#stechlobree

[fandom-heaux]

Soulmate(s) AU - Pt 4

Chloe

It is absolutely undeniable that Chloe Beale is one very lucky girl.

From the moment she was old enough to understand the purpose of the smudges, her parents were very open with her. Everyone in the world has a smudge somewhere on their body, and it symbolizes their soulmate. The smudge becomes a name once your mate realizes they have feelings for you, and they will ultimately become the person you are meant to be with for the rest of your life. Except… Chloe has three smudges. Right there over her heart. And that just wasn’t normal.

But they also told her that society’s understanding of normal didn’t mean shit. Chloe was unique. Extraordinary. Unparalleled. She was not to be limited by who she could love, no matter their gender, their race, or whatever else. And the fact that the smudges were over her heart? Well that just brought the point home.

But there was one thing they didn’t exactly prepare her for. The support and acceptance she received at home? It would never actually leave her doorstep.

For some reason, other people don’t like it when a girl isn’t shy about expressing her feelings. They are threatened by it, even. She was teased constantly for being “too sensitive”. She was disliked by many for being easily overwhelmed. She was taken advantage plenty of times for being so willing to put herself out there. She was knocked down time and time again just for being different from everyone else.

(Makes all the more sense why she fell for Aubrey the moment the other girl stepped in to protect her when no one else was willing to.)

But Chloe never let those things get in the way of the life she knew she was meant to live. To love and be loved. To feel for others, especially when they refused to feel for themselves. To be open to all the possibilities and opportunities that lied before her, waiting to be discovered. To search for her soulmates, ready to love them like her life depended on it.

And...okay. Maybe she was allowing herself to be too vulnerable. Lord knows she’s had her fair share of heartbreak. But isn’t the risk always worth the reward?

If anyone was looking out for this one, thanks for your patience. 

[tiny-maus-boots]

Soulmates AU pt 7

Summary:  Inspired by Soulmate(s) au, soulmate(s) au pt 2 , and Soulmate(s) au pt 3 hc by @fandom-heaux . An AU in which everyone is born with a smudged birthmark. As you find your mate in life the smudge forms their name when you’ve made an impression on them. In this world Beca doesn’t realize she has any, let alone three.

Author’s Note: I’m gonna try this thing where I post once a week. I say try because…well. Tis I. Queen of zero follow through. I blame @chloes-yellow-cup for dragging me into this fandom and then making fics that have ruined me. RUINED ME. Let me clarify. RUINED ME.  

Author’s Note 2: Click here for Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4 Part 5 and Part 6

Author’s Note 3: So there is a link dropped into the fic to another fic. An amazing fic. One of my favorites actually. So…wink wink nod nod to @chloes-yellow-cup for Third Time’s the Charm.

 Chloe

There was a moment of awkward silence as they watched Stacie weave her way through the crowd, Beca trying desperately to seem like she hadn’t just found herself in the most awkward situation of her life. Chloe was pretty sure she was currently formulating an escape plan and that was the only thing that kept her in her seat instead of following after Aubrey. She was certain Aubrey was going to be okay. That they were going to be okay. But it didn’t stop her heart from seizing painfully at the look in Aubrey’s eyes when Beca introduced herself.

It was only a split second, just a quick flicker of emotion, but it was enough for Chloe to see Aubrey’s world crumble beneath her feet. It tore at Chloe’s own heart to see that much despair in her mate’s eyes and she just wanted to run to her and hold her. She wanted to reassure Aubrey that she wasn’t going anywhere without her, to remind her that they were a package deal, but one look at Beca’s fidgeting was enough to tell her that if Chloe left to find Aubrey, Beca would disappear in the blink of an eye. Aubrey would be okay, she just needed time to adjust.

Chloe gave her head a little shake with a bite of her lip to try and focus herself on the woman in front of her. Her smile was a still a little sad at the edges and she could tell Beca saw right through her. “Did you wanna go….? To check up on her or whatever. You seem very uh attached.” It was sweet and Chloe’s smile softened a little as she reached across the table to lay a hand on Beca’s.

“That’s very sweet, thank you, but I think she’s okay. Sometimes she just needs a second to herself.” Chloe’s half smile wilted further when she caught sight of Aubrey leaning into the curl of Stacie’s arms around her. And it wasn’t that she was jealous of it exactly, but she longed to soothe Aubrey and for a moment didn’t know what to do with herself. “Sorry. I feel like I’m being rude, I think worrying about Aubrey has been all I’ve known for so long that even when I don’t have to, I still kinda do.”

It was still uncomfortable but Beca took a cleansing breath and seemed to resolve herself to actually interacting. Chloe was pleasantly surprised. She thought it would be harder to get Beca to engage given the less than stellar introductions. “So does she usually need worrying about?” Beca made a vague gesture with her chin toward the bar and Chloe’s gaze drifted there immediately. Her eyes found Aubrey at the bar already watching her. The hurt so raw and clear in her mate’s eyes wrecked her for a long second. They stayed locked in each other’s heartbreak before Aubrey finally broke and looked away.

“No actually. Well. Yes and no. Bree is the most confident, competent, driven person I’ve ever known. She is so good at taking care of the house, and work, and everything else that comes with our life together.” Chloe’s smile widened as her heart swelled with the love she had for Aubrey. “And all of the strays that seem to always find their way home with me…she’s always been that way. But she always forgets to take care of herself and so…” Her shoulder came up in a half shrug and Chloe fiddled with the cocktail straw in a glass that was mournfully empty save for the rapidly melting ice.

“So you worry. I get that. I mean…I don’t get it get it, I don’t have that kind of relationship with people. But I get that you would worry about someone that’s always worrying about others.” Chloe felt something tug at her heart as Beca reached awkwardly behind her back to scratch at it. “So how long have you been together?”

Chloe gave a soft chuckle and sighed dreamily. “Since we were eight. Well. That’s when I knew for a fact she was my forever girl. It took her a little longer to figure it out.”

Beca’s eyes widened comically and she gaped for a minute. “Jesus. Eight. I think only thing I knew for a fact at age eight was that I didn’t like pickles.” Chloe was used to those types of reactions. Granted it was pretty rare to know that early that you were meant to be with someone for the rest of your life but it was even more rare to have three marks at once so she figured it just wasn’t that weird in the grand scheme of things. “How uh, how does something like that even happen?”

“I used to get picked on a lot when I was younger. Because of my hair, or clothes, or they sky was blue…” She rolled her eyes dismissively but at the time every little tease and taunt scarred her fragile innocent heart. She had always liked people and until she been away from the comforting circle of home and family she hadn’t realized that anyone would ever dislike her. Especially for no reason at all. It had been a crushing learning curve and she hadn’t adjusted well, spending most of her recess and lunch time crying in a stall of the girl’s bathroom. “One particularly vicious bully threw a rock at me and said some pretty inventive things for a third grader. I just remember the shock of it, seeing blood drip down my head, knowing someone intentionally threw something to hurt me. I probably would have stood there and let him chuck another.”

“That little shit.” Chloe laughed at the quietly indignant look on Beca’s face and rolled her eyes at the memory of her childhood bully.

“Yeah well Aubrey fixed his wagon for sure. If she had been a cat she would have been spitting and yowling with her back all up. She came out of nowhere and just…whaled on him. This tiny blonde tornado came to my rescue and I just knew, even if she didn’t yet, I knew I was going to be with her forever. No one was really surprised when my name showed up on her wrist.”

There was a flicker of deep longing in Beca’s eyes then, so fast and so quickly hidden that she wasn’t entirely sure it had been there at all. “Well that all sounds like a fairy tale. You sure you’re not a Disney princess?”

Chloe let out a breathy chuckle and shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I’d make a pretty rocking Ariel. Our friend Amy taught me how to mermaid dance so…” In the back of her mind she knew that would make no sense and have no context for Beca but the other woman gave an amused grin and raised eyebrow as if picturing all that would imply. “It’s a long story, oh that’s her over there by the stage. I didn’t think she’d be here with her shooting schedule.” It was mostly an embarrassed ramble and she was glad when Aubrey seemed to appear from thin air with drinks in hand. Chloe felt a weight lift off her shoulders and she reached out to curl a hand around Aubrey’s wrist just needing that warm connection between them.

The dull hum of anxiety finally quieted when Aubrey settled in at her side and slid a hand over to rest warmly on Chloe’s thigh. Aubrey’s thumb stroking soothingly through her jeans was warmer than the fuzziest sweater and most comfy sweater she owned and she leaned into it.

“What’d we miss?”  

“Chloe was just telling me all about your MMA days.” Aubrey blinked and then eased into a quiet laugh as she slid Chloe her lurid blue drink. “Thanks, what do I owe you the…” There was a pause as Beca read the label on her beer bottle once then twice. “Sexual Chocolate? Yikes. Okay then.”

“I promise you’ll like it.” The teasing lilt to Aubrey’s voice made Chloe crinkle her nose in a grin. Playful Aubrey was the best and she could tell she was trying her hardest to be social and okay. To be there for Chloe like she always was. Chloe nudged Aubrey’s shoulder with her own when Beca sputtered in flustered embarrassment just as she had raised the bottle to her lips for a sip. “Ohmygod Beca, I’m sorry.” Aubrey half reached over the table when one of Beca’s sputters caught in her throat and she choked on the beer, spraying it partially on the table.

“No. It’s good. M’good, fine. Just. Wrong pipe.” Stacie’s eyes narrowed in just barely contained amusement at Beca’s rasping croak and Chloe had the feeling she was dying to tease the smaller woman. Mortified and just a hint uncomfortable, Aubrey hurriedly wiped at the table, trying to set everything back just right on the table.

“So did’ja, B?”

All three of them turned to look at Stacie who was practically bouncing in her seat. Beca blinked a few times and raised her brow. “Did I what?”

“Did’ja like it?” Somehow the simple questions seemed so much more loaded when Stacie said it. Beca’s face turned bright red and she elbowed Stacie in the ribs. It broke the tension and even Aubrey settled back down at the laughter that bubbled up between them all. It was going to be fine, it would all be fine. Nothing had to be decided right this second, they could just maybe enjoy the night and see what came of things. Chloe brought the drink to her lips and sipped from the straw. Something told her there was no rush at all, that this would all unfold exactly as it was meant to. Chloe believed in that little something with her whole heart the same way she had so many years ago.

In some way, Beca was going to be hers. Hers and Aubrey’s. And they would be Beca’s. She was positive of it. Chloe leaned further into Aubrey, their shoulder’s touching as the four of them picked up the threads of conversation and teasing banter easily. A warm blanket of calm enveloped her when Aubrey leaned into her too. Something settled in her soul and she let her fingers trail over the mark she knew was on her chest trusting destiny to bring them together if not tonight, then one day. And one day was good enough for her.

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Tattoos - A Fic Tease

Tattoos

A/N: I got some tattoos this week, inspired by ‘Nowish’. The symbols were picked out for the story by the wonderful always-saves-my-ass-when-I’m-stuck @tiny-maus-boots​ and we later hashed out that Aubrey would probably get the symbols for her girls as tattoos after they get home from the tour.

Since ‘Nowish’ became such a huge part of my life, and these girls wound their way into my heart, I wanted to make it permanently part of me for largely the same reasons.

So I wrote a couple of scenes from a future PP3 based story. It was intended to be short, but then Aubrey started talking and now we have a full chapter. Again, this is not the complete story and these scenes will likely go through some changes by the time I get around to actually writing it. 

Takes place after they get home from the USO tour, so after ‘Nowish’, which happened in July 2017.

A Shared Lifetime  - All my works in my alternate timeline so far, including my other fic teases.

Words: 12,000

Rating: Mature. It was going to be teen, but Beca and Aubrey had other ideas. As. Usual.

AO3

For mobile users, there is a ‘keep reading’ and I’m sorry if the app does that thing where it makes you scroll for a year.

~A~

Last week of March 2018

Aubrey gently shook Stacie awake, trying not to wake Beca and Chloe at the same time. When Stacie rolled to her back to face Aubrey behind her, Aubrey leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“I can’t sleep. Shower with me?” She pulled back enough to read the worry starting to replace sleep in Stacie’s eyes and smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine. Just restless.” She looked over as Beca gave a particularly loud snore. Aubrey smiled affectionately. “And I don’t want to wake Sleeping Beauty.”

