RENT - Mark Cohen / his camera
Fandom: RENT
Pairing: Mark Cohen / his camera (with hints of Collins/Angel, Mark/Maureen, Mimi/Roger, April/Roger, Maureen/Joanne. and even Mark/Roger if you want to read them as such)
Theme Set: Alpha
Rating: G to R
#01 - Comfort
Roger would just shake his head from the other side of the flat when Mark would try to explain that even though it appeared, “tedious, boring, possibly even physically painful, editing film is actually very cathartic -- at least I tell myself it is.”
#02 - Kiss
Maureen loved to kiss in front of the camera; it wouldn’t be the first time that she would make him jealous.
#03 - Soft
Mark could handle Maureen dumping him, because he had been expecting it, but getting bumped off from being her tech advisor hurt; he wondered if she was trying to soften the original blow by hurting him in a way that mattered or if she honestly thought that anyone by merit of their fucking her became a theater person.
#04 - Pain
When Roger rose an eyebrow from the window ledge, Mark attempted to explain how he had gotten his finger nicked in reels of his camera without smiling too sheepishly or letting on to the fact that it did actually hurt.
#05 - Potatoes
Excluding the night after Maureen’s protest, most of the footage from the Life Café was just the sound of their voices, their hands, ashtrays, and their lone, solitary pile of fries (that wasn‘t always entirely paid for).
#06 - Rain
Occasionally, the ever grainy quality of the film would drive Mark insane, but when he filmed Angel playing his beats in the rain, it would just send chills down his spine.
#07 - Chocolate
On a frigid February 14, Roger slunk into the apartment and began to explain, “Instead of chocolate, I decided I would get you some batteries for your camera, but then I realized we didn’t have any money.”
#08 - Happiness
Dancing on the table and sticking it to Benny and his father-in-law had filled Mark with a sense of pride, but the true joy came from rewatching the tape (that had to have been shot by over fifteen people -- he tried not to think about how lucky he was to have gotten his camera back in one piece).
#09 - Telephone
Mark leaned out the window and yelled down to Collins to not get his ass beat when he tried coming up to the loft, and then with tight focus on Angel, she theatrically sent up a kiss, a wink, and a yell, “No one is stoppin’ to use any telephone today.”
#10 - Ears
Mark groaned as he awoke with one hand nearly knocking his camera off the bed and the other hand strewn over his ear so when he whined about Roger’s theories on kicking heroin and playing as loud as physically possible at the ass crack of dawn even he couldn’t hear himself.
#11 - Name
“Hi, my name is Mark Cohen, and I’ll be showing you the life of New York during the year 1989 in my film -- Today 4 U.”
#12 - Sensual
It never failed to bring Mark into side splitting laughter when he would look over the footage of Roger laughing on the stoop as Mimi rubbed his thighs, because it never failed that Roger looked like he was in some sort of serious pain.
#13 - Death
The thought never even crossed his mind; Angel’s funeral wasn’t recorded.
#14 - Sex
Unlike everyone else in their family, Mimi never forgot about the camera that was always rolling; Mark realized this when he would see her playing up her sex appeal for even the most mundane of actions such as pouring a cup of coffee.
#15 - Touch
As Roger circled him with his own camera, Mark clawed at his hair and groaned ,“What kind of fucked up world is it when you’re too broke to get wasted after you get dumped for a lawyer?”
#16 - Weakness
Looking back on their relationship, Mark noticed wryly how every argument they ever had ended when she called him pookie and leaned in past the camera lens to kiss him on the cheek.
#17 - Tears
April came in first and her face was tear-stained; Mark had begun to ask what had happened, but Roger quickly ushered his girlfriend to the back of the loft and yelled, “It’s none of your goddamned business right now, and it sure fuck isn‘t gonna be part of your movie!”
#18 - Speed
“All right, lemme explain something to you, you have so many thoughts speedin’ through your head already -- metaphysics, price for a loaf of bread, when you gotta take your AZT, you just gotta chill out sometimes,” Collins grinned into the dirty lens before shotgunning lungfuls of dense smoke into Angel’s mouth through a smutty kiss.
