a study in: intense loneliness, self destructive tendencies, being a stone in a constantly changing current, intense grief, closeted sexuality ( verse dependent ), toxic tendencies, choking on fear, surviving loss, intense feelings of helplessness, feeling like a failure, broken dreams, running out of time.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
HIV / AIDS, mentions of homophobia, violence, death, mental illness, trauma, constant loss, intense grief, mentions of suicide, thoughts of suicide, intense depression, mentions of antisemitism, physical illness, hospitalizations / mentions of hospitalizations.Connections
Biography
Mark Cohen was born on February 4, 1960 to Francine and Elijah Cohen in Scarsdale, New York. He was the youngest of three with his older siblings being Richard “Ricky” Cohen and Diana Cohen ( who prefers her middle name Cindy / Cynthia ). The Cohens always seemed to fit into a nice neat little box, except Mark. Mark has always been different and more creative than his older siblings. Elijah always hated how sensitive Mark was growing up, how his interests differ so greatly from his own and from what he deemed ‘appropriate’ for a growing boy to be interested in. This resulted in Mark enduring a lot of verbal abuse from his father which, combined with the intense physical and emotional bullying that he suffered from the time he entered middle school to the time that he left high school, made him a bit more anxious and “shyer” than those around him.
At eighteen, Mark left home for college and wound up moving to New York City. Despite going to Brown, which was located on Rhode Island and a three hour train ride from where he lived, Mark often bounced between living in his dorm at Brown with Benjamin Coffin III and living in the loft with his then girlfriend Maureen Johnson and their friends Tom Collins, April Ericsson, and Roger Davis. Despite wanting to go into film, Elijah gave Mark an ultimatum: He would allow Mark to take film classes, but his focus and major had to be in business management and financing. Mark hated it, but agreed because it was the only way that he could go to college.
In March of 1980, at twenty years old, Mark quit college because he was exhausted and miserable with it all. As a result, Elijah essentially disowned Mark and stopped sending money. Francine still reached out to her son often, sending what she could without angering Elijah too much. Cindy also helped out on occasion, although it was for more support than anything else since she had her two kids to take care of. Despite all of this, however, Mark was a lot happier.
The years pass in a bit of a blur. Around them, friends and acquaintances are growing sick and dying from the AIDS plague and the government is doing nothing to help. But AIDS never seemed to touch their friend group, until one day it all came crashing down. In 1986, Collins was diagnosed with HIV and their group was devastated. They gathered around Collins the best that they could, swearing to spend as much time with him as possible. Unfortunately, things got worse in mid-1987 when April and Roger were both diagnosed with HIV and April killed herself. Roger was devastated and his drug use spiraled until Mark gave him an ultimatum: Get clean or get the fuck out. Roger chose to get clean.
On Christmas of 1988, the fractured Bohemians grew by three new members: Angel Dumott-Schunard ( Collins’s new lover ), Joanne Jefferson ( Maureen’s new girlfriend that she finally left Mark for ), and Mimi Marquez ( Roger’s new flame ). Things were great to start with, but everyone was often so wrapped up in their significant others that Mark was left mostly to his own devices for that year. Then shit hit the fan when Maureen and Joanne broke up, Roger and Mimi broke up, and Angel died in October and was buried on Halloween. Roger ran away to Santa Fe shortly after that and, despite Maureen and Joanne getting back together, Mark was even more alone than he originally had been. Everyone rallied together again at Christmas, only to watch Mimi die. She came back for about two days before finally passing peacefully at the loft, surrounded by love.
What happens after the events of RENT are heavily verse dependent.
Notes
IMPORTANT NOTES:
- This version of Mark is a mix of the stage musical and aspects from the demo tapes ( the most prominent being that Mark has been too cowardly to actually get tested ). I've also built him up using my own headcanons for him. I've essentially made Mark into my own character and I love him so much.
- The stage production that I lean into the most is the Hope Mill Theatre version. If you would like a link to watch that version, let me know! I highly recommend it.
- I hate the film adaptation for a variety of reasons. If you've only seen the film, I highly recommend watching the stage production because the movie cut out a lot.
SUICIDAL THOUGHTS & SELF DESTRUCTIVE TENDENCIES:
- Mark started experiencing suicidal thoughts at around the age of twelve when the bullying in school started picking up. He received very little support from his family with Elijah telling him to “toughen up” and Francine just giving him a hug and saying “That’s just how kids are, Marky.” Despite the intrusive thoughts and occasional planning, Mark never went through with it. He eventually pulled through and escaped Scarsdale, hoping that the thoughts would go away. They faded in the background for a while, but were always there and would flare up pretty badly during those periods. Due to this, Mark often engages in behavior that is seen as ‘self destructive.’ The most notable behavior of which is his reckless sexual behavior with strangers and less than kind partners.
