/!\ SMUT ALERT /!\

6 June 1977

Sally took a look at her ticket for the hundredth time at least; Deena smiled at her friend and silently rested a hand on her shoulder. She could only understand her excitement; after all, she was in the same state the first time she saw Queen live. However, this time, she knew the concert would be bigger than all the ones she attented, except this at the Rainbow Theatre, three years before. It was during the A Day At The Races Tour, and the talent of the band grew better in this album, although it was hard to do something as good as A Night At The Opera. Deena knew that this concert at Earls Court would be one of their best ever.

The gates opened, and the tickets got controlled by the staff members. When Sally and Deena had theirs done, they ran inside the huge concert hall. Luckily, they managed to find a spot at the third row. Though the stage lights were off, Sally could distinguish the big white logo of the band on the black drum kit. Four microphones were on their stands, three on the front, and one on the side of the drums.

After almost an hour of waiting, all the lights went down and a loud cheer floated in the hall. Deena was clapping in her hands and cupping them around the mouth, screaming the band's name. Dark figures moved on the stage, and Sally immediately recognised them: she distinguished Roger Taylor sitting behind his drums, his shorter hair moving when he did; John Deacon standing behind his microphone with his bass in hand, adjusting the strap on his shoulder; Brian May appearing at the other edge of the stage, his mass of curls bouncing in his back.

A loud riff of guitar roared in the amplifiers, and the lights suddenly turned on blinded some people in the audience. Deena was shouting the singer's name, for he still had not appeared. Roger started to play his drums along with Brian, and then John joined them; it was not a song Sally knew, so she guessed it was only a sort of warm-up. After one minute or two, a more than familiar voice sounded in the hall, and there walked Freddie Mercury, crossing the large stage in his white, orange and green harlequin suit, a silver necklace falling on his hairy chest. Sally was thrilled and so was everybody in the crowd.

The band played some of their best songs, and the audience did not dare singing along, though Freddie encouraged everybody to. In the middle of the gig, the lights went down, and the members moved on the stage with some members of their staff. Sally's eyes were hypnotised by Brian, who was grabbing his acoustic guitar and bringing a stool behind his microphone. The guitarist sat on it and a staff member adjusted the microphone to his level. He spoke in it, showing the band in front of the stage while the lights came back. On the far left stood John, focused on his bass; next to him was Roger in his white kimono, his foot on the pedal of his bass drum, holding a tambourine; Freddie was between him and Brian. Once again, they encouraged the crowd to sing along – even Roger screamed in the microphone.

Brian started to play on his guitar, and screams sounded in the whole hall, like a wave washing up on the stage. Sally's eyes sparkled with joy as it was her favourite song: '39. However, much to her surprise, it was Freddie who sang it, instead of Brian. Her eyes were still staring at the guitarist, whose lips were pursed. Meanwhile, Deena was singing loudly, and even seemed to share an eye contact with Freddie.

-----------------------

The concert finally came to an end. People were all leaving the hall at the same time, sharing their opinion on the outstanding concert they just witnessed. Sally started to follow them, when Deena caught her by the arm. Her brown curls bounced on her shoulders as she suddenly spun round to face her friend. “What's the matter?” she asked.

“Uh, are you tired? Do you want to go home right now?” Deena whispered.

“Mmh, no, not really. What do you have in mind? You're not going to sneak backstage, are you?”

“What? No, not sneak” she grinned with a wink. Sally shrugged and stood there, watching Earls Court getting more and more empty. When absolutely nobody else than them remained, lights started to go off. Sally got a bit anxious: why did Deena want to stay there?

“Deeeeeeeeena!” a singing voice sounded behind them. Deena immediately smiled before turning round to face the small door at the base of the stage. Somebody came out from the dark and ran up to her. Sally's eyes widened: Freddie Mercury was hugging Deena. And pecked her on the lips!

“'Twas a good show, darling!” Deena slurred. “You've been awesome, as always!”

