#and i wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor drops it for future tours (or at least not without serious safety upgrades)

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

As an addendum to the travelling for Eras post I’d like to add that I feel like I offered a public service because I ended up acting as a translator between a French fan and a Brit because of the piss poor communication and security at the stadium and all info was being shared through the grapevine of fans in line lol

[queen-bunnyears]

Soft Hands ~ Roger Taylor

So my inspiration for this piece was a small quote from an interview I found somewhere, I don’t remember where, but I copied it into my writing document. 

“I’ve really had a lot of trouble.  Blood everywhere and a lot of bandages. It’s a really intense stage act. It’s in no way laid back. It’s pretty high energy, and yeah, it’s pretty hard on the hands. At the beginning of a tour, especially if we haven’t been playing for awhile, your hands tend to soften up. It’s just a case of hardening them. After two or three weeks they harden up pretty well. At the beginning of the last tour it was really bad because we did a lot of double shows. That was tearing my hands to bits. I know a few other guys who get a lot trouble like that. Bonham tears his hands to shreds. The only way to get over it is to practice like hell two weeks before you come over to do a tour. Just keep playing all the time.” - Roger Taylor, 1975 Circus interview 

Wordcount: a little over 3.4 K

Triggers: Mentions of smoking, alcohol and sex. This is just lots of fluff.

Pairing: Roger x Female reader

The thrill of the bass, and the thumps of the drums filled up your body as you watched Queen play. The third concert of the tour was a grand spectacle, Freddie sung great, and the others were playing one of their best sets yet. The crowd cheered screamed and sung their hearts out. The energy was skyhigh, just like half of the people in the concert hall. You loved watching Queen perform, and seeing how their shows were different each night, how the crowd reacted just in another way, and how the intensity always hit the roof.

When Roger suggested you would join them for the America tour you were beyond excited. You wouldn’t have to miss Roger for a few months, and you were happy that he wanted you to come along. It was Rogers first tour with a girlfriend, and like Brian said, it would probably take some getting used to. Roger was notorious for sleeping with the groupies, and living his best life. You didn’t blame him, he was allowed to enjoy the benefits of being a rockstar, but ever since you two had decided to take on an exclusive relationship you were scared for tours. You did trust him, of course, but something inside you was a tiny bit scared, so you were happy you could join them while they were making history.

Freddie sat down at the piano, and with that movement it felt like the entire crowd held his breath. The energy stayed high, got even higher possibly, but there was a difference, they were waiting for what he had in store. He hit the keys, and you felt nostalgia hit your senses. Love of my life, don’t leave me.

The song wasn’t even that old, but it always gave you a flashback of your favourite memories with Roger. You looked to the side, to Mary, who had tears in her eyes. The song was so special, and your heart filled up with a love for the man playing the piano. How was he capable of writing such amazing songs, that were able to touch your heart in the first few seconds, grab it and not let go. You hugged Mary, and the two of you softly swayed to the song. When he played the last chords you smiled at her, knowing which song would probably come next.

The harmony hit you, and you laughed at how your favourite song got you and Mary immediately out of your intense feelings, and got you to dance a bit, and sing along with the boys. You focused on Roger, who was extremely concentrated to sing it perfect, and having the right timing when he had to start with the drums. He looked so hot, and you wanted to hug him tight, and kiss the living daylight out of him when he looked like that. Watching Roger, the songs flew by, and before you knew it Mary gave you a soft nudge.

“Come on Darling, we have to go backstage, we will get stuck in the crowd if we don’t go now.” She was right, they were starting the last song, and you wanted to be there when they got off stage, bursting with adrenaline. You walked towards the exit, Mary followed suit. When you two were outside you walked towards the backdoor, while you took the opportunity to light a cigarette. “They were good tonight, weren’t they?” You asked Mary, while taking the first drag.

“They are always good. But yeah, tonight seemed to be better than this afternoon, or last night. Everything just went a bit better, smoother and more fluently. They’ll probably be exhausted, I bet Freddie goes to the afterparty, gets high or drunk or both, and then heads straight to bed.” You searched for bitterness in her voice, but Mary didn’t sound angry in the slightest. Maybe that’s why they work out so well, because Mary won’t judge him.

“Doesn’t that annoy you? I mean, I would be annoyed if Roger does that.” You said softly, hoping that you didn’t insult her.

“No it doesn’t, not anymore. He is happy and it doesn’t harm him. And it is just the beginning of tour. He usually settles down after a week or two. At least a bit.” She smiled tiredly. “Besides, I can get my beauty sleep this way. I have seen the party’s I know what it’s like so I think I will just go to bed early tonight. Shall we go shopping tomorrow? I heard Los Angeles is great if you want to find some new things.” The two of you entered the backdoor, and walked towards backstage.

“Yeah lets, tomorrow is the last day we are in LA, so if we want to shop we will have to go tomorrow.” The last notes of Killer Queen filled the air, and the crowd applauded and cheered. The boys bowed and left stage, jumping with the rush, sweaty and intoxicated by the amazing show they had played. Roger ran towards you, and gave you a bearhug, before kissing you. He was filled with adrenaline, and you let it flow over you, kissing him back fiercely. You felt yourself melting underneath his lips, feeling the intensity when his tongue wandered over your lips and your tongue.

Brain patted your shoulder, and you let go of Roger, a bit ashamed of the public affection you just showed. You moved on to hug Brian and the others, before ushering them towards the dressing rooms.

“Go shower boys, you all stink like hell.” The other three laughed, and Roger send you a smile. “Will you join me, we could save water by showering together.” You laughed and gave him a peck on his lips. “Perhaps.” Brian and the others left, Freddie had his arm casually slung over Mary her shoulder. You took Rogers hand, wanting to walk with him to the dressing room. He flinched the moment your hand touched his, and you felt the last bits of the post concert flow leave your veins.

“Roger, what is it?” You looked at his hands and saw it. They were raw and bloody, with some blisters and small cuts. “It’s nothing, it will go away. Just don’t touch ‘m, or think of ‘m.” He shrugged his shoulders, wanting to go to the dressing room to shower. “Rog, we should clean these. This can get infected and it will last longer before the pain fades.”

He made a face at you. “I’ll just put some bandages on them, don’t worry about it love.”

You sighed, not wanting to pressure it. “It always happens when we start a tour love, I tear my hands to shreds in the first couple of shows.” He murmured, and he pressed his face into the crook of your neck.

Taking his hand carefully you looked at his bloody palms. They really had to be cleaned, and not in the alcohol that would spill over them at the after party, were Roger would almost certainly want to go. “Rog, I don’t want to pressure you, but at least let me wrap your hands with a bandage before the show tomorrow?” You tried to sound convincing, but not to much like you were his mother. Your ex had broken up with you because he said you were too much of a worrier about him, and you didn’t want that to happen with Roger.

He nodded, and you pressed a soft kiss to his hand, making a mental note to clean his hands later that night when he would come to the room drunk from the afterparty. He probably wouldn’t struggle then, and just let you take care of his hands in silence.

“Let’s go to the dress room Rog, you need to shower and the after party starts in half an hour.”

“Love, I don’t really feel like going to the party, shall we just go to the hotel room? Order champagne and such, maybe have a bath?” You looked up in surprise, almost dropping Rogers hand. Roger and you always attended the afterparty. This was the first time you joined him on tour, but even after the regular London shows or party’s from festivals or other shows you visited, he never missed a party. He would drink beer and take shots with you, wander around the rooms and talk to everyone, with an arm wrapped around you, keeping you close at all times. Roger loved the buzz after the show, all the people and the booze. Not that you could blame him, the parties were lots of fun.

“Just a night with the two of us, last two days have been super tiring with the double shows. But if you want to go or have already picked your dress that’s fine, we can just go and,-” You stopped his stream of words with a small movement of your hands.

“Don’t worry Rog, there will be plenty of parties in the future we can attend. Let’s go to the hotel then, shall we?” He pressed a soft kiss on your forehead and slung his arm around you waist, leading you to the big dressing room. All the boys were there, freshly cleaned and talking to Mary and some random girls, probably fans or groupies. Two of the girls got quite nervous when Roger appeared in the opening of the door.

“We are heading straight back.” Roger announced, Brain and John looked up in surprise, while Freddie immediately got up out of his seat.

“You can’t, that’s boring darlings. Join us for the party, at least two small hours? We don’t have an afternoon show tomorrow so that’s no excuse. You two lovebirds can fuck all you want after, but you don’t want to miss this party. You haven’t even met Sharon, Eve and Laura yet.” He walked around the room in his extravagant manner, trying to persuade Roger to stay.

“Not tonight Fred, maybe tomorrow.” And with that Roger decided the subject was closed and that he wanted to leave for the hotel. “Have fun guys, see you tomorrow.” You waved and told everyone goodnight, shutting the door behind you.

The cab ride to the hotel was silent, your put your head in Roger lap while he played with your hair. The soft admosphere calmed you down, and made you feel a bit slow. The cab stopped at the hotel, and Roger paid the driver while you hopped onto the pavement. The two of you walked inside the hotel, and you felt just as overwhelmed as yesterday, when you first walked into the lobby. The hotel was glamorous, and when you saw luxury like this on their tour, you were reminded of how far Queen had come.

“Shall we order the champagne now, or in our room?” Roger asked, looking at you. “Let’s go to the bar and ask for a bottle.”

“Alright love.” Roger answered, giving you a small kiss on the side of your head. You walked to the bar, asking for a bottle of their finest champagne. The bartender spoke before you could ask.

“If you want glasses to take to your room, ask Mila in the kitchen. The glasses from the bar have to stay here.” You nodded and thanked him, Roger untangeled his arms from you, and went to the kitchen. You picked up the bottle of champagne the bartender gave you. He slightly leaned over the counter, his eyes set on Roger when he walked away.

“That is Roger Taylor right? From Queen?” He asked, looking curiously at you. Your relationship with Roger was public, but not too public, and you wondered if he knew.

“Yes he is. We just came back from their show.” You replied, giving him an inviting smile. He looked at you, studying your features.

“Then you must be Y/n. The pictures are always very blurry, but your hair and posture gives you away. Lucky girl, with him next to you. He really likes you, I can see that from miles away.” His kind words were nice to hear, often people tried to tell you Roger only wanted you for the sex, and tried to break you so you would snap and tell them the things they wanted to hear. This man was nice, you liked that.

“Thank you, that’s nice to hear. Well, I should go to the kitchen, check if Roger is behaving himself. Maybe I will see you again tomorrow.” He returned you kind goodbye, and went to help someone else.  

Roger opened your hotel room, and you followed him in, carrying the bottle of champagne, glasses and a small box of strawberries the kitchen girl told Roger he had to taste with the champagne. Roger wanted to carry the stuff, but you insisted it would hurt his hands even more, and that it wouldn’t be worth it.

“Let me draw a bath. Could you grab the towels and such?” Roger proposed, already going to the bathroom. You placed the bottle and the fruit on the table, and you started opening random cupboards to find a first aid kit. You heard Roger softly humming to himself while he filled the tub. When you two first saw your hotel room you were amazed by the huge bed, but when Roger looked into the bathroom he loved the bathtub. It was large enough for the both of you, and Roger wanted to take a bath in it from the second he saw it.

“Roger, they gave us beautiful strawberries!” You mused, while looking at the goods the girl put into the box. Little bowls filled with strawberries, some covered with chocolate. You put it with two glasses of champagne on a tray and walked towards the bathroom. Roger was filling the tub constantly testing the temperature with his fingers. You put the tray on the side table next to the tub, and went back into the bedroom. You remembered seeing a first aid kit in one of the cupboards, but you weren’t sure where you saw it. Searching through the stuff in the closet you found it behind your bathing suits, so you took it with you to the bathroom.

