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mirkwoodshewolf · 4 years

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Kelly’s 6th Birthday; Queen x reader

*Author’s note*

And here we go guys the last update for now. This chapter contains an equal amount of both fluff and and angst so I hope you all enjoy it and still have those tissues and maybe some ice cream (or other sweet treat on hand cause you’ll need it). Now I’ll stop talking and let you all get to reading these chapters, hope you all enjoyed them and until the next chapter (but you all are gonna hate me for it cause I have a feeling you all may know what I’m gonna write for the next chapter).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@simonedk

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queensdivas

@platawnic

@geek-and-proud

@queendeakyy

@kairosfreddie

@onebigfangirlworld

@naturalswifty89

@bohemiansweede

@5sos-wdw

@labessieisallama

@isabella-bby

@dj-lowkey

@starswin

___________________________________________________________

*November 13th, 1991*

It was a nice cool November morning in the backyard of Roger Taylor’s home. Everywhere decorations were being put up with the help of not only Roger, Brian, Deacy, Jack’s family, and the ladies of Queen, but some of the loyal roadies both from Queen and the Rock Angel.

Walking through the garden wearing a handsewn replica of Belle’s famed yellow dress, little Kelly Kline was walking towards her mom who was talking to some of the party planners.

“Just be sure that Elton and Bernie are sitting next to each other, those two can’t be separated no matter what. And see to it that David is seated here.”

“Of course Mrs. Kline.”

*My POV*

Whew who knew planning a princess themed party was such hard work. But thankfully the planning was coming along. We hadn’t had any hiccups or misplacements. Mum as well as Gen were making Kelly’s dress since they were the most skilled at sewing, and it was nice for dad to lend us his backyard for the party. God he truly likes to spoil his goddaughter.

When I turned around I gasped in awe. There stood my little five year—well almost six year old baby girl in the famed yellow Belle ballgown dress.

Ever since she’s seen Beauty and the Beast, it’s been her favorite movie and she’s begged and begged to have a Princess themed party where she could be Belle. And so here we are.

“Do you like it?” she asked me with a hopeful smile.

“Ohh Kelly, you are an absolute vision. You are gonna be the talk of the party and not just because it’s your birthday.” I said as I kneeled in front of her and took her hands in mine.

She smiled and I held my arms out and she came into them as I hugged her. God I can’t believe my baby girl’s growing up so fast already. I mean it seems like only yesterday she was just born and now here we are almost six years later.

“How’s it coming?” I heard Jack say. We separated from each other and when he saw his daughter he gasped and said. “And just who is this lovely princess before me?” she giggled and said.

“It’s me daddy.” Jack got down and leaned in real close to her making her giggle some more.

“Why yes it is. Oh my darling baby girl truly is a princess now. Did mums and auntie Gen do good on the dress?”

“Yes, I love it.”

“Did you thank them?”

“Yes daddy I did.” He smiled and hugged our baby girl close to him before placing a peck on top of her head.

“Oi Jack mind giving us a hand with this!?” Jensen exclaimed as he and Jared were trying to hold up one of the platform towers to help make the setting more authentic.

“Duty calls, I’ll be back later.” He kissed Kelly one last time before racing off to help his cousins. I stood up and took my daughter’s hand as I told her to follow me.

“Ohh I just can’t believe how big you’re getting.”

“Mummy! Please don’t tell anymore baby stories. I’m not a baby anymore.” She whined.

“Ohh forgive me, but no matter how old you get, you will always be my little baby waby girl!” I cooed as I held her close and she tried to squirm but I warned her not to mess up the dress and ruin mum and Gen’s hard work. “Oh that reminds me. I have a gift for you.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Well your uncle Freddie had it specially made. It took a few strings, even though I told him not to do it. But you can never tell that man to not do something. And it’s a symbol that makes every princess a princess.”

*3rd Person POV*

In one of the bedrooms where (y/n) kept Kelly’s specially made diamond princess tiara. Gen and Jared’s 5 year old daughter Odette managed to find the tiara in it’s special box. She too who loved all the Disney Princess movies wanted to know what it was like to wear one that was real and authentic, and not just a plastic crown.

She placed it on top of her head and looked at the full length mirror and couldn’t help but smile at herself. Feeling almost proud and regal at this point.

“Odette?” she heard her aunt’s voice.

*My POV*

I went into Roger’s study where I had put the tiara knowing that the kids wouldn’t be able to find it in there. But it would seem curious little Odette managed to find herself in there and was wearing Kelly’s tiara. I called out to her and that’s when she jumped back and took the crown off as she began stuttering.

“A-auntie (y/n) I—I’m sorry I…I just wanted to…..”

“How dare you!” Kelly sneered as she walked up to her younger cousin. “That’s mine! It’s not for you.”

“Sorry Kelly I just wanted…..” Kelly took back the tiara and said in a snotty tone.

“Poor kids don’t get to wear real tiaras.”

“Enough!” I said in a firm tone.

“Auntie (y/n) I’m sorry…..”

“No. I was talking to Kelly.” I interrupted her. Kelly turned towards me and owled back.

“Me?”

“I thought your father and I raised you better than that Kelly.” I spoke with my mother tone as I looked down at her disappointedly. “It doesn’t matter where we come from in life, everyone deserves to be treated with love and respect.”

“But Odette took my—”

“She apologized. And it isn’t yours yet.” I stopped her before she could even make an argument with me.

“Auntie (y/n) it was really my fault.”

“I respect your honesty Odette. But your cousin must learn. Kelly,” I knelt down in front of her and continued, “We are all the same.”

“But you’re a rockstar mummy. That makes you rich.”

“Well yes, to a degree. But that doesn’t make me better than anyone else. This party for instance, can you tell me what it’s for?”

“Yes. It’s to honor me on my birthday.” She answered with pride as she raised her chin up like a real princess.

“No. It’s for you to honor your family. And to show everyone that by being a kind, and caring young girl, you will continue to grow up to be just that.” I took the tiara from her hands and held it before her as the two of us stared into each other’s eyes. “When you are crowned with this, on your birthday. It will show everyone that like a real Princess should, you will treat everyone with love and with kindness. Just like Belle did for the Beast. Now do you understand?” she smiled and nodded.

“I do mummy.” I smiled at her and I gestured towards Odette to tell her to say that she was sorry. Kelly turned and said. “I’m sorry Dette, I was selfish. I didn’t mean to get mad at you.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I took your tiara without asking permission first. Daddy and mommy says I should never take something without asking first.” The two girls hugged each other and it warmed my heart to see them forgive each other.

“Alright Odette, go run along and play with your brothers and the rest of your cousins.” She raced off leaving Kelly and I alone in the study. We walked up to the full length mirror together and I handed her the tiara once more and as she held it she said.

“It’s so pretty.”

“Your uncle Freddie spares no expense for you.”

“Can we go see him?” she asked.

Now that’s where I was hesitant. See the last time I had seen Freddie, he was looking very, very ill. And there’s not to say I was paranoid against the AIDS virus, I would never want to isolate Kelly from her favorite uncle, it’s just—I don’t want to have her be upset at seeing him like this.

“Ahh so here’s where the two Kline Queens snuck off to.” We turned around and there stood Roger. I playfully scowled at him and that’s when Kelly raced up to her godfather and said as she even did a little twirl.

“Papa Roger, don’t I look beautiful?” Roger was in awe as he said.

“Ohhh lovie, you are so beautiful mademoiselle.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it, just like he was greeting real royalty. “I can’t believe I have the highest honor of being in the presence of Princess Belle herself.”

“You’re silly papa Roger.”

“Oh lovie, I’m crazy for you!” he picked her up and playfully spun her around in his arms, the two of them laughing. I shook my head at his playful antics and that’s when he said as he stopped spinning her around. “So what were we lovely lion queens talking about before I came in here?”

“I was hoping to see uncle Freddie.” At hearing his name, Roger grew solemn.

“Uhh Kelly, why don’t we try for a visit tomorrow?”

“Aww why?”

“Well because we’re still trying to build your party love. And I need to stay here and help out with the planning. And your father still needs to finish setting up the towers and the other decorations we need—”

“I’ll take you to see him.” Said Roger interrupting me. I looked at him in shock while Kelly looked overly ecstatic.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to see him myself. Why don’t we go together.”

“Can I go mummy please?” she turned toward me giving me the puppy dog eyes that she inherited from her father.

“Well—”

“Papa Roger can take me, please I haven’t seen him in a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time.” I looked to Roger and he looked at me in assurance that it would be okay.

“Alright, but change out of your dress and into your normal clothes okay.”

“But I wanna show him!”

“Hey, either you take off the dress or there’s no visiting uncle Freddie.” she groaned but she knew I was right. Roger set her down and she headed back to the room to find either Gen or mum to take the dress off and get her normal clothes back on. “You sure visiting him is a good idea?”

“Well we can’t just keep her away from him. Plus he’s been asking for her lately. Especially now since her birthday’s next week.”

“Will you tell her why he’s so sickly? I mean compared to when she last saw him at the beginning of the year, he’s gotten worse. He can barely leave the bed.”

“I know. I’ll—try to ease her into why he’s so different.” He said.

“Just—break it to her slowly. And if she cries…..just be there for her.”

“I promise love.” He said as he wrapped his arm around my neck and he kissed my forehead.

I helped her into the backseat of Roger’s car and I said to her.

“Now you listen to everything your godfather tells you. And…go easy with your uncle Freddie once you see him okay?” she nodded. I kissed her cheek and told her. “Have a good visit.”

“No worries mama lioness I’ll take care of her.” He started the engine and the car revved.

“Bye mummy!” I closed the door and he pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road to head to Freddie’s place at Garden Lodge. I waved bye to them and that’s when Jack came up behind me and said.

“She going to see him?”

“Yeah. I just—I just wish I could be there with her, she…..she doesn’t deserve to see her once mighty uncle in his lowest state. I’m so scared she’s gonna be so upset. He—he hardly has any time left. I fear he’s gonna die any day Jack.” I wept softly while he held me close to him allowing me to cry for the first time in months.

*3rd Person POV*

It took about 10-15minutes but soon enough they finally reached Garden Lodge. But as it has been for months ever since the leaked rumors of Freddie’s illness with the growing rise of the AIDS outbreak, the press were out pacing around like hungry wolves waiting to storm in and photograph Freddie.

“Papa Roger, the bad photo guys are here.” Roger growled and muttered.

“Those fucking wankers.”

“Mummy calls them desperate hyenas.”

“More like pestering vultures, but your mum is right.”

“Why do they do this?”

“For their own greediness unfortunately. Here I need you to be quiet for a moment while I make a quick call, okay?” she nodded and Roger pulled out his installed car-phone and dialed Fred’s number.

It rang a couple times before an answer was heard.

“Jim, it’s Roger. Yes I’m here with Kelly and we’ve come to see Freddie, but the press are crowding the gate…..Yes, okay. Alright we’ll wait out here. Thanks Jim, see you in a minute.” He hung up the phone and he turned to Kelly. “Care to watch a little game?”

“What kind of game?”

“It’s called ‘fool the mindless baboons.’ Any second now, a car’s gonna pull out from uncle Freddie’s place. We’re gonna make those baboons chase after the car thinking your uncle Freddie’s in the car. So while they chase after the car a few times around the next few blocks, we can go in and see Freddie, sound fun?” she nodded happily.

Then just as Jim told Roger, Freddie’s driver Terry came driving out of the gate and that’s when the press took notice of the car and took off running after it with their cameras out and all shouting over each other. Kelly laughed as she said.

“Stupid baboons.”

“You said it love, now c’mon let’s head inside before the gate closes.” Roger unbuckled himself out of his seat and quickly raced over to help Kelly out from the car.

He picked her up and held her in his arms, and as he quickly raced over towards the gate he noticed another car parked just nearby.

“Well it seems Brian and Anita are here as well.”

“Really?” Kelly’s tone grew excited.

“Yeah see that’s Miss Anita’s car right there.” Roger said as he pointed out the car. She nodded and that’s when Roger took her inside and the gate closed behind them. He walked right up to the front door and knocked twice before adjusting Kelly in his arms to move her from hanging off his hips to his waist.

The door opened to reveal Jim standing there.

“Hi Uncle Jim.” Kelly waved.

“Hello lass, hello Roger, good to see you both. Thanks for waiting.”

“It’s no problem. Anything to get those vultures off Fred’s property for a while.” Jim allowed the two of them inside the home.

Normally Freddie would either be in the music room playing the piano or in the living room with most of his children, but it was all quiet.

“I’m told it’ll be someone’s birthday next week.” Jim said trying to make conversation. Kelly nodded shyly and said.

“Yeah, I’m gonna be six years old.”

“Wow that old already? How time flies.”

“Tell me about it. Seems like she was just born yesterday and now I’ve got a growing lion cub on my hands.” Roger said as he playfully bounced her up in his arms. Kelly softly giggled and leaned her head against her godfather’s shoulder and Roger placed a kiss on top of her head.

“Can I get you both something to drink?”

“Just a warm cuppa for me, once we’re done here gotta help continue to build this young one’s princess party.”

“Alright, and for you Kelly dear?”

“Can I please have some milk?”

“Sure thing, one cuppa and one milk coming up. Please make yourselves comfortable.” Jim said as he gestured towards the living room. Roger placed Kelly down on the couch and that’s when one of Freddie’s cats and Kelly’s personal favorite Romeo came up and rubbed against her ankle.

She got down and greeted him and began to stroke him as he let out a loud purr and leaned into her hand.

“Here we are, one cuppa and one milk.” Jim said as he brought in the two cups.

“Thanks Jim.”

“Thank you uncle Jim.” Rog took a sip of his cuppa and he said.

“So I noticed Anita’s car out front, they still here?”

“Yeah, they arrived just five minutes ago before you both showed up. They’re upstairs with Freddie and the doctor.” As the two men continued to talk about grown up stuff, Kelly being the clever girl that she was, slowly snuck away from the couch and as quietly as she could, headed up the staircase to find Freddie.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she wondered along trying to remember which room was his. That was until she heard the sound of her uncle Brian’s voice. She quietly raced towards it and peeked in.

There she could see her uncle Freddie in his grand master bed. But she was shocked to see that compared to the last time she saw him, he looked even worse. He was so thin and frail, it looked like he was a skeleton in her eyes.

“I see that the garden’s been tended to Fred. Brian spoke from the window.”

“I agree Brian, are those newly planted magnolias?” Anita spoke up.

“Guys….you don’t have to pretend to make conversation with me. I’m just…glad you’re here.” Brian smiled solemnly at his dear friend. It was then Anita turned towards the door and could see a small figure quickly try to hide away.

“It would seem you have an unexpected guest Freddie.” Both Queens looked toward the door and shyly peeking out was Kelly.

“Kelly.” Said Brian. He walked over to her and knelt down in front of her and said, “What are you doing here?”

“Papa Roger brought me here. I—wanted to see uncle Freddie.”

“So that old fart finally came to see me. He downstairs?” Freddie said from his bed. She nodded and that’s when Freddie extended his arm out and said. “Come here my sweet nightingale.” She turned to her uncle Brian and even through the sad hazel eyes, he managed a soft smile as he nodded telling her to go on.

She walked over to the bed and took his hand in hers. Freddie smiled warmly as best he could as he said.

“You just get bigger and bigger every time I see you darling. And I hear you’ll be what? 8 next week?”

“No I’ll be six.” She softly giggled.

“Ahh yes, the big number six. God it’s hard to believe you’re getting older.”

“Yeah.” She said hesitantly. Even through his exhaustion he knew something was going on in her head. So much like her mother in every way.

“What is it my sweet darling?”

“I wanna cancel my party.” She said.

“What?”

“I don’t wanna have a party without you. I can wait uncle Freddie. And then we can turn it into a celebration once your better.” Freddie held onto her hand as tight as he could, but to Kelly it was like holding a baggy in between her hands.

“No my darling, we can’t cancel your birthday. It’ll be alright.” He took a soft deep breath in and said to her, “I’ll—try to be right as rain by then. I wanna see my little nightingale walking in that beautiful tiara I had specially made for her.” His index finger stroked her cheek faintly.

Kelly held her uncle’s hands tighter and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes but a strong face adored her features.

“I don’t care about my birthday, all I care about is you.” Kelly whispered as she placed her other hand over her uncle’s heart. Freddie couldn’t handle the level of kindness that was in this little girl. Here his niece was willing to cancel her birthday even after months of it being planned and everything coming together, and she was willing to just throw it away and wait for him to get better.

Even though he knew he wasn’t.

Suddenly he began coughing rather harshly. He turned away from her as he coughed into his left hand which held a tissue. The coughing grew louder and more harsher, it was like he was gonna cough a lung out.

“Brian!” he groaned out as best he could. He refused to let his nightingale see him like this and risk scaring her.

“Kelly love,” Brian immediately came up to Kelly who just stared at her uncle Freddie fearfully. Brian placed his hands on her shoulders trying to redirect her attention to him as he said, “Let’s leave Fred to rest, it’s alright.” He quickly picked her up and as Freddie’s doctor came over to help him, Brian and Anita left with Kelly to watch in shock at seeing her uncle so sick.

When Fred was finally done coughing, the tissue was practically coated with blood and a small bit of it even ran down his throat as well as a tear.

Kelly kept her eyes at the doors of Freddie’s bedroom and that’s when she buried herself into her uncle’s shoulder, burying her face into his mass of curls and let out a sniffle. Brian stopped and softly told Anita to head on downstairs.

She nodded and rubbed Kelly’s back comfortingly for a bit before heading on downstairs. Brian found a bench to sit on and he said as he gently pulled Kelly away from him so he could have a good look at her.

“What is it Kelly-cub?”

“Is—is uncle Freddie going to die?” she suddenly asked. At hearing her say those words, Brian had no idea what to say to her. I mean…..how does one tell a child that someone they love is dying of a terrible disease that can’t be cured like the stomach flu or the common cold.

She began to softly cry as she buried herself back into her uncle’s shoulder. Brian stroked the back of her hair trying to calm her down as he gently soothed her as best he could.

“We—we don’t know love.”

“I don’t wanna lose him!” she whimpered out.

“Neither do we.” Brian whispered back to her. Brian continued to embrace his niece for as long as he could till she just sat there motionlessly. He then decided she needed to be with her godfather at this point.

Brian stood up and walked down the stairs and when Roger saw the sight of his goddaughter he sighed brokenly. He walked up and Brian transferred her over to him and Roger held Kelly close to him and patted her back soothingly.

“I should take her back. I can come back later to see him. God (y/n) is gonna kill me.”

“She probably knew this would happen Rog. Maybe we should talk to Fred and (y/n).”

“After her birthday Brian. She doesn’t deserve to be sad just days before her birthday party. I know Jack and I can’t allow that to happen.” Roger kissed the back of her head and stroked through her mother’s inherited (h/c) hair.

After a few minutes of talking with Brian, Rog buckled Kelly up into the backseat and drove back to his place for her to rest after such an emotional day.

One week later; family and friends were invited to Roger’s place for the greatest birthday in history.

*My POV*

I was currently dressed in a white Cinderella style dress and I knew Jack would be dressed as my Prince Charming. I was adjusting my dress and putting the final touches of my makeup when I heard a knock at my door. Standing there were Roger and Brian.

“Well look at you Mrs. Kline, a true Queen.” Said Brian with a soft smile.

“Now, now boys this is supposed to be Kelly’s night. I’m merely just trying to look my best.”

“And no doubt, your majesty.” Roger did a mock bow doing a dramatic hand gesture as he bowed. I rolled my eyes at them and I said to them.

“But I’ll admit you two clean up rather nicely. Quite dapper yourselves. Like true Princes, Anita and Dominque are lucky ladies.”

“Well so far most of the guests are starting to arrive. Thankfully no press have come yet.” Said Roger.

“Good. I refuse to have a bunch of kids photographed just because celebrities are here. Especially when it comes to my kids.”

“Don’t I know it.” Muttered Brian. There was an uncomfortable silence between us and that’s when I decided to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

“Alright, I know why you guys really came up here. You’re here to talk about talking to Kelly in regard to Freddie’s health.” They looked at me. Before they could speak, I held my hand up and walked towards one of the chairs in mine and Jack’s guest room that Roger kindly lent us for the week till the party was over. “You guys know I’ve been keeping this secret ever since I found out at the beginning of the year. Not even Jack knows about it, not my mum, not Misha, not even Jared and Jensen. Kelly’s been asking questions but I refused to tell her the truth because I promised Freddie.”

“We would never have asked you to carry such a responsibility.” Roger said as he came up to me. I sighed heavily and stopped a tear from coming down my face.

“I know that every child has to go through death at least one point in their life. Whether through a pet, or unfortunately like in my case with both my parents. But—never did I think I’d have to prepare Kelly or my boys for this. How do I tell her?” Roger placed his hand on my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.

“It’s the hardest thing every parent goes through. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to tell my kids about my father passing, they loved their grandfather and he loved them. But—if Kelly finds out a different way, it may damage her to an extent, especially if some news press makes it out to be Freddie’s fault. She at least deserves to hear it from the one person whose loved Freddie almost all her life.” Brian said to me as he stood by my side.

