A Man For All Seasons (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

36. Pipe Dreams and Cuddles

Caution: Mature themes. Viewer discretion advised.

Julia

"We're here," I announced, cruising past the Hard Rock motor court.

"First, one more!" Freddie crowed.

"Haven't I wrecked their reputations enough?"

"Oh, come on, one last knock can't hurt."

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you while I pull into the garage. Let's see- ah, I know. So, there's a part regarding the solo album."

"Whose? Mine?"

"Of course, yours. They don't even acknowledge Brian's or Roger's." For the past ten minutes I had been feeding Freddie details on Bo Rhap that I found the most outrageous; it was the only way I could dissuade him from desecrating my mother's car in the name of love.

He frowned. "Brian recorded a solo album?"

"You know, the Star Fleet thing."

Freddie thought it over. "I'm not sure that counts, I mean, Brian did that with Roger's help, and er, it's I think two or three songs rather than a full-fledged record-"

"It counts," I said flatly, making him snicker. "Anyway, so they show all you guys sitting in a room together and you announce-"

"No, not me, it's the person who-"

"Right, sorry. Ahem. Rami announces he's signed a deal with CBS to record a couple albums outside of Queen, and the whole band gets up in arms about it, says that y- that Rami is basically breaking up the band, and the whole scene, in fact the next twenty minutes of the film, is presented in a way to make Rami the bad guy for wanting to do what, in real life, Brian and Roger had already done several years before. It's the most blatant hypocrisy and it makes my blood boil just thinking about it. They make you the villain of your own movie."

He worked his mouth thoughtfully. "Now, when you say villain- I mean, what happens? Do they actually say that he's breaking up the band, or is it sort of just implied?"

"The line from Great Value Roger is, and I quote, 'You just killed Queen.'"

He rolled his eyes. "And you said, they approved this rubbish?"

"Approved it? Sweetheart, they funded it, they promoted the hell out of it- and incidentally, Brian himself fought to keep that scene in the film."

With a tongue-in-cheek flourish, Freddie buried his face in his hands.

"Yeah. And then the next twenty minutes is a great big middle finger to you and your work. I mean, they literally have you call your own solo album shit!"

He lifted his head. "I thought you didn't like my solo album, either."

"I said it wasn't my favorite, I would never call it shit," I said, but inwardly I added, Aloud, that is- with you sitting in the room.

Freddie scoffed. "I mean, it's not going to win any awards or, or dethrone a Queen album as far as sales are concerned- and I never expected it would. I just made the album to make it. It was just another project to work on, in addition to stuff with Queen."

"I know that."

"So, what? The others can branch out, try new things, but I'm not allowed to?"

"That's the impression I got. If you ask me, I think they both are still pretty sore that your solo album did better in the charts than theirs."

"I mean, if they're still pissed about that forty years later, that's fucking ridiculous."

"So are they." Here I spied a space within adequate distance of the elevator. "Honestly, I think the reason the movie was successful at all was because of the music itself, and if nothing else, that's a testament to your genius as an individual, and as a band. Beyond the music, it's just straight-up character assassination."