At Stacie’s snort and relieved nod, Aubrey slipped quietly from the bed, feeling her wife follow. Padding through the dark bedroom to the bathroom she waited until Stacie had shut the door before turning on the soft nightlight. She didn’t want or need the overhead lights tonight.

While she took care of that Stacie had stepped past her to start the shower. As it warmed, she turned around and pressed herself against Aubrey’s back as her arms slipped around Aubrey’s waist.

“You sure you’re ok?” Stacie’s voice was soft against her ear.

Stacie had always been quick to make sure there was nothing wrong, but after the whole USO debacle, she asked it a little more often. Aubrey knew she was partly to blame; she was still processing what had happened. It had made her quieter than normal the past few weeks and she knew the other three had picked up on it; just as she had picked up on their quiet moments. They all had some baggage left over since getting home, but they were together and that had made it easier.

“Yes, love.” Aubrey leaned back, never tired of the feel of Stacie’s skin sliding against her own. She felt Stacie kiss the side of her head and she hummed in contentment as she turned in the circle of Stacie’s arms, Stacie’s lips already seeking hers.

They traded lazy kisses until the room grew warm and steamy. Aubrey stepped under the spray where Stacie resumed her place against Aubrey’s back. Her lips moved over Aubrey’s shoulders before lifting her hands to knead them and Aubrey groaned in bliss.

“I’ll give you forever to stop doing that.” Aubrey bent her head and let the water pour over the back of it.

“Then forever it’ll be.” Stacie said, humor lacing her tone.

Aubrey relaxed into the light massage, feeling her body respond as it always did to Stacie’s touch. The last few weeks had been difficult, in a way. After a single week back at work, they both took a leave of absence. Aubrey because she wasn’t quite ready to dive into the world of contracts, though she did continue to look over everything for Beca as the one ‘client’ she kept; the changes to the contracts sent by Khaled were small but she wanted to make sure she stayed on top of them.  Stacie wanted the time off because she wanted to be close to Aubrey, though not in a way that ever felt clingy or oppressive. She didn’t have to be in the room with Aubrey, but she was never far away; a byproduct of being miles apart when disaster struck.

Aubrey didn’t think she herself was really suffering PTSD, not the way her father had ever talked about. But whenever she had a strong memory of what it was like in the van, when they realized what was happening even if not why, she found that she had to swallow to keep back a faint wash of bile. Intense moments at work had made it even stronger and prompted her desire for time off. It was an involuntarily stress response that hadn’t happened in a long time – not since she and Stacie had moved in together, actually. It bothered her a lot that it was back and she was determined to get past it, not just for her sake, but for Stacie, Chloe and Beca. She knew they worried about her, that the gag reflex was a bad sign. But they never gave her the pity eyes she expected when it happened. They simply waited until it passed and offered her a glass of water. In the past she might have felt like they were hovering and gotten angry – but now she only felt loved and cared for.

It had also made her a touch more serious, a bit slower to laugh than the rest of them. Sometimes, when a dream woke her up and she was in the middle of their warm cocoon, she’d simply lay there with her eyes closed and listen to the soft breathing around her. Feel the steady rise and fall of whoever was spooned against her back. Eventually her racing heart would calm and her own breathing would slow to match until she slipped under once more.  

Other nights, such as now when she was one of the bookends, she’d slip out of bed and go downstairs to where Chloe had set up an elliptical and treadmill. Aubrey would use one or the other – or both, on particularly bad nights – until she was exhausted. She would go back upstairs and take a quick shower before slipping back into bed. More often than not, whoever she had been resting against was waiting for her and simply opened their arms to pull her in. None of them pushed, they knew she was working through it on her own and she loved them all so much for it.

But mostly, no matter what activity she was doing in the middle of the night, Aubrey thought a lot about what she almost lost. What she put Stacie through, no matter how unintentionally or unpredictable it had been. She couldn’t help but picture Stacie walking around their house after Beca had called, wondering if Aubrey was hurt, or worse. She could still hear the devastated yet hopeful tone in Stacie’s voice when Aubrey had called her once they were safe. Still feel how tightly Stacie had gripped her when they were finally face to face again.

Rationally Aubrey knew she wasn’t to blame and Stacie reassured her as often as she could in a million ways.

But her irrational side blamed herself. That she should have known better. That she should have realized what was going on. That she had put Stacie through absolute hell.

That she should never have had the idea to go on the tour. But then her rational side - helped by Chloe’s oft repeated ‘There’s a silver lining anywhere if you just look hard enough, Bree.’ - would remind her that without the tour, Beca might not have been given the opportunity to go on the amazing journey she was now on.

While she’d been lost in her thoughts, Stacie had begun to gently soap Aubrey’s body. Currently her hands were sliding up Aubrey’s stomach and over her breasts, pulling her back to the here and now. Aubrey pushed herself into the touch, craving it. “I was wrong – you have forever to stop doing that.”

Stacie chuckled and Aubrey felt it more than heard it. “So this is why you lured me into the shower? To have your way with me?”

Aubrey took a deep breath. “That, and…” She trailed off again. “I wanted to tell you something. Or, ask you something, is probably more accurate.” She said the last quickly, feeling Stacie begin to tense around her.

“Alright.” Stacie said evenly but Aubrey could hear the caution under it.

It was Aubrey’s turn to laugh. “Except I can’t concentrate when you’re doing that to my nipples.” Stacie’s fingers had begun to slowly trace around them, then over, her fingers feeling wonderfully warm and slick.

“Do you want me to stop?” Stacie leaned down and pulled Aubrey’s earlobe into her mouth.

Desire shot through Aubrey as she groaned quietly. “Never.” Her body began to move against Stacie. “But… I’ve been thinking about this for a while…” She gasped as Stacie pulled gently. “Except now I’ve forgotten everything.”

“Nah, you never forget anything important.” Stacie slid her hands back down to Aubrey’s stomach, who whimpered softly at the loss. “This was important enough for you to wake me up for this time, so it’s important to me.” She turned Aubrey around. “Usually your midnight wanderings have been solo.” There was no judgement there – there never was.

“You’ve joined me on the treadmill a few times.” Aubrey wound her arms around Stacie’s waist. “But…” She took a deep breath. “I was thinking of getting a tattoo.” She watched Stacie carefully, saw her eyes widen. She knew she’d surprised Stacie by even entertaining the idea, much less felt it was important enough to address in the middle of the night.

“A tattoo.” Stacie repeated it slowly. “What brought this on?”

“The tour.” Aubrey said. That’s what they called it, just ‘the tour.’ It was rarely ‘the kidnapping’ or ‘the hostage crisis’ anymore as they were all still a little touchy. “I just…” She tilted her head and looked into Stacie’s eyes, loving how patiently she was waiting for Aubrey to get out her thoughts. “I know I’ve been… quiet.” Stacie reflexively pulled her closer and Aubrey smiled. “And you’ve been amazing in the way you’ve given me space to… work it through.”

“I told you I’d wait until you were ready.” Stacie kissed her brow. “As long as you weren’t pulling away from me or doing something crazy like not eating, I’d let you work this at your own pace.” She traced Aubrey’s jaw with one fingertip. “You’ve been amazing through this, Bree.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I think I’m getting there.” Aubrey smiled. “We’re all getting there. But I kind of want to… Oh I don’t know. Not mark the tour, or the occasion, because honestly that whole thing sucked.” She grinned at Stacie’s bark of laughter. “Well, part of it. The last bit ended up being pretty awesome, considering.” She squeezed Stacie’s sides. “But I was thinking I wanted something permanent. Something that’s… all of you.”

“Oh?” Stacie’s hands began to stroke Aubrey’s back. “I’d say our marriage is pretty permanent.” She grinned. “At least to me.” Aubrey thumped her lightly in the side. “Hey! No violence in the shower, we could slip and fall.”

Aubrey ignored her. “You do know what I mean, though?”

Stacie grew serious again. “Yeah, yeah I do. Not a reminder, exactly, but kind of… so we’re with you even when we’re not with you?” Aubrey nodded, thinking she should stop being surprised that Stacie always knew what she was trying to say even when Aubrey didn’t quite have the words. “What are you thinking, babe?”

“Three designs, just in black. Down my right side.” Aubrey said, picturing it again.

“Of what?” Stacie prompted gently.

“A tribal sun.” Stacie’s smile was immediate. “Yes, that’s you.” Aubrey accepted the kiss she was given. “Then a crescent moon.”

“Beca.” Stacie said, obviously remembering the conversation that took place before they had all climbed in bed together, not realizing it would change their lives.

Aubrey nodded. “And then I found a star with a treble clef in it. If that didn’t scream ‘Chloe’, nothing ever would.”

Stacie waited a heartbeat. “And why here?” She ran her hand down Aubrey’s side.

Aubrey felt her face flush as a wry smile twisted her lips. “That’s where you three marked me for the first time?” Stacie was silent long enough that Aubrey began to worry. “But if you…” She fell silent when Stacie shook her head.

She slowly knelt to place three kisses down Aubrey’s side, almost exactly where those first love bites had been left. She looked up at Aubrey who moved to block the water from the shower. “I think it sounds perfect.”

“You do?” Aubrey asked; she felt strangely shy as she brushed wet strands of hair out of Stacie’s face.

“I do. In fact…” She stood up and kissed Aubrey softly. “So much so that I kind of want to get them myself, but on my left side.” She paused. “Except the sun – that’s… I’d get something else to symbolize you.”

“A ball and chain?” Aubrey yelped when Stacie pinched her butt.

“No, though now that you’ve given me the idea…” Stacie trailed off, searching Aubrey’s eyes. “No. For you it would be an outline of the Earth. Because you’re my whole world.”

Aubrey felt unexpected tears reach her eyes. “Stacie…” She stopped, all the words jumbling up in her chest. So she said the only thing that had ever really mattered between them. “I love you.” But it meant everything. She pulled Stacie into a kiss, soft and gentle, full of the promise of forever.

“Then it’s ok?” Stacie asked once they parted again. “You wouldn’t feel like I’m jumping on your bandwagon?”

“Not at all.” Aubrey felt her desire stretching upward again, needing to express how much it meant to her that not only did Stacie understand, but she got it in a way that she wanted to share in such a permanent declaration.

“I’ll call in the morning and see when we can get appointments.” Stacie said. “I still have the number of the guy Beca went to when we got her birthday tattoo.” She let Aubrey pull her down into another kiss. “I’m going to assume you want them as soon as possible?”

“Oh yeah.” Aubrey slid her hand down Stacie’s stomach and between her legs. “But right now, I need something else on my body.” She moaned softly at the warm and slick skin that met her fingers.

“What’s that?” Stacie asked, her own hands reaching down to grip Aubrey’s ass and squeeze gently.

“You.” Aubrey whispered against her lips. “Always you, my love.”

“Sounds-“ Whatever else Stacie was going to say was lost when Aubrey claimed her mouth again.

Later, as they crawled into bed happy, satiated and exhausted, Aubrey felt another piece of herself slip back into place. She didn’t know how many more were still out of alignment but tonight, finally, she had the feeling it wasn’t as many as she feared.

 ~C~

Two weeks later

“You guys got tattoos.” Beca said flatly.

“Yup.” Stacie replied, amused. It was the third time Beca had said it.

“For Bree’s birthday.” It was like she expected the answers to change. Chloe thought it was adorable.

“Yes.” Aubrey said, with a fond eye roll. “We got matching tattoos – sort of – for my birthday.”

“Sneaks.” Chloe said with a grin.

Stacie and Aubrey had said they had a few errands to run and had left earlier that morning. They promised to be home by late afternoon, but to not wait for them for lunch. None of them were really back at their jobs yet; Aubrey and Stacie had extended their leave of absence and Beca was still in the flux period of signing with DJ Khaled. Chloe occasionally went into the dance studio, but was also in a bit of limbo as her boss prepared to pass the reins. She knew she would have really to go back in soon. But not yet.

