Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (JoeMazzello!JohnDeacon fanfic)

ten

John doesn't think he's ever seen so many people crammed into Freddie's flat. Most of them, he doesn't know. He and the others don't really run in the same circles - even if they are in a band together and so he mostly keeps to himself for the evening. 

And then, he spots Roxanne dancing in the middle of the crowd with one of Brian's friends, Matthew he thinks his name is. 

He's not sure how long he's been staring at her until she makes eye contact, waving excitedly as she starts battling her way through the crowd, holding her cup above her head and he stands straighter when she reaches him, "John!" 

"Roxanne," he greets quietly, clearing his throat as she steps closer to let someone by her and she smiles softly when the guys sings Roxanne! loudly into her ear. 

"Do you get that a lot?" 

"All the time," she nods, "Hey, you should come dance!" 

He's quick to rattle the couple of ice cubes that are in his glass, "Might need another few of these first." 

"Boring," she giggles, stumbling forward once more when someone else bumps into her and although John manages to catch her, her drink, red wine, spills down the front of his shirt.

"Oh god," Roxanne says loudly, dropping her now-empty plastic cup, "John, I'm so sorry." 

Her hands flutter over the front of his shirt and he catches hold of her wrists, "Hey, it's alright." 

"No," she drunkenly shakes her head, "No, I've ruined your shirt. It's one of your favourites too. Come on, maybe I'll be able to get the stain out." 

"Roxanne, it's fine, honestly." John's protests fall on deaf ears as her hand takes hold of his larger one and she starts dragging him through the crowd to where she thinks Freddie's bathroom is.

"Sit there," she pushes him down so he's sat on the edge of the bath, "If I'm quick, I should be able to get it out." 

John watches as she wets one of Freddie's washcloths and starts dabbing the front of the colourful shirt, "How much have you had to drink?" 

"'m not sure if I'm honest," she admits, giggling slightly and his hands rest on her waist when she stumbles over her own feet, "Roger keeps giving me drinks." 

"Of course he does," John mumbles as she starts scrubbing the shirt instead of dabbing, his hands moving to grasp her wrists gently when it's clear that her doing this is not helping one bit, "I think the shirt is ruined, love." 

Roxanne looks up and their noses brush, making her cheeks flush a light pink and before she can think, she opens her mouth, "John, why-" 

She's interrupted by a loud thumping on the door and they both hear Freddie's yell at them, "If the two of you are shagging in there, could you possibly move it to another room? Somewhere that isn't the only bathroom?" 

Roxy's face turns even redder, as does John as he stands up from the bath, hurridly moving to open the door. 

"We're not-"

As John continues to stutter out some sort of reply, Roxanne stands on her tiptoes to peer over John's shoulder, giving the guitarist a bright smile but that fades when she sees the door to the flat open and a very familiar brunette walk in. Kim. 

When she catches sight of John standing in the bathroom doorway, she waves excitedly and Roxy doesn't miss the way he seems to light up at the sight of her and he excuses himself so he can go greet her. 

"Roxy?" Roger questions, coming to stand beside her, "Another drink?" 

She wordlessly takes the cup he's holding up for her, unable to tear her eyes away from the pair, watching as they embrace but she forces herself to avert her eyes when he leans down to kiss her cheek.

"Hey," she feels Brian's hand on her shoulder but she keeps her gaze on averted to the wooden floor of Freddie's flat, "You alright?" 

"'m fine," she nods, "Just gonna go out and get some air." 

The two of them watch her as she heads for the open window that leads to the fire escape, swiping a packet of cigarettes on her way. 

"What...is she alright?" Brian asks. 

Roger looks to where he knows she had been looking, seeing who she was looking at and sighs, watching as John leads Kim into the kitchen to grab her a drink. 

Perfect. 

++|++

Roxy enjoys the warm evening air as she sits on the edge of the fire escape, legs dangling over the side. 

For a couple of minutes, she just listens, staring down at the packet of cigarettes in her lap. She doesn't even smoke but right now, she feels like one. 

God, she feels ridiculous getting this upset over a guy. 

But it's John. 

After maybe ten minutes, she hears the window behind her open and she quickly wipes under her eyes as she looks over her shoulder to see Brian's long leg sticking out of it. 

"Hey," he says, sitting down beside her and instinctively, she rests her head on his shoulder, "Roger told me-" 

"Great," she mumbles, "He may as well just go and tell John that I fancy him." 

"Are you okay?" 

She nods and then shakes her head just as Roger sits on her other side, "Why would he invite her?" 

"I don't think John would mean any harm by it," Roger says but that doesn't make her feel any better, "I mean, it's not as if you've told him that you-"

Roxanne sighs and hides her face in her hands, "I-I just don't....did he, has he said anything to you guys about her? Like, is he - are they dating?"

"He hasn't mentioned anything to us," Roger says as he takes the packet of cigarettes from her lap, "You know Deaky, he's a very private person." 

"Yeah? But he's your friend. Friends tell each other like this," Roxy rambles, "I mean, that way you can tell me." 

Roger rolls his eyes, "I thought you didn't like him like that." 

"I think we can assume that she was lying to you, Roger," Brian muttered before looking down at the sad young woman just as Freddie sticks his head out of the window, yelling that it's time for Roger to get his cake. 

At least that'll take Roxy's mind off of things for a little bit. 

++|++

for some reason, i don't think i'm writing this story as well as i could be. when i started planning, i had so many great ideas but see when it comes to writing them down, it's just so hard