Somebody To Love (Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor fanfic)

sixty four

Rebecca practically skips down the stairs the next morning, Roger's car keys dangling from her hand while he follows with a face like thunder.

"Nervous, Rog?" she grins, looking over her shoulder at him. 

It's not that he doesn't think she'll be a good driver, it's just she has never sat behind the wheel of a car before. She didn't even try to get her licence when she became legal so yeah, he's a little fucking nervous. 

He knows he's going to have to take it slowly with her and have patience but that is one thing that he admits to having very little of. 

He was starting to think that maybe Brian would be the best one to teach her. 

Or Freddie. 

Hell, even John. Anyone but him would be better off teaching Rebecca how to drive. 

Upon reaching the car, he takes the keys from her and unlocks the door, opening the passenger side one for her and she gives him a look.

"I'm supposed to be the one driving." 

"If you think I'm going to let you loose with this car on a main road, you're mad. I'm taking you up to one of the old council estate and you can get behind the wheel there."

Huffing, she climbs in, "Fine."

The estate is a good twenty minutes away and so Rebecca gets comfortable while Roger fiddles with the dial for the radio, letting out a hum when he finds a station he's content with.

Rebecca loves watching him drive. He always looks so concentrated and relaxed - even when he's yelling at arseholes who pull out in front of him. 

"Did you mean what you said?" she finds herself asking, "Last night, I mean. About us moving?"

He shrugged and changed gears, "We can't stay in that flat forever, can we?"

"I guess not. Would you want to go for another?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a house," he glanced at her, "Somewhere we can really call ours."

"A house sounds nice," she agrees.  

"Then it's settled. I'll buy you a house."

"Roger-"

"No," he held up a hand, "I won't hear any protest. I'll buy you whatever you want, Bex. How many times do I have to say this?" 

She took his hand and brought it to her mouth, "You're far too good to me."

"The house will have a big garden," he decides, nodding to himself when she looks at him, "It'll have four bedrooms. And it'll be out of the city. I know you sometimes find it hard to sleep when there's too much noise."

"Four bedrooms?" she exclaimed. 

"At least,"

"What do we need four bedrooms for?"  

"Our babies, of course."

"Ah," she hums, kissing the back of his hand again as they descend into a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey and when they pull into the abandoned council estate, Roger pulls over and cuts the engine. 

Immediately, Rebecca is practically running around the other side so she can take his place in the driving seat. 

As they swap, Roger wracks his brain to try and remember everything his dad taught him when he took him out on his first lesson and from what he can remember, he just taught him where everything was and what everything did before he let him drive around their quiet estate for a bit. 

So he figures that's the best place to start. 

"Okay," he says as he falls into the passenger seat, "First thing you want to do is adjust the seat. So you can reach the pedals. There's a lever under the seat there..." 

She reaches for it and when pulled, the seat slides forward and because of her height, he can already tell that she's going to be moving it as far forward that she can. 

"Done!" Becca grins, "No what?" 

Roger leans over, his arm curling around the back of her seat so he can point to the pedals, "Clutch, brake and accelerator. Go on, get a feel for them." 

"Like press on them?" he nods, "Without the engine being on?" 

"Yeah, it's fine." 

He watches her press tentatively and laughs, "You'll be needing a little more pressure, love. Especially for the clutch." 

"How much?" 

"You need to push the clutch all the way down," he explains, "Or you'll get this horrible grinding noise when you change gears." 

"Can't have that," she muses.

"No," he says seriously, looking at her, "We can not."

"See for the brake?" she asks. 

"Hm?"

"Is it left or right foot?" 

"Right," he says immediately, "Word of advice, do not try and brake with your left. I did it once and I almost went through the windscreen."

"Oh," she breathes, trying not to laugh, "Noted." 

"Now," he hums, clapping his hands, "Mirrors." 

||-||

When it's time for actually driving, Rebecca starts to get a little nervous.

Roger's still got his arm around the back of her seat as he instructs her to put the key in the ignition, "Don't turn it though." 

She does as he says, wiping her hands on her jeans. The car isn't even on yet.

Roger sees her action and gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "You're going to do great, love. Now start the engine." 

Rebecca slowly turns the key and the car roars to life and she grips the steering wheel tightly. 

"Clutch down and put it into first." 

She presses on the left pedal, making sure to press it down fully before moving the gearstick to the left and up, which Roger told her was first.

"Excellent," he murmurs, "No hesitation, I like it." 

She laughs, which is what he wanted and glances at him, "Now what?"

"What you're going to do, is bring the clutch up slowly so we can find the biting point. You'll hear a sort of lull in the engine." 

Once again, she does as instructed and brings her foot up, listening out for what he told her. 

"Higher," he whispers, "Little more...there." 

She lets out a small squeal when the car starts to inch forward, white-knuckling the wheel as Roger laughs. 

"Right, now you can gently go on the accelerator. As your right foot goes down, you should be bringing your left up to release the clutch." 

Rebecca bites her lip as she does it and once she's fully released the clutch, she grins. 

She's driving. Granted, she's only doing ten miles an hour -if that- but still, she's driving.

"That's it!" Roger cheers, leaning back in his seat, "Next, we just need to teach you how to stop." 

||-||

now, i cannot drive and although i've had lessons, it's been over two years since my last one and i've done my best to remember them