When you opened the door to the bathroom Roger was stripping of his shirt, and you stood still in the opening of the door, admiring the sight. He opened up the button of his pants, hissing softly when his sore hands went over the rough fabric. You put down the first aid kit, before walking up to him, and put your hands on his.

“Let me.” Your offer was by no means sexually intended, although Roger gave you a smile that made you shiver, but he kept quiet as he let you take off his trousers. He stepped into the tub, after closing the tap that was still pouring water into the bath.

“Well, aren’t you gonna join me?” He teased. You made your way over to the tub, stripping yourself of your clothing. Letting your underwear slide of your legs you looked at Roger sitting in the tub, looking up at your body with wide eyes. You slowly lowered your body into the water, in between Rogers legs, facing him, so you would have no trouble cleaning his hands.

“Come on, turn around love.” Roger asked, motioning for you to rest your back against his chest. “But I need to clean your hands Rog.” You answered, holding up the kit that you had placed next to the tub. “But I want to feel you first.” He hinted, softly touching your sides. “Not with those hands, it could get infected.” You told him, turning around so you could rest your back against his chest. He pouted slightly.

“I want to feel you come around my fingers.” He whispered in your ear, letting his hands slide to you back. You blushed heavily upon hearing his words, and he chuckled.

“We have been together for seven months now, and you still blush when I talk to you like that.” He grinned, knowing what his words did with you. You just reached behind you and grabbed a glass of champagne, handing it to him. By now you knew better than to respond. Roger was excellent when it came to dirty talk, and whatever you replied, he knew how to turn it around and make you fluster.   

“Let’s not let this overly expensive champagne go dull. Cheers, on the wonderful show you played tonight.” You tried to divert the topic. The glasses clinked when they touched, and you took a sip. The bubbles prickled on your tongue, and you found yourself actually enjoying the taste. The two of you put your glass on the table next to the bath. You were surprised by how this hotel seemed to have thought of everything, even small tables next to the bath to put your stuff on.

“It really is a lovely champagne.” You said, turning around to grab some strawberries. “I know something what would taste even better.” You practically heard his smirk when he said that.

“Roger we are in bath now, let me enjoy it before the water gets cold. I will clean your hands when we get out, and perhaps you can have a little taste.” You tried to sound stern, but didn’t really succeed. He chuckled softly, but listened to you as he just wrapped his arms around you in a hug, relaxing his body into the warm water.

“How would the afterparty be right now?” You wondered after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Roger let his thumb circle over your ribs.

“Probably boring without us. Why do you ask?” He questioned, scared you had wanted to go but didn’t dare to tell him.

“Just wondering. You know, I like the quiet for a change.” You turned your head slightly so you could look him in the eyes, smiling softly.

“Yeah it is nice. Strawberry?” The next ten minutes were filled with laughter, strawberries and some more champagne. Roger claimed he couldn’t touch the strawberries. “I am injured love!” So you had to feed them to him, a task you gladly performed.

“The water gets cold, shall we get out?” Roger asked. You shook your head, turning around to face him.

“Let me clean your hands first.”

“You can do that when we are out of the bath.”

“But it’s easier in  the water. I only have to clean ‘em. I’ll wrap your hands tomorrow before the show. Come on Rog, don’t be annoying.”

“Okay Love.”

You gently took his hands and washed them clean in the water. You grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit, pouring a bit on a washcloth and gently cleaning his wounds with it. Roger hissed at the contact and the sting of the alcohol on his hands.

“Christ that hurts.” He cursed, pulling his hand back.

“Don’t be a baby Roger. It will hurt a lot more if it gets infected.” You said, taking his hands again.

“You are lucky you are naked right now so I can’t focus on thinking about witty replies.” Roger threatened chuckling. You ignored his comment and gave his hand a final sweep with the cloth.

“See, all done. That wasn’t so bad wasn’t it?” You cooed, patting his blonde hair.

“Can I get a get better kiss?” Roger asked with a smile on his face. You softly kissed his fingertips, before bringing your face closer to his so you could kiss his lips. You pressed a featherlight peck on his lips, pulling away before Roger got the chance to deepen the kiss.

“Let’s get out of the bath.” You teased, stepping out and wrapping a towel around you. “I might even let you fuck me now you’ve been a good boy.”

“What did you say?” Roger choked on his words and quickly climbed out of the bath, almost slipping in his rush.

“I think you heard me perfectly.”

[angrylizardjacket]

ask your destiny to dance [19] {Roger Taylor}

[masterpost]

When Ash walks into Ray Foster’s office and announces that she wants to work for EMI, not just Queen, she’s half convinced he’s going to throw her out there and then. Okay, so perhaps ‘announced’ is a strong way of putting it, she’s already been in his office for about half an hour, is sitting in the middle of his sofa with her legs crossed, shoulders relaxed, her portfolio in her hands, the two of them discussing her qualifications. When she offers her portfolio he seems rather impressed, humming approvingly at her proof of concept sketches and photos of her mock-ups, and even takes the time to run his fingers over the sample fabrics she’s included. She’s nothing if not thorough.

“And what about beyond Queen?” There’s no hesitation in her words as she sits back, leaving the folio on his desk for him to peruse. Foster seems surprised, seems a little skeptical, and the way he’s regarding Ash makes her a little nervous, not that she’d ever let that show.

“Whaddya mean ‘beyond Queen’, sweetheart, I haven’t even said yes to you working with them to begin with.” He half laughs, but something about her intrigues him. Prenter had referred to her as Queen’s pet stylist before he’s introduced her, and not unkindly, and John Reid, where he’s standing by the wall behind her, seems amused, even a little fond. 

Ash bites her tongue, bites back her words and her confidence, because as much as she’s talented, she knows her confidence will come across as arrogance, her talent will be overlooked and undermined, and if she sells herself too hard she’ll be dismissed out of hand.

“Let me prove myself, please,” voice soft, she makes herself sweet and nonthreatening, dropping her gaze, like he’s doing her a favour, as if he could bring in anyone else willing to deal with Freddie, let alone the rest of them. “Mr Foster- Ray, may I call you Ray?” He grunts, but it’s not a no. “I promise, I can help wrangle those boys, and I can make them look damn good; give me a chance, please, and consider my talents for this company.” 

Perhaps it’s not the best way to word things. Ash watches as he gives her a look over, shifts a little in his seat before he clears his throat as he looks back down at her folio. It’s as if, for just a moment, she can see herself on the precipice of the rest of her future, waiting to take the plunge, held back only by the decision of this one man in a Hawaiian shirt.

“We’ll see how you go with Japan,” he concedes gruffly, and it’s all a flurry of paperwork after that, a blur of quiet elation from Ash, and a quiet confidence from Reid. Foster isn’t quite sure what to think. 

“You’re like them, you know, like Freddie,” John Reid is quiet when he says it, smiling to himself as he escorts a very pleased Ash from the building. “before I’d even signed them they were wanting more.” Lost for words, Ash feels something grow warm in her chest, and when she steps outside to see Freddie himself waiting there for her, she’s never been more grateful to have him.

It’s easy to be around Freddie, to throw herself at his sofa, to press her face into Romeo’s fur and hum with contentedness, and it’s easy to pretend like she’s just here to celebrate getting the job, rather than the fact that she just doesn’t want to go home. 

It’s not that things are bad, things are great, probably too great, there’s an itch that won’t go away, a claustrophobia that she doesn’t want to articulate; she’s been on her own for most of her adult life, and here she is, almost twenty three and living with someone who genuinely loves her; it doesn’t sit right, not that she isn’t grateful, of course, it’s just... almost uncomfortable. 

Maybe it’s just that she and Roger have fallen out of their honeymoon phase, she considers on the way home. When she walks into her home and sees the light on in their shared studio and the familiarity feels restricting. She tells him she made it, and he’s excited, he’s proud, but she can tell things feel weird for him too, not that either of them would articulate it. At least not now, not tonight; tonight is for celebrating, and Roger spins her around in a hug, and for just that moment, all the tension, the unease, the discomfort that’s plaguing her, it melts away, and she kisses him.

But she can’t let it sit, can’t let it fester, they work best when they talk and she’s trying to have faith in people and in actually talking to them, and so when they’re packing for Japan, with a suitcase open on either side of the bed, she finds her voice.

“It’s weird.”

“What?” Roger frowns a little, but there’s something almost... resigned about his tone. There’s that discomfort again, rising in her chest.

“Like it’s good, living together, but does it... does it feel weird to you?” And she’s hesitant, can’t even meet his gaze, but she hears him stop shuffling about in their wardrobe. “I love you,” she tries to reassure gently. Roger hums noncommittally. 

“I- yeah,” he agrees, but it’s more thoughtful than anything else, and Ash finds herself letting out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, “I keep thinking that it’s just settling in to things, and maybe it is, I don’t- I’ve never like, lived with someone like this, you know?”

“I’ve always lived with my family, or by myself-”

“So maybe it’s just weird living with someone,” Roger offers, stuffing a pile of clothes into his suitcase, much to Ash’s horror. After a beat of her staring wide-eyed at his suitcase, her gaze sliding to her own, full of neatly folded articles, she bursts out laughing, skirting around the edge of the bed to gently hip check him out of the way.

“You’re killing me,” she tells him with as much serious she can muster, but she’s grinning in the face of his exasperation, aggressively folding a shirt he’s crumpled into his suitcase, whilst maintaining eye contact. It’s teasing, it’s a challenge, and after a beat, Roger breaks, snorting out a laugh and snatching the shirt from her, shoving it back into his suitcase and pulling the whole thing onto the floor, leaving his side of the bed empty.

“We can worry about that later,” he assures, gently guiding her to lay back on the bed, and she moves without hesitation, laying back obligingly, pulling him on top of her. “We’ll figure this out, right?”

“After Japan,” she concedes, though there’s a relief that blossoms in her chest, like a weight had been lifted, just being able to talk about it, some of the discomfort lifts, and Roger’s able to make her forget the rest of it, at least for a few moments.

Japan is a blur of screaming fans and late nights and parties and the tour bus and sequinned or flowing or tight outfits, and it’s equal parts bright and hazy enough for Ash to forget that she has a real life she’s left behind. 

The night she quit working for the bar, Dave gave her a bottle of booze from the back shelf, and Maureen wouldn’t stop hugging her for a full five minutes, and they both wished her luck, and that they hoped to see her again, but here and now, standing side of stage and watching Roger smash out the heart-racing beat of Stone Cold Crazy, it’s as if everything else falls away.

The adrenaline from the shows is enough to get them both going, and it’s as if they’ve gone back in time, to when whatever it was between them was just new and they were volatile more than anything else. Sometimes he comes off afterwards, breathing hard and covered in sweat, shoving past her as he pulls off the clothes she’s put him in, calling them ridiculous and counter productive, and he’ll apologise later but for now, the way she fights back, argues with her cheeks flushed from where she couldn’t help but dance side of stage, it’s exactly what both of them need. 

They argue and shove each other after the show some nights, but it’s a show they put on for each other, worked up with adrenaline, a challenge waiting to see who would break first.

“You’re so high maintenance, this is rock and roll, not fucking musical theatre!” Roger’s hollering can be heard down the street where he and Ash have just barged out of the back door of the theatre they’d just performed in, out to where the rest of the band were waiting for the car back to their hotel.

“You wouldn’t know real musical theatre costuming if it bit you on the ass, you blind fucking bitch! I’m trying to work around your hard-on for textures, excuse me if I thought I could take a little bit of liberty with colours!” Ash yells back, brandishing the shirt Roger had been wearing for the show beneath the nose of Roger himself, who was currently shirtless in the night, the two of them hovering by the door. “Why are you complaining? Can you even see what colour this is? It’s white!”

“White’s not a colour it’s a fucking shade!” Roger turns on her, and Ash steps back, expression shocked as she clutched the white, fringed vest to her chest. There’s a silence that hangs in the air, and the car pulls up but the others are a little worried that the tension might snap and Ash might just fucking deck Roger in the street.

