"THE SONG IS called Love Of My Life. I just sang it for Paul, and he thought it was good." Freddie said to Valerie, who had sat on the piano bench next to him as they often did when he was giving her a late night lesson. He'd been working with the band all day. 

"Who'd you write it for?" Valerie asked. It was a harmless question, but she felt Freddie tense up slightly beside her. Valerie knew what it was about. She opened her mouth to speak but Freddie beat her to some words.

"I wrote it for Mary," he replied quietly before he started to play the song.

"Love of my life, you've hurt me. You've broken my heart, and now you leave me. Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back. Don't take it away from me, because you don't know what it means to me." Freddie finished the song with a flourish on the piano, glancing at Valerie before dropping his gaze.

Valerie's mouth was slight agape at the beautiful song Freddie had just played. "Fred, it's beautiful. I love it." She said, looking at him.

His hands were clasping the piano bench, and he was very tense to the point where his knuckles were turning white.

"Freddie, what's wrong?" She asked him, though she felt she knew the answer already.

"I owe you an explanation. For what happened the other day,"

"Freddie, you don't-" Valerie tried to say, but was interrupted by Freddie holding up a hand to quiet her down.

"Please, just let me speak. What happened the other day at the gas station....... to answer your question, yes. I was, um, kissing Evan. But I'm so confused."

"What about?"

"My sexuality, Valerie. I love Mary dearly, truly, I do. But with Evan, I feel something completely different. I'm so utterly attracted to him, and I can't help but feel disgusted with myself for that." Freddie said, the pain in his voice making Valerie hurt right along with him.

"And I understand if you'll hate me for kissing guys, or for even being attracted to one in the first place, but your the first person I've ever told this to. It started when we were on the tour in America. Or rather, maybe even before that. I just don't know." Freddie said, trailing off with a heavy sigh.

Valerie realized then that Freddie was crying silent tears, and was shaking slightly. She'd never seen him so emotionally fragile before. It broke her heart to think that he could ever thing she would hate him for who he was.

"Oh, Freddie, baby. I will never hate you for who you are. Ever. You are the most fantastic, wonderful, talented, loving person I have ever met. If you think that just because you like to kiss guys I'll hate you, you are dead wrong." Valerie said softly, wrapping her arms around Freddie, who immediately hugged back, burying his head in her shoulder.

    "If you and Evan are a something, I'm fine with that. I support you and whoever you choose to love. It's not my business where your heart wants to wander." Valerie said gently as she rubbed Freddie's shoulder. He smiled slightly.
  
    "But, you'll have to tell Mary eventually. You can't keep it from her forever."

     "I know. I'll tell her once I'm not confused anymore. I still love her, though. It's all very confusing, y'know. Feeling the way I feel about Evan has changed nothing about how I feel about Mary."  Freddie said, moving his head from Valerie's shoulder to look her in the eyes, obviously just a bit distressed but relieved he was able to finally talk to someone.

    "So you're okay with me being..... bisexual?" Freddie struggled to say the word, as it was very foreign for him. He also didn't know whether it was the right label to put on himself, but he felt more comfortable saying that than saying 'liking guys and girls'.

     "Freddie, of course I am. I'll always love you, no matter what." Valerie said, and she hugged Freddie again. He was still crying, though it was more happy tears rather than being frustrated and sad.

     "I'm so glad. I don't know what I would do without you. I'm glad I was able to convince you to come with us," Freddie said, a bit sniffly as he hugged Valerie tightly.

    "I don't know what'd you'd do without me either. Now, why don't you teach me a song on the piano, before I go take a shower." Valerie said with a smile as she and Freddie moved away from their embrace. They'd wrapped up their recording sessions about an hour ago, so Freddie had some free time.

     "Sure. How's a Beatles song for you?" Freddie asked, wiping his eyes and sniffling once more as he smiled at Valerie, kissing her cheek gratefully before proceeding to talk about chord progressions.
*****

"I put my heart and soul into this song," Roger hissed as he sliced potatoes angrily, "and you don't like it because you want your goddamn songs on the album!" he said, his voice raising as he slammed the knife on the counter.

"Roger, its not that." John said calmly as he cut into his pancakes that Evan had made early in the morning.

"What's going on? Why is Rog yelling again?" Valerie asked as she came into the living room, her hair in braids that had obviously been slept on, and her pyjamas rumpled from just having woken up.

