Title: A Change of Face
Author: Granitite Stone, granitite@yahoo.com
Summary: Nothing is absolute. Our paths can be changed in an instant, and nothing will be the same. NOT PART OF STRANGE BEDFELLOWS!
Web Address: www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index3.html
Pairing: AJ/Marshall
Rating: R

Music blasted, and Nick and Howie were in a booth, watching Marshall on the dance floor. "He's gonna get arrested."

"He's not going to get arrested." Howie watched the hand slowly creeping up the girl's shirt.

"He's practically fucking her." Nick just shook his head. "If I did that, Kevin would so kill my ass."

"That's because you'd actually mean it. I can't remember the last time he actually brought one of those girls home with him." Howie smirked. "You should have seen him and Chris back in school. There was this one girl who'd been hitting on Chris all night. She just wasn't getting the message that he was with Marshall. So she drags him out on the floor, grinding him. All of a sudden, Marshall comes up behind her. To this day, he won't tell me what he said to her, but she ran so fast, she tripped and went head first over one of the tables."

"What the hell is going on with them anyway? They're on, they're off. He's happy one day, the next he's blacking out Justin's teeth."

"They can't stay together or really break up. It's always been like that. He can't forgive Chris for signing with Lou, and Chris can't deal with his angst. It'll go on until they figure it out, Marshall finds someone who can actually put up with him, or Chris gives in to Justin."

"That sucks."

"That's life."
-----
Rondell found him hunched over a bathroom sink. "That's it! Go home, Alex. At least try to get some sleep."

"I'm fine." AJ uncurled his fingers from the sink, and stood. The man in the mirror was disheveled. "I can't sleep. It's not worth it."

"I have no idea what it's like for you, but you gotta sleep." Rondell came up behind him, and grabbed his shoulders, making him look. "You're too fucking pale, and I know you aren't eating either. You're gonna kill yourself like this."

"I know." AJ jerked away, and splashed water on his face. "I don't want to go back to the hotel. It's too quiet."

"Go sit at the bar then. Eat some peanuts." He handed him a paper towel. " Just don't drink. It'll fuck with you meds."

"Thanks." He dried off, and headed back into the club.
-----
Marshall had finally sat down. The girl he'd been dancing with had finally realized she wasn't going home with him, and lost interest. He didn't fuck the fans anymore. His groupies tended to be trash because the nice ones actually did what he asked and left him alone, and the last one had actually called out Nick's name when she came. He'd told her afterwards that if he'd known, he would have just invited Nick over. She'd fled after that.

He ordered a shot of vodka as someone sat down next to him. "Not that I care, but which one are you?"

'Johnny No Name.' The great white hope of rappers. The one who got signed by Dre before he was even old enough to drink. "Marshall."

AJ shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I don't know you by name."

Great. You meet one of your favorite celebrities, and he thinks you're a carbon copy pop singer. "I'm the one with tattoos and a rotten attitude." Still no recognition. "The one who hates Justin Timberlake?"

"The Detroit boy." AJ finally remembered. "Man, you're a disgrace to the city. What the hell are you doing in a boyband?"

"I was a broke college student who was assured vocal pop would never make a comeback." He turned and glared at Howie for a moment. "We're cutting our fifth album next year."

"That sucks." AJ grabbed the basket of peanuts from next to Marshall, and started shelling one.

"Why are you talking to me?"

"I'm fucking tired, and the only open seat was next to you." He popped the nut into his mouth, and looked at Marshall. "You looked like you were having a lousy night too."

"Wouldn't go that far. Of course, it's just about to get worse." Nick was coming in their direction.

"Hey, Em, I'm gonna head out." There was a blond on his arm. "Diane, baby, say hello to Marshall."

"It's Diana." She shook his hand, and turned back to Nick. "Can we go now?"

"Go on. Just have her the hell out of there by six. I don't wanna hear it when our wake up calls start rolling in." Marshall finished his shot as Nick dragged Diana off. "He's in the room next to me, damn it. Now I'm gonna have to listen to them fuck all night."

"They let you swear in public." AJ was staring at the drinks list. "I'm surprised."

"I don't have to have a clean image. I'm the evil one. Brian's the saint." He stole the peanuts back. "What are you looking for?"

"Something without booze." Now that was odd. "Don't look at me like that. I'm on fucking medication."

What had Nick always ordered? "That one." He pointed at something near the bottom of the list. "Kaos used to get it all the time, and it never killed him."

"Fine." He gave the bartender the order. "He called you Em."

"Short for Eminem." He noticed AJ freeze. "Come on, you aren't stupid. Marshall Mathers. Eminem. Get it?"

"You're Eminem?" AJ sounded horrified. "Don't fuck with me. You can't be."

"Is that a problem?"

"You wrote Stan?" AJ was even paler than before now.

"Yeah." How the hell did he know about that? Only the fans who trafficked in illegal MP3s had even heard of it. "You alright man? Cause you look like shit."

