This is the fiftieth, and the very last, story in the Rewriting History series, and it follows Memory Lingers Ever. {sniffle}

It's been a long, beautiful journey to get here, and I thank you all for coming along with me. :)

Warnings: m/m, AU, mush, occasional bad language, and song lyrics. No spoilers for the movie.

The songs used are: Number One Lowest Common Denominator by Todd Rundgren, Tragic Comic by Extreme, and 2HB by Brian Ferry.

~Silk

*****

Fade Away Never


By Silk



They had never felt closer, and the audience responded to that. If it occurred to anyone to question how relaxed Curt seemed onstage, it wasn't apparent. Curt had always had an edge. Being in love, being in a committed relationship did nothing to change that. It was so clearly his personality. And yet, he was noticeably softer. But for some reason, his new vulnerability simply made him even more attractive to the crowd than before. No longer the tragic antihero anymore, Curt nevertheless had a cause, and he celebrated that onstage.

"Are you having fun, babe?" Curt rubbed Brian's shoulder affectionately, and he could feel the infinitesimal shift of his lover's body towards him.

"Yes." And he was. He'd forgotten the joy of performing. No, that wasn't accurate. He had carefully repressed what it felt like to work an audience and to have it come together like this. Synergy. That was what a really good concert felt like. The singer and the audience feeding into each other and producing...

... this.

He'd missed this. But he'd never thought he'd ever get to experience this again. So he'd hidden the desire away with everything else. All the ugly memories, the dark glassy eyes that were barely there, barely alive.

He hadn't allowed himself to think about performing again, not really, because it was a potential threat to what he'd rebuilt with Curt. But now he saw that their relationship was too strong to be undermined so easily. It would take a deliberate attempt at sabotage to destroy what they had now.

And that just wasn't going to happen.

Curt stood up and kicked the stool away with his booted foot. "Time to get down," he purred seductively. The audience gave a collective "Ahhh" that was audible throughout the concert hall.

"Let's see how good an actor you are," Curt whispered in Brian's ear as he passed behind him. Brian smiled and realized that he was well and truly satisfied with how they had reshaped their lives. "I don't need to act happy anymore, love," Brian whispered back, taking care to cover the microphone with his hand.

"Heh," Curt chuckled, " you called me love."

"That's what you are, isn't it?"

Curt growled, "You're ruining my mood here, brat. How can I be hot if you keep saying such sweet shit to me?" But the question was obviously rhetorical. Curt already had his answer. But he loved hearing it the way Brian said it with just a trace of that Irish accent he was growing accustomed to.

"I love you," Brian murmured.

"Me, too," Curt replied, sliding his hands over Brian's shoulders to pull him closer.

*****

Jack watched the two of them from his special vantage point in the wings and caressed Arthur's cheek affectionately. "They've come a long way."

"So have we," Arthur replied.

Jack looked startled for a moment, then his entire face relaxed into a transcendent smile. "So we have, my love," he said softly.

Turning his attention back to Curt and Brian, Jack said, "It occurs to me that I've been looking at things completely upside down."

Arthur cocked his head questioningly. "How so?"

"Curt thinks...that he owes me...for saving his life, I suppose, but more to the point, for bringing him and Br-er, Tommy, together again."

"Don't you think that's what you did? Cause you did, y'know," Arthur said, his eyes clearly worshipping the ground Jack walked on.

"Perhaps," Jack demurred, slightly discomfited by such blatant reverence for something he refused to take complete credit for. "But what I was getting at-"

"-in your long, roundabout way," Arthur added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Hush," Jack said, but the way his gaze lingered on Arthur's face gave the lie to that. "All I meant was, and don't interrupt this time, that I owe Curt just as much."

"For what?"

Jack slid both hands over Arthur's lightly stubbled face and whispered, "Why, for us. If it hadn't been for him, I might never have found you."

Arthur could have wept for the love that shone so plainly from Jack's dark eyes. But he didn't. For he had never been this happy before. "I do love you, you know," he murmured.