When the other two had finally gotten home, they looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary and led Beca and Chloe upstairs.

/

Beca smiled. “You guys miss us that much that you’re going to jump us the second you get home?”

“Like you wouldn’t be up for that,” Stacie replied.

“But that’s not why we brought you up here.” Aubrey said before Beca could make a snarky and probably dirty reply.

“What?” Beca sounded so disappointed in that instant that Chloe had to stifle a laugh. “I mean… Oh?”

“Nope. But we are going to take off our shirts.” Stacie said even as she and Aubrey reached for the hems of their shirts. “Because we have a surprise for you.”

Chloe frowned, not sure where this was going and then gasped when the bandages on their sides came into view; Aubrey’s on the right, Stacie’s on the left. “Oh my god. Are you guys okay? Were you in an accident?”

But Beca had stepped forward. “You didn’t.” She touched beside the bandage on Stacie’s side and Chloe understood. She’d seen bandages like this last year for Beca’s birthday.

“Oh yeah.” Stacie laughed.

“Will you take them off for us?” Aubrey asked.

Beca met her eyes, startled. “Me?”

“Who else is the expert?” Aubrey said with a smile.

Beca took a breath. “Chlo, can you go get a fresh roll of paper towels?” Beca looked over her shoulder.

“Of course, babe.” Chloe ran downstairs and grabbed their spare roll from the pantry. Opening it, she threw away the plastic and headed back where she found the three of them in the bathroom. Stacie and Aubrey were sitting side by side on the counter and Beca was washing her hands carefully with hot water. Beca had already gotten out her favorite tattoo wash and salve and had them sitting on the counter, ready to go.

“Towels.” Chloe said, tearing off a few and handing them over with a smile.

“Thanks.” Beca smiled at her and dried her hands before turning to the others. “You guys ready?”

Chloe watched as Beca carefully pulled the tape and bandage from Aubrey’s side, revealing bold, crisp black lines in the symbols down her side. Saw Beca’s hands still as she took them in and realized what they were – what they meant – before she turned and did the same for Stacie’s bandage.

Aubrey had explained their meaning once when she’d given gifts representing them a few months ago.

A sun for Stacie, the center of her universe.

A crescent moon to represent the phases of the moon, because Beca showed her that you could change without losing who you are.

And a star for Chloe, because Chloe had always been there for her. The treble clef inside it – for the music that had brought them together and remained a constant backdrop in their lives – melted Chloe’s heart.

She didn’t even have to ask Stacie about the Earth, she knew it was because Aubrey was her world.

Beca didn’t say anything, her face serious as she set about washing their tattoos, Chloe holding a towel to catch the water as Beca poured it over them to let it rinse clean. She then carefully patted them dry with the paper towels and began to dab salve onto each symbol, making sure they were covered adequately.

Chloe took the wet towel to the hamper and felt her breath catch when she came back in. Stacie was watching as Beca took care of Aubrey and the expression on her face, so lost in love, Chloe had only ever seen when she was looking at Aubrey.

Chloe swallowed to try and stem her rising emotions. Aubrey was simply watching Beca’s face, so focused and efficient in her movements and care, and Aubrey’s own held a tenderness that Chloe could feel down to her toes.

/

The four of them had sprawled on The Expanse once Beca announced them done and told them they’d have to apply the salve again in a few hours. That was the last full sentence before she’d gotten stuck repeating ‘You guys got tattoos.’

Chloe ran her finger beside the designs on Aubrey’s ribs.

“Without me.” Beca finally said something different and Chloe snorted. “You guys got tattoos. Without me?”

Aubrey bit her lip. “Are you mad?”

Beca shook her head rapidly. “No! No, not at all. But…” She trailed off, her hand going to Stacie’s side where she cupped Stacie’s ribs under the Earth design.

“But you’d have loved to have been there for us.” Stacie said and Beca nodded. “To be fair, we thought about telling you, but decided we wanted to surprise you instead.”

“Is that ok?” Aubrey actually looked worried and Chloe hoped Beca noticed.

“Of course that’s ok.” Beca said absently then looked up at Aubrey. Her expression changed immediately and she reached over Stacie to take Aubrey’s hand. “No, Bree �� That’s… I’m sorry. They’re gorgeous. I just never thought you would… I would have…” She trailed off then repeated, softer, “They’re gorgeous.”

Aubrey’s worried expression turned shy and it almost made Chloe’s heart ache with the love she felt at that moment. “Beca’s right, they’re beautiful.” She touched the star necklace she never took off except to shower. Aubrey noticed the movement and nodded, smiling as she realized Chloe knew what the meanings behind her choices were.

“Did you guys just gay marry us?” Beca blurted suddenly, her head tilted as she looked between Stacie and Aubrey, twisting the thumb ring Aubrey had given her the same day as Chloe’s necklace. It was delicately etched with the stages of the moon. Stacie had gotten a bracelet with a sun charm and all, including Chloe’s necklace, were simple platinum designs. But so elegant and full of meaning. Like their tattoos. Like Aubrey.

Both of them laughed but Aubrey managed to get out, “What?”

“Because this here,” Beca touched both their sides, stretching to reach Aubrey’s right side. “This is all of us. And it’s permanent.” She sat back on her heels again, her hands folded in her lap. “Like you want to keep us.” It was said softly, but Chloe heard a mix of hope and wariness under it.

Chloe looked at Beca and saw her heart in her eyes, as vulnerable and exposed as Chloe had ever seen her. It showed her how much Beca had grown and she felt her heart actually ache with how happy it made her. Because in the past Beca would never have asked it in this way. She’d have made it into a joke while desperately hoping it was anything but. But Chloe had spent years patiently showing Beca that it’s ok to be vulnerable. To let her heart show – to take the leap and trust that Chloe would be there to catch her.

The question hung between them and Chloe knew all the layers Beca protected herself with were stripped away with it; knew what this meant to Beca, who always had some small part of her, still wounded and always waiting to be left behind. And Staubrey, these two wonderful women who they were so lucky to have in their lives, had just given their hearts in a way that Beca at even her lowest could never deny. A way she understood intrinsically, having her marked her own truths on her skin over the years.

Stacie’s laughter faded first as what Beca was saying sank in. “Of course we want to keep you. Please don’t tell me you’re worried about that? Or having second tho-” She placed her hand over Beca’s on her side. “Beca…” Her voice was soft. “You’re always going to be ours.”

In so many ways, they showed Beca they would now catch her too.

“No, no I’m not.” Beca shook her head quickly. “You know we feel the same way. We love you.” Beca fell silent for a moment. “I love you. After everything, it’s only grown stronger. And this… this feels like a commitment to that. To us.” She waved her hand to encompass them all this time.

“Well, when you put it that way…” Aubrey looked over at Stacie who nodded, a happy smile beginning to form. “I guess it kind of was.”

Chloe ran her hand along Aubrey’s ribs again, feeling her shiver. She hadn’t realized she was going to speak, hadn’t realized her mind had been busily working in the background, until she heard herself say, softly, “I do.” She looked up when she felt the room had gone still around her. All three of them were watching her with affection. “Oh, that… I didn’t know I was going to say that.”

Beca took her hand. “It’s ok, it’s kind of perfect.”

Stacie cleared her throat and said, “Say it again?” Her eyes held a faint sheen and Chloe felt herself fall a little more.

Chloe met her eyes and said it louder. “I do.” She looked down as Aubrey took her hand then back up to Beca, one brow quirking.

“Oh hell yeah.” Beca sniffled. “We totally fucking do.”

“Then get over here and kiss the brides?” Aubrey teased as she eased over to make room between herself and Stacie. Chloe and Beca knelt between them, kissing one then trading places to kiss both equally and thoroughly before stretching out and snuggling their non-tender sides.

“You guys are just going to stay here and let me take care of these every day.” Beca said as she curled her arm carefully over Aubrey’s stomach. “Don’t even think about arguing with me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Stacie said, pulling Chloe closer. “You’re the expert, after all.”

In truth, they’d spent most of their nights together for the past six weeks or so and Chloe knew it was only going to make it harder when they finally had to settle back into their work routine. But she would deal with that bridge when they came to it. Until then she was just going to enjoy every second they spent together - like the fact that she kind of loved that Aubrey was letting Beca take care of her without a fight. Aubrey was normally the one who took care of them, up to and including coming home on lunch if someone was sick to make sure they were okay and didn’t need anything.

One such occasion had resulted in a new photo for Beca’s contact in her phone.

/

This past January, Chloe was watching Lilo & Stitch while Beca worked on her mixes. Aubrey was lying with her head in Chloe’s lap and was reading over some new contracts for the label.

Stacie had walked in, taken one look at the screen and said “I always thought Beca was a lot like Stitch.”

“What?!” Beca looked up. “I am not,” she said, indignant.

“You mean to tell me you don’t stop being ornery and begin to purr when you get lei’d?” Stacie asked pointedly.

Beca pointed a finger at her, mouth open, then let her hand drop. “Damnit.”

That weekend Stacie had gotten her a Stitch onesie. While Aubrey and Chloe had leaned on each other, laughing, Beca had held it up. “I will get you for this, Bucky.”

“Promises, promises, 8 Seconds.” Stacie blew her a kiss.

A few weeks later Beca had picked up a wicked cold from someone at the studio and it put her in bed over the weekend. It was a bad enough cold that Aubrey had ordered her to stay home for an entire week until she’d beaten it. They’d all taken turns taking care of her in the mornings and evenings, but Aubrey had taken over lunch duty because Chloe had back to back classes and couldn’t get away. So Aubrey had come home every day to check on her, taking an extended lunch so she didn’t have to basically just run in and out.

On Wednesday she’d quietly made her upstairs and found Beca passed out in a pile of blankets, her body in one of those awkward contortions that only the truly unconscious can manage. Wearing the Stitch onesie and snoring open mouthed because she still couldn’t breathe through her nose.

Aubrey said she had immediately and without any hesitation whatsoever, taken a short video of how loud she was snoring, because Beca would deny it until she died. Then she took several of the most adorable pictures Chloe had ever seen before gently waking Beca up to make her some soup. Once Beca had eaten enough, Aubrey had tucked her back into bed, still in her Stitch pj’s.

And immediately sent the video and pictures to Stacie and Chloe.

When she showed Beca the new picture that would come up when she called, Beca had replied “Well, at least it’s not my ass anymore.”

“I thought you said you’d never wear them?” Stacie said, bumping Beca’s shoulder with her own.

“It was the warmest thing I could find.” Beca shrugged. “I was freezing.”

“Uh huh.” Chloe said. “And…” She could see there was more Beca wasn’t saying.

“And nothing.” Beca said, not looking at them.

“Beca.” Aubrey chided. “You know we can tell when you’re lying.”

Beca sighed deeply. “I felt better when I put it on. I felt like complete crap all week and needed… It was like…” She visibly forced herself to finish. “Like you were hugging me.”

“Holy shit, B.” Stacie sat back, her face soft. “That may be the most –”

“Don’t –” Beca put her hand out to stop her.

“Fucking adorable thing I have ever heard.” Stacie pulled Beca into her lap and hugged her gently. “I’m glad it made you feel better.”

Beca sighed and burrowed in. “Me too.” She looked up as Aubrey and Chloe piled onto the couch with them. “Even if some monster took video of me in my vulnerable state.”

“At least I didn’t take one of you rubbing your eyes with the hood over your head while you were at the table. I thought I was going to die from how cute you were, all groggy and spooning up your soup.” Aubrey shrugged. “Think of it as payback for that time you got them to film me sleep groping you.”

“Hey, you’re the one who said there needed to be pictures or it didn’t happen.” Beca protested.

“She’s got you there, Bree.” Chloe said as they all wiggled into a more comfortable dog pile.

Aubrey looked down where Beca’s hand had casually landed on her breast. “Apparently in more ways than one,” she said wryly.

“Like she said.” Stacie said with a laugh. “She’s a boob man.”

