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

one hundred and eight

With that being said, he let's the door fall open and Roxanne crouches down to crawl in. She really hopes she can get back out again, "Why would I get...oh."

Inside the tent, curled up in the corner by the little boy, is a ginger cat and by Michael's feet, is the now empty packet of cold meat.

He's toying with his hands as the cat raises its head, intrigued by the newcomer, "Please don't get mad."

"Michael," she says quietly but her voice is firm, "Michael, who's cat is that?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No," he shakes his head, "It was - I was playing on the swing when he same out from under the hedge. I pet him and the next day, he came back. That's when I took the chicken."

"Mikey-"

"Then he kept coming back!" he goes on, "And he likes me, mummy. He let's me pet him, he comes into the tent - he sleeps in here!"

"But what if he's someone else's cat?"

"What if he's not? What if he doesn't have a home?"

Roxanne looks at the cat and runs her hand over his fur and he purrs loudly. He did look smaller than should be, leading her to believe that he was perhaps a stray.

"Do Isla and your brothers know?"

He shakes his head, "Didn't want them to know because then they'd try and steal him. Can we please keep him?"

"Don't look at me like that, Michael," she pleads as he gives her the most adorable eyes, looking away as she sighs, "Let me talk to your dad, okay?"

"Really?!" he grins in excitement as she nods and he pulls the cat into his arm, "Hear that, Jellybean? You get to stay!"

"Might get to stay!" Roxy tries to remind him but he's completely ignores her and really, she can't bring herself to be mad.

++|++

"What do you know about Live Aid?"

They'd just finished dinner and once Arthur had helped clean up, he had gone and joined the rest of the kids...well, they didn't quite know where they were but John and Roxy were putting the dishes away.

She turns from where she's stacking them back up in the cupboard, "Just bits and bobs on the radio. That it's shaping up to be one of the biggest concerts there's ever been. Why?"

"We've been asked to play."

"Really? John, that's great!"

He nods, "It's a great opportunity, yeah but Rox, so many people will be there. So many people will be watching on tv screens or listening to it on the radio."

"So?"

"Well, 's a little bit daunting don't you think? It'll be the biggest crowd we've ever played to...and we're not even sure that anyone will know who we are. We're getting on a bit, love."

"Oh John," she laughs, embracing him tightly, "You're going to be fine and of course folks are going to know who you are. Does a little song called Bohemian Rhapsody ring any bells?"

"Well, yes but we can't exactly perform it. We've only got a twenty minute slot,"

"Not the whole song," she agrees, "But can't you, I don't know, shorten it a little?"
He looks at her with that expressionless face that he does, "Do you remember what happened when I did that before? So they'd play it on the radio?"

Without any of the band's knowledge, John had gone off and made a cut of the video where the operatic section was completely cut out. It had sounded awful and Freddie had quite rightly refused to send it out incomplete. It had now been shoved into the depths of the studio where it would never see the light of day again.

"I know you can't do the full song," Roxy murmurs, filling a glass of water, "But you could do a wee snippet? Maybe start with it and then let it lead into something else?"

"That's an idea I guess," he nods and she frowns.

"Something else is bothering you."

"What if we fuck it up?"

"John," she tuts again, "I can count the number of times you've had a bad gig on one hand. You're going to be fine."

He nods once more. She was right. It was very seldom that they'd had a gig that went wrong.

"But," she continues, "If you do fuck it up, you fuck it up."

He huffs, "You always know how to make me feel better, my love."

She kisses him loudly on the cheek, "It's a talent."

++|++

hey guys, apologies for the long ass authors note but i just wanted to let you know that i've decided that i am going to hold off on updating Now We're Here for a little bit. i feel as if the chapters aren't as good as they can be because i'm rushing to get them down for you. we are coming to the end of GOFLB though, there's only gonna be a few more chapters and i want to make them the best that i can. 

saying that, i am actually thinking of unpublished NWH so i can re-write it all. i had so many ideas for that story and i feel as if it's just not good enough so i'm thinking of doing it all over again. the plot will be the same and so will the characters but the layout of the story might be a little different.

i'm hoping that you guys won't mind this (i know you won't because you're all so supportive ❤️) but I just wanted to let you know why there's no other update today