“You’re a fucking menace,” she breathes, before launching herself into his arms, kissing him roughly as he presses her to the wall of the building, and Freddie starts hearding the others into the waiting car.

“Strange foreplay,” John frowns a little as he watches out the window of the car as Freddie slides into the remaining back seat.

“Is it?” Brian asks, “I feel like this shouldn’t shock anyone.” He looks exasperated, a far away look like a man who’s seen this happen far too many times, as if recounting all the arguments that had happened in the early stages of Ash and Roger’s friendship and how it directly correlated to nights that Roger wouldn’t come home and wouldn’t tell Brian where he’d been.

“I’ll send the car back for you, darlings,” Freddie calls out to them as he winds down the window. Roger gives a thumbs up and Ash smacks his hand down, guiding it back to where he’d been holding her thigh; they do not break away from each other.

It’s a game, which the others realise the moment they see Roger in that same white vest he and Ash had been fighting about, and he just smirks and shrugs, admits that he likes it. 

“We don’t mean it,” Ash rolls her eyes when Freddie asks if everything’s okay with her and Roger, “the fighting, it’s just...” she flushes a little, shrugging, “fun, you know?”

“You baffle me.”

“It’s not like you don’t enjoy a good argument; don’t be a hypocrite.” Ash rolls her eyes, and Freddie clucks his tongue, shaking his head.

“Yes, but when I argue with Roger it’s because we’re writing a song together and he’s being an asshole, not because I want to suck his cock,” Freddie gives her an amused smile and Ash turns bright red, but doesn’t disagree.

For all they fight, though it’s usually only after gigs when tensions are high and they fight, like John had correctly identified, as foreplay, and never as explosive as the first few nights, there’s scores of softer moments the others only catch glimpses of. 

Ash is always overflowing with pride in the dressing room before a gig, trying to keep her excitement and joy under wraps as she fixes costumes and ferries their shared makeup utensils around the room. It’s perhaps when she’s the quietest, sometimes taking a moment to admire her own work before stepping forward and petting the outfit’s wearer on the shoulder, unable to verbalise how she felt, just positively beaming; it was a surprisingly heartwarming experience, and she always left Roger for last. 

He always grins at her, offers her a draft of his cigarette if he’s smoking one, lounging around in a bathrobe with his costume underneath. He pulls her into his lap, lets her do his eyeliner, and kisses her quick before she pulls him to his feet, pulling off the bathrobe to do any last minute adjustments on his costume. They don’t speak, they don’t need to, even with everyone else around them buzzing away. It’s a moment of quiet intimacy, and Roger kisses her on the forehead before going on stage.

“You gonna dance for me tonight?”

“Only if you play something worth dancing to.” She’s grinning mischievously, and he can’t help but laugh as he makes his way to the drums. She does dance, every night, she can’t help herself.

John’s heard the exchange a few times, and though he’d never say it, it’s surprisingly cute for the two of them, as is whenever he finds them asleep on each other in the tour bus, which is surprisingly often. They’re both incredibly intense people, so to see them so soft, and vulnerable, fitting together with Ash’s head on his chest, there’s something indescribable about it, that John knows he could never say to either of them. 

Freddie’s always been baffled regarding Ash’s relationship with Roger, has never been able to figure out how they stay together, but he sees the way Roger regards her, so fond and affectionate when he thinks no-one else is looking, and sees the way Ash takes small moments to check in with Roger, her hand on his arm, his back, his knee when they sit together, no words, just a soft smile, and Freddie thinks, for the first time since he’s met her, that Ash might just have made the right choice. Roger’s no saint, but he’s good to her, Freddie comes to realise.

And it’s easy, with everything else happening around them, to forget the discomfort of their constant close proximity. In a new country, having each other close is a welcome comfort, rather than claustrophobic, but it’s a band-aid, and something twists in Ash’s gut when she finds herself on the edge of falling asleep on Roger’s chest in the mid afternoon on the tour bus, that she doesn’t want to go home.

the ususal suspects: @deakydickfanpage @hollyissuchahoe @laueecakee @smittyjaws @crystalshines2909 @i-am-sarah @andtheytoldustotellyouhello @2ptonpt @benhardy24-7 @maiilovely @mickey-yr-a-goner @butter-times @heyyouitskay @tired-eyes-fairy-lights @yepimthatperson @missieluvsmurder @ironqueen98 @ceruleanrainblues @banhbao329 @fantasticchaoticwho @ko-kitty @seven-seas-of-hi @mimisfangirlfantasy @aadjuric @rogmobile @cardybenhardy @snacfu @perriwiinkle @the-strange-fan-girl @finite-incantatem-7 @tapetayloe @florencewelchismybiggod @summer-and-sunflowers @fangirlcore @itsametaphorbriansblog

[blondecarfucker]

Bed of Roses (Chapter 20)

Roger Taylor x Reader

BoRhap!Roger Taylor x Reader

Fic Summary: It's 1971. You just moved to London to study, and you find a band on a local pub after a bad date. The encounter doesn’t go the way you expect it, and neither does what follows this evening as you try to deal with loving Roger Taylor.

Fic Note: So I’ve had this story in my head for the last three weeks and finally decided to write it down. It’s completely planned. It will have 21 chapters and it’s divided in three acts: Dusk, Night and Dawn. It’s will be a bit angsty in the future, and it will most likely have some smut as well. I hope you guys enjoy it! Tell me what you think about it in the asks/comments/messages. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE STORY. If this is your first time stumbling upon Bed of Roses, thank you for stopping by! The rest of the story is in my masterlist, the link is in my bio - can't put the link here or else the post will disappear from the tags.

Chapter's notes: GUYS THIS TOOK SO LONG AND IM SORRY. im actually in another city at the moment and yeah, having free time has been a bit hard - i wrote this mostly on a plane and now im editing it on an uber on my way to class. BUT, theres only one more chapter to go!!! WTF!!!! its so close to the end???? i mean?????? but its been an amazing journey and mostly thanks to you all!! more thanks on the next chapter where im gonna be so cheesy thanking you all, just wait. anyway, nice fun sexy chapter to heal our hearts from the break up and stuff! hope you enjoy

Words: around 4k

Warnings: smut, alcohol, swearing probably. all in good fun tho. probably some errors cause its been a busy week

 ACT 3 - DAWN

"It's the moment night time seems weaker and everything seems easier to figure out"

Chapter 20

Paris

You hold Roger's hand as you wait in line for the immigration officer to check your passports. The activity in itself is something the both of you did many, many times before - you travelled a lot with the band.

But this was different. You were not only alone with Roger, but there was nothing concerning you - his mood, your job, nothing. You feel at ease.

Roger's idea to go somewhere where none of you knew very well was brilliant. Since you're outside of your comfort zone anyways, you were both more easy going, not overthinking anything, just spontaneous. You knew the time where you would talk about your relationship and how you want to deal with everything would come, but you weren't stressing about it. You would think about it once the time came - there was no reason to be concerned now.

Cause now you could only feel Roger's touch, hear him humming something - you couldn't believe he was humming La Vie En Rose, the most cliche Paris song of all times, but of course he was. His shoulders are relaxed, and he brushes his thumb against the skin on your hand. His smell is all around you.

You could really immerse in the presence each other, now. Ever since you left London, where almost everything between you happened, you didn't really knew anything else - the fields on the window, the french being spoken by the people on the cabin next to yours. So you just laid your head on his lap as he ran his fingers through your hair and told you about the little things you missed.

His eyesight has gotten worse, and now he can't really do anything without his contacts. He met David Bowie in an award show, and he thought of you - he knew how much you liked him. He still knew all of Fleetwood Mac's 1974 album songs by heart - he kept the album you left in the old flat.

And also stuff about the boys. John's kid was a cute, quiet boy, just like his dad, and he didn't enjoy any of Roger's songs when he went to rehearsals. Veronica was pregnant with another baby - Roger's pretty sure it's a girl. Brian was still thinking about finishing his PhD, but never got around doing it - his schedule is too crazy. Freddie was growing tired of the long hair and clean face, and kept thinking about changing his looks, but couldn't decide on what he would do. He told you that ever since Freddie and Mary broke up, he started seeing more guys - none of you thought much about it. It was just another aspect of Freddie's life.

Roger kept writing songs now, even when they were on tour or at home. He was getting annoyed at the "No Synths" rule in the band, and tried to convince them to drop it. But he was happy with the new album - he enjoyed how they simplified the process of writing it, and thought mostly about writing songs they can play live the same way they play it in studio. The last time they did it was in their first album.

You just kept looking up at him, his defined jaw glowing against the sun, his bright blue eyes looking down at you to watch your reaction, your grin once he told you he finally finished writing Sheer Heart Attack, a song he tried to get done and in an album ever since 1974.

And now the immigration officer called you, and you laughed as you watched Roger try to speak french to the guy before taking the matter into your own hands.

And when he asked you what was your relationship with him, you just smiled and said "mon copain".

-

You knew Roger chose the hotel as you packed in London, sitting between all the boxes so he could use your phone. You didn't pay attention to which hotel he picked, but once you got to the Champs-Élysées, you knew he spent too much money.

You got off the cab at the Four Seasons George V Hotel, a building that was basically a modern castle, and you stared at him, shocked. "Roger, you didn't do this", you told him, your eyes wide as you entered the spacious and luxurious lobby, your luggage already being taken to your room as the lady on front desk recognized Roger. "Did what?", he asked jokingly, raising his brow at you, even though he knew what you meant. "This hotel. It's too nice and probably a fortune", you told him, and he shrugged. "Hey, we deserve it. We always did. But now we can afford it", he winked, and then took the room keys from the front desk.

"C'mon, I want to see how you're going to react to the Penthouse Suite", he laughed, and you coughed. "Um, I'm sorry? The what now?", you asked, and he playfully pulled you into the elevator.

He kept looking at you the whole lift ride, excited and nervous - he wanted you to like it, to enjoy his efforts, to take him back into your life somehow.

When he opened the door and walked to the side, his old genuine smile was back on his lips, and you couldn't help but smile back, even before taking a glimpse into the room.

And what you saw surprised you - everything looked expensive, but still comfortable. You first entered a huge living room, and every couch looked comfortable enough to sleep in. Then you walked to the bedroom, and the huge bed caught your eye - it was big enough to fit comfortably at least five of you. The bathroom looked like a spa, a huge bathtub in the middle of it, a delicate statue of a woman under the window that overlooked the Champs-Élysées.

You walked to the balcony with Roger beside you, and he laughed when you gasped.

The Eiffel Tower looked back at you, glimmering at the sunset.

You looked at Roger.

"You're unbelievable, you know."

He smirked. "I'm just trying to get you in bed, though", he told you, and you laughed as you walked closer to him.

"You did that when you didn't have a penny, Rog. You don't have to get us a huge suite with artwork everywhere and a view of the Eiffel Tower", you said, bringing him closer to you by his collar as he snaked his arms around your waist.

"I never have to do anything. I do it because I want to. Because I love you", he whispered, his breath against your lips, teasing, feeling like the ghost of a touch.

"I love you, Roger", you told him, moving your hands to the back of his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

-

You held his hand as the cool wind passed through your bodies. It was the next day, and you've decided to walk to the Louvre by the side of the Seine.

It would be faster if you got on a cab, but the view of the Seine, the sounds of the city and the smell of pastries and perfume made everything feel even more like a dream. You were still tired from last night, and the night before it - you and Roger were acting like a couple in honeymoon ever since you met again, stolen kisses and arms wrapped around each other, trying to make up for the lack of touch in the last couple years.

And once you were alone, you'd hug and touch and kiss and fuck passionately wherever - sloppy kisses and love bites all over each other, first in London and now here. It didn't feel like you were together again for only about 36 hours - so much has happened, yet time passed by so fast. It was like you lost touch with reality ever since you looked at his hands on the pub.

