Saturday afternoon, you and Freddie awoke with a bit of a late start. After the rehearsal last night, Tim offered to take everyone out for drinks. Of course hardly any of the boys thought this was a good idea the night before the show. So it was just you, Tim, and Freddie.
You had a great time at a little pub near the college, The Dove, you thought it was called. Actually no, in fact you remember it specifically being called that as you got so hammered that you began singing a line from The Prophet's Song—"Return like the white dove". Freddie of course didn't understand and neither did Tim for that matter, but Freddie thought it was rather cute.
Of course the stone-cold hammer of sobering up had left you and Freddie with quite a hangover. But after a long battle with slowly succumbing to the blinding mid afternoon light shining through the drapes, you finally got up. Freddie was still asleep, you'd let him sleep. God knows how much energy he'd need for tonight's excitement, you just knew he was going to have a ball.
You slowly made your way into the kitchen, pouring yourself a cup of rather bitter water and starting on breakfast. The fridge had practically nothing in it—a usual for this household. You'd need to remind yourslef to go grocery shopping later this week. Neither Freddie, Tim, nor Paul did much in the way of shopping.
You didn't run into Paul much, he was always busy. He was sweet though, always able to deal with Freddie's ups and downs. He had a little joke of always calling Freddie 'Freddie Baby', almost in a teasing cutesy way as to describe Freddie's ever-changing moods and desires.
Chris was a great flatmate. He was always so accommodating of you and Freddie staying here. Every now and then he'd get a bit frustrated, but you could understand that, you and Freddie were rather high-maintenance. But you all had a grand-old time and since you'd been back from your breakup, he'd been rather glad to have you back.
For now the house was empty accept for you and Freddie. Breakfast slowly came together with what you had. You then placed it all on a little tray Freddie had fallen in love with at some thrift store ages ago. Since then, all he ever wanted was breakfast in bed, and you had fun making it for him and you.
You entered the back bedroom quietly and softly called out, "Good morning Freddie". The response you got was a rather stifled breath of awakening air and a groan, "Freddie?" you called sweetly.
Freddie rolled over and stuck his head underneath his pillow, "Fucking Chris," he muttered from under the pillow, "Do we have to open those damn drapes every day?"
"Well good morning to you too," you laughed, there was always some form of amusement you got from seeing him frustrated about little things.
Freddie rolled over to face you, "Sorry dear, good morning," he gave a cheeky smile.
"I brought you breakfast in bed," you replied setting down the tray at the foot of the bed and crawling back into the bed with Freddie.
"Ooh! Splendid. What have we got today?" he asked, perking up a bit more.
"Well for our first course," you began, you loved to play a long with his camp little expressions, "We've got a lovely spot of tea," you imitated his accent as best you could, "I saved the last early grey for you".
"Thank you very much," he added quickly with a smile.
"For the second course, I've prepared two eggs sunny side up with a garnish of salt and pepper," you continued taking a sort of pride in your work.
"Fancy," Freddie approved.
"Thank you," you replied before continuing on, "The third course is of course toast with a bit of jam across the top, now Freddie I know you aren't necessarily the biggest fan of sliced bread, so I made yours on a small leftover french roll I found at the back of the cabinet, so I can't exactly trust its age, but I'm sure you'll be fine".
"You're not looking at cheap meat here honey," said Freddie gesturing to his body.
"Well, you get a higher paying job and maybe then we can afford the luxury of unsliced bread," you teased, "Anyway, finally our desert course of the meal. The non-moldy bits from fruit we needed to use up as it was going bad! Ta da!"
"And there you have it, luxury" Freddie concluded and you both laughed. The best part about your relationship with Freddie was the balancing act you played both teasing each other into eternity and always keeping light and quick on your feet. And as time passed, there was always something new to toy with.
You and Freddie finished up breakfast and began to get ready for your day. Freddie managed to persuade you to shower with him, which eventually lead to much more than showering—that in and of itself was a complete mess. Something the two of you probably wouldn't try for a while as it lead to the both of you basically drowning and slipping and sliding, you finally had enough of trying when you slipped and hit your head against the wall cracking one of the tiles. Thank goodness the tile was the only thing with any severe damage. Shower sex was definitely something for a later date and time, but hey you both liked to try something new. And now you two were still laughing about it a few hours later.