“And if you need us to be there for you when you tell her, we will.” I nodded and fanned my eyes out and that’s when Roger held out a handkerchief for me. I smiled and dabbed my eyes.

“Alright enough of this. Don’t want to show teary eyes at a six year old’s birthday party.” I stood up and grabbed the box that held Kelly’s tiara. “Ready my kings?”

“Lead the way our beloved White Queen.” I raised my chin up acting the part of a Queen and I left the guest bedroom and headed down the stairs and headed for the backyard.

All around there were people dressed in full costume of either Kings or Queens or Princes’ or princesses. Kids were running about chasing each other or talking at the kid’s table. There was a bouncy-castle with a dragon plushie inside. A stage was set up for not only Kelly’s ‘coronation’ but Brian and I had prepared a little something special.

To the left of the stage, there were mountains of presents and on the other side was the snack table where the cake, and all the other treats were at.

There were fun party games for the kids to play, and even some of us grownups got involved with the games like musical chairs, the bean-bag toss, and the three legged race. When the clock struck six o’ clock I grabbed my champagne glass and took my knife and lightly clanged them together as I said.

“Excuse me, can I please have everyone’s attention?” Everyone quietened down and Jack handed me a mic. “Thanks love, okay first of all I would like to thank everyone who came out here today to celebrate a very special someone. I know some of you have traveled across the ocean to get here but we greatly appreciate you taking the time to fly out here.” I spoke of my family and some of Kelly’s school friends in America.

“Now we’d like to ask that the birthday girl come up on stage. Kelly sweetie.” Jack said as he now took the mic while I walked up on stage. Kelly raced up and took her daddy’s hand and he helped her up the stairs so that she could sit on the red velvet, faux gold chair that Roger had lying around in the attic to use as Kelly’s throne for tonight.

He sat her down on the chair and I took the tiara out of the box and walked behind her and presented the tiara to everyone.

“Sweetheart, your mother and I would like to finally present you, your crown. For it was on this hour just six years ago you graced us with your lovely presence.” I placed the crown on my daughter’s head and that’s when Jensen and Jared came up carrying the cake while Misha lit the candles. Once the candles were lite we all began to sing to her.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Kelly.

Happy birthday to you!

I swore at this moment, I thought Kelly’s smile was just gonna pop right off her face with how wide it was. At the end of our song, Misha kissed his granddaughter and said.

“Make a wish sweetie before you blow them out.” She shut her eyes before blowing as hard as she could, extinguishing the candles. We all applauded her and she hugged her grandfather first before turning to me and wrapped her arms around me and gave me a kiss. I kissed her temple and rubbed her back happily.

We all then had cake and ice cream, and all the while mum was in charge of taking the pictures and she sure did get in a lot, especially of her precious granddaughter. Brian was also our main photographer and while Kelly was opening her presents, I pulled both Brian and Elton aside so that we could prepare the next special surprise for Kelly.

After getting a whole bunch of presents from new Barbie dolls, to drum kits, mini-guitars and dozens of other games and toys, Kelly thanked everyone for her gifts and that’s when Elton sat down behind the keyboard while Brian and I came up on stage.

“If we could have your attention for another quick moment.” Brian spoke into his microphone. “Kelly love, this is a special gift that your father had us prepare for you. We hope you like it.” Elton soon began playing the opening chords for “Beauty and the Beast” and soon coming out from the left side of the stage, Jack had changed from his white Prince charming attire to the famed blue outfit the beast wore.

Play video

As I softly began to vocalize, Jack walked up to our daughter and knelt down to her height as I began to sing the first part of the song. He presented our daughter with a rose and she smiled and took it from her daddy before standing up and curtsying at him.

When Brian came in with the next part of the song, Jack extended his hand out and she gladly accepted it and the two of them walked out before the stage as Brian and I began to sing the duet part of the song.

For you see as many times as she’s seen the movie, she always made Jack dance with her the exact same steps that they do in the movie. It’s honestly quite adorable to see as the film running, the two of them get the spins and turns right on cue.

So for months; Jack has wanted to finally do the dance the right way. And since Kelly wanted a Princess themed party, this was the perfect time for him to get tailored in the exact beast outfit and he had me practice with him the exact steps while Kelly was in school so that he could get it right.

But I knew I couldn’t sing this song on my own so that’s why I chose Brian to be my singing partner because when he needed, his voice can do such raw passion in an angelic belt, but he could control the level in which he did it.

We were also lucky to have Elton join in on the party because Bri isn’t as big of a fan of the keyboard as he is with the piano. So Elton gladly stepped in and got the sheet music for the song (since under secrecy he’s apparently involved with an upcoming Disney film).

As Brian and I kept singing the song, Kelly and Jack continued to do the waltz right down to the last step. It was like seeing a live action of the film right before us. I could see the kids were in awe and the grownups couldn’t help but fawn at how adorable it was.

I could see Roger leaned up against Dominque’s shoulder and she leaned her head against his as the two of them softly swayed while keeping their eyes on the adorable dancers up front. Even John had a slight smile as he and Veronica were cuddled close together.

It was like even through all this shit that’s been going on with Freddie, he still managed to find some light as he watched his beloved niece dance with her father.

By the end of the song, Jack picked our baby girl up and held her in his arms leaning his forehead against hers. A common sign of affection he’s done with her ever since she was born. Her eyes closed as she touched her nose to him.

Everyone soon applauded and I couldn’t help but wipe away a tear from my face. I hugged Brian and I said.

“We’d also like to thank Mr. Elton John on the keyboard.” Elton stood up and bowed to the crowd. When Jack put Kelly down, she walked up the stairs to us and hugged both Brian and I to the best of her ability. I picked her up and held her in my arms and she said.

“You both sang beautifully.”

“Thank you love, happy birthday.” Brian said as he pecked her nose.

“Don’t I also deserve a thanks?” Elton asked as he walked up to us. She turned to him and she reached out for him. Elton took her hand and kissed both her cheeks.

“Thank you uncle Elton.”

“Anytime darling, you danced divinely. Just like your mum does.” I playfully scrunched my face at him and adjusted Kelly in my arms.

As it got darker and it was starting to get to be the younger kids’ bedtimes, we ended the part right at 9 o’clock. I handed out all the party favors and thanked everyone for coming and they thanked us for inviting them.

I just got done hugging and kissing Elton and Bernie goodbye and thanked them for coming, when David was the next to come up.

“Thank you so much for coming David.”

“It was my pleasure love, and I hope the mini you had a great birthday.” Kelly who looked like she was about to pass out on Jack’s shoulder yawned and nuzzled closer to her dad’s shoulder. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I handed him his party favor and we kissed each other’s cheek goodbye.

“I’ll get her bathed and ready for bed.” Jack told me as he walked back inside the house. Soon my mum and Gen came and helped out with the rest of the party favors for the guests while the boys took care of taking down the decorations and clearing out the backyard of the Taylor household.

Half an hour later, everything was all cleaned up and thrown away. I yawned tiredly when Dominque said.

“Never thought a six year old’s party could be tiring work huh?”

“I’m just thankful we didn’t have any press stalking about, or any insanely sugar crazed kids. And luckily we were enforced with more adults than most parties I’ve taken the kids to.”

“I’ve got most of the important parts of the party recorded. I can edit it out then ship it to Freddie in about 3 days.” Said Misha.

“Perfect, thanks dad.” He nodded and gave me a kiss and a hug.

“Give my regards to the birthday girl.”

“Will do, you and mum have a safe flight back home tomorrow.”

“We’ll call you guys when we land.” I nodded and that’s when he and mum left the Taylor household back to their hotel to get some rest before flying back to the states.

“Well I better get out of this dress, god this corset has been killing me all night.”

“But you definitely work it girl.” Dominque said. I playfully stuck my tongue at her as I carefully walked back up the steps. As I came to the bedroom, I heard the sounds of Kelly’s laughter. I leaned against the door and peeked in and that’s when I saw both Jack and Roger tickling her.

“Four…..five…..” Jack counted down.

“Five and a half.” Roger continued for him. Oh dear looks like both of my boys have decided to gang up on my poor baby girl with the annual birthday tickles.

I don’t know whether to be relieved that I no longer need to deal with those from Roger anymore or be ashamed that my daughter must now carry the intense burden of Roger’s evil tickles.

“Five and three quarters…..and…..”

“Six.” They finally stopped leaving Kelly in a pile of giggles.

“Are you two jerks torturing my poor little cub again?” I asked revealing myself. The two guilty men turned towards me and Kelly whined out.

“Mummy they kept tickling me.” I awed at her and came over and picked her up and held her close.

“I understand your pain. They are cruel, heartless tickle demons aren’t they?”

“Oh come off it darling, you know you loved it when you got your dose of birthday tickles.” Roger said.

“You were a sadistic torturer Roger Taylor. Like a true lion on the hunt. And you Jack Kline, are like a sneaky wolf trying to claim a lost lamb for lunch.”

“Maybe, but I didn’t hear you complain.” Jack teased. I shook my head at the two of them and that’s when I said to Kelly.

“Alright birthday girl, time for you to go to bed.” The boys got off her bed and I tucked her in. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“The best, it was a lot of fun. Thank you mummy.”

“Well you should really thank your godfather for allowing us to use his house for the party.” Roger knelt down beside her and she said through a yawn.

“Thank you—papa Roger.”

“Only the best for you my little lovie.” He said as he stroked her hair and gently brushed some strands aside. He kissed her forehead and gave her an Eskimo kiss before standing back up. Jack then knelt down on her other side and she said.

“Thanks for dancing with my daddy.”

“Hey you know I’d do anything for you. You’re my best girl Kelly.” He gave her a kiss and the three of us left her bedside and stood by the door.

“Goodnight love.” I whispered.

“G’night mummy, daddy, papa Roger.” She said back.

“Sweet dreams birthday girl.” Said Roger with a gentle smile.

“See you in the morning sweet pea.” Jack said as he turned off the light and we left as he closed the door behind him. We both bid roger a goodnight and we went over to our bedroom.

After getting a shower and changing into my night clothes, I got into the bed beside Jack and we kissed each other.

“Another successful birthday.” He said with a warm smile.

“I’d say we did pretty good.” I shrugged. We then lay down together and as I pressed my head against Jack’s chest I began to worry about tomorrow because it would be in the morning that Brian, Roger and I would talk to Kelly about Freddie’s health.

I wasn’t going to enjoy it, but I knew it had to be done. Cause like Brian said, I’d rather her hear about it from me, rather than an article in the paper or magazine completely blowing it up based off of radical minds.

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stereostevie · 3 years

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The Rap Grammy Nominations Are Weird As Hell | Nov 25, 2020 11:12 AM BY TOM BREIHAN

The very first time that the Grammy Awards recognized rap music, it was an utter fiasco — a clear case of an aging pop-music establishment failing to understand this vital new youth music that had sprung up and rewritten the rules. For the 1989 awards show, the Grammys added one rap category, Best Rap Performance. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince won it for “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” beating out LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa and Kool Moe Dee and JJ Fad. The show didn’t deign to recognize Public Enemy, N.W.A, EPMD, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, or Ice-T, all of whom had released classic albums within the voting window. The award wasn’t televised, and most of the nominees, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince included, skipped the show, attending a “Boycott The Grammys” party instead.

Since that night, the history of rap at the Grammys has been a series of baffling, embarrassing decisions. It’s Steely Dan winning Album Of The Year over The Marshall Mathers LP. It’s Gretchen Wilson winning Best New Artist over Kanye West. “It’s weird and it sucks that I robbed you.” It’s also a history of rappers getting angry over the Grammys: “I never let a statue tell me how nice I am,” “You think I give a damn about a Grammy?” In 2019, Drake showed up to accept Best Rap Song. In his acceptance speech, he talked about how the Grammy voters weren’t necessarily the right people to define rap success. The broadcast cut him off mid-speech. Earlier this year, Kanye West, a man who once cared more about Grammy Awards than anyone else not named Neil Portnow, tweeted a video of himself pissing on one of his Grammys. (The Grammys still nominated West this year, for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album.)

Yesterday, the Grammys nominated Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist’s Alfredo in the Best Rap Album category. That’s great! Freddie Gibbs is a great underground rap success story, a guy who bet on himself and kept doing great work in his own lane even after multiple major-label situations fell apart. Gibbs has never made a hit song in his life, and he’s gotten himself into a position where he doesn’t need to make hit songs — where he can just follow his instincts and keep his own style intact. Alfredo isn’t my favorite rap record of the year. (Even in the field of Alchemist-produced 2020 rap albums, I’d give the slight edge to Boldy James’ The Price Of Tea In China.) But the nomination for Alfredo is still a very cool surprise, the kind of thing that I would’ve never expected to see from the Grammy nominating committee.

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And yet Gibbs’ nomination doesn’t exactly announce a new golden age of Grammy rap consideration, a time when Recording Academy voters are finally figuring out how to approach the genre. Instead, his nomination points toward something else: An institutional recognition of middlebrow, middle-aged, respectable rap music.

All of this year’s Best Rap Album nominees are Black men between the ages of 35 and 47. The oldest nominee is Nas, who is now on his fifth Best Rap Album nomination and who has never won the award. (The Best Rap Album Grammy didn’t exist in 1994, when Nas released Illmatic, but there’s no way in hell that Nas would’ve won it anyway. The Academy would’ve given the award to Coolio’s It Takes A Thief or something.) The youngest nominee is D Smoke, a former high school Spanish teacher who is also the brother of the TDE R&B singer SiR. D Smoke made his way into Grammy contention after winning the first season of Rhythm + Flow, the Netflix rap-competition show. (Two of the three judges from Rhythm + Flow, Cardi B and Chance The Rapper, have won Best Rap Album themselves. T.I., the other judge, has been nominated three times and never won.)

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D Smoke isn’t exactly a revered or popular rapper, and I have’t seen anyone calling his perfectly-OK album Black Habits a masterpiece, though the man has certainly done better than anyone could’ve expected from a rap reality-show winner. But D Smoke raps exactly like a diet version of Kendrick Lamar, so his nomination works as a clear indication that the Grammy voters really, really wish they had a Kendrick album to nominate. D Smoke is also up for Best New Artist, alongside fellow rappers Chika, Megan Thee Stallion, and (I guess) Doja Cat. Presumably, Megan’s Good News would also be nominated if it had come out early enough to be eligible. Meanwhile, Chika hasn’t released an album, and Doja Cat is nominated in the pop categories, not the rap ones.

Instead, then, we’re looking at five guys hovering around the age of 40, all of whom are respected technicians with boom-bap inclinations. Jay Electronica, who’s nominated for A Written Testimony and who should probably be considered the front-runner, is technically a New Orleans native, but nobody thinks of him as a Southern rapper. (Jay-Z is all over A Written Testimony, to the point where anointing Jay Electronica feels a bit like throwing awards love to Jay-Z in a year with no Jay-Z album.) All the albums up for Best Rap Album are, at the very least, solid. A couple of them, Alfredo and A Written Testimony, are very good. But this is still a remarkably stodgy list — one that shows that the whole middle-aged respectability fetish that’s long plagued the Grammys is now embedded in its rap voting wing.

Freddie Gibbs and Nas and Jay Electronica and D Smoke and Royce Da 5’9″ are all gifted rappers who have done great work. Most of them could justifiably be considered legends. But none of them really show the world where rap music is, let alone where it’s going. By recognizing those albums, the Grammys have pointedly elected not to recognize something like Lil Baby’s My Turn, which is probably 2020’s most popular album in any genre and which is also a fine example of the 808-heavy depressive melodic-goo rap music that currently dominates the genre’s mainstream.

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Other hugely popular, artistically important albums are also absent: Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake, Roddy Rich’s Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, Polo G’s The Goat, Gunna’s Wunna, Rod Wave’s Pray 4 Love. Instead, the rap albums getting nominated are the 2020 equivalents of the Steely Dan album that famously beat Eminem. That’s not an indictment of the nominated albums. It’s an indictment of the stuff the Recording Academy values. It’s also a cautionary look of how things might look if the Recording Academy ever gets its way, if rap comes to rely on accepted ossified skill-sets instead of its current state of constant, furious stylistic evolution.

As someone who’s around the same age as this year’s Best Rap Album nominees, I’m not all that amped to see emotionally troubled, pill-gobbling 20-year-olds dominating rap music. But those kids are crucially moving the genre past whatever old men like me might want it to be. Fortunately, there’s at least one Grammy category that has done a pretty good job capturing where things are right now, and that’s Best Rap Song. The list of nominations there — Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture,” Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” Drake’s “Laugh Now, Cry Later,” DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” — isn’t necessarily perfect, but it’s a fairly accurate representation of the kind of rap that moves people right now. I don’t know why the division between the Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song nominees is so stark. Maybe it’s a signal that the album is increasingly irrelevant. Maybe it reflects two different voting bodies. Either way, it’s striking.

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Look, the Grammys are weird. They are always going to be weird. Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters should’ve been the biggest lay-up in the world, but it isn’t up for Album Of The Year. Instead, the Academy’s voters went for Coldplay and Jacob Collier and a deluxe edition of a Black Pumas album that didn’t even come out in the eligibility period. “Rockstar” and “Savage” are both up for Record Of The Year, but Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding is the only album that’s even rap-adjacent that’s nominated for Album Of The Year this year. I thought for sure that Lil Baby’s My Turn would be the token rap album that would inevitably lose to Taylor Swift. Instead, we didn’t even get one of those, and My Turn got snubbed even in its own category. Nothing makes sense.

But this year’s Best Rap Albums nominations still show a weird alignment between Grammy Voters and a certain streak of real-hip-hop rap conservatism. Watch out for that. Nothing good, except maybe a Freddie Gibbs Grammy win, will come out of that.

FURIOUS FIVE

1. Roc Marciano – “Downtown 81” It’s not on streaming services yet, but Roc Marciano’s new album Mt. Marci is out in the world now, and it is marvelous. (I can’t tell you whether the digital download is worth the $40 that Marci is charging on his website. Make your own financial decisions.) Right now, the only song out for general consumption is one of the few that Marci didn’t produce himself. (It’s a Jake One beat.) But otherwise, “Downtown 81” is exactly the sort of laid-back, intricately worded deadpan splendor that you can expect to hear on the LP, whenever it goes wide. So maybe that’s worth the price of a full tank of gas.

2. Meek Mill – “GTA” (Feat. 42 Dugg)

Meek Mill released his Quarantine Pack EP on Friday, and the track currently getting the big push is the downbeat Lil Durk collab “Pain Away.” But the real thrill here is in hearing Meek and 42 Dugg getting bracingly urgent over a Detroit-ass bassline.

3. Chief Keef & Mike Will Made-It – “Status” Sosa and Mike Will have evidently chosen to name their new song after this column. Gentlemen, I see this tribute, and I appreciate it. I love you too.

4. Willie The Kid & V Don – “Mother Of Pearls” (Feat. Eto) This is pretty.

5. Statik Selektah – “Play Around” (Feat. Conway The Machine, 2 Chainz, Killer Mike, Allan Kingdom, & Haile Supreme)

Once upon a time, maybe 13 years ago, I was apparently such a recognizable and influential part of the New York rap press that Statik Selektah noticed me at an MOP show, introduced himself, and tried to get me to listen to his mix CD. All these years later, Statik is a globally acknowledged boom-bap specialist with enough juice to put three of the world’s greatest middle-aged rappers on a track together. I’m proud of Statik. I bet he gets nominated for a Grammy someday.

#alchemist #chief keef #d smoke #freddie gibbs #grammys #grammy awards #hip-hop #jay electronica #meek mill #mike will made-it #music #nas #rap #roc marciano #statik selektah #stereogum #willie the kid

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adrenaline-roulette · 4 years

Text

Dancing through a dream

Merry Christmas @yourlocalmusicalprostitute I really hope you enjoy this little fic I wrote for you, based off the suggestion “Deaky dancing and having a night out with someone after he sneaks off to a disco, and he may or may not see them again.” This is part of @sohoneyspreadyourwings and her Queen/ BohRhap secret Santa 2019.

wishing you all a very Merry Christmas Lovies <3 <3 <3

*****

John Deacon was, for lack of a better word, unimpressed with Ridge farm studios. His distaste towards the farm stemmed not from the dismal weather they had been experiencing this entire week, nor from Freddie’s insistent need of rerecording everything five bloody times. No, his bad mood was caused by the serious lack of night life around the studio, also the lack of new faces. John had seen the same few people everyday since arriving at the farm, and it was doing his head in. While he wasn’t always the most social of people, even one Mister John Deacon desired new conversational partners! And to top it off, if he heard Brian and Roger arguing one more time, it was entirely possible he would commit a murder. Though in his honest opinion, it would be doing the world a favour if there were one less blonde haired, blue eyed pretty boy running around.

