This is the story that never ends… It just goes on and on, my friends… this author started writing it not knowing what it was, and now she'll keep on writing it forever just because- this is the story that never ends… -giggle- Clever, aren't I? Well that was the AN for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. -rolls eyes-

Disclaimer: I still don't own RENT.

--A Pleasant Change--

-Angel's POV-

Marky and Joshy went on a date a couple days ago! Today I kept bugging Mark to tell me what happened. He seemed so happy, and I want to know exactly what went on that made him so chipper today. But he wouldn't tell me in front of the other guys, so he promised to call me tonight. I'm waiting for the phone to start ringing, and Collins is laughing at how silly I'm being. Well of course I'm being silly- little Marky is happy!

"Angel, calm down. He might not even tell you anything. You know how he is."

"I think he will. Maybe he's only that way with you and Roger because you never let him tell you guys stuff."

Before we can start arguing the phone rings (thank you Mark!), and I answer it.

"Marky?"

"Um… Hi Angel. Wow. Please tell me you weren't sitting there waiting for me to call."

"Of course I wasn't!" I lie. "So anyway, you were going to tell me about your date with Josh…"

"Yep. Are you sure you really want to hear this? I mean, it's probably boring for anyone else and I shouldn't…"

"Marky, tell me what happened and I'll never bug you about it again."

"Okay then!" He says, sighing. "Well, as you know, a couple days ago we had a real date."

-Flashback thing (from Mark's POV)-

We meet at the park, since we aren't really sure if we want to tell our parents yet. I bring along a couple of old cameras with some extra film in them, just in case.

"Mark! Hey." Josh waves me over to a bench he's sitting on. I flop down next to him, causing a lot of giggling on his part. "Are you tired, or just not happy to see me?"

"No, I'm really happy to see you Josh. I just didn't get as much sleep as I should have. But anyway… what are we going to do here at the park?"

"I don't know… I kinda hoped you would have a plan."

"I brought a couple of old cameras with me. We could take pictures of birds or something." I suggest. He looks delighted at the idea. I give him one camera and keep the other for myself. I'm looking around for anything to photograph, when I hear a click and see a bright flash go off next to me.

"Gotcha. Sorry. You were just too cute to not take a picture of." He grins and I can't help but laugh.

"Well I guess I'll just have to get one of you too!" I say, snapping a picture. He rubs his eyes to get rid of the spots from the flash.

We try to find birds or people or interesting trees to take pictures of, but after half an hour I swear we only have pictures of each other. At first we would give an excuse, like "cute expression" or something like that, but by the end we were blatantly watching each other. I fall down onto the soft grass, and Josh lies down next to me. He rolls over onto his side and stares at me for a moment.

"Hey Mark?"

"Yeah?" I answer, looking over at him.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk before. I'm really trying hard to be a new person. And I just wanted you to know that I really like you, and I don't want to hurt you or do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Josh, you know how you could make me more comfortable? Stop sitting so far away from me. It's a date- we're allowed to touch." He scoots a little closer and I sit up. He puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses my cheek.

"Better?"

"Much."

We sit in silence for a few minutes before he speaks again. "Hey Marky, I brought food. Wanna have a picnic?"

"Sounds good." He unzips his backpack and pulls out two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, two cans of soda, and a very large chocolate chip cookie. "No cooking skills, huh?" We laugh and talk as we eat our lunch, and split the cookie in half to share. We're still sitting in the grass, and I feel a sudden pain on my leg. I jump up and Josh falls over in surprise.

"What the heck, Mark? Are you okay?"

"Ants!" I try not to shout. "They bit me! Can we go sit somewhere not on the grass?"

"Sure." Josh picks up his backpack and the soda cans and holds my hand as we walk back towards the path. We sit on the bench once again, remaining in silence.

"We sure could've used an anteater back there, huh?" I say, breaking the silence. He laughs and nods.

"Indeed. Well now that we've been evicted from the lawn, do you want to walk somewhere? We could go… I don't know."

"Wanna go to the bookstore?"

