Freddie's P.O.V.

"John, darling? What's the matter?" I quizzed, panicked at the sight of him.

All the anger of being awoken had disappeared, instead I was ready to catch the frail man as he looked like he was ready to collapse.

He was shaking but it wasn't overly cold outside, he was deathly pale. He looked extremely ill.

He stuttered, slurring as he tried to speak, sounding as if he was drunk but he wasn't. He swallowed hard as he struggled to shift his heavy eyes into mine. He continued to hold up the paper, a letter.
"Th-they're...throwing...me-me...out..." he choked on his words.

I tried to make sense of him but I couldn't, "Throwing you out? Who? Throwing you out of where? What do you mean?" I asked, rushed but hushed.

He thrusted the letter towards me and I took it from him, scanning over the words.

My stomach dropped as I read over the sentence that stood out the most.

"Oh fuck, John." I whispered under my breath. "Come on, love, come in, come in."

I helped him through the door way and ushered him into my kitchen where I sat him down.

"Tea. We need tea." I dithered about boiling the kettle and making us a mug of tea each before I joined him at my kitchen table, and put the letter down in between us.

I looked at him as he fiddled with his mug.

"Why didn't you tell us, Deaky?" I asked, empathy in my voice as I felt truly awful for him. "We could have helped you." I reached over and placed my hand on top of one of his and squeezed it.

"How? Y-you couldn't have just...g-given me your...money..." he was still stammering from the panic and dread he was probably feeling.

"Of course we would. We probably haven't got much to give you Deaks but we would have given you whatever you needed, you know that."

"Exactly...you haven't got much yourself..."

"Not the point. We would have helped you. We're not exactly on a great deal of wages right now, I know that, but you still should have told us you were having money problems."

"I was embarrassed..."

"Darling, why? It's not like you're a fucking gambler, you're sensible with your money, you use it to pay your bills and that's about it, it's not your fault you're not earning enough...none of us are."

There was a silence as he looked down at the table for a while, we both sipped our tea and thought about what we could do.

I read over that disgusting sentence on John's letter once again.

Your property is being seized.

I physically winced.

"Freddie..." John muttered after a while, "I have nowhere to go..." you could hear that he had a lump in his throat.

"Well of course you do! You can stay here." It was the least I could do. I couldn't just let him to stay somewhere strange, besides, he'd be spoilt for choice, I'm sure Roger and Brian would also offer to give him one of their spare rooms too.

"I-I couldn't! I have nothing to give you, no money to help pay the bills or-!" I cut his panic off.

"Dear, you get back on your feet before you even think about giving anyone any money, okay? We can manage."

"Oh Fred, are you sure? You don't mind?"

"Of course not! After work we'll go over and get your belongings and bring them back here, you'll be okay Deaky, you'll get back on top, I promise!"

"I fucking love you, Fred." He sighed in relief but his eyes still looked teary as he leaned back in his chair, looking physically exhausted.

I side smiled, "I know you do." I said sarcastically.

Myself and John arrived first at the studio this morning, I drove us both there and we tinkled about with a few things before Brian arrived.

"Morning, Fred!" I heard his voice call, the oxygen disappeared from my lungs as I felt as if I'd been hit in the stomach, it physically pained me to hear him so happy and to know why.

To look at him and to know now I'll never be able to have him.

It wasn't his fault, he didn't even know I fancied him. I just couldn't be normal with him though...

"Umm...morning, Bri." I almost whispered as I looked down at the floor, rushing past him.

I took myself off into the toilets, locking the door of a cubicle behind me. Everything had just hit me. I couldn't be around him, I just couldn't do it, he made me panic. Panic, anger, frustration, disgust, sadness...everything.

I leaned back against the door and covered my hands with my face, my heart beating fast and sweat beginning to form on my forehead, my mouth was dry as I tried to swallow.

"What the fuck..." I whispered to myself, I didn't want to let him make me feel like this.

If only he knew what he was doing to me.

I put the lid down on the toilet and sat on it, putting my head between my knees and breathing heavily to try and calm myself.

It was working until I heard the door to the toilets opening.

"Fred?"

I held my breath and kept silent, hoping they would go away.

"Freddie, I know you're in here, are you okay?"

It was Brian.

I let myself breathe. "Yes." A mousey whisper escaped my throat and I grimaced at how pathetic I sounded right then.

"That was convincing..." he replied, sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, wishing he would just bugger off. I came in here to escape him and now I'm trapped here with him.

I didn't reply.

"Are you ill?" He asked.

"No." I stared down at my hands in my lap.

"Then what is it?"

Again, I didn't reply.

"Are you going to come out here and talk to me, or am I going to have to stick my head under the door?" I heard his cheeky smile in his voice.

I let out the tiniest of giggles at his remark. I was going to have to go out there. Whether I confessed and told him I saw him with a woman last night or I just lie, he wouldn't leave until I came out.

I braced myself and stood up, unlocking the cubicle door and stepping out. I still didn't face him though, instead I looked straight ahead into the mirrors that were on the wall above the sinks.

I stared at myself. Not only did I feel pathetic, I looked it too.