- The worst period of dealing with this was during the year depicted in RENT. The thoughts started flaring up around Valentine’s Day and just got worse and worse from there as things fell apart around Mark. His lowest point came in October, around the time that it was very, very clear that Angel was dying. Despite putting up an image of being strong and being there for everyone, Mark was breaking inside. The despair was clear during Angel’s funeral and the stress from that, everyone fighting, Mimi growing sicker, Roger taking off to Santa Fe, and Mark starting work with sleazy Buzzline.
- Mark developed a drinking problem around this time and just fell deeper and deeper into despair until he finally figured out how he was going to end his film. He stayed up for two days straight after quitting Buzzline and finished his film. He then was fully ready to finally go through with the temptation that had been haunting him since he was twelve. Luckily, Roger burst through the loft door mere moments before Mark was going to go through with it. Roger didn’t know, but he saved Mark’s life that day.
MARK'S FAMILY:
From the outside in, the Cohens look like the perfect all American Jewish family. Three pretty kids, a nice house, a good yard, going to synagogue regularly. Elijah Cohen is a highly respected member of their community and people look upon him and his children with admiration. Unfortunately, no one really knew or understood what happened behind closed doors.
Elijah Cohen - Elijah Cohen is the very strict head of the Cohen household. He’s very stubborn, has a vision that each member of the family has to follow, and a hard worker. Sadly, he’s also always been very verbally abusive to Mark. One of Mark’s earliest memories is of him crying after falling and getting a little injury and instead of comforting him, his dad sneered at him and told Mark that “Real men don’t cry. Only fairies do.” and asked him “Are you a fairy, son?” Mark didn’t know what a ‘fairy’ was, but knew that it was bad in his dad’s eyes and he never wanted to be one. While Elijah never hit or threatened to hit Mark, he constantly tore his son down and criticized his interests. The closest thing to violence that Mark experienced at the hands of Elijah was when he was seventeen, he entered a photography contest and won. He was offered a chance to go to New York City to work with an established professional photographer and wanted to accept it. Instead of merely saying no, Elijah destroyed Mark’s photography equipment and told him that no son of his was going to go into such a “shitty occupation.” Elijah was livid when Mark quit school and blatantly disowned him, even going so far as to cutting him out of the will. That day was the day that Mark finally realize that nothing he could ever do would gain Elijah’s approval.
Francine Cohen - Mark loves his mother, despite how overbearing she can be and the fact that she rarely stood up to Elijah because she didn’t want him to turn his anger onto her. She was always the one who showed up to all of his events, appeared in his earliest ‘films,’ encouraged him to try new things, and kept Elijah out of his hair when he did clubs that his father didn’t approve of. Francine doesn’t understand her youngest son, but she dotes on him all the same. Mark is her baby boy.
Ricky Cohen - Ricky is the eldest of the Cohen children and is blatantly Elijah’s favorite. Despite being a bit of a shitheel growing up, he never got into trouble with his dad. Ricky and Mark have never gotten along, with Ricky often echoing their father’s sentiments about Mark. He has the worst temper of the family and has resorted to hitting Mark a couple of times, although never hard enough to leave evidence. He followed Elijah’s plans perfectly and is now poised to take over the Cohen family business once Elijah retires. The last time that Mark spoke to Ricky, Ricky berated Mark for quitting school and called him useless before stating that he wouldn’t be shocked if Mark was dead by the time he was thirty. Mark’s refused to speak to him since.
Cindy Cohen - Cindy and Mark are a little closer in age, although she was just entering middle school when Mark was born. She adores her little brother and has always doted on him, even against their father’s wishes. Cindy was the one who constantly comforted Mark after their father yelled and berated him and took care of him when he would come home from school bloodied and bruised. When she finished college and moved back to Scarsdale, her home was often open to teenage Mark when he needed to get away from their father. They grew a bit distant when she got married and had kids, but Mark and Cindy’s husband Joey still get along incredibly well. Overall, Mark adores his sister and her husband and wouldn’t trade them for the world.
MARK'S SEXUALITY:
Mark has always had a tricky relationship with his sexuality. Growing up, he often denied his heavy attraction to guys due to the homophobic abuse that he endured at the hands of Elijah and the bullying that he dealt with in school. He kept telling himself that he was straight, perfectly straight. He was forced to start facing his sexuality once he started to go to college and he met Roger, then noticed how good looking several guys in his various classes were. He eventually gave in and began experimenting with his sexuality during the times that he and Maureen were going through their break ups / breaks.
Mark clung desperately to his relationship with Maureen, using it as a shield to deflect accusations of being gay, especially around his family. A part of him desperately wanted to believe that he was straight, despite his flings with guys, because life would simply be easier if he was. His flings with guys were often in gay bars or he’d go out to the occasional cruise spot. It was focused on sex more than anything else.