"That, my sweet boy, was exactly what I meant."

*****

The guitars wailed mournfully, but the song that followed was anything but sad. Having decided to pay belated homage to Brian's Baby's On Fire seduction, unbeknownst to anyone, including his lover, Curt circled Brian onstage like a wary predator. He smoothed his hands down his thighs, drawing attention once again to the buttery-soft leather that encased them.

Brian's mouth went dry, but not too dry to growl, "You're not wearing anything under those, are you?"

Curt's light eyes glittered dangerously. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

"Are you going to play hard to get then?"

Curt took a step closer, forcing Brian to back up. "What do you think?"

Brian blinked kohl-lined blue eyes at his lover. "I think," he said, his lips parting on a gasp, "that you're a terrible tease...and I'm going to make you pay for it...all night long."

"Promises, promises, babe."

Brian burst into sputtery laughter that made Curt shiver and sidle closer. Reaching out with one finger to touch Curt on the tip of his nose, Brian said huskily, "I think you forgot the words to this song."

"Nah, just giving the guys something to do with those guitars for a change," Curt purred silkily.

And with that, Curt began to sing directly to Brian.

I wanna see your number one lowest common denominator
You're so hot! What choo got?
On the outside I'm a good boy
Let me inside cause I'm full of joy
I don't want to shock you but I'm an electric eel
How's that make your denominator feel?


Curt moved behind Brian, and Brian tossed his head back and forth as Curt's well-hidden erection pulsed against his leather-clad ass. The material was so supple, it felt like skin, and it was like being stripped bare in front of the audience.

Think I'll surprise her
I can always depend on my great equalizer
I wanna grind and grind and grind, lose my mind
I kissed you once, but will I kiss you again?
Be certain with sex, and you'll always have friends
Your glands wanna freak, your hands wanna speak
And your mind slips away at the peak


Brian sighed as Curt's restless hands slid down the front of his body, awakening parts of him that had been sending impatient signals. Suddenly Curt's lips were in his hair, caressing his neck, licking a path along his nape. It was all Brian could do not to shout, Stop playing with me, dammit! Only he wasn't a bit angry. Just frustrated. If only the fans knew...

I wanna be your number one lowest common denominator...

The guitars erupted in a cacophony of sound that made Brian shudder inwardly. Jesus. Curt was trying to kill him.

But what a way to go...

*****

Things got hotter than hot. But eventually...things simply had to cool down. If for no other reason than there was no place for all that sexual energy to go.

Well, till later....

Brian hooked a hand flirtatiously in the back of Curt's pants, as if threatening to yank them down or off or...well, Curt shuddered to think. He laughed at the expression on Curt's face. His lover was so obviously torn between staying put and moving away.

"Now it's your turn to listen," Brian said, pulling Curt back onto his stool, which had been mysteriously uprighted while they weren't looking. "Maybe you'll even learn something."

"I doubt it. You know what a hard...case I am." Curt slid his tongue over his lips, and Brian watched greedily, hungering for a taste of him, but getting himself under control. Barely.

Flowers, I sent,
were found dead on their arrival
The words, I said,
inserted foot in my mouthful
So when, we dance,
My lead it ain't so graceful
(Isn't so, not ain't so)

I'm a hapless romantic
St-t-tuttering p-poet
Just call me a tragic comic
Cause I'm, in, in love with you

And when, we dine,
I forget to push in your seat
I wear, the wine,
spilling hearts all over my sleeve
A stitch, in time,
proposing down on my knees
(Splitting between the seams)

I'm a hapless romantic
St-t-tuttering p-poet
Just call me a tragic comic
Cause I'm, in, in love with you

Nobody, can know the,
trouble I've, seen
Nobody, can know the,
trouble I, get into,
when I'm with you


"Hey," Curt protested, a sulky look on his face. "No fair. I don't get you into trouble."