“Thank you, my dear. Oh, hi girl!” he smiled when he finally noticed Sally. Deena grinned and pointed at her. “Freddie” she started “let me introduce to you my best friend, Sally! And Sally, no need to tell you who this is!” she laughed.

Freddie hugged Sally and led them both backstage, to a big white room, where a lot of people were either endlessly walking or lazily sitting and chatting more or less noisily. The band's roadies were putting the instruments inside their cases, and Sally noticed John helping one of them with Roger's drum kit. In a corner, Roger was sipping at his bottle of beer while talking to their manager. When his big blue eyes saw Deena, he ran up to her in the middle of the conversation, with his arms outstretched. “My Deena!” he nearly shouted. “How have you been all this time?”

“Quite well! I hope you've been okay with all those tour dates and those recording sessions!”

“Oh, yeah, yeah...” Deena chuckled and Sally looked all around her with curiosity. Never had she imagined that she would actually go in such a place. She spotted John going to the loo, and felt like somebody was staring at her all of a sudden. She turned her head and saw Brian awkwardly standing at the other side of the room, one hand in his pocket. He was still wearing his stage outfit, and his forehead shone with sweat. His hazel eyes were planted in hers, making her cheeks turn a brighter shade of red. He was incredibly handsome, though he looked quite tired, more than all the times she saw him in magazines or on TV.

Somebody poked her on the shoulder, causing her to take her eyes off him. It was a smiling John they laid on instead. He cleared his throat and stretched out his hand politely. “Hi, you're Sally, am I right? I'm John, but you can call me Deaky.” Sally nervously stared at his hand, forgetting how to move for a moment, extremely surprised that one of the members would actually come to meet her. John noticed her hesitation and whispered “I just come back from the toilet, but I washed my hands, don't worry!” They both laughed and Sally shook it.

“The concert was awesome” she said with a broad smile. “You all played very well, and I loved your basslines.”

“Why, thank you” he shyly grinned. “I didn't think anyone would notice them, to be honest. Many people think I'm useless, because if you unplug the bass, it wouldn't change anything: they're wrong! Anyway, I don't want to bore you with that. I'm going to get myself a bottle of beer, would you like one?”

“Let me go with you.” Sally then followed him to the bar, and grabbed a bottle for herself. A roadie called John, and he apologised before going up to him. Deena was cuddling with Freddie on a sofa, while Roger was sitting next to them, telling dirty jokes to other people gathered around them. Sally, way too shy to join them, sighed and used a bottle opener to remove the cap of her bottle.

An unexpected warm breeze blew on her shoulder. Somebody was standing behind her. She saw a hand taking a bottle on the bar; its fingers were so long that she immediately guessed what they were used to doing. “Playing the guitar” she thought. She spun round and found herself face to face with Brian. His lips stretched into a wide grin.

“Hello, fellow tall human-being!” he said. Sally chuckled: it was true that she was much of a tall girl, for she was 178 centimetres tall. But still, Brian was bigger.

“Hello, taller man!” she replied. “You're at least ten centimetres taller than me.”

“Oh, who cares?” he laughed, taking the bottle opener. “I've never seen you around, but I saw you with Deena earlier.”

“I'm her friend. My name's Sally” she said, blushing lightly. Brian nodded and sipped at his fresh beer, which he had seemed to long for.

“Did you enjoy the gig?” Sally nodded and drank a whole gulp of beer, pulling a face as it was a bit too bitter tasting. She cleared her throat and answered “I really did. You were outstanding, all four of you! But something disturbed me, to be honest.”

“What was it?”

“The fact that it wasn't you who sang '39.”

“Oh” he said with gritted teeth “so I'm not the only one who's upset by that. Freddie and I got into an argument because of this. I wanted to sing it, it's my song.”

“I guess it's not really pleasant to be told you won't sing your own song.”

“Indeed” he sighed. He drank two or three gulps of beer before staring at her with a lopsided smile. “I like you.”

