angel | dealor

eighteen

The air was electric in the bustling club as we waited by the side of the stage. It was my first time experiencing the atmosphere, and it was truly getting my heart pounding.

I'm not completely sure how Freddie convinced the club to let a group of sixteen year olds (bar him) play on a Friday night, but he managed it. He 'twisted the truth' slightly and just skipped small bits of information, such as our ages. They seemed a little shocked when we showed up, but people were expecting live music, and it was too late for them to find a replacement. Still, we weren't attempting to buy alcohol, so they didn't really have any reason to be upset with us.

I'd just finished setting my drums up and had followed Brian on a check of the guitars. Freddie and John had both run off to the toilet before our set, leaving Brian and I practically bouncing off of the walls with anticipation. It was our first proper show with a real audience, and it was still exciting even if it was only a couple of songs. Where the hell were John and Freddie?

"Ready, dears?" Freddie asked, snapping me back into reality and forcing me to grin, all of us looking at each other as we nodded. "We're gonna kill it, c'mon. Let's get out there."

After everyone had muttered their good luck messages, I jogged onto the stage and took my seat behind the drums. A few people noticed my reappearance and started to cheer, even without me doing anything. Still, always one to play for the crowd. I picked my sticks up from the snare and twirled them around my fingers, grinning at those who were cheering.

"Show off," John smiled as he walked past me, going to get his bass from its stand. It had been a few weeks since the incident, and we were growing stronger with each coming day. I felt a lot of love for the boy, he was just too sweet to be human. I really struck gold with him. It was a shame, though. After what I'd done, he could never trust me in the same way he had done before. Don't get me wrong, we trusted each other, and he didn't become some sort of control freak, but it wasn't the same. I'd stopped going to parties, all of my own choice, but never stopped John from going if he so wished. He needed some fun in his life.

We played our first song and then Freddie introduced each of us in turn.

"To my right stands Mr John Deacon, our extraordinary bassist," He said, causing John's cheeks to pink as he smiled and waved at the cheering crowd. "To my left, Mr Brian May, on his homemade guitar," Brian was more confident than John, playing a couple of chords for the crowd. "And aaall the way back there, Mr Roger Taylor on drums." Freddie pointed at me once he'd finished speaking, and I couldn't help but one-up Brian. The playful glare from him that I received whilst the crowd was cheering for my short drum piece made me laugh quietly.

"And I, darlings, am Freddie Bulsara. My job is to keep these monkeys in line." I rolled my eyes at that, grinning and hitting snare-snare-crash, creating the 'badum-tshh' sound that had the crowd laughing, and Freddie turning to stick his tongue out at me.

"Anyway. We are Queen. Thank you for coming to listen."

We played six songs in total (a couple ours, the rest covers), and then we were packing up our kit. A friend of Freddie's from his art class was borrowing his dad's van for the night, he'd dropped us off earlier and would be back to pick us up at some point. The only problem was, the club had cut our set short when they saw that we were younger than they expected, which really only made matters worse for them. We couldn't leave until our lift showed up and if we'd been allowed to play longer, we would have been out of the way. Cutting us off meant we'd have to hang around the club for a while. Smart planning on their part.

I'd lost Brian and John in the crowd, and Freddie had disappeared a while ago. He wasn't far away, I could spot his face every now and then, but I had no clue where the others were.

Still, I didn't mind. I was enjoying myself. I'd never even given bars a thought up until this point. Hopefully Freddie's friend would take a while, because I had quite some time to wait before I could legally get into bars solely for the nightlife.

"Hey, you did great tonight," I turned to follow the voice, grinning when I locked eyes with a young man, barely older than me by his looks. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Oh, I'm not drinking," I told him politely, "But, thanks for the offer. And I'm glad you enjoyed the show."

"Oh, come on. It's gotta be boring to be the only sober person in the room. Come on, at least have one of these?" He pulled a plastic bag from his jacket pocket, and in the low light I could just make out that it contained some tablets. "Literally everyone's had one. It's just a bit of fun. I won't even charge you," He told me.

And in that moment, I let my curiosity get the better of me. How bad could it be?

———

Freddie

Roger had just disappeared somewhere. Tim had arrived with the van, and the little shit was nowhere to be seen. He had the most kit out of everyone, and it was the hardest to move. I knew he'd throw a fit if anyone hurt 'his precious drums', yet he wasn't here to move them himself.

Shoving through the crowd, I eventually saw a scene which make my jaw tighten and my fists clench. The little bitch was stood there with a girl hanging off either arm, giggling. Giggling. He wasn't necessarily flirting with them, nor even welcoming their cheek kisses or the closeness of their bodies. At the same time, he wasn't pushing them away. Well, I didn't think he was welcoming their actions, until one of them turned his head to kiss his lips, and he didn't fight it at all.

"Roger, what the fuck are you doing?" I yelled, storming towards him. His eyes locked with mine, but it seemed as if he was looking straight through me. As if he'd not even noticed I was there. His response was just another giggle, which caused all my anger to seep away. That far away look in his eyes didn't sit right with me, and the way he was behaving wasn't at all like Roger.

"Um.." He mumbled, swaying a little on his feet. "Don't know.. didn't tell me what it was called..." He giggled, leaning against my chest. So, he had noticed I was there.

As angry as I wanted to be at him for being so irresponsible, I knew there was no point. I had no idea what he'd taken, but I felt the best bet was to take him somewhere where he'd be comfortable, and could come down from it safely. Yelling at him could make him angry or something, and I didn't want to risk him getting harder to handle. He was difficult enough to handle sober.

"Come on. Let's get you in the van, okay? We'll put your stuff away for you," I told him, taking a hold of both of his shoulders and guiding him towards the back door. He didn't fight me, which I was thankful for. John and Brian gave us weird looks when I'd finally dragged him outside, and I just shook my head. "Someone's given him something."

John was the first to rush over, a worried look on his face as he wrapped his boyfriend in a hug. I wasn't about to tell him what I'd witnessed, because neither of them could handle that in the moment. Roger suddenly snapped out of his daze slightly upon the contact from his boyfriend, a wide grin on his face.

"Johnny! I love you, John.. This is my boyfriend," He told no one in particular, making me laugh a little. It was making me second-guess myself. John deserved to know what I'd witnessed, but Roger deserved to be happy. They made each other so ridiculously happy, and even during the short period of time they were broken up (unofficially) you could tell they were still in love. Maybe I'd tell him.

Not in that moment, however. We still needed to move the drums. I got Brian's attention and nodded my head towards the door. The pair of us silently slipped away and left John to try wrangle Roger into his seat.

a/n roger's a dumb bitch and im not sorry