This is the thirty-second story in the Rewriting History series, and it follows Eden.

Warnings: m/m, minor angst, AU, occasional bad language. No spoilers for the movie.

~Silk

*****

Startling Paradox

By Silk

The meeting was not going well. As Curt had predicted, they couldn't start without him. But his lateness wasn't the issue.

It was Brian.

"Are you crazy?" The head of Curt's new record label was nothing like Jerry Devine. He was a fatherly little man, not given to moods or machinations. But when Curt mentioned bringing Brian on tour with him, Harry was incredulous.

"The only publicity he gets these days is *bad*, Curt. You'll be damned by association. Everything you've worked for since you two split will go right down the toilet."

"Jack wouldn't let that happen."

"I dunno if you've ever noticed, Curt, but Jack Fairy is hardly your average person."

"There you go."

"But even Jack can't keep the public from turning on you, Curt. Right now there is a great deal of interest in you, some of it fueled by your break-up with Brian Slade. Right now you've got their sympathies. But if you show up in public with the man who killed Maxwell Demon, well, all bets are off."

"That's not fair," Curt said hoarsely. He never should have told Harry. He should have kept it to himself until they were already on tour and no one could do a thing about it. But Curt didn't have it in him to scheme and plot behind the scenes. That wasn't Curt's way. It was *Brian's*.

Correction, Curt thought. That *was* Brian's way once upon a time, but no more.

Curt opened his mouth to form yet another protest, but he was cut off by the arrival of his lover. Curt shook his head. Brian still knew how to make a grand entrance.

"He's right, Curt. I know you like to think you care more about *me* than your *career*, but-"

"Brian-" Curt didn't want to leave Brian behind. Now that they were together again, there was simply no fucking way he was going to do that. "No one has to know-"

Brian laughed. "Have you ever known me to keep a low profile, Curt?"

"You could...if you wanted to. You said you could change, Brian, and I believed you. I still do."

The amused sparkle in Brian's light blue eyes died abruptly. "I can, Curt. But I think I'm going to have to do it *without* you."

"No, no, no," Curt chanted, working an anxious hand through his disheveled blond hair.

"Curt-"

"*Together*, Brian. Remember what I said? You're not fucking pushing me out of your life again. We do this together or...we don't do it at all."

"Are you giving me an ultimatum, Curt?" Brian asked.

They stared at each other in hurt silence, both of them remembering what it had been like to be apart.

Harry jumped into the gap with both feet. He didn't want to lose Curt Wild. When Jack Fairy had suggested that Curt would make a great addition to his admittedly eclectic stable of musicians, Harry had reservations. But Curt delivered.

Now his career, which was just beginning to take off again, hung in the balance.

Harry studied the two of them, frozen in an emotional tableau that neither one of them seemed capable of changing, and addressed Brian. "You know, if anyone had told me a week ago that Brian Slade, of all people, had a single altruistic bone in his body, I would have laughed my ass off. But I can see that you don't want Curt to suffer because of *you*. I admire that, and not just because I happen to agree with you."

"And you, Curt," Harry turned to the other man, "you want to ignore certain basic truths of this business, just because they're painful and you don't like them. But that's all right. Now that I've seen you with Brian, I can understand where you're coming from." Harry heaved a great sigh. "The truth is, gentlemen, you're both *right*. And *wrong*. And that's not going to get us anywhere."

"We need a plan."

Brian emerged from his self-imposed preoccupation with a start. "I've *got* one."

"Well, don't keep it to yourself, kid. Tell me about it."

Brian smiled.

*****

When Brian was finished, Harry beamed as if Brian had just become his favorite son. "That's fucking brilliant."

Curt looked as though he'd been poleaxed. "You never said anything to me about this."

"We were...um..." Brian glanced hesitantly at Harry. "...otherwise occupied."

"I don't know if I like it, Brian. I want-" I want you to be *you*, Curt thought, surprised that it mattered that much to him.

As if he'd read Curt's mind, Brian reassured him, "It's a name, it's an image, that's all, Curt."

"But you said a man *is* his image, Brian. That's what you told me. Remember?"

Brian took Curt's hand in his and rubbed his thumb over his lover's knuckles. "I said a lot of things, Curt," he said huskily. "Most of the time, I was full of shit. But one thing has stayed the same through all of this fucking nightmare. I'm still the starstruck kid from Birmingham who wanted nothing more than to find *someone* who could make it all make sense. And you do, Curt. You fucking *do*," he added softly.

Curt nodded. He would have kissed Brian, regardless of Harry's presence, but part of him wanted to guard what should be private moments with his zealous heart. That was where things had gone wrong in the beginning. First their relationship, then their affair, being made very public fodder for every newspaper and magazine in the country.

This time it would be different.

*****

Harry hated to interrupt, but he did. "So...Brian? How long do you think it'll take to effect this change of yours?"

"Well, I've never needed much encouragement before to re-invent myself, Harry, but...this time I'd like to be true to who I *really* am."

"And who's that?"

"I'm Curt Wild's lover," Brian murmured, watching Curt's blue-gray eyes light up. "Right now, that's the most *important* thing in my life. Anything else...is just icing on the cake."

Harry smiled. "Shall we say a month then? I don't want to push back any more tour dates than I have to."

"That should be fine," Brian agreed, never taking his eyes off Curt's face.

Harry looked amused by the obvious romantic subtext between Brian and Curt. Did they seriously think that *anyone* could look at them and *not* realize they were together? "So Curt...what are you going to do with this unexpected vacation time you've got now?"

Curt's head felt fuzzy, as though he'd drunk too much champagne, thousands of tiny effervescent bubbles rippling through his veins all at the same time. "We're going back to Brighton."

Where they had stolen time and lain together, on the beach and in their bed, until they were one.

What better place could they find to be happy together? There Brian had cleansed himself of Maxwell Demon.

Now he would cleanse himself of Brian Slade.

But he would still be the man Curt loved above all else.

End