#19 - Wind
Because of the harsh winds, the mic was buffeted so every word that was spoken was replayed as dull roar; Mark decided he would just add a voice-over and make the technical flaw a statement on New York’s headspace.
#20 - Freedom
Mark did his best to steady the camera as, what was his name . . . maybe it was Paul, as Paul spoke to the room in a patronizing yet loving tone, “It’s difficult, but it gives you great freedom to live without regret.”
#21 - Life
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Mark picked up the note that had been left on his camera and read it: We didn’t want to wake you up -- we’ll be at the Life Café .”
#22 - Jealousy
Marking the film from New Year’s for splicing, Mark, once more, told himself that he wasn’t jealous of all his friends being in love - he was happy for them; he wasn’t jealous.
#23 - Hands
Both their hands were shaking as the camera repeatedly clicked without film; Mark’s hands shook because of the cold, and Roger’s shook because of the heroin.
#24 - Taste
Around the stove great aromas swirled above the pot that April stirred and tasted in between embarrassing Roger by demanding that he smile for the camera.
#25 - Devotion
“I can’t believe you’re yelling at me about devotion -- you don’t give a shit about our relationship; you’re always hiding behind that goddamn camera!”
#26 - Forever
Angel had gotten them to promise that their family would last forever, but just incase it didn’t, Mark would have the proof that it had existed at all.
#27 - Blood
Mark hadn’t wanted to do it, but Angel had insisted saying that it was all just part of his journey; so when his own blood cells started to attack themselves, Mark set up the camera to sit in the furthest corner of hospital room.
#28 - Sickness
Roger clinched his eyes closed and his fist into the thin pillow, sweat drenched his thin shirt, and Mark kept a hand on his forehead despite the fact that Roger would murmur deliriously that Mark’s work is more important than some junkie.
#29 - Melody
The guitar had been in and out of hock so much sometimes they could barely recognize it; Mark had spliced together a short montage of Roger’s playing so they could laugh how much the instrument had changed.
#30 - Star
Mark fiddled with the focus as he leaned out the loft’s window and grumbled, “New York -- where stars, at best, are streetlights.”
#31 - Home
Benny came crashing into the flat dropping paper bags full of bread and fruit, Roger sat on the couch with one arm curled around the neck of the guitar and the other around April’s waist, beside him Collins sat with his legs sprawled out in front of him as he compared Marx’s revolution to Marcuse’s, and Maureen scampered up to Benny and scooped up the groceries as Mark pushed his camera away from the counter so they could start to work on dinner.
#32 - Confusion
Mark dropped the camera numbly and yelped, “Maureen is dating a lawyer?”
#33 - Fear
“Maureen, I just,” Mark pursed his lips together and stared into the camera’s lens as he cleaned it as a none-too-subtle distraction, “Since Roger got the news,” he clinched his jaw till he frowned and continued, “it won’t hurt to check.”
#34 - Lightning/Thunder
Mark panned across the dark flat and focused on Angel who was painting her nails by the bolts of lightening.
#35 - Bonds
When Mark picked up Roger from the police station, the first thing he asked was where the camera was, and Mark just shrugged and responded, “Getting you out was more important than it, and anyway,” he smiled and threw an arm over Roger’s shoulders, “it’s not like we’ve never pawned anything before.”
#36 - Market
Mark stuck his tongue out as he fought with the camera and its faulty back latch; hoping that he didn’t run into the street vendors, Roger slung an arm over Mark’s shoulders and gently steered him away from the booths.
#37 - Technology
The cameras at Buzzline were far fancier than the old gift from the gang, but Mark just couldn’t seem to utilize its technology because of its impassivity.
#38 - Gift
Mark coughed as he was roused awake, he tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes and claw for his glasses, he grunted out obscenities as he focused on Maureen, Benny, Collins, Roger and April who were perched on the mattress near his hip as Maureen shoved a clearly hocked but surprisingly new looking camera and a kiss in his face and they all spoke in over each other , “Happy birthday, Mark; we got you this -- we hope you like it!”
#39 - Smile
All of his friends’ smiles were seen and his voice was often heard, but the expressions that Mark wore were always hidden behind the camera’s bulk.
