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Chapter One: Misfire

"Thank you all for coming along, I hope you've enjoyed the show!" Lillie Sparrow called out to the crowd, an ecstatic grin painted across her face as she fiddled with the strings of her guitar. "I've had a great time tonight and can't wait to be back soon, but for now, I've got time for one more song. Instead of boring you with one of my own, lets have a little fun, this is my current favourite song, so sorry to Queen who I'm probably about to butcher since I've only got one guitar, but here's Misfire!"

As Lily began to play the cords she had memorised overnight, her fingers shook slightly, though there was no time for nerves as she lent closer to the microphone, singing out the lyrics which were just one big euphemism. The connotations didn't matter to her, the lyrics which had once made her laugh hysterically seemed so much more powerful when she was singing them herself, especially knowing who was in the audience. In the back of her mind, she was worrying that she was making a mess of it, worrying about the fact she only had one guitar and her voice wasn't powerful enough for it, though with a glance to the crowd the worries left her mind. Their happy faces, the dancing couples, the students who'd had far too much to drink screaming the words back out to her, the girls hugging onto each other as they watched her with a thrilled look, all of that seemed to put Lillie's mind at ease.

Lillie wasn't a cover artist. She would have hated to have been known as a cover artist, considering she'd spent so much of her own money renting out studio space to record a few singles all on her own, working far too many hours to make it possible, busking whenever she got a day off from one of her many jobs. She'd not worked herself to exhaustion when it came to her music to be known as a cover artist, but she couldn't deny how much she loved singing the songs of her favourite artists, and Queen wasn't an exception. She always tried to put her own spin on her covers though, even if it meant getting her violin out or heaving her cello on stage, and her version of Misfire was no different to that, slowing down the last few verses, changing the rock tempo entirely. It was a concept which usually wouldn't worry her, but as she began to play the strings gentler, slowing her voice down to be more melodic, she hoped that she wasn't making a huge mistake.

Lillie knew the worry that had taken over her was subtle, as she made sure her voice didn't wobble, but she knew she was blushing. Hopefully she could just pass that off as a result of the lighting facing her on the pub stage, but she couldn't deny the nerves as she got to the last verse.

"Come on take a shot, fire me higher," she sang out slowly, though she raised her voice up. "Don't you miss this time, please don't you misfire, misfire..."

She took a deep breath as she finished singing, sighing with relief as she played the last few notes, relief washing over her as she forgot all previous nerves. The nerves were gone, replaced by the adrenaline of the crowd cheering, clapping, some even screaming her name. It was like electricity, lighting up the room, and it was addictive, making it impossible for Lillie to fight off the grin which was reappearing on her face.

Stepping back from the mic for a moment, she took in the sight of the room. It was a pub function room, but it was full, and everyone was smiling. It was small, nothing compared to other musicians, but it was wonderful all the same. Everyone had to start somewhere, and Lillie was starting there. In that moment, the adrenaline making her confidence fly through the roof, she came to the conclusion that it was only the start.

'I can do it, I can make music, I can make people happy with my music,' she thought, a small laugh of excitement escaping her lips.

"I've been Lillie Sparrow, and you've been fucking amazing, thank you, all of you! See you next time!" she called out to the crowd, waving as she headed to the side of stage, hopping carefree down the little step that separated her from her audience.

Her guitar still strapped across her shoulder, she immediately headed behind the bar, grabbing a pint glass and helping herself to the cider on tap. Mick, the barman, shot her a look, until she grinned at him, raising her glass as a sort of toast to him, making him smirk slightly.

"Great show, Lil," he complimented, and she tried not to grimace at the nickname she loathed. "A guy was over here earlier, you might want to go find him, he seemed pretty eager to talk to you. Boyfriend or something?"

"He wishes," Lillie rolled her eyes, taking a swig of her drink. Her gaze swept the room until she spotted the long haired brunette she was looking for, seeing him on the other side of the room as if he was trying not to be noticed. "Keep my guitar safe, yeah? I will fight you if it gets damaged, and I'm not joking,"

As she spoke, she lifted the strap off from around her, placing the guitar on one of the shelves behind the bar, patting it gently as if it was a living thing. Mick nodded at her absentmindedly, already busy with customers yelling to be served. Lillie didn't sympathise with him, considering it was normally her job, but she'd be damned if she was going to work on her one night off all week, not that it was even a night off. Instead, she wandered around to the other side of the bar, hugging her pint to her chest as she pushed through the crowd, attempting to make her way to where her best friend was, knowing how awkward he would be concerning all the people.

As she eventually neared him, Lillie couldn't help but grin once again, because there he was, her childhood best friend; John Deacon. At the sight of him, she let out an excited squeal, getting his attention. His head snapped to her, grinning back at her as she practically ran at him. It had been so long since Lillie had seen John, considering he'd just been on tour. He'd rang her a couple of times, but it was a busy lifestyle touring with Queen, the demanding personalities of his bandmates meaning he had little time to himself to appreciate how much he missed home, how much he missed his girlfriend Veronica, not to mention how much he missed Lillie.