"He's mad because he thinks we don't like his song." Brian said as he ate his pancakes calmly. He shrugged at Valerie as if you say typical Rog.

    "Oh, nothing new." Valerie said as she got a plate of pancakes, kissing Roger's cheek in greeting as he gave her a begrudging good morning before taking her seat next to John.

    "It's not that we want our songs on the album, Roger." John continued, looking at the lyric sheet Roger had given them, his hand resting on Valerie's leg as he took the paper from in front of him.

    "Then what is it?" Roger demanded, pointing his fork directly at John.

"I'm In Love With My Car? Maybe it's not strong enough?" Brian said, raising his eyebrows and squinting slightly at Roger.

"Not strong enough? Not strong enough?! What does that even mean 'not strong enough'?!"

"I know I'm late; what did I miss?" Freddie interrupted as he walked into the kitchen, hugging Valerie good morning. She coughed a bit, noticing the slight mark that was on his neck, and he blushed, trying to cover it with his shirt.

     "We're discussing Roger's car song." John said as he ate a forkful of pancakes, stealing some bacon off of the plate of food Valerie had just been given by Brian.

    She slapped his hand away and Brian coughed. "Is it strong enough: that's all I'm asking. If I'm on my own here, I apologize."  He said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"How does your new song go then, huh? Brian?" Roger asked, fuming, as he grabbed the lyrics sheet from where it was resting in front of Brian's breakfast plate.

"You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese." Roger said, reading off of the lyrics sheet. Valerie choked on the orange juice she was drinking and had to contain her laughter.

     John glanced at Brian and Roger, continuing to eat his breakfast while the blonde and the brunette went back and forth. He was used to it by now.

   Brian was now getting more and more angered with Roger, his patience wearing thin.

    "It's good," he said wearily.

    "Wow." Roger said, applauding sarcastically to Brian.

    "It's better than when my hands on your grease gun. That's very subtle, isn't it?" Brian seethed as he read Roger's lyric page.

   Valerie almost couldn't take it anymore, and John was smiling ever so slightly. Freddie, however, managed to keep his facade unchanging.

     "It's a metaphor, Brian!"

     "It's just a bit weird, Roger." John began, and Valerie sipped her juice to hide her smile.

     "What exactly are you doing with that car?" John asked, waving his fork just a bit and raising his eyebrows at Roger, smiling at him.

      "Children, please. We could all murder each other, but then who would be left to record this album?" Freddie said, finally speaking from the corner where he was standing.

      "Statistically speaking," John said as he swallowed his food, "most bands don't fail. They break up." He finished, and Valerie made a face at him.

    "Why the hell would you say something like that?" Freddie asked, his eyebrows furrowing. John shrugged as he ate another forkful of pancakes.

"Roger, there's only room in this band for one hysterical queen, and that is me." Freddie said as he grabbed a cigarette from a packet that was on the table and walked outside without eating.

"You know why you're angry, Roger?" Brian asked, and Roger crossed his arms, looking at Brian with a heavy sigh.

"No, why am I angry, Brian? Apparently you're psychic now."

Brian continued as if Roger hadn't spoken at all. "Because you know your song isn't strong enough." Brian finished, and Valerie could see Roger snap.

"No, Roggie-" Valerie tried to halfheartedly to try and stop Roger as he threw a tea kettle to the ground. It smashed at his feet.

"Not strong enough?" He demanded, grabbing a handful of bacon and throwing it in Brian's face. Brian winced, his brows furrowing in anger as the bacon bounced off his face while some got stuck in his curls.

"Is that strong enough?" He yelled, moving to the counter where the pots, pans, and cups were stacked, throwing them to the floor.

He moved his hands across the table where John, Brian, and Valerie were sitting, and he knocked all their food to the floor. Valerie threw her hands in the  air and sighed.

     He moved to the coffee machine and picked it up, but Brian and John stood instantly. "Not the coffee machine!" They shouted at him, and Roger set it down with a loud slam back on the counter, storming it of the kitchen.

   There was the slamming of doors, and Valerie figured he had retreated to his room to throw stuff around in there, but it was oddly quiet except for muffled cursing every now and again.
*****

"Roger get out of the cupboard!" Freddie yelled as he banged on the door of one of the uninhabited cupboards in the living room.

