#pitch perfect fanfic

[massivedrickhead]

Yay you’re back! I feel these prompts are gonna be sad and/or wreck me sooo I’ll request a semi happy one

10. “Where have you been?!  I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for three hours!”

Maybe Chloe and her mini Chloe finally left Chicago after the rumors of cheating and only Aubrey knew but now can’t locate them que Beca losing her shit trying to find her Redheads only for the Beales to rock up at her LA home where they feel most safe

Thanks so much for sending this!

Is this good? I don't know. I'm feeling rusty but glad to be writing again.

10. “Where have you been?!  I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for three hours!”

Prompt taken from here.

Read on AO3

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“Oh my god, where have you been?! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours!” 

Beca winced and pulled the phone away from her ear as Aubrey’s shrill voice threatened to deafen her.

“I was in the studio,” Beca replied, frowning as she crossed the parking lot to her car. “My phone was off. What’s going on?”

“Chloe’s left him,” Aubrey said. “Like actually finally left his cheating ass, and now I can’t get hold of her.”

Beca stopped walking. “Are you serious?”

“Yes! I’m surprised Chicago isn’t blowing up your phone right now, no one knows where she is.”

Beca scoffed and quickened her pace to her car. “That douchebag doesn’t have my number,” Beca said. She got into her car and switched the call over to her bluetooth. “Tell me what happened.” 

“She called me last night saying she caught him cheating again, and that she was done,” Aubrey said. “And now her phone is off, and Chicago has called me like 50 times since this morning demanding I tell him where she is.”

“She didn’t tell you where she was going?” Beca asked, trying to take in what Aubrey was telling her. Her stomach was twisting as she pulled out onto the highway and she tried to think of where Chloe might have gone. 

“No,” Aubrey said. “I thought she might have called you.”

“I’ve not heard from her in a few days,” Beca said. She began chewing her bottom lip as her mind ran through every potential scenario of what might have happened. “She has Sarah with her, right?”

“Of course, Chloe wouldn’t have left her behind,” Aubrey said. “That’s what he’s so mad about. I don’t think he really cares if Chloe leaves him or not, but she took his daughter with her.”

“Have you tried her parents?” Beca asked, thinking it pretty unlikely that she’d have gone to them, but not impossible.

It was Aubrey’s turn to scoff now. “No,” Aubrey said, “but there’s no way she’d have gone there. They weren’t even at the engagement party.” 

“No, I know,” Beca said. “But maybe she’d have gone there because no one would expect her to.”

“If we haven’t heard by tonight I’ll call them, but I don’t want to get them involved if I can help it,” Aubrey said.

Beca reached her exit on the highway and pulled off, and then drove in silence for a few minutes as both her and Aubrey tried to figure out what to do next.

“She’ll be okay, right?” Aubrey asked, voicing their shared concern for the first time.

“Yeah,” Beca said, hoping her voice didn’t betray the fear she was feeling. “He wouldn’t have… Chicago, he wouldn’t have done anything to her, would he?”

“No,” Aubrey said. “I don’t think so. He’s an asshole, but he’s not a monster. And besides, he isn’t that good of an actor, and I’ve never heard anyone sound as pissed off as he did on the phone.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Beca said. “I’m sure she’ll get in touch soon. I bet she just turned her phone off so he couldn’t reach her and that she’ll call us when she can.” Beca reached her street and slowed as she prepared to pull into her drive. She frowned when she saw a vaguely familiar car parked outside her house. “Actually,” Beca said, “hold that thought.”

“What?”

“I think she’s here,” Beca said, feeling a wave of relief crash over her. She pulled into her drive just as the driver’s door from the other car opened. “Yeah, she’s outside my house. I’ll call you in a little bit, okay?”

“Sure,” Aubrey said, sounding as relieved as Beca felt. “Tell her she’s a pain in the ass and that I’m sending her the medical bill for the stomach ulcer she gave me.”

“Will do,” Beca said. She said her goodbyes and hung up her phone before getting out of her car. 

Chloe was standing by her car, a look of hesitation on her face, a sleeping toddler in her arms.

Beca thought she looked tired. There were dark circles under her eyes that were red and puffy.

“Did you drive through the night?” Beca asked.

“Pretty much,” Chloe replied. “I should have called.”

Beca shook her head. “It’s okay. Aubrey filled me in, she’s been pretty worried.”

“I’ll call her,” Chloe said.

“Later,” Beca said. “It’s like a million degrees out here and you look like you’re about to drop.” She gestured for Chloe to follow her into the house. 

“You said Aubrey filled you in?” Chloe asked, all but collapsing onto Beca’s sofa, her daughter still held protectively in her arms.

“Yeah, she gave me the gist,” Beca said. “I’m so sorry, Chlo’.”

“I feel like an idiot,” Chloe said. “This is the third time he’s done this and I… Why did I keep forgiving him?”

“You were trying to keep your family together,” Beca said. “If anyone’s the idiot here it’s him. What kind of moron cheats on Chloe Beale for crying out loud.”

Chloe let out a laugh which quickly turned into a sob, which quickly woke up Sarah who joined in with her Mom’s crying.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, wiping her eyes while she attempted to soothe her crying daughter. “I’m sorry for this, for just turning up here without a word.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Beca said. “I’m glad you knew you could come here.”

“It shouldn’t be for more than a few days, just while I figure out what to do next,” Chloe said. Sarah stopped crying and Chloe turned her around on her lap. “Don’t you want to say hello to Auntie Beca?”

Sarah wasted no time in wriggling off her Mom’s lap and toddling over to where Beca sat, her arms outstretched. “Auntie Beca!”

“Hi sweetheart,” Beca said, smiling and eagerly scooping her up. “When did you get so big, huh?”

“I free,” she said, holding up three fingers.

“No way,” Beca said. “You must be at least fourteen by now.”

Sarah giggled and slid off Beca’s lap so she could continue wandering around the room.

“You can stay as long as you want, Chloe,” Beca said, turning her attention back to her friend. “I mean that. I have the room, and I have the money, and you know I could use the company.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“You aren’t asking,” Beca said, cutting her off. “I’m offering. In fact, I’m not even offering, I’m asking. Please stay here for as long as you would like to.”

Chloe sank back against the sofa as if a weight had been lifted. The long night and day of driving had finally caught up to her and she suddenly didn’t know if she’d be able to keep her eyes open. 

“Thank you,” Chloe said.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Beca replied. “Can I get you anything? Food, or water, or anything?”

Chloe shook her head. “Can I just have five minutes?”

“Of course,” Beca said. “Sarah, do you want a snack?”

“Uh huh,” Sarah said, handing Beca the TV remote she’d found. “You put on the princess?”

“Sure,” Beca said. “Uh, which princess?”

“With the seagulls,” Sarah said, helpfully. 

“Uh…”

“She wants Frozen,” Chloe mumbled as she rested her head on the arm of the sofa. 

“Oh, of course she does,” Beca said. “Come on, munchkin, let’s go get you a snack and then we can watch Frozen.”

They spent the next few hours in relative calm as Sarah ate apple slices and watched Frozen. She squealed with excitement during Olaf’s song where he danced with seagulls for a few seconds, and Beca laughed as she realised this moment had stood out to Sarah as the most significant of the film.

Chloe dozed for most of it until she excused herself to finally call Chicago. 

She returned after the movie had finished with her eyes looking considerably more bloodshot.

“Mommy,” Sarah said, reaching for her as soon as she returned. 

“Hey baby,” Chloe said, scooping her up.

“Everything okay?” Beca asked.

Chloe shrugged. “He’s furious, but he’s agreed to give me space for a few weeks.”

Beca pulled a face. “Can he really blame you for leaving?”

“He doesn’t care about me,” Chloe said. “He’s mad that I took his daughter, which I guess is fair. He was a crappy partner, but he’s a good dad.” She sighed and kissed the top of Sarah’s head. “Once he’d calmed down he said he’d come out to L.A. in a few weeks and we could start discussing custody and child support and that kinda thing.” She let out another sigh and checked the time, wondering when this long day would ever end. 

Eventually, after unpacking the car, eating dinner, bathing Sarah, and putting her to bed, Chloe was finally able to sit down with Beca and a much needed glass of wine.

“I’m sorry you’re having to go through all this, Chlo’,” Beca said. “He’s… he’s such an idiot.”

“I feel like I’m the idiot, to be honest.”

“No way,” Beca said. “He was engaged to the best person in the world, has the most incredible daughter, and he threw all that away because he wanted to get his dick wet?”

Chloe just shrugged. She had no answer that she could give Beca, and she was too tired to try and think of one.

“If I had his life…” Beca trailed off and shook her head. “I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

“I didn’t realise that was something you wanted,” Chloe said. Beca shrugged, and Chloe tapped a finger against the stem of her wine glass before she brought it to her lips. “If you want a family, maybe me staying isn’t the best idea.”

Beca frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“I just mean it might not be easy to like, date or whatever when you’ve got a single Mom and her kid living in your house.”

Beca shook her head. “That isn’t what I meant,” she said. 

Chloe took another drink of wine. “What did you mean?”

Beca suddenly felt like they’d waded into uncharted waters as the conversation took a turn towards a place she never thought they’d go.

She took a breath and another drink of wine.

“You know what I meant,” Beca said, avoiding eye-contact. 

There was a long pause in which Chloe felt her chest get tight. “Still?”

Beca nodded. “It never went away,” she said.

The silence stretched on, and Beca wished she could take her words back. She hadn’t meant for this to come out on Chloe’s first night. She hadn’t meant for it to come out at all.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't have said anything,” Beca said. “I’m gonna go to bed and tomorrow we can just forget this whole conversation happened.”

“Don’t,” Chloe said, her hand resting on Beca’s arm. “Don’t go. Don’t apologise.”

Beca held her breath and waited for Chloe to continue. 

“Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d kissed you instead of Chicago that night,” Chloe said. “And I wonder what would have happened if I’d left him when you told me how you felt that night before I moved out. I… I think about that all the time, Beca.”

“Me too,” Beca said. “But if you’d done that, you wouldn't have Sarah.” She cleared her throat before she continued. “You were right to pick him. I wasn’t ready to be the person you needed. I was too focused on my career, I had complete tunnel vision and everything else just fell to the wayside. It would have ruined us as a couple and as friends. I wasn’t ready to be a good partner then.”

Chloe swallowed, and her hand moved down Beca’s arm and gripped her hand.

“What about now?” She asked.

Beca let out a soft laugh as tears sprang to her eyes. “I think I can do it now. I think… I know I want to do it now.” 

Chloe pressed her forehead against Beca’s as tears filled her eyes. 

“I can’t rush into anything,” she said. 

“I know,” Beca replied. “I wouldn’t want you to. I don’t want to be a rebound.”

“Never,” Chloe said, her grip on Beca’s hand tightened. 

“If we do this, I want to do it right,” Beca said.

“We can wait until the dust settles. Wait until Sarah has settled. Take it slowly, and do it properly,” Chloe said.

“Just… tell me when you’re ready,” Beca said, pulling back so she could look at Chloe properly.

Chloe smiled and pressed a kiss against Beca’s cheek. “I will,” she said.

[ridiculously-over-obsessed]

TRUST ME WITH YOUR HEART (I CAN FIX IT TOO)

Rating: T Chapter 19/? - You Say It Best, When You Say Nothing At All Pairings: Bechloe (slowburn) Chapter Summary: Jessica and Ashley's wedding cause all sorts of unexpected events…

Bit of a shorter one because if I tried to put the next thing on the timeline at the end of this it would be way too freaking long dsjlkflfkgsfgs anyway it's also kinda fillery, but hopefully that's okay! I have also provided some audio/visual aids linked at the relevant points for this one just to be sure that my ✨vision✨ is realised

[cycwrites]

A (Few) Day(s) in the Life - Lingerie

A very overdue second chapter of random glimpses into the lives of my favorite girls.