Hearing what sounded like a cymbal be thrown against the recording studio wall, John perked up on his spot on the sofa in the sound booth. When he had last been paying attention to the band, before zoning out with his book, Freddie had suggested Roger practise his sections of Seaside Rendezvous one last time, before recording. Clearly, in the twenty minutes that had passed since Freddie suggested this, Roger had had enough of practising, and wanted to get recording. Either that, or he was looking to try his hand at a career in professional Frisbee playing.

Brian groaned deeply as he made his way into the recording booth, glaring at the argument that had arose between Roger and Freddie. John noted that if he were a better man, he too would walk in, and attempt to break up the fighting, if only he were a better man. Tilting his head to the side, John looked over at Paul Prenter, who sat far too close for comfort in an armchair towards the back of the room, a cigarette dangling between his lips. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about Paul just didn’t sit right with John, and he loathed having to spend any time with the man. As if sensing his staring, Paul looks over at John, a small smile on his lips. John barely hides the cringe that crosses his own features, masking the look with a faux sneeze, as he pushes himself up and off the sofa. “Where’re ya off ta?” Paul asks, as if he actually cared, the only person he ever seemed to be interested in was Freddie.

John shrugs, collecting his jacket from the arm of the sofa, draping it over his arms. “It’s late, I might grab some food.” Although the answer was vague, it seemed to appease Paul, who quickly turned his attention back to what looked to be a wrestling match between two brunettes and a blonde. “If you see blood, please at least try and break them apart.” John sighs, gesturing towards his band mates with his elbow. Paul nods noncommittedly, and John finds himself suddenly struck with the worry, that he may return as a solo act, and no longer part of a band. He can’t help but wonder how Roy Foster would react to that news…. As he makes his way out of the studio, passing through the kitchen on his way to the small room he had been assigned, John pauses in the doorway, one foot inside his bedroom, and the other hovering in the hallway. “What the hell are you doing Deacon?” He muttered, glancing up at the wooden clock, which ticked away ominously above his bed. It was barely even eight thirty, why on Earth was he even considering going to bed? It’s Saturday for goodness sake!

Backing out into the hall once more, John makes a beeline for Roger’s room, pushing the door open and stepping in, heading straight to the mountain of clothes that littered the wooden floor. Roger had explained his clothes sorting to John in the past, the pile closest to the bed were all clean, nearest the door were dirty and should absolutely not be worn, and the pile in-between were worn but still cleanish.

There, sitting right on top of the clean pile was the Black jacket with white embroidered flowers, exactly what he was looking for. The jacket had made the rounds with the four men so many times now, no one quite knew who it belonged to. Though Freddie was adamant it was his. Throwing his tee-shirt off and into the dirty pile, John then slipped on the jacket, buttoning it halfway up, leaving his chest completely exposed. The bell bottom jeans he wore, and black boots matched well enough along with the jacket he decided, upon looking himself over in the mirror. Finally, he snagged Roger’s car keys from the bedside table, shoving them into his back pocket alongside his wallet. Surely Rog won’t need the car tonight?

Gravel crunches underfoot as John makes his way towards Roger’s Alfa Romeo Spider, the cherry red car parked just by the gate leading to the studio. As he passes by the recording studio, the dull sounds of yelling could be heard echoing around the quiet farm, apparently the fight was still in full swing, no one would notice his departure for quite some time then.

*****

“Two pints of lager, and two grasshoppers please.” You grin as you lean over the bar, handing a wad of cash to the young man who dutifully prepared your order. He was cute, though in the dim lighting the club offered, and the copious amounts of liquor you had consumed this past hour, you would easily consider anyone at least marginally attractive. “You should wish me a happy birthday.” You giggle, as the man hands you your change, watching as you tuck it away in your back pocket.

“Happy birthday, maybe I’ll come find you later for a dance?” He grins, eyes darting over to where your small group of friends had congregated at the back of the club.

Your shoulders shrug as you walk backwards, a dangerous thing to do with drinks when sober, let alone when tipsy. “Maybe I’ll see you later then…” Your words are likely drowned out by the next person placing their order, along with the DJ who had decided to return from his break, ABBA now blasting from the speakers. Taking a seat at your table, you pass around the drinks, keeping one grasshopper for yourself.

“You seemed to be getting friendly with the bartender?” Jazmin grins, sipping her lager cautiously, her flaming red hair a frizzy mess from all the dancing she had been doing.

You roll your eyes, placing your drink back down on the sticky table. “I was trying to get us either cheap or free drinks. I even pulled the, it’s my birthday trick!” You whine, a fake pout crossing your lips.

“And he didn’t buy it?” Kasey gasps, her bright green eyes growing wide in shock.

“I mean, he wished me a happy birthday, and then said he might come and dance later. But that’s not what I wanted.”

“That’s not what we wanted either!” Kasey laughs, stirring her grasshopper with her finger.

Ever the voice of reason, Bianca sighs deeply. “Did you pay him before or after you told him it was your birthday?”

You blink twice, attempting to recall the events of moments ago. “Um, before.” Ah, there lies your problem…

“I’ll let you think that one over as to why your plan didn’t work. While you do that, I’m going to go and dance!” Bianca grins, as she moves away from table, moving her hips along to the beat as she goes.

Taking one final large gulp of your cocktail, you make to follow your friend, the music flowing through you nicely as you join Bianca on the dance floor, moving your body along to the beat. Your hair flowed freely behind you, as you swayed, arms circling above your head. The silver sequin jumpsuit you wore caught the bright disco lights, reflecting pinks, purples, blues and yellows all around. You had inadvertently made yourself into a disco ball, but damned if you didn’t look amazing! “Get it on, bang a gong, get it on!” You sing along, shaking your head to the deep bass lines of the T-Rex hit.

“Get it on is right, check out who just walked in.” Jazmin whispers against your ear, resting her hands on your bare shoulders, and turning you to look towards the club entrance. You couldn’t help but stare, your mouth going dry as you take in the tall, thin man who had just arrived. His eyes crinkled at the sides as he looked around, a small smirk on his lips as his gaze passed over the dancers, resting his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, making his way further into the club, a slight bounce in his step.

*****

Disco! My goodness John had missed disco! It had been nearly an entire month since he had last had the opportunity to go to a disco, but just hearing the bass heavy music made him realise that the near hour drive he had just taken to get here was well worth it. Bodies packed the dance floor like sardines in a can, which only caused his grin to widen, Brian, Freddie and Roger didn’t understand how he could enjoy dancing when being pressed close to so many other people, but John just loved it. As the song changes once again, John shuffles onto the dance floor, throwing himself into the music with his entire body, allowing the beat to soak into his very being, allowing himself to become one with the music. Looking around his fellow dancers, John’s eyes catch yours, a shared grin passing between the two of you. No words are spoken, not that it would matter, nothing can be heard over the loud thrumming of music. John quirks an eyebrow, and your grin deepens, before you dance your way over to him, spinning into his outstretched arms, stopping abruptly once you come into contact with his chest. John tightens his grip around your waist for a few moments, before sliding his hands away, allowing you to turn and face him. “Hello.” You smile, gazing at him.

John grins, bowing his head gently in greeting. “Hello love, fancy a dance?” It was a rather redundant question, as the two of you had already begun moving with one another, as if you were made to be dance partners.

You take a step forward with your left foot, and John steps back with his right, bodies nearly touching, but never quite. “Perhaps multiple dances?” You smirk, a glimmer shining in your eyes.

He could hardly complain, dancing with you was incredible, you moved in such an elegant manner and matched his moves perfectly. It was as if you had been dance partners before, though he was positive he would remember you if he had. “So, what brings you out tonight?”

You smile sweetly, eyes locking with John’s. “My friends and I, we just graduated, so we decided to come out and celebrate for the evening. Get a few drinks and dances into us before we experience the ‘real world’”. You giggle, rolling your eyes at the idea of going out into the world.

“Oh, well sounds like congratulations are in order!” John chuckles, making the bold move to rest his hands on your waist once again, pulling you closer against him, your bodies standing pressed chest to chest now.

The rapidly changing lights do a good job in concealing the blush which steadily covers your cheeks and neck. Tingles shoot through your body at this man’s contact, delicious chills spreading throughout your entire nervous system. “Thank you. So, I must ask, is your name as handsome as the rest of you?” Your boldness even you, but you try to hide that fact.

John chuckles shaking his head softly, long brunette locks falling over his shoulders. “I’m John, but my mates call me Deaky.”

“Deaky? Is there any reason behind that one?”

“It’s a nickname for my surname. Apparently, Deacon is too long, so it’s Deaky now.”

“Ahh, well I like it. It’s great to meet you Deaky, I’m Y/N.”

John takes your hand, spinning you away from him, before abruptly pulling you back to him once more. “Wonderful to meet you too.” He grins, eyes crinkling at the sides, faint dimples showing on his cheeks.

*****

“Okay Deaky, let’s get this show on the road!” Freddie calls, as he steps out of the recording booth, having listened to Roger practise long enough now. He would never admit it, but he was ever so grateful for Brian, for having come in a short while ago to diffuse the argument that had kicked up between himself and the hot-headed drummer. In his defence however, he had every right to request Roger practice some more, all day he had been getting sloppier and sloppier, and this record simply had to be perfect! Freddie stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze moving from the sofa where he had seen Deaky earlier, Paul was still sat in his armchair, numerous cigarette butts in and ashtray by his feet. Goodness, how long had the three of them been in the recording booth? “Paul? Where’s Deaky gone?”

Paul looks up from the magazine he had been flipping through, looking first at the sofa, then to Freddie, his eyebrows lifting as if he had only just noticed John missing. “I – I’m not. Think he might’ve gone ta get some food?”

Freddie nods solemnly. “How long ago?”

Paul shrugs slightly. “Not too long ago, I think.

With a sigh, Freddie turns back the way he came, poking head back through door and looking between Brian and Roger. “I don’t mean to panic you, but I think Deaky may be missing.”

“What do you mean, don’t panic?” Brian gasps, placing his guitar on its stand in an instant, hands resting on his hips.

“How long has he been missing?” Roger chimes in, slowly standing from his drum kit, hovering just above it, resting his drumsticks in his back pocket.

Paul makes his way in beside Freddie, biting his lower lip, in an almost guilty way. “Um, since when you all started arguing I think.” He sighs, looking directly at Freddie, whose eyes had grown wide.

“Paul! That was ages ago!” Freddie cries dramatically.

“Okay, let’s spread out, he’s got to be around here somewhere.” Brian suggests, pointing everyone in various directions to search for the missing bassist.

Roger makes his way outside, checking the usual haunts for where he had often found John taking a smoke, while also enjoying the view of the farm. However he turned up nothing, well, not nothing. His car was no where to be seen, which was both odd and worrying, as the thing hadn’t been touched in nearly a week! Racing back into the recording studio, he eagerly awaits the return of the others. Paul is the first to return, informing him that there was no sign of John. Next entered Brian, followed closely by Freddie, each with the same news, no John. “My car is gone, I think he’s gone out.”

Brian’s eyebrows crease in the centre as he takes in Roger’s words. “But where would he go? And why wouldn’t he tell anyone.”

“Perhaps because we were all a tad occupied with yelling at each other?” Roger smirks shaking his head.

For a moment it looks as if Brian were about to disagree, though quickly thinks better of doing so, and instead releases a deep sigh. “So what do we do then? Go out and try and find him?”

Roger shrugs, twirling one of his drumsticks between his fingers. “He’ll come back, he probably just wanted some time out. He was going a bit stir crazy, maybe a night out will be good for him?”

“But what if he’s hurt? Or lost!” Freddie gasps, wide eyes darting between the three men in the room.

“I’m sure he’s fine Fred. And for once, I agree with Rog, Deaky’ll be back.” Brian offers with a small smile, trying his best to reassure the panicked singer.

“Suppose that puts and end to recording then?” Roger grins widely, his blue eyes sparkling at the idea of packing it in for the night.

“Yes, I suppose it does. We can’t do much without our bassist.” Freddie sighs, pouting softly. He turns to leave the room, deciding he may as well get something to eat, it had been a few hours since he last ate, and maybe by the time he had finished, Deaky would be home?

*****

“That was the most fun I’ve ever had!” You squeal, arms draped over John’s shoulders, your intense dancing having now slowed down to a gentle sway, with his arms safely locked around your waist, where they had been for the majority of the night.

John grins, drawing soft circles against your hips with his thumbs. The music had long since been turned down, most of the club’s occupants having left for the evening. He could understand why, it was nearing three in the morning, and even he was beginning to feel rather drowsy. “I’ve had an amazing time too.”

You smile up at John, eyes falling to his soft pillowy lips, you would dearly love to kiss him, just to find out if his lips are as soft as they look of course, and not because you think you may be falling for this cheeky man. “We should do this again sometime soon.”

“I would love to, but I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be in town though.”

“Oh.” Is all you can say, this was just your luck, you find yourself the most amazing man, then find out you may never see him again.

“But I’ll try to come back as often as possible, it will just be a bit of a drive is all. Maybe I could give you my phone number, you know, to exchange dance tips?” John grins, a blush spreading along his cheeks.

You can’t help but grin, nodding eagerly as you drag John towards the now closed bar, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser which sat on the ledge. You peer over the bar, spotting a pen hidden behind a tub of stuffed olives, perfect! Careful to not tear the napkin, you scrawl you phone number, passing the other napkin and pen to John so he can do the same. Finally, you exchange napkins, grinning at one another. “Well, I had best find my friends.” You smile, rocking back on your heels, arms swinging by your sides.

John nods slowly, his heart hammering in his chest “Y/N, before you go, could I maybe…” He doesn’t finish his sentence; you’ve cut him off by pressing your lips firmly against his. The move clearly takes John by surprise, and it takes him a few moments to realise what was happening. Slowly at first he moves his lips with yours, allowing you to set the pace, and that you do. You step closer, circling your arms around his neck, as his go around your waist once again, moving your lips against his with more force, attempting to keep him as close to you as possible. His lips truly were just as soft as you had imagined, and the taste of beer and cigarettes on his tongue was intoxicating.

You pull away slowly, keeping your arms in place, and resting your forehead against his. “Promise to call me soon?” You whisper, your breath fanning across his lips like a ghost.

John nods, his eyes half lidded in bliss. “I promise.”

A smile spreads across your lips, red and swollen from the glorious exchange of moments before. Reluctantly you slip your arms away from John as he does the same, and you both make slow departures, him heading towards the exit to make his way back to the farm, where as you scope out the few remaining clubbers, searching for your friends. The idea of dancing with John Deacon again sometime soon keeping a smile plastered to your lips.

#Secret Santa #@Queen secret santa #@Bohemian Rhapsody Secret santa #@John Deacon fanfiction #@Queen Fanfiction #humor #Fluff #@Disco Deaky will save my soul #Merry Christmas Yall

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hearts-hunger · 5 years

Text

When I’m Not With You || Roger Taylor x Reader

Summary: At a party with emotions running high and Roger’s next tour dates closer than either of you would like, you learn the hard way that it doesn’t take much for little misunderstandings to turn into something worse.

Pairings: Roger Taylor x Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff

Word Count: 6.5k

Warnings: accusations of cheating, smoking, language

A/N: This fic is for @fredthelegend‘s writing challenge! Did I wait until the very last possible day to write it and get it posted? You bet! It’s who I am as a person, what can I say? As per the rules of the writing challenge, I drew inspiration for this fic from “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”. It’s plenty angsty but it ends up fluffy, so it’s not all misunderstandings and screaming matches. Let me know what you think, and I hope you like it! ♡

“Hey, sweetheart.”

You looked over at Roger as he put his hand on the small of your back, the combination of his voice and his touch something you’d come to associate with comfort. He always made sure to do both when you were in big social situations like this, making sure he didn’t scare you and taking the time to ground you and let you know it was him. The ease and gentleness with which he’d handled your anxiety from the very beginning of your relationship never failed to endear him to you; as always, you found yourself incredibly thankful for a boyfriend that loved you as well as he did.

You smiled as you met his lovely blue eyes. “Hey yourself, cutie.” You knew he loved it when you called him that; he always said it was very American of you.

“Just checking in,” he said with a smile. “You alright?”

You nodded, gesturing with the drink in your hand. “One more margarita and I might drag you onto the dance floor,” you teased, “but yeah, I’m great.”

He grinned. “I might take you up on that.”

“You’ve got Freddie set up already?” you asked. Freddie had been flirting with - or, rather, casting longing glances towards - a burly brunette all night, and Roger had taken pity on him eventually and offered his services as Freddie’s wingman.

“You doubt my ability to him the date of his dreams?” Roger teased. “I’m the expert on flirting, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh, you don’t have to remind me,” you said, giving him a quick kiss. “I know better than anybody that Roger Meddows Taylor is the world’s biggest flirt, don’t I?”

He grinned. “Only with you, love. Only with you.”

You shook your head, affectionately exasperated. “You’re a mess.”

“Yeah, but I’m your mess,” he said, cheeky. “Lucky girl that you are. I’m going to have quick smoke, but when I get back, you and I have a date with the dance floor.”

You laughed. “Okay. Do you want another drink?”

“Sure,” he said. He gestured with his wine glass. “Just another Chardonnay, if you don’t mind.”

“You got it,” you said. “Don’t be too long.”

He laughed and gave you a kiss as he turned to go. “No, wouldn’t dream of it.”

You smiled to yourself as you watched him weave through the crowd of people towards the back door, stopping briefly to greet friends who congratulated him on Queen’s latest success. The party had been thrown by EMI Records to celebrate A Day at the Races hitting number one in England and Japan. The boys were just back from the American leg of the tour, and you and Roger had been practically inseparable from the moment you’d thrown yourself in his arms at the airport.

Even though he’d only gone for a smoke and he’d be back in no time, the months of being apart made every little moment of absence that much keener to you now, especially considering the precious little time you had before he left again. They had a few weeks before they had to head off for the last leg of the tour across Europe, which was slated to last at least a month. You didn’t want to waste a second of the time you had before Roger left again. So far you hadn’t - god, the two of you hadn’t gone so many rounds in one night since you’d first started dating - and you weren’t of a mind to start now. You headed to the bar to get Roger’s Chardonnay, deciding you’d take it outside and keep your boyfriend company while he smoked.

Finally making it through the sea of people carousing on EMI’s dime, most of whom he didn’t even know even though they probably had some connection to the tour or the album, Roger pushed through the back door and took a breath of the cool night air. The sound of Freddie’s crooning on “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy” dulled as the door closed behind him and he found himself mildly relieved; though he was proud of the album and its songs, he couldn’t deny he was a bit tired of them after playing them nearly every night for the past three months. But it was a party to celebrate the album, after all - he supposed the DJ could be forgiven for playing it on loop all night. He’d ask them to play something else when he took you out on the dance floor, though, maybe one of the Beatles songs you’d listened to all the time when you first started dating.

He fished a slightly crumpled pack of Marlboro Reds out of the inside pocket of his blazer and took a swig of his wine before pulling out a cigarette, drawing a long inhale when it was lit. He quietly sang along with the bridge almost out of habit. “When I’m not with you, I think of you always.” He kicked at the gravel under his shoes as he blew out a stream of smoke, thinking he probably wouldn’t finish the whole cigarette before he headed back in to be with you.

“Bloody hell, sweetheart.”

Roger snapped his head up at the sound of Brian’s voice, fairly sure the guttural outburst hadn’t been directed at him but confused nonetheless. He hadn’t realized Brian was out here; looking into the darkness where his voice had come from, Roger tried to make out the guitarist’s form.

“Bri?” he called.

He heard a few harshly whispered curses from the shadows in response and couldn’t help but smirk, knowing exactly what was going on past the glow cast by the light above the door. A few seconds later Brian stepped out from the shadows, obviously disheveled; a girl with a rumpled dress and smudged lipstick followed right behind him.

“Interrupting something, am I?” Roger teased.

“No,” Brian said quickly, flustered at being caught red-handed. “No, we were just going back inside.”

The girl came up to Roger, eyeing him with interest. She smelled of lavender and vodka. “You’re the drummer, aren’t you? Robert?”

“Close,” Roger told her. “And you are?”

She gave him a smile. “Alice,” she slurred. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

She bit her lip as she looked Roger over. “You want some company, Robert?”

“Oh, ah, I’m good,” Roger said, struggling to keep from laughing as Brian rolled his eyes. “I’ve already got some company I wouldn’t trade for the world. Thanks for the offer, though. I’m sure you’re, um, really something.”

Alice smirked. “Your friend certainly thought so.” She looked up at Brian. “Isn’t that right?”

Brian looked absolutely mortified. “Yeah, well, we should go in before we’re missed,” he said. He gave Roger a withering look. “See you inside, Robert?”

Roger grinned. “Yeah, I’m just finishing up my cigarette.”

“Come on,” Brian said to Alice, though he didn’t wait for her as he went back inside. She made to follow him, but between the gravel and her high heels and the copious amount of alcohol she’d obviously had, she lost her balance and crashed right into Roger. Staggering back a step, he awkwardly caught her against him, wine sloshing over the rim of his glass and onto the sleeve of his blazer and the back of her dress.

“You alright?” he asked.