/

Chloe let the memory slip away when Beca finished explaining how she planned to handle their aftercare. She tucked herself closer to Stacie’s back, propping her chin on her shoulder and looked at Aubrey. “Would you guys mind if-”

“-we got them too?” Beca finished with her and Chloe smiled, never tired of the way their thoughts ran parallel. She knew she should probably have waited until they could talk, but it felt right. And with Beca’s instant agreement, she figured she only beat her at saying it by mere seconds.

“You’d do that?” Aubrey asked shyly and with a kind of wonder. Chloe saw Stacie’s eyes focus on Aubrey before looking back to Chloe with a familiar wry expression that she returned with a smile. One of the many things they had bonded over was their wives’ lingering fear that something was going to break. Because even without seeing her, Chloe could tell Aubrey was pleased at the idea that they’d want to get them even as she shared Beca’s slight hesitation in believing. Chloe knew it would never have occurred to her to ask them, but how could they not do this after everything they had been through and all that they meant to each other.

Chloe half shrugged. “Can’t have our wedding vows be incomplete, can we?”

“Yeah. The Earth is great for us too, because you keep us grounded, Bree.” Beca offered.

“Always have.” Chloe nodded. “So it’s perfect.”

“Well great, now I’m crying.” Aubrey said with a choked laugh.

Chloe wiped away the tear that had slipped down Stacie’s cheek as her eyes closed briefly. It matched the one rolling down her own. “It’s ok to cry at weddings.” That broke the tension that had been building and they laughed through their tears. Several long minutes were spent in comforting kisses and small touches of reassurance as they settled back into a quiet contentment.

“Where would you get it?” Stacie asked once they had recovered enough to talk without trembling voices, though she still had to clear her throat before she could speak. Like Beca, Stacie kept her real emotions hidden but in situations like this, even she couldn’t hide them completely. Chloe could almost feel the adoring smile Aubrey had to be directing at them because Stacie’s cheeks took on a faint blush.

“I was thinking of between my shoulders or…my spine, actually.” Chloe said. “Down the center.”

“That’s hot.” Beca said immediately. “Like, super hot.”

“Seconded,” Aubrey said right behind her.

“Thirded.” Stacie paused. “That’s totally not a word but I’m going with it. DJ?” Chloe rolled to her back and propped herself on her elbows to look at Beca.

“I’m not sure, actually.” Beca paused for a moment and Chloe could almost hear her thinking. “My hips, maybe.”

“Hips?” Aubrey asked, confused. “Both?”

“Yeah. Chloe’s star on my left, the sun and earth on my right.” Beca said, her voice firming.

Aubrey stifled a laugh. “I feel like there’s a statement here about your junk being the center of the universe. All kinds of puns intended including ones I know all your dirty bird minds just thought of.” Beca’s face had immediately taken on smirk that was both smug and lustful at the same time. Chloe turned her head enough to look at Stacie and found a matching expression as she looked Beca over carefully, from head to toe. Chloe could relate to them both and let out a deep yet happy sigh as various images of the four of them in bed over the past nine months. Aubrey looked over at the three of them and rolled her eyes.  “Seriously you guys?” But her face took on a faint flush and Chloe knew she was thinking her own parade of indecent thoughts.

Stacie shrugged. “Some people keep their love close to their hearts; Becs keeps them close to her parts.” She looked over as Beca rolled over and flipped her off. “I mean that as a compliment, B. You know how fond I am of your junk.”

Chloe and Aubrey exchanged a look that clearly said ‘Well, she’s not wrong.’

Beca put her head back on Aubrey’s shoulder. “We’ll call the guy in a bit.”

“Not now?” Chloe asked, curiously.

“Nope. I’m going to enjoy getting engaged for the second time for just a little bit longer.” She ran her hand down across Aubrey’s stomach to grip her hip.

“Beca Mitchell.” Aubrey said slyly. “Are you getting sentimental in your old age?”

“Can’t be helped when I have people worth being sentimental over.” Beca said.

Chloe snuggled back down into Stacie who pulled her close. “Told you, Bree. She’s a keeper.”

“It may take a while, but eventually I can admit when I’m wrong.” Aubrey said.

“Hey, no one badmouths my fiancé, not even my fiancé – or her wife, who is my other fiancé – or my wife, who is their other fiancé.” Beca said indignantly.

Chloe laughed. “Say that three times fast.”

“Becs.” Stacie chided and lifted her head to look over Chloe’s. “I don’t think any of us has ever done anything bad with our mouths.”

Beca began to laugh. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”

“It’s why we love you, B.” Stacie trailed her fingers down Chloe’s arm and until she could tangle their fingers together. “One of many reasons we love you both.”

Chloe smiled into Stacie’s shoulder. Beca was right, they could call later.

What they needed now was to be together.

She ghosted their joined hands down Stacie’s side again. “We totes do.”

 ~B~

Beca rubbed her thumb against the skin of Aubrey’s stomach just above her jeans, occasionally dipping below just because. She squirmed closer as she felt Aubrey’s lips press to her forehead, bending her head until she could feel as well as hear the strong beats of Aubrey’s heart. Beca felt the brief sting of tears again when she thought of the symbols Aubrey had chosen, what it meant that she would make them part of her, a declaration of love emblazoned on her skin for anyone to see.

It wouldn’t have surprised Beca to learn that Aubrey had been born as a full grown proper lady, so she was almost literally the last person Beca would have expected to get a tattoo. And Stacie, who had never wanted anything permanent with anyone before Aubrey, getting something that declared she belonged to Aubrey – and including Beca and Chloe in that?

It was so much deeper than just the tattoos. It was the women wearing them and what they truly meant by getting them.

She knew Chloe had seen to the heart of her earlier thoughts, what it meant to Beca to have that kind of commitment and promise made to her. While that younger, fearful version of herself was quieter now, tucked safely into the circle of Chloe’s arms, sometimes she woke up in unexpected moments. This time, however, it wasn’t fear that had made her surface, but the pure wonder Beca had felt when she realized how deeply Aubrey and Stacie felt about them. About her. Something that shouldn’t have surprised her at all, considering how she felt about them. She guessed that was another thing she and Aubrey had in common – that instinctual reaction that they would be left behind. But now there would be a reminder, for all of them, that they would always be part of each other.

She pushed up on her right elbow, adjusting her body until she could look down into Aubrey’s face. Beca traced Aubrey’s fine features first with her eyes, then with the lightest touch of her left hand. Across one brow, down her cheek, along her chin until Beca brushed her thumb across Aubrey’s lips. Aubrey only watched her, her expressive green eyes never leaving Beca’s face as she leaned down and kissed her gently, merely the lightest touch of her lips before pulling back and studying her once more.

There was no trace of the disdainful woman Beca had first met all those years ago. The one who declared Beca ‘alternative’ and tried to ward Chloe off before plastering on a fake smile when Chloe ignored her. The smiles now were the furthest from fake and Beca cherished every one of them, like the one slowly unfolding below her. Beca felt the light brush of breath against her face as Aubrey lifted her head just enough to close the distance between them again. Beca let herself sink into the kiss as her tongue slipped easily into Aubrey’s mouth, feeling so connected to her she wasn’t sure which of them sighed in contentment first.

As they lazily traded kisses, Beca angled more of her body to rest on Aubrey’s left side, always mindful of her right. Aubrey’s left arm had curled behind them and her hand dipped under Beca’s shirt to rest against her back, pulling her always closer. Beca wasn’t sure when it happened, but her left hand was resting over Aubrey’s heart, feeling it speed up the longer they kissed. It pulled at her, making the muscles in her stomach tighten as desire rose, slow and languid.

It was only natural for her hand to slip the few inches necessary to cover Aubrey’s bra clad breast and massage gently, feeling Aubrey’s back arch just a little. Her fingers traced over the hardening nipple as she kissed her way down Aubrey’s jaw. Beca paused for a moment over her pulse, her tongue pressed flat to feel how it jumped under touch, before continuing to press open mouthed kisses down to her collarbone.

Beca’s fingers slid upward to tug gently, pulling down the cup of Aubrey’s bra as her head dipped to pull the nipple into her mouth. Immediately Aubrey’s left hand was in her hair, holding her close, while Beca’s hand moved to the other breast, squeezing gently. Until Aubrey’s right hand covered it and urged her be firmer. When Beca complied, nipping with her teeth at the same time, Aubrey’s back arched again, lifting them off the bed as she cried out.

Beca slid her body over until she was straddling Aubrey’s legs. “Off.” She tugged at the front of Aubrey’s bra. “Can you…” But Aubrey was already lifting herself up and Beca slid her hand around her back to undo her bra, pulling it free and tossing it behind her. Beca lowered herself again, left hand firmly planted to keep herself off Aubrey’s side, as she pulled Aubrey’s right nipple into her mouth. Almost immediately she felt movement against her shoulder and pulled back to see Chloe had rolled onto her side and was nuzzling Aubrey’s other breast. Stacie was taking advantage of her height and was pushed up higher on the bed and half leaning over Chloe to kiss Aubrey.

Feeling her own desire rise higher Beca couldn’t stop her hips from grinding down against Aubrey’s as she leaned back down. She knew the way Chloe’s mouth worked as well as her own and tried to match it from memory; half hoping they would end up in sync. They must have succeeded as Aubrey pulled back from Stacie long enough to gasp, “How the fuck – nevermind. Don’t stop.” Beca grinned to herself. Having Aubrey use that tone, hearing it go breathy – that was never going to get old. Any time she was able to get Aubrey or Chloe to actually use ‘fuck’ because of something she was doing to them, well that was always a sexy bonus.

A sudden pressure between her legs caused her to pull back and look down as Aubrey’s whine of protest turned into a high moan. Stacie had stretched out her long arm over Chloe’s back and had cupped between Aubrey’s legs. Beca saw her forearm flex, pressing into Aubrey’s center and Beca felt the last tethers of her control fraying. She ground herself down into the back of Stacie’s hand, pushing her harder against Aubrey, her eyes closing as her body sought release in the friction between them.

Then she felt Stacie’s hand moving and lifted up, thinking she was moving to get more comfortable, but instead Beca heard the unmistakable sound of a zipper. Another movement, this one unmistakably downward and Beca looked up in time to see Aubrey’s eyes close as her body arched again, mouth open in a soundless cry. Stacie was watching Beca with a hooded gaze filled with promise. Beca suddenly felt her clothes were too stifling, too constricting, and she needed them gone.

She pushed backward until she was off the bed, stripping almost as quickly as Stacie these days. She crawled back on the bed until she could reach up and hook her fingers into the top of Aubrey’s jeans. She pulled them down, along with her underwear, and dropped them to the floor behind her. Aubrey’s legs were already parted, Stacie’s hand never stopping. Chloe continued to nuzzle Aubrey’s breast, but her eyes were open and watching to see what Beca would do next.

Beca moved between Aubrey’s legs, watching as Stacie’s long middle finger stroked up and down, pulling quiet gasps from Aubrey. Even as she got closer, Beca saw it dip further down and slide inside briefly, but the angle was wrong for anything more. Stacie slid down the bed, spooning Chloe and pushing her tight against Aubrey’s side. Beca watched, breathless, as the angle allowed Stacie to thrust inside fully, each push of her hand matched by a roll against Chloe’s ass.

After a moment Beca moved her left hand up, already forming a cup and eased it under Stacie’s as she withdrew. At Stacie’s short gasp of approval, Beca fit their hands together and pushed them forward. Aubrey’s slick heat enveloped their middle fingers as she moaned, pushing back against them. Chloe had her head on Aubrey’s shoulder, her hand roaming over Aubrey’s stomach and chest, stroking here and pulling there, as she watched.

“You’re so beautiful, Aubrey.” Beca said, meeting green eyes that were dark with desire. “That tattoo looks so good on your skin.” She looked at Chloe and Stacie. “Maybe not as good as they do against you…” She gave a crooked smile as Chloe winked at her. “You’re incredible, Bree.”

Aubrey opened her mouth to say something but Stacie gave a particularly hard thrust and it was lost in a high grunt of pleasure, her body pushing against them all. She hitched in a breath, “I don’t know about that… what you guy s are doing is what feels incredible.” She bit her lip as they pushed again, the heel of Stacie’s palm pressing against her clit. “Oh, fuck.”