This was meant to be a short, fade to black ficlet while I tried to remember how to do this words thing. Close enough.

Thank you to everyone who has ever left me a comment on AO3 (I owe so many responses over the last 3 years) or sent me a message on Tumblr, encouraging me to continue after all this time. I’m really hoping to finish a few things next year as I still owe everyone a Staubrey origin and cliffhanger reveal.

For @tiny-maus-boots and @kimmania. I honestly don’t know if I’d be here without your unending support and encouragement in life as well as writing.

And for Rylee, who somehow convinced-slash-hoodwinked me into thinking about the Mitchsen chapter, which in turn reminded me I needed to get this one done first.

Words: 3600ish (aka the 2nd shortest thing I've ever written.)

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter 1 (and the whole Nowish Universe) on AO3

Master Post for Tumblr

And just because, the Spotify playlist that helped me write pretty much every Pitch story.

A Pitch Perfect Lifetime

----------------------

~S~

Wednesday, October 11th, 2017

“Is it dumb that I’m nervous?”

Stacie turned to look at Aubrey who very clearly was avoiding looking at her. Which meant she missed the loving smile that Stacie aimed her way.

“Bree.” Aubrey didn’t turn, merely slid another hanger to the side and intently looked at the clothing behind it, which was exactly the same style and color. “There is a list of things you are not, and dumb is definitely on it.” Stacie resumed going through the rack in front of her, deciding this was one of those times that Aubrey needed to pretend they weren’t having a discussion about whatever was bothering her. She knew they’d eventually get to the heart of it. “Were you nervous with Chloe?”

A pause. “No.” Another few seconds filled with the sounds of hangers sliding along metal racks. “Chloe is home.”

“Are you saying Beca’s less?” Stacie grinned even though they still weren’t looking at each other.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.” Very snooty, very amused but then a longer pause. “But my history with Beca is more…”

“Spicy?” Stacie looked over her shoulder and saw Aubrey’s beautiful smile in profile.

“I suppose that’s one way to put it,” Aubrey agreed wryly. “But that’s not quite what I meant.”

Stacie looked around them and lowered her voice even though there was no one else near them in the shop. “You guys have been alone before.”

“Not like this, no. Not since…” Aubrey’s voice was even quieter and Stacie had to strain a little to hear it. “You and or Chloe have always been in the house or within minutes of getting home.”

“Really?” Stacie turned and rested one elbow on the rack. “I’d have sworn…” She thought for a minute, watching Aubrey’s hands as they ran down lacy fabric. Their movements were graceful but precise. Controlled.

Chloe had a convention she wanted to attend the following week and it was Stacie’s turn to go with her, leaving Aubrey and Beca at home to hold down the fort. It was something they had done many times before, but it was the first time since beginning their new shared life together.

The nerves were making a kind of sense now, Stacie mused, reaching out to run her hand down Aubrey’s back before moving past her to another rack of lingerie. She didn’t know yet what exactly was going on in her beautiful wife’s head, but since Aubrey was at least dancing around the subject, it hopefully wouldn’t be too long before she could help work through it.

Briefly she wondered if Beca was nervous before deciding that of course she was. The two women were far more alike than either of them usually admitted to. In fact, she’d almost be willing to place a large sum of money that whatever was setting off Aubrey’s nerves was at least partially in Beca’s mind as well.

“Bree?” Stacie waited until Aubrey turned and held up a random negligee. “What about this one?”

“Hmm?” She turned, eyed it narrowly from top to bottom and pursed her lips before giving a single dismissive shake of her head “No.”

As she turned away, Stacie sighed and hung it back up before moving to stand next to Aubrey and flip through the same rack, though she wasn’t paying any attention to the clothing in front of them. “Are you turning your nose up at everything in every store we’ve stopped at today because you can’t find anything you think will make a good impression on the woman who already loves you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Another precise sliding of hangers from right to left.

“You’re using your high voice, Bree.” Stacie nudged her gently with her elbow. “The denial tone doesn’t work on me anymore.” She’d used to think it was just haughty and dismissive – and okay, sometimes it was – but now she knew that it usually hid uncertainty and a need to look in control when Aubrey felt anything but. “You could wear the Bella uniform and she’d still think you’re one of the three hottest women she’s ever seen. She’d be dying to rip it off you.”

Aubrey snorted. “That last is true – mostly because of the PTSD it would cause.”

“Ooh, yeah. That’s probably true.” She waited a moment, trying to figure out the best way to help. “It’s true though. She loves you and when I asked if you wanted to pick up matching lingerie, I didn’t mean to make you think you needed to dress up.”

“No, I know.” Aubrey glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “And I know I don’t, but…” She bit her lip in a very Chloe manner that made Stacie smile. “I want to make it special.”

“The fact that you exist makes every day special, love.” She leaned over and kissed Aubrey’s cheek. “For all of us. What’s really going on?”

With a sigh, Aubrey finally turned to face her, sheepishly meeting her eyes. “I have a lot to make up for.”

“What do you mean?” Stacie’s brow furrowed.  

She wondered if there was something else she was missing, having obviously not realized that the two women had never been fully alone together before. Sure, she and Chloe hadn’t yet either – a circumstance they were happily changing next weekend as well – but that was more random luck than anything. She knew how they all felt, knew them better than herself some days, and it had never occurred to her that any of them would be hesitant. Not with how much they loved and trusted each other.

Then again, she reminded herself, they were only three months into their new phase of life. A fact that she found hard to accept since it felt like they had been together for years this way. Plus, Aubrey and Beca were built a little different. More prone to listen to their darker fears even knowing they shouldn’t. Not anymore. And now that Stacie was thinking about it that way, things started falling into place.

“I wasn’t nervous with Chloe because she’s been my home for years. But with Beca…” Aubrey continued, looking down and then back up through lowered brows. “I worry she… It’s just that, the first year I was so terrible.”

“Aubrey.” Stacie very much wanted to reach out and hold her but didn’t think it was the place even if it was the damn time. “You’re both so far past that –”

“Rationally I know that!” Aubrey raised her hands in frustration but kept her voice low. “Or tell myself I do.” She signed softly, shoulders slumping. “But does she know?”

It was said so plaintively that Stacie pulled her into a hug, potential audiences be damned. “Know what, love?”

“That she’s as necessary to my continued existence as you and Chloe.” Aubrey pressed her face into Stacie’s shoulder, the words muffled but the worry coming through loud and clear.

Stacie thought about the way Beca would sometimes watch Aubrey in their quiet moments – while one or the other was working quietly on a laptop on the couch; when Aubrey was taking pictures of her garden, trying out her artistic angles while sober – her eyes so filled with peace and love… Chloe had confided to Stacie that on at least one occasion she’d had to make up some excuse and leave the room because it had moved her to tears.

“Oh… I’m very certain she knows.” Stacie kissed the side of her head. “But I’m definitely behind Project Woo Her if that’s what you want. I will never say no to looking at all these sexy outfits and picturing you in them.” She leaned down and whispered in Aubrey’s ear. “And to imagine Beca slowly removing them from you.” There was nothing more beautiful in Stacie’s mind than the image of any of them being together.

With a laugh, Aubrey stepped back, her smile genuine and more than a touch wicked. “Don’t think you’re going wind me up and lure me into the dressing room, lover.”

Relieved at the teasing, Stacie lifted her chin at the challenge. “Don’t think I’m ever going to give up trying.” She turned Aubrey around and patted her on the ass. “Now, let’s find you something that’ll make Beca’s legs weak before you even lay one silken fingertip on her skin.” Aubrey flashed a wink over her shoulder and Stacie felt some of the tension drain from her. It was likely only temporary, but she’d just do her best to draw the rest of it out or, at the least, keep Aubrey distracted for the next week.

In part she supposed that’s why she had made the suggestion that they go shopping for the non-boring sleepwear that Beca said they should bring over. Both because she wanted to reaffirm, once again, that this was all okay and she was one million percent behind this amazing new life they were making as a foursome. But also, that she expected Aubrey and Beca to enjoy any and all of their moments alone just as Aubrey was encouraging Stacie to do with Chloe. Sure, it might be a little strange to just be two bodies instead of three or four, but they all knew each other inside and out – puns absolutely intended – and she couldn’t imagine it feeling awkward for any of them.

It certainly hadn’t phased Aubrey just a few weeks earlier when she and Chloe had finally realized what had been growing between them for years.

Then again, the rest of them didn’t have the contentious history that Beca and Aubrey did, and the last thing she wanted to do was dismiss Aubrey’s worries and make her feel worse about them. Maybe she’d just have to have a talk with Chloe to see if there was matching nerves and anxiety at the Beale-Mitchell household and see what they could do to help their partners relax. She smirked to herself as she continued that thought and realized that even if she and Chlo failed, once the other two were past the first few minutes they would help each other relax just fine. Repeatedly.

After a couple more minutes of perusing, holding up various outfits up to each other and dismissing them, Stacie pulled a white bustier and panty set and held them up. It was satin and lace, zipped down the center and it was solid with none of the peek-a-boo cutouts that she normally bought. Simple and yet it called to her to try it on.

“Hey Bree? I’m going to go try this one.”

“Oh?” Aubrey turned and Stacie held it behind her back. “Seriously?” She pouted and Stacie laughed.

“You’ll see soon enough.” The pout deepened and she relented. “I won’t make you wait until we’re home – you’ll get to decide if we buy it or not.”

“Oooh, I’m in charge today?” Aubrey’s eyebrows rose in delight.

“For now.” As Aubrey laughed behind her, Stacie made her way to the fitting rooms and found most of them unoccupied. Taking the one against the left wall, she locked the door behind her and quickly stripped, knowing that Aubrey would be drifting closer as she looked for the perfect outfit.

The straps over the shoulder were adjustable and fit comfortably and when she zipped the top closed, it wasn’t constrictive. The front of the bustier came down to points that would pair perfectly with nylons and garter straps if one were so inclined.

Each room had tri-fold mirror on one wall so shoppers could get a better idea of how everything looked from all angles and after a couple minutes of turning this way and that, Stacie decided she approved. She’d also decided that Aubrey would look utterly fucking delicious in this same outfit in black and definitely with nylons. Satisfied with how it fit her, she opened the door and found Aubrey only a little way away, holding up another bustier and panty set that was all silk, lace and almost matched the color of Chloe’s eyes.

“We’re definitely going to have to get that one for her,” Stacie said softly, leaning against the doorframe.

“Yeah?” Aubrey tilted her head as she eyed the outfit. “I think so too.” She finally turned her head and toward the dressing rooms. “I thi –” She stopped mid word, her eyes widening and her hands going slack, suddenly nerveless fingers losing their grip on the hanger and letting it fall to the ground, utterly forgotten.

It immediately brought to mind the night she’d proposed; Aubrey had reflexively dropped the rib that she’d been eating when Stacie had brought out the ring. It almost shamed her to admit it, but her ego purred under the immediate desire that lit Aubrey’s face, even as she marveled that this beautiful and complex woman was hers to love forever.

Then Aubrey was moving, a not-quite-casual swift power walk that bordered on a charge. Stacie was unprepared as her wife pushed her back into the fitting room, closing the door behind them. Stacie started laughing as Aubrey’s hands began to run over her hips and thighs; the amusement at the best reaction she had ever gotten in public from Aubrey filtering the slow building sizzle as the touches burned with serious intent.

“Bree?” The chuckles still bubbled up but they were followed quickly by the urge to moan as Aubrey’s fingertips dipped just under the edge of the panties and slid back and forth.

“Can you be quiet?” Aubrey’s lips were busy pressing kisses to her exposed upper chest and Stacie took an involuntary deep breath, lifting herself closer and it was Aubrey’s turn to chuckle against her skin.

“Me?” Stacie found herself in the unfamiliar position of having her mind short circuit and having to sprint to catch up with her normally restrained in public spouse. “You’re the loud one.”

