VALERIE HADN'T AWOKEN before John. She checked the bedside clock. It read 8:30 AM. It was the 21st of November; a nice Saturday morning. The day of the album's release.

"Good morning." John said with a grin when Valerie came downstairs and into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes at John, who was currently flipping a pancake.

      "You made breakfast. It actually smells great."  Valerie said as she wrapped her arms around John, leaning her head on his back.

      "See? I told you I was good at cooking." John said as he put the finished pancake on a plate that had a growing stack. He turned around and kissed Valerie, smiling.

"Better today?" He asked her, rubbing her shoulders.

"Yes, much better. I'm not crying as much as the first few months, y'know."

"I know, but it's okay to cry. Not to mention, the grieving process takes a long time. At least you're eating again." John added, daring to say it even though it might spark an argument between them.

     Valerie had gotten really thin from not eating, scared to eat anything because she didn't want to end up like her father. Eventually, Miami got her to see a therapist, and she'd finally come around to eating, much to everyone's relief.

"Yeah. I've actually gained ten pounds in the last month. My clothes are actually starting to fit me. Which is good, because I didn't want to have to buy new ones." Valerie said easily, making John exhale with relief that she was seeing it as a good thing too.

       "Ah, we wouldn't want to have to go shopping again, would we?" John teased, and Valerie laughed a bit,  thinking back to the time she'd gone shopping with Freddie.

      "Not unless I want to waste four hours of my day."  Valerie giggled as she leaned against the counter next to the stove, facing John.

      A comfortable silence settled between them as Valerie watched John slide a finished pancake onto the growing stack.

      "You excited for the album release?" Valerie asked John quietly as he poured more batter onto the skillet. She was a bit surprised he hadn't brought up the release yet.

"Very. And nervous, too." John said as he watched the batter on the skillet, his hands wringing the spatula.

Valerie took his hands in between hers, working the spatula out of his grip.

"I'm going to burn my pancakes," John protested half heartedly while Valerie rolled her eyes at him.

"That sounds like a you problem. Now, don't worry about the album. I told you already, it's absolutely beautiful. I think it's going to do just fine. Every song on there is a hit. Well, The Prophet's Song might be a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but the rest is great." Valerie reassured him.

John kissed her cheek gratefully and took the spatula back from her. "Thank you. I sure hope the critics agree with you."

"Oh, the critics mean nothing. It's the people you made the music for, remember?" Valerie said as she pushed back one of his brown locks of hair from his face. John let out a low laugh.

"That's right. 'Right at the back of the room.'" John said, mimicking Freddie very poorly. Valerie couldn't help but laugh.

"A very poor imitation of him, but that's the idea. He's right. The critics don't get to decide who likes your music. The people decide for themselves." Valerie said with finality. John managed a smile.

    "That helped. Really it did,". John said, and smiled. "I love you, y'know."

      "And I love you too." Valerie said while John leaned down and planted a light kiss on her lips.

      "Oh, dammit. My pancake!" John exclaimed as he hurriedly flipped the pancake onto its other side. It was rather charred on the side he'd left unattended.

     "See, you with your speech made me burn my pancake." John told Valerie,  trying to hide a smile as he pointed the spatula at her. 

     "Ah, but you still love me." Valerie taunted, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek as she walked past him to get the butter and the honey for the pancakes.

      "Alas, I do. It's my one weakness, loving you." John admitted, smiling at Valerie while he topped off the stack of pancakes with the one that was burnt.

      "I knew it." Valerie laughed as she took two pancakes from below the burnt one and popped them on a plate.

      "Now, let's see just how well you can cook, Deacon."
*****
      The album was doing exceptionally well. Everyone loved Bohemian Rhapsody. It got played on the radio just about every day.

     It was nearing Christmas, and Valerie's mother was flying in that week. The band was out with Miami and John Reid, so Payton had come over to spend time with Valerie. The two of them hadn't gotten to hang out much with Valerie working at the school and Payton working at her store.

Rosaline, her clothing company, was doing quite well. Business had started picking up a bit more when word got out that Brian May was her boyfriend.

      "Payton, you should relax. Brian will be here soon." Valerie promised her blonde friend.

     Payton and Brian had been dating for three years now, and they had grown significantly closer after Payton lost the baby she had been pregnant with.

"I know he will, but it's been thirty minutes already. You know Brian. He's very punctual." Payton replied as she reluctantly sat heavily on the couch, her long skirt flouncing about her as she did so.

      "I know. But they're probably stuck in traffic. Maybe they went to pick up food in their way home. They're probably driving slow because it's started snowing. They're okay." Valerie said as she flipped the page in one of the tests she was grading. She looked out the large window in the sitting room and watched the gentle flurry of snow go by.

       Valerie sighed deeply as she marked another wrong question on the test. "Goodness, one more question and this student fails this term." Valerie mumbled.

       Valerie elicited another deep sigh before she pushed her glasses onto her head and set her pen down. "Want some cocoa?" She asked.