Stacie rolled her hips against Chloe again, causing her to groan softly. “You’re all beautiful and I am the luckiest Bella in the entire world.”

Beca smirked at her. “You better not try to high five yourself for doing three Captains again.” Stacie had amused herself so much with it that first night that she’d done it a few times over the past nine months. Beca secretly, or not so, thought it was one of the most adorable things she’d ever seen Stacie do. And, to be honest, Beca couldn’t really blame her because it was an amazing feat that she kind of admired.

Stacie shook her head. “I’ll save that for later.” Beca knew she would, too. “Right now, I have more important things on my mind.” She flicked a glance down at their hands and back up at Beca, one brow quirked.

Beca thought she knew what Stacie was getting at, so when she pulled back and extended her index finger as well, Beca was half a second behind her as they slid back into Aubrey. Beca felt Aubrey clench around them. “Already, Bree?” She half teased. “Thought you could hold out longer than that.”

Chloe laughed. “Don’t play with fire, Becs. You know you’ll get burned.” But her own breathing was ragged, her body pushing back against Stacie’s with every roll of her hips.

“Beca.” Aubrey paused to swallow. “Shut up and finish what you started.” She met Beca’s startled look and underneath the blown pupils and sex voice was Captain steel that Beca felt herself instantly respond to.

Beca licked her lips, distracted by how much her body reacted to Aubrey’s deeper voice, and felt her own body clench around nothing. “Jesus… How… do you… do that?” Beca inhaled deeply, trying to pull her scattered thoughts together. “Just remember, Bree. You asked for what’s about to happen.” She met Stacie’s eyes and the two of them smiled in perfect understanding and as one they sped up their thrusting, pushing Aubrey up the peak.

Chloe’s hand slid down Aubrey’s stomach and Beca watched the muscles jump until Chloe’s fingers rested on Aubrey’s clit. She hissed out a breath. “Jesus, Bree.” She lowered her mouth to flick lightly at a nipple with her tongue. “You’re so wet.” She pulled it into her mouth, eyes closing as she helped Aubrey climb higher with every circle her fingers made.

Aubrey cried out, her body bucking against them, meaningless pleading falling from her lips. “Becs… right there.” Her body locked for a second and Beca thought she was about to come undone, but Aubrey let out her breath again, as if she’d held her orgasm back by sheer will. Which would be a very Aubrey Posen like thing to do, since Beca felt she could do anything by sheer force of her will. “Stace… I need…” But Stacie was already moving, trusting Beca to keep the motion of their hands, pushing herself a fraction higher with her feet as her neck stretched to meet Aubrey’s raised head in a kiss. It was an awkward angle and Beca spared a thought to hope that neither of them pulled something, but then Aubrey fell back to the bed. Her body locked again, except the motion of her hips, meeting each thrust of their hands as she climaxed, even as they pushed her higher. As she finally went limp, they slowed, easing her back down again.

Stacie pulled her hand free and Beca captured it, pulling Stacie’s fingers one by one into her mouth, her eyes locked on Aubrey’s as she watched. Aubrey licked her own lips, her eyes still dark with desire. Beca stretched herself out on the bed, sliding her hands under Aubrey’s thighs to hold her in place.

“What…” Aubrey started but Beca cut her off.

“You told me to finish what I started, Captain.” Beca said. “I’m just following orders.” Aubrey’s mouth dropped and Beca could almost hear the ‘Oh fuck’ that must have gone through her mind if the sudden need in her eyes was any indication. She lowered her head, licking the length of Aubrey’s center and feeling her shudder. She felt two hands wind their way into her hair, holding her in place.

Beca lost track of time as she tasted and nuzzled, licked and even nipped. She was briefly aware of movement beside them, figuring it was Stacie and Chloe finally removing their own clothes, but she was focused on Aubrey. She loved pulling these sounds from her, each gasp and keen stoking her own fire higher. Each time Beca’s name fell from Aubrey’s lips, it made her push Aubrey further, faster, even though she wanted to make this last. But Aubrey was already bucking beneath her, her second orgasm rolling through her with every curl of Beca’s fingers.

Beca couldn’t help but think of that first time, where the three of them had made love to Beca then Aubrey had lifted her up the second time. That moment had forever changed her, bound her to Aubrey and Stacie in ways they hadn’t stopped discovering. She slowed her movements, hoping Aubrey understood how much it had meant to Beca, how much she cherished that first moment between them.

Then she heard Chloe cry out beside her and it was deep and guttural enough that, startled, Beca lifted her head.

Chloe was lying naked on her side, though still pressed against Aubrey, and her left leg was hooked over Stacie’s bent knee which held it up in the air. Stacie’s hand was on Chloe’s hip and Beca was treated to an extremely close up view of the strap-on Stacie was wearing being thrust into Chloe from behind.

“Holy fuck.” Beca whispered, her breath leaving her body in pure reaction.

“Oh my god.” Aubrey said immediately after her, her body still shuddering under Beca.

Stacie thrust deep and fast, her hand tightening on Chloe’s hip to anchor herself. All of Chloe’s hidden muscles were in sharp relief as her body strained against Stacie.

Beca had long realized that she had a massive toner for all her girls having muscles, but it wasn’t until that moment that she realized she had a thing for thigh muscles and both Chloe and Stacie had them in spades. If all the moisture in her body hadn’t already been heading straight between her legs, watching the two of them flexing in front of her would have sealed the deal. The desire to trace them with her tongue was almost overpowering but she couldn’t move. ‘Thigh muscles for fucking days.’

Chloe’s eyes were closed, moans and high pitched gasps slipping past her lips and all Beca could do was stare in awe at how fucking amazing the two of them looked together. She found she was completely unable to look away from Stacie’s pounding hips and the shaft disappearing into her wife.

~S~

When Beca had lowered herself back down between Aubrey’s legs, Stacie had patted Chloe on the hip. “Let’s get naked.” Chloe had nodded, her eyes hooded, and followed Stacie off the bed. They’d wasted no time in stripping, but Chloe had gone to the dresser. When she came back, she’d held one of their strap-ons out to Stacie. They had taken advantage of Stacie’s IOU shopping trip for Chloe’s birthday – several times.

Stacie had pulled the underwear on without hesitation, letting Chloe put the dildo in and lock it in place. She’d shuddered at the feel of Chloe’s fingers against her center, but Chloe had merely kissed her and backed toward the bed.

Helpless to do anything else, Stacie followed as Chloe crawled back onto it and assumed her previous position on her right side, looking over her shoulder at Stacie with need in her eyes. Stacie lay behind her, her left leg bent at the knee, and helped Chloe lift her leg over it. She dropped her hips and slid forward, allowing the length of the toy to run between Chloe’s folds, though not inside quite yet. She felt Chloe hold it in place and Stacie thrust gently, allowing Chloe’s natural lubrication to coat it while they watched Beca work Aubrey into another orgasm.

Then Stacie pulled back, angled her hips and let Chloe guide her until she could slowly press inside. After the first resistance eased, Stacie paused with the head inside, letting her adjust. Then her hand tightened on Chloe’s hip and she jerked her hips upward sharply.

Chloe cried out as she was filled, her body arching as she pushed back against Stacie. “Harder.” Stacie felt her body shudder at Chloe’s demand even as her hips picked up speed.

“Holy fuck.” She heard Beca whisper and opened her eyes to see Beca staring at them.

Aubrey had pushed herself up on her elbows and was watching them. “Oh my god.” Stacie looked up and the look on Aubrey’s face caused her to shiver again at the lust in those beautiful green eyes. If anyone other than Beca was going to understand the desire coursing through Stacie’s veins, it was Aubrey. She knew what it was to need Chloe and have Chloe demand even more in return. Then Chloe moaned again and Stacie pulled her attention back to the woman in her arms.

She gripped Chloe tighter and pushed herself to go faster with every sound Chloe made. At this point they had all used one of the strap-ons on each other, but they never grew tired of it. The trust and intimacy of it, even when it was fast and rough like now, never stopped being as exciting as the first time. Nine months later and they were still in the honeymoon stage for all that they were just now making engagement jokes. Or promises, she supposed. Stacie didn’t see any signs of that ever fading for any of them. When she had told Aubrey that she wanted to get the design as well, she’d meant it for the same reasons.

The thought of almost losing Aubrey had plagued her since they’d gotten back home, waking her more than once in the middle of the night. While the fear of losing Beca and Chloe was also there, it was to a slightly lesser degree – a thought that always made her feel instantly guilty and added to the misery she felt in the dark. While they were her heart, Aubrey was her entire world. Stacie didn’t know if she could have survived that. She knew Aubrey had the same problem, often going to work out until she came back to bed damp from a shower and trembling with overtaxed muscles. Stacie had joined her a few times, silently claiming whatever machine Aubrey wasn’t using, until Aubrey was ready to shower. There they would slowly make love as they washed each other and finally go back to bed, where, more often than not, Beca and Chloe were waiting for them.

Sometimes one of them simply woke the rest up, needing reassurances in the form of kisses and quiet moans. Beca and Chloe usually started those and Stacie had a secret suspicion they were partially doing it to ease Aubrey’s middle of the night worries without having to get up and work herself to exhaustion. And it seemed to be working because lately Aubrey had begun to follow their lead, not needing to go downstairs as frequently as before. Stacie hoped that meant Aubrey was close to putting it fully behind them. She thought the tattoos were a giant leap toward that goal and Beca’s question about marriage and Chloe’s instant, unhesitating ‘I do’ brought them even closer.

Beca scrambled sideways, taking advantage of their positioning, to lean forward toward Chloe. Stacie changed her pace to slow and deep thrusts, allowing Beca to, Stacie assumed, get her mouth over Chloe’s clit and suck. She felt Chloe tighten as she gave another cry, making each thrust require more effort. Stacie bit her lip, trying to keep her pace steady to not bounce Beca out of the way, but the need to push Chloe faster and faster was inching up her spine.

Beca made the decision for her as she pulled back, her eyes glazed but locked on them as she settled between Aubrey’s legs again. Chloe bent her body forward as Aubrey reached for her to kiss her fiercely. Stacie pulled Chloe’s leg back up and over, pushing deep within as she urged Chloe to recline half on her stomach and half on Aubrey’s side with her left leg still bent and propped up slightly by Aubrey’s leg.

Stacie rolled with her, getting her legs between Chloe’s and planted her right forearm on the mattress and her left hand back on Chloe’s hip. Finding her footing, she began to thrust again, watching Aubrey run her hand down Chloe’s arm and back up, tangling in her hair. Chloe’s face in profile was flush with exertion and beautiful; her eyes were closed, her mouth open and pulling in air to exhale a string of profanity that only urged Stacie to go faster. Sweat dripping down her body, Stacie braced herself and drove her hips, hard and fast, feeling Chloe tighten again, her body beginning to tremble under Stacie. Every time she thrust, she felt Beca’s hand where it gripped the back of Chloe’s thigh.

Stacie felt her own body tightening and wondered if she’d come undone from this alone, but then Chloe was screaming her release, her hand closing on the far side of Aubrey’s neck as her anchor. Stacie gradually slowed, though it was difficult to pull herself back from the edge. She came to a stop, still deep within, and dropped to rest on Chloe’s back, pressing kisses into her shoulder.

“You’re fucking amazing, Chloe.” Stacie said, trying to get her breath back.

Chloe let out a half laugh, her voice shaking as aftershocks rolled through her as Stacie felt her twitch. “I think I should be saying that to you.” She exhaled. “Holy shit. I can’t feel my legs.”

Stacie groaned and lifted up enough to slide backward and slip free though Chloe groaned at the loss. “That may be my fault.”

“You don’t weigh that much,” Chloe protested.

Aubrey stroked Chloe’s arm but watched Stacie. “You’re all kind of fucking amazing right now.” She laughed as Beca crawled her way up so she could kiss Aubrey. She kept her knees tucked under Aubrey’s legs, causing them to wrap high around Beca’s waist as Chloe’s leg fell to the bed. “Yes, including you.” She pulled Beca in and kissed her soundly.

Stacie smiled at their antics, the two of them were seriously adorable more than half the time, and Chloe watched them from where she was cuddled into Aubrey’s shoulder. Then Stacie’s eyes traced Beca’s body and she felt that insistent need pulse back to the front of her mind.