"No! Not until you put my song on the B-side!" Roger yelled from the cupboard like a petulant child. Freddie was seething as he kicked the cupboard door in anger.

"I will not have your song about fucking cars on the b side of my masterpiece!" Freddie shouted back at him.

"It's not about fucking cars! You bastard!" Roger roared in anger. Valerie was reading peacefully on the couch, glancing up at Freddie every now and again. John and Brian were in the studio trying to record and layer on some of the songs. They left Freddie to deal with Roger.

"Certainly sounds like it. I will not have that soiling the B side of my masterpiece." Freddie said venomously. Roger scoffed from inside the cupboard.

      "He's going to die in there, Freddie." Valerie spoke calmly from the couch as Freddie huffed and collapsed next to her.

      "Good. Let him die."  Freddie said angrily as he picked at one of the loose threads on the couch.

      "Freddie," Valerie said, looking at him as she set her book on her lap. He sighed and looked at her, his eyes softening slightly.

      "What's so bad about the song? Sure the lyrics are a bit..... well, they're a bit, but I think it's pretty catchy." Valerie said, and Freddie looked slightly aghast.

       "Oh, not you too." Freddie huffed and Valerie rolled her eyes.

      "You can't stay mad at him forever. Might as well agree to it. I know you're going to eventually, so do it now."  Valerie said, shrugging at him. He watched her, calculatingly, while he tried to make up his mind. Valerie was right, but he didn't want to give in to Roger's song so soon.

       "Okay. But, give it another half hour. I like how quiet it is without Roger." Freddie said with an evil smirk. He walked out of the living room, leaving Valerie shaking her head and laughing while she continued to read her book.
*****

     "Val, baby, come here." John said from where he was sitting on the couch, one of Brian's acoustic guitars he had borrowed propped in his lap. 

    Valerie was in the small bathroom that was downstairs in their bedroom putting her hair in curlers. "Give me a second, John." She said, finishing up and walking out, tying a rag to keep the curlers situated.

    "Okay, what is it?" She asked him, sitting down at the foot of the bed, looking at a lyric sheet he'd had in front of him that had many chords scrawled on it.

     "I wrote you a song,"

    "You wrote me a song? What's it called?" Valerie asked excitedly, a grin spreading on her face as she sat down across from John on the creaky bed.

    "You're My Best Friend. Because you're one of the people I trust the most. You are, indeed, my best friend."

    Valerie blushed a deep shade of red at John's words, leaning across the bed and careful not to crush the guitar as she kissed him.

    "Aw, thank you, love. That means the world to me." Valerie said, and paused a bit, gesturing to his guitar.

    "Will you sing some of it for me?" Valerie asked him, and John blushed a bit, lowering his head in embarrassment.

    "Well, I don't have the best voice. I'm sure I could get Freddie down here to sing it-"

     "No, John. I'd like you to sing it. If you want to sing it, that is." Valerie said, her green eyes shining with excitement. John rarely sang anything for her. He hated his voice with a burning passion.

     John looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Alright, but I'm only singing it for you." He said,  and adjusted the guitar in his lap, strumming a chord before starting to sing a part of the song, his voice shaking slightly. Unsure.

     "Ooh you're the best friend that I ever had. I've been with you such a long time; you're my sunshine. And I want you to know, that my feelings are true. I really love you. Oh, you're my best friend." John sang to her, finishing the verse and not meeting her eyes out of embarrassment.

     "John, that was lovely." Valerie said, placing a hand to her heart, slightly overcome with emotion.

    "My feelings really are true, though. You're the sunshine in my life." John said, all the while still blushing madly and not looking at Valerie.

     "Know something, John?"

    "Hm?" He questioned, finally looking up at her, slightly stunned when he realized she had moved just a bit closer to sit next to him.

     "I think it's going to be a hit song."

    "Only because it's about you?" John teased her as he gently set the guitar down to lean against the bed, his hands still shaking slightly as they were often did when he got nervous.

     "Especially because it's about me. Who wouldn't want to listen to that song?" Valerie joked, laughing as she lied back on the bed, taking John's hands and clasping then in between hers to contain the shaking.

     "I can think of a few people that probably won't like the song, but maybe that's because I'm my own worst critic. But, I'm glad you like it." John said with a smile as he adjusted his stuff around the room and turned off the lamp so that he and Valerie could go to sleep, settling in the peacefulness of the night.