Aubrey’s head snapped up, indignant. “I am not!” To her credit, it was whispered and not shouted like it usually was at home. The corner of her mouth twitched. “That’s Beca.” She slowly backed Stacie up until she was against the wall.

“Oh, right.” Stacie licked her lips as Aubrey’s hands resumed their wandering over her body. She flicked a look at the door and was grateful to see that even in her rush to get them in the room, Aubrey had locked it behind them. “You’re going to get us kicked out of here before we can buy these, aren’t you?”

“Not if we’re quiet.” She paused, just the slightest bit, giving Stacie the opportunity to stop things before they got too far.

As if.

“Well, I did say you’re in charge…”

With a familiar wicked glint in her eyes, Aubrey’s fingertips once again dipped under the edge of the panties but this time she pushed, her palms skimming down and taking the fabric with them until they fell to the floor. Her nails ran back up the outside of Stacie’s thighs and up her sides to trace the edge of the bustier, tickling as they barely grazed her skin. “God, you look amazing, Stacie.” She flattened her hands and ran them over Stacie’s breasts to her stomach, curving them around her ribs before retracing her steps. “You feel so good.”

It was unspoken that they would need to be quick as well as quiet. There had only been a handful of times that Stacie had been able to coax Aubrey into anything even half as risky and all of them had been at night and most with alcohol. She knew without being told that if she hadn’t come before Aubrey reached whatever timer she had going on in her head, Stacie would have to wait until they got home.

Aubrey’s fingers were on the zipper of the bustier and Stacie could tell she wanted to do it slow, teasingly, but they just didn’t have that sort of time. She pulled normally, as if this were any normal trying on of outfits, but the second Stacie’s breasts were free, her lips covered one nipple and sucked lightly.

Stacie’s head rebounded lightly off the wall as she jerked in pure reaction and she winced at the small thump, hoping it didn’t carry. She tried to say something, anything, to keep anyone from asking if she was okay, but even a simple “Oops” wouldn’t pass her lips when Aubrey’s hand slid down and cupped her center.

“I think that one looks great, Stace.” Aubrey’s voice was shockingly even for someone who’s lips brushed Stacie’s nipple as she spoke for the benefit of an audience that might not even exist. “Try the other one.” As if her middle finger wasn’t slightly stroking Stacie’s clit in all the right ways to make her whimper even though that was definitely not in today’s rules.

‘Let’s hear it for Posen control,’ she thought giddily, her legs parting to give Aubrey a little more room. But even as she really hoped Aubrey didn’t expect her to answer, she looked down and saw Aubrey’s eyebrow lift in challenge.

Goddamnit.

She licked lips suddenly gone dry and took a deep breath. “Sure, Bree.” She was rewarded by Aubrey’s mouth on her breast once more, tongue swirling to match the motions of her middle finger.

Stacie could already tell it wasn’t going to take long, the sheer fact of Aubrey – her unbelievably sexy but usually-proper-in-public wife – taking her in broad goddamned daylight, even if they were in a locked room, was enough to throw her halfway to orgasm; she could hear people talking in other rooms for fucks sake and Aubrey was still touching her and showing no signs of stopping.

With an ease brought about only by familiarity and deep trust, it didn’t take long for Aubrey to have Stacie wet and writhing against her. She swallowed the gasp as those long, skillful fingers filled her in a way guaranteed to reduce her to a trembling mess in their bed. Except she was plastered to a wall and had to lock her knees to keep herself upright as Aubrey took her in complete silence, their eyes locked together.

She would have thought it was the images of them in the mirrors that surrounded them that would have done it, but it was Aubrey’s gaze softening from wicked determination to sensual devotion – a distinction and emotion Stacie had never known before Aubrey – that pushed Stacie to the peak. She reached down with her hand and gripped Aubrey’s wrist, pulling up until Aubrey understood what she was after and thrust deep within, her palm tight to the curve of Stacie’s body; letting her set the pace and take what she needed. Her eyes closing involuntarily, Stacie rolled her hips, rising and falling, chasing her release until Aubrey leaned forward and raised ever so slightly on her tiptoes to whisper in Stacie’s ear.

“Come for me, mon Soleil.”

Her body surrendered instantaneously. She pulled harder on Aubrey’s wrist, her hips driving downward in rocking spasms as she rode Aubrey’s touch. Eventually her body slowed and she realized she had no idea how much time had gone by, though she was very aware she didn’t have enough time to sink into the blissful lassitude spreading through her muscles in the aftermath. They had to pull themselves together – or apart as the case may be – and clean up. There was also no way they were leaving without buying the garments that had been so gleefully stripped from her.

In several variations.

Leaning against the wall, she kept her eyes closed for another few moments, enjoying the languor before she had to hustle back into her clothes. Except she heard another zipper and looked around to find Aubrey digging into her purse one handed. She couldn’t help it; she started laughing as Aubrey pulled out a pack of wet wipes.

“Always prepared, aren’t you, love?” Just one of the legion of reasons she had fallen in love.

Despite the hint of rose in her cheeks, Aubrey handed over several. “Never know when they might come in handy.” In a lower aside, she half muttered, “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to go walking through the shop with you all over my hand.” A pause. “You’re definitely going to go pay and I’ll meet you in the car.”

Stacie merely smiled. “’Kay.”

It didn’t take long to clean themselves up and for Stacie to get dressed. When Aubrey left the room, power walking like a champ, Stacie took another moment to rearrange the outfit on the hanger and hopefully make it less obvious the room had been very occupied.

When she went back to the rack, she kept an unobtrusive eye on other shoppers but no one seemed to be paying any special attention to her. Deciding to stop worrying about it, she picked up the same outfit in black in Aubrey’s size, as well as a red outfit of similar design that caught her eye. It took only another moment to find the blue lingerie Aubrey had been holding and bring all four outfits up to the counter.

Finishing the transaction without the cashier giving her any sort of knowing look, she pushed her way through the door and out into the bright sun, wishing she’d brought her sunglasses with her. Lengthening her stride, she headed down the block to where they’d parked the car, anticipation singing through her veins like champagne. She couldn’t wait to get Aubrey home and in bed to return the gift she’d just been given…

And maybe later they’d invite Beca and Chloe over and see who was louder once and for all.

[fanficbutnow]

Summary:

With Amy now a millionaire with a mansion, Beca and Chloe finally have the space in their shared apartment to bring some old clothes back in. But when a trip down memory lane has Chloe in some lingerie and Beca in her old Bella uniform, certain feelings may be tested.

Tags, Warnings, Rating, and Bingo Card are under the 'Keep Reading'.

Prompt: Post-Canon

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Pitch Perfect (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell Characters: Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Pitch Perfect 3, Chloe likes a girl in a uniform, Clothed Sex, Brief mentions of the terrible Chicago/Chloe relationship, Movie Hater Beca, Love Confessions

[lgbtkendricks]

people throw rocks at things that shine (mitchsen one-shot)

inspired by ours (taylor's version) by taylor swift. Beca and Aubrey finally go public with their relationship. Neither anticipate the reactions they receive.

read on ao3 here, or below

Aubrey Posen had not fiddled with her cardigan sleeve since she was a schoolgirl.

On the first day of school every year, without fail, she would come home and get told off by her mother for ruining the cardigan they had just bought. She would spend the entire day pulling at the threads, forcing them loose and making the sleeve unravel into an unruly, anxious mess. Sometimes she would bite at it once it was loose, eating away at the cardigan throughout class until it was damp, until she was forced to tug harder at the threads when the uncomfortableness of a damp sleeve became too much. It was the feeling of everybody giving her unwanted attention that caused it – asking too many questions, expecting her to be one way and being put off when she was another. It was the embarrassment of being able to tell when she wasn’t suiting the other kids’ standards of friendship, the anxiety that came with being the girl who tried too hard to be something she wasn’t and knowing that sooner or later, the new kids who took interest in her would fade away with the understanding that she was boring. It was the knowledge that they spoke about her behind her back, questioning why she was so prim and proper, assuming she felt she was above them all because she couldn’t understand them the way they understood each other. It wasn’t until she started college that she stopped fiddling with her cardigans. That first day was the day she met Chloe. They swapped dorms to share together by the weekend, and the rest was history.

Today, however…today was the Monday morning after Aubrey and Beca finally went public with their relationship. Beca had posted a photo of them on Instagram from their 2-year anniversary a couple months back. It was raw and personal and attracted a lot of attention on Twitter and Instagram because Beca was usually anything but. It was a selfie Beca had taken, holding up Aubrey’s anniversary card in an envelope that read ‘happy 2 years, alt girl.’ Beca’s mouth was covered with the card, but her eyes were bright and happy and a little teary as she posed for the camera. Aubrey was hugging her from behind and grinning, resting her chin on Beca’s head. It was an adorable photo, one that was now standing in a frame in their living room. Beca had simply posted it without a caption before switching her phone off, taking a deep breath, and sitting back down on the sofa to continue their Love Island marathon.  

So that happened, and it was all over the internet, and it was Monday at the office, a morning already gruelling enough what with the backlog of emails and excruciating small talk about what everyone got up to over the weekend. Her girlfriend was quite famous now. Since Beca began her solo career, she had skyrocketed into the charts, into winning her first Grammy, into being the subject of fan mail and fan accounts. Aubrey could not have been prouder of her. They had been careful to conceal their relationship from the public. Aubrey didn’t want to jeopardise Beca’s rising popularity, and Beca didn’t want Aubrey to have to deal with paparazzi or stalkers whilst she found her footing in the entertainment industry. But, in the two years they had been together and of Beca’s career – somehow managing to dissuade any relationship rumours – Aubrey herself had become quite successful as a lawyer. She was well respected at the firm, and whilst the blonde wasn’t sure she would call them all her close friends, she did get along with them and often felt guilty about lying through her teeth whenever they would bring up how amazing Beca’s music was and how Aubrey used to be in the Bellas with her. Rather than gushing about her incredibly talented girlfriend, it would turn into gushing about their acapella days and pretending to wonder who the mystery person was that Beca dedicated her Grammy to and if that person was a friend or a lover.

It was pretty difficult.

Now, though, all that was behind her. Aubrey was sat in her parked car strangely excited for the day ahead. She would finally be able to speak freely about the love of her life, about how proud she was of Beca, how in awe she was of her always, and most importantly just how important the woman was to her.

It was only once she stood waiting for the elevator that her excitement began to fade and become overwhelmed with an unsettled feeling in her chest. She was stood next to Brandy, one of her co-workers who often mentioned Beca’s music and snuck her songs into playlists at office drinks. Brandy was someone who Aubrey assumed would have been most excited to see her this morning.

Brandy side-eyed her with a passive smile. “Good morning, Aubrey.”

“M-Morning,” Aubrey stuttered back in confusion. Brandy had never been so curt with her before.

She reached for her cardigan sleeve.

The elevator dinged. Brandy sniffed and waltzed right in, pressing the button a little too forcefully. Aubrey gulped and followed the woman in, smiling as warmly as she could at the rest of the people in the elevator. None of them looked particularly pleased to see her, either. She turned around to face the front as the elevator doors closed, entrapping them into the tiny space. Aubrey had never worried so extensively about what would happen if the elevator stopped before. The metal cuboid (death trap, more like) was silent. You could cut the tension with a knife.

Aubrey was going to the thirteenth floor. She would’ve taken the stairs over this silence any day.

Her mind’s whirring substituted for the lack of conversation, unfortunately. She couldn’t help but wonder whether they were unhappy with her lying, with her relationship, with her sexuality, with Beca’s, or all of the above. And Aubrey being Aubrey, she couldn’t help but think the worst. It was like the first day of school all over again. She hadn’t so much as addressed her sexuality in the workplace before. And now, she could be ostracised from the community she had managed to be accepted into, everyone else realising how she was untrustworthy or a liar or unfair. Should she have told them sooner and offered concert tickets? Should she have offered concert tickets when they all thought they were just teammates and good friends?? Why did she feel the need to buy these people’s acceptance? Her chest felt tight as she glanced quickly at the mirror, watching everyone stare vacantly at the back of her head, or her bag, or her shoes. If Beca had been there she would have whispered a joke about them in her ear and calmed her down with ease. But she wasn’t, and they all looked as uncomfortable as Aubrey felt. Brandy especially was not only uncomfortable but clearly miffed. Aubrey didn’t feel well all of a sudden.