#40 - Innocence
Collins had left a note on the projector that Mark hadn’t understood, but he followed the directions and flicked the machine on as he sipped on the Stoli that had been left in a paper cup from the night before, and then he nearly spit it out; on the screen he was passed out on the window sill completely engulfed in Roger’s arms as slowly Collins and Angel’s laughter crept into frame along with a sloppy sign that read “Young Love”.
#41 - Completion
It was only when the last frame of his film rolled and the sirens of the ambulance screamed up to the tenement did Mark understand what Angel’s smile truly meant; it was simple and he had told them so many times - there was no day but today and they were going to be alright.
#42 - Clouds
The clouds opened up and let down sheets of acid rain; Mark continued to let the film roll, and Roger and Mimi kissed as their hair hung limply at their shoulders.
#43 - Sky
Mark quirked up an eyebrow as he panned over the counter of alcohol that Collins and Angel had brought over for Mimi‘s birthday, and then he asked quizzically, “Doesn’t SKYY vodka taste like moldy ass crack?”
#44 - Heaven
The camera skidded towards the corner as Joanne pulled up a seven from the circle of cards; on instinct, Mark had lunged for the camera and not for the sky, so he grimaced and took the shoot like a man when it was offered.
#45 - Hell
“Oh hell,” Roger grunted as he riffled through his pockets for the seventy-fifth time in the last minute, “Mark, do you think you could light a cigarette off of some part of your camera?”
#46 - Sun
New York was always raining or snowing, so when sun was streaming down from a cloudless sky most people rejoiced; Mark just grumbled because of the flare that would show up on anything remotely shiny.
#47 - Moon
“Okay Markie,” Alexi cooed from across the desk and Mark wondered if shooting himself would be an inappropriate thing to do in her office, “to keep this moon in frame clutters the viewers’ eye, so we’ll cut that.”
#48 - Waves
The drive to Staten Island was worth it if only because Mark now had evidence of Roger shrieking like a little girl when Mimi pulled him down into the frigid waves.
#49 - Hair
Mark panned across Angel’s apartment and asked, “Just how many wigs do you have?”
#50 - Supernova
Maureen said that making love on film was like a supernova; Mark agreed, because afterwards everything died.
Pairing: Mark Cohen / his camera (with hints of Collins/Angel, Mark/Maureen, Mimi/Roger, April/Roger, Maureen/Joanne. and even Mark/Roger if you want to read them as such)
Theme Set: Alpha
Rating: G to R
#01 - Comfort
Roger would just shake his head from the other side of the flat when Mark would try to explain that even though it appeared, “tedious, boring, possibly even physically painful, editing film is actually very cathartic -- at least I tell myself it is.”
#02 - Kiss
Maureen loved to kiss in front of the camera; it wouldn’t be the first time that she would make him jealous.
#03 - Soft
Mark could handle Maureen dumping him, because he had been expecting it, but getting bumped off from being her tech advisor hurt; he wondered if she was trying to soften the original blow by hurting him in a way that mattered or if she honestly thought that anyone by merit of their fucking her became a theater person.
#04 - Pain
When Roger rose an eyebrow from the window ledge, Mark attempted to explain how he had gotten his finger nicked in reels of his camera without smiling too sheepishly or letting on to the fact that it did actually hurt.
#05 - Potatoes
Excluding the night after Maureen’s protest, most of the footage from the Life Café was just the sound of their voices, their hands, ashtrays, and their lone, solitary pile of fries (that wasn‘t always entirely paid for).
#06 - Rain
Occasionally, the ever grainy quality of the film would drive Mark insane, but when he filmed Angel playing his beats in the rain, it would just send chills down his spine.
#07 - Chocolate
On a frigid February 14, Roger slunk into the apartment and began to explain, “Instead of chocolate, I decided I would get you some batteries for your camera, but then I realized we didn’t have any money.”
#08 - Happiness
Dancing on the table and sticking it to Benny and his father-in-law had filled Mark with a sense of pride, but the true joy came from rewatching the tape (that had to have been shot by over fifteen people -- he tried not to think about how lucky he was to have gotten his camera back in one piece).
#09 - Telephone
Mark leaned out the window and yelled down to Collins to not get his ass beat when he tried coming up to the loft, and then with tight focus on Angel, she theatrically sent up a kiss, a wink, and a yell, “No one is stoppin’ to use any telephone today.”
