When Lillie began to wake up, she felt a warm pair of arms engulfing her, her body practically buried amongst another. At first she was confused, frowning as a headache kicked in, until the memories of the night before flashed back to her, and she remembered it all, remembered that it was Brian she was with. Part of her wanted to panic, to get up and run away, but then she calmed down, realising how awful and awkward it would be if she did that, and even if it wasn't, she didn't really want to run out on Brian. Not after he had been so sweet last night, and especially not after the way he had kissed her last night.

Feeling her fidget around in his arms, Brian - who'd been awake for a while but was too content to move and so had been watching her sleep - loosened his hold, pulling away from her as her eyelids opened. He watched as she flinched, grimacing, the way she pushed her hand against her forehead making him laugh.

"Good morning," Brian mumbled tiredly at her, smiling softly. Lillie smiled back, sitting up ever so slightly. "Sleep well? Hangover?"

"Yeah, slight headache, but nothing too bad, I imagine the others are feeling much worse, especially Deacy, the lightweight," she said stretching slightly as she sniggered, squinting through tired eyes to see Brian more in focus. "What time is it?"

"It's just gone nine, aren't you meant to be at work today?" Brian spoke softly as the two parted from their embrace, his reminder making her groan slightly.

"Yeah but not till two, and even then, I don't think I'll go in, I'll ring in sick in a bit," Lillie shrugged slightly. 

"You never take a sick day," Brian frowned, knowing how dedicated Lillie was to her work, even if it was just a part time job as a shop assistant. 

"Yeah but with this hangover... plus I need to ring Deaks in a bit, let him know I got home alright... well not home, but you know, I'm not going to tell him I ended up at yours, he's going to think we had sex..." Lillie muttered annoyedly, until her face turned panicked once more, an Brian realised how drunk she had been the night before. we didn't, did we?" Lillie muttered annoyedly, until her face turned panicked once more, and Brian realised how truly drunk she had been the night before.

"No, Lillie, we didn't have sex," Brian laughed. "I know you were drunk last night, but I hope you'd have remembered that,"

"No, you're right, though I do remember that the lads are never gonna take us seriously ever again," she muttered, rolling her eyes slightly as she laid back on the bed, Brian moving onto his side so he could look at her. "Do you regret it? The- the kissing, I mean, do you regret-"

"Not a chance," Brian said quickly, cutting her off, before he frowned slightly. "Do you?"

"No of course not, but we were quite drunk, I just didn't know if you were only doing it because of that,"

"Lee, I kissed you because I like you, not because we were drunk," Brian explained, a smile creeping back onto his face as Lillie's face lit up again. "Not to mention our kiss before, we weren't drunk then... In fact..."

He cut himself off, leaning over to her and pushing a kiss against her cheek. Lillie flushed bright red, letting out a small laugh as she rolled over onto her side, facing him properly. She reached out placing her hand on his head gently, running her fingers through his curls. Brian scooted closer again, kissing her forehead this time as his own hand moved to stroke her cheek.

Lillie felt all of her insides buzzing excitedly. The night before had been truly magical for her, considering her gig being one of her best yet, as well as the fact that they'd kissed and then held each other in their sleep all night. It was special, but there was something so lovely for her about this exchange, Brian holding her face and kissing her gently whilst she touched his hair, the things that they both had been wanting to do for so long. Maybe because they were doing it whilst sober, while they weren't under the influence of alcohol, now they were courageous to express their feelings without the need for intoxication first.

Their sweet moment was cut short when the noise of a fist banging against the front door cut through the room, the two breaking apart. Lillie flinched at the loud noise, her head feeling as if it was splitting open, whilst Brian rolled over, pulling himself out of the bed. With a small sigh, Lillie followed him, but not before pushing her glasses onto her face. 

"Oi, open up, Bri!" the two heard a voice call fron the other side of the door as soon as they stepped into the flat's living room. The voice was instantly recognisable to the two of them, a voice that could only be Roger Taylor. "Come on, hurry up, dickhead!"