The elevator dinged, making Aubrey jump and rip a little more of the thread out of her cardigan than she was supposed to. Brandy all but pushed past to stalk out of the elevator immediately, and Aubrey willed herself to follow, not knowing what would be awaiting her. She had to walk through the entire corridor to get to her office, passing the breakroom and several other people’s rooms. She kept her head straight and her face passive. If she showed a crumble in her resolve now, it would be obvious and it would define her post-public era for months to come. She could hear people whispering in the breakroom. This was worse than the first day of school. This time, she didn’t just think that people were judging her, she knew they were. She needed to text Beca.

The whispering stopped as she walked past. She didn’t look directly, but in her peripheral vision it seemed they were all gathered around someone’s phone. Aubrey’s face felt hot. She had been so concerned about how their relationship being public would affect Beca and her career that she never even stopped to consider how it might affect her own. She passed another coworker in the hallway who didn’t so much as bat an eyelash in her direction, purposefully staring straight ahead and avoiding her. Their firm regularly dealt with homophobia and gay rights in their legal cases. Aubrey wasn’t sure what specifically was causing this icy atmosphere but it was really stressing her out and it wasn’t even 9am yet. Her sleeve was unravelling faster than she cared to admit.

“Good morning, Aubrey,” Her assistant said cheerfully from their desk stationed outside her office.

Having half expected to walk past them with no obvious acknowledgement, Aubrey paused and smiled in relief. “Good morning, Sage. Any messages?”

They smiled supportively. “No…none about work.”

Aubrey reeled herself. “And about Beca?”

“There were a couple of fan gifts and whatnot.” Sage cringed. “Nothing major. Congratulations, by the way, boss.”

“Thank you.” She let out a sigh of relief. Fan mail from the overzealous ones who had found out what firm she worked at was to be expected. She would probably be receiving things like that all week. “I think you’re the only person here who isn’t annoyed at me right now.”

“Would you like me to talk to the office?”

“No, no, I could never put that on you,” Aubrey said immediately.  

She didn’t notice that she had started to fiddle again with the cardigan until Sage cocked their head and looked pointedly at her wrist. “Are you…alright?”

“I-“ the question hit her a little harder than she expected it to. For the first time in her professional career, she was uncertain of where she stood and how to fix this. She knew there shouldn’t even be anything to fix, but there was, and if this hostile work environment was going to continue, she wasn’t sure what her next steps should be. The panic rose in waves. “Um…”

“I’ll cancel your meetings for the morning. Say something came up.” Sage said, already typing something out on their laptop.

The lawyer smiled gratefully at them. “Thank you.” She took her ponytail out of its hair tie before moving to lock herself into her office.

“And boss?”

Aubrey turned round to look at Sage questionably.

“There will always be people with nothing else better to do with their lives who disapprove. For whatever reason. You and I both know that. Doesn’t change anything.”

Feeling tears prickle at her eyes, Aubrey nodded at them. She didn’t know what to say, so she hoped her actions later in the week would make up for the lack of communication. She didn’t know Sage as well as Sage knew her, but they would probably love some time off at least. A gift, too. Right now, though, she needed to text her girlfriend. Once she got into her office she shut the door and locked it immediately, dropping her bag, kicking off her heels and falling into the sofa. Aubrey was fast to pull out her phone and head to the messages app.

Aubrey: Busy?

Beca: it’s 9am

Beca: no

Beca: whats up?

Aubrey: Sage cancelled my morning meetings because I’m two seconds away from a breakdown so no.

Beca: what? what happened??

Aubrey: I don’t know.

Beca: just anxious?

Aubrey: No, it’s just very hostile here. Everyone’s being cold with me. I don’t know why.

Beca: because of me?

Aubrey: I don’t know for sure.

Beca: jesus fucking christ

Aubrey: Don’t worry about it for now. Are you needed at the studio this morning?

Beca: yeah i have a meeting gonna make my way over there in a sec

Beca: its gonna be a long one baby im sorry

Aubrey: Done by lunch?

Beca: definitely

Aubrey: I’ll pick you up

Beca: okay cool

Beca: im really sorry im not free when you need me to be

Beca: i love you

Aubrey: I love you too, it’s fine.

Beca: dont type like that you sound mad

Aubrey: imnotmadbecs. Better?

Beca: i guess

Beca: dork

Beca: see you at lunch. watch glee in the meantime <3

The blonde smiled sweetly. She hadn’t thought of distractions yet, but Beca knew she’d need one this morning. She wasn’t sure how Beca always knew. It wasn’t the same for her whenever Beca wasn’t herself. Partly because the brunette generally just put on a specific playlist that pretty much showed her girlfriend exactly how she was feeling and Aubrey simply waited until she was ready to talk, knowing not to push her too hard. They were opposites in that sense. Well, in many senses, but specifically that one. Aubrey always wanted to talk before anything else so she didn’t end up bottling up and triggering nausea. Aubrey knew that was why Beca felt so bad about not being available. It sucked when their relationship suffered for less important necessities.

---

“Shit.” Aubrey mumbled as she pulled up to Beca’s studio and noticed the paparazzi were stationed around the entrance. Beca would usually bring her in through the third secret entrance but if she even tried to meet the brunette there now it would show the paps where it was. Reaching for her big sunglasses in her glove compartment, Aubrey gulped before switching off the engine and getting out.

There were flashes going off immediately. It was almost amusing for Aubrey considering they hadn’t known who she was in relation to Beca until two days ago. But she wasn’t in the mood to be amused, or to be photographed, so she kept her head down and ignored the questions about their relationship and if it were true that they had eloped and all this crap she couldn’t believe Beca would have to put up with every day from now on.

Aubrey made her way quickly to the front desk and took off her sunglasses, but she didn’t even have to say a word before the receptionist buzzed her in with a smile.

“Go right ahead, Miss Posen,”

“Oh, thank you,” she said quickly. Beca must have arranged for her to have full access on demand now that the news was out. It warmed her heart, the lengths her girlfriend went to.

It didn’t take long to find Beca. She was in the studio’s common area, looking bored out of her mind as she listened to a conversation that was going on between a couple of her editor coworkers. When she saw Aubrey coming through, she jumped up and excused herself, striding over with a familiar, comforting grin. For the first time in hours, Aubrey felt the awful feeling in her chest begin to fade as her girlfriend opened her arms out and she rushed into them with a heavy sigh of relief.

“Hi,” Beca said gently, loud enough only for Aubrey to hear, rubbing her back as Aubrey draped her arms round her waist and squeezed.

Beca’s heart dropped as she heard Aubrey’s deep, shaky breaths. The panic and upset was radiating off of her and the musician hated to see her like this, barely keeping herself together. Aubrey seemed overwhelmed more than anything else. Overwhelmed and scared. It hurt Beca even more knowing how put together Aubrey usually was. Not in an unhealthy way anymore, not like back in college, but she kept herself and her emotions in check with a careful schedule and routine, she allowed for spontaneity on the weekends - she rarely ever got to this stage about anything these days. Beca knew it must have been a bad start to the morning if Sage cancelled her meetings, but she hadn’t anticipated it getting to this stage.

“I’m here, Bree,” she whispered. “Are you feeling okay?”

They both knew she meant physically rather than mentally. Aubrey took a moment to check in with herself, but eventually nodded.

“I’m fine,” she said softly.

Beca wasn’t so sure. “Do you think you’ll still be fine after food?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay.” The shorter girl pulled back and tucked some strands of hair behind Aubrey’s ear, tiptoeing to give her a quick kiss before grabbing her hand, choosing not to comment on the state of Aubrey’s sleeve that she had clearly been pulling at all morning. It looked ruined beyond repair.

Aubrey put her sunglasses back on. “The paps are outside. We have to go through the front, my car’s there,”

“No,” Beca shook her head. The last thing she wanted to do was have Aubrey photographed now. “Mine’s at the back. We’ll give your keys to security and ask him to park it there for now. We’ll get it later,”

---

Having successfully evaded the paps, they wound up eating sandwiches in their favourite secluded spot. A little hideaway in the middle of the park nearby that was completely concealed by foliage and trees. They often came there to watch the sunset, to have picnics or just to get away from life for a while. It was their secret spot.

After watching Aubrey silently eat her sandwich for a while, Beca nudged her slightly with her leg, putting her own sandwich bag down onto the blanket Beca had found in the boot of her car and laid out for them to sit on.

“Wanna talk?”

Aubrey looked up at her kind, concerned eyes and nodded, putting her sandwich down too. She took a deep breath.

“I walked into work and- it’s so ridiculous, nothing even technically happened,” Beca sent her a disapproving look, which Aubrey ignored. “And I saw Brandy by the elevator. She was really cold. And judgemental. And the ride was so tense. It was oppressive. Everybody was hyperaware of me. I don’t enjoy that kind of attention without intention.”

Beca noticed she was fiddling with her sleeve again.

“And everyone was in the breakroom whispering about us. I guess- I just…it was really nerve-wracking. I didn’t expect anyone to disapprove of us. I knew they would care, but they’re all fans of you anyway. I didn’t think it would be…like that. It was just too much without warning.”

Beca bit her lip, rubbing circles over the back of Aubrey’s hand. She felt terrible. “What’s on your mind?”

“I just told you.”

“No, I mean, after all of that happened, what were you thinking all morning?”

“Worrying about what they thought of you, of me, of our relationship. Worrying that they hated me now because of it, or because I’m a lesbian. Worrying that my work environment has been permanently altered and not knowing where to go from there. Worrying that this could develop into something worse. And if they’ll ever trust me again for lying to them.”

Beca moved so her legs were spread out and tugged Aubrey until she was lying down with her head in her lap and Beca could run her hands through her hair. “I’m so sorry. Fuck. I am so, so sorry baby.”

“It’s not your fault.” Aubrey shook her head.

“It is. I should have prepared you.”

“Beca, what are you talking about? Of course I was prepared to go public.”

“You weren’t.” Beca frowned. “Not like I was. Not professionally. My publicist should have sat you down. I…I was prepped for every possible scenario. Stalkers, haters, whatever. None of them involved your work. I-I assumed people might be shocked. That was it. And your work is more important than mine.” She watched Aubrey open her mouth to interject and brought a finger to her girlfriend’s lips. “Your work is more important than mine, Bree. That’s a fact.”

Aubrey was quiet whilst Beca ruminated on how she could possible fix this. Her phone dinged and Aubrey reached for it. It was a Facebook messenger notification. Aubrey looked up at her questionably, but Beca merely shrugged so Aubrey unlocked her phone and clicked on it.

Alicia sent you a photo.

Alicia: so you can go public to the whole world with Audrey but you couldn’t tell your mom about us? I’m pretty pissed that I would be living life as the beca mitchell’s famous girlfriend right now if you’d had the balls. And to leave me for her?? Let me know when you realise you want a second chance.

“Well now I feel sick.” Aubrey said as they both stared at the message and a topless selfie where the blonde girl had applied too much lip gloss to grin impiously at the camera.

“What the fuck?” Beca scoffed as she took the phone and reread the message in disbelief.

Aubrey sounded even more dejected. “Is that your high school girlfriend?”

“Yes.” Beca said with an exhausted sigh. “Sort of. I don’t really count barely getting along as girlfriends. Didn’t even know she was on my Facebook.”