When you thought of being alone in New York, it felt like a past life. But the weird thing was how your first years with Roger also felt like another life - you wouldn't act the way you did again, ever. But you were grateful for both times of your life. You felt like you could never get here, to Paris and to Roger, if those things didn't happen.

You got to the Louvre and you were surprised at Roger's interest - he wasn't simply acting interested while trying to get you to leave somewhere else with him. He was genuinely interested in the art, commenting about each style and dropping trivia about artists.

"Someone has been spending some time with Freddie, I suppose", you noted, and he gave you a half smile. "Well, the person responsible for bringing culture into my days spend some time away. I had to look for substitutes", he said, and you jokingly nudged at him.

He still looked at you adoringly once you started talking to him about the excellent state of conservation the mummy was in, or once you started analysing "L’Européenne".

You both kept quiet as you watched the Mona Lisa, only holding hands as you tried to get closer to the painting, dozens of visitors separating you from it. It was a time for reflection, too. The Mona Lisa invited you to think about yourselves, her neutral expression making you wonder - seeing it was one of your life long goals, and now you're realizing it with Roger. Being with Roger was something else you struggled to achieve, ever since the first time you saw him. But now it was the time to realize dreams - hell, you'll start working at the British Museum in a few days.

But you got distracted as soon as you got to the Venus de Milo. Roger snaked his arms around your waist from behind you and pressed a slow kiss under your lobe before whispering "You look just like her".

You felt a goosebump on your neck, but you tried to laugh it off. "I can think of a few things we don't have in common, though", you said, and he rubbed his nose on the curve of your neck. "Like what?", he whispered.

"I'm gonna start the list with the basics: arms", you told him, and he laughed against your skin. "I can think of a few other things, too", he tells you, back at kissing your neck. "Yeah? Like what?", you asked, and he sucks on your skin for a few moments, hitching your breath. "Your skin is softer", he says, and then lightly bites you, running his tongue over it to sooth it. "And you taste amazing. Everywhere", he whispers again, and you bite your lips as you feel another goosebump on your neck, and it didn't go unnoticed by Roger. "And the way you react to me”, he whispered, wetting his lips. "God, it kills me", he said, running his fingers over the area where the goosebump was.

It was a public place, but it didn't cross your mind when you turned around and pulled him in for a kiss, making it deeper as your tongue massaged Roger’s. His fingers brushed over your exposed skin, and you could feel how strong his grip on your waist was, wrinkling the fabric of your summer dress - probably inappropriate. You pulled him even closer to you by his hair, already used to its new length after two nights. It was only when you broke apart to recover your breath that you noticed how you were making out in a public place, and only because Roger told you.

"I know we're in public and I'm trying to be more discrete now, but all this artwork just made you look even more beautiful, like you belong around them. I just couldn't hold myself any longer", he said.

-

The warm water ran through your fingers as you filled the bathtub, only in your robe, as Roger spoke with the concierge on the bedroom. He told you he was getting champagne, but you didn't see why the concierge would go to the bedroom for it. Anyways, you wanted a warm bath.

After the Venus, you and Roger had a hard time keeping your hands away from each other. So you didn’t argue when he suggested you take a cab to the hotel.

The cabbie was an older man with a very rosy skin, and he barely knew how to speak english, but he sure tried - specially with Roger. You were suspecting he knew who Roger is, and Roger apparently thought the same, an amused look on his face as the driver tried to continue the conversation with him.

He was looking amused for another reason, too. His hands took his time on your legs, his long fingers brushing over your inner thighs, making you press them together as you tried to control your breathing. Roger kept talking to the driver as he slowly moved his fingers closer to you again, and you bit your lips to hold a moan when he pressed two fingers against your core.

You were already wet from all the teasing, and it goes through the lace of your lingerie, wetting Roger’s digits. He took his fingers away from you, and you frown as he rubs his two fingers against his thumb, smirking at you.

Then the driver asks him something and he turns to answer, putting his hand on your knees and then quickly sliding them up, moving them to your core again, massaging your clit for a few seconds. He looks at you so he can see your reaction, and you can hear the driver’s voice as you grip on Roger’s arm so he keeps touching you, pressing your lips together to keep quiet.

He keeps smirking as the conversation with the driver goes on, and you decide you can tease him, too. You move your hand from his arm to his leg, and he moves his gaze back into yours as you move your hand slowly to his inner thigh. His eyes get wider once you run your finger over his length, his cock already getting hard and visible through his always tight pants. The driver called his name so he answers another question, and you wrap your hand around him through the fabric of his trousers.

His breathing audibly hitches and he tries to be discrete by making it into a cough. He answers the driver and then looks at you, but you’re looking forward, innocently. He smirks again and then pulls your lingerie to the side, and, without more teasing, puts his two fingers inside of you. You gasp, and the driver looks at you suspiciously as Roger starts pumping his fingers inside of you.

But then the car stops in front of the hotel.

You take your hand away from Roger and he does the same, feeling like two children who got caught with your hands inside the cookie jar. Roger pulls out his wallet from his pocket so he can pay the cabbie, his fingers still glistening as he holds the leather wallet.

You then walk to your room without saying anything until you close the door. “So, that guy was pretty close to figuring out our little teasing game, huh”, he said, unbuttoning his shirt. “I was pretty close, too”, you said, winking, and he smirked. “I guess you want to go back to where we were before getting interrupted?” he raised his brow.

But you wanted to tease him a bit more. So you nodded a no. “Actually, Rog, I think I want to take a warm bath”, you came closer to him, wrapping your fingers on the back of his neck. “That’s a really good idea, in fact”, he said, and started undoing his belt. But you held his hand in place. “But you won’t join me”, you said, and he pouted in protest. “Not until you get me some champagne. I thought you were gonna be romantic before luring me into bed, Taylor”, you said, and he laughed. You let go of him and turn around.

“Can you unzip me, please?”, you ask, and you can hear him scoff, annoyed at your teasing, but then you feel him slowly unzipping your summer dress, then moving his hands to your shoulders as he slides your dress down.

You're not wearing a bra, so you can feel the cold wind from the AC on your hard nipples, getting even harder as you felt his lips on your neck once again, his hands pulling your dress down at your hips before it falls to the ground.

Then you move away from Roger’s grasp as you walk to the bathroom, without looking back at him, and you can feel his eyes on you as he watches your hips sway as you walk, only in your burgundy lace panties, your hair cascading on your back.

And now you’re inside the bathtub already, feeling the smell of roses and cinnamon from the bath salts you used, waiting for Roger. You hear the door close, and the concierge is gone.

“Rog? I’m waiting for you”, you say out loud, waiting for his answers. “Actually, I think I’m not in the mood for a bath. But your champagne is here”, he says, and you can hear a fake tiredness in his voice.

“Are you sure you’re gonna leave me here, alone, in this bathtub? I’m gonna have to do something to let the time pass, you know. And you’re gonna hear me do it without doing anything about it?”, you asked with an affected voice. You haven’t teased him in so long, you forgot how fun it was, especially cause he always teased you back.

“As tempting as your bathroom plans sound, I’m also alone here, you know. And your champagne is here. Can’t believe you’re gonna waste it after I got it just for you”, he said, and you laughed. You got up from the bathtub and barely dried yourself on a towel before putting your robe back on and walking to the bedroom.

Roger was sitting against the bed’s headrest, completely naked and rock hard. You moved your hand to your lips and you let out a sigh at the vision. He looked like a greek god - Apollo, maybe, with his golden locks shining against the afternoon sun, his skin glowing under the golden hour lights coming through the window. The bed was filled with red rose petals under him, the smell filling your lungs.

He opened his eyes when he heard your sigh, and he smirked at you. “Get the champagne and come here already”, he said, pointing his head at the table where a Dom Pérignon bottle sat on an ice bucket, and you did so. You climbed on top of the bed and started moving towards him. “Are you suggesting we play with food, Mr Taylor?”, you asked, and he nodded. “Give it to me and I’ll show you”, he told you, and you gave it to him as you sat on his thighs.

He popped the bottle open and some of the liquid poured over the edges. He licked it, looking at you, before undoing your robe with his free hand. He pulled it to the sides, looking at you with admiration as if he was unwrapping a Christmas gift.

You took the robe off and threw it to the side, and his free hand moved to the back of your neck and pulled you in for a kiss. It was a slow, delicate kiss, where Roger tried showing you love, admiration, respect. Not only how much he wants you, but how much he cares about you.

But you pulled him closer to you, moving closer to him, and your bare breasts touched his naked torso, making the two of you moan.

That gave a new sense of urgency to the kiss, and after a few seconds, Roger broke it apart. “Tell me if you want me to stop”, he told you, and you nodded. He poured a bit of champagne above your collarbone, the cold liquid making you shiver, and then Roger’s tongue licked it, warm and wet.

He looked up at you to make sure you liked it, and you gave him a quick nod. He smirked, then poured champagne on your other collar bone, and licked it off again.

As you seemed to like it, he poured champagne between your breasts, licking it off right after and waiting a few seconds to see if you’d protest. He then finally poured a bit of champagne on one of your breasts, right above the nipple, licking you and the drink.

He kept doing it for a while, sucking on your skin that tasted like champagne and cinnamon, the smell of roses intoxicating him.

You broke away from his touch, and he looked at you, confused. “Can I try it?”, you asked, and he nodded, passing you the champagne bottle.

You started above his collarbone, and you could feel him moving under you. You wondered how much he would be able to wait before fucking you, considering he was already hard before you licked champagne off of him.

Once you poured champagne over his chest, you didn’t lick fast enough, and a drop of champagne rolled down on his torso. You leaned in to lick it right before it fell to his pelvis, mere inches away from his cock.

The feeling of your tongue close to his length did it for him - he had to have you, right now. He gripped your hips and motioned them up, and you understood what he wanted, so you got on your knees and stood right above him as he positioned himself on your entrance.

You slowly moved down, feeling him filling you, and you let your head move back as you moan in pleasure, your moan intensifying as you heard Roger’s voice whispering your name.

You started riding him slowly, small moans leaving your lips every time you felt him bottoming out inside of you, but you wanted him to go deeper.

So you got off of him, and he grunted, frowning at you as he saw you on your knees in bed. But once you leaned forward, putting your weight on your elbows, he smirked. “I want to feel you deeper”, you told him.

He moved to your back, spreading your legs a little more so he had better access to you, and you both cursed under your breath as he got inside you again slowly, so you could get used to his size on this new position, his grip on your ass getting stronger once he was completely inside you again.

You moaned his name, and he moved his hands to your waist so he could move inside of you with more control.

He developed a rhythm after a few moments, and all you could hear was the sound of your skin on his and the moaning (and cursing) coming from his lips and yours, too. You could feel yourself closer to your orgasm.

It wasn’t long before you reached your high, crying his name as you pulled the duvet into your fists.

Roger kept thrusting through your high, but once he noticed you were done, he pulled out. "Can you turn?", he asked, and without much thought, you turned over and layed down, wrapping your legs around his hips.

He gave you a tired smile and then got inside you again, thrusting. "I like to look at you", he told you, closing his eyes, focusing on his movements. He was like that for a few seconds, and you could see the beads of sweat forming on his face, his blonde locks glueing themselves to his forehead.

As his movements got more intense, you could see he was close. "Y/N? Can I pull out?", he asked, and you nodded a yes. He liked to do that sometimes, when you could get messy, but it has been so long you nearly forgot.

So he pulled out and his cum fell on your torso, covering your breasts and stomach. He fell to your side and stayed there for a few moments, before opening his eyes and looking at your torso. "Sorry for the mess", he said, getting up and going to the bathroom. You smiled when you heard the sink open, and your smile got wider as Roger appeared with a warm cloth on your hands.

