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anotherhystericalqueen · 4 years

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As Easy As Breathing II

Modern AU!Brian May x OC

Word Count: 3k

Moodboard, Part I

A/N: Part II is finally here! Sorry it took so long to post, life has kinda been in a weird place right now for me so it took a lot longer than usual to write. Any and all feedback is highly appreciated and if you like the story please comment, like, reblog, anything helps! If you want to be tagged send me an ask, dm, comment, whatever you want.

Ever since Josie and Brian’s awkward second meeting, things have gone smoother than either of them thought it would go. Freddie and Roger observed interactions between the seamstress and guitarist like it was their own personal nature documentary, the way they would steal glances when the other wasn’t looking and how they would blush at any unintended physical contact. Freddie enjoyed watching Josie style their lanky guitarist and could tell she was having fun with it more than anything else. Brian was the only one that Freddie didn't add any input into his wardrobe without being asked first, leaving his wardrobe completely up to him and Josie.

“What do you think of this for tomorrow?” She asked, holding up a black and gold patterned jacket with a matching gold necklace. “I think with some black jeans and a black shirt underneath it, this would be a good look for tonight.”

Brian examined the shirt in Josie’s hands, “Yea I do like it. I already have some black jeans of my own I can wear and I already have shoes

Josie drops her shoulders and stares at him with a deadpan look on her face, knowing exactly what shoes he was talking about. “You can’t be serious. Freddie will kill me if I let you go out onstage in clogs.”

“And why is that?” Brian asked.

“Brian, they’re clogs….” She gestured to his shoes. “They’re the least rockstar shoe out there other than crocs, which I am sure Freddie would burn on site if he ever saw a pair in the shop.” Josie began digging around the shoes she had picked out from their last fitting to find a pair that would match and dug out a pair of all black vans. “Here, what do you think of these?”

Brian stared at the shoes for a moment before asking her, “How about I make you a deal?”

“What kind of deal are we talking about?” The designer asked back, still holding out the shoes.

“How about if you come to our gig tonight, I won’t wear the clogs onstage.” The guitarist offered. “And by come to the gig, I mean stay for the show, not just backstage beforehand to drop off our stagewear.”

Josie thought over the offer. She knew the shop would be closed the next day and she didn’t have any other plans for the night since she originally was going to just drop off the band’s clothes and go back to the apartment to work on Brian’s jacket, maybe watch whatever is new on Netflix with the cats. But on the other hand, Freddie and Roger were also inviting her to the show since she still hadn’t been to a Queen performance.

The redhead sighed and made up her mind. “Okay, I promise to go to the show tonight, if you promise to not wear your clogs onstage.”

“You got a deal.” Brian laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Josie was the last one to close up the Rag Trade for the day, Roger and Freddie left early to get ready for their show. She had meant to stay open for another hour or so, but an emergency text from Roger led her to close up shop early and rush home as fast as she could while carrying four separate garment bags all at once. Luckily, the apartment wasn’t too far from the shop so Josie was able to get home relatively fast without completely exhausting herself or twisting an ankle from running.

“I’m here!” Josie gasped for air once she got in the doorway and dropped all four bags to the floor. “I’m here, what’s wrong?”

“Miko got out.” Roger informed her, looking very frazzled. “Chip and Delilah are okay but Freddie and I can’t find him anywhere and Freddie is freaking out. I keep telling him we have to go soon or else we’ll be late. The show is in four hours and we still haven't even gotten our equipment loaded in.”

As if on cue, Freddie appeared in the doorframe of his room, looking more worried than Josie as ever seen. His eyes were wide and red around the edges. She thought he looked like he was about to cry too but was holding back. “Roger I don’t care if we are a bit late! We have to find my baby, I’m sure he couldn’t have gotten too far.”

“Fred, relax. It’s all going to be okay, I saw some moving boxes in the hallway when I came up here.” Josie suggested, trying to reassure a hysterical Freddie. “I think someone is moving in across the hall, let’s go see if they’ve seen him. You know he loves a good box to hide in so there’s a chance he could be in one of them.”

Freddie wiped his already red eyes and regained some composure over himself. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”

The trio headed to the other side of the hall where the mass of moving boxes accumulated. The door was open so Josie took the initiative to lean her head in and knock on the doorframe. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Yea! Just a minute.” A strong irish accent called out from one of the adjacent rooms. There was a shuffling of feet, then a guy appeared in the main living area that led right into the hallway of the building. He was very well built with broad shoulders and muscled arms covered in sweat from the persistent summer heat. His dark brown hair sticking up in every direction and his hands were covered in dirt and scratch marks.

“Can I help you fellas?” The stranger asked.