#10 - Ears
Mark groaned as he awoke with one hand nearly knocking his camera off the bed and the other hand strewn over his ear so when he whined about Roger’s theories on kicking heroin and playing as loud as physically possible at the ass crack of dawn even he couldn’t hear himself.
#11 - Name
“Hi, my name is Mark Cohen, and I’ll be showing you the life of New York during the year 1989 in my film -- Today 4 U.”
#12 - Sensual
It never failed to bring Mark into side splitting laughter when he would look over the footage of Roger laughing on the stoop as Mimi rubbed his thighs, because it never failed that Roger looked like he was in some sort of serious pain.
#13 - Death
The thought never even crossed his mind; Angel’s funeral wasn’t recorded.
#14 - Sex
Unlike everyone else in their family, Mimi never forgot about the camera that was always rolling; Mark realized this when he would see her playing up her sex appeal for even the most mundane of actions such as pouring a cup of coffee.
#15 - Touch
As Roger circled him with his own camera, Mark clawed at his hair and groaned ,“What kind of fucked up world is it when you’re too broke to get wasted after you get dumped for a lawyer?”
#16 - Weakness
Looking back on their relationship, Mark noticed wryly how every argument they ever had ended when she called him pookie and leaned in past the camera lens to kiss him on the cheek.
#17 - Tears
April came in first and her face was tear-stained; Mark had begun to ask what had happened, but Roger quickly ushered his girlfriend to the back of the loft and yelled, “It’s none of your goddamned business right now, and it sure fuck isn‘t gonna be part of your movie!”
#18 - Speed
“All right, lemme explain something to you, you have so many thoughts speedin’ through your head already -- metaphysics, price for a loaf of bread, when you gotta take your AZT, you just gotta chill out sometimes,” Collins grinned into the dirty lens before shotgunning lungfuls of dense smoke into Angel’s mouth through a smutty kiss.
#19 - Wind
Because of the harsh winds, the mic was buffeted so every word that was spoken was replayed as dull roar; Mark decided he would just add a voice-over and make the technical flaw a statement on New York’s headspace.
#20 - Freedom
Mark did his best to steady the camera as, what was his name . . . maybe it was Paul, as Paul spoke to the room in a patronizing yet loving tone, “It’s difficult, but it gives you great freedom to live without regret.”
#21 - Life
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Mark picked up the note that had been left on his camera and read it: We didn’t want to wake you up -- we’ll be at the Life Café .”
#22 - Jealousy
Marking the film from New Year’s for splicing, Mark, once more, told himself that he wasn’t jealous of all his friends being in love - he was happy for them; he wasn’t jealous.
#23 - Hands
Both their hands were shaking as the camera repeatedly clicked without film; Mark’s hands shook because of the cold, and Roger’s shook because of the heroin.
#24 - Taste
Around the stove great aromas swirled above the pot that April stirred and tasted in between embarrassing Roger by demanding that he smile for the camera.
#25 - Devotion
“I can’t believe you’re yelling at me about devotion -- you don’t give a shit about our relationship; you’re always hiding behind that goddamn camera!”
#26 - Forever
Angel had gotten them to promise that their family would last forever, but just incase it didn’t, Mark would have the proof that it had existed at all.
#27 - Blood
Mark hadn’t wanted to do it, but Angel had insisted saying that it was all just part of his journey; so when his own blood cells started to attack themselves, Mark set up the camera to sit in the furthest corner of hospital room.
#28 - Sickness
Roger clinched his eyes closed and his fist into the thin pillow, sweat drenched his thin shirt, and Mark kept a hand on his forehead despite the fact that Roger would murmur deliriously that Mark’s work is more important than some junkie.
#29 - Melody
The guitar had been in and out of hock so much sometimes they could barely recognize it; Mark had spliced together a short montage of Roger’s playing so they could laugh how much the instrument had changed.
#30 - Star
Mark fiddled with the focus as he leaned out the loft’s window and grumbled, “New York -- where stars, at best, are streetlights.”