His libido fluctuates and is typically on the high side, but he tends to be most sexually active when he’s experiencing periods of high stress and loneliness. It’s during these times that Mark tends to be the most reckless and self destructive, often seeking out dominant men who may or may not listen to safe words and boundaries and who cause pain. He uses sex as a way to shut his mind off and not think or feel anything for a while, similar to a drug addict with his drug of choice.
After finally accepting that he wasn’t straight, Mark defaulted to using bisexual. While he was primarily attracted to men, there were certain women that Mark found himself attracted to. However, as the years ticked by, Mark began to realize that his attraction to women was few and far between. He preferred men in every sense of the word and a friend introduced him to the term homoflexible, which he used to describe himself for a while. Recently, however, he's become more comfortable with just calling himself outright 'gay' or more simply 'queer.'
Verses
time flies, time dies.
ㅤThis takes place directly after RENT. Angel and Mimi are gone, leaving behind a fracturing friend group and a bunch of shattered hearts. Mark has finally finished his film and Roger has his song. Where is there to go from here? All around them, their friends are fading and dying as HIV and AIDS devastates their beloved community. The party is over and reality is sinking in fast. It ends with Roger's death in 1997.
this is the life.
ㅤThis takes place from the time that Mark gets to New York at the age of eighteen until everything hits the fan. Art, music, and beauty surrounds them in the most unconventional and miserable places in the Big Apple. Life is still an adventure and death is only a poetic idea to be mused on before being tossed aside. Even with their various interpersonal issues, the Alphabet City Gang is absolutely thriving. Achieving their dreams is just around the corner.
life carries on.
ㅤThis takes place after shit starts to hit the fan. It starts when Collins gets his HIV diagnosis, then only worsens when April gets hers and Roger's diagnoses and April kills herself. Roger is struggling with trying to get clean and Mark is desperate to keep him clean. Maureen and Mark's relationship is in absolute shambles due to him focusing on Roger so much. Collins took a teaching job to help pay for his and Roger's AZT while Mark works two-three jobs to pay for everything else.
a year in the life.
ㅤThis takes place in the canon year that RENT follows. Mimi and Angel are both alive, but time is very quickly running out for them. Maureen and Joanne are on and off, but still a better pairing than Mark and Maureen ever were. Roger is still desperately trying to write his One Great Song, but everything still sounds like Musetta’s Waltz. Collins is around, typically holed up with Angel and trying to spend as much time with them as possible. Mark is, as usual, alone and standing like a stone while the tides of change push around him.
california dreamin'.
ㅤRoger has lost his battle with AIDS, leaving only Maureen, Joanne, and Mark behind. No longer having anything to really hold him back anymore, Mark gives into pressure and moves to California to start a new chapter in his life.
proof positive.
ㅤThis is an au that starts during the events of the musical and carries on afterwards. Essentially, Mark decides to stop being ‘chickenshit’ and actually go through with getting tested for HIV. His entire world is shattered when the results come back as a positive. However, due to everything else that’s going on with Angel dying and Mimi getting sicker, Mark keeps his mouth shut about his results. He knows that if Buzzline finds out, it’ll be an automatic firing ( not that that’s too much of a tragedy ) and it’ll make it harder for him to get employment. To keep his lie quiet, Mark makes the trek outside of Alphabet City and its closely surrounding areas to find a support group.
moments in time.
ㅤMark left home at the age of seventeen when he gets a chance to work as an assistant to a professional photographer in New York City. The opportunity falls through shortly after he arrives, leaving Mark without a support system or money. He eventually becomes friends with Theo Graves and, eventually, becomes semi-friends with Theo's boyfriend Sam. To help pay the bills during this time, Mark dabbles in riskier ventures, such as prostitution. That lasts for just over a year. He develops a heavy dependency on drugs ( particularly cocaine ) and winds up in a three way semi-relationship with Theo and Sam. When he realizes that the relationship is doing more harm to him than good, he distances himself. His photography career eventually starts to pick up even as he spirals deeper into his addictions. After Theo and Sam's deaths, Mark gets a roommate named Thomas Brooks. The two eventually become friends and that friendship slowly develops into something more. Please note that while Mark is tangentially friendly with the bohos, he's not as close to them in this verse as he is in others.
in my daughter's eyes.