Lillie and John had been inseparable in their childhood and early teens, well up to when her family moved to London, and after a brief spell living up North on her own, Lillie unexpectedly reunited with John when she moved back to London to go to Kings College. Ever since their reunion, it was like they were kids again, and she hated being apart from him, which was often, considering how often she had to work. It didn't help either when John joined a band called Queen, previously unknown, John thinking his role as bass player was just for fun, making him an accidental Rockstar upon Queen's success. Lillie would have been jealous, considering music was what she wanted to do yet she was caught up in three different jobs, but she couldn't feel envy at him even if she tried, not when she adored the music Queen played.

The only problem of Queen was that John was often away in the studio, or on tour, whilst Lillie was stuck at home, wondering about all the adventures her best friend was experiencing. Occasionally they got the chance to meet up, but her many jobs and the band's busy schedule meant that Lillie had never met Queen, not that she cared. She would rather see John and hang out with him like it was the old times than feel like she was exploiting him for his new found fame. Fame, which normally stopped them from meeting up, that had been pushed to one side for the night as John stood proudly in the audience and watched Lillie captivate the crowd she was playing for.

"Deaks!" Lillie exclaimed as soon as she was close enough to him, pulling him into a tight hug, attempting not to spill her drink on him. "Oh my God, thank you so much for coming!"

"Of course I'd come, Lee, you were brilliant," he grinned at her, squeezing her tightly in their hug. By the look in his eye as he smiled at her, Lillie could tell he'd had a pint, not that she was one to comment. "I've missed you so much,"

As much as Lillie adored John, she would never know how much John appreciated their friendship, seeing it as one of the only remaining slices of normality left in his ever-changing life. Not even Veronica could give him a sense of grounding like Lillie could, as much as he loved her, simply because Lillie had always been there. Their purely platonic relationship was like that of brother and sister, Lillie often referring to John as her little brother, and they'd always been there for each other. To not see each other for long periods of time was hard on them both, but as soon as they were back together, it was like they'd never been apart.

"I've missed you too, Deacy," she laughed, pulling out of their hug so she could ruffle his long hair. "So, did you bring your new girlfriend? You promised you'd introduce me to her!"

Yet another significant person Lillie hadn't met was Veronica. John had only really begun to call her his girlfriend just before they went on tour, meaning Lillie hadn't had a chance to meet her. She could handle not meeting John's bandmates, settling to just admire them from afar and hope from interviews that she'd seen that they were looking after him, but to not meet John's girlfriend was worrying her slightly. Lillie, like an overprotective sibling, wanted to make sure he was happy, and that she was good for him, so to see the nervous look in his eye, she began to glare at him slightly.

"John, I swear to God, you promised you'd bring her!" she exclaimed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but Veronica had to work, I'm really sorry," he instantly began to apologise, making Lillie feel bad for the split second she'd guilted him. "I've tried to make up for it though, I've brought some other people along... they really wanted to meet you..."

John gave her a suggestive look, raising his eyebrows as he nodded his head over to the far corner of the room. With a frown, Lillie turned around, jumping on her tip-toes to see over the crowd, only to spot a table in the opposite corner occupied by three men she recognised very well from the album covers, the promotional images in the newspapers and magazines, and most importantly, the photo albums John had shown her.

Lillie felt a lump rise in her throat, her heart thumping heavily as the heat rushed up into her face, instant anxiety and shock washing over her as she realised who John meant. He'd brought the band to her gig, John had brought Queen to her gig, where she had just performed a cover of one of their songs. The nerves had been bad enough knowing she was playing a song John had wrote whilst he was watching, but knowing the rest of his band had seen and heard her as well; Lillie wanted to hide.

"John Fucking Deacon did you bring Queen to my gig without telling me first?" she gasped out, hissing her words so that she remained quiet, trying not to draw attention to the already recognisable men, watching as John nodded nervously. "You brought Queen to my gig and then let me sing your song about jizzing too early in front of them all?"

"Well what did you want me to do, jump on stage and stop you playing?" John shrugged.

"Yes, or at least play bass with me so I didn't do such a terrible job of it!" she laughed nervously, hitting her hand against her forehead.

"Look, Lee, they really wanted to meet you, so I thought I'd just bring them along, I'm sorry," John explained apologetically. "I didn't want us to distract from you though, so I tried to get them all to sit apart, but they didn't listen,"

"John, love, if you didn't want to draw attention to yourselves, maybe you shouldn't have worn one of your tour jackets with Queen written all over it," Lillie suggested, gesturing to his jacket, featuring the Queen's crest on the left lapel, Queen written on the side of the sleeve in large letters. John flushed bright red. "Sorry, Deaks, I do want to meet them too, I'm just nervous... Look, there's a back room I use as a dressing room, give me ten minutes to get the rest of my stuff off stage and I'll meet you there, alright?"

Lillie took in a deep breath her mind still attempting to process the fact she was about to meet Queen. Sure, her best friend was the bassist, but she loved their music, to the extent her and her brother were going to try and get tickets to see them in concert, and she thought they were all excellent musicians. Their skill and finesse when it came to music was slightly intimidating to her, considering she was still an aspiring musician, not quite as made as they were. So regardless of John's presence in the band, Queen was her favourite band, and the thought of meeting them, let alone the knowledge that she'd unknowingly performed for them, was truly terrifying but yet also wonderful.

Lillie hit John's arm slightly, nodding at him before she went to turn away and run back to the stage. Except, in the last moment, she paused, turning back to him.

"And, John? Will you get me another pint? Actually, screw that, I'm gonna need something a lot stronger,"

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Word count: 2396

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