She moved behind Beca, her voice low and commanding. “Spread your knees, Beca.” Startled, Beca looked over her shoulder but her knees were already parting at the order. Stacie slid behind her and guided the shaft inside, watching Beca’s body press down into Aubrey as her hips tried to rise.

“Oh fuck.” Beca said on an exhale. “Please… oh Jesus, please Stacie.” Beca pushed back as Stacie ground against her.

Stacie put one hand on Beca’s hip and the other up on her shoulder as she began to move.

 ~A~

Aubrey’s breath had left her when she realized what Stacie was about to do. Knowing Beca as she did, Aubrey wasn’t surprised at her Pavlonian response to being taken this way – Aubrey felt the exact same since taking Beca that first night and the muscle memory of it was strong enough to take her breath away.

Then Beca pressed down into her when Stacie pushed her hips home and Aubrey inhaled sharply at the sensation. When Stacie found her rhythm, as hard and fast as she had taken Chloe, each thrust pushed Beca down and Aubrey was wide open and still sensitive enough that it was starting to drive her crazy. The sight of Stacie rising up behind Beca, need in every taut muscle, combined with Beca’s expressive face inches from hers, filled with blind lust and changing with every lunge from Stacie had Aubrey halfway up the peak again already.

Aubrey cupped Beca’s cheeks and saw those midnight eyes focus on her. “Bree.” It was said reverently and Beca pushed her hands between Aubrey’s shoulders and the bed until she could grip them from behind and use her as an anchor. She bit her lip as Stacie continued drive into her, muffling the scream Aubrey knew was trying to get out.

Chloe’s hand slid up into Beca’s hair. “We got you.” Aubrey tightened her legs against Beca’s sides as Chloe urged Beca’s head around until she could kiss her. “Let it out, Beca.”

Aubrey swallowed. “She’s right, love.” She leaned up and whispered into Beca’s ear. “We’re so far past holding back.” She pulled Beca’s earlobe between her teeth and bit lightly.

Stacie suddenly drove forward, pushing Beca down into Aubrey as she thrust as deeply as she could. Her hands slid down and between Aubrey and Beca. “Let me hear you, Beca.” It was that same soft commanding voice and Aubrey cried out as the thumb from Stacie’s left hand pushed firmly over her clit. As she writhed, she felt Beca lock above her as Stacie’s right hand pressed into her at the same time.

Beca’s forehead pressed into Aubrey’s left shoulder, the sound starting low in her throat, gaining in strength and volume as her body shook with the force of her release, a high keen that broke at the end with Stacie’s name on her lips. She dragged air into her lungs and moaned again, only slightly softer but no less intense as Stacie finally stilled her hands and flattened them against Beca and Aubrey’s stomachs instead. A third moan trailed off into a whimper as she clung to Aubrey.

“Holy shit.” Stacie was panting. “I love you guys.”

Aubrey watched her swallow and felt a grin twitch her lips even as she tried to regain her own breath. “Little worn out, love? And you said cardio would never come in handy.” Aubrey felt Beca give a small hiccup of a laugh and pulled back slightly to focus on her. “Hey.” She felt drops on her shoulder and knew they weren’t sweat. “Hey.” She said again, softer as she brushed Beca’s hair out of her face. Beca was still trembling in reaction but her eyes were clenched shut and fresh tears slipped free as she gave a stifled sob. “Baby.” She felt Chloe’s fingers comb through Beca’s hair, her voice soothing and gentle as she whispered words of comfort. Beca ducked under Chloe’s chin and pressed her face against Chloe’s neck with another sob, though her hands still clutched at Aubrey.

Aubrey met Stacie’s concerned gaze and smiled slightly. “She’s okay, love. That was just… a little intense for all of us.”

Stacie eased her hands from between them. “I’ll say.” She lightly stroked Beca’s back and made to move away, but Aubrey shook her head once. She and Beca were alike enough that she knew, in this moment, she’d want Stacie to stay right where she was. Need to feel connected, to keep her close. Stacie nodded slowly, her hands continuing their soft caress.

Aubrey felt Beca’s hands finally begin to lose their desperate hold on her shoulders, her body finally relaxing under their touch. She met Beca’s sheepish look with a soft smile. “Hi.”

Beca sniffled once. “I’m sorry.”

Chloe brushed Beca’s hair back and Beca turned her head to look at her. Chloe’s face was filled with such tenderness that Aubrey felt it was a little hard to breathe through the tightness in her chest. “For what, love?”

“Having emotions.” Beca replied. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All over Aubrey’s shoulder.”

“I think I’ll live.” Aubrey tightened her legs around Beca again. “And don’t ever apologize for your emotions. I kind of love them.”

“Yeah, DJ. At least you’re up to plural now.” Stacie said, always knowing when to help Beca with humor. “Freshman you would’ve said you only had one.”

Beca laughed. “Fuck you, Bucky.”

“Mmm.” Stacie hummed thoughtfully. “Let’s save that for next time. I don’t think you can move right now.”

Beca twitched again as her breath hissed out. “Holy shit. You can’t say that right now, Stace.” Aubrey heard her swallow heavily. “Not… not where you are, because you’re right, I don’t think I can move.”

Stacie chuckled. “Sorry, B. Should I…?” She trailed off briefly. “I can’t imagine you’re not… uncomfortable.”

Beca sighed. “I am, but I really don’t want you to move yet… but yeah. Maybe.” She closed her eyes as Stacie pulled away, hissing again. Aubrey smiled and nodded when Stacie pointed at the bathroom and slipped from the bed.

Moving slowly, Beca lifted herself off of Aubrey and moved to the space Chloe created between them. She lay on her back, her eyes closed and her hands folded on her stomach. Chloe slid against her side and pressed a kiss to her temple, then her cheek where Beca turned her head to meet her lips instead.

Aubrey watched them with a smile as they reassured each other wordlessly before laying back and closing her own eyes. Slowly she stretched in place, feeling only the slightest soreness in her legs that was already easing. While she hadn’t expected the afternoon to go the way it did, she wasn’t ever going to argue with how satisfied she felt in this moment. She heard the water running in the bathroom and knew that Stacie was cleaning off the toy and would place it back in the drawer for next time. She heard the water shut off and pictured Stacie walking out of the bathroom and to the dresser, the drawer opening and closing, with a detour to the hamper for the harness.

“Bree?” Beca’s voice pulled her from her musings. Aubrey looked at her. “Can you roll on your side? Left side,” she added. “Be the big spoon?”

Aubrey immediately shifted and Beca moved over, letting Aubrey pull her close. Aubrey kissed her shoulder. “How’s that?” It took Aubrey a second to remember why Beca would specify what side to lay on, having briefly forgotten her tattoo. Though, thinking back, Beca never had. Not once had she accidentally bumped it in everything that had happened.

“Perfect.” Beca sighed as Stacie crawled back into the bed. “C’mere, Stace.” She patted the space between her and Chloe. “Please?” Aubrey was deeply touched by the care Beca always took with them, because she’d arranged it so Stacie would also lay with her tattoo side free.

“Like you need to ask me twice.” Stacie said lightly as she slipped between them, Chloe pressing against her back. “Oh, wait.” She leaned back against Chloe and threw both her hands up in the air. “Go team!” And she high fived herself.

Aubrey watched her with bemused fondness. “It’s a good thing you’re soooo good in bed.” She dropped her voice and practically purred, feeling Beca twitch against her. Beca’s reaction to Aubrey’s bedroom voice never, ever, failed to make Aubrey shiver along with her.

“Psh, you love me.” Stacie said as she lowered her arms again, beyond pleased with herself.

Chloe and Beca chimed in with Aubrey. “Yeah we do.”

When Stacie had settled back into place, Beca immediately pulled her into a kiss that left them both breathless. Aubrey watched, amused, as Stacie’s eyes blinked open, almost dazed with the thoroughness of it. “I don’t even have words for what you just made me feel.” Beca said softly and kissed her again. “Or how to tell both of you…” She trailed off again.

“That’s ok, Becs.” Stacie ran her fingers across Beca’s jaw. “I know.” She met Aubrey’s eyes. “We know.”

Aubrey buried her nose in Beca’s hair and pulled her close. Sleep was tugging at her and a nap sounded like heaven. She just didn’t want to be the one to reach down for the blanket folded at the end of the bed, she was too comfortable. But as their skin cooled, she knew they’d need the covers. But before she could make herself move, Beca spoke up again.

“Um… Stace?”

“Mph?” Stacie clearly was worn out. Aubrey was going to give her such a bad time later. She sensed a lot of jogging in their future.

“Um… are you… don’t you need…” Beca stopped. “To… You know.”

“Beca.” Chloe said with exasperated affection. “Seriously? You still can’t say sex or orgasm?” She propped her chin up on Stacie’s arm. “You’re sometimes so prudish for someone who lives in the gutter.”

“It’s all part of my charm?” Beca lifted her shoulder in a shrug.

Stacie was shaking her head. “That’s Beca: An 18th century gentleman. Worried about my getting off but unable to actually say it. It’s so cute.” She grabbed Beca’s hand before it could poke her in the stomach. “But to answer the question you’re dancing around…” She smiled sheepishly. “I actually came the second you screamed my name.”

“Oh.” Beca’s voice was shyly pleased. Her hand shifted and pulled Stacie into another kiss. Her voice was stronger the next time she spoke. “Just the thought of me does it for you, huh?”

“And she’s back.” Stacie rolled her eyes.

“That’s my girl,” Chloe said fondly. Beca pushed up to kiss her.

Aubrey laughed and sat up to scoot a little toward the end of the bed.

“Where are you going?” Beca said, looking over her shoulder. Aubrey could see the vulnerability still lurking under the surface.

“Getting the blanket.” Aubrey hooked it with her foot and dragged it upward until she could get a grip on it. Stacie immediately reached up and grabbed a couple of pillows and dragged them down.

“Oooh, naptime!” Chloe sat up and reached over to help spread it over them.

Burrowing into a pillow, Stacie’s eyes were already closed. “I could nap.”

Beca waited until Aubrey was nestled against her back again, immediately pulling Aubrey’s arm around her. “Did we get old?”

“No, B.” Stacie said, opening one eye. “We’re just exhausted because we all thoroughly celebrated our engagement.”

Aubrey leaned down to whisper in Beca’s ear. “She means we just fucked the shit out of each other and now it’s time to rest up.”

“So we can do it again.” Chloe said in the most innocent of tones. “But this time I get to wear it.”

Stacie’s eyes had shot open and she stared at Beca. “They’re going to kill us.”

Beca breathed out a quiet, “Holy fuck.”

Aubrey couldn’t help but laugh. “It certainly felt like it.”

Chloe burrowed into Stacie’s back with a yawn, her arm low across Stacie’s hip, mindful of her tattoo. “Sleep now.”

“You expect me to sleep after that?” But Stacie’s eyes were closed despite her protests; her words slow as she drifted.

“You are a wicked, wicked woman, Aubrey Posen.” Beca shivered against her.

“You love it.” Aubrey teased.

“Yeah I do.” Beca sounded like she wanted to say more, but the rest was lost in a soft snore.

Aubrey let sleep pull her under, feeling several more pieces of herself slide into place.

‘Soon,’ she thought to herself. ‘We’re all safe. We’re all home. I’ll finally just be me soon enough.’

[tiny-maus-boots]

Soulmates AU pt 1

Summary:  Inspired by Soulmates au and soulmates au pt 2 hc by @fandom-heaux . An AU in which everyone is born with a smudged birthmark. As you find your mate in life the smudge forms their name when you’ve made an impression on them. In this world Beca doesn’t realize she has any, let alone three.

Author’s Note: I’m gonna try this thing where I post once a week. I say try because…well. Tis I. Queen of zero follow through. I blame @chloes-yellow-cup for dragging me into this fandom and then making fics that have ruined me. RUINED ME. Let me clarify. RUINED ME.

 Beca

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious.”

