#watchthestarsmhb

[mr-hoebot]

Watch the Stars - Chapter One

Pairing || Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor x OC

Note || Uhm. So. I’m really fuckin apprehensive about posting this. I have never dabbled in RPF before because it’s so...controversial and I totally get why. In this case, I’m really not writing about the real people involved here, but the biography that was based off of them? Which is still about real people. I was basically inspired by the movie if that makes sense, and I’m writing entirely in the context of the movie. This is 100% fictionalized and not meant to offend anyone. Julie-Anna is just a character who popped into my head. 

So anyways. I don’t encourage involving any actual real-life people in fiction written online, and all that. I just figured that the BohRap fandom seemed like a pretty nice place. So I thought I’d give it a shot and see if you guys will like, accept me into your fold or whatever. 

Summary || After playing a show on Halloween night in New Orleans, Queen’s drummer takes off on his own and is solicited by a very unusual woman who is definitely going to drive him crazy. 

Content || Past parental abuse, drinking, drugs, sexual assault (not romanticized in any form), smut. 

It’s late. Julie-Anna Ackerton doesn’t know what time it is, she just knows that it’s late because the sky has been dark for a while now. She checks it every now and then for the aliens. There’s nothing.

Maybe next time.

In a tiny gas station restroom a few hours earlier, she sprayed on perfume that smells like artificial candy apples, tried and failed not to smudge her eyeliner, and pulled a ratty faux fur coat on over her dress. Now she’s standing out on the middle of the road, heels in hand. They started hurting her feet after some time and she’s not getting any clients tonight anyways.

New Orleans is even buzzier than usual tonight, and it’s not just because of Halloween. There was a concert on at the Municipal Theater and she can feel the ground shaking, hear the cheers of the crowd, feel the wild excitement of people pouring out of the venue, chattering to each other about how amazing it had been.

Julie realizes just then that she can add it to the list of things she’s never done. Never been to a concert. The list just keeps growing longer.

1. Never been really kissed for real for real for real.

2. Never had a beautiful dress like a princess, just like in the movies.

3. I can’t give you the whole list. It would go on forever!

Well, Julie might not have a beautiful princess dress, but she has a silky negligee coming apart at the seams. She shifts her coat off her shoulders and starts walking, pausing by a car with a few men inside.

“Any of you gentlemen looking for a good time?” It doesn’t sound at all like her, but it’s what she’s supposed to say. Still, it never comes out as sultry as it’s meant to. She always sounds too eager and soft.

“I’m spoken for, honey.” The man in the front puffs on a cigarette. “Get lost.”

Concerts are usually a good night for business, but this one is proving to be a bust.

“Are you looking for a good time?”

“Would you like some company tonight?”

“I’m feeling lonely. Could I hitch a ride?”

None of it matters. All the chatter in the world hasn’t gotten her anyone, and Julie is getting desperate. Slowly, she’s drifted away from the bright lights of the main streets and fallen into the shadows behind Halloween costumes and concert memorabilia.

Julie steps out of an alley and keeps walking, keeping her eyes out for any parked cars that might contain possible clients. She scans the area and sees several people drive by, a few drunken stragglers stumbling home with their arms around each other, a woman shouting at her boyfriend.

And a car parked right up on the curb.

Julie fluffs up her hair and tries to saunter forward, imagining herself looking very beautiful and irresistible. Isn’t that what she needs?

The car window is rolled up, so she taps on it a few times to get the driver’s attention. When it rolls down to reveal a blonde man with red eyes, smoking a cigarette, she feels her heart skip a few beats.

Wow wow wow! This isn’t for the list of things I’ve never done. But wow!

“Can I help you?” the man asks. He looks exhausted. Bad news.

“Um.” Julie opens her mouth, then shuts it, suddenly finding herself forgetting her lines. “Oh! Yes. I remember. Are you looking for some company tonight?”

He rolls his eyes. “I don’t need to pay for company.”

“Oh,” she replies dejectedly, “Oh. Yeah. I guess not.”

Before she can say anything else, the man is rolling the window up. The car still doesn’t move though, and just as she starts to walk away, she’s hit with the realization that she needs a ride back home. She hitched one into town with a trucker driving in for the night, but he’s long gone now.

