This is the thirty-sixth story in the Rewriting History Series, and it follows Shiver and Sing.

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

~Silk

*****

Swagger or Sway

By Silk


"What's wrong with the way I walk?" Brian whined.

"Now, Bri, you promised not to take this the wrong way. It's just part of the continuing education of Tommy Stone."

They had been in Brighton almost a month now. Curt had to resume touring in a little over a week. They were hard pressed for time to re-invent Brian's persona, and Brian, for some reason, had suddenly decided to balk at the necessary changes.

Curt couldn't really blame Brian. He had been through the tortures of the damned in the past few months, and now that things had finally settled down, Curt was going to drag him back to London. And, eventually, the tour.

"I repeat, what's wrong with the bloody way I walk?" Brian cried out.

"Bri-annn, for God's sake!" Curt threw up his hands and stalked to the opposite corner of the hotel room they shared. When they were in synch, it was just cozy enough for two lovers hopelessly besotted with one another. When they weren't, there wasn't enough space in the entire universe for either one of them.

"Look," Curt said wearily, raking a hand through his already disheveled blond hair. "You don't have to do this, Brian. You can stay behind and work on some songs-"

"You don't want me to go with you?"

"I didn't say that. Stop putting words in my mouth."

Challenged by his own inability to express what he needed, Brian lunged at Curt, managing to land an ineffectual punch to his shoulder. Curt grabbed Brian by the wrists and held him at arm's length.

"Knock it off, Brian. You want to have a temper tantrum or you want this to work?"

Brian fell silent, his face impassive. When Curt risked a glance at his lover, he was disturbed by the look in Brian's eyes. They were the eyes of a man who'd given up.

Curt had vowed never to put that look in Brian's eyes again. But he had failed to keep his promise. That hurt more than Brian. It made Curt's heart ache.

"Babe..." Curt murmured. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. You know me. All mouth and absolutely no brain cells working at the same time."

He released Brian's wrists, and Brian lowered his arms, only to wrap them around himself, his body language clearly saying, Keep your distance. Curt sighed. "Brian? You gotta accept that we're going to disagree sometimes. Even argue. We can't stay here and honeymoon forever. I wish we could."

"Me, too," Brian said almost inaudibly, edging a fraction closer to Curt. Curt took that as a positive sign and gathered the younger man into his arms. Brian unbent, very, very slowly, eventually laying his head on Curt's shoulder.

"Was I being a brat?"

"Yeah, but I love you anyway."

"Do you?" Brian asked anxiously, hiding his face against Curt's shoulder. "Do you love me anyway?"

"Bri-an...you're never going to get rid of me, babe. You think I don't know how you're constantly testing the limits, pushing me, trying to see just how far you can go before I push back?"

Curt nudged Brian's hair away from his ear and kissed it. "I do know...and I love you anyway. Cause that's who we are, baby. Me and you. One pair. Matched set. Together."

He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against Brian's hair, which was now long enough for him to curl the strands around his fingers. "We've been to hell and back, babe. Don't you think we deserve to be happy finally?"

Brian fisted his hands in Curt's long hair and pulled him close enough to kiss his mouth. "I love you doesn't seem like nearly enough, Curt."

"Ah, but you don't hear it the way *I* do...and I am never going to get tired of hearing *you* say it."

"What were we arguing about again?" Brian asked coyly.

"Well, if you don't remember, I'm sure as hell not going to remind you," Curt said with a chuckle.

"Oh, yeah," Brian said, reluctantly stepping out of Curt's fierce embrace. "What's wrong with the way I walk?" Brian repeated, much more softly than before.

"You mean besides the fact that you make me want to *fuck* you right where you stand?"

Brian caught his breath at the hot look in Curt's eye. "I don't know how Tommy would walk."

"I do."

Curt slid his thumbs into the belt loops of his leather pants and demonstrated. He was shirtless, something that was *not* lost on Brian, who watched avidly enough to memorize what he did. Unfortunately, he wasn't watching the right part of Curt's anatomy.

"You're not paying attention, babe."

"You pay attention your way, and I'll pay attention mine."

"You have to swagger," said Curt, deliberately ignoring the look of invitation in Brian's eyes.

"Does he have to be so fucking *masculine*?"

Curt grinned. "Leather's different from silk and satin, babe. You're used to *soft*. You're used to *caresses*. Leather grabs hold of your dick and doesn't let go." Curt intentionally moved into Brian's personal space.

Brian controlled himself with an obvious effort. He wanted Curt to touch him. But that was nothing new. Whenever Curt was around, Brian wanted him to touch him.

"You slip inside it, like a hand into a glove. Like me...into you..." Curt gently ran his hand over Brian's groin, paying particular attention to the prominent bulge between his legs.

Brian gasped. "You're distracting me."

"Yeah, but you like it."

Brian groaned his assent and closed his eyes. "If I learn to walk-"

"*Swagger*," Curt automatically corrected.

"Swagger," Brian echoed, opening his eyes. They were a startlingly vivid shade of blue now, and Curt wondered if that had anything to do with being aroused.

"If I learn to swagger," Brian emphasized, "will you show me something else?"

"Anything, babe. Just ask," Curt said huskily.

"I want Tommy's education to be complete, after all," Brian added.

"O-kayyy," Curt drawled.

"So...I was thinking..." Brian rolled his eyes in a disarming gesture that reminded Curt intensely of the way Brian had looked in his very first video as Maxwell Demon. Well, that was one stroll down memory lane that Curt didn't need, and yet, he found that thinking of the Demon didn't hurt that much anymore.

"What, babe?" Curt asked, grounding himself in the fact that this was *Brian*. Not *Maxwell fucking Demon*. Not even *Tommy fucking Stone*.

"You'll have to show me...how Tommy fucks." Brian uttered the last few words with such a deadpan expression that at first, Curt didn't register what he'd said. Then when he did, he burst out laughing.

When he finally managed to regain control, Curt said, "You know, I have it on good authority that *Tommy* does *not* fuck."

Brian blinked. "What?"

Curt sidled closer and kissed Brian tenderly. "Tommy doesn't *fuck*. He *makes love*. But he'd better do it just the way *you* do...or he's not coming on tour with me."

Brian's light blue eyes gleamed. "Maybe we should practice then...just to be on the safe side."

"Mmm...I think it's rehearsal time."

End