Her girlfriend was already feeling weak and embarrassed and hated enough without that message to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. To be crying over something so far deep in Beca’s past felt juvenile, and the last thing she wanted to do was appear like a jealous girlfriend when they both knew the brunette only had eyes for her. But damn it, she was strong all the time. And if she couldn’t have off days in front of Beca then she couldn’t have off days in front of herself. The sniffle and gasping breaths that Aubrey couldn’t hold in alerted the singer from where she was in the process of blocking Alicia, and she dropped her phone immediately as she noticed the tears falling slowly down the side of Aubrey’s face.

“My love.” Beca said sadly, cupping her cheeks and pressing an upside-down kiss to her lips. “I-I’m not about to tell you not to cry but…but look around. Look at where we are. This is our place. All ours. It’s you and me and our place and our love. Nobody else is welcome here. Bree please…don’t you worry your pretty little mind, okay? I-I know that’s easier said than done but- shit, Aubrey.” There were tears threatening to fall from her own eyes now. Beca would never get used to seeing Aubrey cry. It always broke her heart. “People throw rocks at things that shine.”

Aubrey nodded, and her mouth upturned into a near-smile at the riddle. She loved it when Beca spoke in riddles and metaphors. It was a habit she picked up from her dad, and she did it without realising whenever she really, really meant something. It was a comfort to Aubrey because it always meant Beca was being her most honest and loving self.

Beca gently wiped the remaining tears off her girlfriend’s face as she continued speaking. “And…life makes love look hard. But…but our love isn’t. Our life is gonna be rocky for a little while, I know that, you have no idea how sorry I am. Just a little while, while we navigate the publicity. But our love won’t be. Right? This place is ours, this love is ours, nobody’s taking that away from us.”

Aubrey sat up and looked deeply into Beca’s eyes. What was usually an ocean blue had turned into a dark, misty midnight. Aubrey cupped Beca’s cheek and brought their heads together.

“How do you do that?” Aubrey asked her.

“Do what?”

Aubrey pressed a kiss to her lips and pulled back. “Make everything okay. Speak like that unrehearsed.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “You do it too.”

“I do?”

“Aubrey, you’re a lawyer. Come on.”

“It’s not the same.” Aubrey smiled gently.

“It is totally the same.”

“You were not like this in Barden. At all. It’s not the same. What changed?”

Beca looked down a little shyly and shrugged. “Started songwriting when we got together.”

Aubrey simply chuckled at Beca’s sudden bashfulness as if she hadn’t heard and given notes of a dozen of Beca’s songs that she was still perfecting for her next, more personal album. “I love you, Becs.”

“Love you too,”

[tiny-maus-boots]

Down South pt 2

Chloe

"Quick get him on the table."

Chloe tossed a sheet over the wooden trestle table they usually shared meals together at. Guillome was pale and listless from pain and blood loss and she wasn't entirely sure she could help him. Beca and Stacie wrangled the tall man onto the table and backed away so she could work.

"Guillome? Can you hear me?"

His eyes were closed but she could tell he was on the cusp of awareness. Chloe gave him a few sharp slaps until he roused enough to blink blearily at her.

"Hey there fella. You've been beat to hell it looks like."

He gave a weak nod of understanding and she gave him a tight lipped smile. Chloe turned to ask that one of the girls bring in water but Aubrey was already at her side with a full bucket and a basin.

"Thanks, love."

While the blonde filled the basin for her she took the time to take a pair of shears to Mr. Beauchamp's best pressed shirt. He must have been visiting Kat. Another thought that weighed heavily on her mind.

If he was here in this state, what must the people of the town be suffering? Kat wouldn’t leave her cantina no matter who blew into town. She had run once but since coming to Mexico, Kat had dug her heels in firmly with no intent to ever leave or be run off again. Chloe shook her head and focused on the task before her. The cool well water felt good on her hands as she rinsed them off.

"I'm going to need help. Beca, Stacie, hold him steady. This is gonna hurt something awful."

There was a lot of work to be done and she didn't like the way the bones of his forearm had broken through the skin. Chloe took a deep steadying breath and set herself to the business of fixing their friend and Kat's sometimes paramour.

"Think he'll be able to tell us something?"

Chloe shook her head at Stacie’s question as she carefully pulled and rotated the bones back in place with a grinding crunch. He'd be damn lucky if it healed at all let alone good as it was. Guillome screamed in pain and writhed against their strong grip until he slumped back against the table, out cold. She shook her head again unsure if he would be able to tell them much of anything. It would be better if he rested.

"I think we already know enough, Stace. If they aren't on our land already they soon will be."

They all stopped to look at Beca who shrugged and looked down at the barely conscious man on their table. Her words caused a stone to plummet to Chloe’s guts.

"They beat him bad. Real bad. But someone put him on that horse. A horse with a brand I don’t recognize. Looks like two crooked letters in a star, except one of them is backward. It looks fresh too”

Silver Star Ranch. Chloe felt the world shift uncomfortably. That was impossible. She raised shadow filled eyes to the blonde and swallowed hard. It couldn’t be. Beca was mistaken.

Aubrey set the basin down on the edge of the table and silently walked to the corner to pick up her rifle. She alone understood Chloe’s sudden fear. Stacie started to follow her up the stairs to the bedrooms but Aubrey stopped her with a hand gently cupped to the taller woman's face.

"I'm just going up to have a look. If they're coming I want to know from what direction."

"You gonna be okay up there alone?"

Aubrey smiled sweetly and leaned forward to kiss Stacie with as much softness as she held her face. Chloe tore her eyes from the pair to give them some privacy while she worked. She couldn't blame Stacie's trepidation. It was hard for any of them to let the blonde out of their sights. Those long days of worrying if Aubrey would heal whole or not had scarred and haunted them all.

"It's trespassers that gotta worry, Stace. I'll put a hole in them long before they see me."

Beca didn't even try to hide the darkly amused smile at the thought. Chloe was absolutely sure the tiny woman was itching for a fight. None of them wanted to give up the peace they had found here in the home they were building together. But neither had they been so foolish as to believe they would never need to ride into danger again.

"Hey Cowgirl, how about you go grab those blankets of ours and dunk them in the trough outside in case they get the smart idea to try and burn us out?"

"Beautiful and brilliant."

She gave Beca a wink as the shorter woman sped off and waved Stacie over to help. Chloe was just as eager to strap on her rig to help defend their home but she wouldn’t do it until their friend was as stable as they could get him. Stacie worked quickly to clean up the blood still oozing from several open wounds while Chloe worked to clear and close as many as she could. She never imagined all those years of having to stitch up her brothers before their mother saw them all banged up after one brawl or another would be so handy now.

“Who do you think did this, Chlo?”

That was hard to say. It wouldn’t be the Army, not this far south. Might be banditos, they had a couple of nomadic gangs in the area. Mostly horse rustlers with a healthy respect for the town. Or at least respect enough not to cause too much grief for anyone but Kat when they got a little too drunk at her cantina. No, this felt a little bit heavier than that. Guillome was hurt in a way that was meant to make a statement. Not a dust up over a spilled drink and a pretty girl.

“If I have to guess? Bounty hunters."

Or worse. Pinkertons. She didn't have to say it. Just the thought of them brought a tingle of fear to the room. Pinkerton men were brutal and vicious. They weren't just law men, they were worse. They were true believers.

Not in God of course. But in the power of man. The power a man had granted them to do unspeakable things to ensure order in the chaos of a wild and growing country. They would do anything in any way they could to achieve what they believed was for the greater good.

Including rousting a family of emigrant Irish farmers from their beds in the middle of the night and burning their ranch to the ground to make way for the train and progress of the people. She would never forget the fear and despair of that night. That was the night she had decided the law no longer applied to her. And she had been spitting in its eye ever since.

For just a moment she heard the roar of fire consuming the walls around her and felt the heat of flames licking at her skin as her eldest brother, Cole, pitched her right through the bedroom window into mama's garden below. It wasn’t the softest landing but it had saved her life.

Chloe shook off the thought and snipped the end of her thread savagely with her shears. If Pinks were here they were in big trouble. It meant they weren't bringing the girls back for trial.

"Riders. Half broke off from the pack to go around back. A dozen in total."

Beca burst through the front door dragging wet blankets and all the linens they had. She frowned and dropped them in a pile by the door at hearing Aubrey's news from the top of the stairs.

"That hardly seems fair. Only twelve of them for all four of us.” Beca made a stink face and kicked at the pile with a leather moccasin clad foot. “I thought we were actually gonna have a scuffle. Aubrey’s gonna have them so full of holes before they get here I won’t even get to play.”

“I’ll save you a few, Bec.”

Chloe chuckled as Beca’s expression went from cloudy to bright as she ran to the foot of the stairs and shouted back up.

“I could kiss you for that, Aubrey Posen.”

There was only a quietly amused grunt from above. Stacie shook her head with a smile and dumped the bloodied water out the back door. She gave the basin a rinse and refilled it so Chloe could clean her hands before touching anything else. Beca bumped her shoulder lightly with her own and surveyed Chloe’s work.

“We’re gonna have to stash him somewhere.”

“We’re not gonna have time to get him upstairs before they get here and if there’s a fire…”

They’d never get him back down before they all burned to death. Beca nodded off the rest of Stacie’s comment and scuffed her foot lightly at the floor. The edge of a rough woven rug flipped up to reveal the dry timber floor they had laid down together.

“Help me pry out these boards, willa ya?”

“Beca Mitchell you’ll NOT be prying up my kitchen floors!”

Beca blinked once at her before looking around startled. When she didn’t see the apparition she was looking for she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thought your Ma was here for a second.”

Chloe’s eyes widened and Stacie knew better than to even let out a hiss of a laugh from behind clenched teeth. Bright blue eyes bored into Beca who shivered and shrank in on herself.

“I mean I’ll leave them if you want him to get shot to hell when they get up here…” She paused to consider then sweetened the deal. “I promise to dig you that root cellar in there for all your herbs and stores and whatnot.”

“Aye, and this one will help you!”

Chloe sighed and jerked her head in tight agreement. She couldn’t bear to watch Stacie and Beca rip up the floor. Maybe she really was turning into her mother now that she had settled some in her life. Chloe certainly sounded an awful lot like Cerridwen when she was good and fired up. She shrugged and crept up the stairs to find Aubrey, she should be so lucky to be as strong as passionate a person as her mama.

The blonde was crouched near the window in her bedroom watching patiently for someone to get close enough. Aubrey pulled back her hair into a neat bun and lowered her head to gaze back down the length of her barrel without glancing toward Chloe.

“They here yet?”

“Just about. Can you see them yet out your bedroom window?”

Chloe trotted the few steps down the short hall and looked out at the south facing window. A handful of them had just dismounted and were cautiously scanning the area, creeping forward with rifles drawn. Still too far to shoot at but not quite far enough to make her comfortable. The redhead knelt by the foot of the bed she shared with Beca and raised the lid on the cedar chest her father had hand carved for her mother in Ireland. She took her well oiled rig and strapped it low on her hips. The weight of the heavy leather and steel felt comforting, familiar.

It had been awhile but her body remembered each movement without thought as she drew both pistols and gave them a smooth and practiced twirl before sliding neatly in their holsters. She raised the rifle from its spot resting on a pair of long horns mounted on the wall and set herself to the task of loading it with ammo.

Chloe was more of a brawler than a shooter but she’d taken every lesson Cole, Conner, Caleb, Christian, and Corwin taught her to heart and knew she could plug a man dead between the eyes if she needed to. Two rapid fire shots rang out from the next room over followed by a soft cackle.

A part of her winced at breaking out a small pane of glass to shoot out of but she rested the barrel of the rifle on the window sill and sighted down its length. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she found her mark. She inhaled slowly and tightened her finger around the trigger, squeezing smoothly on the exhale. The man’s body dropped an entire breath later, dirt rising in a cloud where he hit the ground. The men around him spread out, but didn’t creep any closer. They didn’t have to. If they were in range, so was she.

She tucked herself down low behind the cover of the wall and the heavy dresser propped against it as their shots rang out and shattered the rest of the window. Footsteps rushed up the stairs and Beca burst into the room to throw herself over Chloe’s body protectively. They could barely hear each other over the ringing aftermath of the shooting but Chloe was fixated on the soft curve of Beca’s lips as they moved with the words she was shouting.