"I guess this helps", he shrugged, wiping his cum from your torso carefully. Once he cleaned most of it, he giggled. "Maybe a bath is not a bad idea, after all. Will you join me?", he asked, offering you a hand.

---

Chapter 21

Masterlist

Taglist:

@taylorroger-s @sarai-ibn-la-ahad @its-nessi @anamcg317 @frenchieswiftie @queen-danielle-dani-dan @minihemo @shutup-sorry @theyrealllegends @killerqueenisthebest @ashagracelove @hardy-s @fuckinghurricanesoul @secretsweetscollectionblog @mrswinterhater @11mb0 @tamtam-go92 @derptatosaur @brianandthemays @phantom-fangirl-stuff @the-hysterical-queen @rogerofmylife @notevenlxvely @discodeakyy @x1975sos @16wiishes @jennycidesstuff @partydulce @melros-e @onevisionliz

[meddows-theblondebastard]

Cocky Teaser (70s!Roger Taylor Imagine)

If you came across this imagine, don’t forget to comment or heart it if you like. Feedback is really helping me and giving me the power to continue what I’m doing. Hope you’ll enjoy your reading!

Also posted on AO3.

Warnings: teasing, we all like teasing, don’t lie to me, swearing and I think that’s all, ha. 

Additional details:  → Action taking place in the mid 70s or so.

                                         → 70s!Roger Taylor is how was in my mind writing this, but you can also imagine BoRhap!Roger Taylor.

                                         → There is going to be a part two coming soon. :)

PLOT: It’s nothing new for you. Just Roger Taylor being a cocky teaser in a live interview when he’s asked about the two of you. After all, could you ever complain?

                                                        Imagines

(Credits to Mel for the picture on Pinterest.)

After a hot, almost one hour long shower, you wrapped yourself in the blanket of your bed and turned the TV on. You are wearing fluffy pajamas and can’t feel any trace of cold air brushing your warm skin. The feeling is very satisfying. You let your wet hair hanging loosely over your shoulders and it smells like freshly green apples while you’re doing the channel surf. Roger texted you fifteen minutes ago to tell you that the interview will begin in a short time. Your phone almost slipped between your fingers in the water while you tried to read that message, but it turned out okay. So now, you actually found the right channel on which the interview would be broadcast and you are waiting for thr boys to be live. You wanted to watch this, Roger, Freddie, John and Brian will talk about the album they’ve just relased and it is very nice to see it. They are funny and full of jokes on TV, just like they are face to face. You thought about going to grab a snack or something to drink, but it was too late when you heard the show intro and saw the presenter. Watching carefully and already entertained, you remained on top of your bed, knees pressed against your chest.

„... As we announced last week, here we are tonight with the Queen herself.” The young women did the introduction gesturing toward the four men sitting on a couch and the camera was immediately focused on their faces. They already seem amused.

„Hello everyone.” They greeted and added something about how nice it was to be there.

„You seem very ready, what keeps you all so energic?” The beginning was always long and in slow-motion and still you had to wait until they would start the real talk. Your eyes were mostly on Roger and how he was reacting to everything. He had the usual messy, blonde hair hanging freely on his shoulders, wore a black, slightly unbuttoned shirt with matching color jeans and last but not least, a soft smile on his lips. That aspect made you smirk unwittingly.

While one after the other, each of them began to answer questions about music, future plans and concerts, you turned the volume up and searched for the brush to comb your hair. While doing that, you could hear their voices and how they would laugh ocasionally at the presenter’s choice of words. You have always appreciated that about them, how they were so natural and honest, not even trying to give tons of details to ruin future surprises. Or personal things. They are smart, classy and modest.

„Roger, may I ask you an innocent question? It’s for purely wise purposes.” Said the woman, putting her hands on the table she was sitting at. Roger was already on position and you became suddenly more concentrated than you were five minutes ago.

„Only I get to decide that, darling.” He says, but he isn’t concerned, he has a nice expression as always, trying to make everything be more true, if it was even possible. „But of course, I wouldn’t mind at all. What is it?” He continued. He’s a well-bred person, you can say, but if you reach too much of his territory – that strictly in a personal manner – he can become very observant. Distant and a little bit rude even. You got to know that about him within the time spent by his side.

„We’re all aware of the fact that you’re spending time with Y/N. You and her seem pretty close to each other, right?” Your eyebrows raised when you heard the words coming out from the woman’s mouth. Wasn’t that something too personal to ask? It is obvious that those people want to know, but is it necessary this way? Is it even polite? You sit on the bed again, your eyes being stuck on the TV’s image.

Roger didn’t even seem surprised when he heard that. He didn’t look pissed or confused, instead, he grinned. What? What is he doing?

„May I ask too, what are you trying to say?” He says.

„Oh, I bet you know it already! How are you two in terms of a relationship?”

This woman is a little too excited about that kind of detail.

„We are trying to figure that out too. It was last year when she started to study at Medical College while Roger himself was finishing it.” Freddie added, smirking in the blonde one’s direction.

„Is that so?” The presenter asked.

„Yes, mostly.”

„Oh my God.” You managed to whisper, shaking your head. He’s doing it again. Again.

„Are you two good friends?”

„We kind of fight whenever we get the chance, but otherwise, yeah, we get along pretty well. She has little interesting things in her character, it gets catchy to be around someone like her.” Roger details, looking like he was in deep thoughts. You can see the rest of the boys slightly giggle at him and the woman who asked all of this stuff seemed too content with what she was receiving.

Roger has a point. Anyway, thinking about the bound between you two is surely strange. Because you never understood how things were happening and never wanted to overthink just to make a sense. You two weren’t the absolute perfect definition of the word ‚friends’, it was always a middle point in which no one was getting closer and no one drifted away. Last year, you remember what it was like to be a proud student at Medical College. Your first days were so full, you barely had time to take breaks or meet new people. Roger was studying dentistry and came out of nowhere when you were trying to figure out your classes and where were they located. It is a big school and he helped you and said that you look new around there. He explained you almost every single detail you needed while you asked him who he was and what was his name. You would laugh right now. He couldn’t stop staring at the height difference between you two. Later on, he would’ve made fun of it without any problem. He was twenty-three that time and you were twenty. You would see him in lunch breaks and around the campus carrying different documents with him and being particularly distracted. He would’ve often offered to hang out with you in your free time, including weekends, so as you and him got to know each other. He’d told you that he’s having little performances with this band of his, in small locations around the town you were living in and one day he even got to invite you to one. From the start, Roger was a mysterious kind of guy, choosing his words with caution whenever he spoke. He was funny and always managed to have a small grin drawn on his thin lips. He is a skilled drummer, he has that spark in his eyes while he talks about music and you could always see how much he enjoys singing and playing instruments on stage. He even told you that he would’ve dropped college for a music career when both of you became comfortable enough in each other’s company. Luckily, he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore now; after settling everything with Queen, the boys get more and more recognition, they are working on the upcoming album, planning tours and … Roger’s been privileged lately.

This interview seems to be in his favor. He doesn’t avoid certain questions and isn’t afraid to speak about you, since it is clear how was it between you two. And he definitely knows that you’re watching, that’s why he has this kind of reactions.

„How well do you get along, if so?” The presenter’s voice is heard again, but you’re not so concentrated on her anymore. You watch Roger and how the boys react to his words. He shakes his head and laughs a little, then he shifts a bit on the couch.

„Honestly, she wouldn’t like me to answer this question, but I hardly ever listen to what she says. She gets red in the cheeks or starts to talk fast and all that. All we do is tease each other. Anyone of us is going to say anything.” You couldn’t believe what you heard. Actually, you could, it is just out of blue in Roger’s case. Why is he still blabbering about you? Live. While not only you yourself, but a lot of people are watching. Your relationship with him needs to be a thing of yours only.

Oh, you know him. You know him enough. He enjoys to piss you off, although it’s rare when you really do that.

„So you mean she’s watching us right now?”

„Yeah, she is.” He answered. „Hello there, Y/N.” He waved at the camera and on your TV’s screen, that was a hilarious moment. Damn.

You let yourself fall on your back on the bed, hands on your forehead and feet cold. A weak smile appeared on your lips suddenly and it was awfully wrong. No, don’t do that. You’re being a fool and you will never let Roger Taylor fool you. You were almost as good as him at this aspect. You played each other before, it is normal by now, but your ego needs to be fed. You don’t give a fuck about how that looks like, Roger doesn’t care either when it’s a win-win thing. He’s too full of himself sometimes. Well, you weren’t the kind of person to take that as it was. It was something in the air, you could say, you felt that numerous of times. And you will test that, just as Roger likes to tease you. Because he was a cocky teaser since day one. When he hangs out with you, when he’s drumming and you’re watching, when he makes you dress like him, when he gets both of you drunk … these are just a few of those moments. They’re memorable, but they show just a little part of you and him. There’s a lot more.

„We should really let these freaks alone. They’re special in their own way and you can’t understand that. Believe me, we can’t either.” You heard Brian’s voice but didn’t mind to look back at the TV.

„We can. Instead of that, we chose not to, because they might as well kill everyone around them with just a single glare.” John added and somehow, he was right. The woman laughed.

„Haha, good to know then.”

The rest of the interview was forgotten in a moment. You couldn’t concentrate on it anymore and chose to lay on the bed, underneath the blankets. But because you didn’t want to be rude, you let it finish by itself and after that, you turned off the lights and the TV and tried to sleep. Your phone buzzed somewhere in the room, it was Roger for sure. With a cunning smile on your face you ignored the sound.

You were both teasers.

                                                              *

The next morning, you still didn’t respond to his text. But he didn’t insist. After you woke up and ate your breakfast, you dressed in your already common black jeans, white T-shirt and leather jacket, tied your Y/H/C hair up in a not-so-neat ponytail and looked into the bathroom mirror. You never apply make-up, it’s not something you’d prefer so much. Some people along with your mother and some friends told you that you have beautiful features and that you don’t need any trace of make-up on your skin. You decided to believe that for good because it was actually true, though you never really appreciate details like these ones. Brian, John, Freddie and Roger used to compliment your clear skin when you would catch them staring at you. Besides Roger, who would try to look careless but smile after all when you would catch just a bit of him looking at you.

His house is almost an hour away and that’s a good thing right now. It would’ve been awkward to live close to each other and it would’ve gave him opportunities to try and visit you frequently. Or ‚check on you’, a comment which he used often to make you slap his shoulder or stick your tongue out.

Because you didn’t own a car, you had to simply walk the distance to Roger’s. It was good, you had the chance to think about what you needed to tell him, or how were you supposed to act. Last night, the thought of you two being  more than weird friends who fight and purposely snap at each other was the main topic which made you be convinced that your indifference and eventual avoidance doesn’t really exist. You enjoy Roger’s company, even with his ego, behaviour and way of speaking. He is the first new pal you met in your first year as a student and he made sure, somehow, to make that worth it. Your personalities fitted well. Sarcasm, dirty jokes here and there, subtle looks, crazy and loud nights with the band, bold music, trips, hangovers … As much as you could say, these boys made gold out of your most important moments going through a totally new level of your life. You took all that fun in, knowing that you need to welcome it in order to create memories and things to last. The dangerous feeling of the unknown never really pushed you away from anything and that’s why you and the blonde bud’ kind of clicked.

Needless is to say that you would never take that back under any circumstance.

As soon as you got in front of the house he lived in, you heard powerful bangs echoing all the way to the yard. Early rehearsals, that was it about. Roger usually does that on free weekends. You didn’t knock on the door because he wouldn’t hear a single thing. Instead of that, you just entered the house and went straight to the kitchen in order to reach the garage where he was. You went to the stairs passing the dishes in the sink and even from the top of them, the drums were so powerful for your ears. Slowly getting down, you could see Roger behind his drum kit. He has his eyes closed and big headphones on his head. You don’t make a sound while you remain in the back of the room, watching him. He’s always so concentrated while drumming. The veins on his neck look like they might explode in any minute and his hands move in fast motion. You like the image very much.