"Sure!" We start walking down the street, still holding hands. The walk to the bookstore is filled with idle chatting and laughter.

"Hey, faggots- You're sinning against god, you queers!" A man says as we walk past him on the street. I wince and try to ignore him. Josh flips him off and tries to comfort me, which is really sweet of him.

"Marky, are you okay? You know it's not true. You are a wonderful person, and you should never let people like that get to you."

"Thanks."

We finally get to the small bookstore and go inside, debating which section we want to go to. I decide on biographies.

"Christopher Columbus!"

"Wow, Marky. How… historic."

"No, he's a film director."

"Oh okay. I'm gonna go look for some shounen-ai in the manga section. I'll be right back." Josh walks away and I sit down on the floor and start reading. He comes back a few minutes later and sits next to me, opening his book.

"Shounen-ai?"

"The literal translation is: Boy-love."

"Ah, I see." I laugh. "Well, have fun with that." We sit for a few minutes, reading our books. I have this weird feeling after a while… like when someone is watching you. I look up and Josh is looking intently at me.

"You're so cute when you're concentrating." He leans closer to me and kisses me. I respond quickly, scooting closer and putting the book down on the floor next to me.

"Josh…" I whisper when we pull apart. "We could get caught…"

"Who cares?" I shrug and lean into him, our lips and tongues meeting. We sit in the biographies section kissing until one of the store clerks comes over to tell us that several customers reported a disturbance. We just laugh and leave the store still holding hands.

I walk with Josh to his house, and we stand just outside the front door. I take both of his hands in mine and kiss him once more.

"Thank you. I think this is the best date I've ever been on. Seriously. It's a pleasant change… being with someone who really cares."

"That's great. Thanks… I'm uh… glad you had fun. It was great." He stands in front of me a little awkwardly. "Do you want to meet my parents? I mean, they know I'm…"

"Sure. I mean, if you want me to…" He nods and we go in the house. The first thing I notice is how neat it is, like my own house. Our mothers would probably get along. He goes into the kitchen and moments later returns with both of his parents behind him.

"Mom, Dad- this is Mark. We're um… dating, I guess."

"Hi." I say, not knowing exactly what to do. His parents smile at me.

"Hello Mark." His mother says. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah. Nice to meet you." His father mumbles.

"Well I'm glad to meet you too." I say, grinning. Josh grabs my hand and kisses me again. "I should probably get home now. My mom's so overprotective- she's probably worried to death. I'll see you later, Joshy." He sticks out his tongue at the pet-name, but walks with me to the door.

"Bye Mark. See ya."

I walk home and sure enough my mother is ready to kill me. So I said I would only be gone a couple hours and it's now early evening. Whatever. I sit through her ranting and go upstairs.

-end of Mark's flashback thing (which means we go back to Angel's POV)-

I listen to the end of Mark's story and squeal. That's too adorable!

"Oh, Marky I'm so glad you're happy!"

"Thanks Angel." He says quietly. "I am."

"Thanks for telling me. Collins said you wouldn't."

"Well, I dunno. I just trust you I guess. You can tell him if you want, although I suppose I'll just get another speech about how Josh hasn't really changed and he's just messing with me."

"He's just having some trouble forgiving Josh. I think everyone else has though. I'll let you get going now Mark. Sorry for keeping you on the phone for so long."

"No, it's fine. Bye Angel! See you soon."

"Bye Marky!"

I hang up the phone and Collins wraps his arms around my waist. I smile and put my hands over his.

"So how is our little Mark?" He asks, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Perfectly happy. I think he's in love. And it's a good thing. A good change from his normal depressed moping."

"Yep."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. I shouldn't have."

"No, I'm sorry. I haven't been willing to give Josh a second chance. I should try to be nicer to him. And I'll try to listen to Mark more, okay?"

"Okay. Promise?"

"Promise."

Yah. It's exciting how adorable everyone is. So anyway, this was entirely for purposes of random fluff. I needed some random fluff. And… Please review because reviews are like fluff- they make everyone happy and squee-ful.