Outside Looking In - Bohemian Rhapsody

Two - From Smile to Queen

"Mary!" Diana shoved her way through the crowded pub to join the blonde. It was Smile's first performance as the newly-formed group.

"Hi Di."

"Here to see Freddie?" Diana grinned.

Mary rolled her eyes but smiled. "And the others, too."

There were some cheers as the new Smile took to the stage. Diana joined in the clapping and cheering. 

"Hello, everyone, thanks for being here tonight," Brian introduced. "As you can tell, we have a few new faces: this is John Deacon, our new bass player-" John gave a smile and wave to the crowd.  "And our new lead singer, Freddie Bul-Bulsara. Freddie Bulsara," he struggled a little with Freddie's last name.

This didn't go  unnoticed by Freddie, but he didn't let it bother him. He just gave a nod. "That's right."

"And of course, there's Roger in the back." Brian gestured to the back of the stage where Rog's drum kit was set up.  "Biggest member of them all."

Roger flashed a dashing grin.

"Hi Roger!" squealed some girls. 

"Hello all you beautiful people," Freddie now addressed the crowd. 

 "Hey, here's Tim?" someone shouted, followed by a slur at Freddie. 

"Ready, Freddie?" asked Roger, ignoring the protests.

"Let's do it." And they were off. Brian struck the first note. Freddie began nodding his head to the beat, quickly followed by moving his whole body, grabbing the microphone in one hand and  a tambourine in the other.  The others were clearly  surprised by this.

Try as he may, Freddie could not get the microphone from the stand, this earning some laughter from the crowd.  He eventually gave up trying to remove the microphone and just grabbed the whole stand instead, narrowly missing hitting John.  John, Brian, and Roger were clearly confused and looked as though they were trying to keep up. 

Freddie didn't let any of this phase him tough, and poured his heart out into the song, into the whole performance. This wasn't just a live song, but a whole performance in itself. 

The band powered through, Freddie seeming lost in his own world.  Di noticed her brother constantly trying to subtly whisper to Freddie, but Freddie clearly ignored him. What an intensive energy he carried!

 Di was glad to see the audience seemed to be warming to the performance.  She was sure enjoying it! Freddie was certainly bringing a fresh spin to Smile.  

"Keep yourself alive! Keep yourself alive! All you people, keep yourself alive!"

"They're brilliant!" cried Di. Mary only beamed in agreement. 

This was certainly the start of something wonderful. 

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A year later, the band was still together, now called Queen (Freddie's doing), selling out every pub gig, and only growing stronger. Nothing could stop them - not even a broken-down van, which was where they currently were at. 

"This is bollocks." Roger was complaining.  "Sold out every pub and uni South of Glasgow and I'm stuck out here in the middle of nowhere eating a ham sandwich!"

John was trying his best, albeit struggling, trying to fix the tire, grunting with the effort. 

"It's counter-clockwise I think you'll find, John," Brian instructed, standing over John while he worked, hands in his pockets.

"Oh, is it? Thank you Brian, would you like to do it? Please, feel free."

"No, no, you're doing a good job. Please continue."

"I don't think we're thinking big enough?" Freddie announced.

"What have you got in mind, Fred?" asked Brian.

Freddie smirked.  "An album."

John stood.  "We can't afford an album."

"Oh, we'll find a way." Freddie had a twinkle in his eye.  "How much do you think we could get for the van?"

"I hope you're joking," cried Roger, almost spitting out his bite of sandwich. "And that still doesn't solve the problem of us being stuck out here." 

"At least you've got good company." Di poked her head out of the back window.  "So, how's it looking, boys? What's the plan?"

Freddie grinned.  "An album."

----------------------------

The van was gone, and the group had made it to the nearest recording studio, newly-earned cash in hand.  

"That's three month's wages," said John.

"And a perfectly good van," pouted Roger. 

"Don't be so dramatic, Darling," said Freddie, clapping his hands above his head. "You're recording an album!"

And so began the extensive recording process.  Di, Mary, and Stella - Roger's latest fling - sat in the booth with Roy, the sound engineer. Di was absolutely fascinated by the whole recording process. 

"Don't you think I sound like shit?" said Freddie, abruptly stopping the recording. They were currently working on a song titled Seven Seas of Rhye. 

"No, it's good," John told him.

"I think it sounds great," added Di. 

"We need to get more experimental," said Brian.  

The boys didn't waste a single moment.  They began mixing what they had already recorded, trying different sounds and overlaps.

"And blast it!" Roger jumped up, startling Stella when he flew off the couch where they had been sitting snuggled up together. Feeling more enthusiastic and confident now, the four returned to the recording booth. 

"Oh boy," sighed Roy.

(Once again, borrowing some stuff from my other 'BoRhap' story. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))