Thunder
Good evening. This is something I wrote a while back and was encouraged to post on here. I got the idea from the blog @disabled-queen-hc. I started writing oneshots for a fan-fiction high school AU I want to write at some point about what it would be like if Freddie had Autism and the band met in modern high school. this was beta read by Snafu and my friend @iamnotbrianmay. So thank you to everyone involved. -Freddie
Noise was something Freddie could usually handle. The roar of the crowds at their shows, the massive amps, and the drums on stage. He could keep his wits about him with those going on. It didn’t bother him anymore. With the concert racket he could see and trace it back to where it was coming from. With thunderstorm, he couldn’t.
Freddie Mercury was a very verbal person. He was always making sounds. Chirps, trills, squeaks, hums, squeals, ticks, and clicks. So when there was a crush of thunder followed by a near scream and shattering glass, the other three members of Queen knew what was going on. Something was, most definitely, bothering Freddie.
Brian quickly got up from the chair he was in, dropping the newspaper on the living room table as he got up. “Freddie?”
He quickly made his way to the kitchen and wasn’t surprised to see Freddie crouched down, his arms wrapped around his head, his dishtowel still in hand. His feet were bare and a broken cup lay to his left.
“Love?” Brian approached him slowly so he wouldn’t startle him again. “You’re okay.” Brian took his hand and helped him stand up, guiding him around the broken cup so his feet wouldn’t get cut. “Come here. You’re safe.”
Brian wrapped his arms around Freddie and lead him to the living room. As soon as they were out of the kitchen, John set to cleaning up the broken glass while Roger ran to Freddie and Brian’s room to get Freddie’s weighted blanket.
Freddie squeaked and crouched again when another clap of thunder sounded overhead. Brian knelt down with him, still holding him tightly. “Do you want to go to the couch?” Brian cooed. His answer was another squeak. “That’s alright. We’ll stay here.”
Roger returned with the blanket and grabbed Griffin, Freddie’s comfort toy, from the couch on his way to the two.
“Freddie,” Roger got the older’s attention. “I’ll make you a deal, mate. I’ll give you Griffin and you give me the towel, sounds alright?” Roger held the toy out to Freddie and took the towel as he was distracted by it.
Once Freddie had the toy, Brian set to wrapping Freddie up in his blanket, like whenever he got over stimmed and needed to calm down. There was another clap of thunder and Freddie squeaked again, wiggling in the blanket. Brian pulled him into his lap and tightly hugged the singer.
“Thunder isn’t all that bad, Lovie.” Brian said. “It’s pretty interesting, actually.” Another clap and Freddie pressed his face against Brian’s side as tears started coming from his eyes. “Look at it this way. When thunder’s forming—lightning too—”
“Brian,” John cut him short, “if he doesn’t understand how the motum gives the house Wifi, he’s not going to understand how thunderstorms form.”
“He has a point…” Roger nodded. “Got it! Story time.”
Roger and John moved to sit by the other two. Another clap and Freddie squirmed, his squeak muffled in Brian’s side.
“Freddie, you’re familiar with the Greek Gods, right?” Roger asked as he sat across from them.
“He nodded.” Brian said.
“Do you know about the Nordic Gods? Thor, Loki, Odin, Freya, and all them?” Roger went on.
“Yeah.”
“Alright. So, you know how Thor is god of lightning and how Loki, the trickster god, is his brother? Thunderstorms are the of them playing around and Odin scolding them. Loki brings the rain as a joke to annoy people on Earth.” Freddie peaked out from Brian’s side and the other smiled. “The lightning? That’s caused by Thor bickering with Loki to get him to stop while. And lastly, the thunder is Odin yelling at both of them to leave the other alone.”
Freddie’s tears had stopped and he mutely watched Roger. John nudged him slightly to urge him to keep talking and tell more stories. Roger quickly wracked his brain trying to find another story. He didn’t remember all the ones he used to tell his sister when they were little.
Another clap of thunder sounded and Freddie squeaked, curling back against Brian. John stood. “I’ll call Kash.”
He stepped into his and Roger’s room and dialed the number. “Hey John,” Kash’s voice floated over the line.
“Hi. Uh, quick question pertaining to Freddie and thunderstorms…”
“He’s worked up?”