“You are not. Everyone has one. This dude I dated, Boochie, got dragged behind his ATV at Glamis and got a wicked road rash. Like peeled the whole fucking side of his body including his mark. The shit came back, darker. My hand to God.” Stacie put her hand over her heart and raised the other as if she were giving oath. As if this would somehow make her story all the more believable.

“First of all who the fuck is named ‘Boochie’?” At Stacie’s smirking shrug she moved on. “Secondly. Ew dude.” Stacie laughed at the face Beca made but waited for her to say something more. Waiting for her to say ‘Just Kidding!’ or something equally confirming that she was joking in some way.

Beca shrugged and took a sip of her beer. These were the conversations she hated. It wasn’t that she was ashamed exactly. It wasn’t anything that she could control so why should she be ashamed? Beca just hated dealing with having to explain it to people. Explain that she didn’t have that thing that made a person complete. Whole. Normal or whatever. The responses were all the same and they happened in stages. First there was disbelief.

“I mean. I don’t really have a reason to lie so…” Stacie gave her a leveling stare as if she were trying to see if Beca was being completely truthful. She was sure there were people out there that didn’t want a soulmate, didn’t want to find the one person in the whole world that would always be there, would never leave, and would always just…get them. But she didn’t happen to know any and she didn’t think Stacie did either. Whatever the taller woman was looking for in Beca’s face she didn’t find because she gave a soft ‘huh’.

Beca didn’t trust it. Stage two was curiosity. There was no way, NO WAY, that Stacie wouldn’t ask questions. After moving to Los Angeles Beca had found herself cut adrift in a sea of unknown variables. She didn’t know the area, or the people, or even any of her neighbors. She moved into a three story building that was perfect for her. It was dark and brooding and no one gave a shit about anyone else. They just kept to themselves for the most part. Except Stacie.

Stacie had made it a point to smile and say hi every time Beca passed her in the halls. There was something a little predatory about the way she did that made Beca a little nervous at first. Her stuttered greetings were rushed and she usually tried to slink away into the shadows whenever possible. Until Stacie had come over one Wednesday night with a six pack of beer and endless questions.

Six months later the questions hadn’t stopped. But then neither had the beer so it wasn’t horrible. Beca didn’t know why she even enjoyed it so much, she had never really needed gal pals before but she counted on these Wednesday nights now.

Somehow Stacie had made a place in Beca’s life and the smaller woman found herself not minding having a standing drinking date. Stacie tossed her long legs over the arm of the overstuffed chair in Beca’s living room and full on man-style belched. Beca’s face twitched in a smirk as she shifted her position on the floor to rest back against the couch. “Nice. I see now why you’re so popular.” It was an attempt to deflect, move away from stage two before it even began but it was futile and she knew it when Stacie only blew her a kiss and forged ahead.

“Yeah but like…don’t you want to be with someone?” Beca raised a shoulder in a half shrug as if it didn’t matter much. Even though it kinda sorta mattered a lot.

“Not really.” Lie. “I have goals. I’m here to get into the industry and claw my way to the top. A relationship doesn’t really factor into it. So I guess being a freak of nature doesn’t really matter.” It was coming. She could feel it. The inevitable stage three. Pity. There was always pity in the eyes of every single person she’d had to explain this to. And Beca liked Stacie, she didn’t really want to feel the weight of all that, she already felt broken enough.

An abrupt laugh made her jerk her head up to blink owlishly at the other woman. Well she hadn’t wanted pity but this seemed somehow worse. “You think you’re a freak of nature? Check this out.” Without a hint of warning or even a second’s consideration on whether the blinds were closed or not Stacie peeled her shirt off and pointed to a row of three smudges down her rib cage. “THIS is a freak of nature.”

It was enough of a shock that Beca almost forgot not to stare at Stacie’s bra clad chest. Almost. She blinked and dragged her gaze to Stacie’s side. Beca’s eyes went wide and she reached out a hand to touch them before she realized what she was doing and jerked it back. They hadn’t quite formed yet, but one had a definite outline of an A. “Dude…”

“I know right?!” She shrugged and pulled her shirt back on, content to reach for her beer as if she hadn’t just flashed someone she barely knew. “My mom thinks it’s some kind of divine blessing or something.” It was clear she disagreed but Beca couldn’t help but feel a little jealous because maybe deep down she thought it was kind of a blessing too. She would have given her right hand to have one of those marks even if she tried to convince herself that she was better off without one.

“So is that why you date so much?” It was putting it politely and they both knew it. Stacie gave her an affectionately amused look and shrugged.

“I just like sex.” Okay then. Beca flushed a little at the bluntness of the statement but nodded anyway. “Is you not having one why you don’t date at all?”

“Fair if somewhat stinging. I just…don’t see the point. Whoever I date is going to have one and that’s not going to be my name. It just leads to hurt feelings and wasted time.” Stacie reached down and pulled another pair of bottles out of the cardboard holder and held one out to Beca. The DJ cracked it open and gestured vaguely to the marks on her friend. “So who do you think A is?” This wasn’t the turn she had expected for the conversation but she couldn’t say she hated it. Once people found out she didn’t have a smudge of her very own they tended to not want to talk about it at all. As if that would somehow offend Beca. The avoidance of it had just made Beca feel all the more lonely. This was almost refreshing.

Stacie’s dark head tipped to the side as she considered it. “I think it’s this guy Aaron I met at The Greek last summer. I was there with this other guy Tony, but we got separated. I ran into Aaron, all tall, blonde, and green eyed, with a banging body.” She gave a mild smirk at the memory of said body and moved on. “He’s just boring as fuck. I mean he’s in the Army or whatever so that’s cool. But he kept talking about his guns and his little sister. And more guns. He talked a LOT about guns. It was annoying.”

It was Beca’s turn to smirk and she didn’t even try to hide it. “Yeah…he sounds like a real winner, Stace.” Who didn’t love a guy that could gush about guns all day long? “I dunno. You don’t seem that into him, not that I have any experience in this but aren’t you supposed to know when you meet your one? Or…three? Don’t you just instantly know and fall in love or whatever?” Beca kept her face blankly bored hoping that Stacie wouldn’t see how much she actually wanted to know the answer.

Stacie was slow to answer and she shrugged. “I dunno. After I met him the A showed up. We didn’t really get to do more than make out and exchange numbers. I didn’t realize until I got home that the A was even there. I’m not exactly anxious to find out. Once I know…it’s like I don’t get to be Stacie anymore. I have to be A’s girlfriend. Or wife. Until that’s over for whatever reason and the next smudge shows a name.”

It hadn’t even occurred to Beca that Stacie had three because she would go through a string of soulmates. She had just assumed they would all be together. It was a thought that should have seemed strange but for some reason felt oddly right. “Huh.” Stacie raised her brows in question but Beca shook her head. “It’s nothing it’s just I didn’t really think about what it could mean to have…three.”

“I just can’t imagine myself tied to one person forever let alone three at the same time. I read up on multiple marks but all I could come up with were extremely rare double marks. No triples. And out of the doubles only two or three out of the half dozen were concurrent relationships.”

Beca narrowed her eyes at Stacie. For someone that went to a lot of trouble to appear brainless she certainly was anything but. “You just…read up on it. Like no big deal let me research all the known cases of multiple marks…” Stacie blinked at her blankly and said nothing. Beca was starting to think that a little part of Stacie did want to find her one. Er. Ones.

The sound of Stacie’s phone jerked them both out of the quiet tension. “Food’s here. You got change for a twenty? I hate giving tips on the app.”

Beca reached over to her coffee table and picked up her wallet. “I got the tip. You covered dinner.” She got up and thumbed through the cash she had. She was sure she had a five in there somewhere. The knock at the door got her attention if only for a second. She didn’t even look up at the delivery guy as she continued to dig around. “Hey thanks…dude you wanna grab som…” Her words trailed off as she finally found what she was looking for and met the eyes of the person at the door.

“Hi…”

“Hi.”

“Hi…” Beca felt like she couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe and could only just manage to repeat the one thing that was being said. The red haired woman smiled widely and Beca blinked all at once dazzled and stunned by just how blue her eyes were. The woman’s lips curved into an amused smile and Beca had to remind herself to close her mouth.

“Did you order…?”

“Yep! That’s us.” Stacie bounded over to grab the bags of food. It was enough to bring Beca back to the here and now. “Thanks. Hey B, ya got that tip?” Beca mutely raised the bill without taking her eyes off the delivery woman.

“That’s so kind, thank you.” It should have sounded sarcastic and on anyone else it would have. But it sounded sincere and so sweet that Beca could only nod in response. She licked her lips as the woman pocketed the bill and turned away. Just for a second she had the urge to follow after her but she stayed rooted until the sound of the front door on the building opening and closing reached her ears. She shook herself as she shut the door and turned to find Stacie with a revoltingly smug look on her face.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Beca glared at her for a second before she tossed her wallet on the table and moved to sit on the floor again. She should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy. Stacie’s voice practically purred. “She was hot. Like really hot.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.” Beca opened a container of noodles and picked up her chopsticks. Stacie just laughed in a way that caused a shiver to chase down her spine. Stacie smiled and reached for the carton of orange chicken. The banter was nice. Stacie made her feel like she could just be herself. It was something she’d never had before. She kinda didn’t even mind the teasing.

“Yeah because you give a fifty dollar tip to every delivery person.”

She snorted and shook her head before stopping as that last bit sunk in. “Wait. What? I did what??”

[tiny-maus-boots]

Soulmates AU pt 2

Summary:  Inspired by Soulmates au and soulmates au pt 2 hc by @fandom-heaux . An AU in which everyone is born with a smudged birthmark. As you find your mate in life the smudge forms their name when you’ve made an impression on them. In this world Beca doesn’t realize she has any, let alone three.

Author’s Note: I’m gonna try this thing where I post once a week. I say try because…well. Tis I. Queen of zero follow through. I blame @chloes-yellow-cup for dragging me into this fandom and then making fics that have ruined me. RUINED ME. Let me clarify. RUINED ME.

Author’s Note 2: and then I posted way early. Click here for Part 1

 Chloe

It was late and she was tired and sweaty and itchy and she just wanted a hot shower and a cuddle with Aubrey. Chloe turned the key in the lock of her front door and pushed. It didn’t open right away and she groaned. Damnit. It was stuck again. She and Aubrey kept meaning to get someone out to fix it. A handyman or whatever, but Aubrey had been so busy lately at the firm. She was running herself ragged getting ready for a trial. Aubrey was the hardest working junior associate at Hale, Harris and Hoke and it was giving her the edge she needed against the other junior associates. But it was hard. They hardly saw each other these days. Chloe herself was spending most of her days picking up UberEats orders after her shifts at the clinic. Most days, like today, she smelled like a combination of wet dog fur and greasy fast food. Chloe rested her head against the door and sighed. Her hand came up to scratch lightly at her chest with a deep sigh.

She was only doing this side gig because she wanted to take Aubrey on a long weekend away. Just the two of them, so they could reconnect and relax. Chloe jiggled the key in the lock until she heard the scraping as the protesting tumblers fell into place. Thank God. The redhead pushed the door in and stepped into their darkened home. A sigh escaped her and she frowned when she realized that Aubrey wasn’t even home yet. Chloe closed the door behind her, digging her phone out of her jacket pocket as she did. The door bounced open and she jumped, dropping her bags and whirling to see who or what was behind her.

“Bree? Oh my God!”

“Ow! Chloe…are you okay?”

Chloe quickly pulled her soulmate into their tiny condo and shut the door. “Me?? I’m not the one that got a door to the face. Are you okay? I’m so sorry Bree. I didn’t realize you were right behind me.”

Aubrey gave her a tired smile and rubbed her nose lightly. “I’m fine Chlo. I should have said something, I was just in my head. It’s been a long day.” Chloe nodded at that and let her hands slide down Aubrey’s arms to her wrists. She laced their fingers and squeezed. Aubrey’s pale green eyes brightened and she tugged Chloe closer for a kiss. It was sweet and loving and far too short for Chloe’s tastes. “Why do you smell like Chinese food?”