“Yeah…yeah I’m okay, Bec. Put one of them down and they took exception. Where's Stacie?"

Chloe could hear the sounds of reloading and tossed the rifle to her partner. She drew both guns and started firing at the men below. They scattered under their duel onslaught, scrambling for what cover they could find.

"Oh she's gonna greet our gentleman callers."

Beca shot a man just raising his rifle and snickered. Chloe raised her brows at that. Well that sounded damned suspicious and if she knew Stacie at all whatever she had planned would be wild.

"Of course she is. I hope she shows them our Southern hospitality."

[daylightmitchells]

a piece of my thanksgiving au even if thanksgiving has been and gone

Chloe hugs with her entire body, Beca realizes, wrapping whoever she’s hugging in her arms tightly — sometimes she sways, almost all of the time she’s standing on her tiptoes just like now, yellow socked toes digging into the floorboards. Chloe hugs like she could take your breath away in a single second, Beca doesn’t need to hug her to know what that feels like.

[pan-de-queer]

before you, i was a puzzle i couldn’t solve [1/?] (bechloe)

Genre: Fluff, Flirting, Single Parent AU

Summary:

“How did you describe her, baby? Pretty red hair?”

The little girl nodded with a bounce as she took her father’s cue. “Ms. Chloe has the prettiest red hair and her eyes are blue! Bluer than mama’s! Blue like—like Elsa’s powers! And she smiles lots and she likes Catboy and I like Owlette and she said she’ll be my bestest friend forever!”

Or: it’s a sequel to all my pieces fit with yours, Jesse finds out, and a lil reunion happens.

Author’s Note: apparently having your birthday can give you a writer’s kick??? so here’s one out of a number of fics i’m churning out today as a gift to myself 😌💅

no ao3 sorry :(

before you, i was a puzzle i couldn’t solve (1/?)

When people asked her about her daughter’s father, Beca could never decide on a single answer.

Jesse was many things—her best friend, her go-to person when she needed bail, the annoying goofball of a brother she’d never asked for, but mostly, he was her constant. It was difficult to explain to people how integral he was as a part of her life—even after their breakup, even during their arguments about her pregnancy, even during the pregnancy and all the years after, Jesse was a constant pillar of support for her.

He was the one who helped Beca set up the nursery for Erin as soon as she’d told him she wanted to keep her—even if it meant he had to travel all the way to LA from Orlando. He was the one to recommend children’s movies for Erin when he found out Beca would only let their daughter listen to music and read books. He visited as often as he could afford to and made sure Beca took the time to take care of herself and even date around if she ever wanted to (she’d never wanted to, before).

Jesse was Erin’s father first and her best friend second.

Beca always had a feeling that if Jesse wasn’t the father, the chances of her choosing to raise a child would have slimmed down to none. Jesse was her best friend—but that was it. He checked on them constantly and doted a little too much on Erin and from time to time he’d check on her own health and would ask if she was finally seeing anyone yet. She hadn’t dated much since she’d given birth to Erin, and no one had really interested her enough to try anything serious, so her answers have always been the same. Until today.

“So, a redhead, huh?”

Beca had half a mind to slap the shit-eating grin off his face, but Erin was sitting right next to her and Beca wasn’t up to playing 20 questions with her little girl about why she’d hit her dad.

So instead, Beca shrugged and added more neatly cut chicken on to her daughter’s plate and kept her focus resolutely on her lunch.

Jesse pouted childishly at her response (or lack of). “Aw, come on, Becaw! The rare times I ever hear about you meeting someone new and you clam up!”

“No one said anything about meeting anyone,” she retorted, eyes rolling reflexively as she bit back her more choice words.

Jesse’s brow quirked challengingly. “Oh yeah?”

She hated the smug confidence in his tone.

“Hey, Erin, sweetie,” he turned to their daughter, smirk sliding into place as Beca glared. “What was the name of the nice lady you met on the plane again?”

Erin lit up at the mention of her new favorite person. “Ms. Chloe! She was the nicest, prettiest lady ever!”

Though Beca couldn’t argue with those facts, her mom-reflex had her teasingly ask, “Even prettier than mommy?”

Erin nodded without a second thought, warm brown eyes widening earnestly as she looked up at her parents. “She’s the prettiest.”

“Even prettier than Elsa and Tiana?” Jesse pushed, half-teasing, half-genuine, wondering just who, exactly, this ‘Chloe’ was.

Erin stood on her seat, tiny legs wobbling before Beca steadied her with a protective hand. The five-year-old stretched over their food and slapped both of her father’s cheeks, pulling him close with all the excitement and sincerity in her chubby little body. “Prettier than Moana.”

Both adults gasped as dramatically as they could muster while holding back their laughter, Beca guiding Erin back into her seat as she let a couple chuckles leave her lips.

Jesse took her distraction as a chance to continue. “Okay, so, this Ms. Chloe—who’s the nicest and prettiest lady ever, with,” he paused, turning to their little girl as his smile turned sly. “How did you describe her, baby? Pretty red hair?”

The little girl nodded with a bounce as she took her father’s cue. “Ms. Chloe has the prettiest red hair and her eyes are blue! Bluer than mama’s! Blue like—like Elsa’s powers! And she smiles lots and she likes Catboy and I like Owlette and she said she’ll be my bestest friend forever!”

“Well,” Beca swore Jesse’s smile was bordering pure evil. “She sounds just perfect, sweetie. You’ll have to introduce me some time.”

“Yeah!” Erin cheered before prattling on about something completely unrelated to anything they’d been talking about. Beca could only muster a glare at her impishly smiling douchefriend across the table.

_

The rest of their stay passed without much incident. Jesse would bug her about Chloe every now and then, Erin lost a shoe in Disney World, Beca was able to meet up with an old friend, and Erin and Jesse had combined forces to pester her about finding Chloe online (or through her phone friends, as Erin had come to call all forms of social media).

Soon enough, Beca and Jesse had to pry their five-year-old off the man’s leg and hustle their way through the airport to board their flight. Erin always got restless and emotional whenever it came to saying goodbye to Jesse, but Beca had gotten used to it enough to know which tricks to pull out depending on Erin’s body language.

Stage one of the Jesse Separation™ was a good ten minutes of silent tears. Her hysterics from being pulled away from her father would dissolve into little Erin curling in on herself and crying the pain away (sometimes, Beca would imagine some sad r&b song playing the background). Stage two would be the stuttered talking. Erin would turn to her mother, big brown eyes puffy and shaking little lips curled into a pout, before she’d stutter her way through a tiny plea to stay a little longer or bring her father along with them. Stage two was always the most difficult hurdle to jump, especially earlier on in her journey through parenting. Stage two used to make Beca feel like such a shit parent.

But Beca learned, and so she’d hold her baby close, murmur some soft reassurances, pull up some slime videos, and tell her little girl that they’d make all that slime when they got home. The distraction would last a good twenty to thirty minutes before Erin would ask if her daddy could make the snow slime with her (it was always the snow slime)—then she’d remember that they were leaving her father and they’d move on to stage three. Stage three was the most physical of all five stages. Erin would cling to Beca like a clamp, chubby little arms gripping her neck-arm-leg-waist-whatever-body-part-she-could-grip like a lifeline. She’d then proceed to shout Chloe’s name in the middle of the airport—wait. Wait.

Cold blue eyes shot up from her squirming daughter to see burning red hair and full pink lips curled into a small smile, warm ocean blues shining with amusement.

“Chloe?” Beca echoed Erin’s second exclamation, the five-year-old finally jumping out of her mother’s arms and ramming full speed into the redhead’s legs.

“Erin!” Beca watched the teacher crouch to scoop her little girl into a hug easily, tan arms cradling her daughter with a gentle ease. Beca still couldn’t quite believe the teacher was in front of her, having tried to throw all memories of the woman she was sure she’d never see again as far from her thoughts as possible (she was never one to hope for the best in life). Shaking away her confusion, Beca pushed all her questions to the back of her mind and made her way over to the excitedly chattering pair.

Erin’s pout was a little less harsh, her arms still crossed as the baby brunette seemed to be holding herself back from stomping. Chloe’s lips were curled into a serious pout as well, although the edges of her lips twitched with an obvious effort to keep from smiling. Her warm blues were shining with amusement despite the crinkle between her brows, the teacher evidently trying to take the gradeschooler as seriously as possible (as if that weren’t the cutest fucking thing Beca’s ever seen).

“And it isn’t fair!” Beca caught the tail end of Erin’s little rant, quirking a questioning brow at the redhead who shot her an amused little shrug in reply.

Chloe turned her attention back to the pouting five-year-old. “Well, Erin, it sounds like your mommy and daddy are doing everything they can to make sure you get to have everything you want in the entire world. Just because your mommy and daddy can’t always be with you at the same time doesn’t mean that they aren’t working their very hardest so that you can have the bestest life ever.”

Erin’s pout turned thoughtful as she let the words sink in. Even Beca felt blown over by her answer (she couldn’t have come up with a better reply if she’d tried). Finally, with Erin calm enough to talk to, Beca ushered Erin into an empty seat and let her facetime her father before turning to the beaming redhead.

“Fancy seeing you here, Bec.”

The musician’s brows quirked in amusement as she shot the other woman a smirk, the mischievous sparkle in Chloe’s eyes contagious enough for Beca to shoot off a nickname of her own. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that, Red?”

Chloe shrugged, her smile never wavering as Beca watched the teacher barely contain herself from bouncing in place. “Either way, it’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Beca’s smirk softened just the slightest before she remembered what she’d wanted to ask in the first place. “Wait, so are you on this flight, too?”

“Unfortunately, no. I’m flying off to New York to visit my brother for the rest of the break before I fly back to LA.”

“You live in LA?”

Chloe’s laugh was soft and light, a warm flutter of melodies that danced in Beca’s ears. If Beca hadn’t seen the redhead struggle with her carry-on, she would’ve sworn the woman was angel incarnate. “Don’t sound so surprised, Bec. We were on the same flight.”

Right. Stupid question. Beca bit her lip, hoping the flush on her neck wasn’t as noticeable as it felt. “Right. ‘Course.”

“Ms. Chloe! Ms. Chloe!” Beca thanked the universe for her daughter. “Meet my daddy!” Or not.

Erin was on her feet and tugging Chloe to crouch down next to her, tiny hand curling clumsily around Beca’s phone. Once Chloe had found her footing next to the little bundle of energy, knelt on one leg as she leaned closer, Erin jumped on to the redhead’s lap and handed her Beca’s phone (Beca couldn’t decide if she needed to have another talk with her daughter about boundaries or to encourage her to be careful not to hurt the teacher. She could tell that Chloe was a genuinely kind and warm person and would never hurt Erin on purpose, so she didn’t really know the boundaries she needed to set with her daughter with someone like Chloe).

Warily, Beca decided to hang back and let Erin introduce her newest best friend to her father. Erin had always been a friendly, energetic kid (she got that from Jesse), but Beca had given her enough lessons about being cautious around strangers and anyone who made her feel weird or scared for Erin not to have a cautious side, too. Chloe just seemed to be an exception for both Mitchell women.

“Hi! It’s nice to finally meet you, Erin’s dad.” Erin snuggled into Chloe’s shoulder as the teacher held her phone up to fit both of them into the screen.

“And it’s nice to finally meet you, Ms. Chloe with the red hair who likes Catboy and has replaced me as my daughter’s best friend.” Beca could hear the grin in Jesse’s tone as his tinned voice crackled through her phone’s tiny speakers.

“Daddy!” Erin giggled, burrowing deeper into Chloe’s hold (a weird, fuzzy feeling settling into Beca’s stomach at the sight and sound). “You’re not my best friend! You’re my daddy!”

