Disclaimer: I don't own the movie or the characters.

Note: I wove several lines from actual songs into this fic. They are in italics. I just thought they were appropriate.

"Hate Me—Love You"

"Brian. Bri…."

"Curt, you can't always get what you want."

"Do you even know what I want? What I'm asking for? I can't ask you to give what you already gave."

"You're asking for grace. And grace constitutes mercy. But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair."

Curt looked at Brian desperately and searched for the man he fell in love with in the puzzle standing before him. Brian appeared to be bent, but not broken in his strong will.

"Curt, don't be daft. You won't shrivel away without me." He tried in vain to spare the hard words.

"What happened to you?" Curt asked distastefully. "Who ate your heart? You're cold inside."

"Emotion keeps my heart running." Brian muttered in defense.

Curt laughed. Then slowly, gradually, the tears began to spell sadness.

"Fuck—Brian, listen to yourself!"

"No. Because I know you want to do that for me. Apparently, you'll die without me. You want to do everything for me, right?" he asked scornfully. "You want to finish my fucking pathetic tour for me, right? Take a fucking bullet for me!"

"Gladly!" Curt screamed, launching himself at Brian.

"Why are you so goddamn hard to get rid of?" Brian dodged Curt. "What do I have to do? What do I have to say? I hate you?..." Brian's yelling decreased to a confused whisper.

"You haven't turned me away, Brian. Rejection…is the greatest aphrodisiac." Curt paused to wipe his face. "All you can ever do is erase me from your eyes, and even that doesn't last forever."

Brian slumped on his dressing chair, turning away from the world that seemed to demand everything from him. He looked unmoved, but he knew that everything Curt said was true. The tears were there to prove it. His own tears dropped in depressing agreement. The speckles that covered his eyes with film distorted the reflection that scoffed at him from the mirror.

"You make me live. I die without you." were the words Brian last heard. He hoped to god that they weren't coming from outside his room.