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Freddie shows up at Brian's new house the day after he moves in. Well, he actually helped Brian move in because, as he makes sure to tell Brian, he's a good friend as well as a great bandmate. But this is a more determined arrival. Freddie tells Brian that he is missing his daily Brian-intake, with touring complete for the time being. He's brings along some beer and a boxset of movies starring Bette Davis.
Brian raises one eyebrow and lets him in.
After that, Freddie shows up most days, but he always bring food from various places on the way so Brian doesn't really mind so much.
Somehow Freddie manages to leave a pair of shoes at Brian's house every time he visits. He arrives with one pair, the pair on his feet, and always leaves wearing shoes (Brian's pretty sure he would notice if Freddie left without shoes). And yet the pile of Freddie's shoes near the front door continues to grow until it rivals Brian's own.
So when Brian sees the Amazing Shoe Rack (™ Roger) on a trip to Ikea (Roger blames Dom for sending him, but Brian knows Roger loves Ikea), he buys it.
When Freddie comes over that night and sees the Amazing Shoe Rack™, with their shoes all separated into his and Brian's pairs, he laughs and makes name labels for each of section. He even makes Brian help.
It never occurs to Brian to just tell Freddie to take his shoes back to his own apartment.
The third time Brian comes home to find Freddie sitting in the back garden with his feet in the pool, eye closed as he soaks up the sun and waits for him, Brian gives him a key to the house.
"Didn't you get that cut for Chrissie?” John asks, later. Brian just shrugs.
“She's not here that often anyway," he says.
When Brian and Chrissie split up, Freddie lets himself in and looks at Brian more forlornly than Brian himself even feels. Brian laughs hard at the box of tissues Freddie had bought on the way over.
"It was a mutual decision, Fred," Brian explains again, but it doesn't stop Freddie from insisting that he cooks them dinner (lasagne - not bad) and making them watch Episode IV of Star Wars. ("Why Star Wars?" "Because the only real 'romance' is between siblings and therefore not at all hot and unlikely to upset you." "I'm fine!")
It wasn't like Brian wasn't a little upset about splitting with Chrissie, but they hadn't been working for a while and it was hard to stay sad when Freddie was planning a "Cheer Up Brian" band night. John is busy, but joins them in spirit by letting Freddie record his voice and place a tape recorder behind a blown-up photo of him on the couch.
Roger nearly falls over laughing, only propped up by Brian who is laughing almost as hard. Although that might have been the booze. Freddie grins and proclaims the whole thing a success.
When Brian's heating system makes a stuttering sound one night, Freddie offers to call someone to look at it the next day but Brian just stares at him.
"It's July," he says. "Why the hell did you have the heat on?"
Freddie looks at him like he's the ridiculous one and says, "I was cold, darling."
They don't end up calling anyone because they're leaving for another press tour in two days. What's the point?
Freddie arranges to get picked up at Brian's house. It makes more sense than getting two separate cabs to take them to the airport, after all.
Brian helps pack Freddie's clothes into a suitcase and then gets them each a drink to celebrate managing to get it closed.
It's easier for them to buy groceries together, really. Freddie eats at Brian's house so often that it makes sense to just buy stuff they both like together. Plus, Brian has way too much fun listening to Freddie bitch about how suddenly half his meals are meatless, all while carefully inspecting zucchini to put in the vegetarian lasagna, completely oblivious to the dichotomy of his words and actions.
They take turns paying.
Tony has time free and comes over to Brian's house to visit. The next day, when they're all at Roger’s house, he jokes that Freddie is practically moving in.
"It must be a pain in the arse to have one of them there all the time. Like being back on tour,” he says.
Roger just laughs and tells Tony that if Brian really didn't want Freddie there, he would have been gone ages ago. Brian scowls but doesn't disagree.
Freddie crashes in the spare room a lot; his own place is kind of far. As he never thinks to bring a toothbrush, Brian lets him use the red one out of her two-for-one pack (he's already using the blue).
Thereafter the red one is Freddie's toothbrush. It sits in the glass with Brian's own in Brian's bathroom because he's never gotten round to buying extra toothpaste for the main bathroom.
He's also never bought shampoo or shower gel for it either, so Freddie just showers in Brian's bathroom too.
It never occurs to Brian to buy some more shampoo and toothpaste while they shop for groceries and instead they bicker over what brands to buy for Brian's bathroom.
When Freddie's dirty clothes threaten to take over the spare room, Brian throws them into the laundry with his own. There are no hangers in the spare room closet so Brian ends up hanging the clean clothes up in his own closet, on the right.
Eventually there isn't enough room in the closet for both his and Freddie's clothes. Brian takes all the stuff he doesn't wear anymore over to goodwill.
Freddie brings round his acoustic guitar so that he and Brian can mess around in Brian's "music room." The next day he arrives with a keyboard under his arm to play, insisting that even if he wasn't a mediocre guitar player, trying to keep up with Brian would still be pointless.