“Oh, silly me,” the three of them giggled and snickered at nothing Beca understood to be funny, but the pure joy and giddiness in her daughter’s face was enough for her own lips to curl into a soft smile. “I forgot you can’t be both.”

“Yeah, daddy, you can’t,” Erin squeaked in between her giggle-fit. “It isn’t fair if you’re both!”

“You’ve got a point there, Air-bear. Gotta give the competition a chance.”

“Well, thank you for taking pity on us lesser beings,” Chloe’s smile was wide and lopsided, cold steely blues following the curve of those full pink lips with a dazed little blink.

“And thank you for being so great with Erin. There wasn’t a day she didn’t tell me about you.”

“My pleasure Mr—uh, Erin’s dad. Erin’s an amazing bestest friend.”

“Right! Where are my manners, I’m Jesse Swanson. Father to the best little girl in the world.”

“Chloe Beale.” Beca filed that info away for—well, just in case. She was Erin’s newest best friend, after all. Beca might need to contact her in case Erin was feeling… needy, or something.

The boarding call for Beca and Erin’s flight broke the cheerful little atmosphere among the group as the adults realized it was time to say their goodbyes. Jesse promised to call Erin once they landed and Beca promised to text the man when they did. Erin seemed a little less emotional about this goodbye (Beca guessed the tan hand gripping her own little chubby ones helped ease the pain or something), and it was easy enough to convince to grab her little carry on before saying their goodbyes to the redhead.

“Bye Ms. Chloe,” Erin clung to the teacher’s neck like a desperate monkey. “I’ll miss you.”

Chloe seemed almost as emotional as Erin’s stage two. “Bye, little bird. I’ll miss you more.”

“Is this a forever goodbye?” Little Erin’s voice sounded much smaller than a five-year-old’s.

“Of course not! I’ll give your mommy my number so you can call me and text me any time, okay?”

Erin replied with a stronger hug, Beca noticing the misty eyes Chloe blinked away (and if Beca weren’t so concerned about catching her flight, she’d find it all incredibly cute). Knowing they’d be late to their flight if she didn’t step in, Beca cleared her throat and helped lower Erin back to her feet. Once she was sure Erin wasn’t going to burst into tears or anything, she turned her attention back to Chloe, who stood there with a quirked brow and expecting hand.

“What?”

“Your phone, Beca?”

“Oh, right.” Beca watched the redhead quickly type in her number before calling herself to get Beca’s number as well, handing the phone back with her eyes clear of tears and a bright smile back on her lips.

“I better hear from you two soon.”

“Me?”

Chloe winked, stepping into Beca’s space to pull her into a quick (but so, incredibly warm) hug. Chloe stepped back before she could even process what had just happened and knelt in front of Erin to scoop her into one last hug. “Your mommy has my number now and I have hers, so we can talk any time you want, alright?”

Erin nods into the teacher’s shoulder and Chloe finally steps back with one last wave goodbye. “Alright, have a safe trip, you two!” Beca takes Erin’s hand and nods towards the taller woman. “And Beca?” She looks up from checking on her daughter to see Chloe shooting her a sly smile. “Call me.”

[pocketdragon]

Make Some Room- Chapter 50

Three girls, one New York apartment and an ad for a spare room.

Enter Beca Mitchell.

An “and-they-were-roommates” AU. Strangers to friends to lovers. Bechloe. Slow burn (not sorry).

Read the FINAL chapter on AO3

[massivedrickhead]

we’re here tonight (and that’s enough)

Words: 2778

Summary: Merry Pitchmas @wordsofmyreality! I’m your secret Santa this year! I hope you like this little bit of Christmas fluff 💖 @merry-pitchmas

Read on AO3

-

“Chlo’?” Beca called from her spot in the living room, her hands on her hips as she surveyed their fireplace. 

“Yeah?” Chloe replied from the kitchen. 

“Did you move my stocking?”

“Your what?” Chloe asked, struggling to hear her wife over the sound of the music playing in the kitchen. 

“My stocking,” Beca said back, raising her voice so it could be heard over Mariah Carey. 

“It’s on the fireplace.”

“It isn’t,” Beca said, staring at the empty spot where her stocking had once hung. Bright red with a golden B embroidered on it. She turned her head to where Chloe’s still hung - bright red with a golden C - and then back to the empty spot where hers should be. 

“Huh,” Chloe said, entering the living room, wiping her hands on her apron before resting one on Beca’s back. “Weird.”

“It was here this morning before I left for work,” Beca said. 

“Have you checked David’s hiding spot?” Chloe asked.

Beca glanced down to where their dog - named after David Guetta - was curled up. His head lifted at the sound of his name. He did have a habit of stealing their clothes, but he’d never pulled anything down before. 

“I’ll look now,” she said. “How’s dinner prep going?” 

“I’m almost done,” Chloe said. She gave Beca a quick kiss on the cheek. “Once you’ve checked his spot can you take him for a W-A-L-K?”

“Sure,” Beca said. “You don’t want to come?”

Chloe shook her head. “I’m so beat from work this week, I just wanna go lie in the bath for an hour. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is,” Beca said. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve been tired all week.” 

“I’m fine,” Chloe said, smiling at the look of concern on Beca’s face. 

“Am I a bad wife for letting you do all the Christmas dinner prep?”

“A terrible wife,” Chloe replied, rolling her eyes as she kissed Beca on the cheek again. “I need to get back in there.”

Chloe returned to the kitchen and Beca watched her go, feeling that pull to follow that she always got when Chloe left a room. 

David nudged her leg with his head and she looked down. His tail was wagging, and Beca wondered if he’d somehow learned to spell. 

She scratched him behind the ear and then went to the spot in the room where he hid his stolen wares. 

Beca had been reluctant about getting a dog all those years ago. She’d always liked dogs, and had always envisioned having one in the future, but she’d still been hesitant. 

It was before they were married - before they were even engaged - and they’d only been living together for a few months when Chloe mentioned the puppy that had been brought into the veterinary surgery where she’d worked at the time. 

“He’d been abandoned, Bec,” Chloe told her, tears in her eyes as she showed him pictures on her phone. “Left on the side of the road, tied to a telephone pole. He’s just a baby.”

Chloe told Beca about how skittish and afraid he was of them. How he wouldn’t let anyone get near him, except for Chloe. He reminded her so much of Beca, that Chloe just had to have him. 

“Comparing me to an abandoned dog isn’t the compliment you think it is.”

Beca had been hesitant but eventually agreed. Now, nearly five years later, she couldn’t imagine their life without him. 

Chloe had been right, as always. 

Beca scratched him behind the ear again as she searched through his dog toys for his hidden stolen goods. 

She found several of her missing socks, a dish towel, and even one of Chloe’s bras, but there was no bright red stocking. 

“So you’re not the stocking thief,” Beca said to him. “But we do have to talk about the bra thing, dude. Those things aren’t cheap, you know.”

Once she was wrapped up in her winter coat and had pulled on her boots, she clipped David’s leash to his collar and they set out for his evening walk. 

They walked around their neighbourhood, David sticking close to her side instead of running ahead like he usually did. 

She supposed he must be able to feel it too, that tinge of sadness that had clung to Beca ever since she found out that - once again - her Mom wouldn’t be coming for Christmas. 

Beca had told Chloe she was fine, that she was used to her Mom flaking on her by now, and while all of that was true, there was still a part of her that had hoped for change. It had been years since they’d spent any real time together and, despite her flaws, Beca did love her Mom. 

David stopped to do his business, and Beca looked out at the houses in their neighbourhood. The Christmas lights shone through the windows, casting their snow-covered lawns in warm and colourful glows. She wished she could take some of that glow with her and bring it into her own home. 

She took a deep breath of cold air and held it in her chest before slowly expelling it, watching a cloud form and dissipate quickly as the air left her body. 

David tugged against the leash, pulling her arm back in the direction of home. 

“Okay,” she said out loud. “I’m coming.”

The house was quiet when they got back, and Beca was desperate to shift the sadness that clung to her like the cold. She tried to leave it at the door along with the snow she’d kicked off her boots, but it wouldn’t go. 

She spent longer than necessary in the entryway of their home, drying David’s paws with the towel they kept in there for that reason. 

Chloe was on the sofa fiddling with her phone when Beca finally entered the living room. 

Everything felt heavy, and the lack of her stocking on the fireplace seemed to perfectly mirror her lack of Christmas cheer. 

She dropped onto the sofa beside Chloe and wasted no time in pressing a kiss to the side of her head. Chloe’s hair was still damp but the familiar smell of her shampoo seemed to ground Beca.

“You’re freezing!” Chloe shrieked as Beca’s cold hands slipped beneath Chloe’s Christmas pyjama top and pressed against her warm skin. 

Beca laughed as Chloe batted her hands away. She removed them and placed them over the pyjamas, her hand going to Chloe’s stomach without thinking. 

Chloe covered Beca’s hand with her own. “We’ll find out soon,” she said. “I promise. I just… it was our first attempt. There’s a good chance it didn’t work and I don’t want to put a downer on things if that's the case.”

“I know,” Beca said, kissing the side of her head again. The anxiety of not knowing if they would soon become parents mixed unpleasantly with her already lingering sadness about her Mom, and she searched for something to distract herself. Her eyes fell on the fireplace. “How come you stole my stocking?”

“What makes you think it was me?” 

“Well it wasn’t David, and it wasn’t me, so that doesn’t leave a lot of options,” Beca said. 

“Santa?”

“That’s like the opposite of Santa’s vibe,” Beca said. “He gives presents, not steals them. You’re thinking of the Grinch.”

“Oh, well it must have been the Grinch then,” Chloe said, smiling as Beca’s thumb continued to brush back and forth across her stomach. “Or maybe Santa knows that you can’t be trusted not to peek in your stocking before Christmas morning, and he wants your gift to be a surprise for once.”

“Ah, is that it?” Beca asked. 

“It must be,” Chloe replied. 

The Christmas stockings had been a tradition that Chloe had brought from her childhood. 

Beca had always thought they were a place to put small gifts - ones that weren’t really tree-worthy - but the Beales had used them for the gifts that were more sentimental or special. 

It’s how Beca had proposed to Chloe all those years ago, only to find that Chloe had had the same idea, and now Beca couldn’t be trusted not to squeeze the stocking and try to guess what might be inside. 

She was fairly confident in her gift this year - a USB full of original songs that Beca had written, sung, and produced just for Chloe - but she still couldn’t stop herself from checking her own stocking just in case Chloe had once again outdone her. 

“What time are your parents arriving tomorrow?” Beca asked after a comfortable silence had settled over them. 

“Around midday,” Chloe said. “We can do the stocking presents in the morning and save the rest until after dinner.”

“Let’s hope Santa brings mine back in time,” Beca said, the conversation lapsing into silence again. 

“You’re sad about your Mom,” Chloe said. It wasn’t a question. Beca could insist she was fine and that she didn’t care, but Chloe knew when she was lying. 

“Kinda,” Beca said. “But it's my own fault. I should know by now what she’s like, I don’t know why I expected anything different.”

“You’re allowed to hope for the best and hope that people might change,” Chloe said, turning her head so she could press a kiss to Beca’s temple. “This isn’t your fault.”

“It is what it is,” Beca said. “I’m gonna go get changed.”

“I’ll order pizza,” Chloe said. 

They spent the rest of their Christmas Eve curled up together on the sofa, eating pizza, and watching Chloe’s choice of Christmas movie. 

Beca had a glass of wine, but Chloe complained of a headache so just stuck to water. 

“I hope you aren’t getting sick,” Beca said, running her hand through Chloe’s hair, her nails lightly scratching her scalp. 

“I’m just tired,” Chloe said. “Work was crazy this week.”

“Thank you for taking care of the dinner prep,” Beca said. “It really makes cooking it all so much easier tomorrow.”

“I prep, you cook,” Chloe said, stifling a yawn. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

“Let’s go to bed,” Beca said with a soft laugh. “I’ll let David out. Do you want anything for your headache?”