        "Sure. Do you have marshmallows?" Payton asked as Bowie leapt into her lap. She pet the cat with a smile as Bowie meowed loudly. 

       "Of course I do. John insisted on buying them last time we went to the store. He's like a child sometimes, I swear." Valerie said, smiling as she recalled John getting into a playful argument with her over the importance of marshmallows in the food pyramid.

"Marshmallows are very important in hot cocoa. I'd be severely disappointed if you didn't have marshmallows in the house." Payton said teasingly, scratching her long, red painted nails behind Bowie's ears.

Valerie rolled her eyes, laughing to herself as she wandered into the kitchen, heading to the cabinet to get the cocoa mix.

She put some milk on a saucepan on top of the stove, leaning her hip against the counter as she hummed Blue Christmas while she gazed at the wall.

     Admittedly, Valerie had zoned out a bit and had nearly forgotten about the milk she had on the stove. She added the mixture quickly and stirred it in, getting two mugs down from the cabinet and setting them on the counter as she went to search for the marshmallows in her pantry.

        She came back into the kitchen and put the packet of marshmallows on the counter, pouring the piping hot cocoa into the mugs for her and Payton.

      Just then, there was a loud clattering at the front door as exclamations ensued from the hallway. Valerie startled and spilled some milk from the pot, burning her finger.

      Cursing, she turned on the sink and ran it under cold water.

     "Valerie!" She heard Roger shout above the fray. John had arrived a bit late with the rest of the band, but they all seemed to be in a fantastic mood despite the fact that they were dusted with snow, and the food they brought seemed to have been discarded by the coat rack.

      "Goodness, traffic on the way here was awful! And the restaurant we picked up food from was very crowded." Brian said as he brushed snow from his curly locks, kissing Payton with a huge smile on his face.

      "And the fucking lift got stuck!" Freddie exclaimed loudly as he took off his coat and hung it on the rack.

      "Why'd it get stuck? That sounds rather scary." Valerie commented as she kissed John in greeting, taking the food from the floor and heading into the kitchen, momentarily forgetting about her burnt finger.

      "You didn't hear?" Freddie asked incredulously, following after her. The rest of the band followed her into the kitchen, the wide smiles still not leaving their faces.

       "Bohemian Rhapsody topped the charts!" Roger blurted out, and Valerie's jaw dropped.

      "No fucking way. My god,  you did it! And right at Christmas, too." Valerie exclaimed, nearly knocking Freddie over as she rushed over and hugged him tightly.

       "But how does that tie into the lift?" Valerie asked as Freddie lifted her off the floor and gave her a spin. She was laughing when he set her down.

      "Well, we found out it hit number one while we were in the lift. And we were jumping about, but the bloody lift decided to be a real tart and it broke down on us. We waited nearly an hour! New number one chart toppers that could've nearly suffocated." Freddie said, his hands moving animatedly as he spoke.

      "That would've been quite unfortunate." Payton spoke from where she was standing by Brian, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

      "We can't have me dying now can we? Band would go downhill without me."  Roger boasted jokingly as he took a seat on top of one of the counters.

       "Oh, because we'd suffer so much without you."  John said sarcastically, and Roger made a face at him.

       "Without my beautiful face, you wouldn't be on the cover of any magazines." Roger quipped teasingly, laughing as he said it.

      "Children, we're chart toppers, so quit your bickering. And grow up a bit, because I say we all get absolutely hammered in celebration." Freddie said as he moved past Valerie and reached into the bag he had brought, pulling out a bottle of rum.

      "We may have made an extra stop on the way home." John muttered against Valerie's hair, leaning down to kiss her neck while everyone else let out a big cheer and headed into the dining room.

       "I can see that. A broken lift didn't set you back too far." Valerie teased as she draped her arms behind John's neck, resting her forehead against his.

      "It certainly didn't. We even had time to stop by Freddie and Mary's apartment and break the news to her." John said, his hands resting on Valerie's hips.

     "I told you it would be a hit. Fucking number one, baby. I had a feeling it would be great." Valerie said, pulling John into a tight hug.

      "You were just as nervous as I was," John reminded her, but Valerie simply rolled her eyes and planted a kiss on his lips, smiling.

       "But I had more faith in it than you did. And now look: you and Queen will go down in music history." Valerie said as she and John started to walk into the dining room where loud laughter could be heard. The drinking had already begun.

      John smiled as they arrived in the dining room. He watched Valerie take a seat by Roger, and he watched his band mates celebrating their success.

      As he sat down next to Valerie, the joy of hitting number one on the charts hit him all at once. And he knew Valerie was right as he watched Freddie begin to sing Bohemian Rhapsody with Roger: Queen would go down in music history.

ahHHH school starts in a few days for meeee
I'm doing all virtual, but stillll

I've been working on music a lot, so I'm sorry I wasn't super quick about an update.

hope y'all enjoyed it!

cheers!

-angelica