“But we hardly spoke to each other” she frowned.

“Perhaps. But you seem to be very nice.” He finished his beer quite fast and threw the empty glass bottle in a bin nearby. Then, he came back to her, resting on his elbow on the bar. “So, what are you interested in?”

“Uh, well, I love science. Especially astronomy.”

“Oh really?” he almost shouted, standing still, with cocked eyebrows. “I studied Astrophysics when in college.”

“Crikey!” she grinned. “I'm studying it too!”

“Where?”

“Imperial College.”

Brian started to laugh, his dark curls following the motions of his shoulders. “That's where I studied!”

“I didn't know that at all!” Sally said, her eyes widening. “What a coincidence!”

“Indeed!” he chuckled and took a peep at Freddie passionately kissing Deena on the sofa. “Oh God, here they go again!” Sally followed the direction of his eyes and giggled.

“I didn't even know she knew you all!” she sighed. “All I know was that she often came to see you perform.”

“Rog spotted her in the crowd once and asked a staff member to bring her in. Unfortunately for him, it was Freddie who seduced her the best.”

“Yet, aside from him, Deaky's her favourite member.”

“And who's yours?”

Oops. She was trapped, now. She could not simply tell him he was her favourite member without sounding like a groupie. She took a deep breath and looked at him. “Oh, I don't really know, to be honest.”

“Of course you know!” he smirked. “I can feel that you know, just by this look in your eyes!”

“I don't want to sound like a groupie who's only interested in band members and not in the music!”

“Wow...” Brian replied, cocking his eyebrows and running a hand through his wild curls. “I promise you won't sound like one. Besides, liking the music and liking the members can go together, you know!” he winked.

“GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOVER-BOY!” Roger and Freddie shouted at him from the sofa. Deena was laughing out loud, and so was Sally, whereas Brian sighed and gracefully showed them his raised and lovely middle finger. “Sorry 'bout them” he whispered to Sally. “Can we go elsewhere?”

“Sure. I need some fresh air anyway.”

He smiled and gently rested a hand on the small of her back, much to her surprise; yet, she was very pleased by this gesture. They both walked to the back door: Brian picked up a small stone outside and blocked it with it, so they would not find themselves trapped outside.

They both stood there, in silence. Sally looked up to see the starry sky spreading above their heads, whiel Brian's eyes got stuck on her. Knowing he was staring at her, she heavily blushed and struggled not to show it.

“You still haven't told me about your favourite member” he whispered with a grin, breath steam coming out from his mouth.

“Would you be surprised if I told you that my favourite one is you?” she snapped, trying not to show she actually was extremely impressed and intimidated by him. Brian laughed and got closer to her.

“Not one bit” he whispered in a chuckle. Then, he leant in and pressed his lips against hers. She jumped lightly and closed her eyes, kissing him back. She hesitantly ran a hand through his more-than-famous hair, which she never thought she would be able to touch. Not really knowing if he appreciated it, she removed her hand; but Brian squeezed her against him, moaning lightly, as if he was begging her to do it again: so, she did.

After a few minutes, Brian pulled away, his cheeks burning. Under her fingers rested on his chest, Sally could feel his heart racing. It was not surprising for her: hers was in the same state.

“Your lips taste really good” he whispered, not really knowing what to say after such a thing.

“Thanks. Yours taste like beer and chocolate.”

“Oh, yeah, I ate a cake after the show” he chuckled. “I hope you aren't too repulsed.”

“Quite the reverse.”

Brian smiled widely and gently pushed her against the wall behind her; she grabbed the collar of his shirt and hurriedly pulled him closer. With a smirk, he crashed her chest with his, biting her lip and kissing her passionately. The heat increased quite fast. Her hands made their way under his white shirt, making him moan as her cold fingers drew invisible lines across his warm skin. He stroked his waist and lips, parting her lips with his tongue.