“Hi I’m Josie, this is Freddie and Roger, we live just down the hall.” She replied. “One of our cats got out and we were wondering if you’ve seen him wandering around? He likes boxes so I think he may have hid in one of yours.”

“Maybe,” The Irishman answered. “Could you describe what he looks like? I found a cat earlier but no collar. ‘Was about to take the poor guy down to the vet and see if he had a microchip or not.”

“He’s a tortoiseshell kitten.” Freddie piped up, “Very vocal too, about this big,” He held his hands out to show Miko’s approximate size.

“Ah, I think this little fella may be yours then.” The stranger answered, running back to the room he was just in and coming back with a very upset Miko trying to climb out of his hands.

Freddie let out a gasp so loud that the other three jumped. He ran past Josie and Roger and scooped the kitten up in his arms.

“That’s him! Oh Miko you scared daddy, we were looking everywhere for you!” He looked up at the man. “Is there any way I can thank you uh..”

“Jim,” He answered. “Jim Hutton. And don’t worry about it, it’s no big deal.”

Freddie beamed. “It was very nice to meet you Jim. If you aren’t busy tonight Roger and I’s band is playing a show down the street if you would like to join us. I would text you the details but it seems I don’t have your number.”

Josie and Roger rolled her eyes at the exchange. Jim on the other hand surprisingly pulled out his phone from his back pocket. “I can’t make it tonight to your show but thanks for the offer. If you want to get coffee or something instead sometime that would be nice.”

“Well, it was really nice to meet you Jim,” Roger input. “But we have to get going before we’re late to the gig.” And quickly turned on his heels with Josie quickly following.

“At least he didn’t ask how big his dick is.” They muttered at the same time, walking back to the apartment while Freddie and Jim exchanged their contact info.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was already a line out the bar by the time that Josie arrived. She saw Roger standing out back and followed him inside carrying all four garment bags over her shoulder. Roger eyed her outfit up and down as they walked through the venue. He was used to seeing Josie dressed down in jeans and a blouse or the occasional tee shirt that she would snag from him or Freddie, but tonight she dressed up with a black faux leather skater shirt that she paired with a burgundy tank top and a black lacy bralette underneath with a chunky gold necklace and black Doc Martens. She also curled her fire red hair for the first time in a while which she was really proud of.

“Well don’t you look all dressed up?” Roger pointed out on their way to the dressing room.

Josie stopped and looked down at her outfit. “What? This old thing?”

The drummer jokingly rolled his eyes as they found the tiny dressing room the band was sharing. John was sitting in the corner on his laptop, Freddie was walking in circles doing his vocal warm ups, and Brian was leaning against the wall opposite of John, fiddling with his guitar strings.

“Good news guys, we have clothes for tonight.” Roger announced, helping Josie pass out the garment bags to the respective band members. Some had full outfits in them, but others were lighter and only holding statement pieces to add on to their current outfit.

Josie stepped out for a few minutes to give the guys some privacy while they changed. She was scrolling through instagram when she heard the dressing room open and shut. She looked up thinking it was Roger, but she was instead greeted with Brian standing in front of her in his full stage outfit.

“What do you think?” He asked, giving her a small spin to show the full outfit she designed for him.

“I like it.” She nodded and smiled like a kid. “That jacket is one of my favorite things I found, thought you would like it too.”

“I love it,” Brian fiddled with the sleeves, pulling them down to try and cover his bare wrists. “Sleeves are a bit short but that means they won't get in the way when I am playing.”

Josie continued to analyze Brain’s clothes. He looked great but something felt off about it, so she took off her gold necklace and handed it to him. “Here, this will pull it all together.”

Brian accepted the offer, pulling his curls back to fasten the clasp of the necklace and letting it rest on his collarbone. “Thanks.”

Josie lit up at Brian’s now complete outfit. “No problem, you look incredible.”

They stood in silence for a moment before the rest of the band joined them in the hallway. Roger twirled one of his drumsticks in each hand, John had his bass slung over his shoulder, shaking his wrists to warm them up, and Freddie appeared in between them, holding Brian’s red guitar in his hands. The singer handed the guitar to Brian, who lifted the strap and threw it over his shoulder, letting the guitar rest on his hips.

“You guys look great.” Josie pointed out the outfits they all wore. “Where’d you get those outfits?”

Freddie playfully twirled to show off the black fake leather pants and jacket Josie had picked out for him. “Oh you know, our designer picked them out for us. All of it was custom made.”

Roger and John both laughed at Freddie’s comment. “Seriously Jo, these are incredible. Thank you so much.” Roger looked down at his black leather pants and white fringe vest, twisting his torso to make the fringe move with him.

