bijou » brian may [queen]

4

It didn't take long for Lillian to realize that Brian hadn't been lying when he'd said that the guys would probably fall to their knees with gratitude at the simple gesture, much to her amusement.

"You don't happen to have a fiancé hidden away or something, do you now, darling?" Freddie asked, an expression of utmost seriousness on his face as he clasped both her hands in his. She didn't know whether to laugh at it, or cry at how relieved he seemed to have received her little nicety.

"No, but you do, you tart," Roger huffed from behind him, dragging him back by the collar, much to the singer's dismay.

"Careful with that, you senseless dolt, it's expensive silk—"

"Come off of it. You and I both know that it's a rip-off you got from Kensington market five years ago and can't seem to let go of. It's gotten all ratty at the edges, look—"

A mischievous glint in his eyes, John stepped in between the bickering duo, a look of feigned surprise on his face. "You know what, I think Roger's right. See Fred, the material's all frayed at the hems."

An array of increasingly agitated expletives left Freddie's mouth as he scrambled to toy with the supposedly ruined edges. After a few seconds of sporting that horrified expression as he inspected his beloved shirt, he was quick to realize that they'd only been messing with him on purpose. "You little fuckers..."

"Alright ladies, take a breather," Brian laughed a little at their antics, placating them with a half-hearted wave of his hand. "Cool yourselves down with the lemonade and then we'll get back to work."

"I'll have you know that we worked our asses off this morning while you were out prancing in the fields." Freddie arched his eyebrow and leaned in closer to him, taking a leisurely sip of his drink. "Come to think of it, what were you doing out there?"

"Minding my own business, nosy." Lightly pushing Freddie's face back and out of his personal space, he turned to glance back at the recording studio. With the exception of a few papers strewn about, half-crumpled and some stained with ink, their instruments seemed to have remained untouched where they'd been left the night before while unpacking. Though he didn't really seem surprised, he snorted at his friend's outright lies. "And what sort of work involves doodling a little on some papers and then ripping them out?"

"Genius takes time." The haughty look on Freddie's face and his wagging index finger only earned him grins from the others around him; even Lillian couldn't help but crack a smile at his antics.

Despite being an outsider, she could tell that any previous tensions from their hours inside this room had certainly dissolved. All in all, they looked like they were in good spirits, having chugged down the remains of the jar of lemonade until all that remained were the drops of condensation on its outside.

Roger rolled his eyes, though it seemed more fond than actually annoyed. "You leave him to his devices and he'll never get things done with that excuse of his."

"You said you'd started thinking this one up in college, didn't you?" John lightly prodded, a cheeky lilt to his voice despite his face not giving anything away. "I dare say we'll be done with this album when we've got one foot in the grave."

Freddie made a non-comittal sound, pushing the chair with his unfinished compositions to the side. "It'll come to me some other time, I know it."

"Time is money," John hummed back as he stood above him, before looking up at Lillian with a smile on his face. "See? Told you we're an odd bunch."

She nodded, pulling up a chair herself beside the couch Freddie had stretched out on. "I can see that. Still, you don't have to worry about money right now. Mr. Jones told me to remind you, actually, that you can always pay in installments whenever. Just let him know if that's something you'd like, and he'll make sure to get the arrangements done."