Sally broke the kiss, staring at him straight in the eye. A sparkle of lust lit up his eyes. Under the moonlight, his hair looked way darker than it actually was, and he looked older for a moment, yet extremely gorgeous.

She cleared her throat and stroked his chin with her fingertips. He was silently panting, eager to see what all this would lead them to. She smirked and lifted her own chin, without looking away from him. “Take me to your home, lovely starman!”

Brian let a quick yet deep groan before letting his lips wandered on her neck. She moaned and grabbed a handful of his dark mane, shaking her head so he would not be bothered by hers. He licked her perfumed skin, making her shiver. She gently pulled on the collar of his shirt, for it did not have buttons, to kiss his collar bones freely. “Are you sure we won't get caught?” she whispered between two kisses, her body boiling with desire.

“I assure you we won't. And if it happens, I'll whack the person who saw it all!”

“Oh great...” she moaned as he nipped on her neck. She wrapped a leg around his, which he held in his hand. She unbuttoned his velvet bell-bottoms, pulling them down to his ankles along with his boxers. With a smirk, she stroked his prominent erection, and a long moan of satisfaction escaped from his lips.

Brian opened her blouse, and kissed her breasts while sneaking his hands under her bra. Meanwhile, her grasp on his crotch went tighter, making him groan louder and deeper. His fingers skillfully pulled up her skirt. “Lucky you” she giggled “I very rarely wear dresses or skirts, and it seems to be pretty helpful this time!”

“You have no idea” he softly laughed, tenderly yet hungrily kissing her lips as if it was the last time he would. She wiggled her hips while pulling her knickers down. Brian slithered a hand under her skirt, caressing her. Her mouth opened widely, as she closed her eyelids. With a smirk on his face, he teased her until she was wet enough to begin. He firmly held her thighs, as she wrapped both of her legs around his hips; her hands guided his crotch to her, and finally, Brian entered her in a long wheeze of relief. They stared at each other for a second, before hungrily kissing.

Their curls were bouncing on their shoulders, as Brian blissfully moved inside her, contemplating her face, lightly shadowed by the big building. She jumped and gasped at every thrust, trying not to make too much noise. Feverishly wishing for a kiss, she cupped his face with her hands, pressing her lips against his. His tongue started to dance with hers, as he struggled not to pant inside her mouth. She curved her back and tilted her head backwards, making it touch the cold bricks of the concert hall; her muffled cries faded in the night. Brian smiled, imagining that it was the stars singing. She was a pretty shooting star herself.

After a while, Brian pressed a hand against the wall, and Sally tried to keep her leg around him. He buried his face in her hair, panting like he never did. His heart was about to burst in pleasure, and she could feel it through his shirt. Suddenly, his thrusts became irregular, and he gave a deep final one, standing still as he shivered madly. It was over.

They remained in that position for a few minutes, trying to bring back their normal heart rates and to catch their breaths as well. Brian slightly pulled away, boring into her eyes. Sally had her hands entangled in his hair, and though they were quite sweaty, it felt like she had buried her hands in a pile of pieces of silk.

Brian closed his eyes and tenderly pressed his lips against hers, putting her in a flutter. She was stroking his cheek with the back of her hands, when he pulled away again, and seemed to avoid her eyes for a moment. “I think I love you” he whispered.

“You can't say that right now” she lughed quietly.

“And why not?”

“We barely know each other, when you look at it” she shrugged. “But as for me, I've already said 'I love Brian May' countless times!” Both chuckled and he kissed her again and again.

“Would you give me other opportunities to tell you that, then?”

“You mean, like... dates?”

“Yeah... or other things you like. Astronomy conferences for example!” he softly laughed, coughing afterwards. “No, seriously, I would like to take you on one date... or more.”

“I would be pleased to go on one date or more with you.” Brian's face lit up. He hugged her tightly, suddenly remembering their position. He helped her standing again, and she winced as her thighs hurt because they stayed folded for so long; he helped her putting her kickers back and buttoned her blouse. She helped him with her boxers and trousers, and Brian pulled the back door, kicking the stone that blocked it out.