"Shit, if Rog sees me he'll tease the life out of us," Lillie whispered to Brian. "I'll go and hide in the bedroom,"  

"No, it's okay, I'll get rid off him, just-" Brian spoke quietly, but as he turned from the door, Lillie had already run back to the bedroom, locking the door behind her. Brian let out a small laugh, before calling back to her quietly, "Alright then, just, stay there, and I'll get rid of him,"

Brian knew if the stakes weren't so high to protect their privacy from the drummer it would be funny, the fact that Lillie, someone usually so headstrong when with her friends, was now hiding away to protect the two of them from being teased. However, there was no time to laugh, so Brian ran to the door, flinging it open far too quickly for it not to be suspicious, and as soon as the door was open he knew Roger had picked up on it. 

"You're really that excited to see me?" Roger muttered, raising his eyebrows over his sunglasses ever so slightly, looking worse for wear.

"No, I just didn't want you breaking my door down and have to pay for it to be fixed," Brian attempted to joke, though he knew he was coming off as nervous; he was never good at hiding things from Roger. "What do you want, Rog?"

"I took Lillie's jacket last night and I can't imagine her parents would love it if a strange man turned up at their house with their daughters coat, might send off a bad message, plus I didn't want to drop it off at John's becuase I know he's got Veronica round and I don't want to interupt whatever they're up to, and you'll probably see her before me, so will you give it to her?" he explained, holding the leather jacket out. It was a ladies medium, and Brian still found it amusing that it fit Roger perfectly. "Not going to lie, it is quite stylish and I thought about stealing it, but Lillie's too nice to steal from her, I'm sure you agree,"

"If you're making a joke about last night..." Brian sighed, taking the jacket. "Look, doesn't matter,"

"Whatever, loverboy, just give Lee her jacket for me," he muttered, ruffling his hair slightly, leaving Brian slightly confused.

Not only had Roger hardly mentioned the kiss between him and Lillie, but he also didn't notice her keys in the pocket and figure out she'd not even gone home last night. Roger must have been well and truly drunk last night then to have not wanted to tease him. Either that, or he knew and was trying to mess with him more.

Brian soon realised it was the latter as he watched Roger's sullen, hungover grimace turn to a mischievous grin. He stepped further into the flat, though Brian blocked him from entering fully, peering round Brian's shoulder, looking at the sofa, and more importantly, the two guitar cases Brian had put there the night before. The top one especially, was so recognisably Lillie's, not because of the initals 'LES' carved into the handle, but because it was covered with feminist stickers, engraved with song lyrics in white ink, the words 'femme fatales emerge from the shadows', 'don't let the lack of their spirit blind your life' and 'always with me, tiny dancer in my hand' standing out clearly, as well as a bright yellow submarine painted across half of the black case. The band had known Lillie and spent enough jam sessions with her to know the case was hers, and as Brian noticed Roger staring at it, he stared at the smirking drummer with wide eyes. 

"Thanks for the jacket, Lillie! Hope Brian wasn't a disappointing shag!" he called almost excitedly, grinning. He glanced over his glasses at Brian daringly, still smirking, before turning and running off before Brian could get a hold of him, grabbing hold of the door and slamming it shut behind himself.  

*** 

After Roger had returned her keys and jacket, Lillie spent another hour at Brian's sobering up before he drove her home. He'd offered her to stay a little longer, but knowing her parents would be mad enough as it was, she decided to just put her cothes from last night back on and head back home. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, right? I'm working the early shift at Debenhams but I should be finished at one if we're all hanging out again," Lillie told him as she fought the urge to kiss him goodbye. 

"Yeah, of course, I think we're meant to be going in the studio for a rehearsal, I'll pik you up once you're done, and, Lillie..." Brian told her with a small smile, hesitating slightly as he remembered what John had said to him the night before. "Lillie, I... I had a great time last night," 

"Me too," she grinned, and before she could stop herself, she leant over and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bri," 

Before he could say anything else, Lillie unclipped her seatbelt, leaning over to pick her guitar case off the back seat before getting out of the car. As she walked up her drive, she knew Brian was watching her, so she turned around as she reached her door, offering him a wink as she waved goodbye. Through the car window, she saw him bite his lip as he held back a smirk, looking at her in a way no one had ever looked at her, as if he already missed her. 