"No, Curt, you are trouble."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Snappy comeback, baby. Did you think that one up all by yourself?" Brian's Irish accent came and went in a vaguely charming way. Curt could tell his lover was starting to get tired. They had been up, in the most literal sense, for hours. It was time to come down and get reacquainted with the ground.

Curt pulled him flush against his body and held onto him. "Let's get Jack back out here, babe," he whispered against Brian's ear. "Then we can go home."

"Home? We're on a bloody tour bus," Brian whispered back. "The best we can hope for is an overnight stay in one of the better hotels."

Curt buried his face in Brian's hair for a few brief moments. "Home isn't a place. It's wherever you are."

Brian sighed happily and snuggled closer. "What are we doing for the finale?"

"Jack said it's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

Curt smiled enigmatically. "You might like this one."

*****

Jack joined them, his arm slung casually yet unmistakably around Arthur's waist. "We have one last song to leave you with. Tommy here is too...um...young to remember when I first did this song. But Curt isn't, are you, Curt?"

Jack's dark eyes gleamed with mischief and Curt began to wonder if this was such a good idea. "Thanks, Jack. Are you trying to say I'm an old man?"

Brian quipped, "Well, if you are, Curt, you're my old man."

Curt winked at his lover. "If you say so, baby."

"Arthur doesn't sing," Jack explained to the audience. "But that's perfectly all right. Tommy can sing with us."

"All three of us?" Brian questioned.

Jack nodded.

"But what if...I mean, I dunno the words now, do I?"

"Yes, you do, Tommy," Jack said with a rare grin. "They'll come back to you. Just you wait and see."

Brian stared at Jack blankly, and Curt wanted to hug him to chase away that woebegone look on his face. "Jack-"

"It'll be okay, Curt. I swear."

"Don't swear," Brian said automatically, and Curt threw his head back and laughed. "Babe, you know you can't tell Jack a damn thing."

Brian wasn't too sure about that, but he kept his mouth shut. He wanted to yawn in the worst way, but that would be like admitting defeat. He didn't have the stamina he used to have. But then again, he wasn't using drugs anymore. Nothing to keep him up. Or get him back down again.

"So what's the fucking song?" Brian whispered between clenched teeth.

"Jack?"

The moment the music began, Brian felt a swoon coming on. Oh, no. Oh, bloody hell. "Jack, I can't-" Curt ran a hand down Brian's back and felt him tremble. "Yes, you can, baby."

Brian turned startled blue eyes on his lover. "Are you sure?"

"You can do anything. I know."

Curt sounded so confident. Brian felt his nerves begin to dissipate, but he reached for Curt's hand just the same. "Just for luck," he murmured.

Oh, I was moved by your screen dream
Celluloid pictures living
Your death could not kill my love for you
Take two people romantic
Smoky nightclub situation
Your cigarette traces a ladder

Here's looking at you kid
Celebrate years
Here's looking at you kid
Wipe away tears
Long time since we're together
Now I hope it's forever

Ideal love flies away now
White jacket black tie wings too
You gave her away to the hero
Words don't express my meaning
Notes could not spell out the score
But finding not keeping's the lesson

Here's looking at you kid
Hard to forget
Here's looking at you kid
At least not yet
Your memory stays
It lingers ever
Will fade away never


There were still people in the audience who remembered that song. There were still people in the audience who thought of it fondly. Maybe some of them even recalled a pretty boy named Brian Slade...and no longer hated him.

Brian didn't know what to think. But he sang along with Jack and Curt...and he tried not to falter over the words that once seemed to have such a different meaning for him.

"You are hard to forget, y'know," Arthur said to Brian. Jack glanced at his lover suspiciously, but quickly decided that Arthur was no longer blatantly enamored of his hero.

"Yeah," Curt agreed, his blue-gray eyes hot and yet tender in their regard. "Fade away never."

*****

Somewhere out there...was a young man with more than ambition. He had a burning desire to make a connection between Brian Slade and the self-professed new man in Curt Wild's life.

But he didn't want to cause a stir.

Yet.

End