#31 - Home
Benny came crashing into the flat dropping paper bags full of bread and fruit, Roger sat on the couch with one arm curled around the neck of the guitar and the other around April’s waist, beside him Collins sat with his legs sprawled out in front of him as he compared Marx’s revolution to Marcuse’s, and Maureen scampered up to Benny and scooped up the groceries as Mark pushed his camera away from the counter so they could start to work on dinner.
#32 - Confusion
Mark dropped the camera numbly and yelped, “Maureen is dating a lawyer?”
#33 - Fear
“Maureen, I just,” Mark pursed his lips together and stared into the camera’s lens as he cleaned it as a none-too-subtle distraction, “Since Roger got the news,” he clinched his jaw till he frowned and continued, “it won’t hurt to check.”
#34 - Lightning/Thunder
Mark panned across the dark flat and focused on Angel who was painting her nails by the bolts of lightening.
#35 - Bonds
When Mark picked up Roger from the police station, the first thing he asked was where the camera was, and Mark just shrugged and responded, “Getting you out was more important than it, and anyway,” he smiled and threw an arm over Roger’s shoulders, “it’s not like we’ve never pawned anything before.”
#36 - Market
Mark stuck his tongue out as he fought with the camera and its faulty back latch; hoping that he didn’t run into the street vendors, Roger slung an arm over Mark’s shoulders and gently steered him away from the booths.
#37 - Technology
The cameras at Buzzline were far fancier than the old gift from the gang, but Mark just couldn’t seem to utilize its technology because of its impassivity.
#38 - Gift
Mark coughed as he was roused awake, he tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes and claw for his glasses, he grunted out obscenities as he focused on Maureen, Benny, Collins, Roger and April who were perched on the mattress near his hip as Maureen shoved a clearly hocked but surprisingly new looking camera and a kiss in his face and they all spoke in over each other , “Happy birthday, Mark; we got you this -- we hope you like it!”
#39 - Smile
All of his friends’ smiles were seen and his voice was often heard, but the expressions that Mark wore were always hidden behind the camera’s bulk.
#40 - Innocence
Collins had left a note on the projector that Mark hadn’t understood, but he followed the directions and flicked the machine on as he sipped on the Stoli that had been left in a paper cup from the night before, and then he nearly spit it out; on the screen he was passed out on the window sill completely engulfed in Roger’s arms as slowly Collins and Angel’s laughter crept into frame along with a sloppy sign that read “Young Love”.
#41 - Completion
It was only when the last frame of his film rolled and the sirens of the ambulance screamed up to the tenement did Mark understand what Angel’s smile truly meant; it was simple and he had told them so many times - there was no day but today and they were going to be alright.
#42 - Clouds
The clouds opened up and let down sheets of acid rain; Mark continued to let the film roll, and Roger and Mimi kissed as their hair hung limply at their shoulders.
#43 - Sky
Mark quirked up an eyebrow as he panned over the counter of alcohol that Collins and Angel had brought over for Mimi‘s birthday, and then he asked quizzically, “Doesn’t SKYY vodka taste like moldy ass crack?”
#44 - Heaven
The camera skidded towards the corner as Joanne pulled up a seven from the circle of cards; on instinct, Mark had lunged for the camera and not for the sky, so he grimaced and took the shoot like a man when it was offered.
#45 - Hell
“Oh hell,” Roger grunted as he riffled through his pockets for the seventy-fifth time in the last minute, “Mark, do you think you could light a cigarette off of some part of your camera?”
#46 - Sun
New York was always raining or snowing, so when sun was streaming down from a cloudless sky most people rejoiced; Mark just grumbled because of the flare that would show up on anything remotely shiny.
#47 - Moon
“Okay Markie,” Alexi cooed from across the desk and Mark wondered if shooting himself would be an inappropriate thing to do in her office, “to keep this moon in frame clutters the viewers’ eye, so we’ll cut that.”
#48 - Waves
The drive to Staten Island was worth it if only because Mark now had evidence of Roger shrieking like a little girl when Mimi pulled him down into the frigid waves.
#49 - Hair
Mark panned across Angel’s apartment and asked, “Just how many wigs do you have?”
#50 - Supernova
Maureen said that making love on film was like a supernova; Mark agreed, because afterwards everything died.