Work Text:
I
Roger knows Brian since the day he was born. His favorite picture is one his mother took of them: he was a newborn and Brian was just two years old. Their mothers were best friends and their fathers worked together. They went to the same school, although they were in different grades.
One of Roger’s favorite memory of their childhood is one of they studying. They were still kids, they didn’t know what love was but they knew pretty well they were best friends.
That’s why Brian, the smartest student of the whole school (and to the ten years old Roger the whole world), went to help his best friend. A teacher, Mrs. Smith, famous to give a very difficult - to some students even impossible - work for them to do. It is the whole grade of the discipline, and everyone of them were very worried that they will fail.
Some years later, they realized it was not fair for the school to put this kind of pressure on them, because Mrs. Smith always accepted what every student did and they never failed. But at the time Roger didn’t knew it and he was scared of his parents reaction if he failed.
Luckily for him he had Brian.
Brian who had passed the ‘test’ without difficulties two years before. Brian who was more at the Taylors house then his own. Of course Brian offered the help. It wasn’t Roger who asked him, and he remembers very well the day Brian approached him with the proposal.
“I don’t want you to fail, Rog, let me help you.” Roger didn’t even told him he had the homework to do. And how could he deny? Brian had a bright smile in his face, a smile Roger would do anything to see everyday.
“Will you sleepover?” Brian’s mother never let him stay, but now it can be a perfect excuse.
“I’ll ask mum.”
And they spent the whole week in Roger’s room, Brian explaining to him everything he needs to know about maths. By the weekend, the blonde boy had everything ready and done by himself. “You are very smart, Rog, don’t let them tell you you are dumb just because your hair.” He’ll never forget those words from his best friend. The same friend that used to say that he would study the stars but never wanted to compare himself and Roger.
How could Roger be so privileged to grow up with a person like this?
II
The day they had to separate was the saddest day of their lives. They’ve been dating for three years now and Roger knows he can’t live without Brian. They are glued to each other since they were babies, there’s no way he will be able to handle this.
But Brian just finished high school and got accepted at Imperial College, in London, to study astrophysics. It is his dream and Roger is not sad because of it, he would never be. He loves his boyfriend and he only wants to see him happy. He is sad because he’ll have to way two more years until he can move to London too. And it means that he won’t have the best cuddles in the world, that he won’t watch the stars in the summer nights laying on the grass and falling asleep in his boyfriend’s arms… That he won’t have to hide the hickeys they were careless to leave after a blow mind sex...
Brian is not better. He can’t wait to start the new chapter of his life. He has so many plans, so many things he wants to discover. He is happy that he managed to arrive to this point. But he is sad that he has to leave the town, not because of it, but because of Roger. His boyfriend. He is so proud of calling him his boyfriend . He loves Roger the exactly same way he loves the universe and his heart broke when he had to leave.
Everybody cried, including his father. He was proud of his son. His mother too, they were sure they raised a good man. And Roger, the love of his life, he was proud that he has someone so special.
They missed each other, very much, but they promised that they would keep their relationship even with the distance. They didn’t called everyday, but they kept telling eachother everything that happened. Brian liked to write letters, so Roger had countless love letters during the couple of years that they’ve been apart.
It was difficult. Brian couldn’t make home during the holidays and on his vacation one of his professors invited him to be on a research, so day spent two whole years without seeing each other. But they had they lives ahead of them.
III
Brian didn’t want to be cliche.
He didn’t want to make a reservation in a fancy restaurant. Then ask Roger out on a date. Then agree with the waiter to do something as ‘do you want to marry me?’ in the desert. And then get down on his knees, open the box with the ring, do a speech that everybody in the restaurant will pay attention to, wait for the answer, and then they kiss.
No, he doesn’t want to do that, because Roger deserves so much more. But mostly because they’ve been together for ten years. They don’t do this kind of date anymore. They are already used to everything about the other. Brian knows Roger more than he knows himself.
He thought about stargazing… a bottle of wine and a blanket, laying down and watching the stars… and then he would pick the ring and ask Roger to marry him. It was a good plan, do everything he loves at the same night.
But then it rained and he couldn’t wait anymore. The box of the ring was burning his pocket and he needed to deliver it to the right owner. It couldn’t wait anymore. After a decade together he is sure it is the right step to do. It is natural.
So he did the only thing he could think at the moment. He put a movie and asked Roger to lay on the couch with him, they ate popcorn while laughing with some stupid joke from the movie. They were having fun. It was so domestic and they both loved spending their nights like this too.
When the movie ended was the time. No speech, no getting on his knees. Just a simple conversation.
“Rog? Don’t you think it’s time for us to change our relationship a little?” The blonde, who was almost sleeping, was completely awake after this. Many things went through his head and he couldn’t think about a right answer.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we should get married.”
“When?” Roger smiles. Is Brian really asking him to marry me?
“Tomorrow, if you want.” Brian picks the ring and puts in Roger’s finger. Right where it belongs.
“So tomorrow it is.”
IV
They were almost in their 40s. Till then they felt complete, just the two of them sharing their passions, making music together, travelling around the world, just living their lives. But they knew they were getting old and truly, something was missing when they returned home, something was missing when they finished a show and went backstage.
For something neither could put a finger on what was missing. One day they went to a park, the same one they went for the first time in London, when Roger moved, and saw a very beautiful and cute scene: a couple, near their age, were playing their two kids, a boy, that seemed to have about 10 years, and a girl, a little young. Roger and Brian looked at each other and didn’t need to say anything: they need to start their own family.
It was a very difficult task. They had to fill thousand papers, a woman went to their house to see if they were eligible to adopt a child. They had to postpone a tour to be able to fill the requirements… it took them about a year to do so.
But even with the preparatory they weren’t ready when the day came to visit the orphanage. They had no idea how it worked and their wish was to adopt every child there. But two siblings caught their attention. A girl was hugging her baby brother, she was five and the boy three. They fell in love with the scene and asked the social worker about them. They were there since the boy were a baby and no one wanted to adopt them because they wouldn’t let anyone separate they.
Roger and Brian had no doubts: Emily and James are their kids.
V
Roger never thought about the future. He never thought about getting old. When he was young he always liked to enjoy his life, do what he loves and be with the people he loves. He shared his entire life with Brian and he can’t imagine how it would be if he hadn’t the guitarist with him.
They lived through everything. They made friends, they made a band, they made success, they lost a dear friend, and the most important thing: they never gave up. They knew if they didn’t keep with the music they would never recover.
And now they are here, after 50 years of making music, after 70 years together, still doing what they love. Now they are just like in the beginning, just the two of them against the world. When Roger is sit on his drum kit and when Brian is moving around the stage with Red Special, the drummer thinks they are still like they were 50 years ago, just two men playing around.
And he loves it. He loves that he still does this, that he and Brian are still together, as a couple, as friends. He loves that they have their big family, that now they have grandchildren.
His favorite thing to do, however, is not work and it has nothing to do with music. There was a time in his life that yes, music was his priority, but now what he likes the most is staying at home cuddling with his husband, enjoying the moment.
Because differently from when they were young and even if they still feel like they have 20 years, they both know that time is running out. So why not spend their days together, like they did when they were five? And watch the starts like when they were 15? And enjoy their kids like when they were 40?
Many things changed, but what didn’t changed during the years is the love they have.
And they will love each other until the day they die. And beyond.