Josie lit up at the comment, feeling herself blush. “You’re welcome guys. You have no idea how happy I am that you like them. I know you have to go onstage soon, so I will see you out there.” The band and Josie parted ways, the band made their way behind the stage while Josie turned on the heels of her boots and made her way to find a spot in the crowd to watch them.

As Josie found herself in the audience, she saw the lights start to dim on the stage as the audience started cheering and clapping, knowing the band was about to perform. Josie made her way up to the front of the stage where a majority of the bar patrons were crowded and found a spot just behind the row of people directly in front of the stage. She watched as Roger came out onstage and took his place behind his drum kit, soon followed by John, Freddie and Brian taking their places onstage.

“Good evening all you beautiful people!” Freddie boomed into the mic. “Thank you for coming out tonight. We are her majesty Queen, let’s have one hell of a show.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Josie was on an adrenaline high by the end of the show. She made her way to the dressing room as her friends were leaving the stage after their final song. Her ears were buzzing as she heard Freddie thank the crowd for such a great show before meeting up with a very sweaty Roger.

“So, what’d you think?” He asked between deep breaths and grabbing a towel and throwing it over his shoulder.

“You guys were awesome!” She exclaimed a bit too loud, making the drummer jump. “Sorry, hearing’s a bit shot, I think I was a bit too close to the speakers.”

Roger laughed, “It’s all good, glad you enjoyed the show. The four of us are staying back for a bit and grab a drink or two, Freddie said you’re more than welcome to stick around if you want.”

“Sure, sounds fun.” She answered, still a bit too loud. “Do you know where Brian went?”

Roger shrugged, suggesting that he may be out back at the band’s van to put away his guitar. He started to explain how much Brian cares about that guitar before Josie took off looking for him.

She found Brian after the show back behind the venue, gently placing his guitar back into its case before sliding the case back into the van along with the rest of Queen’s instruments and equipment. His stage jacket had been discarded on top of one of Roger’s empty drum cases, making his all black look make him appear more like a roadie instead of the incredible guitarist she had just witnessed only minutes ago.

“Hey rockstar.” She called out. “That was one hell of a show up there.”

“I’ll take that as I guess you had a good time at your very first Queen show?” Brian grinned, taking a seat on the bumper of the van and patting the seat beside him.

“Yea, it was pretty awesome.” Josie grinned, taking a seat next to him, the cool metal creating a stark contrast on her skin from the humid night air. “I need to come to shows more often, you guys were incredible.”

Brian’s face lit up from the compliment. “Thanks, we’re working on some new material and tonight was the first time we have been able to perform it. I think it still needs a few tweaks here and there but it’s nice to get feedback from a fresh pair of ears.”

Josie laughed, laying down against the bed of the van and staring up at the night sky. “I thought it was a nice change from today. You would not believe what happened after you left the shop this morning.”

Brian watched as Josie told the story of how Miko got lost and the trio met their new neighbor who found Miko hiding in a box full of his sweaters. He laughed as she explained how Freddie took the situation into his own hands and ended up asking the neighbor for his phone number to make time to properly thank him for finding the cat.

“So Freddie asked out the guy who found his cat?” Brian asked, summing up the basics of the afternoon’s events.

Josie shrugged. “I’m not sure if he asked him out but Freddie did ask for his number. That’s the best outcome we could have had in that situation, we got Miko back and Freddie made a new friend.”

The two of them lay in the back of the van against the equipment, taking in the night air as Brian came down off his performance high and Josie let the remaining buzz she felt from the concert subside. Josie turned her head to face the guitarist, observing his every feature and how blissful he looked. His face was still flushed red from the adrenaline of performing, his eyes still in a minor haze before focusing on the girl sitting next to him.

Josie took the scrunchie from her wrist and wrapped her hands around Brian’s sweat covered curls, pulling them off his neck to try and help him cool down from the heat. She managed to tie up his hair into a messy ponytail, leaving hair now resembling a poofy halo lit up by the lights from the bar and streetlights. Josie let her arms rest on Brian’s shoulders for a moment, taking in every detail of the moment. Brian wrapped one of his bare arms around her backside as she leaned in closer to him.

They could feel their breath on each other’s faces as they leaned in closer and closer together, but they were quickly interrupted by the venue door opening.

“Hey Bri, we just talked to the owner and they ju-” Roger was cut off by the sight of Brian and Josie in the back of the van.

The pair jumped out of their seats and as far from each other as they could. Roger knew something was up with them, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was until tonight. Josie and Brian were into each other and tonight’s show only proved that theory. Roger immediately turned on his heels and rushed back into the venue.

“Rog!” Josie shot up and turned back to Brian. “I’m sorry, I gotta…..I gotta go.” She trailed off before running after the drummer, leaving the gold jacket behind.

#Brian May #brian may x oc #Queen AU #My writing #brian may fic

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