“Uh, sorry,” she said, seemingly unsurprised at her own lack of coordination. He released her as she got her balance; she pulled back from him without a shred of embarrassment at having careened into him.

“Sorry about your dress,” he said, holding the now empty glass. “Gonna find Bri ok?”

“Oh, probably not,” she said, unconcerned. “He only wanted a quickie, which is fine by me. Sorry for falling on you.”

He chuckled. “No problem.”

He kept an eye on her as she went back inside, making sure she didn’t trip again. He shook his head, smiling to himself. Brian sure knew how to pick them.

He took a few more drags from his cigarette before letting it drop to the ground, crushing it with the heel of his boot. Juggling the glass, he pulled off his blazer, thankful he’d decided not to wear his favorite rainbow one tonight now that the sleeve of this one was soaked with wine. He draped his blazer over his arm as he headed inside, already grinning at the thought of taking you dancing.

“Chardonnay, please,” you said to the bartender. “And a margarita with extra lime.”

You absently drummed your fingers on the bar, a habit you’d picked up from Roger, and looked out onto the party as you waited for your drinks. Freddie was talking with the brunette from earlier and from the looks of them, all smiles and “accidental” touches, it seemed Roger had done a good job as Freddie’s wingman. You smiled. Roger would do anything for his friend, and even if he didn’t know the first thing about chatting up guys on other people’s behalf, flirting was more or less a universal language on some level and Roger was certainly an expert on it.

Your gaze traveled to Deaky, who was clearly enjoying himself on the dance floor. You didn’t know what to make of Deaky’s dance moves sometimes, but he was nothing if not enthusiastic. You grinned and watched as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands usually occupied with his bass and settled on a sort of one-handed clapping motion.

“Here you go, love,” the bartender said behind you. You turned and took the drinks he put on the bar for you, smiling your thanks as you carefully made you way towards the back door. You were nearly there when you saw the door open; a girl with smudged makeup and messy hair came in, teetering slightly as she pulled the strap of her dress back over her shoulder. You didn’t think anything of it, really; it was almost a given at any party you’d been to with the boys that disheveled groupies were to be found around every corner, usually with someone in tow behind them. The girl stumbled off and she probably would have never crossed your mind again had it not been for the next person that came through the door.

The first thing you noticed was his grin, that beautiful smile you loved more than anything in the world. He wasn’t looking at you; you were still somewhat hidden by the people between you and Roger. What was he beaming at like that?

The next thing you registered was that he’d taken his blazer off. The champagne-colored jacket with multicolored birds stitched into it was draped over his arm, his empty glass held casually in his hand. Ever keen on fashion, Roger wouldn’t have taken his blazer off without good reason.

Oh, you thought as you saw the collar of his shirt. It surprised you how easily you resigned yourself to it, how quickly you went from confusion to rage to despair to resignation. In the space of a second, you’d seen the streak of red lipstick on the starched collar of his white button-down and felt absolutely nothing.

“Well hello, lovely.”

You startled a little, realized Roger was talking to you. He’d spotted you and come over, the smile on his face showing no hint of shame or remorse. You didn’t know what you’d expected. His expression was eager and affectionate as he looked you over, his baby blue eyes shining as they met yours.

“I was just coming back in to find you,” he said, setting his empty glass on the table nearby. “Thanks for getting my drink.”

He took it from you and took a sip, his head tilted back; you found yourself looking for love marks on his neck despite the numbness that had swept through your whole body.

“I believed you said something about another margarita and a dance, hm?” he said.

The thought of dancing with him, in front of everybody - in front of that girl, whoever she was - made you feel sick.

“No, I - ” You swallowed thickly. Your grip on your glass was so tight your knuckles were white. “I changed my mind.”

“Oh, come on,” he said. “I promise it’ll be fun. We can’t be worse than Deaky, anyway.”

He took your hand and tried to pull you closer to him; you reacted to his touch as if he’d burned you.

“No,” you said, louder this time. You cradled your hand close to your chest. “I don’t want to, Roger.”

His easy smile disappeared at your outburst; he searched your face with a sickening worry in his own.

“Hey, hey,” he said gently. “What’s wrong?”

You felt a hysterical laugh rise in your throat. “Nothing.” As much as you wanted to, you weren’t going to make a scene. Not here, not in front of your friends, not in front of the girl your boyfriend had snuck out to be with, the girl whose lipstick marked his shirt like a scarlet letter.

“It’s not nothing,” you heard him say. You met his eyes and saw the concern there, the kindness in his expression that you hadn’t ever had reason to question until now. A horrible thought struck you - was this the first time he’d masked guilt with affection, or had it happened before? How many times had he left you to be with someone else and fooled you with his pretty smiles and pretty words? How many times had he not had to, since he was halfway across the world and he could wash out the smell of perfume and the color of lipstick before you ever saw?

You suddenly felt lightheaded, swaying slightly on your feet. He reached out to steady you and you tried to back away from him.

“Don’t,” you said. It came out weaker than you wanted.

“Easy, love,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard you. He set his glass down and pried yours from your hands to set it down too, gently gripping your arm to steady you.

“How much did you have to drink?” he asked, amusement in his voice.

You felt a flash of anger. “Does it matter?” Of course he’d like to think you felt this way because you were drunk. Was he really arrogant enough to think you hadn’t noticed, that your fight-or-flight reaction to him since he’d walked through the door was just because you’d had one too many drinks?

“No, I suppose not,” he said. “But maybe we should go home if you’re not feeling well.”

“I feel fine,” you snapped. The last thing you wanted was to go home with him. You sucked in a breath and your head spun. You could smell her on him, the scent of lavender that neither you nor Roger wore plain as day on his shirt and in his long blonde hair. You felt yourself react to the smell of her perfume and the acidic despair that welled in your already rocky stomach.

“Rog,” you said weakly. Your voice sounded strange, calmer than you felt.

“Yeah?”

You put your hand over your mouth. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Unhindered by the same numbness you were, Roger quickly opened the back door and steered you outside. He held your hair back as you retched.

“Okay, love, that’s it,” he said soothingly. “I’ve got you.”

When nothing more would come, you straightened and reached a hand to wipe your mouth. You noticed your hand was shaking.

“Let me go get you some water,” Roger said. “I’ll be right back.”

You stared blankly out at the darkness as he went inside, the air cool against your face as tears finally fell. You wanted nothing more than to let him take care of you, to let him hold you and tell you everything was going to be ok. You wanted to forget what you knew, what had broken the way you looked at him and maybe could never be repaired. You loved him; you loved him so much you could hardly stand it. Maybe he loved you, but not that way. Not enough.

He came back with some water and you washed your mouth out with it, avoiding his worried gaze. You hated that you couldn’t stop crying; though it wasn’t the heaving sobs you thought might come, not yet anyway, it was still a relentless stream of tears that wouldn’t stop no matter how you tried.

“Please tell me what’s wrong, sweetheart,” he said gently.

A part of you wanted to. A part of you wanted to tell him you’d seen what he had been too arrogant to hide, that you knew how easily you’d been discarded. How pathetic you must seem to him, a broken girl so easily fooled by his charm. You ran the heel of your palm over your cheek.

“It’s nothing,” you said. Your voice was soft with grief and shame. “I just - I just don’t feel good.”

“I know,” he said, sympathy in his voice. “Let’s get you home, ok?”

A sharp bitterness shot through you. “You sure there’s nobody you’d rather stay and talk with?”

He shook his head, seemingly unhurt by your tone. “Nobody as important as you, love.”

What a joke, you thought. Was that all you were to him? A joke, something to amuse him, something to make fun of without you realizing?

“Come on,” he said. You followed him back inside, not really having a choice - where else were you going to go? You could have told Roger you wanted to stay with one of the boys tonight, but you didn’t want to drag them into this. Besides, Roger would ask you why you didn’t want to come home with him, and then you’d have to tell him you knew. No other answer would convince him. But you didn’t want to be the one to break the ice about it. You wanted him to have the decency to tell you, to beg for your forgiveness; you wanted him to man up and take responsibility for what he’d done to you. For you to bring it up would only make it easier for him.

Thankfully no one stopped you on your way out. You didn’t know if you could manage pleasantries or ribbing from the boys that you and Roger were sneaking off early so you could have time alone. The thought of being anywhere close to Roger was painful to you; you’d rather die than sleep with him now, let him touch you with those hands that had felt another woman’s body and made her feel the things he made you feel.

When you got in the car, you moved as far away from him as you could manage, curling up against the passenger door as he started the drive home. It only briefly occurred to you to wonder whether Roger was sober enough to drive; your implicit desire to trust him with your well-being had been proved foolish, but you hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to get the two of you killed. You pressed your cheek against he cool glass of the window, shutting your eyes as the lights and shapes passing by threatened to make your head swim.

Roger didn’t say anything the whole ride home, but you didn’t know what you’d expected. You wished he would just say it, just admit what he’d done. That would be better than this tension, this thickness in the air that choked you.

You got out of the car before Roger had really even parked, eager to put some distance between you. You fished your keys out of your purse and tired to unlock the door, but between the alcohol clouding your head and the tears that refused to stop, you couldn’t get the damn key in. You bit back a sob as Roger’s hand came over yours and took the keys from you, unlocking the door and pushing it open for you.

Leaving your keys with him, you brushed past him and headed straight for your bedroom. Your chest tightened at the thought of sleeping in the same bed with him tonight, but you pushed that off to deal with later. Right now you wanted to get a shower and wash the night off of you, wash off his touch and the pain and the grief and the stubborn tears.

Despite everything, you were a little surprised that Roger didn’t ask to come in the shower with you. That was Roger’s favorite thing; even more than he liked making love to you in the shower did he like just being with you, washing your hair, feeling your skin against his.

He’s probably had his fill for tonight, you thought, nearly tasting your own bitterness. You made the water as hot as you could stand and closed your eyes as you stood under it, shoulders shaking as you kept your sobs as quiet as you could.

When the water grew cold and your tears had finally run dry, you got out of the shower and hesitated before opening the bathroom door. You didn’t know if Roger was in your bedroom, and you didn’t want to see him. You couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever, though. You took a steadying breath and opened the door.

He wasn’t there, but you saw he’d laid out some comfy clothes for you on the bed, the exact ones you would have picked out for yourself. Just past your bedroom door you could hear Roger in the kitchen, humming “Here Comes the Sun” to himself. You felt a wave of sadness like a physical pain in your chest.

Too tired to find any other clothes, you put on the ones he’d put out and sat on the edge of the bed. You didn’t know what to do. You watched the shiny droplets of water fall from your hair to darken the fabric of your sweatpants. You noticed your hands were shaking but couldn’t make yourself care.

A few minutes later, you guessed - it could have been hours for all you knew - you heard the door open. You felt a surge of adrenaline as your fight-or-flight kicked in, but you were too numb to actually move.

“Hey, love,” Roger said, his voice gentle. “Feeling any better?”

You didn’t answer. You watched as he set a mug of tea on your bedside table.

“I made the peppermint kind,” he told you. “Thought it might settle your stomach a bit.”

He didn’t press you for a reply and you didn’t give one; he went to the dresser to get himself a change of clothes and you noticed he was still wearing his clothes from the party. The smudge of lipstick on the collar seemed to mock you, the scent of lavender you swore you could still make out bringing your headache back with a vengeance. He hadn’t even bothered to wash it off, to crumple up the shirt and put it in the laundry to get rid of the evidence on the off-chance you hadn’t noticed. It was like he was mocking you too.

“How many, Roger?” you asked.

He turned at your voice. “What’s that, love?”

You looked up at him, a determined set to your jaw. You wanted the truth, and you were done waiting for him to tell you.

“How many others were there?”

A confused frown tugged at his features. “What do you mean?” he asked. “How many others of what?”

Was he really going to play dumb? You felt anger spark into a fire in your chest.

“How many other girls, Roger?” you asked, your voice rising. “How many other girls were there before the one you had tonight?”

He looked genuinely confused, and you felt a burning self-hatred that you’d been fooled by him for so long. He was a terrific actor, you had to give him that, but no more. The game was up and no amount of playacting was going to fool you ever again.

“I don’t know what you mean, love,” he said, his voice disgustingly desperate. “What are you talking about? What girls?”

“Stop pretending, Roger!” you spat. “You don’t have to keep up the ruse any more. I just want to know how many girls you fucked when you thought I wouldn’t find out.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

You stood, feeling tears come again; this time, they were borne of rage instead of sadness.

“Please don’t make this any worse than it already is,” you said. “Just admit it. Be a man and own up to it, that’s all I ask. You owe me that much.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” he insisted.

You could have screamed. “I saw you, Roger!” you said. “I saw her putting her dress back on and I saw you come inside with that grin on your face like - ”

Like she’d been better than I have ever been. You couldn’t make yourself say it.

You met his eyes, wanting desperately to see anger or guilt or shame, something that would tell you he had finally dropped the act and felt the weight of his own guilt. When you saw only hurt, you couldn’t help the cry of frustration that escaped you.

“I don’t know what you thought you saw,” he said, his voice showing his distress. “But nothing like that happened, I promise. When I came in, I was - ”

Your breath came in a sob. “Please,” you said, cutting him off before he could give you some fabricated excuse. “Please, Roger, just stop.”

His hands went up in a gesture of helpless exasperation. “Sweetheart, I don’t know what to tell you. I swear to you that nothing happened.”

You pressed your hand to your mouth, anger and debilitating sorrow taking your breath away. Your sobs came as groans of pain as you tried and failed to keep them at bay.

“Did you ever love me, Roger?” you managed to say.

“What kind of question is that?” His voice was angry now. “I’ve always loved you, and I love you now despite whatever the hell this is you’re going on about.”

You sucked in a hitching breath. Of all the things you had imagined would come from this, his willingness to inflict such pain on you was something you had never considered. Why wouldn’t he just admit it?

“You can’t,” you sobbed. “You can’t love me. If you did you wouldn’t do this to me. You wouldn't lie right to my face when I told you I saw her, I saw what you’d done to her when you thought I wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t stand there with her fucking lipstick on your collar and tell me nothing happened.”

He looked at his shirt, pulling the collar out to see it better. You saw his face pale and realized that he hadn’t even known it was there.

“Listen to me,” he said, his voice panicked and desperate. “This isn’t what you think.”

“What are we, in a fucking movie?” you said. “At least think of something more original.”

“No, sweetheart, I promise,” he said, his expression pained. “I'm so sorry. I didn't notice she'd got lipstick on me and if I'd seen it earlier I would have told you. It wasn't like that at all.”

“What was it like, then?” you spat.

“I went outside for a smoke, just like I told you,” he said, practically tripping over his words in his haste to get them out. “Brian was out there with this girl, and when she walked by me she tripped and I caught her. Her lipstick must have gotten on my shirt when I caught her.”

“Oh, right,” you said waspishly. “She fell and you caught her.”

“She did,” he said, distressed that you didn't believe him. “And if you’d asked me when I came in, I would have told you the same thing. I’m sorry I didn’t notice the lipstick before; I wish I had, and I wish I could have told you what happened before you got so upset.”

He ran a hand over his face. “Oh, God, this is all my fault, isn't it?” he said. “I'm so sorry, love. If I'd have known you thought - all you saw was her and then me coming in right after with her lipstick on me and my clothes half-off - God, and you've been thinking this whole time that I'd been with her. I had no idea. You were so upset and I couldn't even see it. I just thought you didn't feel well. I'm so sorry. But why didn’t you say anything at the party?”

You twisted your fingers together like you did when you were nervous; none of this was going the way you’d thought.

“I didn’t want to make a scene,” you told him, your mind racing to account for what he’d told you and how he was reacting to you. “I didn’t - I wanted you to tell me instead of me having to ask.”

For the first time you saw a flicker of hurt in his expression, a shadow of pain in him that didn’t come from realizing he’d hurt you. You’d hurt him in this too, and he couldn’t hide it.

“You wanted me to tell you I’d cheated on you?”

His quiet voice was like a dagger in your heart. “What am I supposed to think, Roger?” you said, lashing out in defense of yourself. “I’m not crazy for thinking that.”

He shook his head; you were surprised to see tears in his eyes.

“When have I ever given you reason to think that I’d cheat on you?” he said. “I mean, I’ll admit it doesn’t look great, and you don’t know how sorry I am - but do you really think I’m capable of that? Was it really that easy for you to take one look at me and assume I’d gone off and been with some other girl?”

“Easy?” you repeated. “No, Roger, it wasn’t easy. None of this has been easy.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” he said.

You bit your lip. Your vision was so blurred with tears that you couldn’t even see his face.

“Why didn’t Brian come in with her?” you asked. “If he was out there with you, why didn’t he come in?”

“He went in before her,” Roger said. “Maybe you didn’t see him come in. But he went in before her, and when she tried to follow, she fell.”

“Why did you take your jacket off?”

“I spilled my drink when I caught her. It got all over the sleeve of my blazer. Here,” he said, retrieving the jacket from where he’d thrown it in the laundry basket. “Feel it.”

Hesitantly, you reached out to feel the proffered fabric; it was damp and smelled like Chardonnay.

“I promise you, sweetheart,” he said, the seriousness of his tone only made weightier by the love that also colored it. “That’s all that happened. That’s all. I didn’t kiss her. I didn’t do anything with her. She tried to come on to me and I told her I didn’t want anything to do with her.”

He tossed the jacket on the bed and closed the distance between you, taking your face in his hands. He brushed your tears away with his thumb, looking at you with love and an unmistakable hurt.

“I love you,” he said. “I love you more than anything. I would never do anything to hurt you. I would never do anything to jeopardize what I have with you. I know how lucky I am to be with you, and I’d be an absolute fool to throw that away.”

You didn’t know what to say. You had been so consumed by anger, by despair, by the certainty that he had done the one thing you couldn’t forgive that you didn’t know what to feel now. Everything in you ached to trust him, to trust what he told you was true.

“I’ve never lied to you, sweetheart,” he said. He let his hands drop. “I’ve never kept things from you. If you don’t believe me, we can ring Brian right now and he can tell you what happened, but you can trust me. I’m not lying to you about this. I would never cheat on you, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I made you feel like I would.”

You studied his face, his features so dear to you, the expressions that showed his emotions like an open book. He was right; he’d never lied to you. Despite everything, despite the evidence that you had collected like weapons to use against him, he hadn’t gotten defensive towards you. He’d explained what happened and apologized over and over for unknowingly causing you pain.

You felt a crushing weight in your chest. If what he said was true and you'd misread the whole situation... You’d accused him of something horrible. You'd thought him capable of cheating on you. Roger, the sweetest man alive, the love of your life - you’d really thought he could do something like that to you. Though he had never hurt you before, though he had been nothing but good and kind and loving to you from the moment you met, you had been able to think that of him.

You suddenly felt sick, but for a reason different than you had before.

“Roger,” you said quietly.

He looked up at you. “Yes, love?”

Your face burned with shame as you realized how much you’d hurt him and how much he still loved you despite it. You breath hitched.

“Why aren't you mad at me?”

He softened and you couldn’t bear to see it, you couldn’t bear to see the love you didn’t deserve so plainly on his face. Your expression crumpled and you hid your face behind your hands, shoulder shaking with renewed sobs.

“Oh, love.” You heard the sadness in Roger’s voice as he pulled you close, holding you against his chest as you cried. He rubbed a soothing hand up and down your back. “It’s ok.”

“It’s not ok,” you sobbed. “I said those awful things and I - I thought you cheated on me and I didn’t trust you and I - ”

“Shh, hey,” he soothed. “Sweetheart. Take a deep breath.”

You tried to do as he said, your inhale hitched with sobs. You pulled back and tried to wipe the tears from your face.

“You should be yelling at screaming at me,” you said miserably.

“What for?” he asked gently. “I’m not angry with you, love. I’m sorry for what happened, and I’m sorry I’ve done a poor enough job loving you to make you think I could cheat on you, but I’m not angry with you. This whole thing is my fault, not yours.”

“That’s not true,” you said. “You didn’t do anything wrong and I just assumed that - ”

“You just assumed what anyone would have in your position,” he said. “Unfortunately everything aligned to make this a disaster, and I can’t fault you for thinking what you did. I only wish I’d have known sooner and could’ve avoided hurting you like I did.”

“But Roger,” you said, your voice pleading, desperate for him to know how sorry you were. “I hurt you so much worse, I didn’t trust you, I blew everything way out of proportion and I ruined your party and I said terrible things to you and I - ”

You sucked in a breath, feeling like you heart was in a million pieces. “I’m sorry, Roger,” you said, your voice soft with pain. “I’m so sorry.”

He hesitated only a second before gathering you in his arms again, any anger he’d felt at your words dissolved at the sincerity of your pain at having hurt him. Your accusations had been hurtful but not irrational; he was more sorry than he could say for the way one misstep after another had eventually come to this. The months of being apart, the whirlwind of emotions that this week had been, the clawing grief you both felt at the inevitability of being apart again - added to the seemingly little misunderstandings, it had grown into something much bigger and much more painful than it might have otherwise. He wasn’t angry at you for thinking what you had. Tours always made things strained between you, and he knew something like this was bound to happen eventually. You had been frightened that your separation had weakened his utter devotion to you, that during the months away from you it had become easier and easier for someone else to turn his head. He told himself he’d do better next time; he’d do everything in his power to make sure you knew that being halfway across the world wouldn’t make him love you any less. Nothing could change that, no matter how long you had to be apart.

