Faking It • Queen FanFiction

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 20

The next day Bernie was dead on her feet. Well, one foot, the other one didn't work so well at the moment. Flo had come home yesterday at around midday and helped her do a couple of bits and bobs before going to bed. Today she was working a day shift, meaning that Bernie would be home alone until 7 o'clock that evening, which was a pain in the backside a little bit as she really appreciated her sister's help the day before. Especially as today she was feeling considerably more groggy and run down. The week of disturbance was catching up to her and she needed today to recuperate, which involved laying on the sofa like a sad puppy. 

Waving Flo out of the front door from her spot on the sofa, Bernie contemplated what to do. There wasn't really much to do, really. The crutches leaned against the arm of the sofa, but she couldn't really get the hang of them. Obviously crutches were easy enough to use, but weaving around the small flat was extremely difficult when you were three times wider than usual. Doorways had to be negotiated sideways and the cramped bathroom was an absolute nightmare, especially clambering over the knee-high side of the bath every time she needed to shower.

At around two o'clock, after Bernie had made lunch and washed the dishes, there was a heavy knock on the door. "IT'S OPEN!" She yelled, hoping the visitor heard her and also wasn't a serial killer: she hadn't been expecting company. Moments later, one, two, three, four heads came through the door and into her living room! Four men. One brunette with a thin-lipped smile that displayed his top set of teeth, one black haired wearing tight leather trousers, another, blonde, with a snarling expression that Bernie loathed so much, and finally, her best friend Brian. The entirety of Queen was huddled in her living room, circled round the sofa that she was sitting on, looking rather intimidated and in greater pain than she was in the day before.

As ecstatic as she was to see them all (excluding Roger), Bernie really wasn't in the mood to entertain. She was due to take her prescribed painkillers, but ironically was in too much pain to get them. Attempting to move her body over so that the band had more space to sit, she winced as jabs of pain rushed all the way up her right leg to her hip. The situation of her main injuries were a massive hindrance to absolutely everything she did and it was extremely tiring. "Hi, Bernadette, darling!" Freddie greeted with a smile, lighting up the room with his grand graciousness and leaning over to give her a friendly kiss on the cheek, as he did with everybody. "Do you need help with that?" He saw her struggling and waved a flamboyant hand over her struggles.

"...No," she was determined not to be helped from now on, too many people were cooing over her and although it was nice to know people cared, it'd been a week and a half now, she should have some independence back. The band watched on with empty expressions at Bernie's pitying amount of fruitless grit. It was when she physically whined in pain that everybody had had enough of witnessing her torture and decided to lift her gently to move her. "Thank you," she huffed reluctantly, but not ungratefully.

"Hi Bernie," Brian took a seat next to her on the sofa, followed by John on the other side of her. Freddie perched on Flo's armchair, crossing one leg over the other, not quite leaning back all the way and Roger sat backwards on one of the dining chairs that had been brought through to the living room temporarily. The back of the chair was now at his front and he rested his arms on top of the wooden slats. "How are you feeling?" Touching her forehead gently with the back of his hand, Brian felt Bernie's temperature snd went to fetch an extra blanket for her when he discovered that she was icy cold, even though it was the middle of May.

"I'm fine!" She called through determinedly to Brian, who was scouring around for a blanket. "I'm not ill! Just...broken?"

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Deacy asked, getting her attention by ever so slightly pushing his elbow into her arm. She was about to tell them to stop treating her like she was on her deathbed when she realised that they were just being caring friends... and she actually did need her painkillers.

"Actually, yes please. Would one of you mind grabbing me a glass of water and two capsules out of the box on top of the microwave please?" Roger sprung up from the chair and went off to be helpful. Before he left, however, he bent down and whispered in Bernie's ear: "I could always warm you up if you like." She was going to retaliate, but he was off. Turning to Deacy, he either genuinely didn't hear or was just too used to Roger's suggestive remarks to notice anything unordinary. If Brian was in the room, she was fairly sure that Roger would be filling the empty bed she left in the hospital.

Simultaneously, Brian had returned with a thick, mustard colour woollen blanket and Roger stepped through the kitchen doorway, a glass of water and tablets in hand. Bernie felt exceptionally mothered, secretly revelling in the feeling of being tucked up by Brian and handed what she needed from Roger. This, she would never let on to them; she didn't really want Roger looking after her, but she certainly did appreciate the secure feeling.

"Now that we're all here, what would you like to do, Bernadette? How about a game of Twister?" Freddie teased with a lighthearted chuckle that was impossible to get aggravated at.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes and stretched her left leg out. It was quite stiff from just laying there and she frequently got pins and needles.

"Let's have a go on your crutches!" Roger sprang up from his seat and grabbed the crutches from the side of the sofa. Of course, there was absolutely nothing Bernie could do and she was forced to allow him to trollop around the flat. He was such a child, it was incredible how he could walk in a straight line sometimes. On the other hand, her opinion spread to the rest of the band as they all - more or less - lined up to have a go on the crutches. Easy entertainment for some.

Instead of trying to scold them all at once, she just sat and watched peacefully as they all launched themselves in turn around the flat. It was only when Freddie claimed to have felt something pull in his hip that the rest of them took it as their sign to stop. Just as well, Bernie was getting dizzy watching them go back and forth like that. "Hang on...why aren't you all at the studio today?" She quizzed once the band were sat back down in their self-allocated seats.

"We have sod all to do. So we took an impromptu afternoon off and came to visit you instead!" Brian said cheerily, creases coming to the corner of his eyes as he spoke like coming to visit Bernie was the highlight of their year.

"Much more fun," Deacy added from his spot on the other side of her. Roger and Freddie both nodded in agreement and Bernie felt extremely loved in that moment, even if she didn't know Queen all that well (bar Brian).

꧁ Aᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's Nᴏᴛᴇ: ꧂
𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑑𝑦, 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 :)
𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦? 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 a 𝑓𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑!
𝑇𝑎-𝑡𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤 ♥︎

18/11/22