Keep Yourself Alive - Roger Taylor

67

My eyes fluttered open wearily, glued together from the tears of my outburst last night. Immediately I noticed the blond drummer, laying on the floor next to me. I watched him as his chest rose and fell in a constant rhythm, and how his mouth twitched with every breath. I don't know what I did to deserve this, to deserve him. I can't even get a job properly without screwing it up.

Suddenly, his eyes flickered open and a hand flew to his face to run his forehead sleepily. He noticed me staring down at him instantly, and sent me a small smile.

"Morning" he grumbled, pushing himself up and laying next to me on the couch.

"Morning... thanks for sleeping there last night" I said nervously.

"Yeah it's fine.. what happened though?" He asked worriedly, rubbing his hand up and down my thigh soothingly.

"I finally rang the modelling agency guy, he ended up being for vogue-"

"No way that's great" he mumbled into my ear.

"No it's not. It turns out they only wanted me because I'm your wife and they can sell it easier or something" I huffed, turning to face him.

"Oh- I'm sorry" He said, a small frown etching onto his features.

"That's the thing though. It's not your fault, I just felt unwanted at the time so I-"

"Drank away your problems" He finished my sentence.

"Yeah" I sighed.

"Well you're not unwanted, you know that. You've got me, and John and Brian and Freddie" He pointed out.

"I know. And I love you all so much" I mumbled, kissing him gently as he held my back to keep me balanced on the crowded sofa.

"I love you more than anything, Rose" He murmured back, using his free hand to push some scraggly hair from my face.

"You, go get a shower. You're coming with us today" Roger nodded, getting up with a sudden burst of energy.

"Okay" I grinned excitedly.

I'd been to see them practice on numerous occasions, but not since they got back together.

"Go on then slow coach, get ready!" He ordered jokingly, slapping my arse as I rushed into the bathroom.

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"We are the champions of the world"

I began to clap as the four boys finished up the song. The Live Aid rehearsals were flying by and, with only one week until the concert, the boys were buzzing with excitement and nervousness.

"Are you sure that was okay darling? My voice feels a bit scratchy today?" Freddie stressed, grabbing his mic and pressing his forehead against it.

"Fred, it was great. If that's you with a scratchy voice I'd be too embarrassed to even talk to you with mine" I laughed, and Roger chimed in.

"She's not wrong. When she's hungover she sounds like a cat that has been strangled" He joked, walking towards me stupidly with his head turned as far round as he could.

"Oh my goodness, Roger you're such a child" I laughed, and kicked his twisted legs to make him fall on the floor in a wrangled heap.

"Meow" He croaked out and jumped back up.

"What the hell is going on?" John asked, shaking his head as he laughed.

"Roger is being a weirdo" I commented, and the other three laughed.

"Tell us something new, Rose" Brian joke.

"Woah woah Brian, did you just gang up on me with my wife?" He said in a false offended tone.

"Yes I did, you pussy" Brian taunted back.

Oh this is going to be good.

"Did you just call me a pussy?" Roger said squaring up to Brian, who was much taller, jokingly.

"Yes I did. But if your little brain didn't figure it out already, it was a pun?" Brian sent me a smirk, and we all laughed.

"Oh look at me, big old Bri with my puns and my astrophysics and vegetarianism" Roger mimicked waving his hands around.

Brian just looked at him with his eyebrows raised as he shook his head in amusement.

"Roger, you were literally studying dentistry when I met you?" I laughed, standing up and crossing my arms.

"Yeah but-"

"So get back to those bloody drums and practice. Go on!" I ordered pointing towards his drum kit.

"Whatever" He huffed like a child, throwing his sticks into the air and catching them.

"I just love this band" Freddie grinned, twiddling the mic stand in his hands.

"Yeah, Well is like it a lot more if you all shut up and practiced again. You're stressing me out now" I warned like a mother, and they all nodded before beginning to play the familiar tunes.

After a long rehearsal, we thought that it would be nice for us all to go back to Freddie's for a bit of a party. Although, luckily for us four, it wasn't like his usual parties. We had food, and forced Brian to dance, we even played scrabble. And I know that this will sound boring and weird to some, but to us it was like the old days again and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my night.

"You're definitely cheating, Roger. 'Mustang' does not count as a word" Deacy stated.

"Can you say it?" Roger retaliated.

"Well yes but-"

"Then its a word" Roger nodded, grinning at his 10 point word.

"Yes, Roger. It is a real word, but you can't use names in Scrabble" Freddie chimed in, placing a few more tiles down.

"This is stupid, I always lose anyway" He huffed, pushing his tile tray over and revealing his letters.

D Q S U E Z E H E

"Roger!" I shouted, as his tiles were on show.

"What!?" He mimicked my high pitched call.

"You could have used squeeze! That's 75 points!" I laughed.

He licked his lips excitedly and began to put the tiles on the board.

"Ah ah ah, that's cheating" Brian said, pushing Rogers hand back.

"Are you joking?" Roger argued.

"No. You got help, and we've all seen your tiles" Brian smirked smugly.

"Oh bugger off" Roger rolled his eyes in annoyance and pushed the whole board, making every word fly to the floor.

"Roger!" We all shouted in unison.