You had both gotten dressed and ready and headed out for the train. Freddie was all dressed up in his white sports jacket and pink chiffon scarf he had picked up yesterday. It fit him like a glove and he was determined not to have a speck of dirt hit the fabric—even if it was already a tad stained.
The two of you rushed to the Shepards Bush station, determined not to miss the 5 o'clock train. You both made it just in time. The train took you all the way to Croydon, just south of London, it was a good long 40 minute ride, but not so bad that Freddie would lose his patience.
You got off the train and pulled out the directions Tim had written on a napkin at the pub last night. Even with the sloppy drunken handwriting that had torn apart the napkin, these were just about the easier directions you had been given to that club by Patrick all those years ago or the times when Freddie had written directions on his hand or accidentally tossed them into a waste basket as they were written very sloppily on scrape paper by friends during class. These were straightforward and easy.
The two of you walked hand-in-hand down Caithness Walk which very quickly ended up at Lansdowne Road, and it wasn't long before you finally came across the club, Top Rank Suite. There were already large crowds of people forming outside. There were many acts there that evening, but as you were sure, many people were there to see 1984. They were becoming quite a popular young band in the area. They had even gotten a review in the 'Middlesex Chronicle'.
You both entered the building, the main hall was gigantic compared to any other club you'd ever been in. There was some music playing quietly over the speaker system, but through the mass of people crowding the entirety of the room, it was almost impossible to know the song.
Freddie and you both tried to make you way to the front of the hall, but getting though the crowd proved quite difficult. There was a second floor but there was no way you were going to get there safely.
"Y/n!" Freddie tried to shout over the voices of the crowd, "I've got an idea!"
"Okay, woa—" you called as whisked you away by the hand and lead you towards the wall of the hall. Then he snuck behind the curtain that lined the front of the hall as it went towards the stage. It wasn't a stage curtain per-say, you were sure that to the outside people could very distinctly make out the outline of two people sneaking towards the stage, but it's not like anyone cared anyway.
After much crawling behind the curtain you made it to the front of the room. You were right at the foot of the stage and Freddie both had a grin of excitement and satisfaction of his ability to get you both to the front.
It wasn't long before the MC came onto the stage and introduced the first act. They came on and played their first ten minute set. They were quite alright. They didn't have the sound of 1984, they were rather quiet, but that didn't stop the crowd from dancing and cheering. Freddie was moving his head and shoulders around a bit as the group Let's Spend The Night Together. He was having fun with it and really getting in the groove. It made you smile, he always loved live music.
Freddie then grabbed your hand and spun you around, you laughed. He then began moving his neck back and fourth walking towards you, moving his brows and cracking cocky grin as he spun around. You joined him in dancing, mouthing the words and over exaggerating his movements.
You both got so into it, mouthing the words and dipping in and out of each other's glances as you twisted and half-shimmied. Compared to the rest of the crowd's jumping to the thumping beat, you both probably looked rather idiotic if you were picked out, but the scene was so packed it didn't matter. You both just let loose.
The first group finished their set and the next group followed, as did others until 1984 took the stage and the crowd cheered—you and Freddie attempting to be the loudest. Tim quickly spotted you and Freddie and gave you a smile and a nod. Freddie waved back with a very animated and excited wave—quite honestly you thought he was more nervous and excited than they were, and that was saying something. Brian on stage looked like just about the most confident deer in the headlights you'd ever seen. Something about his dorky grin as he stared across the crowd made you laugh. The rest of the boys were rather calm and levelheaded looking. Dave had a smile across his face as well—this was a big night for them.
They began their first set and immediately they were a smash hit. For a battle of the bands, this would certainly be no contest.
You and Freddie danced the night away together as the bands played. 1984's second set absolutely stole the show—their cover of Knock On Wood being the finale of the night. The crowd continued to cheer after they left the stage and until the MC returned back to the stage to quiet them down. You and Freddie, both sweat-covered and smiling, hugged and wrapped your arms around each other laughing.
