Faking It • Queen FanFiction

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 55

The next day, Bernie woke up feeling far from refreshed, but definitely well-rested. It had only occurred to her once she had got up and dressed that she'd slept through most of the day yesterday. Contrary to her usual disdain at lacking productivity, she was actually glad of having a break, even if it was forced upon her by her own body.

One thing she didn't appreciate this morning in the slightest was the blood. Brian had been right: the killer cramps came a day before the bleeding and now that it was here, the cramps were much more manageable and she approximated that they'd be gone entirely by either the evening or the next day. As for the bleeding, well, that was another story..,

"Are you okay? Perhaps you should stay in bed. Don't do too much today, okay?" Roger fussed as soon as she set foot downstairs and nobody else was in earshot. But somehow, Freddie knew and cooed mockingly, leaning on the doorframe with a cheeky grin.

"Do you need burping afterwards, dear?" He stepped into the kitchen and invited himself into the conversation. "Roger, Bernadette here is up, dressed and ready to rock 'n' roll, you needn't worry."

"Thank you Freddie. No, Roger, don't worry about me, it's only a bit of blood." The two men's faces screwed up as if they'd just sucked on sour lemons and they took a step back. "It's not contagious, bloody hell. You wusses." Shaking her head, Bernie went to make herself a cup of tea, offering one to the boys as well.

"We know that, but do you have to tell us?" Roger scoffed, at the same time that a contrasting sympathetic look came to Freddie's face.

"Tell you what?" Turning around, Bernie crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Was Roger about to ridicule her for making a brief comment about her period? She really hoped she could have more faith in him that, but much to her disgust, he fell into the predictability. Freddie on the other hand, tried to warn Roger to shut up, but he'd gone to far in for rescuing.

"About the..." Roger put his voice to a whisper, "the blood!"

"Why? It's natural."

"It's gross is what it is!" Roger proclaimed, a hint of the sour-lemon-face of repulsion knotted in his brows. Freddie backhanded Roger, he could see Bernie wasn't happy with where the conversation had led. He'd managed to save himself, but Roger had gone too far in to back out and was beyond return.

"Can't say I didn't warn ya," Freddie scorned in a whisper to Roger, watching over the bicker helplessly.

"I'm sorry, you think what happens to every woman ever since the beginning of time is gross?" Any higher and her eyebrows would be meeting her hairline any time soon.

"Well, no, but do I need to know the ins and outs of it? I mean, it's not my problem," sensing her growing irritation one or two comments too late, Roger tried to backtrack, but failed miserably. Even Freddie picked up on the harshness of his comment and tried to pull him away from the conversation, but Bernie was too quick. In mere seconds, she was standing inches away from him, face red as a tomato and eyes blazing with anger.

"Alright, why don't you try bleeding from your dick once a month whilst somebody squeezes the life out of your uterus for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON!?" Whilst she stopped for breath Roger tried to apologise, but she wasn't done yet. "But noooo, it's FINE FOR YOU, because it's not a male problem! And what the fuck do you mean 'the ins and outs of it'? I made ONE SMALL COMMENT." In that moment, his face was just so punchable and rage pulsed through her veins. Admittedly, she never thought that anger like that would be pointed at Roger. But there was no way she was going to let him talk to her like that, especially as she'd suffered in silence with her periods for half of her life. Roger said nothing, so she filled the silence herself. "Sometimes I think you're a total wanker Roger," she almost-whispered with heartfelt vengeance before strutting out of the room with two half-made cups of tea sitting on the side.

Never in her life had Bernie felt more invalidated and humiliated for something that wasn't her fault and literally couldn't be controlled. Yesterday he'd been so caring, but now when things got a little messy, he got all tetchy about it. And it wasn't even his mess to deal with, it was hers and she had everything under control in a hygienically concealed way. She didn't mind answering questions, but being told to her face that she was gross and being judged by somebody she cared about was a stab in the back. 

Slamming doors, displacing her anger and making her temper known, she strutted across the yard and into the recording studio, where Brian was working on a song he was in the process of completing. When she entered the room, guns blazing, she saw Roy and John fiddling about with sound on one side of the panel with Brian solitarily in the booth, singing something or other. It was sweet; sort of bouncy and catchy.

"Don't you hear my call, though I'm many years away?..." he sang with his eyes closed in concentration and Bernie looked on, appreciating the soothing qualities Brian's voice took on when he was singing. In an odd way, it had a knock-on effect and she found herself feeling a little more calm, but still seething.

Finishing up his verse, he took off the headphones and saw Bernie sitting on the sofa behind Roy and John, who she hadn't even said good morning to. She knew it was rude, but didn't have the energy to pretend to be jovial. As he always did, Brian immediately sensed there was something up and called for a break, even though it looked as if the session had only just begun by the full mugs of tea sitting on the side.

"Berns, you okay? You look livid." Picking up his mug, Brian came and sat next to her on the sofa against the back wall. John and Roy had left them in peace, not particularly wanting to stay cooped up in the studio on such a nice day.

"I am livid," she snapped, regretting her tone instantly. "Sorry..."

"What's happened?"

"Roger happened is bloody what."

"Oh god, what did he do this time?" He crossed one leg over the other, getting ready for a gossip.

"Well I told him in passing that I started bleeding today as you'd correctly predicted and he went on one about how it's gross and he doesn't want to hear about it because it's 'not his problem' or whatever." Talking about it helped calm her mood, bringing her emotions down to a simmer. "Silly me really thought he'd care..." she knew she was treading on thin ice when it came to talking to Brian about the relationship between herself and Roger, as he didn't know a thing and Bernie intended for things to stay that way until things were in a more stable place.

All Brian had to say about the matter was a series of profanities about how inconsiderate he thought Roger was. Everybody knew Bernie was a headstrong feminist who didn't back down at criticism about something she literally could not take control of. She hated how the world responded to periods, both men and women. Men liked to pretend it didn't exist, whilst women frequently tiptoed around the matter like the female population would explode simultaneously if somebody dared mention that it was that time of the month.

By the end of the conversation, both Brian and Bernie were in stitches as she recounted how she made her dramatic exit in protest to Roger's foul attitude.

11/3/23