Brian and Sally walked hand in hand to the white room, their manes all dishevelled and their cheeks boiling. They appeared in the room; much to their relief, nobody even noticed that they were gone. They both grabbed a bottle of beerand silently drank it, occasionally sharing amused looks.

Deena craned her neck to spot Sally at the bar: she pecked Freddie on the cheek and stood up, walking up to her friend, while he followed. She grabbed her arm and shook it very lightly. “I'm exhausted, Sally. I think I'm going back home, I called a cab.”

Feeling, but mostly smelling that Deena was drunk, Sally sighed. “I'm going with you, then.” She focused on her friend, and did not even notice Brian's pained expression as he heard she would soon leave.

Freddie tenderly kissed Deena on the lips, refusing to let her go; Brian and Sally watched them with embarrassment. Seeing they were not ready to pull away from each other, the guitarist turned to his new crush and discreetly grabbed her hand, entwining his fingers with hers. “Can I have your phone number?” he asked in a whisper.

“Sure, let me get a piece of paper somewhere.”

“Wait, I have the playlist of the gig in my pocket. You can write it on the back.” He plunged his hand inside his pocket to take out the playlist, folded in four. He quickly got it unfolded and handed it to Sally. She picked a pen lying around nearby and scribbled her phone number on the paper, using Brian's back as a writing desk. Deena was a few metres away now, hugging John and kissing his cheek. “I'll call you tonight to make sure you're safe, okay?” Brian told her.

“No problem.”

“By the way, I have a question: is '39 your favourite Queen song?”

“Oh yes, it is! Along with Teo Torriatte and Drowse!”

“But I didn't write Drowse!”

“And you aren't the centre of Queen either!” she laughed, pecking him on the cheek. “Why did you ask that, by the way?”

“Oh, for nothing, I was curious.”

“Okay” she shrugged. Deena came to her and she understood it was time to get home. She turned to Brian and tenderly kissed him again, burying her fingers in his curls she loved so much. “See you soon, hopefully.”

“Very, very soon, I promise” he grinned. “Anyway, I'll call you. I have to try not to bother you with my calls!”

“You won't! I'm home alone most of the time, reading astronomy books. Otherwise I'm at the pub for a drink. Perhaps we could do all that together one day.”

“That'd be awesome. But first, I'm taking you on a date, okay?” She nodded and kissed him for the last time for this evening. “Take good care of you, huh?”

“I promise I will. Do that too, alright? I don't want anything to happen to you at all!”

“Don't worry, I will too.”

They smiled at each other, and Brian reluctantly let go of her soft hand, as she walked away, looking back every two steps. She quickly said goodbye to Roger – who did not even bother saying hello to her when she arrived – and John. Freddie followed them both outside. They crossed the fully empty concert hall, and if Sally had not attended the concert, she would have had troubles to believe that it had been crowded hours before now.

They stopped walking at the main gates. Freddie stayed in the dark so nobody outside would notice him, and sadly hugged Deena. They slurred some words to each other, but Sally did not even hear them, for she was intensively staring at the door leading to the white room she still could distinguish, though it was far. It opened, and a tall figure with curly hair peeked out. Her heart leapt out inside her chest. The figure hesitantly waved at her, and she waved back, wanting to run back to him. Freddie and Deena were kissing again, she still had time. But as her brain ordered her ankles to move, Deena grabbed her by the arm. “Let's go, now.”

“O-okay... Good night, Freddie, it was nice meeting you all, really.”

“Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you, I must admit. Too bad you didn't stay with us. Where were you, by the way? I saw you chatting with Deaky, then Bri, but you disappeared.”

“Oh, I wasn't far, really. I just... went out for a moment to get some fresh air.”

“I see. See you two very soon, okay? I love you!”