One day Brian comes home from dinner at his parents' house to find Freddie setting up his writing table - the one he had shipped from Boston and then made them all come over to admire and help him find the perfect place for it. It must have taken him hours to get it across town and then put it back together.
Brian just says, "It'll look better in the other corner," and helps him move it over.
After that Freddie moves all of his other instruments into Brian's music room. It makes more sense to have them all together, really.
On December 27th, they realize that the stuttering heater has stopped working. Brian steals a space heater from his parents and they pull blankets into the living room to keep them warm while they listen to records. It's cold, but it's not too cold.
It isn't until December 30th that the temperature really drops. It isn't too bad during the day, but that night Freddie looks up historical London temperatures on the internet.
"It's going to be positively freezing tonight, darling!" he exclaims, eyeing the space heater that Brian is transporting through to his bedroom. Brian grips it guiltily. The spare room already gets the coldest.
"Fuck it," Freddie says decisively, "I'm sleeping with you."
Freddie drags the blankets off his own bed and curls up in them next to Brian. They end up talking in the dark for two hours before falling asleep. Brian doesn't think he's ever laughed so hard in his life.
They call around on the 31st but it's New Year's Eve and everyone says that they can't come out until at least January 3rd to fix the heater (they're the lowest priority as they have no children or elderly people living in the house and at least have the space heater).
Roger offers for them to sleep at his place, but Brian declines. Instead Freddie sleeps each night in Brian's bedroom. It doesn't occur to either of them to stay at Freddie's apartment.
On the night of January 1st, when they have hangovers and can't seem to get warm no matter what, it seems stupid to sleep under separate blankets rather than both using all of them. Brian spreads Freddie's bedding on top of his own and they both curl up under it all.
The next morning Brian wakes up feeling stifled by the warm, heavy weight of the bedding on him, but he doesn't throw it off. Instead he pokes Freddie until he wakes up and then forces him to go and make tea.
The day the heating gets fixed, Freddie moves his blankets back to the spare room. That night, he comes and sits on Brian's bed and complains that going to bed is boring now. They end up talking for hours again and Freddie falls asleep on top of the covers.
In the middle of the night, Brian wakes up to see Freddie shivering in his sleep so he pulls him under the covers and goes back to sleep. The next morning they play rock, paper, scissors to decide who makes the tea. Brian loses.
Freddie keeps coming through to hang out before going to bed and then falls asleep on Brian's bed. Brian starts making him climb under the covers while they talk, "just in case" he falls asleep before going back to his own bed and therefore saving Brian the effort of covering him up in the middle of the night.
Eventually they don't even assume that Freddie will go and sleep in the spare room and just both get into bed.
The first time Freddie goes to bed first and still goes into Brian's room, neither of them even notice.
Brian buys new underwear for Freddie one afternoon at the store because the last time he did the laundry, he noticed that Freddie’s were getting worn out.
Freddie picks up Brian’s favorite conditioner from the only place near them that stocks it to save Brian the trip.
Brian regularly bitches at Freddie for clothes straying over from "his side" of the closet, until Freddie points out that there are some of his clothes that Brian has managed to "accidentally" hang on his own side. After that only their absolute favorite items stay on their "sides."
One day they're shopping and somehow end up co-buying a surround sound system. Which means, obviously, that they need to buy a 60" flat-screen plasma tv to complete the home theatre experience.
Brian is excitedly telling John about it when he stops by to borrow a movie and John asks why they co-bought the stuff if the set up can only stay at Brian's house.
"Deaky, it's really expensive," Brian explains. He doesn't quite get why John starts laughing at him and then goes off to call Roger.
Brian snags John’s entire Extended Edition Lord of the Rings Trilogy while he’s on the phone and leaves before he has a chance to notice.
Brian goes with Freddie to his apartment to pack up some more of his art supplies and a few films Freddie insists Brian needs to see.
Brian realizes that it's the first time Freddie has been back to his own apartment in six months.
When they get back to Brian's house, Freddie unpacks the clothes that he grabbed while at his apartment and hangs them in the closet. Brian thinks about asking Freddie why he doesn't just give up the lease on his apartment, but it somehow feels like a huge question. He doesn't understand why and ends up losing spectacularly at Guitar Hero because he can't concentrate.
When Freddie's birthday is two months away, Brian goes out and orders a baby grand piano for him. It will be be custom made and delivered on Freddie's actual birthday.
Freddie is out visiting his parents and Roger and John are camped out on Brian's sofa watching The Two Towers (John still hasn't realized that they are actually his copies) when Brian tells them about the gift. John pauses the movie and stares at Brian. Roger laughs.
"Oh my god, Brian," John says. "You are so fucking in love."
Brian scowls. "What are you talking about?" he asks.
"Sooooooooooooooooo in love," Roger sing-songs. "You bought him a piano, Bri.”
Brian thinks for a second before his eyes finally widen. "Oh fuck," he says. "Oh god! I'm in love with Freddie!"
Roger and John laugh at him for a long time. Brian throws popcorn at them, glad that Freddie isn't there.
