Lover Boy, Lover Girl
"Buq, buq, buq..."
In the company of the chickens, Mal was trying to do some songwriting in the barn. She wasn't being very productive, however.
"Here you are. Hiding from someone?" Roger appeared, hair and clothes dripping from the pouring rain outside.
She looked up at the familiar voice of a certain blonde and smiled. "Oh no, you found me," she joked back. "No, just reworking my song for the album-" She held up her notes. "-Or at least trying to. Just can't seem to get it right. It's difficult writing a song that everyone's going to hear and wanting to make it so that everyone can connect to it-"
"Buq, buq, buq..."
"Uh oh, looks like we have company. Friend of yours."
Roger turned to see a rather large chicken waddling towards them.
"Blah!" He made a face towards the bird, whose beady little eyes fell on them. "Blah - bla-"
"SQUAWK!" The chicken let out a particularly loud screech, flaring its feathers.
"AH!" Both laughing, they took off, running from the angry chicken.
"It's either the rain, or the chickens!" Rog called.
"I choose the rain!" she laughed. They ran hand-in-hand back to the house.
It was only a matter of time before Mal and Rog's secretive luck ran out, especially when the band was all living together in such close quarters and for so long.
"Looks like we beat the others, amazingly," Roger noted as he and Mallory entered the empty kitchen one morning.
"Yes, amazing." She hopped up to sit on the counter and he came over to stand before her where they promptly resumed their snogging from earlier.
"So, how long have you two been shagging?"
Moments later, the two were pulled apart by the familiar voice of none other than Big Brother, Brian May.
They turned, tongues very obviously slipping out of each other's mouths as they pulled away, to see him sitting in an armchair in the corner, newspaper in his lap, sipping his morning coffee innocently and silently.
"Oh God," Mal managed.
"Yeah, 'oh God' is right."
"Brian!" cried Mal, mortified. Regret instantly flooded her - now she wished she had just told him.
"Good morning, Sis. Rog."
"W-we thought we were the first one's up."
"Yeah, that's pretty evident. Good thing I said something, otherwise, who knows what would have ensued on that counter-top."
They were speechless, and it took a lot to shut up Roger Taylor and Mallory May.
"I'm just wondering how long it's been going on for. And when you were planning on telling me. Or if." Brian stood, now towering over both of them, and if he was trying to be intimidating, it was working. Rog and Mal exchanged a glance.
A cheery whistle filled the hall and John entered the kitchen. "Morning all."
"John," said Brian. "Did you know about this?"
"What?"
"About them?" Brian nodded to Mal and Rog.
John looked at them while readying some tea. "What about them?"
"Roger and I are dating," broke in Mal, wanting to say it before Brian could.
"Oh." John grinned. "I was beginning to wonder if something was up."
"What?" began Brian, but he was interrupted by Freddie making an entrance.
"Don't tell me: I'm late again, I know." Freddie entered the kitchen. "What did I miss?" He met the expressions of the others. "Well obviously something big. Now what is it?"
Roger jumped in. "Mal and I are dating, Freddie."
John chuckled from behind his teacup. "And Brian didn't know, it would seem."
A grin split across Freddie's face and he clapped. "Oh, you sneaky bastards! I knew it!"
"Wait, you knew too?" cried Brian. "How do you two know? Did they tell you?"
"No they didn't. They didn't need to. Oh, come on Brian, it's perfectly obvious."
"It is?" said Mal.
"It is?" said Brian.
"Well, for one thing, I'm right next door to Roger's room," said Freddie, now wearing a mischievous grin. It didn't help when he started wiggling his eyebrows.
"Fred," she winced.
"And I'm right below," added John.
"Either Roger moves around a lot in his sleep, or..." Freddie then pointed an accusatory finger at the newly-established couple, but was still grinning. "What about my no rough sex rule?"
"Well we obviously haven't destroyed the place yet," noted Rog. "This house is more sturdy than I thought."
Brian looked like he wished to be anywhere but there.
"Plus they've been a lot closer," added Freddie.