With one more hard bang, he stops, finally opening his eyes. He exhales and puts up a big smile dropping the drumsticks somwhere near him and taking off the headphones.

„Nice view.” You ‚welcome’.

„Thanks.” He answers and gets up from the little chair he was sitting on. He pulls on his hair with a hand, messing it a little. „You didn’t answer my text last night.”

„I didn’t, yeah. I fell asleep.”

„Oh.” He said, opening a bottle of water and taking a sip from it. „What did you think about the interview? ’You liked it?”

„No, Roger, I didn’t like it.” You answered, anger being visible in your tone. You crossed your arms to your chest when you got closer to him, looking between the drum kit in front of you.

„I see. Your eyebrows are already frowned.” He added like it was an accident or like it wasn’t something new on you.

„What was that about?” You started „It gets catchy to be around someone like her … . All we do is tease each other. You know, I figured that out already. You did that on purpose.”

„Y/N, are we going to make a scene out of that?”

„You won’t stop, right?” You weren’t pissed because his strategy got to your mind in no time. You grinned a little at him as he was about to open his mouth again. But he was anticipating you.

You moved closer to the drums and searched for the drumsticks. When you noticed them, taking them into your hands, you banged a cymbal. And then another. And another, trying to recreate the beat and sound of something Roger once thaught you. You are too curious sometimes and you definitely can’t keep that to yourself. The drumsticks feel so big in your hands, you’re not used to them and it seems odd to try and play like Roger. He’s too good at this for you and it is a strong point for him. No matter how anxious you were to learn more from him, his technique is quite difficult for you, it's an art that only he can hold onto so well and you think it's better this way. Noticing your attempt, he swallowed his words and watched how you moved your hands, somehow like a proud teacher eager to congratulate your progress. Only that, it wasn’t about progress here. You positioned yourself on the little chair, thinking about your next moves. You banged to the left and right and the beat was built-up pretty good. You were kind of proud while your eyes found Roger’s. Your breathing fastened and you bit your lower lip.

Roger suddenly came behind you, leaning down on his knees, eyes locked on your frame. These drums are hugging you, literally, because you are still a short person and the sight of you behind such powerful instruments makes him wanna clap his hands for you.

„Center.” He murmured and instinctively, you banged just above your knees. „A little bit longer to the right,” he continued, his deep accent lingering through both of your ears. „Then to the left.” Your hands did exactly what Roger said to you and knowing he was behind your back made you tense up. You straightened your back but the warmth of his body kept reaching to your skin through clothes. You felt his hands taking a gentle grip on yours and he started to guide your movements. A little more bold as you were before, along with your own hands he banged continously to the right, then center and to the left and then a cymbal to create the slightly slow beat of ‚I’m In Love With My Car’. You smiled to yourself but Roger’s breath was hitting your neck and that made you so damn distracted. Swallowing hard, you wanted to keep your body as strong as ever, not going to let him take control over you. A few more bangs and you stopped, making Roger step back, but not getting up. Anything could happen and it was very hard for you to think about it. You wipe your hands off your jeans and finally get up from the chair, but Roger has other ideas. When you turn to face him, kind of unprepared, he’s looking at you still being on his knees. His naughty hands go up you legs and he’s slowly getting up right now, resting his palms on your waist. You feel a strong pressure on your shoulders and in your chest. Roger is now, and again, taller than you, a fact which only gets on your nerves. You try to keep any specific expression away from your face with eyebrows still frowned.

He wants to do something, but he does nothing still. He is looking down at you and you won’t dare to look back. It’s about you two. It’s about teasing. It’s about everything and anything you never said to each other. Trying to explain things was boring, always boring for both Roger and you. You would just show up into the room with messed up hair, accelerated breathing, but you would never forget to smile or laugh. You would take his leather jackets and wear them in his spite. You would laugh in his face, scoff him, yell at him, punch him in the stomach playfully or stick your hands into his sweaty hair. You would argue with him about being too noisy, annoying and not too serious for his liking, but you wouldn’t have a care in the world because at the end of the day, he would still throw a hand over your shoulder to drag you closer to him. He is so, so stubborn. So heated up, so ready to knock you down just to help you get back up. He loves when you listen to his songs and drumming, he loves when you want him to learn you what he does, but in your own way, you are a little bastard. And since this feelings thing started to go on and off between you two, what you did was only to make him want to make a move just to back off shortly after that. And looking into your eyes right now, at your baby face and big, confused eyes … It was so fucking tangled. Roger could feel this in his whole body. It took a good amount of confidence to close the distance between you two. Your noses touched and you felt as nervous as you don’t even remember being before.Trying to kiss you, you lifted one drumstick up and shoved it lightly in his abdomen.

„What are you doing?” You asked, not being able to hide the smirk starting to form on your lips. Roger laughed a little and snatched the drumstick from your hand, throwing it on the floor. He wouldn’t answer. You waited. What he did was to cup both of your cheeks with his hands and smash his lips upon yours rapidly. Your breath stopped in your throat and you froze. Your eyes widened while looking into Roger’s whose weren’t still closed as you expected. You did that before. This wasn’t the first time kissing Roger, it was actually the first time it felt like this. The real first time you two kissed each other was when you were both shitfaced along with Freddie and the others and he asked Roger if he would ever just kiss you. He never even thought about it. He’s said yes and then kissed your lips sloppily, fast, just like a simple peck. You didn’t feel nothing back then, because it was nothing serious.

In this moment, his hands went to touch your neck slowly and his eyes closed. You relaxed a little, but still managed to breathe in a fast manner, too nervous to make a move by your own. The only thing you could do was to let him do whatever he wanted. At some point, he stopped, opening his eyes again, puffing cold air right in your face. He seemed unsure and somehow uncomfortable, like he was afraid that he forced the note. Oh, screw it. Just screw it.

You shook your head and places a hand at the back of his head, pulling him too close. You were the one who started the kiss this time, moving your lips and feeling a big tension building up in your stomach. You encouraged him to open his lips and then he was in control. His tongue reached yours in gentle motions, his hands finding their way back to your reddened cheeks. With fast breathing for both of you, he ended up hugging you tightly through the kiss, something which felt so unusual for the way he previously acted around you. Who would’ve thought Roger Taylor is such a sweetheart? A crazy, furious, but cute sweetheart?

The intensity of the moment almost killed you and when both of you stopped for air, your lips remained slightly parted.The first instinct that came to your mind was to slap him in the face. Then, looking into his eyes, you wanted to smile. No one was saying a word and staring was ridiculous. Roger tried to smirk, it was visible on his face, but footsteps started to be heard upstairs. In a blink of an eye, you backed away from the drums you were almost laying on while Roger looked down at his feet. This is stupid. It was stupid to let him kiss you. It was never a game and you were convinced that you could beat his own arrogances, but  now, that kiss softened you in a way which scared you. You hate the feeling.

„Did we interrupt something?” Freddie’s voice was heard in the room and when you looked in the stair’s direction, he was there with Brian and John.

„Hi boys.” You greeted them. „I didn’t know you were coming.”

„Roger invited us this morning. Hey, did you see the interview?”

„Yeah, it was funny.” You mumbled, not being in your scene anymore. Your lips were aching for a certain touch and that was beginning to piss you off. „I’ll leave. ’See each other around.” You announced and looked at Roger from over your shoulder. You could say he was analyzing you by his blue eyes glued on your body.

„Don’t you wanna stay? C’mon, we have to practice and you can watch and maybe sing with us!” Freddie added, smiling at you in a very sweet way. The boys were always excited to have you around when they were rehearsing.

„No, uh- … Maybe another time, okay? Good luck.” You wished them and then left the room. You could hear John whispering back: „What’s up with her?” to the others.

You wanted so bad to snap at Roger back there. But it wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t okay and now you tend to overthink the situation. Really, what’s up with you? You don’t do this, you swore you would never overthink on Roger. Something burned in the back of your mind and you couldn’t name it. He would better explain himself quickly, you aren’t going to do this over and over again.

Thank you for reading! Thoughts? Are you excited for part two?

Read the other imagines that I posted if you still didn’t and don't forget that I accept requests!

xoxo, D.

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Reputation (almost) one month thoughts

So when this album came out, I decided as almost an experiment that I wanted to keep a frequent enough collection of my thoughts of how I feel about the album as time passes. This is mostly due to how quickly I started being real with myself about how I felt about 1989 and fears it would happen here too. Either way, this was meant to come out on the 11th as that would be exactly a month after I felt heard the album, but as I’m going to be interstate, I’m writing them out now. I will warn now that this will have opinions and talk about Taylor’s relationships and how quite frankly I don’t see all the love songs as purely being about Joe nor Karlie, so if you can’t handle that, it’s probably best you skip past now. With that in mind, lets get started.

Ready For It: So I didn’t say this in my first post, but along with being a borderline satire portrayal of her relationship with the media (the main reason I adore it still tbh), this song has always given me, someone who never shipped them, Haylor vibes. Honestly, if I had to guess, I would say that before the concept of 1989 came about, Taylor was going to write the album we guessed about, the satirical one calling out the media. And while aspects of this did show up on 1989 through Blank Space and I Know Places, I do honestly believe Ready For It was also started in this time, maybe even starting as a joke song about how the media saw the two, but didn’t fit on the album so was scrapped until Reputation when it found its place. All speculation of course, but that’s honestly the feeling I get.

End Game: So I’m holding my breath as I can already hear you guys pulling out the pitchforks for what I’m about to say... a song too early in the album for that line? :P Anyway I honestly believe that despite all of our celebrations about Calvin getting nothing on this album that this song started off about him. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the song to be about him and I don’t think the end result is about him, but just as I believe Better Man started off about Jake but was modified to fit Taylor’s relationship with Calvin, I believe this song started in the early days of Tayvin and were later modified to fit her relationship with Joe. Once again, speculation at best, but it’s just the vibe I get with some of the lyrics and its placing on a so called linear album. I’ve also come to realise that in many ways, this is the last holding piece of the 1989 era. And by that I mean it’s the last (or at least only on this album imho) song that was written for outsiders as opposed to fans. That’s not to say that fans don’t like it, but at least in my experience, every non fan I have shown this song to adores it, especially the Future verse that most fans hate. And I know people will bring up Look What You Made Me Do, but tbh that seemed pretty split across the board in my experience. Like whether you loved or hated it didn’t seem to be correlated with whether you’re a fan or not.

I Did Something Bad: The more I listen to this, the more I realise this has absolutely nothing to do with Kanye. Like the first listen, I 100% thought it was just about everything, the media, her haters, Kanye, Calvin, you name it. But the more I listen to it, the more I realise that really, it’s only about Calvin. It’s about how he was so willing to stand next to her for fame but ‘dropped’ her name and hence any credit she deserved off the project they did together. It’s about how he believed he had full control over her and manipulated situations (For every lie I tell them, they tell me 3 anyone?). And ultimately, it’s about how he played everyone to the point that Taylor doing the right thing came off as doing something bad. All up, it’s definitely the song that’s grown on me the most. I reckon there’s a high chance for this to be mixed with Bad Blood on tour which, even with Bad Blood being my least favourite Taylor Swift song ever, I wouldn’t mind because I could see it being awesome.

Don’t Blame Me: Another song I reckon was at least started long before most the others. To me at least, while I have my issues with the tracklisting which I’ll talk about later, this definitely feels as if it should be on the same album theme wise as Ready For It, so while they may not have been written at the same time (it wouldn’t surprise me if they were though), I definitely think Taylor had the same vision of “This is what the media sees me as” in mind for the two songs. And while that seemed to be the aim for the whole album, which once again, I will talk about later, these two show it the best for me personally.

Delicate: To be honest, I don’t have much more to say about this song specifically than last time. I still love it and still love the mix of love and anxiety she uses in it.