The words of Freddie’s song came back to mind. When I’m not with you, think of me always; I love you, I love you.

“I’m sorry too,” he said gently. “I love you, you know? More than anything in the entire world. You don’t ever have to be scared of me leaving you or cheating on you or doing anything other than loving you with everything I have. God, you were the only thing I thought about while I was gone. You always are.”

You wrapped your arms around his waist, burying your face in his chest. You could still make out the scent of lavender but you ignored it, focusing instead on breathing him in, his scent of cologne and Marlboro Reds and something uniquely Roger. He was warm, his heartbeat strong and steady against your cheek.

“I missed you so much,” you said quietly. The thought of him leaving again brought tears back to your eyes, those miserable tears that never seemed to stop when he was gone. “I don’t want you to leave again.”

He sighed. “Me either, love.”

You looked up at him, gazing at the man you loved more than life itself. The man who had proved that no matter what, you couldn’t make him stop loving you. The man who tirelessly loved you despite everything about you that was unlovable.

“I love you, Roger,” you said.

He kissed you gently, with all the tenderness of the first flush of love and all the devotion of someone who had weathered the storm with you.

“I love you too,” he said. He drew you closer, resting his cheek on your head, memorizing the feel of you so he’d have it when he was thousands of miles away. “Oh, my love. I love you too.”

forever taglist: @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl

#i hope you guys liked it!!!#i thought it came out not terrible #let me know what you think!#roger taylor x reader #roger taylor x reader angst #roger taylor x reader fluff #70's roger taylor #queen fanfiction #roger taylor fanfiction #ftlchallenge #maddie writes stuff!#tw cheating #70's roger taylor x reader

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rossmccallsqueen · 5 years

Text

Take My Breath Away (Part 2)

Pairing: Gwilym Lee x Reader

Word Count: 1.8K

Summary: You and Gwil have just gotten married, ready to start the rest of your lives! But first, the reception. Then the honeymoon... Gwilym has lots of ideas.

Warnings: Lots of fluff, hint of a liiiiiiittle smut at the end

A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO @rogers-hoee FOR BEING A GEM AND WRITING JOE’S BEST MAN SPEECH! Send her some love as well :)

You and Gwil walked out of the wedding venue, jumping right into the limo that would take you to the reception. The two of you wanted a little bit of time to yourselves before you saw everyone, just to spend your first moments as a married couple together. Surprisingly, the London weather was cooperating and the sun was shining.

“We’re married!” Gwil said quietly. Your head was resting gently on his shoulder, with his arm around you. If this wasn’t heaven, you didn’t know what was honestly.

“This is what heaven feels like isn’t it?” You responded. Gwil replied by kissing your forehead. The limo ride was fairly quiet, the two of you just wanted to enjoy being in each others company. You wouldn’t get much alone time for the rest of the day so you were enjoying it while you could. Syon Park, where the reception was being held, was a bit of a drive from where your ceremony was, but you didn’t mind. It just meant that you got to spend more time with Gwil.

With your wedding colors being a mix of yours and Gwil’s favorite, you couldn’t wait to see what the decorations looked like. Working with a wedding planner had been the best decision you’ve ever made. You hadn’t had to worry about much, you just told them what you wanted and they made the magic happen.

When you arrived at the venue, they had a suite set up for you and Gwil to freshen up a little, while you waited for your guests to arrive. Walking into the room, it was like a wave of relief washed over you. You’d never had a feeling of cold feet, but it felt good to know that you’d made it. Gwil set your bags down in the corner and came up behind you as you admired the reception venue from the window.

He kissed your neck on either side and set his chin on your shoulder.

“What are you thinking about love?” He asked.

“The future. Joe’s best man toast and what he’s going to embarrass us with. I’m a little hungry too.” You smiled at the last part.

“I’ll go to the kitchens and see if they can make a little something. I’ll be right back love.” He kissed your neck one more time before leaving the room. You watched as your guests started arriving, and soon you’d get to celebrate with all of them. Gwil returned with some sandwiches for the two of you.

“Are you a magician now Mr. Lee?” You asked playfully, taking the sandwich from him.

“Maybe I am, Mrs. Lee.” He said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Mrs. Lee… I love the sound of that. Say it again.” Gwil put his sandwich down and walked over to you. He wrapped his arms around you and leaned in close.

“Mrs. Lee….” He said slowly and began kissing your neck again. You could feel his hot breath against your neck and could hear it getting more rapid.

“Gwilym! We have to be at our reception in 10 minutes!” You hit his back playfully.

“10 minutes is plenty of time!” He tried to tell you. You knew it probably was, but never would you let him ruin your perfectly nice dress.

“Gwilym, this is a nice dress. What do we do when someone wears a nice dress?” You asked, stepping away from him.

“Well I’d love to get you out of it, but I guess I can let other people enjoy it a little longer.” You smirked at him, and he smirked right back. When it was time to go to the reception, Gwil grabbed your hand and laced his fingers through yours. You walked across the green, and you could see all your guests through the big windows of the Great Conservatory.

“You ready?” Gwil asked. You nodded, and Gwil opened the doors in front of you.

“Ladies and gentleman for the first time I would love to present to you for the very first time, MR AND MRS. GWILYM LEE!” You walked in and everyone you loved was in the same room. You knew the first thing you would do was your first dance, and you let Gwil pick the song. He knew you, and you knew he would pick something that meant a lot to the both of you. You looked up at Gwil as the music started to play.

Love of my life, you've hurt me

You've broken my heart and now you leave me

Love of my life, can't you see?

Bring it back, bring it back

Don't take it away from me, because you don't know

What it means to me

Love of My Life. It took everything you had in you not to cry. You just looked up at Gwil and he smiled, mouthing the lyrics to you as you danced. You never wanted the song to end, you just wanted to be held by Gwil while listening to your favorite song. When the song was over, you took your seat with Gwil at the head table to get ready for everyone to make their speeches. It already felt like a fairy tale to you, but that could change with Joe’s best man speech. He could say some pretty embarrassing things about you, including the time they all walked in on you and Gwil in his dressing room.

“Good evening boys and girls! For those of you who don’t know, my name is Joseph Mazzello and I am Gwil’s best man. I’d like to thank you all for coming to my best bud’s wedding, sorry Ben, I still love you. On behalf of the beautiful bridesmaids and the handsome groomsmen, especially you Ben, I would like to thank Gwil and Y/N for including us in this momentous occasion. I was told to keep this PG, but now it’s time for the juicy stuff. Now, how these two lovebirds met. I remember Gwilym never really mentioned her when we first started shooting. He kept to himself a lot. But one day, lo and behold, Y/N came onto the set. She had been a last minute producer for the film, without any of us knowing it, and when she walked in, all us boys were mesmerized by how beautiful this girl was. Gwilym almost choked on his water when he saw Y/N. She came right up to him and kissed him. Me, Rami, and Ben all looked at each other with shocked expressions. “What?”, Y/N said, “Did Gwil not tell you we were dating?” Gwilym went red in the face. To this day, we have never let him live that down. One time we even walked in-”

“JOSEPH NO.” You and Gwil said at the same time, causing the whole room to laugh. “Anyways! Now that we’ve gotten the basic stuff down, can we please talk about beautiful Y/N looks? Not only is she beautiful, but she’s also kind, caring, sweet, and she deserves one hell of a husband. Thankfully for Gwilym, she married him before she found one. If there’s anyone here this afternoon who’s feeling nervous, apprehensive and queasy at the thought of what lies ahead, it’s probably because you’ve just married Gwilym. Alright, I’m done with the jokes. Let’s make a toast: May you both spend the rest of your lives loving each other more and more every day and to have loads and loads of sex, to Gwilym and Y/N! ”

Despite Joe almost telling the story of walking in on the two of you, Gwil looked at you with tears in his eyes. You had some in yours too, and you didn’t know that Joe had it in him. Of course, your best friend who was your maid of honor did the same thing. You knew speeches at weddings could get emotional, but you didn’t think you’d be crying this much. Once the speeches were out of the way, it was time to party. Well, not too much because you and Gwil had an early flight to catch for your honeymoon, but a party none the less.

Not even an hour in and Rami was a little drunk. Drunk Rami made you laugh though, and all he wanted to do was dance. He wouldn’t leave you or Lucy alone and kept throwing in a lot of his Freddie moves. Every time you caught Gwil not dancing, you brought him right back in. Whenever you weren’t dancing, you were thanking guests for coming. Thankfully Gwil’s parents had agreed to take all your wedding gifts back to the house, and watch your pets while you were gone.

“Joe, did you bring Cardy b? What about your date?” You heard Ben ask from off the dance floor.

“HE TREATS ME BETTER THAN YOU BENJAMIN.” You actually broke out laughing when you heard Joe yell this. You looked at Gwil, who was also laughing. Joe would never let anyone forget Cardy B. Then you heard that song start to play and you groaned. You knew exactly what was happening.

“Ladies and gentleman, if the groom and his groomsmen could have the floor please?” The DJ asked.

I'm a boss ass bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch

Gwil, Ben, Rami, and Joe all started doing the dance. The dance you could never get out of your head. After a few renditions, Brian and Roger joined in. Of course, your wedding videographer was getting all of it. Great, you thought, you would never get to forget it. Eventually, all of your guests were dancing to it, so of course, you had to join in.

Hours of dancing went by, and it was finally time for you and Gwil to leave and get ready to leave for your honeymoon. Gwil wouldn’t tell you where he was taking you, so he only gave you a list of things to pack. You couldn’t really tell where based on the list, so the surprise made it a little more exciting. Once you got in the limo, you were a little relieved to be alone again.

“Are you ready my love?” Gwil asked on the way to your hotel.

“Ready for what?” You asked, honestly confused. Gwil didn’t waste one minute before he got to work. He couldn’t even wait until you got to the hotel room.

“I think its time I get to ruin that dress now…” Your eyes widened a little, but Gwil went right to it. You were definitely not ready for the next week if this is what he had in store.

To be continued...

#gwilym lee #gwilym x reader #gwilym lee imagine #brian may #queen #brian may x reader #borhap #bohemian rhapsody #gwilym lee fluff #joe mazzello #rami malek #ben hardy #gwil lee #gwilym imagine #take my breath away #take my breath away fic

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thestylesproject · 6 years

Text

#53 Happy New Year (Harry Styles)

Where she wants her New Year spent differently than all her others, and Harry feels an attraction which isn’t reciprocated.

The writing style is a bit different, so do send a message if any explanation is needed. :)

A very Happy New Year to all you lovelies!

—

(She hoped this new year will be different. Till now, she spent every new year at a party with her parents, feeling quite lonely as her parents rejoiced with their friends, and she being the oldest of their kids, seldom had anybody accompanying her. But, she believed these holidays are meant to be spent with her family, even though her family hardly thought that, and she found herself alone, in a crowd full of people.

This year, she couldn’t go back for the holidays so, she was in the car with her friends, going to her friend’s house to a small town, somewhere in Cheshire. The plan was to go to a club with her friends, knowing she’ll still be alone at midnight wishing Happy New Year to herself, looking up to the sky, as her friends around her kissed their partners.

She didn’t mind being alone. She liked being with herself. She didn’t mind her company, and she found herself fortunate to be able to say that for she knew so many struggled with that. It was just these holidays, this winter season where she felt probably, a little warmth from some significant other would be a nice thing to have for once. She wasn’t very great with relationships. She blamed it was never having the time. She knew the reason was something else.

He was at home. Like he always was this time of the year. If he had a lover, he would spend the new year with her, but he didn’t and so his 23-year-old self, took the ‘have to spend time with family’ excuse to tell all his friends in the city, and chose to stay back and cuddle in the familiar sofa instead of being drunk in the start of another new year. He was being hopeful, his friends had a plan of taking him to the club, knowing people will be too sloshed to recognize him, and the club had a pre-booking for all their guests anyway.

He appreciated them. And he wasn’t too confrontational to change their plans either. So, he got ready, trying to dress in a way that didn’t call too much attention to himself in this small town, but he didn’t have that skill. His mind hopped back to how he could have increased the timeline of his last relationship, just for a winter cuddle to be selfish, but he knew he had been pushing it from the start. He blamed it on the time that he hardly had, he knew the reason was something else.)

Her: I don��t have a fancier dress than this one. (She held her black dress, which she thought complimented her body really well. It was new, it was velvet which was a fabric she thought she would never wear, but once inside the dress, she saw herself in an absolute different light, and she knew spending those pounds on it was so worth it.)

Amy: It’s black!

Her: So? It’s classy!

Amy: We are going to a club, where it is already dark, I want some colours on you! You know some colour to highlight that booty, and those boobs which I know need some attention.

Her: Let me wear it, and I know I’ll change your mind.

Amy: Okay, if not this you’re wearing the red cocktail dress of mine!

(Her friend always wanted the best for her and was the single person in her life always pushing her to do the different. She knew that this dress would make her proud. And proud it did! Amy whistled when she saw her dressed in that short dress, which was clearly a move to push herself. It was so different from what she usually wore, and Amy could cry.)

Her: You’re very melodramatic. (She was pleased, she did look nice.)

Amy: I feel like a proud Mom.

(He was sitting ready for an hour before they were set to leave. An hour he knew that would now get pushed to 30 minutes more because someone had forgotten something. He liked being early, he spent that time with his family who were ready to go to a celebration of their own, and he now didn’t feel very guilty of not spending time with them. He was grown up, and that is what people do - have their own lives.)

Him: Let’s take different cars, you know. If anyone wants to leave early, it’ll be easier.

Max: Good idea. I like how we don’t have to worry about drunk driving here. It takes five minutes to reach anywhere, anyway. Do you want to have some drinks before we leave?

(He nodded, he knew he could let loose in this town. He was home, after all.)

Her: So, are we going to meet more of your friends?

Seth: Yeah! Oh you’ll love them! We are going to have so much fun!

(He was high, as fuck and she couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement. Amy and Seth had been together forever, and so had her other two friends who had brought their partners along as well. She was glad she was with her friends this year though, she wanted a break from her time with her family. She always found herself to committed and the other never enough.)

Him: Okay, get out you fuckers! (Laughing)

Maria: Oh Harry baby, come here! (She teased. She had been doing it ever since he came back, and it was a bit weird because he didn’t see her like that. Max told him that she expected to go back with him tonight. He knew she was going to be disappointed, and kept away.)

Him: I’ll park and come, you guys get in, and get me a drink!

(He eyed Freddy who was informed to keep Maria from his drinks at all times. She was into drugs, and he knew how bad they could get.

He parked his car, looking ahead at the other car which had just parked and had people coming out. He recognised his friend who he knew planned to meet him here. He had his own friends from University with him this time so he couldn’t spend as much time as he usually did with him when they both were in town.)

Him: Seth!

Seth: Harry! (Screaming. One look and he knew he was high.) How are you, brother?

Him: Oh god, how stoned are you? (Brother was a term never used before in their context.)

Seth: A bit. Meet my love, Amy. Amy-Harry-Harry-Amy.

(He nodded courteously, and shook hands. Her other hand was holding another hand, a girl who was fixing her dress. It was like the movies really. She had long hair, so thick that they completely covered her face, while she stood sideways. She flicked her hair, and she turned, never leaving her friends hand, even though she needed both to fix herself. She managed and she turned, and the wind blew, and Harry had all the air knocked out of his body. She was beautiful. She was sexy, yes, his eyes trailed down to her dress which pleased her body so well, and he loved those heels, which made her legs look a little too angelic. He had seen plenty of beautiful women, but somehow he felt this one was calling out to him. He didn’t understand it.

He went back to her eyes, as she came forward, and they widened in shock. She didn’t know meeting Harry Styles was on the card today. She liked him, always had. No one warned her about this, cause she definitely had a crush on this man and, he looked a little too delectable, much too ravishing in the black suit he was wearing. The white shirt inside had his buttons open, and she wondered if he was cold. Thank god, the basement was heated, nor she knew this dress could go to hell, and she would rather be covered in her blanket in multiple layers in front of the fire.

He thought she had beautiful eyes. He didn’t think much about eyes, but with this girl, they stood out. He analyzed why, as he was introduced to her, and all the other friends. He looked for a boyfriend. Someone who she must belong to, and there wasn’t anyone, and she still held Amy’s hand.

She knew today was an exceptional day for her. She never looked like this. But, she was glad cause she met Harry Styles. At least she wasn’t in her usual attire which was hardly flattering and in her life, failed to attract anyone. She looked decent when she met Harry Styles and she will never regret this.)

Rhine: Would you like your usual, love? (Her friend asked her, as she looked around this club. It was supposed to be an invite-only, and she wondered what that meant in such a small town.

Her: Yes, please.

Matthew: Plenty of luck here love! (He wrapped a hand around her neck.) You can pick and choose the guy you like!

Her: I’d like you, Sir to be off duty this new year. (She laughed, knowing he was always searching a new partner for her wherever they went.)

Matthew: No fun. (He pulled his tongue out.)

(They had joined all of Seth’s school friends. It was a long list of Hello’s and Hi’s of people she knew she will hardly meet again. She had calmed down. Now, Harry was another one of the names and she smiled at the fact that he was here partying with his old friends, while he could be anywhere in the world right now. She approved of his character, and then looked around to see if there was anyone else in the crowd for her. Her heart always kept the hope alive, even after constant disappointments of dates that never worked out. A part of her felt if she was choosy. Maybe, but all good looking guys were idiots and, she never met someone who would really impress her otherwise either.

Getting drunk was easy. It didn’t take an effort from her, and she loved dancing. Wasn’t extremely fond of clubs, but the dancing she always was. He couldn’t get his mind off her. Which to be honest, never happened. He wasn’t too pleased, either. Who was she anyway? And, was he the only one who felt this attraction to her, or was it both ways and she was playing hard to get, or was he being a creep, or was it the fact that she didn’t like him. It wasn’t fair. He tried to look good today. Was he not her type?

He saw her dancing, giggling along with her friends, being very comfortable with herself. She slowed down when the song suddenly became a bit slow, and people around her took the hand of their partners, dancing and grinding together. She pulled her hair back with her fingers, her hands combing her hair, as she walked to the bar to get another drink.

The DJ was making out with his boyfriend, and another song for the couple was played when she came back with her drink. Harry was sitting down for the first one. But, he knew a druggie was eyeing him, and making his way towards her, so he quickly got up, and walked to the girl, who was looking around slowing taking sips of her drink. He pushed his hand out. She looked at it, and frowned, and then slowly took it. Her hands were cold, but he held tighter warming them up, and wrapped a hand around her waist as they danced to an Ed Sheeran song he knew the reference to.)

Her: So, a girl I was told the name of, but I don’t know now is staring at me.

Like with daggers in her eyes, staring at me.

Him: I think she wants to drug me. I overheard her plan while she was plotting with another druggie friend of ours, and I don’t feel very safe.

Her: I can protect you.

Him: I’d like that.

(It was a little difficult for him to find people who got his humour. He thought he was hilarious, there were few who agreed. Now he had found a girl who he was immensely attracted to, and who got his jokes and even responded to them. He, for sure, knew she wasn’t pretending.

Her inhibitions were down. She would have been incredibly insecure otherwise, but strangely she was feeling comfortable. He made her feel comfortable, and he laughed at her sarcasm, which 80%of people she met never really got. She liked him. She was pushing it, she knew it. He was way out of her league, so any thought of kissing him, which her hormonal self kept pushing forward were kicked and pushed behind, and she let herself enjoy this moment.)

Him: It’s almost midnight. (They had come out to get some air, but it was all glassed so they were just looking out. The attic sort of room, which was what they called it as well, didn’t have many people, and he was thankful for that.)

Her: Oh yes, we should go down!

Him: We could stay here. The fireworks will go up any minute.

Her: Why aren’t more people out to see it then? Oh wait, this is the VIP area. (Realizing, while he just smiled.)

Him: Do you like fireworks?

Her: They are my guilty pleasure. It’s just they cause so much pollution.

(She didn’t want to start off on a climate change lecture. That is what she did with people anyway. She was a little too intellectual. She found herself unable to talk about simple topics. She wondered what simple people talk about? She didn’t want to bore him)

Him: I agree. You know I was scared of them.

Her: I can get that. The noise really isn’t pleasant.

Him: Do you want to go down?

Her: No, do you want to pull that bouncy bag, and watch the firework?

Him: You are a mind reader.

(There was just one left, and he pulled that one, and they both looked at each other, wondering who should sit down first.)

Her: I’m not very heavy if you have strong legs.

Him: I am very rigorous with my leg workout. (He quickly nods, and sits down.)

Her: Let me know if you get tired. (She whispered, and she sat down, half on his thigh, and then shifted her body like they were almost cuddling. They were cuddling, and she chooses not to think about, and made sure that her short dress didn’t become shorter.)

