Classic Rock One-Shots

The Dangerous Operation (~ Queen)

Roger walked up and down, whipping the palm of his left hand with one of his drumsticks. On the wall behind him was a blackboard, which had just been cleaned, although chalk marks were still visible. In front of him, Freddie and John were silently sitting on two separate chairs, hands on knees, patiently waiting for their bandmate to speak.

The three of them were wearing very peculiar outfits: blue overalls. Why would they wear such things, knowing that they were not professional manual workers?

The blond frowned, as the many thoughts invading his mind were debating, selecting the most logical ones. He suddenly stopped moving, and turned to his two friends, eventually looking at them. He cleared his throat, and put his fists on his hips.

"My friends, it is time. We have been waiting for too long since our last meeting of this kind. You both know what it's all about."

"Unfortunately, we do..." John sighed sadly.

"We must find a strategy. We must avoid pain as much as possible, otherwise, he will rip our heads off."

"Have we got the tools for that operation?" Freddie asked, slowly crossing his hairy arms against his chest.

Roger pointed at a box under the blackboard. The singer nodded in relief and scratched his dark mane. The three young men stared at the box for a long minute, considering the best strategy for the painful operation they were about to perform. It was the fifth time they had to interfere in such a tragic issue. However, they still did not know how to do it properly. They did not want to harm anyone, but they were aware that pain was unavoidable. Their last action had been such a failure, and the consequences had been so terrible that poor John had had nightmares for weeks.

Freddie suddenly raised his hand, bringing hope in the eyes of his two bandmates.

"Have you considered taking him by surprise? Maybe we shouldn't tell him, and... act."

"Freddie," Roger said in a strict tone, "he's going to struggle. Do you want our dear Deaky to have nightmares again for weeks?"

"Of course not, I just..."

"And we agreed to avoid pain as much as possible, remember?"

Freddie nodded and looked down. A shy and hesitant hand was raised, and Roger was surprised to see it was John's. He smiled at his younger bandmate.

"Yes, Deaks?"

"Ha-Have you tried the opposite move? Instead of going up to down, we could go down to up. Like... gradually. That's what I do when it happens to me. It hurts less. We just have to grab pieces and go up little by little."

"That is smart, John!" Freddie smiled widely, clapping his hands. "Will it be quicker than all the things we've tried?"

"I'm not so sure."

The three young men sighed at the same time. Roger turned to the blackboard and started to draw ridiculous diagrams with a piece of chalk. Freddie chuckled, but Roger's death glare thrown at him shut him up. John stuck his hands between his thighs, moving his legs nervously.

Once the drummer was done with his drawings, he spun round to face his friends once again. He pointed at the first drawing with his drumstick.

"Let's start. First step: once we all get our weapons, we surround the target. Second step: each one of us grabs a piece and performs what John said. Did I draw it right, Deaks?"

John turned pale.

"No, no, no, no!!"

He jumped on his feet and grabbed the chalk from Roger's hands. He removed the drawing with his sleeve, not caring much if he stained it. The tip of his tongue poked out from between his lips, as he carefully drew another diagram.