"They've always been close," Brian reminded. "So wait, that morning I came into Rog's room and you were in there..." Mal just nodded slowly. "Oh God..." He rubbed a hand over his face, baffled. "Is there anything else I should know that I don't already that you were maybe, hopefully planning on telling me eventually?" He looked directly at Mal when he said this, and if it was to try and make her feel guilty, it worked.
"Well, while we're at it, your sister's a brilliant snog, and an equally brilliant shag," said Roger, putting an arm around Mal.
Brian promptly collected his coffee mug and the newspaper and walked out of the room, smacking Roger on the back of the head with the paper not-so-lightly on his way by.
"Brian!" called Mal, chasing after him. He didn't look at all pleased. "Bri, wait!"
She followed him all the way outside to where he was leaning against the fence sipping his coffee.
"Come on, don't be like that, don't be such a spoilsport."
"No, maybe I just wanted to read the morning news in peace. And enjoy my coffee."
"We were just joking around, having a little fun," she defended.
"Oh good, I'm glad you're taking this so lightly," he said, sarcasm lacing his words and not looking up from the paper at her.
She sighed. "I meant back there in the kitchen. We're not just shagging, Brian. Rog and I are taking this very seriously, I promise. I mean, you know how long we've fancied each other. And we're being careful. I'm not pregnant or anything."
His head shot up at this.
"I said not!"
"Good. And I'm glad you're being careful."
"We are. And we've talked about it, a lot. If something happens and we end things, we're not going to let it affect the band, promise." He just nodded. "Now please come back inside."
He did so, pointing at Rog as soon as they had rejoined the others. "I don't want to know any more of the details."
"Thank you for your support, Big Brother, as always," said Mal.
"Well you have my support, Darling, always." Freddie took her hand and kissed the back of it, giving her a wink.
"GALILEO!"
The band had finally started recording the operatic section at the heart of Bohemian Rhapsody.
"How was that?" Roger asked from inside the recording booth.
"Higher!" commanded Freddie.
"Can you go a bit higher?" asked John, who was speaking to Rog through the mic.
"If I go any higher, only dogs will hear me."
"Try."
"Freddie's note, sorry."
Rog sighed. "All right, roll the tape."
"Overdub 24 of Fred's - thing," said Roy, their sound engineer.
Rog gave it a couple more tries, but Freddie was still convinced he needed to go higher.
Brian pointed to the ceiling, motioning for Rog to go higher still.
"Jesus, how many more Galileos do you want?"
"Freddie would like to do a few more Galileos," John informed him.
"Do we even have any tape left?"
"I do have to say, the tape is wearing out," John informed. "It can't take much more."
"Yeah, and we can't afford much more. And we're how far behind schedule?" Brian reminded them.
"Great art takes time, Darling," said Freddie. "Let's run it again! One more time!"
"Yeah right..." sighed Rog, but complied.
"You're a good sport, Rog," Mal told him.
"GALILEO!"
"That was pretty high," said Mal.
"Yeah, my ears are ringing," added Brian.
"Who even is Galileo?" Rog demanded in between takes.
"Ask the history student." Brian nodded to his sister.
"Galileo Galilei," Mal answered. "Often called the father of modern science."
"Galileo Galilei? What sort of name is that?"
"Says Roger Meddows Taylor," Freddie shot back.
"Says Freddie Mercury!"
Freddie clapped. "One more time!"
"GALILEOOOOOO! All right, my nuts feel like they're in my chest right now? Are we done?" Rog demanded.
"That's it, he loves you," John replied.
"Wonderful!" chimed Freddie. "It's beautiful! Love it!" He turned to the others. "Lady and gents, shall we?" They all joined Rog in the recording box
"MAMA MIA, MAMA MIA! MAMA MIA LET ME GO!"
Haha love that recording scene! ;) I just discovered Queen's song, 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy' and I love it, so the title is inspired by that!
Haha, Brian is not impressed. And that scene with the chicken was kind of inspired by Donna and the goat in 'Mamma Mia!' ;)
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)