Him: (humming) It’ll be any minute now.

Her: Do you think your attacker will look for you?

Him: I think, she is looking for me currently, but you’re keeping me safe. Do you think your friends will look for you?

Her: After they are done making out, they will. We can go after a while.

(30 seconds to midnight. They could hear the countdown start at fifteen, and her mind flashed to last year, where she was in a very different situation. She liked this one better.

13 seconds to midnight. His hand was on her thigh, and he liked how she didn’t make him pull it away. He wanted it to be there. The other was around her waist and he was proper holding her. He knew she felt that attraction, he knew she wasn’t indulging in it. He could guess why, but he wanted to push it. He wanted to kiss her.

7 seconds to midnight. She wanted to be kissed. The countdown was dropping and her head was cuddled in his chest, and she wanted to look up and be kissed.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR! The lights went up, and she looked at the sky be lit up in colours, and she looked at him to see his reaction. He was looking at her, with his eyes a bit dreamy. His hand rose from her thigh and held her face. He didn’t think much and closed his eyes bringing his lips so close to her, but wanting her to make the move.

She paused was a second, seeing his eyes closed, his warm hand holding her face, and she closed her and pushed forward.

This New Year triumphed every other new year she had ever experienced.)

—

Part 2?Comments? Opinions? Love for this new year?

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adifferentworldtwo-blog · 7 years

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4: A Little White Lie

Ron

“Mommy…. Daddy,” I heard as I stirred in my sleep.

I opened my eyes slowly to see my daughter between me and Freddie in the bed.

“Hey, sweetie,” I kissed her forehead.

Freddie's body shifted in the bed. She opened her eyes slightly.

Luna smiled, “I thought you were going home yesterday.”

“Yea, well, I ended up falling asleep here.”

She smiled, “I'm so happy now.”

“Oh yea? Why’s that??”

“Because you're back with mommy,” she smiled.

I raised my eyebrows. Damn. How am I gonna respond to this?

Freddie cleared her throat, “Good morning, baby,” she looked at Luna.

Luna smiled, hugging Freddie. She kissed her cheek, “Good morning, mommy.”

Freddie smiled. They looked so much alike when they smiled. Freddie looked at her, “Hey, did you brush your teeth?”

“Ummm…” Luna looked around.

“Exactly,” she raised her eyebrows, “You know what you're supposed to do when you wake up. Go take care of that and me and daddy will prepare to make you some breakfast, okay?”

“Okay,” she hugged Freddie again before hopping off the bed and running out. She was a mommy’s girl. She loved me too, but I can tell Freddie was her favorite.

Freddie looked at me, “Last night was definitely a mistake, Ron.”

“A mistake? You were the one basically dragging me into your room.”

She playfully rolled her eyes, “I didn't drag you anywhere. I suggested. You agreed,” she smirked, “And it's a mistake because I didn't plan on you sleeping here, too. Now she thinks we're back together.”

“Yea, I know,” I looked down, “I don't know how to break it to her.”

“I don't want to confuse her, Ron,” she looked at me, “And I know I'm the one who comes onto you most times, but.. I don't know,” she sighed.

I just stared at her. She's the most indecisive person I know.

“You have Micaela. And as much as I don't like her, maybe that's where you belong.”

“And you belong with Lawrence?”

“Ron, please. I just started dating him, I don't know where I belong. Okay? I just… I don't want it to be with you. Not cause it's not something I'm interested in. But because you've already moved on. I can't stay stuck on you forever.”

“So you have this epiphany after I cheat on my girlfriend?”

“Ron, I'm sorry,” she got up, “I'll make you breakfast. After that, I think you should go. I'll explain everything to her.”

I sighed. Freddie never fails to get a rise out of me. Good or bad.

Whitley

I looked at Dwayne as he slept peacefully. He was knocked out on the couch and I was in the kitchen preparing us breakfast. I was able to watch him over the island, it gave me a good view of the family room.

No matter how angry I would get thinking about our situation, no matter how much I made Dwayne sleep on the couch, I could never let him go hungry. It's just something that I couldn't do. Maybe I knew he was sorry. I don't know.

I thought back to yesterday’s counseling session and Dr. Novak really opened my eyes. Of course, she opened my eyes about how Dwayne looked at his affair but she made me look at myself in a way that I never did before. Maybe I'm not always the victim. Maybe I hurt people, too.

And what Dr. Novak said about us not appreciating each other made sense. In a lot of ways, I don't understand Dwayne and I know he doesn't understand me either. We're always having small fits, even if they don't last longer than an hour. He doesn't understand the way I love him and sometimes I don't understand the way he loves me. But I know he tries to understand and I try, too. I just hope we never give up trying.

Another reason I couldn't be too mad at Dwayne this morning is because Dr. Novak had given us an assignment to write down five things we wrote about each other. When we got home, we did it.

Flashback

I laid on the couch while Dwayne sat down. He let me rest my feet on his lap. We both had notepads in our hands, writing our five appreciations of one another.

“Whitley?” He said quietly while writing.

“Yes, Dwayne?” I kept my eyes on my paper as I finished my list.

“I’m sorry for betraying you. I hurt you in ways where if it was the other way around, I'd be devastated. I was selfish. Yes, you weren't listening to me, but I should've found a different outlet, not a different woman,” he continued to write.

“I'm sorry, too. I was hearing you but I was paying you any attention. I was letting my need for nice things push me to take care of my work before I took care of my husband,” I looked at him.

He finished writing, putting his pen down, “I appreciate you, Whitley,” he looked me in my eyes.

“I appreciate you, too, Dwayne.”

“What do you appreciate about me?”

“You first. You cheated, you have more to prove.”

He chuckled, shaking his head, “Okay, the first thing I appreciate is how protective you are of me. I appreciate the way you take care of our two beautiful children. I appreciate the way you take care of yourself and look good every second of the day without even trying.”

I blushed, looking down.

“I appreciate how faithful you are to me. And I appreciate all the love you give me even when you're upset with me.”

“That was sweet, Dwayne,” I half smiled at him.

“Thank you,” he smiled back.

“Now here's my list. I appreciate how smart you are. I appreciate how you spend time with the children because having a good relationship with your father is such an important thing. I appreciate that no matter how difficult I can be, you have the patience to make things right. I appreciate you getting me this beautiful house. And I appreciate you stopping that wedding. I was hoping you would the second I put on that wedding dress,” I looked up at him, my first time ever admitting it to him.

“Really? You made it seem like you realized I was who you wanted once I got to the alter.”

“No,” I shook my head, “You were always who I wanted. I was praying you'd stop me. You came to the house to talk to me the night before. In my head I was begging for you to tell me not to go through with it. I was even hoping Kim would stop me. I wanted you but I didn't want to face it.”

“Wow. I would've never known, the way you moved on so easily.”

“Oh, please. Every date you had after we split, I was always so jealous and angry. Even while I was with Byron.”

“You remember when you were with Byron and I came over your place to get the rest of my things?” He smirked.

I blushed, covering my face with my hands, “Oh, god.”

“Mhm,” he smirked, “Had you screaming my name an hour later,” he chuckled, “That was one my favorite days with you.”

I laughed, “That was only one of your favorite days because I was dating Byron and you liked the fact that I had a man, yet I couldn't resist you.”

He smiled, “That's very accurate. It assured me that somewhere in that heart you still loved me.”

“I never stopped, Dwayne,” I smiled at him.

“You had to, cause I'm still on this couch.”

I smirked, getting up off the couch, “You're on this couch for other reasons. You'll be able to get back into bed soon, though. Soon.”

End of Flashback

I finished making Dwayne’s egg white omelette with toast, mine was already made. We started eating a little less heavy after the kids, to avoid being unhealthy.

“Dwayne!” I called out to him, opening the fridge.

No response.

“Dwayne!” I called out again.

“Hmm?” I heard him groan.

I placed the carton of orange juice on the counter. I walked over to him, “Your breakfast is ready. Wake up.”

“Okay,” he mumbled, his eyes still closed.

“Dwayne,” I said sternly.

“I'm up, I'm up,” he slightly opened his eyes.

“Go freshen up, so we can eat.”

“Together?” He looked up at me, stretching.

“Yes. We're trying to get this marriage back on track, right? Come on.”

“Okay, okay,” he sat up.

I walked over to the counter, to pour us some orange juice. I listened as he went over to our bathroom in our room. He didn't sleep with me but all his stuff was still in our room & bathroom.

I had everything set up on the table. I just sat, waiting for him to join me.

He walked over and sat down in front of him plate, “Oh, thank you,” he looked at his food and smiled, “I'm surprised.”

“What is there to be surprised about? I always make you food.”

“Yes, you do, but… you haven't sat down at a table with me in forever,” he smiled as he started to eat.

“Yea, well, I can't put all the pressure on you to make things better. I gotta at least attempt to get over my anger and help things get better, too,” I took a bite of the toast.

“Thank you. And guess what?”

“What?”

“Kinishewa approved the transfer. I can start back in their Virginia office this Wednesday.”

“You go, boy,” I smirked.

He laughed, “Thank you, thank you. How's things going with E.H Wright?”

“They're still seeing if they can get a position to put me in.”

“They're gonna let someone go for you?”

“They said they're planning on letting a few people go, anyway. So when everything is final, they'll call me,” I started to eat my omelette.

“Okay, okay, that's good,” he drank some of his orange juice, “You look beautiful this morning.”

“I always look beautiful, Dwayne,” I smirked as I ate.

“That is true, but it's nice to see you not pout all day. Happiness looks lovely on you.”

“I'm semi-happy, don't push it.”

He chuckled, “Semi-happy?”

“Yes, semi-happy,” I raised an eyebrow.

He shook his head, “You're something else.”

The doorbell rang and I just knew it was my babies.

Me and Dwayne both jumped up as soon as we heard it. We both made our way to the door, he letting me open it.

Both kids ran to us. Aiko ran to Dwayne and DJ ran to me. DJ hugged me tight but I couldn't help but notice that Aiko’s hair was pressed. Immediately, I knew today wasn't going to be a good one.

I didn't let what I noticed ruin my happiness to see my kids, though. I hugged DJ back, holding him so tight to me. I haven't seen him in a week.

“Mama, you're squeezing me,” DJ said muffled into my chest.

I laughed, “I'm so sorry, baby, I just missed you,” my hand brushed his cheek. He looks so much like his daddy.

“I missed you, too,” he smiled until he looked around, “This is our new house?!” He looked shocked.

“Yes, baby, and your room is upstairs, already made for you and everything. You wanna go see?”

“Yes!” He smiled big.

“Okay, but just hold on and wait for-”

It was like he tuned me right out because I never seen him run up a flight of steps so quickly.

I shook my head, “Hi, mother,” I looked at my mom before reaching to hug her.

She hugged back, apprehensively. She knew I was upset with her. She just knew. She half smiled, “Hello, dear. The house looks lovely.”

“Thank you,” I looked at Dwayne who was holding Aiko.

Dwayne kissed her cheek, “How's my beautiful princess?”

“Good,” she smiled putting her little arms around Dwayne's neck.

“You're not gonna give your Mama a hug, too?” I faked a pout.

She giggled, “No, mama, don't cry,” she reached her arms out to me.

I smiled as Dwayne handed her to me, “You're looking adorable,” I held her in my arms.

Dwayne greeted my mother, giving her a respectful hug and kiss on the cheek. He looked at me, “Where did my boy go?”

“To check out his room. Make sure he's in the right room, please.”

“No problem,” he ran upstairs.

I'm sure they will be up there for at least an hour. They always end up playing a video game together whenever they're spending time with one another.

I looked at my mom, “You straightened her hair?” I held Aiko, touching a strand of her long hair. I never noticed how long it was.

“Don't you like it, Mama? Now my hair kind of looks like yours,” she smiled.

“Yes, baby, it's gorgeous,” I smiled at Aiko before looking at my mother, “You didn't ask my permission to do this.”

“Oh, Whitley, come on. It wasn't a relaxer, I just got it pressed. No big deal. Now will you show me around the house or not?”

“Okay, I'll show you around but this conversation is not over.”

My mother rolled her eyes. I was furious. This is exactly what I did not want for Aiko. I want Aiko to love her natural self, not feel the need to change to be beautiful. I took a deep breath to calm myself before deciding to walk my mom around the new house.

And of course, she's never pleased. I could've always renovated something better or matched the throw pillows with the couch better or some bullshit. She didn't like how I decorated Aiko's room nor was she too please about DJ’s room. She insisted that she redecorate the guest room as she's so sure that she'd be the person in it more often than anybody else but I told her she could do that another time. The only room she seemed to like was me and Dwayne’s. But she hated our bathroom decor, but that's fine.

“You could've spruced it up a little better, but in all, it's okay,” she sat on the couch.

I had Aiko on my lap, “Mother, do you have to dislike everything?”

“I'm just saying, Whitley, you've could've done better. It's all coming from a good place to see you do great.”

Dwayne walked into the kitchen. I looked over at him, “What are you gonna try and sneak upstairs?” I said a little louder so he could hear me.

He looked over the island, “Come on, we’re a little thirsty. I'll just take two juice boxes up there.”

“Make that three. Would you mind taking Aiko upstairs with you?”

“That's fine,” he went into the fridge.

I looked at my mom, “Hold on, mother,” I got up and walked to the kitchen with Aiko in my hand. I handed her over to Dwayne.

“You're gonna hold one of these for me, okay?” He handed Aiko one of the juice boxes.

“Okay,” she opened her hand and grabbed it.

I whispered to Dwayne, “You know I'm furious about this,” I looked at Aiko's hair then back at Dwayne.

“Talk to her about it,” he whispered back.

I nodded, “I will,” I mouthed. I made my way back over to my mother, hearing Dwayne make his way back upstairs.

She was waiting patiently, a small smile on her face.

I sat down on the couch, “Mother, about Aiko's hair-”

“Oh, honey, you guys don't have any wine in this house?” She stood up, looking towards the kitchen.

I gave a frustrated sigh, “Mother, I'm trying to talk to you about-”

“Yes, yes, I know what this conversation is going to be about. I just know I'm going to need a glass of wine to endure it.”

“Whatever you say,” I sighed and got up, leading her to the kitchen.

“Thank you very much, sweetheart.”

I stayed quiet. I walked over to the cupboard where we store our wine & wine glasses, and took one glass out. I took down a bottle of wine, too. I filled it up halfway before stopping.

“To the top, darling,” my mother commented.

“You're not getting drunk with my children in the house.”

“I know how to handle myself. To the top, Whitley.”

I sighed in frustration, filling the glass to the top with wine.

“Thank you,” my mom smiled, “I can tell this isn't of much quality, so I need a little more to substitute,” she sat down at the small table in the kitchen.

“Mhm,” I sat down with her, “So, now, about my daughter's hair..”

“Mhm?” She sipped on the wine.

Dwayne

I came downstairs, a little worried about how Whitley was doing. I know this is a sensitive subject for her and she doesn't play when it comes to people trying to change Aiko’s appearance or say mean things about her for it. I also know Marion intimidates Whitley way too much and most times Whitley backs down in fear of losing her mother. I just hope that changes tonight. I stood by the staircase, listening and peeking over into the kitchen.

“Why?” Whitley looked at her mother.

“Why what?” Marion had a large glass of wine in her hand.

“Why'd you get it straightened? I told you that's not what I wanted.”

“You told me you didn't want to chemically relax her hair, you didn't say a thing about using heat to do it.”

“Mother, really? I think I was very straightforward about not wanting to damage my daughter's hair.”

“It's not. Whitley, how many times do I have to tell you there's no chemicals?” Marion took a sip of her wine.

“Oh, please,” Whitley rolled her eyes, “You really think putting flat irons and hot combs to my three year old daughter’s hair isn't going to damage it? Her hair isn't even mature enough for that. You could've permanently damaged her hair for good.”

“Whitley, hair grows,” she nonchalantly looked at Whitley.

“In case you don’t know, my daughter has wild, curly hair. My daughter’s hair is much more delicate than my own, and needs to be treated in a much more delicate way. It needs to be loved in a more delicate way. So, no, I can't just throw a hot comb in her hair and just say hair grows. She's too young.”

“Okay, so then wash it and it'll be just how you like it, again! Why does this bother you so much?!”

“Because I'm tired of you! I'm tired of you putting your opinions where they don't belong. I'm tired of you controlling every aspect of my life.”

I smiled to myself. That's my girl.

“Oh, I didn't control a thing. You married that poor man, didn't you?”

I scoffed quietly, shaking my head. I know Marion doesn't like me as much as she pretends to. I wasn't her preference in who Whitley married. She wanted Byron.

“Why do you keep calling Dwayne poor? Who do you think paid for this house?”

Marion was quiet. She drank her glass till it was empty. She stood up to pour herself another glass.

“Mother, just because Dwayne doesn't have inherited wealth and the lineage you would've liked doesn't make him poor. We have so much since Tokyo, he's done way more than you'd like to admit-”

“Including cheat on you,” Marion sat down with another glass. She sipped it.

“Don't you throw that in my face,” Whitley's voice became a little more hostile. She was getting angry but trying to respect her mother and not yell.

“Fine,” she continued to drink.

“I'm tired of you talking to me like I have no feelings and everything you say must happen. I don't care if you don't like my house decorations, I don't care if you don't like my husband, and I do not care if you don't like my children's skin and hair. I'm sorry they aren't the way you hoped they'd be.”

“Oh, Whitley, spare me. You think I don't know how hard it is to be a black girl? Yes, I'm a little snobby here and there, but I've experienced things, too. Why do you think I've tried so hard to get the things I have now? Why do you think I married your father? Yes, I loved him, but he was able to give me and my daughter a life that was better than the one I grew up in. And I made sure that my daughter didn't have the same hardships as me. I made sure my daughter wouldn't have to be teased for her dark skin and her kinky hair and wouldn't be looked at as just another black girl with an attitude. Why didn't you want that for your children? I don't understand.”

“Because you're not proud of who you are and that's why you made sure I was far from it! But I don't want to be like you, mother. I don't want to make sure that my daughter has light skin and loose curls and all those things. I wanted to have kids with the man that loved me, rich or poor. I wanted to have kids that reminded me of my man, because they would be proof of our love. Dark, light, kinky hair, or loose hair, I'd love them. And teach them to love themselves.”

The conversation was getting a little heated so I decided maybe to come in and loosen the tension.

I walked into the kitchen making my to where Whitley was sitting, “Hey, Whitley, is it okay if-”

“Well, I'm happy it was so easy for you to make the decisions you did,” Marion slurred slightly, cutting me off.

I stood next to Whitley’s chair, looking at how drunk these two glasses of wine really got Marion.

“But it wasn't easy for me. Asking Mercer to take in a child that he knew wasn't his and love her as his own wasn't easy!”

My mouth dropped. Did she just say what I heard her say?

Whitley scoffed in disbelief, “What?”

“Mercer wanted me for years and once I got pregnant with you, he's who I ran to because I knew he'd be able to support us in a way I couldn't do on my own,” Marion didn't even know she was spilling out such words.

“Mother, what are you saying?” Her voice cracked. She sounded like she wanted to cry.

I rested a hand on her shoulder, preparing to hear news that wasn't going to be good.

“Well, years and years ago, I was infatuated with this white man from Normandy, France,” she smiled as if she was reminiscing, “He was living in Virginia for business opportunities and once we got together, we traveled all of France. I met his family over there, we saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We spent months in hotels, just exploring the country and he was so proud to show me off,” her smile faded as she took another sip of her wine, “And once I realized I was pregnant he just… disappeared. So I did what I had to do.”

Tears were running down Whitley’s face, “So you're saying daddy's not my father?”

#ADW #adifferentworld #adifferentworldfanfic #dwayneandwhitley #whitleyanddwayne #dwayne wayne #whitleygilbert

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airadam · 4 years

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Episode 130 : In The House

"We'll get the drums goin' so you can dance again, don't worry..."

- "Old Man" Ebro

I think it's fair to say that this has been a month like no other, certainly in the UK, where the restrictions on movement that other places in the world were ahead of us on finally came down. These are strange times where we're all trying to get used to new ways of living, but I hope this month's show has some tunes that can lift your mood a little!

As mentioned in the show, Hip-Hop Chip Shop are selling gift vouchers which you can cash in when the restaurant opens back up - and crucially, for every one bought, they'll donate a meal to someone in need!

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Heltah Skeltah : Operation Lock Down

The sampler 12" for the "Nocturnal" LP made its way onto my turntables this month, and this old 90s favourite wormed its way into my head as a possible inclusion for this episode. I umm-ed and ahh-ed but a chat with someone whose opinion I respect convinced me to go with it. Actually referring to Heltah Skeltah and Boot Camp Clik's goal to lock down the industry, it was a big statement of intent for the Ruck (Sean Price) and Rock, two MCs making their entry to the game. The skills are on display without question though, and this track is notable for being a reach outside their camp for production - E-Swift of Tha Alkaholiks is on the boards for the woozy, dreamlike thump. Big tune then, and unexpectedly fitting now.