Look What You Made Me Do: I still give or take feel the same about this song. Amazing production, okay lyrics. I’m sad for Jack’s sake that this wasn’t nominated for a grammy because he deserved it.

So It Goes: I don’t know what the fandom has against this damn song. Like I’m not saying it’s in my top 5, but some of you act like it’s the next coming of the apocalypse and most the rest of you ignore it. It’s a jam and would be amazing for tour... but then again, so was the production of Wonderland and we all know how that went despite it being loved. But yeah, tbh, with how much people are sleeping on this song, I can see it being the only Reputation song not played on tour.

Gorgeous: So a story I never told the first time around; the first time I heard this song, I was going into with the satire mind that Look What You Made Me Do and Ready For It had and flat out spent the first verse thinking it was making fun of Kim and that lifestyle that Taylor pretended to be like to fit into. Like Kim was this alluring figure who Taylor felt she couldn’t talk to/against because she was one of the pretty popular girls, you know, kinda like that scene in Mean Girls where Cady talks about how she can’t stop bitching about Regina but still wanted her to like her. That quickly died off with “You should think about the consequence of touching my hand in the darkened room” but still. Not much else to say outside what I’ve already said about it.

Getaway Car: Someone pointed out not too long after the release that this song has major RED vibes and I’m starting to think that’s why I love it so much. It also kinda gives me I Knew You Were Trouble from the other side vibes so I’d love to see a mashup of the two on tour, but I doubt that’s happening.

King Of My Heart: To be honest, this is the only song I will 100% say I think is about Joe and no one else. The bridge of the song is my favourite on the album and like I said originally, it grew on me quite a bit with time.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied: Honestly, I do get Kaylor Met Gala vibes from this song. However, I don’t think it’s purely about her nor do I think that it is all romantic in meaning. I think the song is about every time Taylor went out and had relationship rumours, true or not, created whether it be with Harry, Dianna, Ed, Karlie, Joe and whoever else. I think it’s about the fact she felt she couldn’t even have friends let alone a lover without anxiety. And most of all, it’s about the regret of letting that anxiety hold her like it did, which is partially why it’s the more grown up and better version of I Know Places. Still reckon that the two will be mixed for tour and even though I get the concept, my dislike for I Know Places is getting in the way of me looking forward to that.

Dress: Honestly? I really like this song but I don’t seem to love it as much as everyone else. I mean nearly everyone I know has this in their top five, see it as the sex song (which it’s not, it’s the intimacy song, So It Goes is the sex song) and label it as a must have on tour. Meanwhile, while like I said, I think only So It Goes is at risk of not being a nightly play at this point, I’d be okay with Dress being a b side acoustic song played once or twice on tour. Maybe part of that is my want for an acoustic version for this song, but yeah, as much as I like it and play it often, I don’t need it on tour like I do other songs.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: What I find the most interesting about this song is despite having wanted an satire based album since RED that this would have fit on perfectly, this is the one song that I feel fits that on this album that couldn’t have happened without the 1989 era. And by that I don’t just mean Kanye, because the beauty of this song is that while yes, it takes its swings at him, when you really sit down and listen to it, that’s only a small fraction of what this song is. This song is basically tearing down everything to do with the 1989 era; the fake media, Kanye, Taylor’s fake friends and Taylor herself. For those of you who got through high school without reading The Great Gatsby, Taylor identifying with Gatsby is not a compliment. It’s basically calling herself out for fakeness among other things. None of this stuff could have happened, hence the song not being able to be written had Taylor not been pushed up to the point of everyone, herself included, thinking she was untouchable. And that’s just so interesting to me and honestly, makes the 1989 era which I felt so disconnected to a little easier to accept because at least for this song, it was necessary. So in short, this was kinda what I thought Gorgeous was going to be after the first verse on the first listen given I went in with that satire mind. While I don’t see it being the case, I kinda hope this is the closer for the tour. Like imagine all the confetti and fireworks and big balloons stuff they could do with it. But to be honest, I still reckon Look What You Made Me Do will be the closer and this will be one of the first songs played.

Call It What You Want: Now about half way through this post when I spoke about how I think King Of My Heart is the only definite Joe song, I can image a lot of you were asking yourselves about these final two songs. I definitely think Joe strongly influenced them both, but I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Taylor came out and said that there were other influences too. In terms of Call It What You Want, to be honest, I kinda think a little about Harry and Tom. Now before you all shoot me saying how Harry was a kid with commitment issues and Tom was a rebound, I know, trust me I do. What I mean by them being present for me is that I think that moments of criticisms and the fact that while it may not have been for long, they both stayed with Taylor despite those criticisms is playing a role here. Like 100% the same can be said about Joe and that is going to be the main source of the content, but it wouldn’t surprise me if thoughts about how Taylor was still the one Harry was walking to in that zoo or Tom wearing that top despite criticisms helped pushed that line of “I’m the one he’s walking to” because even if it all became too much in Haylor’s case, there was a time when what they felt for each other overpowered any media or criticism. Once again only speculation, but yeah, wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was one of those songs that took moments from several sources. In terms of personal relation to this song, literally I wrote a 2000+ word post about my feelings on this song and why it means the world to me, nothing has changed. I still 100% adore it and while my top three (this, New Year’s Day and Delicate) cycle from day to day, it will always be one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs ever and most days is my favourite from this album. There’s just nothing more to say.

New Year’s Day: Like Call It What You Want, I imagine that this song has several sources. Clearly a large one is her relationship with Joe, but I kinda also feel like this is just about love in general. I mean in one way, it comes off as a Long Live part 2 which implies a love to her fandom, but also there were moments in it where I actually thought about her family. Like the part about being there even if the person strikes out and has to go back home could clearly be about Joe considering he’s an up and coming actor, but to be honest, my first thought when hearing the line was Austin and the fact he too started his acting career in this time. I mean the ‘babe’ part would be kinda weird to be about Austin, but yeah, either way, that was my first thought. Likewise, it’s kinda ironic that Jimmy Fallon said about his mother on his show because my first thought when hearing the first two lines of the second verse was actually surrounding Andrea’s cancer battle as opposed to Taylor’s media one. Once again, all speculation, but yeah, this song just comes off to me as being about love generally as opposed to TayJoe. Either way though, this is the most “old” Taylor Swift sounding song on this album and I highkey really hope that this is the tour video tbh, but I imagine that that will be Getaway Car or This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

General tracklist order thoughts: The tracklist order for this album was all wrong and that made the album seem like a bunch of brilliant songs all just randomly chucked in together until it was pointed out what was wrong to me. Honestly, the first time I listened to it, I only felt like half the songs belonged and the rest, while brilliant in their own right, didn’t fit and were only chucked in to finish the album and should have been on the next album. The issue is that unless Taylor had said that this album was linear to her, I would have never even attempted to feel that at all because I never would have thought of it. I think a better way to achieve that, especially on a sonically diverse album like this where she didn’t have to worry about the songs bleeding into each other, would have been to place the angry, mocking and media based songs first, then go to Delicate and slowly work her way through to New Year’s Day. This would have shown the split between what the media perception of her and the real her better and honestly, I feel like people would have enjoyed Delicate and End Game more. Because if you notice, doing it the way I suggest would mean that a lot of the back end of the album stays the same, and honestly, while there’s no way to prove it, I think that’s why a lot of people’s favourites come from the back end, because they feel like they’re in the right place for this story. Going from Delicate to Look What You Made Me Do feels rough and kinda weird. Don’t get me wrong, I get that Taylor did it to push the idea that Joe stayed with her through thick and thin, and that’s also why This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is so late in the tracklist, but it just doesn’t work for me personally and I know others who have said the same. I’ve started listening to it in an order I think works more towards this more, and honestly, it’s made me appreciate the album as a body of work more than I did upon first listen. RED still 100% owns my heart and probably won’t be beat any time soon if at all, but Reputation is coming in strong fighting my nostalgic heart to take the second place away from Fearless.

[auskultu]

Monterey Pop Festival

Sam Silver, East Village Other, 15 July 1967

The Pop Festival at Monterey popped from Friday night, June 14, until Sunday night, June 16. In terms of music presentation, it was superb. The sound quality was the best I’ve heard in any theatre, indoor or outdoor.

But the music was not the entire festival. The music acts as spokesman for the hip culture of the West Coast. The pop festival embodied the fusion of the two major hip life-styles prevalent here. The Los Angeles people set up the festival, advertised it, and all that. The San Francisco people provided the festival with meaning, direction, and excitement.

The larger thing that happened here, is that the participants were, to an individual, members of the turned-on culture, while a good part of the audience was either innocent or straight. After all, the festival was advertised on every rock radio station, up and down the west coast. Plus, it happened in a straight town.

It is to the festival’s enduring credit, that it came off without one pot bust, or any other unpleasantness.

The one unifying feature of the U.S. groups, was that, with few exceptions, they, and their music, were politically potent, and anti-war in intent. Note the lyrics to “Fixin’ to Die Rag,” by Country Joe and the Fish:

“one two three, what are we fighting for? don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam. five six seven, open up the pearly gates don’t ask me to tell you why whoopee, we’re all gonna die.”

Joe’s troops also sang a one-liner that they lifted from Charlie Mingus, which goes, “PLEASE DON’T DROP YOUR H-BOMB ON ME, YOU CAN DROP IT RIGHT ON YOURSELF.” The Grateful Dead sang their VIOLA LEE BLUES, which has a chorus line which goes,

“Some got six months, some got one solid/ Some got one solid year, and beat it.”

Dave Crosby, of the Byrds, spoke for many, when he said that he agreed with Paul McCartney, in that “if the world leaders took LSD, it might put an end to war.” Crosby, with a large STP sticker on his guitar, also made reference to President Kennedy’s assassination, when he said, "We all know that President Kennedy was killed by a group of men,” refuting the Warren report. The Byrds then sang, “HE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE.” By the way, Crosby started his speech by saying, “I know they are going to censor this, but I want you to know...”

The music is spokesman for the culture, and the culture is definitely in favor of love, and opposed to war.

The most highly-developed Hip culture in the U.S., is that of the San Francisco Bay area. There were eight groups from S. F. in the festival. They did more than just play for the paying customers. The amphitheater held about 10,000 people, but there were at least 50,000 people available at all times. It is an integral part of the S. F. tradition, to reinvest in the community, so, while the paying customers held their ticket stubs about a mile away, on the football field of Monterey Peninsula College the S. F. groups and Eric Burton’s Animals played for nothing, from dusk till dawn..

The festival existed in a kind of never-never land. There was a meditation room, where people could sit and trip. Many people were turning on, and the heat said not a word, and there was not one bust.

Derek Taylor acted as publicity director for the festival, and held a press conference at seven P.M., on Saturday and Sunday. At Saturday’s conference, he quoted, from some local press clippings, about the fact that people were smoking LSD at the festival. He said, and I’ll quote, “We’ll soon put a stop to that.”

The environment of the pop festival was a very changeable thing. If you came there with a lot of money, you would have had no trouble spending it at high speed. If you came there with no money, you would have had minimal trouble getting yourself fed, stoned, and entertained. On the first night, at least, people were being let into the amphitheater sans tickets; after that, it tightened up, but not very much.

A great many people came with only a sleeping bag. They were accommodated at the Football field, and in almost any of the buildings on the grounds of the festival; The festival occupied the Monterey County Fair Grounds.

At the Sunday night press conference, Derek Taylor produced Police Chief Marinello. The police chief commented on how peaceful the “Hippies” were, and announced that he had sent half of the police home on the previous night, and that he was sending even more home that night. He also said that he was going to tour the Haight-Ashbury, personally guided by people at the festival. At this point, Taylor graced him with a \ pendant necklace, Marinello saying that he wouldn’t be dressed without it, in the Haight.