“I love you too, my dear Freddie!” Deena almost cried. Then, the two girls walked away, looking behind their backs every two steps just like Sally did earlier; while Deena sniffed and waved at Freddie, Sally was staring at Brian's figure, which looked so tiny from where she was. When he got out of her field of vision, she sighed and looked straight ahead, only to see the cab Deena had called. They both got in and told their home address to the driver.

Deena lived ten minutes away from Sally, but she actually spent more time at her friend's than home, where she felt way too lonely. Sally's house was the first stop of their trip.

Sally looked out of the window, remembering about the incredible evening she just spent... seeing Queen and meeting Queen. Freddie was nice, but it was obvious that he was devoted to Deena. John was very lovely, polite and friendly; she still could not believe that he came to her all by himself, whereas he had the reputation of being extremely shy. “I guess he made an exception for once” she thought. Roger barely noticed she was there. She did not even speak to him properly, aside from saying goodbye to him. Wow.

And then, there was Brian.

Since she first listened to Queen in a booth of a record store, she particularly admired him for his playing skills and the peculiar sound of his guitar. The way he played fascinated her from the beginning, and every sound he could make with the strings of his guitar put her in a flutter. Never had she imagined she would actually meet him in person and... flirt with him. “Yeah, of course, you only flirted!” she thought with a grin, while Deena was asleep on her shoulder. She could still feel the taste of his lips on hers, and remembered the sweet perfume he wore, though it was mixed with sweat. Every move he made drove her wild when he was with him. However, she did not know what all this would lead them to: perhaps he only asked for her number to be polite. After all, he could shag with all the girls he wanted, would she be an exception?

Impossible.

The taxi braked, and Sally came back to reality. She looked all around and recognised her house. She gently shook Deena, who woke up with a grimace. “I'm home, DeeDee” she whispered, using the nickname she knew her friend hated. “D'you want to come to my house tonight? Perhaps you won't make it until you get to your house.”

“Oh, uh... Yeah... Can I?”

“Sure.” Sally rummaged through her handbag and handed the money to the driver, apologising to him, as he had to cancel the next address. She got out of the cab and helped Deena out, firmly holding her so she would not fall and hurt herself. They both made their way without any problem to the front door. Sally unlocked it and immediately took Deena to her spare room, helping her get undressed and covering her with the blankets. She took a basin out of a cupboard in the corridor and brought it to her. “Just in case.”

Deena nodded and took it on her lap, trying to fall asleep. Actually she did not even need to try. As soon as her head landed on the soft pillow, she drifted off. Sally sighed and made sure she was alright, before walking up to her own bedroom, turning off the light behind her. She crashed on her bed and saw the red light of her telephone flicker. She had missed calls and a message on her answering machine. She pushed the right button and pressed the handset against her ear. The voice of the answerphone told her she had a message, and beeped, until she finally heard it.

“Hello, Sally, it's... uh... It's Brian, Brian May. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't give me a fake phone number, and that you got home safe. I guess you're exhausted and that you won't call me again, and I understand. We're leaving Earls Court in a few moments, so I'll go to bed too. Uh... I wanted you to know that I spent a very lovely evening, and that I'd like it to happen over and over again, without the band around. I hope that you meant it when you said you'd like to go on a date with me, because... I meant it. Anyway, I'm leaving you now. Good night, gorgeous and wonderful starwoman. I know you're going to kill me, but I love you. See you soon, hopefully. Sleep tight. Bye.”

The voice of the answering message spoke again, but Sally did not hear its words. She was smiling widely, not believing what she just heard. So... Brian May really called her. He really meant it when he proposed to take her on a date. He loved the evening they spent together. WOW.

Sally hung up and did not delete the message from her answering machine. She picked up the telephone again, just to check when he called.

Oh.

She laughed, as she counted the times his number appeared. She was sure that while she was on the cab, he almost broke the phone of the concert hall for calling her... '39 times.