Abstract Orchestra : Eyes Up

Great version of a solid Slum Village beat. Abstract Orchestra have been touring and recording for a while with their takes on J Dilla material, and along with the current lineup of Slum Village, they've finally released "Fantastic 2020", a version of the classic "Fantastic, Volume 2" with instrumental and vocal tracks. By the way - make sure to buy the two-disc CD version for all the content!

Voodoo Black ft. LayFullStop : In The Mood

Voodoo Black have been getting ratings here since the start - and it was an honour to have Dubbul O, one of the MCs, here as a guest last year - and so it's with great pleasure that we can talk about their debut LP! "Sitting At The Table" will have just been released as you read this, and it's a lean ten-track collection that does Manchester proud. Ellis Meade, Sparkz, and Dubbul O are joined on this particular number by adopted Manchester daughter LayFullStop, who really does set the mood on top of the DJ Cutterz beat. It's always great to see sustained effort come out on top!

Kombo ft. Vinia Mojica : Sands Of Time

I played the wicked B-side to this back on episode 2 (!), then filed the vinyl back on the shelf from where it occasionally made outings - but only as part of the recent effort to digitise my collection has the A-side really got the deep listening it deserved. Ge-ology on the chilled beat perfectly scores Kombo's love rhymes, and Vinia Mojica keeps it subtle with her vocal contribution.

Little Brother : Altitudes (Flyin' High)

Another great B-side that may have escaped your notice! Back in 2002, Little Brother were making noise on the underground as a promising crew on the rise - one of the first to blow up primarily on the internet - and their single "Whatever You Say" was a mixshow/mixtape staple of the time. Tucked away at the very end of the B-side was this little gem that didn't make the album (but was later heard on "The Chittlin Circuit 1.5"), themed around aviation and featuring classic 9th Wonder production underneath confident rhymes from Phonte and Big Pooh.

Consequence ft. Phife Dawg : No Place Like Home

One of the last tracks Phife ever recorded, this was a great release from last year. These two real-life cousins who both made their different contributions to A Tribe Called Quest over the years come together in an ode to their home of Queens over a smooth beat by Cons and Mike Cash, with Alex Isley on the hook. Yes, that "Isley" does in fact link directly to the famous Isley Brothers - the songwriting and multi-instrumentalist legend Ernie is her father!

Superior Thought : Sky

I was amazed I hadn't played this already - quality sample-heavy beat by a producer and engineer out of London, a 2011 release that feels like it was only out a few weeks ago! Pick this one up on the "S'strumentals" LP along with twenty-three other beats, and all for free!

Clear Soul Forces : Kraken

Always here for some CSF. Ilajide brings the bump as always, and on the mic, all the MCs are representing lovely. This was available on the Fat Beats 25th Anniversary Compilation from last year, but CSF have a brand new LP out which is well worth checking!

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib ft. Anderson .Paak : Giannis

Anderson does his thing here for sure, but Gibbs is unquestionably the star turn on the mic here. Waka Flocka Flame recently admitted being a "wack rapper" but said "my realness overcame my wackness". Freddie Gibbs has the realness and the skills. This is one of the big tunes from his second LP with Madlib, "Bandana", which is definitely worth your time for a listen. The quick line that gives the track its title ("real Gs move in silence like Giannis") might not be the first time someone has referenced a silent "G" in that way, but then Gibbs builds off it immediately afterwards like the elite MC that he is.

The Cool Kids ft. Louis The Child : Super Smash Bros

Tim Dog's "Fuck Compton" was an angry diss. Pusha T dripped with disgust at Drake's conduct on "The Story of Adidon". This? This is... disdainful. Dismissive. The Cool Kids sound like they're just annoyed they had to take time out of their day to address people who aren't coming up to standard. It's also kind of amusing to me that here's a group I remember as the new young artists - now, several years down the line, they are older heads disappointed about how the new generation of youngsters are doing it! Wicked single, with fellow Illinois natives Louis The Child providing the booming beat. Full marks for the inspired sampling of Ebro's rant for the break after the first verse; if you didn't know (and I didn't at first), you'd think this was recorded specifically for this track!

Stic : Motivated

It is so time for a second album of motivational music by Stic of dead prez! The original "The Workout" was an original and welcome release for those in the know, and hopefully the sequel can gather even more of a following. Here, his dramatic production comes through with "Eye of the Tiger" vibes filtered through a Hip-Hop mentality, with a positive lyrical message of pushing forward to victory!

DJ Bombjack : From The Depths Of The Soul

Another one that popped up in my vinyl conversion mission, this is a nice instrumental from a UK DJ and producer from the 1999 "The Brothers Grim" EP.

De La Soul : The Future

Supa Dave West made this one thump! This is the opener on "The Grind Date", and the sampled hook points to an mix of optimism about the future and a determination to shape it. The solid two verses speak on the unquestionably strong legacy De La have carved out over the years - and they're not done yet.

Lisa Shaw : I'm Okay

This was a track from the 2009 "Free" album that I overlooked for a long time in favour of some of the others, but have grown to appreciate. Lisa's voice has the kind of cool clarity that points to the influence of Sade, and Dave Warrin keeps the production low-key to give her space to breathe.

Jazzanova : No Use

A personal headphone favourite which somehow hadn't been played on the show yet! Jazzy (as you'd expect), continental, breezy production from the German production collective, with the kind of delicate balancing of elements that so many fail to master. Clara Hill's lead vocals fit in perfectly, making this a really satisfying listen. The "In Between" album is almost twenty years old, but hasn't really aged at all.

Pete Rock ft. Carl McIntosh & Jane Eugene : Take Your Time

If you've never heard Pete Rock's "Soul Survivor" LP, it's a must-own - he takes an imaginative selection of excellent guests and knocks it out of the park with his stellar production. This is a prime example, where he shows his appreciation for talent that wasn't necessarily "current" at the time, bringing in McIntosh and Eugene of the seminal UK group Loose Ends to lend their soulful vibes. The beat is a relaxed head-nodder supreme, and Pete gets it done on the mic too - not breaking your head open with crazy bars, just staying in the pocket, which is what the track needs.

MindsOne & Kev Brown : Manipulated (Instrumental)

Kev Brown really is one of the best when it comes to those basslines. My god. Serious beat from the 2014 "Pillars" EP.

The Notorious B.I.G. : Hypnotize

A huge tune to finish, one which can't fail to put a smile on your face! I first heard this one in a club, likely just before its official release, and the reaction it got was something special. The first single from "Life After Death", and the last Biggie record to be released before his death, this was a perfect combination of elements. Biggie's rhymes had skills for the streets but still appealed to the club and radio, The Hitmen took the Herb Alpert "Rise" sample and gave it new energy, and Total's Pamela Long nailed the infectious, sing-along hook. Fittingly for our current times, that hook is almost exactly twenty seconds long, making it a perfect timer for thorough hand-washing. So fresh, so clean.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years

Text

The wedding; Queen x reader

*Author’s note*

And here we go people. The chapter that’s been long over due. And in light of my sister’s recent marriage I felt like I had to post it up sooner rather than let it continue to drag on. So be prepared for some serious FLUFFY FEELS HERE!!! Also I’ve listed some songs that you all MUST LISTEN TO!! I’ve linked them within the chapter so just click on the link and it’ll take you straight to the songs and put you in the mood :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

IMAGES DO NOT BELONG TO ME. ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE OWNERS I AM JUST USING THEM FOR VISUAL REFERENCES!!!

PS; This chapter has been brought to you be E-Harmony lol Just listen to this song and you’ll find out why. Please listen to this song before reading :) (or just wait till the very end like the explanation of all the pics and other reception stuff I’ll let you all choose but definately listen to this song)

Taglist:

@onebigfangirlworld

@mr-badguymercury

@naturalswifty89

@queens-rose-garden

@starswin

@dj-lowkey

@isabella-bby

@labessieisallama

@geek-and-proud

@5sos-wdw

________________________________________________

*July 12th, 1984*

“(Y/n). (Y/n) come on sweetheart wake up, we need to get you ready.” I groaned in my sleep and opened my eyes to see Veronica standing over me.

“Ready for what?”

“Oh come on now don’t play dumb. You know what today is. It’s your big day, come on we’ve got to get you dressed and ready.” It was then my mind suddenly clicked awake as I realized what today was.

My wedding day.

“Oh my god I’m getting married today.”

“Yes you are, now get up. The girls and I are already getting dressed and we need to make the bride stand out as the fairest of them all.” I got out of bed and Veronica escorted me to the master bedroom where I saw Chrissie, Dominique, Danneel, Gen, and my future mother in law Kelly all getting their makeup on.

“Ahh there she is!” Gen proclaimed.

“About time, come on sit down I just got done and now Veronica and I can get to work on your hair and makeup.” Dani said. I went over to the makeup stand and sat down on the chair and Gen worked on my hair and makeup.

The whole morning was a hustle and bustle of women running around getting their dresses on, making sure everything was good, and checking to make sure that I was all good and ready.

“Do we have the bouquet?”

“Where’s the flower girl basket?”

“Has anyone seen the curling iron?”

“Okay who was in charge of the wedding veil it’s not here!”

“Check downstairs!” All those types of questions were proclaimed between all the bridesmaids as well as the future mother in law.

I swear if this is what every wedding is like, I only hope I just have to do this once.

It was an hour and a half into the preparations and we soon heard a knock at the door and Roger’s voice soon called out.

“Fathers and brother of the bride entering! Hope everyone’s decent.”

“Do you have the groom with you? If so then get out you know they can’t see each other!” Veronica called from upstairs.

“Nope, it’s just us.” Deacy called up to his wife from the bottom of the stairs.

You see the arrangement for the night before the wedding, the women were staying at Jared and Gen’s house while the guys stayed at Jensen’s and Dani’s place. Then we’d all head over to Kelly’s place for the wedding. And since they all lived within like 20-30min. from each other, it wouldn’t be a long drive to get there.

Some of the girls went downstairs all dressed up in their bridesmaids dresses while Kelly was helping me with the final touches while we were still in the master bedroom.

“Okay, now one last thing and then you’re complete.” She then went over to her jewelry box and pulled out a beautiful pearl necklace. The pearls all gathered in the front but then at the part where it circled around to the back of the neck, the pearls were now a gold chain, I also took notice that at the very center of the necklace there stood a single diamond shining so brightly if held in the light just right. “I wore this on my wedding day, I find it only fitting that my future daughter-in-law should wear it at hers.”

“Oh Kelly it’s beautiful, are—you sure?” She smiled at me and said as she hooked the necklace around me.

“I’m sure. You’re already family to us, and I always said that if I were to have a daughter I’d want her to wear this necklace. Now I can finally see that dream become a reality.” Once it was hooked on, she stood behind me leaning against my shoulder and she said, “Aww, aren’t you a vision? My son is lucky to have found someone like you.”

“Thank you Mrs. Kline I—I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done.”

“Well in light of what’s to come, you could start by calling me…..mom.” My eyes widened and I couldn’t help the smile that came across my face.

“Okay—mum.” She smiled and we both hugged each other.

“Now let’s get you downstairs and show your family how beautiful you are. Just wait till I give the announcement okay?” I nodded then she led me towards the stairs and told me to wait.

*3rd Person POV*

Roger, Deacy, Brian were all sitting on Gen’s couch. Gen and Dani were both on the love seat while Chrissie, Veronica and Dominique were sitting on the various chairs around the giant family living room. It was then Kelly came down the stairs and she said.

“Here comes the bride.” With that everyone stood up and slowly walking down the winder style staircase was (y/n) all ready looking like a bride. The girls who finally got to see all their hard work were stunned at how beautiful they had made this young 22 year old look.

But of course the people who were amazed the most were the three members of Queen. Deacy’s eyes filled with pure awe and he couldn’t help the wide, soft smile that came across his face. Brian bless him almost had tears in his eyes, to him it was like he was now looking at a bright star in the cosmos explode into a super nova dazzling the sky for all eternity.

And Roger—dear old Roger Taylor has always been the hard one to stump because he was always so confident, but now staring at this young girl whom he’s adopted as his own daughter from day one of meeting her just 4 years ago, he couldn’t believe that right here, right now she was already in a wedding dressed about to be given away to another man.

*My POV*

Coming down, everyone was in pure awe at me and I heard Chrissie say.

“Oh my god (y/n)…..look at you.”

“Is it vain of me to say I never wanna take this off?” The women all laughed softly and Veronica said.

“Jack is going to love you in this dress.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten this dress without you V. Thank you for helping me pick it out.” She smiled and lightly kissed my forehead and she wrapped an arm around my shoulder as she said to the guys, “Well boys, what do you think of your Rock Angel now?” They spoke not a word but their eyes were filled with tears and pure happiness.

“I usually never know what to say but now—there are just too many things to say and such little time to even say them.” Deacy stated as he stare at me lovingly. He came up to me and took my hands in his and he said, “To sum it up, you look absolutely perfect.” I softly laughed and said.

“Thanks Deacy, you look quite dapper yourself.” He brought my hands up to his lips and he kissed both my knuckles before gently guiding me over to Brian and Roger.

“We’ll meet you guys at Kelly’s. Don’t keep the bride to yourselves you overprotective dads. Don’t want Jack to be the one waiting at the altar.” Said Dominque eyeing each of they guys, especially Roger. Soon all the women left the house.

“Key’s under the mat, be sure you lock up before you all head over there.” Informed Gen as she was the last one to leave I nodded and told her we understood and soon she shut the door leaving me along with the guys.

“(Y/n)—I have seen everything regarding the cosmos and the wonders of space, but not even that compares to what lies in front of me right now. You truly are the fairest of them all. And no star can outshine you right now.”

“Brian stop you’re gonna make me cry.” I whined out which made the guys laugh as Brian cupped the side of my face and wiped away a tear that was about to fall. He leaned down and softly kissed the crown of my head and that’s when I finally turned towards Roger.

His lips were slightly parted and his eyes wide like he had seen a ghost or something as his eyes were locked onto me.

“You’re gonna catch flies if you keep your mouth hanging open like that Rog.” I teased. He shook his head as he softly chuckled. He then came up towards me, taking my hands in his softly swaying them back and forth before suddenly picking me up and spinning me around.

I let out a squeak before giggling madly as I buried my face into his golden mane. He set me back down and he immediately embraced me and he said.

“Had I known just how beautiful you’d look in a wedding dress, I would’ve locked you away in a tower and kept you to myself.”

“That wouldn’t have worked, I’d just scale down the tower and make it to my wedding.” I said which made him groan and me laugh softly. I separated enough from him just to look up at him and I asked him, “But seriously though do I look ridiculous and Brian and Deacy are just being nice to me just because I’m the bride?”

“Darling you—are an absolute vision. My little lioness cub is all grown up.”

“And you’re happy right?” He looked at me as if I had grown two heads but answered with a smile.

“Love I’m…..very happy.” He brought me back into his arms and held me. “And you should be too.”

“I am it’s just…..” I trailed off.

“Just what love?” asked Brian with a tilt of his head. Roger released me from his embrace but kept an arm wrapped around me as I spoke the truth.

“I know I shouldn’t be thinking of this, especially today but…..I still wished that there would be four people walking me down the aisle on my wedding day.” The boys instantly knew what I was talking about.

Even after what he had said, I could still hear Freddie speak about all the wedding plans he had in mind over a year ago when Jack and I were still just friends. He said that he knew what dress I should wear, how he’d do my hair, makeup, everything.

Claiming that he’d be the best Maid of Honor and know exactly what I would want for my big day.

“We know love. But he made up his mind, and he lost his chance when he said those things to you. Anyone who would say something like that to the future bride has no right to walk you down the aisle. But we’re here for you. Because we love you, and that will never, ever change. We’re a family, right till the end.” Roger said as he brought me close in a one armed hug and turned up my chin to look at him.

He smiled softly and leaned his forehead against mine as he lightly pecked my nose making me smile.

“Now there’s the smile of the bride we needed to see. And that smile better stay there till the end of the day.” Deacy said. I rolled my eyes playfully at him and that’s when the three of them put me at the center of a group hug.

“Thank you Brian, Deacy, Roger. You guys have—done more for me than I could possibly ever imagine. I’m proud to call you three my family, and to give me away to Jack.”

“We’re just happy that you came into our lives. We don’t know what we would’ve done had Jim hired someone else for that internship.” Said Brian as he lightly stroked down my hair as well as the two tier wedding veil that was pinned into my hair. After awhile of staying in the guys’ group hug, we all separated and Deacy asked me.

“You ready poppet?” I exhaled deeply and I said with a smile.

“Ready.” Deacy nodded then he headed for the door and opened it up while Brian took the first section of my veil and turned it over so that my face was now covered. Brian stood to my right while Roger was at my left and the two of them each held out their arm crooked out for me to take.

I quickly grabbed the bouquet and wrapped my arms around each of theirs and they escorted me out of the house and the second my dress was in the clear, Deacy shut the door and locked up Gen’s house with the key that she said she had.

When we arrived at the car, Roger opened the door for me and I got inside with their help of getting my dress inside and soon Roger came and sat beside me while Brian sat in the front passenger side and Deacy drove us to the Kline family ranch where the wedding and the reception would take place.

Within 25 minutes we arrived and you could already see cars and limos parked alongside the front of the house. We pulled right on in since the dive way had to be reserved for when the bride would arrive.

Deacy parked in the side garage of the Kline house and there stood Kelly and her husband and my future step father in law or I guess I should call him father in law since he’s been there for Jack since the beginning, Misha.

Deacy shut the car off and we all exited the car. Since this was America and cars were built differently, Brian opened my door and helped me out of the car while Deacy and Roger got out on their own.

Roger came around and helped Brian with me and once Misha saw me he said.

“Wow (y/n), you look beautiful.”

“Thank you Misha.”

“Everyone’s waiting for the bride. Just come through the kitchen and out into the backyard just like we rehearsed last night.” Kelly said. I nodded and soon my in laws left the garage leaving the boys and I alone once more.

I was helped up the stairs by Brian and we soon entered the kitchen. I exhaled once more and I said.

“Please tell me this isn’t a dream.”

“No love, it’s real.” Assured Deacy.

“Good, because I don’t wanna wake up from this.” I said happily. The boys smiled at me and they each got to their positions.

Roger would stand to my left, Brian to my right and Deacy just behind Roger with a hand on my shoulder.

*3rd Person POV*

All the guests sat on white chairs with the groom’s family on the right and the bride’s family and friends on the left, and a stake of four different colored roses being yellow, red, pink and white sat in a small basket hanging from the hooks of the stakes.

The bridesmaids and groomsmen were already standing at the side of the beautifully handmade archway with beautiful ferns hanging from the corners and sides of the archway.

There with the priest stood Jack in a light grey suit waiting to see his future bride walk down the aisle. Soon music began to start up.

Coming down the aisle first was John and Veronica’s daughter Laura who was the flower girl. She was all dolled up in her salmon pink dress and everyone awed at how adorable she was as she tossed down the flowers as she walked down the aisle. When she was done, she raced towards her mother who was standing as the Matron of honor.

The music then changed to a different tune. Instead of the traditional ‘here comes the bride’ theme, (y/n) and Jack agreed to have the song that both made them realize they were in love with each other, and that was a ballad version of ‘Somebody to love’.

Everyone stood up and turned towards the house and soon coming out from the opened kitchen doors was (y/n) being escorted by her brother and two fathers. When Jack saw (y/n) walking down the aisle, never had he thought he’d seen something so beautiful and he knew that she would always be the one he’d spend the rest of his life with.

(Y/n) stared at Jack with tears forming in her eyes but a wide smile was spread across her face through her veil. Once they reached the alter they stopped and Roger being the one who was more like a father to (y/n), took the front part of the veil and lifted it over (y/n)’s head and smoothed it out so that it now looked like a single long veil that reached passed her midback.

Roger cupped (y/n)’s face and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger there for a moment like any other father would probably do at seeing his little girl getting married. He then stared at her lovingly with tears in his eyes as she now turned to Deacy.

As the brother of the bride, he hugged her before giving her a loving kiss on the cheek. He whispered to her.

“Congratulations sister dear.” Which made (y/n) smile. Finally she turned to Brian who cupped both sides of her face and stared deeply into her eyes. His blue eyes filled with tears of happiness as he leaned forward and kissed the one spot he always favored; her nose. He pressed his forehead against hers as he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs before finally separating from her.

All three boys then turned to Jack and one by one starting with Deacy, they shook hands with the groom in one final acceptance as well as congratulations. Brian was next and he nodded to Jack and muttered to him.

“You’re a good man Jack, you best take care of her.”

“I will.” Jack whispered. Finally Roger stepped forward and the two shook a firm grip and spoke not a word, but in Roger’s eyes there was nothing but acceptance and pride.

The three members of Queen turned back towards (y/n) and they each held a hand out to her. (Y/n) raised out her right hand and they each took a hold of it; Roger taking the tips of her fingers, Brian around her palm and Deacy at her wrist and together the three of them placed her hand into Jack’s.