Brian came towards me and stood next to me, he looked into the mirrors but instead of looking at himself, he looked at me and attempted to speak to me this way.

He started to speak, quietly, "You weren't having a shit, were you? Because if you were, you've forgot to flush..."

He grinned at me through the mirror and I couldn't stop a smile leaking from my lips, I covered it with my hand as I giggled again but soon returned to my previous state.

"No..." I replied this time.

"Good. So? Don't tell me there's nothing wrong."

"It's been a fucking stressful morning..." I finally said.

"Why?" The curly haired tower of a man asked.

I sighed and chewed on my lip, "I was woken up before 6 this morning by John banging on my door, looking like a frail, ill, old man...holding up a letter." I looked at Brian now, through the mirror. "He's not been able to pay his bills, Bri. His house is being seized..."

I saw his face drop, "You're fucking kidding me."

I shook my head.

"Why didn't he say something to us? We would have scraped something together for him!"

"That's what I said to him...but he said we probably don't have a lot to give him anyways considering we get paid next to fucking nothing." I spat.

"True..."

"Bri, I don't know what to do! I've said he can stay with me until he gets back on his feet but honestly I don't know if I can afford to cater for him, I can hardly pay my own bills with just me living in the house...I haven't said this to Deaky...I don't think he can deal with anymore stress right now..."

I felt Brian's hand on my shoulder as he span me around so that I was properly facing him now and not his reflection.

"Calm down, Fred, it's alright. I don't think you can deal with this right now either, you've seemed distant this week. I'd offer for Deaks to stay with me but...I-I'm the same as you...I can't really afford anything at the moment either."
He looked away now, his hand still on my shoulder, it felt like it was burning through to the bone, a flash of panic washed over his face.

"You don't have money either?" I whispered, my hand automatically floating up and laying on top of his on my shoulder as he looked utterly distressed.

He shook his head, "No...I've been doing another little job on the evenings to try and earn some extra cash but it's just not helping at all...that's where I keep disappearing off to..."

To Brian, I probably looked gobsmacked at him because he too didn't have any money and he was having to work another job.
To me, I looked gobsmacked because he was working another job on the evenings...when me and Roger followed him he was going to work. He was earning money! I could see a little door opening in my mind that meant that Brian might not have a girlfriend, maybe she was just a colleague?! This was super!

But I didn't want to get too ahead of myself...they could still be in a relationship and she could still be Brian's girlfriend.

"We're fucked." Were the words that broke me from that thinking trance.

"No! No, Bri, we're not, we just have to keep working hard and soon it will just come. You'll see. I promise, dear."

He nodded, "Okay." He whispered.

We both exited the toilets and went back into the studio, upon entering it was like being hit by a brick wall, the atmosphere was so tense.

Of course, I soon figured out why, Roger had arrived and Deaky and the drummer had been left alone in the room together, no doubt they hadn't spoken to each other, it felt awkward even for me.

"And where have you two been?" Roger asked in a schoolgirl manner as he winked at both Bri and myself.

"Talking..." The guitarist replied.

But I decided to be cheeky, if it was possible he was still single I had to try and start to drop hints, John and Roger were right, he was clueless and I was angry at him because of that, when it was my fault.

"We've been fucking each other in the toilets, why?" I put on a purposeful serious voice as I looked Roger straight in the eyes.

"Fred!" Bri exclaimed at my vulgarity.

"Hmm, wouldn't surprise me." Roger winked at me.

"Rog!" Bri directed his response at Roger now.

We all sat at the table with a cup of tea before we got started for the day, I just couldn't help but ask Roger a question.

"Rog, what's your money situation like?" I asked sheepishly.

He looked up from his newspaper with wide eyes, he began to stutter, "G-Guys, I really can't...can't afford to buy anything for...u-us right now, I-!"

Brian cut him off with a calm voice, "Roger, it's alright mate, we don't need you to buy anything, we just wondered because, we're all skint, we're all finding it near on impossible to pay our fucking bills and John..." He hushed his voice, "And John's having his house seized..."

I glanced at John whose head hung low, Brian was laying his chin in the palm of his hand, Rogers jaw was hanging low.

"What?" The blonde whispered. "Deaky why didn't you say? We could've-!"

John started to speak now, cutting Roger off, "Rog! Nobody has anything. No matter how much I needed you three could have maybe scraped it together for me but then you wouldn't have had anything left! We're all on the verge of not having a penny to our name, I couldn't afford my own house, Freddie can't, Brian can't and by the sounds of it you can't either..."

There was a long silence between all four of us, it was unusual as there was always at least one of us speaking among us.

In a way I was glad that Roger and John were still speaking but under a situation like this I didn't know whether it was a good thing.

Finally, Roger spoke up. Although for some reason he sounded shy.

"Guys. I know you're all going to think this is a bad idea, that I'm insane and shit but...what...what if, we...we all moved in...together? I mean...we see each other everyday and work with each other, there's really no point in us going home to separate houses just to sleep. And...and we'd save money, the bills split four ways would be really cheap, it's...its just a thought..." he trailed off.