Chapter Text
John can't help but laugh when Roger walks off. He really is that gullible to see that he doesn't feel the same way, because he clearly does. Come on, really, he's definitely gonna notice Roger at some point, and he's not that hard to spot. Roger embodies the colour red: fiery, blazing, confident, bold, all of those scream Roger. That's a huge contrast to John's yellow personality: mellow, meek, mild and melancholic if you look closely. He hides it behind his sweet Deaky personality, acting clueless while Roger stutters whenever he smiles at him, blushes whenever he looks at him, screams internally whenever his arms are touched (by the record, this was the best reaction). All those girls and he likes him, plain ol' John Deacon whose interesting characteristics are his love for cheese toast and the ability to give a sarcastic comment? He must be 'the one', according to Fred and his romance novel theories.
"Hello, my darlings! How is everyone doing this fine morning?" Freddie announces to the world as he struts inside the studio, a sleepy Brian in tow.
"Morning, Fred. Morning, Brian. Unfortunately, Roger's out sick today. Worked himself to the bone."
There's a collective gasp among the two. Roger, working hard? The end of the world has finally arrived.
"Poor little lamb! I do hope he's alright, who else can be a drama queen with me in this house?"
"On the contrary Fred, you're doing just fine on your own." grumbles Brian.
"Hush now, Brian! This isn't about me, this is about Roger! Now say your wishes!"
"Fine." He mumbles out a 'get well soon from Bri' and works on his guitar, while Freddie plays the piano and sings nonsensical lyrics.
As John passes Fred, he leans in and whispers, "I want to hear the details." So much for the 'sweet little Deaky' facade.
!!
"Hey, Roger. I told you I'll come for you."
Roger opens one eye, blinking twice before realising it's just him. "H-hey John," he says groggily. "You came. You came back for me."
"Well, you're my best friend, stop being so dramatic." he says, rolling his eyes, but smiling anyway, because only Roger Taylor can say the silliest thing and he will still listen to him.
"Yeah, yeah, you love me anyway," he grins up at him, and his heart melts. God, you have no idea, Roger.
"Shut up, Taylor. Now open wide, this minestrone soup isn't going to finish itself."
Begrudgingly, he opens his mouth and John spoonfeeds him. Silence fills the air, but it's a good kind of silence. It's when he recalls this one lesson he learned while in electrical engineering: the circuit. Mastering the circuit is mastering the basics of electrical engineering, and the only way to master it is to make sure that there are more dry cells than bulbs. In their case, John is the dry cell and Roger is the wire (or is it the other way around?) and they have to work together to keep the circuit alive. What the circuit means, he has no clue.
"I'm done. Unless I want minestrone ala air, please stop spoonfeeding me."
"Shit!" John hurriedly places the spoon out of his mouth and fusses over him, rambling some half-assed apology. Roger just stares at him with amusement. "What's so funny?" demands John. "You're fucking adorable when you swear, please do it more often." he responds, a smug grin on his face. Cheeky bastard.
Roger's eyes widen. "You said that out loud! I meant you take it one step at a time, but this is too far, Deaky, too far!" All of a sudden, John's ears are being covered while Roger's screaming "What have you done to my John Richard Deacon and why are we left with this imposter? I'll kick your ass if I have to, clone!" Why he loves the idiot, he does not know.
Roger then releases him and says, "If you're really my Deaky, let's see how you react to this!" before closing the distance between them.
The kiss starts off slow, but then it gets messy, and John's hands are on Roger's waist, gripping him closer and they both can't breathe, while Roger's biting John's bottom lip and he's short-circuiting and John's mind is screaming 𝘙𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘙𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘙𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘳 and they can't get enough of each other and then he remembers: red and yellow make orange. Orange is both bold and mellow, confident and shy, blazing the world with it.
He and Roger are orange, and they'll have to work hard to keep their bulb alive in their little circuit.