Disclaimer: RENT and its characters do not belong to me.

Author's notes: Ahh, well the last chapter has arrived. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Italics are the intro thingy.

February 17th 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. First shot Mark, who's sitting on the couch, still wearing the tacky red polyester vest from his job at the video rental store. The job which he hates, but is working anyways, if nothing else but to keep busy during the day. He knows that he should take the vest off before Roger gets home, because wearing the vest always provokes a sort of laughing and mockery from his boyfriend. He knows that he should take it off, but he doesn't. He's too busy, using his camera to film a candle in front of him.

The flame was dancing, along the candle's wick, it's orangey glow reflecting off of the lens of the camera, as well as Mark's glasses. It was a mesmerizing thing, to watch the fire through his camera. It was something that he had done since he had gotten his new-used camera. He probably had a few hours of just the lit candle on his limited reels of film. Filming the flame was now common for Mark, he had just never been caught doing it before.

"Nice vest." It was the pathetic jest that came from behind him that made Mark notice that Roger had entered the apartment. It just didn't cause him to put down the camera, turn, or even respond. Roger didn't take off his coat, due to the chill in the apartment. "Why are you filming a candle?" This did confuse him a little, Mark had filmed some abstract things, but he had never focused so much on an inanimate object.

The camera wasn't lowered. "It's for my new film. I'm calling it Conflagration."

"What the fuck is a Conflag---whatever?" Roger did a double take stepping around to the other side of the couch.

"A large destructive fire."

It suddenly started to hit Roger what this was about. He wasn't a complete moron…all of the time. "And the candle is…?"

Mark still didn't look away, like he didn't realize how weird it was for him to just be staring. "It's the opposite side of fire. The way it can be delicate and beautiful."

"OK then." Roger muttered under his breath before leaning down and blowing out the candle, leaving them in a room much closer to darkness.

Now the camera went down and Mark sent an annoyed look over to Roger. "I wasn't done."

Roger put a hand on the hand that was still holding the camera. "It can wait." He paused thinking how to approach the situation. He was still getting used to the whole sensitive boyfriend thing that he had only had to do once before with Mimi. April had never required such a thing. "So what brought this on?"

"I don't know." Mark just shook his head a little. "I was just thinking…about fire, and how sometimes it can just be really beautiful, and it can provide heat and save you, and then other times it can completely ruin your life." He paused, not really noticing the information he had just provided. "I thought I could get some good visualizations out of it. It's really fascinating to watch."

"Have you always liked fire this much?"

"It kinda came on after Christmas." Mark shrugged. When he had said it to himself it hadn't seemed like a big deal. Suddenly saying to Roger made it seem a lot more…freakish. "It's been sort of mesmerizing since then."

Roger snorted a little, laughing. "Pyro." This of course put the two into a silence, but neither really knew how to break. Roger most certainly wasn't going to be the one to break it. Confessions really were Mark's thing.

"I guess I kind of am." Mark shrugged. "Watching it though…it somehow reminds me what things were before the fire." Roger could see how that worked…sort of. Certain things would remind him of that. "You know…with Benny bothering us about the rent."

"You reminding me to take my meds." Roger smiled, starting to reminisce. "And filming it."

"You playing your guitar on the kitchen table. The same three songs. Over and over."

"Collins showing up on all major holidays with Stoli and cereal." For some reason this sent them both into laughter. It seemed to them that thinking about what had happened in the past got them through the present.

As the laughter died, Mark spoke in a disjointed and disappointed manner. "Things aren't gonna be like that again are they?"

Roger sighed. Again with the heartfelt moments. "Probably not. Life changes."

"It's OK though right?" For the first time in the conversation Mark's eyes truly met with Roger's. "I mean we wouldn't have happened if the fire didn't happen."

"I'd say it's more than OK." Roger leaned his head forward, putting his forehead against Mark. "Life changes."

"Life changes." Mark repeated quietly, right before the door opened.

"You know it really isn't that safe for you to leave that door unlocked." The new occupant announced. "Oh for the days when I had to ask for to throw down a key." Mark and Roger turned around, to see Collins standing in the entryway of the apartment, his arms laden with two large paper bags. "I thought you two could use some food and a visit from your friendly neighborhood Professor." The laughter exploded from the two once more, and they turned, collapsing onto each other. "Did I miss something?"

Mark was the first to calm the laughter. "Maybe life doesn't change that much."

Fin

OK, I have to say, that this is the least happy I have been with a story in a long time. I really don't like it, and I had a lot of problems writing it. I think the beginning is a lot stronger than the end, because even by the third chapter this was a story that was just bugging me to be written, not one that I was excited about writing.

Please give me your own feedback.

My next story will be up soon, and I promise that it will be better than this.