“Almost in tears, yeah. How do we calm him down? We thought Roger had him relaxed with a story, but when it was over he got worked up again. Do we just read to him?”
“Uh, you can do that. Getting him to sleep is another good one. If getting him to sleep doesn’t work then you could try audio-books or something on YouTube. He really likes guided meditations, there are ones about Tolkien’s middle Earth that he really enjoys and loves.”
“Alright, got it.”
“He’s got his blanket and Griffin?”
“Yeah. Brian’s got him and Griffin all wrapped up.” John thought for a second. “What does Freddie think of pillow forts and that sort of thing?”
“Oh, he loves them. You used to build them all the time in the living room at our parents’ house and watch Disney movies.”
“That’s also noted. I’ve got a plan now. Thank you, so much.”
“Don’t mention it. It means a lot to me—to Freddie too— that you guys are learning so much about his condition and are willing to adapt to him.”
“Of course. He’s one of us now. He’s in the family. We help Brian when he’s depressed, Roger when he gets in his moods. They help me when my anxiety’s up. We’ll help Freddie when we can. It’s like he said. Four misfits who don’t belong together making music for other misfits who are pretty sure they don’t belong either.”
“Roger, help me make a pillow fort.” John said, re-entering the living room and searching something on his phone. He found one that was looked interesting.
“Freddie?” He knelt next to the shaking form that Brian was still trying to comfort. “I talked to Kash, she said that this might help.”
He pressed play on the video he had brought up YouTube and placed the phone on the floor by where Brian and Freddie. As the story started, Brian felt Freddie’s shaking lessen.
“Why are we making pillow fort?” Roger whispered. He had gotten the extra blankets from the ottoman and had them now on the couch.
“Because Kash said that they used to build them and watch Disney movies. Besides, we’ve been talking about binging Disney movies. Now’s the perfect chance.”
Brian watched Freddie’s face as the older calmed down slowly. His trembling had stopped but it was clear he was still uneasy. Brian kept holding him tightly as the storm went on over head. Freddie cuddled up against Brian a little more and closed his eyes.
Freddie hadn’t realized he’d fallen asleep until he opened his eyes. Going by the time on Brian’s watch, he’d only been asleep for about half an hour. However, that mere 30 minutes was time enough for John and Roger to be almost completed with their blanket and pillow fort. The ones he and Kash used to make took only about ten minutes. It was the size of the fort that had take them so long. It took up most of the living room. Brian had moved them to couch at some point and now the floor was padded with two of their biggest and softest blankets. They were still on couch.
Brian leaned down and kissed Freddie’s forehead, the one still burritoed in the blanket snuggled closer. “Hi, Fred.”
“Hi.”
John and Roger grinned. “Ready for some Disney movies, Freddie?” John asked. His laptop was open hooked up to the TV with an HDMI cable. He set up Netflix and figured they’d start there before getting out their DVDs. Freddie nodded eagerly and snuggled against Brian again, burrowing his face into the guitar’s shoulder when thunder sounded once again.
“You’re okay, Lovely.” Brian kissed his forehead, sweeping his bangs gently off his forehead.
John pressed play on Beauty and the Beast, the original of course, Freddie did like the added songs in the live action but the Beast made him a little uneasy sometimes and that’s not what they needed. Roger pulled John to lay with him on the newly padded floor, and the bassist happily laid down for cuddles.
The first couple of movies were like a sing-a-long. It was a funny thing for Freddie to think about. One of the most popular and growing rock bands in England laying in a pillow fort singing along to Disney musicals in four part harmonies.
As the night wore on, however, the four started tapering off into sleep. Roger had gotten the comforter from his and John’s bed to cover them on the floor and Freddie had unwrapped his weighted blanket from around himself so that it would cover Brian too.
John was the first to fall asleep, which didn’t surprise any of them considering the week he’d had at school; Roger was next seeing as he was being lulled to sleep by both the music from the movies and John’s calm breathing. The next was Brian. He fell asleep around one in the morning after having asked Freddie he was alright about 20 times.
Freddie closed his eyes around two, listening to ‘God Help the Outcasts’. A distant roll of thunder could be heard and Freddie opened one eye in annoyance.
“Shh…” he whispered, “you’ll wake them.”
He curled himself around Brian’s side, adjusted one of the weights in the blanket, and fell asleep.