big man shouldn't have been taken down so easily. However, it's hard not to fall when three men are leaping on your back to steal your coat. It wasn't even that nice of a coat. It was just something they didn't have, so they jumped him.

   He groans as he collapses against the alley's wall. How is he supposed to get back to John and Aaron? Every single street, someone is trying to attack you for something. Whether it be for money, which Hercules doesn't have, a coat, which Hercules no longer has, or drugs, which Hercules never had.

   New York has its fair share of thieves and criminals, but he never expected it to be anything like this. What a nice way to be welcomed back to town-

   The churning in his gut almost makes him kneel over and collapse. "I should lie down..."

   The world turns into shades of brown, and his lunch threatens to come up. Hercules braces himself against the wall, hoping that the spinning of the world would stop soon. Otherwise, he's going to puke up the little food he could eat. That would be quite unpleasant after all.

   "Rent," John muses after looking off the balcony for Hercules, "is not going to get paid for by Hercules. He has apparently dropped off the face of the earth."

   Dryly, Aaron chuckles. "Think he's selling our keys to buy some kind of crap?"

   "Or pay off rent?" the other man returns. The two of them chuckle at that. They both know that Hercules doesn't have any sort of apartment. There must be a great bonus to being a nomad. Maybe they should have picked life on the road rather than anything else...Like being harassed by John's ex-boyfriend to get money that you never expected to have to pay back. What dilemmas you face when you have a somewhat stable home.

   Alex leans against the wall, chatting to his wife. He always gets a special kind of feeling in his stomach when that comes. "Eliza, baby, you sound sad...Has anything happened?"

   "No, no..." sniffles Eliza. "How was the conversation with John and Aaron?"

   Alex winces, really hoping that Eliza wouldn't have remembered that. Heaven knows that she doesn't ever need to think about John or Maria. The problem is that her sister is dating one of his many exes now. It's going to be hard to avoid that topic at the next family dinner they happen to have.

   Talk about awkward.

   "I just can't believe those two," he explodes at last, knowing that anger will be able to distract her.

   Eliza pauses. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm taking it didn't go well? I can make you some hot chocolate when you get back home."

   "It's just...After everything I've done! Just because I married you, I'm dirt!" Alex doesn't mention the fact that they have a reason. He told Aaron that waiting for it will get you nothing if you don't have skin in the game. Then, he very harshly broke up with John, who didn't even know he had gotten engaged with Eliza. In Alex's defense, it was kind of a three week kind of thing.

   His wife makes an understanding noise. "That sounds rough, honey. Are you sure you don't want to come back home-"

   "Just you wait, Eliza," he interrupts. "I can help all of those bums out! I used to be dirt too, but look at me now! With a loving wife and all of that...In the long run, they're going to be thanking me!"

   "Just...Come home safer. That would be enough," Eliza whispers.

   Alex hangs up, but not before telling his wife how much he loves her.

   John raps over the flames of the bucket. Aaron and him had dragged it out to the balcony so the whole city can see. Aaron seems a little...Unimpressed with the raps coming out of his mouth. Is it his fault that nothing rhymes with music? He is just trying to freestyle over the passionate fire, but no.

   Aaron has to be nit-picky.

   Angelica helplessly holds up another cable, not sure where it connects. The pamphlet isn't helping either. Half of the words have been crossed out by pen and written over horribly...John's handwriting. "Maria, I'm not a theater person!"

   Aaron describes the fire, coaxing his fingers over the edge to get them to retain even more warmth. John has to admit that the words all make sense and that could make a poem. He's secretly writing it down for Aaron. The moment Aaron sees, maybe his friend can get back on his feet.

   Aaron notices and wrinkles his brow slightly. Then, he returns to the fire...Which is definitely the more important issue there.

   Maria's descriptions don't make any sense either. It's quite clear who was the tech genius out of Maria and John...It was John. John, who scribbled out the words in black pen to make it impossible to read. "I could never be a theater person!"

   John draws a picture of the fire, and he draws little figures within it. He knows exactly who they are representing. Him and Alex and Maria. They were the ultimate love triangle there. Alex was never satisfied with whatever woman ended walking his way. But...He definitely made John feel like he was enough.

   Aaron reaches over to drag his pencil off the paper. "Focus on the future. You just have to wait for it to get better."

   Right as John is about to protest, the phone goes off again.

   John doesn't like using the smaller, portable phone. Aaron can't butt in and give any helpful comments. The fact that it's going off means that either Maureen or Hercules is actually calling. Alex is an option too, but John really doubts that he would use the private hotline. "Hello?"

   "Hiya, Jacky," purrs Maria's voice.

   Shocked, John looks up and makes eye contact with Aaron. "Maria?"

   "My new production manager is a little...Oblivious. She isn't sure how to get the equipment to work. Any chance you can work your magic?"

   "I'm a little busy burning some crap right now-"

   "Oh, please. It would make my day...Otherwise, my whole performance will be ruined. And there might be a reward." Maria smacks her lips loudly.

   John grins slightly. "Okay, I'm coming."

   Aaron can't believe that his friend is just going to leave him with all alone with the fire...

   Underneath and across from their apartment, people are starting to take their examples though. They're burning things...That look an awful like eviction notices. Aaron is slightly tempted to go grab their own.

   There's a whistle nearby the ladder that connects their apartment with the underneath one.

   He glances over the balcony and spots the girl easily. She has her own fire going. Not only is the dark beauty smoking, she's throwing random things into the fire. Aaron is sure that he sees some pictures of three people inside of them. It's always the same color...Blue, red, and yellow. However, she laughs as the fire burns and devours them whole.

   The girl glances up at him and smiles brightly, looking a little too youthful for burning pictures and destroying her lungs.

   The girl waves.

   Aaron turns away, trying not to stare at her. He's not getting involved with anyone. Not since Theodosia died...Which is a happy way to put slit her wrists after finding out about it. Nobody is worth that risk again.

   Alex walks down the street, groaning slightly. "Come on, people! Way to show your position on things..."

   However, he can't help but feel a little bit guilty. He always preached to his roommates that they should rise up...And isn't that what everyone who lives in his building doing?

   John is just about to leave the apartment to help Maria when Aaron clears his throat. "Bring a weapon. Poke people's eyes out with your colored pencils."

   "Use your notebook to paper-cut them to death," John replies gleefully, hearing the excitement and the chaos going on outside.

   The two of them make eye contact, grinning wildly. Aaron speaks first. "Well, I don't know about you...But do you know where our eviction notices are? Because I'm pretty sure that we're not paying."

   "Heck yeah! Let's burn it to the ground! We ain't paying!" The man starts rushing around the apartment, gathering them up.

   Aaron beams. "Not last year's rent."

   "Not this year's rent."

   "Not next year's rent," calls the woman from the floor below, getting hyped by the excitement. She stands on the edge, almost daring herself to fall from it. John knows her from somewhere, but he's not entirely sure.

   Aaron pauses. "We aren't paying rent ever again, are we?"

   "I want to buy something...But no because," John drawls.

   "Everything is rent."