ㅤDuring the fateful year depicted in RENT, Mark met a lovely librarian named Courtney. She was very sweet and the two of them got along incredibly well. Still deeply in denial about his sexuality, he slept with her in a desperate bid to prove to himself that he wasn't gay. Unfortunately, it was the event that made him realize that he was very much Not Straight. They very quickly grew apart after this and Mark moved on with his revelation. The day after Mimi's funeral, Courtney appears again. In her arms is a small baby wrapped in a pink bundle. Courtney told Mark that the baby was named Elizabeth Josephine and that Elizabeth was Mark's daughter. She also informed him that she was completely giving Lizzie to him and moving back with her parents. Mark was confused and frantic, but the remaining bohos really stepped up. Joanne helped him secure full legal rights and got Courtney to officially sign all parental rights over to him. Maureen and Joanne also teamed up and bought everything that Mark needed to take care of a small child and Benny even stepped up by having the roof and heating repaired for the loft. Lizzie is Mark's entire world and he'd do anything for that little girl.
lessons in pain & love.
ㅤIt's RENT, but set in the same universe as American Horror Story. Mark originally met Sam in early 1980 and had a brief fling with him, his first gay experience. It flipped a switch in his brain and forced him to face the truth of his sexuality. Sam and Mark reunite in late August, early September of 1988. Mark is seeking a distraction from his intense loneliness and pain and crosses Sam's path. It started off with one random hookup, then two, then suddenly they were both intentionally seeking each other out. Eventually, Sam proposes that he and Mark become boyfriends in order to make their sexual games easier. Shocking to both of them, feelings developed. Oh no. Mark also freelances for The Native on occasion and has since 1980. ( please note that in this verse, Mark discovers that he's HIV+ around the same time that he meets Sam again. Only Sam and Joanne know this This verse was designed with @hisartistsmuse. )
death of film.
ㅤShortly after Mark discovers that he has an inoperable tumor that will kill him within three years, he's offered a job to spearhead an extensive documentary series on the infamous Murder House. Seeing this as a great way to cement his legacy, he agrees. The only condition that the production company has is that Mark and his crew live in the house and record anything "strange" that happens. Mark agrees and soon puts together a great team. Things start going weird almost as soon as they move into the house and hire a new crew member to help set up the scenes and decorate the house: Chad Warwick. ( this verse takes place in the same timeline as lessons in pain and love and is post-sam's death. this verse heavily deals with mark's grief, even all of these years later. verse was designed with @applesdrowned )
hotel california.
ㅤIt’s the late 1990’s, on the cusp of the upcoming millenium, and Mark has found himself all alone. Everyone is either dead or too busy doing their own thing to spend time like they used to. With no one to anchor him anymore, Mark finally gives in and heads to California. While he’s gotten decently famous with his documentaries, it’s still not enough to get a long term hotel room in a great hotel. As such, the filmmaker finds himself stumbling into the Hotel Cortez at three in the morning, exhausted and desperate for a place to stay for a bit.
just a guy.
ㅤMark is an up and coming filmmaker and a medium sized youtuber / social media influencer. Unfortunately for him, around his 26th birthday, he suddenly develops the inexplicable talent of being a magnet for supernatural creatures and those involved in that world. He also starts consistently catching weird events and creatures on his cameras. He has no idea what is going on, what he did to trigger this, or who he pissed off that cursed him. All he knows is that he's trying to be a normal guy and is constantly getting pulled into weird situations. He just wants off this ride.
put on a show.
ㅤMark Cohen is from District 3, the youngest son of a teacher and an engineer. He was Reaped during the 61st Annual Hunger Games at 13 and, due to his small stature and gentle soft spoken nature, was considered the underdog of the Tributes. Mark knew that everyone was underestimating him, so he leaned hard into it. During his Game, Mark focused on survival by outwitting his opponents. He set traps, stole food and weapons, and even manipulated the Careers who'd trapped him into turning on and killing on another as he escaped. He went from the lowest ranked Tribute and the one that everyone thought would die first to the fan favorite. The only person that Mark killed was the final Tribute and it was by complete accident. They were fighting over a knife when the other Tribute made a bad move and was stabbed, bleeding out at Mark's feet. After winning, Mark made an attempt to not play the Capitol's games and was swiftly punished for it when his sister was mysteriously killed. At sixteen, the Capitol outed him to the Panem public when he got involved with someone in his District. Unfortunately for Mark, his boyfriend was killed in an "accident". Mark is considered one of the District 3's darlings and a 'favorite' in the Capitol.
nobody's hero.
ㅤFiner details coming soon. After an incident where he was stabbed shortly after Mimi's death, Mark discovered that he had the ability of cellular regeneration. He worked for the Company for a short while. However, he faked his death and ran from the Company in the late '90s and now resides in California and owns a film / acting studio. He keeps his head down and tries to stay out of trouble.
beyond the stars.
ㅤMark is the son of a high ranking Starfleet engineer and currently stationed on the USS Enterprise. He works for the science department, specializing in computer science with a minor speciality in warp energy. Due to previously being in the engineering path and his specialities, he often works with the engineering department. He's a bit of an awkward duck, but he's fully faithful to his 'family' aboard the Enterprise and Starfleet as a whole.