Chloe shook her head. “It’ll pass,” she said. “You go on up, I’ll let him out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Chloe said. “You took him out, I can stand by the door and wait for him to pee.”

As soon as Chloe heard Beca begin climbing the stairs, she withdrew her stocking from where it had been stashed. She smiled to herself as she hung it back on the fireplace, and she hoped that what was inside would do something to help cheer her wife up. 

When Chloe reached the bedroom, Beca was lying in bed scrolling on her phone, but she set it down on the charger as soon as she felt the bed dip beside her. 

“Are you answering work emails at 10 pm on Christmas Eve?”

“Not anymore I’m not,” Beca said. 

“You know if I see you working tomorrow you’re going to be in trouble, right?”

“Does that mean I can’t fake a work call when your dad tries to talk to me about college basketball?” Beca asked.

“If I have to discuss classic literature with your dad when we see him at Thanksgiving, you can handle college basketball with mine when we see him at Christmas,” Chloe said.

“Fair,” Beca said, curling into Chloe’s side as soon as she was settled in bed. 

It didn’t take long for Beca to drift off, but Chloe stayed awake for hours. She was full of the kind of Christmas Eve excitement that she hadn’t felt as a kid. 

She heard the neighbourhood church bells begin to ring, and it took everything she had not to wake Beca up, wish her a Merry Christmas, and drag her downstairs. 

Eventually, she managed to get some sleep and woke up not long after 8 am, Beca still sleeping soundly beside her. 

Chloe woke her up and coaxed her out of bed with kisses and promises of coffee and presents. 

Beca grumbled but didn’t argue when Chloe took her hand and pulled her downstairs. 

“My stocking came back,” Beca said, raising an eyebrow at Chloe as she settled on the sofa, a mug of coffee in hand. 

“I told you, Santa must have taken it,” Chloe replied, setting her own mug down on the coffee table before retrieving their stockings from the fireplace. She handed Beca hers, who wasted no time in squeezing the sides, and she sat down beside her. 

“You go first,” Beca said.

Chloe reached into the stocking and pulled out two small wrapped gifts. 

“Open the bigger one first,” Beca said,

Chloe did, and her eyes lit up as she pulled out a CD case. The cover was a photograph of the two of them from their wedding, and when she flipped it over she saw a list of five song titles that she didn’t recognise. 

“Open the second one,” Beca said. Chloe unwrapped a USB drive. “No one really uses CDs anymore,” she said, by way of explanation. 

“Bec, is all of this new music?”

Beca nodded. “My next EP,” she said. “All the songs were written for you.” 

Chloe squealed and wrapped her arms around Beca. “I love it!”

“You haven’t even heard it yet,” Beca replied, laughing. 

Chloe wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back at the CD case. 

“I don’t know if that’s the final album art,” Beca said. “But I wanted you to have your own version.”

“This is amazing, Beca. I can’t wait to listen to it,” Chloe said. She looked back up at her wife. “Is it okay if… can I listen to it on my own first? Just so I can really listen and hear it all?”

“Of course,” Beca said. “So, can I open mine now?” 

Chloe swallowed and nodded, a smile spreading across her face.

Beca pulled three small wrapped gifts from her stocking. As she always did, she gave them a squeeze and a shake. Two were soft, and one was a box that rattled when it shook. “Which one first?”

Chloe thought for a second, before tapping on one of the softer gifts. 

Beca unwrapped it and pulled out what at first seemed like a small red piece of fabric. She unfolded it and saw it was a stocking, just like the one she and Chloe had. 

“Is this in case my stocking goes missing again?” Beca asked, laughing lightly but not really understanding the gift. She looked at Chloe, whose eyes were now shining with tears. Something started happening in Beca’s chest. It felt like her heart was starting to beat faster. Like her body knew what the gift meant before she did. 

“Open this one,” Chloe said, tapping on the box. 

Beca did, her hands shaking though she couldn’t explain why. 

Under the paper was a clear plastic box, and it took Beca a second to realise what was inside. She swallowed and looked back at Chloe. 

“Two lines?” Beca asked, her voice trembling. “Two means… right?”

“Open the last one,” Chloe said, the tears that had been filling her eyes now slipping down her cheeks. 

Beca did, her hands shaking harder than ever.

She pulled out a tiny white babygrow, with the words ‘Baby Mitchell’ printed on the front. 

She couldn’t describe the noise that came out of her - something between a gasp and a sob and a cheer - but soon she was sobbing hard, her hands reaching out for Chloe, who eagerly pulled her into her arms. 

They held each other and cried until David jumped onto the sofa to try and investigate. 

Beca laughed as he wiggled his way in between them.

“I take it these are happy tears?” Chloe asked, wiping her own eyes as they ended their hug. 

“The happiest,” Beca said, laughing. “How long have you known?”

“A couple of weeks,” Chloe said. “It’s been killing me keeping this in, but I wanted to wait until after I’d seen my doctor, just in case. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”

“Don’t apologise,” Beca said, looking down at the tiny babygrow in her hands. “This is the best present you could have gotten me.” She wiped her eyes and took hold of Chloe’s hand. “We’re going to be parents. I’m… I’m so happy.”

“Me too,” Chloe said. “Merry Christmas.” She pulled Beca into a kiss which Beca eagerly accepted. 

“Merry Christmas,” Beca replied, between kisses. “I love you so much.” Her hand touched Chloe’s stomach. “I love you both so much.”

“Me too, baby,” Chloe replied. “Me too.” 

[ridiculously-over-obsessed]

Ooh how about 19 please? 😍

Absolutely! Also this made me check under my bed for cameras or you because I had in fact not eaten today because I am ill and hadn't psyched myself up to go make it, but I have since rectified that fact dfklgjdflkgjfd

ANYWAY, on with the prompt!

prompt list here!

19. “Have you eaten anything?”

It had been a long and hard week in Seattle for Beca. The call had come in the middle of the night, leaving her to scramble out of bed and hastily cram some clothes into a bag before heading to the airport.

Her mom was in an accident. It looked bad, really bad. Her aunt had told her that she had to get here just in case. So she did, she put all her flight anxiety to oneside and sat in the metal death tube for five and a half hours, flagged down a cab, and went straight to the hospital.

She got there just in time to say goodbye to her mom, sat squeezing her hand tightly as the life support machine was turned off, sobbing into her shoulder as she lost her mom for good.

As her next of kin, Beca now had to figure out what to do with all her mom's stuff, organise the funeral, inform the members of her family what had happened. She emailed her professors to explain she needed a few weeks off and they were thankfully very understanding, the Bellas had offered to drop everything and come out to help her but she turned them down. This was her responsibility, her mom, she had to sort this whole mess out.

"Have you eaten anything?"

Beca sniffed softly as she shook her head. She had been sat on the front porch of her childhood home, staring vacantly out at the street, barely noticing the chilly wind that bit at her skin. She had grown up in Seattle after all, she was used to this kind of cold.

"No. I'm not hungry."

There was a soft sigh from above her before the porch creaked next to her, turning her head slightly to look at the woman now sat beside her. Chloe gave her a small, sad smile, tucking a loose lock of hair behind Beca's ear. It was limp and a little greasy, Beca having been far too busy and lost in her grief to even entertain the idea of a shower since she'd arrived in Seattle.

"You need to eat Becs. You've barely had anything since you got here."

"I know." Beca swallowed thickly, subtly shifting closer to Chloe so she could rest her head on her shoulder, "But everything makes my stomach turn."

"You want to try some soup?" Chloe offered, winding her arm around Beca's shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze.

"Maybe." Beca nodded a little, "That could be nice."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Beca curling more into Chloe's embrace, slowly trying to get as close to her as possible. Chloe didn't mind, it was one of the reasons she had insisted on coming with Beca. She knew how difficult Beca found it to open to people, to be emotionally vulnerable with anyone, the only other person in the world that Beca would be this close too, figuratively or literally, was her mom.

"I don't want to go tomorrow." Beca's voice was thick as Chloe felt the side of her neck where her face was buried start to grow damp.

"I know baby..." Chloe sighed softly, rubbing small circles on Beca's back and kissing the crown of her head, "But you have to. You'd never forgive yourself if you missed the funeral."

"But if I go then it'll be real..." Beca whispered, "She'll really be gone Chlo, I... I don't want her to be gone, it's not fair."

"It's not." Chloe shook her head, feeling Beca start to shake as her gentle tears turn into sobs, "You're right, it's not fair that she's gone. I wish I could change it for you."

Beca didn't say anything for a while, simply sobbing in Chloe's embrace. Chloe stroked her hair, shushing her softly but letting her cry herself out. She hadn't cried since the hospital, and that had been five days ago. Beca was really good at bottling her emotions up until they exploded out at the wrong moment, and with a loss of this magnitude, if she crammed it all down it would destroy her. So Chloe would let her feel everything that she needed to, let her be angry or sad or irritated or tired, or even a combination of the above, and not take it to heart, because at the end of the day at least Beca was feeling something.

"I'm really glad you're here." Beca croaked as her sobs subsided, sitting up a little as she wiped at her face with her sleeve and resting her forehead against Chloe's, "I... I wouldn't be able to do this without you. Thank you for coming."

"Of course." Chloe smiled at her brushing her hair from her face again, "Even though you insisted on me staying at home?"

"Yeah." Beca managed a small grin in return, "I'm glad you didn't listen to me."

"C'mon." Chloe took Beca's hands in hers, gently encouraging her to her feet, "It's cold out here, your hands are turning red. Let's get you something to eat inside."

"Okay." Beca nodded, "Would you be mad if I said I wanted pizza and not soup?"

"No." Chloe grinned, arm around Beca's waist, "What made you want pizza instead?"

"Mom and I really like this place a few blocks away, they do these insanely good cheesy garlic knots." Beca shrugged a little, expression getting watery again, "I just... I thought it would nice to share that with you."

"That's really sweet Becs." Chloe beamed at her, "I'd like that."

"Cool." Beca swallowed thickly, eyes roaming over the familiar interior of the home she had grown up in, feeling that ache settle in her chest again, "I wish she got to meet you Chloe. She would've loved you."

"Me too." Chloe nodded sadly, "I never got to thank her for giving me you."

[kendrickslmanburg]

Please?

summary: Beca and Chloe's daughter wants to go to the amusement park with her friends, but Chloe doesn't want to.

also day two of bechloe week - chloe would never allow that

[donnasheridone]

come lie with my bones

a collection of one shots that follow beca and emilys married life across a year of big decisions, through each holiday they celebrate.

rating: general audiences  relationship: Emily Junk / Beca Mitchell  words: 10, 209 chapters: 5 last updated: 10-6-22

a thanksgiving themed chapter! i might revist this day again later, because i did have some more thoughts about what they do that day. 

chapter 5

from the beginning

[lgbtkendricks]

SECRETS OF THE CASTLE (bechloe, hogwarts au, enemies to lovers) CHAPTER 6

Beca liked to think that she hid her intelligence rather well…being as though it was difficult to deduce her thoughts when she didn’t voice them. She took great pride in that. Her usual ability to be silent was partly why she was so irked by that redheaded girl’s prying earlier. She could barely even remember her name, but those blue eyes that stared at her as if she was attempting to perform legilimency on her weren’t exactly inviting. It was as if Beca could seep into her sky blue orbs into a void of nothingness and never be able to escape. To put it frankly, it disgusted her.

Beca Mitchell and Chloe Beale don't exactly get off on the right foot. In fact, they're sworn enemies from day one. But Hogwarts has a funny way of bringing the most unlikely pairs closer together...

READ IT ON AO3!

[godzillachloe]

list 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. learn to know your mutuals and followers.♡

Have a wonderful day 💜💙

1: My dog:

2: The Bellas Whether it is in PP or another movie or just posting on Insta:

3: My fics: (Remind me I'm Alive )

4:Godzilla

5: Asks from my bestie (even if I take a million years to answer)