"Well, I believe we have a winner," began the MC, "Will the band's please return to the stage?"
A spotlight shown on the back as a line of musicians walked along the wall toward the stage. 1984 passed you and Freddie and you both gave them an excited grin.
"The winner of the 1967 Battle of The Bands, sponsored by Scotch reel-to-real tape, is..." the MC continued, "1984! Tim Staffell, Brian May, Dave Dilloway, John Garnham, and Richard Thompson come on up to the stage!"
You and Freddie cheered enthusiastically as the crowd roared. The 1984 gang waltzed onto the stage and collected their prizes. The band as a whole one a blank reel-to-reel tape and each received an album on the CBS label as promised. Tim proudly held his Sounds of Silence album, while Brian had to make do with a Barbara Streisand LP, the rest of the boys seemed happy with their winnings, Dave particularly with his Tommy Makem album.
Freddie wanted to go up and congratulate the band, and quite possibly add suggestions even now as he usually would, but the boys quickly headed backstage to clean up talk with the holders of the contest.
Freddie and you waited around for a bit, he was always interested in talking to other musicians anyways. After the hall had cleared a bit, you and Freddie decided it best to leave. He seemed a little frustrated he couldn't speak to 1984 as all the boys seemingly left, but he was still happy enough, slowly humming his way out the door in usual Freddie fashion. When you made your way into the street, he broke out into full song.
"Stone free to do what I please!" he sang loudly as he spun around a bit, "Stone free to ride the breeze!" You giggled, "Stone free, I can't stay, I got to got to got t—" his voice cracked, "Fuck!" he shouted and stopped in his tracks.
"What?" you asked, his tone suddenly went darker. After all that excitement mood swings with Freddie could be expected, but boy was it a roller coaster.
"How is it that Tim can sing like Hendrix but I can't get even close?" Freddie stated frustratedly.
"What are you talking about Freddie? You sound great!" you were surprised by his sudden outburst.
"How am I to be a singer when I can't even get in a damn band?!" he retorted.
"Freddie," you responded.
"No I'm serious, I'll never be as great as Hendrix or the Beatles or anyone for that matter," Freddie went on.
"Freddie, you sound incredible! You sing like you! You shouldn't even be worried, wait a few years time and you'll see," you said.
"Really?" Freddie looked at you hopefully, it wasn't like he was too entirely depressed, but you could tell something kind of hit him in there, he so badly wanted to be up there, and one day he would.
"Of course," you replied, he really had no idea how special he was. You took him around your arm, "Now let's go find a pub somewhere".
"Splendid," Freddie stated, now in a more joyful tone. You both continued down the street, "What do you think of me growing my hair out longer?" he said out of the blue.
You laughed and smiled, "Sure Freddie, why?"
"If I'm going to be a popstar, as you've said, I've got to start looking like one don't I?" Freddie was always two steps ahead wasn't he, "Besides, that appears to be the trend as of late and I should stop this schoolboy look I've got going on, I'm in London for godsakes! Anything seems to go here".
"Anything?" you mused, "So I suppose I can just wear trousers on my head now?"
"My god, have you always got to go to the furthest extreme?" he laughed and so did you.
"I guess I just get that from you," you smiled sticking your tongue out a bit. Freddie wrapped his arm over your back and kissed your temple. Another block or so down you both came across a lovely little pub. You couldn't spend too long there as the 11 o'clock train was the last one of the night. You both got a quick drink and managed to catch the bus just in time.
Your train car was completely empty and rather dim so you could see the few lights that passed as the train brought you home. You spent the whole ride in Freddie arms, staring at the world that passed by you as Freddie hummed to you quietly, gently running his fingers through your hair. Freddie really had no idea how special he really was. Not only was he your world, but you were his, and there was something so beautifully indescribable yet simple about that. Watching the world go by outside the window was like watching one world pass another, and there was something poetic about it that made you smile.
The train arrived back at the Shepards Bush station, and it wasn't long before you were home and practically crashing into bed where sleep came quickly.