"You really didn't know," Roger says when he can breathe again. Deaky is still tipped over, clutching his sides. Brian shakes his head and Roger starts laughing again. "But you live together! You share a bed, for fucks sake!"
Brian suddenly feels very, very dumb.
Brian tries to act normal around Freddie but it's like he's suddenly woken up and can't ignore all the things that previously seemed perfectly natural and normal.
When Brian wakes up tangled up with Freddie, like he does every morning, he gets up and fixes up the tea even though it's Freddie's turn.
When Freddie comes in to brush his teeth while Brian is in the shower and talks to him about the album he’s discovered, Brian marvels at his own denseness in never realizing how weird their living situation was before.
When Freddie lies with his head in Brian's lap while they watch telly and complains loudly anytime Brian stops playing with his hair, Brian can't help but wonder how Freddie hasn't questioned how they are living. He spends half of the show wondering if Freddie is in love with him too and, if he is, does he know it or is he still unaware of it like Brian was.
When Freddie bakes cookies one afternoon and licks the dough off the spoon and his fingers, Brian goes to "take a shower" and jerks off frantically, one ear listening in case Freddie comes in.
Brian goes to see Roger and smacks him around the back of the head.
"Why didn't you tell me!" he asks hysterically. He had woken up that morning from a dream where he was going down on Freddie to find Freddie's face pressed into his neck.
Roger laughs and Brian wants to kill him. Especially when Dominique comes into the room and asks if Roger is laughing about Brian's denseness again. She grins knowingly at Brian and he considers killing her too. He decides not to as he would probably need Freddie's help to bury the bodies and then he would have to explain why he killed them in the first place.
"I can't believe you didn't know," Roger says, grinning. Brian tells him he misses the old, cynical Roger who would have bitched and said that love was over-rated anyway. Roger grins more and smiles over at Dominique .
Later, when the three of them are more relaxed and ridiculously giggly, Brian asks Roger if Freddie is in love with him too. Dom laughs so hard that she ends up coughing on the floor. Brian decides that he hates her and tells her so. It sets her off again.
"What do you think?" Roger asks. Brian shrugs noncommittally and Roger rolls his eyes.
"Can you tell him too?" Brian asks hopefully. Roger shakes his head and tells Brian that he has to wait to see if Freddie realizes it himself, or tell Freddie he loves him. Brian tells Roger that he hates him too.
Later, Brian calls Deaky and Ronnie and asks them to talk to Freddie about it. They both agree with Roger. Brian decides he hates everyone, including Freddie who smells kind of amazing and keeps sitting really close to him on the sofa.
Freddie finally corners Brian and asks him why he's being so weird.
"I thought we were great," Freddie says and Brian feels awful. He stutters through a lame excuse about stress and runs off to Deaky’s house.
That night Freddie goes to sleep on the far side of the bed with his back turned. Brian guesses it could be worse - he could have gone back to sleep in the spare room. The fact that he didn't gives Brian hope.
Freddie's piano actually arrives the day before his birthday and Brian panics because it really is a huge and important gift to have bought. Thankfully, Freddie is out shopping with Roger (who is making Freddie choose his own birthday present) when it arrives. Brian worries and hovers while the piano is being set up in the music room until the moving guys actually order him out. He sits in the kitchen and drinks too much tea and tries to calm down.
The moving guys leave and Brian stands looking at the piano until he hears the door opening. He runs into the living room and tries to sit casually on the sofa. He knows he has failed when Freddie comes in and asks him why he's sitting like a pimp.
"I bought you something for your birthday," Brian says, feeling sick with nerves. He grabs Freddie's hand and pulls him through to show him the piano.
Brian watches Freddie's face and sees it light up when he spots the sleek, black baby grand nestled between his music desk and the wall. He also sees Freddie's face as realization suddenly dawns and he turns to look at Brian.
"Oh. Oh darling," he says, "you're in love with me."
Brian stammers as Freddie walks over and kisses him. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize what's happening and then he kisses back. He makes a sound of protest when Freddie finally pulls away.
"I'm in love with you, too," Freddie says and Brian grins. It's not like he has to make any effort to get Freddie into his bed.
Brian and Freddie buy a brand new king size bed a week after they finally get together. Roger jokes that it's because they broke the old one with "all the sex" but really it's because Freddie wants to buy something for both of them that feels as intimate as Brian buying him the piano.
Plus, the old bed had started creaking alarmingly. But they don't tell Roger that.
When they reunite with everyone to record the new album, Brian wonders if it will be weird, but they lay down a "no-studio-sex-except-silent-studio-sex" rule and everything is surprisingly the same.
One afternoon Freddie comes back from a shopping trip with Deaky carrying a painting.
"It's for our house," Freddie tells Brian excitedly before dancing off to store it until they can it get home. Brian can't help grinning. It's the first time Freddie has said "our" house.
On the day that Freddie finally gets around to dissolving the lease on his apartment, Brian arranges for Freddie's name to be put on the deed to their house. He gives a copy to Freddie inside a plain brown envelope and on the front he writes "Home".