Once Jack had a grip of her hand, they were forced to let go and allow a new man to take care of her. But they knew she’d be in good hands.

It was then Brian, Roger and Deacy walked over to the groom’s side so that way they could walk with their wives back once the ceremony was over. Deacy stood as Best Man while Brian and Roger stood behind him.

Brian patted Roger’s back knowing how his friend was taking this. Roger did the same for Brian while Deacy stayed calm and collected but on the inside he was just bursting with emotion as he watched his sister now position herself in front of Jack.

*My POV*

I can’t believe it. I’m standing right here in a wedding dress in front of the man I love about to get married and become Mrs. (Y/n) Kline. Jack stared at me with eyes full of love and awe as the initiator finally spoke.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together Jack Kline and (Y/n) (l/n) in holy matrimony. Love transcends even the greatest of distance. And even from different countries, these two in the eyes of God were meant to find each other. As Mr. Kline and Ms. (l/n) have chosen to recite their own vows, we shall begin with the wife’s vows.” I turned towards Veronica who handed me a piece of paper all the while keeping a hand on Laura. I took the paper and turned towards Jack as I unfolded the paper to show the vows that I have poured my heart and soul into. I looked down at it and spoke.

“Jack Kline; for so long all I ever wanted was to one day find the love that my mother had found in my father. After their death, I thought that dream was gone forever. That my life would one day perish just like they did in the blink of an eye. But I guess my parents must still be watching over me, because a year ago at a club, they sent you to save me from the annoyance that is the press. And now here we are, with our future before us. And I know that I only wish to spend the rest of my life with you. You are my prince, my soulmate……my best friend.” I tried so hard to keep my tears at bay but I guess one must’ve slipped out because I soon felt Jack’s hand cup my face and wipe away my right cheek. I handed my vows to the priest and he turned to Jack.

“Jack Kline, your vows next.” Deacy then handed Jack a piece of paper but Jack didn’t unfold it. He merely gave it to the priest and Jack said.

“(Y/n) when I went to London, I thought I was just going because I needed an escape. But from the moment I saw you; I knew you were more than just the fame and fortune that came to your name. I found out that the Rock Angel was the sweetest, down to earth, caring yet strong and independent person. Every day with you over that last summer was an adventure, and now I am ready to take whatever new adventures the two of us embark together. And it doesn’t matter what happens because I am always going to love and be there for you no matter what. We may have our fights but I know we’ll pull through because that’s what we do. Because you are the melody to my harmony, my princess, my Rock Angel.”

I sniffled softly at hearing his vows and knowing that he didn’t even have to open his vows to read them, he just knew it like the words to a song.

“Now that the vows have been exchanged may we please have the rings?” We each turned towards our Matron of honor and Best Man and they handed us our rings then Jack and I turned back towards each other taking each other’s hands. “Do you, Jack Kline take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife. For richer, for poorer, to hold and to keep from now till forever. In sickness and in health till death do you part?”

“I do.” Jack answered as he placed my wedding ring on my finger.

“And do you (Y/n) (l/n) take this man as your lawfully wedded husband. For richer, for poorer, to hold and to keep from now till forever. In sickness and in health till death do you part?”

“I do.” I answered lovingly as I placed the wedding band on Jack’s finger. The two of us held hands with each other staring lovingly into each other’s eyes smiling happily.

“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Kansas, it gives me great honor to pronounce you both; Husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.” Jack immediately cupped my face and we shared our first kiss as husband and wife.

The entire crowd cheered and applauded as Jack and I kept the kiss going. After what felt like eternity we separated and Jack picked me up and spun me around making me laugh joyously.

It was official. I was now (Y/n) Kline, wife of Jack Kline.

The reception then moved into the barn. It was all decorated with strings of warm lights and elegant tables all around with seating charts for the guests. Jack and I stood outside the barn kissing each other softly before we would enter inside.

“I can’t believe we’re finally married.” I stated in awe as Jack’s hands cupped my face and his thumb delicately stroked my cheek.

“Well best believe it baby, you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

“I’ll gladly take you over anyone else.” We kissed each other again. He tried to make the kiss more passionate but I stopped him and teased him, “Save that for the honeymoon sweetie, we’ve got a reception to go to.”

“Can’t we just bail out?” he whined.

“No, no we need pictures of the reception and I need my father-daughter dance with the boys. I didn’t bust my ass trying to convince Brian to dance with me for months on end to let it all go to waste just because you couldn’t keep it in your pants till we got to Capri.”

“Okay, okay fine. It’s just—you look so beautiful that I want to have all of this to myself for the rest of the day.”

“I know, you look quite dapper and really sexy in this gray suit. But come on, just a few more hours and then it’ll be just you and I for 8 whole weeks.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Mrs. Kline.”

“Mm I like the sound of that, Mr. Kline.” I said as I leaned forward and captured his lips with mine. After softly making out with each other for a few more minutes, we entered the barn and the minute everyone saw us, they applauded. We waved to them and arrived at our table and that’s when the Best Man and the Matron of Honor would give their speeches to the bride and groom.

As everyone sat down, Veronica first started up since John’s never really been one for starting up a speech. She lightly tapped her champagne glass and she was given a microphone by Jensen whom she thanked and she said.

“Test, test ohh okay can I have everyone’s attention for a moment, please? Thank you.” The place quietened down as Veronica gave her speech. “Now I may not have known her very long, but it’s felt like a lifetime ago that I first met (y/n) back way before she became known as the Rock Angel. But I knew from the moment I first met her, I knew she would be going places. And within just barely a year of knowing her, she’s become a rock legend for young women everywhere. She has a heart of gold and a powerful soul. You’ve become like the sister I’ve always wanted.” I smiled up at her and I reached out my hand and she took it as she continued, “Now you’re about to embark on an amazing adventure with the man who chose you out of every girl in the world, and I am so happy that he did. You both remind me so much of John and myself and I hope that you both last forever. To (Y/n) and Jack.”

“To (Y/n) and Jack!” the crowd toasted as they raised their glasses for the Matron of honor’s toast. It was then Deacy stood up and he said.

“Well I’m not as good with public speaking, nor can I ever top my lovely wife whenever she speaks in general.” That got a few soft laughs as Veronica playfully shook her head at her husband. Deacy softly laughed and said, “When I first met (y/n), I knew in a second that she would be worth something special. Not only can she match my sassy attitude, but she’s helped me come out of my shell even more than I thought I could. And it was that moment I knew we had that connection with each other, and I said to myself ‘no man is ever gonna be good enough for my little sister’. But then…..a year ago this young man Jack Kline came along in her life, and I’ll admit I like those two over there,” gesturing towards Brian and Roger, “Wanted to take this boy and interrogate him for a week in order to make sure he was good enough for our girl. But as I got to know him, he’s a genuine, talented and a great guy that I am honored to call not only my apprentice, but as a friend.”

Deacy and Jack looked to each other and he continued,

“And when I began to notice the way he started looking at her, much like my lovely wife mentioned; it was like seeing myself and Veronica all over again. I knew they’d eventually had to end up together, and I can’t think of any two people more meant for each other than the two people sitting next to me.” I looked up at my brother as Jack and I held hands with each other. “To the bride and groom. May you both remain together forever.”

“To the bride and groom!” everyone raised their glasses once more and we all downed our champagne glasses.

After the toasts, I got up from my seat and took Jack’s hand. I then escorted him onto the platform stage at the far end of the barn. Brian, Deacy, and Roger came up on the stage and Brian helped me up onto the stage and I tapped the microphone at the piano and tapped on it and said.

“Okay hope this works, is it too loud? Or have I made you all deaf?” They all gave me the all good clearance and I said. “Good, good. Umm. First of all I want to thank you all for coming on this beautiful day to our wedding.” I then turned my attention to Jack who stood beside me at the piano, “Jack, my prince charming. No other words can describe for what the future will hold for us. But what I do know, is that I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you. To share a million hopes with you, a million adventures with you, a million dreams with you.”

I then turned to Brian who was sitting on a stool with his 12 strong acoustic, Roger who was at the drums and Deacy who had borrowed one of the cellos from the orchestra players of Jack’s church orchestra.

First Deacy began to slowly play the cello and then Brian began strumming the guitar of the song the guys helped me make back in London and I played the first three notes of the piano and I stared up at Jack as I began to sing my song dedicated to him for our wedding.

I called it; “A Million Dreams”.

*Me*

I close my eyes and I can see

A world that's waiting up for me

That I call my own

Through the dark, through the door

Through where no one's been before

But it feels like home

As the song began to pick up, Roger came in with a steady and gentle beat of the drums. And then by the time of the chorus, my voice went up in volume as the three instruments began to pick up the speed with the chorus.

My eyes not leaving Jack’s once as I sang into the microphone and I took his hand with mine stroking the back of his palm.

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy

They can say, they can say I've lost my mind

I don't care, I don't care, if they call me crazy

We can live in a world that we design

'Cause every night, I lie in bed

The brightest colors fill my head

A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be

A vision of the one I see

A million dreams is all its gonna take

Oh, a million dreams

For the world we're gonna make

Now the piano bit really started to come in for this verse so I took over for majority of the second verse with the piano, while the guys came in on their cues.

*Me*

There's a house we can build

Every room inside is filled

With things from far away

Special things I compile

Each one there to make you smile

On a rainy day

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy

They can say, they can say we've lost our minds

See, I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy

Run away to a world that we design

Roger came in on the 2nd chorus and just like we had rehearsed, he went up in his high, raw range while I kept to my well-known low mezzo alto rang. Our voices blending together in perfect harmony. And like I had finally clicked and debated when I first started writing the song, on the word “take” I stayed down while Roger went up on the word.

*Roger and I*

'Cause every night, I lie in bed

The brightest colors fill my head

A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be

A vision of the one I see

A million dreams is all its gonna take

*Me*

Oh, a million dreams

For the world we're gonna make

It was then I stood up from the piano and wrapped my arms around Jack while Brian now sat at the piano and took over for me.

Allowing Jack and I to have our bride and groom dance.

Jack smiled and stepped off the stage in tune with the music and by the “share your dreams with me” line of the song, Jack gently picked me up by the waist taking me off the stage and down to the dance floor.

The two of us waltzed around the entire open space as I kept singing my song, not once stopping for a second and keeping in time with both my song and our dance. Jack twirled me around so that my back was touching his chest his arms wrapped around me as I kept hold of his hands and the two of us side-stepped forward.

There gentle lifts in the air, a two step waltz before we came together and I spun out of his arms and continued to softly spin, my wedding dress luckily with its ballroom like shape lifted up when it needed to on the spins allowing me to not trip over my dress.

*Me*

However big, however small

Let me be part of it all

Share your dreams with me

We may be right, we may be wrong

But I wanna bring you along to the world I see

To the world we close our eyes to see

We close our eyes to see

Jack caught me in his arms allowing me to stop spinning. I leaned up against him my back to his chest as his arms wrapped around my waist and my head rested near his shoulder as we stared into each other’s eyes.

Just before the start of the final chorus, I twirled out of Jack’s arms but my left hand remained in his right and like a ballet dancer I posed with my right arm extended upwards.

Our danced picked up once more with dancing around each other, keeping our hands locked together as we waltzed some more. He brought me into his arms before allowing me to spin outwards but I stopped just as our fingertips were about to separate from each other while my right arm was extended outwards in front of me.

Every night, I lie in bed

The brightest colors fill my head

A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be

A vision of the one I see

A million dreams is all its gonna take

For the final part of the dance, Jack spun me back towards him and our hands joined together as we held onto each other as the two of us began spinning around and around in a circle. We never once broke apart as we spun faster and faster and even when Jack moved his hands to my waist and I held my hands up in the air as I belted out that last note proudly.

By the end of the song, Jack brought me close to him, my arms wrapped around his shoulders, our foreheads touching together and our noses grazing each other’s as I smiled and sung out the last line.

A million dreams

For the world we're gonna make

As the last notes of the guitar was played, Jack and I leaned close and gently kissed each other with pure love, while the whole barn erupted with cheers and applause. Whistles were blown out specifically from Jensen and Jared, and as I turned toward the stage Roger, Deacy and Brian clapped and smiled down at Jack and me. I smiled back at them and Jack and I gestured towards the boys and they took a bow for their performance.

Soon everyone got the chance to dance with their partners and after a couple more dances with Jack as the bride and groom, now came time for the “Father-daughter” dance for the bride and her father, or in my case fathers and brother.

First up was Brian. He came up to me and like the gentleman he was, held out his hand for me and asked.

“May I cut in?” Jack nodded in acceptance and stepped aside allowing Brian and I to stand face to face with each other. I took his hand and we got into position while everyone cleared the dance floor and soon playing through the speakers was Kenny Roger’s “Through the years”.

Brian and I chose this song because like the lyrics say, both of us had taught each other something in life. He had taught me how to be more self-confident and to not listen to the dark voices in my head, he taught me how to be a better guitar player and song-writer, and together we both taught each other that it’s okay to not be okay.

Sometimes Brian had his dark days and I was there to help him through it when he was going through a rough patch with gentle snuggles and warm hugs.

The 2nd chorus is what really drew the song for us. With all that’s happened these past several months since March, we needed each other now more than ever and there would be some good and bad times head but so long as we’re together we were gonna be okay.

By the end of the song, everyone applauded and Brian cupped my face and kissed my nose gingerly as he stroked my cheekbones with his thumbs ever so gently.

He then took my hand and held it out and soon taking it was Deacy. Brian soon stepped aside and now Deacy and I got into position one. My arm wrapped around his back and soon our song “Here comes the sun” by The Beatles came up on the speakers.

Since this was a brother-sister dance we both agreed to not let the song be too mushy cause I would get enough of that from Roger and Brian and I didn’t want to cry so much at my wedding.

So one day while I was at his house visiting the kids, I was playing with Laura when I heard John in the kitchen who was preparing lunch for his munchkin army, whistling the song. I bopped my head along and then right at the time the song would begin I softly muttered the song while still playing dolls with Laura.

Deacy turned towards me and I looked toward him the two of us staring at each other in silence before he resumed whistling and I sung the next verse of the song.

After lunch while the kids played out in the backyard, the two of us played his Abbey Road record right to the song and as we listened to it, we turned to each other grinning at each other and as two born and bred Leicestershire Brits we knew this was our song choice for the wedding and we practiced our dance but agreed to not tell anyone our song until the wedding.

And here we are now. My head leaning against his shoulder as I softly hummed along to the song.

Then out of nowhere I actually got to hear for the first time Deacy actual sing in my ear. It was around the start of the 3rd verse, now it wasn’t as raw as Roger’s, strong as Freddie’s or melodic as Brian’s but it had that low, steady range.

Of course there were some small cracks in his voice as he softly sang, but it just made it more special because never did I think would I ever hear Deacy sing.

But it was here on my wedding day that I got to hear his voice, his real voice without the overpowers of the other members of Queen.

Once the song reached the end, everyone clapped and Deacy bowed to me like a gentleman and kissed the back of my palm before hugging me to which I immediately hugged him back.

“I’m never gonna let you live this down singing to me Deacy, you know that right?” I whispered to him.

“Just don’t push it sweetheart.” He whispered back before pecking my cheek and went off to find Veronica.

As the reception progressed on, I started to wonder where the hell Roger was. He was supposed to come right up after Deacy for our father-daughter dance but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I asked Dominique if she had seen him but she told me he slipped out during my dance with Brian.

I began to worry that he had ditched the dance or something, either that or he’s probably already shitfaced by now. God I knew I should’ve told the bartender to give him a limit.

“You okay baby?” I turned to see Jack coming up to me.

“Honestly Jack, not so good. Please tell me you know where Roger is.”

“Sorry hadn’t seen him since he performed our first wedding song.”

“Oh god,” I groaned as I sat down at one of the tables. “Today of all the times during my wedding he chooses now to ditch and probably get shitfaced and shag another woman probably.”

“Now hold on I wouldn’t go saying that. Maybe him and Jensen are out in the back having a long smoke break, you know those two are practically twins with the way they are.”

“Yeah. But I just wish that—”

“Umm excuse me can I please have everyone’s attention?” Roger’s voice soon came out from the speakers. I turned around and low and behold there stood Roger on stage with Brian, Deacy and Jensen.

Everyone began to quiet down as their attention turned to Roger. As Brian and Deacy grabbed their guitar and bass respectively and Jensen went behind the drum set, Roger spoke once again.

“Thank you. I promise you all can go back to drinking or snogging later I just need to make this one quick announcement. It may only have been just 4 short years ago but (y/n); You’ve come such a long way from the day I first saw you at that piano, and you have grown into such a beautiful young woman, and an inspiration to everyone around you. And I couldn’t be more proud of everything you’ve accomplished in life at such a young age. On this day; you’ve reached the highest milestone one can achieve. The man you’ve got sitting right beside you, he’s a good man. And I cannot imagine someone being worthy of you than Jack Kline.” At that point the guests all clapped and I smiled softly as Jack wrapped an arm around me and kissed my temple.

He put the microphone back in the holder and adjusted the stand to his height and he turned over to Deacy and nodded once. Deacy nodded back and first sound checked his bass before finally doing a familiar three note bassline.

Ba-da-dum. Ba-da-dum. Ba-da-dum.

Brian then came in on the guitar making his red special make that twang sound and I knew right away what song was about to be sung. Jensen soon began to play the drums as Roger then began singing “My Girl” by the Temptations.

*Roger*

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day

When it's cold outside

I've got the month of May

I guess you'd say

What can make me feel this way?

*Roger (Brian, Deacy, Jensen)*

My girl (my girl, my girl)

Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)

He hopped off the stage and walked towards Jack and I and held out his hand as he kept singing. With a teary smile I just stared at him and took his hand as he helped me up and gave me a gentle twirl before bringing me close as the two of us began our Father-Daughter dance.

By the chorus I was now standing practically chest to chest with him as he stared into my eyes singing my dad’s song to me. I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around his neck and just stare back at him with tears filling my eyes.

*Roger*

I've got so much honey

The bees envy me

I've got a sweeter song

Than the birds in the trees

Well I guess you'd say

What can make me feel this way?

*Roger (Brian, Deacy, Jensen)*

My girl (my girl, my girl)

Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)

*Roger*

Ooh

At the short instrumental break while Bri, Deacy and Jens did their little vocalization, Roger whispered to me.

“I love you so much my lion cub.” I choked out a laugh as tears were streaming down my face and I buried my face into his shoulder as he kissed my cheek before resuming the song.

As he came to the end of the song, he’d lift my chin up and wipe away my tears and was singing as his forehead was leaning against mine.

*Brian, Deacy, Jensen*

Hey, hey, hey

*Roger (Brian, Deacy, Jensen)*

Oooo yeah.

I don't need no money,

Fortune, or fame (ooh)

I've got all the riches baby

One man can claim

Well I guess you'd say

What can make me feel this way?

My girl (my girl, my girl)

Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day

With my girl (My girl)

(Talkin' 'bout my girl my girl)

I've even got the month of May

With my girl (My girl, woah)

Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout

Talkin’ ‘bout my girl (my girl, woah)

As everyone applauded, I couldn’t help but cry happy tears. Of course Roger wiped them away and I said to him.

“Thank god you went with My Girl rather than Happy birthday.” He smiled and said.

“C’mon love did you really think I’d pick that song for our father-daughter dance?”

“But why this song? I thought you hated songs like that because they were too disco for you?”

“I did, but then I remember you telling me that your dad would sing this to you when you were a little girl. Thought he would’ve wanted this song to be sung at your wedding.” I looked at him surprised.

“Roger. I told you that like 4 years ago when I was still Jim’s intern, how is it that you remember that?”

“When it comes to you love, I remember everything.” He said as he stroked my cheek. I looked at him ready to cry all over again as I whimpered.

“Oh dad, I love you!” I hugged him as tight as I could and he gladly hugged me back and said in my ear.

“I love you too my proud lioness.” I felt him kiss the side of my head as he kept me in his arms for a little while longer.

For the rest of the reception it was filled with nothing but love and happiness. Jack and I got to cut the cake together, and of course we had to tease each other as he playfully wiped a piece of frosting on my nose to which I retaliated and wiped a bigger bit of frosting across his cheek.

Hundreds of pictures were taken with family members; each picture being mixed up with various people in each pic like for example one picture was just with my and the boys, then me and Jack. Or Jack with the boys and me with his mum.

The bouquet and garter were each thrown and the lucky lady to catch the bouquet was none other than Deacy’s daughter Laura with the help of Veronica, and the garter was caught by Jared’s son 7 year old son Thomas with the help of his dad.

By nightfall all the guests had cleared out of the farm leaving Jack’s parents, my boys, their wives and children. Robert, Laura and Veronica were doing the last ribbon details on the back of Jack’s impala which read on the back window the famous.

JUST MARRIED!!

Jack and I came up to the car and we each said goodbye to our family and they bid us goodbye and for us to have a good honeymoon. Jack got in the driver’s seat and I got in the passenger seat and we both waved goodbye as Jack revved his engine.

Soon we drove off into the night.

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