Good Company

Chapter 7

~you probably know what it's gonna be but hey, it's December 24th 1973~ 

Freddie and John raced their way through the grocery store and after about ten minutes they were standing outside again, panting. 

'Can we see Santa now?' 

Roger sighed. Kids are attracted by Santa like moths are attracted by light. 'Yeah, now we're going to see Santa. Take my hand, we don't want stupid people to cut the line because they think I'm just standing there.' 

When they arrived at the Santa meet spot thing, the line was only half the length it was when they first saw it, which was a relief, for Roger didn't feel like standing in line for a hour while Freddie and John were taking a look at random shop windows. 

'Now, you have to behave. No tricks. No being funny. Freddie, don't pull on Santa's beard. If you pull his beard, I can assure you he won't give you any presents. I can say that I have experience with being funny, and Santa did not appreciate that. Understood? Gotcha?' John and Freddie nodded and put on their serious faces. Well, not excactly serious, more like angry, causing Roger to laugh. Luckily, the boys can handle a joke, otherwise Roger would have been in for a long period of crying children. 

'I'd say it was unfair that you're laughing at us, but then I realised that you have to walk around with a funny face all the time instead of putting it on every once in a while.' Freddie smirked, and Roger looked at him as if he were inmensely shocked, and quasi-mad. 

Now, Roger's laugh hadn't only stirred the other Santa visitors: Santa himself had also heard the high pitched noise, and he'd swear he recognised it. If only he knew from what... 

'How much longer?' Freddie was clearly getting tired, which wasn't too odd because they'd been standing in line for twenty minutes. It's common knowledge that children and waiting don't go too well together, but they had come quite far: there were only four children between them and Santa, so that could take five to ten minutes at most. 

'It's almost out turn! Can you spot Santa yet?' Roger thought it best to distract them, for they wouldn't get bored, and he needed some entertainment himself, if he was being honest. It was near 18:00 and he wanted to head to the boys' home to make dinner, for otherwise Brian might be home before them and then the surprise would be ruined. Well, not ruined, just not prepared and served, but that would be a pity too, for the three of them had tried their best to come up with a nice vegetarian dish. 

John, meanwhile, had taken a few steps to the side. He now had a fine view over the line in front of him and, more importantly, Santa. 'Roger! Roger! It's really Santa!' He ran back and pulled Roger to the spot where he had been standing. 'Look! It really is Santa!' Roger scratched the back of his neck, not really sure what to answer. It was a Santa, yes. Just not a completely unfamiliar Santa. They could, theoretically speaking, go home and wait for Santa to get home and sit on his lap after work hours. Santa was none other than Brian May, they guy he'd been working for the past two months. The guy who let him take his dog with him so she wouldn't be lonely. The guy who invited him to have dinner with them if the stores were already closed by the time he was off. 

Roger yanked John back in line by his arm and crouched down before him and Freddie. 'Listen, kiddo's. I need you to be extraordinarily good for Santa, yes? Remember what I said earlier: don't be funny and don't pull his beard or pieces of clothing or hair or whatever you can think of. You just sit there, you answer Santa's questions and that's that. No weird stuff. Got it? Yeah?' 

Roger tried his best to stay friendly, but he felt like the boys needed a firm hand in order to understand properly. The line shrunk down to the point where they were next. John and Freddie could barely contain their enthousiasm, while Roger desperately tried to make eye contact with Brian, who was completely focused on the girl on his lap. As soon as the little girl jumped off, he saw his own children. Freddie ran towards him, and John, not as brave and daring as Freddie, timidly shuffled towards him. Brian gulped, but he couldn't stop now, it would be too suspicious. He hoped that they wouldn't recognise their own father through the lower voice, costume and beard, or it wouldn't end well for him. He might not get paid, and then he would have wasted the afternoon ànd there would hardly be any presents. For Freddie's en John's sake, he had to keep up the facade. 

'Come, you can both take a knee. Tell me, what are your names?' Brian tried to make his voice a few pitches lower, and he was kind of succesful. He sounded like someone who was trying to sound manly but had a high pitched voice, meaning his voice pitch changed between his normal pitch and the lower pitch. Well, at least he certainly didn't sound like himself. 

'I'm Freddie, and that's John.' Brian smiled at John, trying to make him speak for himself, for otherwise Freddie would take over and then John wouldn't speak at all. 

'What did you wish for, John?' 

John looked down. 'What's wrong? Don't you want to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?' John inaudibly whispered something. 

'What was that?' John then whispered in Brian's ear: 'I want my daddy to be happy all the time, even when he thinks we're not watching.' 

Brian's heart melted. How come he deserved such a sweet boy? He vowed to try and work on his depression, actually seeing a therapist, as from January. 

'I'm sure you'll get your wish, John, it's a very nice thing to wish for. How about you, Freddie?'

Freddie started ranting about all the nice things he wanted, and Brian looked at Roger, who was standing to the side to get the best view. Roger looked back with an expression like How can you stay calm like this? Any minute now, one of them could recognise you!  Brian smiled at him, making sure it seemed like his attention was with the kids, and mouthed back: get them out of here as soon as possible! 

Roger understood the message, and intervened. 'John, Freddie, there's other kids too. Let's go home to prepare dinner before your dad gets home, he might beat us!' 

This triggered them, and they said a quick goodbye to Santa before following Roger to the car. Brian sighed, relieved. He'd not messed up. He'd get paid, shop for gifts and make sure to give his boys the Christmas they deserve. Thank god Roger was there. 

A/N: I'M GOING TO THE WWRY MUSICAL TONIGHT AND OML I'M EXCITED SINCE I CAN'T GO TO THE SHOW IN MY COUNTRY AND THIS IS ALSO AWESOME SO YAAAYY