Once in the house, Lillie took a deep breath, trying to keep her mind from wandering to the guitarist as she headed straight upstairs, avoiding her mother who was sat in the living room. Dumping her guitar in her room, she ran to the bathroom and got straight in the shower, turning the heat up as far as it would go. 

With the wild memories of last night still running round in her mind along with a killer hangover, she took her time in the shower, enjoying the rare moment alone, reflecting on everything that had happened since Queen. Since John had introduced her to Queen, Lillie had found herself becoming more confident and happy in herself. She had always been headstrong, but now she'd become more vocal in her opinions and what she wanted, no longer fearing expressing her mind. It felt like she was slowly becoming the person she'd always wanted to be, embracing the person she was when she was performing in her everyday life. 

Maybe the happiness she was feeling had something to do with reuniting with John, seeing him everyday reminding her of her youth. Not to mention her newfound friendships with Freddie and Roger, the two of them being the friends she'd never had. Her brother and sister, infinitely more popular than her when they were younger, used to have friendship groups, but Lillie never had that. Now she did, and she knew they were friends worth waiting for. And, on top of it all, there was Brian and whatever they had going on. That was unexpected, and was something Lillie didn't realise she had been wanting, but yet when she found her mind drifting to him, a sense of contentment settled over her. In that moment, it didn't really matter what they were, because she was happy.

Jumping out of the shower, Lillie wrapped herself in a large towel, pushing her steamed u glasses back onto her face as she wandered back to her room. Throwing herself onto her bed, Lillie stretched, sighing as Leo the fat black cat curled up next to her. That was when the phone began to ring, so she leant over to pick up the reciever, pushing it up against her ear, knowing instantly who it was ringing. 

"Alright, Deaks?" Lillie asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

"Mmmm, Big night last night," John mumbled, making her laugh. Even though it was only his voice she was hearing, she could imagine how rough he looked. "You sound shocking," 

"Bit rich, that, considering you had to be carried out!" She exclaimed, though grimaced her forehead together in pain.

"Yeah, what about you?" John asked, laughing. "Didn't you end up at Brian's?"

"Who told you that?" She exclaimed again, flushing bright red. She knew that Roger knew, but surely he'd not told anyone else?

"Freddie! He rang me earlier to tell me Roger called him as soon as he got back from Brian's, he said you'd stopped the night!" John explained, sounding a perfect mixture of excited and annoyed.

"That little snake!" Lillie sighed, making John snort out a laugh.

"Can you blame him? He's excited, Fred owes him a fiver," John spoke through laughter, especially as he heard Lillie groan. "So... did you?"

"No of course I didn't! I was drunk but not that drunk... not that I'd have to be drunk to like Brian, he's lovely, and god, so handsome-"

"That's one way to describe him," John muttered and Lillie could tell he was rolling his eyes. "You're right though, you were pissed last night, but Brian's not the sort of guy to sleep with you if you're drunk,"

"No, exactly, he was a real gentleman, Deaks, he's really sweet," Lillie nodded despite him not being able to see. She paused slightly, unsure how to properly oice her feelings, before stating, "He's a really lovely guy,"

"Have you told him that?" John asked, and what Lillie didn't know was how annoyed John was that Brian hadn't gathered the courage up to talk to her properly, regardless of what they'd done the night before. Lillie paused, unsure of what to say, making John sigh rather loudly. "Both of you are useless when it comes to that stuff, I'm not surprised," 

"Not useless, just cautious," Lillie defended, though part of her did agree; she did wish she had the guts to tell Brian about everything she was feeling. 

Their conversation went on for at least another hour, drifting off the subject of her and Brian and eventually onto other stuff like his relationship, or their music, or just stupid stuff that they used to do as teenagers. Eventually they had been talking for so long that Lillie's hangover seemed to disapear into just exhaustion, to the point that as soon as they hung up, she fell straight to sleep, forgetting about everything else she had to do that day. 

***

Word count: 2620

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