Julie spins around on her heel and stumbles back over to the car to tap on the window again. When the man rolls the window down, he looks irritated. “What?”

“Let’s trade.”

“Trade what?”

“Could you take me home? Please? I’ll make it worth your while. Do you know what worth your while means? I’ve learned it’s very persuasive.”

He stares at her in confusion, “Are you serious? I’m not having sex with you to give you a ride home.”

Julie swallows the lump in her throat that’s started to form. Tonight hasn’t brought her anything but bad luck and she’s going to need to pay rent soon. “Please? Oh, it won’t take long. I would walk but I get lost a lot, especially in the dark. Once I got lost and walked into a small pond. I stood there very confused because I didn’t know why my feet and legs were wet. And then I said, ‘Oh Julie-Anna Ackerton, you walked into a pond! That’s why your feet and legs are wet!’ Then I looked for frogs, but I didn’t find any. But I know my address. It’s-“

“Okay, okay!” The man puts his hand up. “Get in. I guess I need to drive somewhere anyway.”

She claps her hands excitedly. “Thank you! Thank you so much! You’re very nice! Very, very, very nice. Very, very-“

“Please just get in.” He actually looks like he might smile. “Julie-Anna Ackerton, huh?”

“That’s right,” Julie says cheerfully, opening the door to the other side and getting in. The car smells like cigarette smoke, so she rolls the window down. “Do you like my name?”

“Sure I do. It’s a nice name.” He starts to drive but extends one hand to shake hers. “I’m Roger.” “It’s real nice to meet you,” Julie shakes his hand excitedly and slips her coat off of her shoulders. “Why’re you just sitting in your car?”

He shrugs. “It’s not mine. I rented it. I needed to drive, clear my head. It was kind of a wild night.”

“Did you go to the concert? I saw lots of people going. I’ve never been to one before, but I think it would probably be magic and beautiful. I really like music. Did you have fun?”

Roger looks over at her, surprised. “Well, yeah. I mean, kind of.”

“You kind of had fun?”

“No, I mean-I kind of went to the concert. I mean, I played it. I’m the drummer for the band.”

Julie gasped, her inner voice telling her to calm down, even thought it was just so, so hard. “How neat! I wish I could be a drummer. Or a singer. Or a movie star. Or a goddess. I just want to be a beautiful beauty queen. Do you think I could be a beauty queen?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Why aren’t you one?”

Julie sighs sadly. “I don’t have a beautiful dress or a special talent, and you need those, I guess. But if I close my eyes really tight and try to dream, I can imagine that I’m Miss America, y’ know? And it’s so beautiful. I look like a superstar.” She emphasizes the last word with all the reverence and adoration of someone talking about a religious icon.

“I’m gonna be a superstar one day,” she tells him.

Roger laughs and turns a corner, “I don’t doubt it.”

“Are you going to be a star too?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I feel like I already am, but I guess that could be me getting ahead of myself. Fifteen minutes of fame and all that. I’m just trying to enjoy it while it lasts.” He falters a bit, looking unsure.

“Aren’t you?” Julie asks.

“Aren’t I what?”

“Enjoying it.”

“Oh. Well, sure. I am. I just…I don’t know. I was kind of stressed out tonight. I don’t think I played as well as I could have. I got in a fight with our guitarist. Things were loud and we were drinking…” he shuts his eyes for a moment before focusing again on the road and sighing, “I guess I just needed some time to myself. So. Rented a car and here I am with you. Which was not part of my plan by the way.”

“Sorry,” Julie says cheerfully, “But maybe I can make you feel better. I can tell you a joke.”

“You don’t have to-“

“What’s red and moves up and down?” Without waiting for an answer, she hurriedly says, “A tomato in an elevator.”

Roger snorts, “You’ve got to be joking.”

“I am. It was a joke.”

“No, I mean-nevermind. That was really funny, Julie-Anna.” It comes out with obvious sarcasm.

“Oh, you can just call me Julie,” she says, “Everyone does except for Dad, and he doesn’t really like me that much.”

“I’m sorry. Speaking of, where did you say you lived again?”

Julie-Anna lists out the address, the same old place on the edge of town that she’s been for ages. The same place she always will be, until she’s a famous beauty queen.