"Dre sent me your stuff. He thought you were a newcomer to the game." AJ rested his head against the bar. "Should have fucking known."

"Sorry I turned out to be a Backstreet Boy."

"You can rap. You can rap, and they've got you up on stage in white suits belting out ballads." AJ looked up as his drink arrived. "It's a fucking crime."

"Thanks. I think."

"You done anything else?"

"My notebook is out in the car." Marshall didn't expect AJ to get up.

"You're going to show it to me. I want to know exactly how much potential you're wasting." AJ headed for the door. Far ahead of Marshall, he stopped to talk to Rondell. "May not be back tonight."

"Who ever or what ever you go home with, make sure you get some rest." He was distracted. Some brunette had her hand down his pants.

"Yeah. Whatever." He spotted Marshall in the crowd. "Let's go."
-----
"This actually happen?" He was squinting in the light of the limo. "Cause if it did, you're more fucked up than I ever thought possible."

"Which one?" He looked, saw it was 'My Fault'. "No. That one's made up. Some of them are real though."

AJ flipped to another page at random. "Some of these are for the group, I’m guessing."

"Which one are you reading?" He suddenly had a sick feeling.

"Light Switch."

"Fuck." Why was Chris always haunting him? 'Light Switch' was a long running testament to ten years of on and off. He'd rewritten it as an album track, talking about a girl, but the long version remained private. Recently, he'd added a rap verse, talking about what he was going to do to Nsync.

"Which one is he?" Another page turned.

"What?" That wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Which one is he? You talk about slitting the baby blond's throat. I'm guessing that's Timberlake. Who's the man at the switch?" AJ was sitting there, calm as anything.

"You're not surprised?"

"Hell, as long as it has two legs and no fur, I don't give a fuck." He gave Marshall a wry grin. "You got fur?"

"No." Well, wasn't this a nice surprise. "No offense, but you look like shit. You got something contagious?"

"I don't sleep so well, and I don't think that’s an STD." AJ rested his head on the back of the seat.

"Insomnia?" That would explain why he didn't drink. Sleeping pills and alcohol were a big no-no.

"I don't like what I see when I close my eyes." He gave Marshall his notebook back. "I've read all about your screwed up love life. Want to hear about mine?"

"Yeah."

"She was pregnant with my kid, Tina I mean." AJ waited a second. "Come on, it was all over the news. You must have heard."

"We don't have lives on tour. I didn't know what city we were in, let alone what day it is. It took me a week to figure out we didn’t get a new president in November." Marshall thought back. "Man, I'm sorry, but I don't have a fucking clue."

"I was on tour. I get a call in the middle of the night. She lost the baby." Eye open. He wouldn't even shut them to hide his pain. "I was on the other side of the country. They'd already released her from the hospital by the time I got there."

Now he remembered, and Marshall really didn't want to hear anymore. "I found her. In the bathtub with her wrists slit." His hand went to a tattoo. "You ever heard the expression etched onto your eyelids?"

'His mother, wheeling around, smacking him as they took him away.' "Yeah."

"I was gonna marry her." AJ's smile was bitter. "She took off the ring before she cut. I could never figure out what that was supposed to mean."

"Maybe it doesn't mean anything." Not that Marshall believed that. Chicks killing themselves were big on symbolism. The limo rolled to a stop in front of his hotel. "You coming up?"

"Why the hell not?" AJ pulled himself out of the seat, and followed Marshall into the hotel.
-----
AJ slept soundly, for almost five hours. It was the longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep he'd gotten in weeks. When the phone rang at six am, he picked up the receiver and just dropped it back into the cradle. At six thirty, the knocking started.

"Marshall, get your ass out of bed." AJ didn't recognize the voice. "Marshall! Marshall, we're going to eat without you, and I'm going to order something you hate."

AJ crawled out of bed, muttering curses. He flung open the door. "Will you just shut up? Do you need him right this god damned second?"

Nick checked the number on the door, and then stared at AJ for a moment. He swallowed. "No, no. Just… we're heading to the arena at eight."

"Fine." He shut the door in Nick's face, and went back to bed. He shook Marshall awake. "They're looking for you."

"What time is it?" He looked at the clock. "Shit. What happened to my wake up call?"

"I hung up on it." AJ grabbed his jeans and slid them on. "Who's the one that cuts his hair with a weed whacker?"

"Nick saw you?" Nick had the biggest mouth in America. By now, everyone probably knew.

AJ nodded, digging into his jacket. "Here."

It was a card bearing a phone number. "We aren't having a one night stand?" He was surprised.

"Fuck no." AJ slid on his boots, stood, and kissed Marshall. "I’m going to rescue you from this bubble gum hell you live in, and then we're going to figure out why I didn't have any nightmares."

"Maybe I'm just a good fuck."

AJ snorted. "No one is that good."
-----
End of Chapter Two

Questions, comments, and concerns about my sanity should go to granitite@yahoo.com
Choose Your Poison at www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index3.html 
~ When I look into the mirror, and see a face I don't recognize, I am no longer surprised.