The Heat was remarkably invisible throughout the festival. The fact that there were no busts, is probably because the boys in blue were in sympathy with the festival. I heard of many cases of a policeman leaving the area where people were smoking grass, to avoid temptation, I guess.

The booths on the grounds sold everything a bourgeois Hippie type could want. There was a booth for the Underground Press Syndicate, run by the L. A. Oracle, and a Good Karma Turn-On Health Food Stand, with groovy carrot juice, and something purple, called Festival Punch. There was an art gallery, which had paintings and photographs, and a building which was ostensibly an exhibit for some equipment manufacturer, which really merely played the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album over and over again, at high volume.

There was a persistent rumor, that one, two, or all of the Beatles were at the festival, but this could not be verified. In the words of Derek Taylor, “If they were here, they’d be dressed like Hippies, and you wouldn’t be able to tell who they were, so you’ll never know, will you?”

The sound system, as 1 have already said, was remarkable. The music contained many surprises. Despite some obvious lacks, e.g.. Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, the thing was programmed excellently. On Friday night, a group was premiered at the festival, called The Paupers. You are sure to hear from them in the future. They were remarkable, especially the bass player. Also, on Friday night, Eric Burton and the gang played, probably, the finest rendition of GIN HOUSE BLUES I have ever heard.

Saturday was the day of the San Francisco Sound. In the afternoon, many of the S.F. groups played, including Country Joe, Canned Heat, The Quicksilver Messenger Service, the first appearance of Big Brother and the Holding Company; Janis Joplin and the crew sang so well that they brought them back again that night; and a new group, called the Electric Flag, which was built around Mike Bloomfield, former lead guitarist with Paul Butterfield. By the time they were through, I was calling the Electric Flag, “The Best Possible Blues Band.”

Saturday night was a hard rock time, featuring Moby Grape and Otis Redding. Redding has so much soul, that I hardly understand it.

The entire texture of the festival changed, on Sunday afternoon, when Ravi Shankar played. The place was the same, but the vibrations were entirely different. Ravi held the attention of ten thousand people, for four hours or more. Throughout one entire raga, he asked that no one smoke, and that photographers cease taking pictures. The horde of photographers stopped their labor, and the only smoke was that of incense.

I thought I saw a Beatle, when Ravi was playing, but he was dressed like a hippie, and you can never be sure.

That evening, the Blues Project played so elegantly that they seemed like a modern string and percussion quintet. Later in the evening, an aggregation called THE WHO played. It was after PICTURES OF LILY, that, as Brian Jones predicted, they broke everyone up, in more ways than one. I hear they go through three guitars on a slow week.

They were followed by the Grateful Dead, who were beautiful, and who were followed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi did a beautiful Spade routine, and he finished by chewing, burning, and balling his guitar.

Jimi socked it to them and they went home, but the Festival was not yet over. Everybody that played there, played for expenses, and the proceeds are slated for charity.

The Board of Directors asked the San Francisco Diggers if they wanted any of the money. They got a rather sharp refusal and retort, which went something like, “If you want to help Diggers out, you’d let people in the concerts for nothing.” As of right now, the money has not yet found a home. They have plenty of it, and I hope Donovan, Paul, Smokey, and the others on the Board of Directors find a good place for it.

The Pop Festival was a well-coordinated fusion of many diverse forces. That it went off smoothly, says a lot for all involved, especially the Hippies, who have a habit of taking care of their own.

A lot of straight people were turned on to what is happening in music right now, and they liked it. There was a lot of quality in the performances here, and a lot of Good Karma everywhere.

[wendyhermansongeller]

Chart Watch: Why Is This Week's Top-Selling Album Way Down at No. 8?

Singer Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour performs onstage during the ‘Strange 80’s’ benefit at The Fonda Theatre on May 14, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

What’s this week’s top album? That’s a simple question with a surprisingly complicated answer. DJ Khaled’s Grateful is the No. 1 album on Billboard magazine’s flagship chart, the Billboard 200, for the second week in a row. But it wasn’t the week’s best-selling album. That distinction is held by Stone Sour’s Hydrograd, which enters the Billboard 200 way down at No. 8. This is the first time that the week’s best-selling album has ranked as low as No. 8 on that chart (at least since 1991, when Nielsen began tracking U.S. music sales). The old record was held by Mastodon’s Emperor of Sand, which ranked No. 7 in the tracking week ending April 6, even though it was that week’s best-selling album.

What’s going on here? Mastodon and Stone Sour are both metal bands. Does Billboard have something against metal? No. It’s not that simple.

Since late 2014, the Billboard 200 chart has ranked the week’s most popular albums in the U.S. based on what it calls “multi-metric consumption,” which includes traditional album sales, digital track sales, and streaming. Before the changeover, traditional album sales were the only criteria.

The “multi-metric” system favors hip-hop, which does phenomenally well in streaming. It doesn’t work to the advantage of rock bands, especially hard rock and metal bands, which don’t do as well in the streaming and digital track sales sectors.

The albums that have benefitted the most from the “multi-metric” system are Drake’s Views, which gained 11 additional weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 that it wouldn’t have had if the chart was still based strictly on sales; the Weeknd’s Starboy, which gained four additional weeks at No. 1; the Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness and Drake’s More Life, each of which gained two additional weeks at No. 1; and DJ Khaled’s album, which gained two weeks at No. 1 — a ranking it has yet to achieve in traditional album sales.

But just as there are winners under the new system, there are losers. Metallica’s Hardwired …to Self-Destruct would have had two additional weeks at No. 1 if The Billboard 200 was still a sales-only chart.

Billboard made this move as a reaction to dwindling album sales. Stone Sour’s album sold a mere 30K copies this week, a pitiful total for the week’s top-selling album. Billboard‘s judgment was that, taking everything into account, DJ Khaled’s album was more popular — more “consumed” to use its word — even though it didn’t sell as many copies (just 16K this week). The “consumption” tally on DJ Khaled’s album is 70K. The equivalent tally on Stone Sour’s album is just 33K.

This is only the second time since 1991 that the week’s best-selling album in the U.S. sold a mere 30K copies. The soundtrack to the Disney Channel’s 2015 original TV movie, Descendants, also sold just 30K copies. (Unlike the Stone Sour album, Descendants ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200.)

By holding at No. 1 for a second week, Grateful surpasses DJ Khaled’s previous album, Major Key, which spent just a single frame on top.

Hydrograd is Stone Sour’s fifth consecutive top 10 album.

Top Songs

Justin Bieber is featured on the top two hits on the Hot 100 for the fourth week in a row. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” logs its ninth week at No. 1. DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One” (which also features Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne) holds at No. 2. Bieber is the first artist to spend four straight weeks at Nos. 1 and 2 since Iggy Azalea did it for five weeks running in June and July 2014 with her own hit “Fancy” (featuring Charli XCX) and Ariana Grande’s “Problem” (on which she was featured). Bieber is the first male artist to achieve this feat since Pharrell Williams did it for five weeks running in June and July 2013 with Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” Williams had a featured credit on both hits.

“Despacito” jumps to No. 1 on the all-format Radio Songs chart. It’s the first song that isn’t sung primarily in English to top the chart, which was launched in 1990. Two other foreign-language songs cracked the top 10 on the Radio Songs chart. Los Del Rio’s “Macarena” reached No. 7 in 1996. Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailando” (featuring Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona) hit No. 8 in 2014.

“Despacito” sold 129K digital copies this week, which puts it on top of Top Digital Songs for the 10th week. That ties Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” for the most weeks at No. 1 on the digital sales chart so far in 2017. But among artists, Bieber pulls ahead of Sheeran because is also featured on “I’m the One,” which interrupted “Despacito’s” run on top.

“Despacito” logs its eighth week at No. 1 on The Official U.K. Singles Chart.

Bruno Mars’s “That’s What I Like” rebounds from No. 4 to No. 3 in its 25th week. The song hit No. 1.

DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts” (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) dips from its No. 3 peak (so far) to No. 4 in its third week.

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” holds at No. 5 in its 26th week. The song logged 12 weeks at No. 1. It’s the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 26 weeks in the top five.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble.” rebounds from No. 7 to No. 6 in its 14th week. The song reached No. 1.

Imagine Dragons’s “Believer” dips from its No. 6 peak (so far) to No. 7 in its 22nd week.

Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road” returns to the top 10, jumping from No. 12 to No. 8 in its 23rd week. The song has climbed as high as No. 6. The song tops Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart for the 22nd week. Only one other song has spent so many weeks at No. 1 in the chart’s 73-year history. That’s Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” which spent 24 weeks on top in 2012-13.

Post Malone’s “Congratulations” (featuring Quavo) dips from its No. 8 peak to No. 9 in its 28th week.

French Montana’s “Unforgettable” (featuring Swae Lee) jumps from No. 13 to No. 10 in its 13th week. This is the second top 10 hit for both artists. French Montana was featured on Chris Brown’s “Loyal” (No. 9 in 2014). Lee hit No. 1 in 2016-17 as a member of Rae Sremmurd with “Black Beatles.”

Future’s “Mask Off” drops out of the top 10 this week. And for the first time in 62 weeks, The Chainsmokers aren’t listed in the top 10. “Something Just Like This,” their collabo with Coldplay, drops out of the top 10, ending a 61-week streak in the top 10. That means Katy Perry’s record of 69 consecutive weeks in the top 10 in 2010-11 is safe. There’s a consolation prize for The Chainsmokers: “Something Just Like This” tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week.

Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth (who are touring together this summer) each land their fourth top 15 hits this week. Mendes’ “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” jumps from No. 18 to No. 14 in its 11th week. Puth’s “Attention” leaps from No. 23 to No. 15 in its 11th week.

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” tops the 7 million mark in digital sales this week. The song was already nearly 22 years old by the time the iTunes store opened in April 2003. You may be surprised to learn that Journey’s recording wasn’t a No. 1 hit when it was first released in 1981. It peaked at No. 9.

Top Albums

Calvin Harris’s Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 enters the Billboard 200 at No. 2. This is Harris’s second top five album in a row. His previous album, Motion, reached No. 5 in 2014. Harris’s album also enters the Official U.K. Albums Chart at No. 2.

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. holds at No. 3 in its 12th week. The album spent its first three weeks at No. 1.

Imagine Dragons’ Evolve drops from No. 2 to No. 4 in its second week.

Ed Sheeran’s ÷ rebounds from No. 7 to No. 5 in its 18th week. It spent its first two weeks at No. 1. Sheeran’s album holds at No. 1 on The Official U.K. Albums Chart. This is its 13th week at No. 1 in that country, which equals the mark set by Sheeran’s previous album, x.

2 Chainz’s Pretty Girls Like Trap Music dips from No. 5 to No. 6 in its third week. The album debuted and peaked at No. 2.

Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic jumps from No. 9 to No. 7 in its 33rd week. The album has yet to fall out of the top 10. It logged four weeks at No. 2.

Drake’s More Life dips from No. 8 to No. 9 in its 16th week. It spent its first three weeks on top.

The Moana soundtrack holds at No. 10 in its 33rd week. The album peaked at No. 2.  Moana returns to No. 1 on Top Soundtracks, displacing Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain. This is its 13th week at No. 1. That’s the longest run by any soundtrack since Suicide Squad: The Album logged 13 weeks on top last year.

Two albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain soundtrack drops from No. 4 to No. 25. 311’s MOSAIC plummets from No. 6 to No. 161. (Purple Rain is No. 1 on Top Catalog Albums for the fourth week.)

Chris Stapleton’s From a Room: Volume 1 holds at No. 22 in its ninth week. The album logs its fifth week at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Stapleton’s previous album, Traveller, logged 28 weeks at No. 1 on the country chart. Traveller tops the 2 million mark in traditional album sales this week.

Coming Attractions: Look for Jay-Z to land his 14th No. 1 album next week with 4:44. Also look for debuts inside the top 10 by 21 Savage’s Issa Album and HAIM’s Something to Tell You.