He Makes Me (Queen AU)

Chapter 1

It all began in 1968, when Brian May stapled handwritten advertisements all around London, calling for a drummer for Smile, a new band he had founded with Tim Staffell. The two—a guitarist and bassist, respectively—considered themselves friends, having gone to grammar school together and playing in the same band before this one. They shared a similar vision in regards to the music they wanted to make, and because of that, Brian had no reason to believe that Tim had something else in mind for this new project.

The bassist knew what he was doing when he sent the guitarist out to post those flyers up wherever he could; what he didn't know was that he'd find just what he was looking for in a young man named Roger Taylor.

Roger heard about the audition from a friend who was enrolled at Imperial College, and though the friend mocked the flyer and its creators for requesting a "Ginger Baker type" drummer, the blonde sneaked off one day to give it a shot. After all, it wasn't like he had anything to lose—or so he thought.

He dragged his feet down the dark, narrow halls, his gaze flickering between the numbers displayed beside the classroom doors and the crumpled flyer in his hands—a small tear at the top from where he'd ripped it from the noticeboard at the school. Suddenly, while his head was down and his eyes were locked on the advert, Roger was shoved into the wall, the piece of paper slipping through his fingers and settling on the ground by his feet.

"Hey!" the blonde snapped at the person who'd brushed shoulders with him rather harshly, and who he assumed was a student. "Watch where you're going, would you? Bloody hell..."

The student spun around and flipped him the bird, barely catching sight of Roger's jaw drop before they turned back and continued down the corridor, descending the staircase at the end. The blonde had half a mind to go after the stranger; he even started to roll up his sleeves in preparation of throwing a hook or two their way, but instead, he refrained, bending down and snatched the flyer up from the floor. As he did this, the drumsticks he tucked in his back pocket slipped out, clattering against the cheap linoleum—the sound echoing down the empty hall.

With a frustrated sigh, Roger grabbed the sticks and went on his way, reaching the room indicated on the advertisement and peering his head around the threshold. His arrival gained the attention of the curly-haired Physics student and his brunette friend, who—upon noticing his presence—both stopped dead in the middle of the conversation they were having.

"Hi," Roger greeted, stepping into the doorway and holding up the flyer that had miraculously survived the trip. "I hear you're having auditions for a Ginger Baker type drummer?"

"Yeah," Tim drawled, enthralled by the blonde he couldn't take his eyes off of.

"W-Why don't you come on in," Brian stammered, just as fascinated by him as Tim. He lifted his hand in the direction of the drums that had been borrowed from a friend, wordlessly inviting the blonde to have at it. Roger grinned widely and handed off the flyer, gravitating towards the kit and, after retuning each drum by ear, taking to it like it was his own.

Admittedly, both Brian and Tim were enamored by his performance, but what they were really drawn to were his looks, his charisma.

Some would say it was almost love at first sight, but neither man would confess to this, afraid to admit to each other and themselves that they were attracted to a man. Instead, they chalked their blatant adoration up to Roger's talent, using his impressive abilities to mask their true feelings about him—one man's stronger than the other's. It was only in private, apart from one another, where they let their feelings show, thinking of their new drummer while they ran their hands over themselves in the shower or sketching him in the back of their notebook during class. The two imagined Roger differently, though, with Brian picturing the young man just as he was while Tim saw him more . . . dressed up.

It absolutely shattered the brunette when he found out that Roger had begun to develop an interest in Brian. About a year after they'd welcomed the blonde into the band, he discovered that the two of them had started to spend more time together, alone, outside of practice.

One night, while looking for the guitarist to discuss a new song he'd written, the bassist stumbled upon the pair in Imperial College's library, where they'd hidden themselves behind a bookcase. They sat dangerously close to one another on the floor with giddy grins plastered on their faces and light laughter stifled under their breaths. Tim lingered in the next row over, watching from in between books as the distance that separated the two bandmates shrunk. At one point, they were so close that Roger—staring lustfully into Brian's eyes—dared to graze his hand beneath the guitarist's jawline, lean in, and capture Brian's lips with his. The scene sent the bassist's heart racing and colored his cheeks a bright shade of red, but he kept quiet as the two began to lose themselves in the moment, the blonde moving himself into the guitarist's lap and the latter snaking his arms around the drummer's back to pull him closer.

Before it became too much to handle, Tim slipped away with his jaw clenched and his hands tightened into fists by his sides. On his long walk home through the cold of winter, with tears that threatened to spill from his eyes streaking his frost-bitten cheeks, the bassist debated what he should do about the new, forbidden coupling. He could confront them about it, but then what? Ask them to stop seeing each other so that he and the blonde could see each other? Threaten to expose them if they said no? They both had girlfriends; it wouldn't look good for either of them if word were to get out that they were seen locked at the lips with their hands going where they shouldn't have. However, he couldn't out them without running the risk of outing himself too.

It wasn't until Tim got home, calmed down, and warmed up that he contrived an even better idea, an idea so infallible that Brian would never get in his and Roger's way ever again, and no one would have to be discovered for who they really were. No one.