Chloe giggled and scratched her chest idly again as she pulled Aubrey further into the house. She picked up the dropped bag of containers, grateful it all seemed mostly intact. “I picked up something on the way home. I even brought you some cream cheese rangoons.” It wasn’t a lie. After her last pick up came through for Flaming Dragon she decided it would be perfect for dinner. Aubrey took her at face value and nodded with a weary smile. Chloe knew she appreciated the treat even if she was too tired to be excited about it. “C’mon you look beat. Let’s take a shower before we eat and crawl into bed.” She dropped the bags on the counter careful to make sure the contents were okay.

The groan of agreement that Aubrey gave made Chloe tug the blonde toward the master bedroom. “That sounds heavenly. How was work?” It meant something to Chloe that no matter how long or tough her schedule had been the first thing Aubrey always asked her was how her day had gone. Chloe dropped her keys on the dresser, kicked off her shoes and reached out to pull the still pristinely pressed shirt out of Aubrey’s skirt.

“Work was work.” She smiled at her mate as she undid the buttons of her shirt and slid it over her shoulders. It dropped to the floor and she leaned forward to kiss along the taller woman’s collarbone. “We finally got all of Molly’s puppies fostered until adoption.” Her hands trailed over Aubrey’s chest and down her belly loving the soft skin under her fingers. Chloe worked the zipper down the hip of Bree’s skirt and slid it off to land with the discarded shirt. “Someone brought in a fox kit. Looks like she got hit by a car. Dr. Coyle doesn’t think she’ll make it and she’s not socializing well with the dogs. Poor thing has to be isolated or they’ll pick on her.”

The hurt in Chloe’s voice made Aubrey focus past the feel of warm hands on her body. She gave an understanding frown and pulled Chloe in close for long hug. Those types of cases were the hardest for the redhead and she appreciated Aubrey’s support. “I’m sorry Chlo. That sounds horrible. Is there anything you guys can do?”

Chloe tipped her head in thought as Aubrey moved to pull her scrub top up and off. The action made her smile and she wiggled out of her pants. They took care of each other and it was the thing she loved most about them. “She needed surgical repair for her back leg. I think she’ll make it but without a family or any bonds she’s just going to wither through her recovery. Pretty sure she was bred for domestication. She has no social skills whatsoever and… ” It took Chloe a second to realize that Aubrey had stopped moving, had stopped speaking. Maybe even breathing. “Bree?” Nothing. No response. Chloe felt her heart racing and she reached out to her mate. “Wha…”

“Who is Beca?”

Beca? Chloe blinked in confusion then looked to where Aubrey’s gaze seemed frozen. The marks over her heart seemed so foreign now. Before it was just one name and two smudges but now…Chloe swallowed as she traced the second name. Her stunned eyes raised to her mate just in time to see a flicker in their jade depths. A flicker that was quickly hidden but Chloe had seen it. And she knew. She knew what Aubrey was doing. “I honestly don’t know Aubrey. I swear.”

There was silence then Aubrey pulled Chloe against her body for a long lingering kiss. It was soft and meant to be reassuring but Chloe could feel something deeper in it. “Well, you definitely left an impression on her.” It wasn’t cold or mean but it was weighted. Careful. “Let’s just shower and we can try and figure out how to track her down over dinner.”

Chloe didn’t argue it as they stripped out of the rest of their clothes and padded to the shower. She wanted to find her second mate. And her third. She wanted them to know Aubrey because she had a sneaking suspicion they would all be fast friends. But Aubrey thought that having more than one mark meant having to lose your mate before you got another. Chloe didn’t even know how to argue that with her. It wasn’t as if they knew anyone else besides each other with more than one mark. Really they had no reference for what would happen in this situation, and while they had talked about the what ifs of another mark becoming clearer they maybe hadn’t talked about it enough. The warm spray of the water was amazing. It soothed the already tense muscles of her shoulders and back. Chlo pulled her mate closer under the water and nosed her way to the crook of Aubrey’s neck. “I’m not giving you up Aubrey. I’m never going to give you up. You know that right?”

There was a quiet sound above her that she couldn’t decipher. It could have been an agreement or just a sound to placate her in the moment. Chloe wasn’t sure but she didn’t know how else to reassure Aubrey that she wasn’t going anywhere. Bree’s arms were warm around her as they held each other, both unsure what to say just then. She sighed softly and picked up the loofah sponge realizing that words were failing her and she needed Aubrey to know so much more than she could even explain. She needed her mate to know she loved her endlessly, that they were a team, that they would always be team Chaubrey. Chloe added the soap and started slowly washing the strains of Aubrey’s day away.

Aubrey’s body relaxed a little more with every touch, turning to let Chloe work the loofah over her shoulders and down her back. When Chloe had gotten Aubrey’s back lathered she leaned into it, choosing to bring the loofah around to Bree’s belly and up over her breasts. Her hands lingered there, fingertips brushing lightly over nipples gone hard from her gentle touches. Chloe smiled against the skin of Aubrey’s neck and pulled back reluctantly. Aubrey turned to rinse and Chloe brought the loofah down to her mate’s wrist to wash the make-up off it. As usual, Aubrey didn’t look. She never looked whenever her marks were revealed. Just under Chloe’s name two other smudges stood out darkly. She knew Aubrey had tried to rid herself of the other two. Laser surgery, derm-abrasion, plastic surgery…everything. She wished Aubrey wouldn’t be so ashamed of them but her mate didn’t take comfort in the marks the same way that she did. For Aubrey, Chloe was all that was necessary in her heart. Chloe understood why, they’d been together forever and if she didn’t have her other marks she probably wouldn’t even know something was missing in her life.

It had all seemed so distant and far away, the thought of having another person to fill her heart seemed like so much fairytale. But now it was suddenly too real and too close. Chloe realized they hadn’t been prepared for this. Not really.

“Au…”

“Chlo…” Aubrey smiled at her and she gave a slight nod to let her mate start. “Chloe…I love you. I know you love me too. That’s not even a question.” There was that flicker of something again in Aubrey’s eyes that broke Chloe’s heart and made her press in closer against Bree’s body as if that would chase away the shadow over them. “I just want you to know that whatever happens next we’ll work through it. However we have to. I…”

Aubrey’s words trailed off unspoken as Chloe kissed her with all the love that filled her heart. Bree responded with hesitation and Chloe hated it. She pulled Aubrey closer, lips and teeth nibbling hungrily and she didn’t stop until Aubrey really kissed her back. Chloe pulled back and rested their foreheads together. “Aubrey I have loved you since the second grade when you punched Bumper Allen for throwing a rock at me and calling me ginger devil’s spawn. And I’m gonna love you until my last breath. You’re mine and I’m yours.” Regardless of anyone else they were destined to love. Chloe’s fingers stroked over the mark on Aubrey’s wrist. “I was here first.” Her smile softened and she raised Aubrey’s hand to the marks on her own chest. “You were here first, Bree.”

Aubrey’s lip curled a little at the memory and she leaned in and brushed soft lips over the scar on Chloe’s forehead. “That little dick lick deserved it.” Chloe’s name had been etched on her wrist since they were eight. They were supposed to be together no matter what. It wasn’t totally fine, Chloe could see that, but it was better. Aubrey let her body melt into her mate’s, some of the worry and tension in her muscles melting away. “Are you sure you want to be a vet? You’re a natural debater. You could be an amazing lawyer.”

“Nah, my job is way more fun. I get to pet soft kitties all day. Wait. No. That seems…You know what I mean!” Aubrey’s laugh was music to her ears. Chloe’s smile widened at the tiny snort that escaped in the middle of Bree’s giggle fit. They were going to be okay. She knew it, she just had to convince Aubrey of it too. “I love you Bree.”

Aubrey let her laughter die down but her smile didn’t fade. She had Chloe and Chloe had her. They would manage this the way they did everything else. Together. “I love you too Chloe. More than I even know how to say.”

“Oh. Well if you don’t have the words maybe��.you could show me?” Chloe’s laugh bounced off the tile walls as Aubrey rushed her, pressing them against the cool wall. The Universe or whatever omnipotent being was out there didn’t make mistakes, she was sure of it. Just like she was sure everything would work out just the way it was supposed to. She just had to figure out who the heck Beca was. Tomorrow it would drive her nuts, not knowing where she had run into her mystery mate but tonight, with Aubrey’s warm hand between her legs she just couldn’t bring herself to worry about it. Tonight they had each other and that was all Chloe needed to be happy.

[fandom-heaux]

Soulmate(s) AU

Stechlobree. This is just an Idea I had. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Beca

Every moldy cheese has a stale cracker. That line is a part of the stories everyone is told from birth. We are all born with a smudge somewhere on our body, and as we get older the smudge becomes clearer and clearer, eventually spelling out a name.

It’s pretty uncommon to be born with two smudges, but it’s not unheard of. But three? Having three smudges was like finding a diamond growing from a tree. Fucking impossible. But that’s the situation Mrs. Mitchell found her daughter in. Three smudges in succession down her little girl’s spine. She thought it was a mistake. How could her daughter have three names? Three soulmates? That’s ridiculous. So she hid them from her and everyone else. (It wasn’t hard really. No one looks at their own back). But it was honestly not intended to be a malicious act. She was just afraid that the universe had gotten it wrong... that there was no way Beca could have three smudges.

Because of this, Beca thought she didn't have a soulmate. There would be no moldy cheese to her incredibly stale cracker. It wasn’t a big deal (except maybe she did care. Just a little bit.) It’s a big part of why she was so closed off. If she had no one that was destined to be with her forever, then why waste time with someone in the first place? 

So Beca never factored anyone else into her life plan. Her goal was to move to LA and become a producer so she could make her music in peace. Except life has a funny way of making things happen the way they are supposed to.

It’s literally the fault of @chloes-yellow-cup that I can only see the four of them together now.

[fandom-heaux]

Soulmate(s) AU - Pt 2

Aubrey

From early on, Aubrey Posen was called a freak. She was teased for the completely ridiculous amount of smudges that she had on her wrist, because it’s just not a thing that happens.

It certainly didn’t help that her overbearing parents felt the same way. So they decided for her that she just wouldn’t focus on a soulmate (or three) and that she would put all of her energy into school, or work, or literally anything else.

And so that’s exactly what she does. Aubrey works really hard to make up for the disappointment that she caused her parents. And yes, she knows that she had no control over this cruel joke that the universe is playing on her. But somehow, it’s still her fault.

So Aubrey covers her smudges with makeup, because out of sight, out of mind. (Except no, they aren't out of mind because they consume her mind day and night. Who could possibly want her and accept her for all she is, including her many flaws. And for that to not be just one person, but three people? No.) Out of sight, out of mind.

Meeting Chloe changes everything.

Chloe is bubbly and honest and beautiful. Chloe loves every part of Aubrey, even the parts of herself that she hates. Chloe can calm Aubrey down when her nerves twist her stomach up so bad she feels like throwing up. Chloe is everything and more...

But Chloe has three smudges too. Which means that she is meant to share this unconditional love with two other people.

So Aubrey prepares herself. She prepares herself for when Chloe meets her others and she’ll be left alone.

@tiny-maus-boots told me not to let this get in the way of my WIP... I did not listen. 

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Statistic of the Day

‘Nowish’ is 25% smut.

Carry on.

(Give or take 2%. I may have gotten distracted in my re-reading.)

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Confession

I don’t know about other authors, but I take a while after completing things before I try to read them as content. I say “try” because I always find things to change. (Word choices, typos, why the hell is there a random period between paragraphs?)

So I’m actually just now reading Nowish as a whole since I finished it. I had read 1-9, but not the whole thing, start to finish, once I got done with 10-12. I keep sending annoying @tiny-maus-boots with screenshots of things I’d forgotten I’d written, so they amuse me greatly.

This just happened.

Me: ooh, I’m at the 4th of July party. Good stopping point for today.

Also me: WTF. That was only 36% of the story? 90% of the rest of the 64% is secks! I’m a hoor.

[femslashhistorian]

Nowish by Psy456

Author’s summary:

Bechloe. Staubrey. Bellas Squared/Stechlobree. A story in which I created a life I fell in love with and convinced myself by accident that this could work. Let me try and convince you too. Seriously though, there is more than just smut to this. I tried to create realistic relationships between them, not just toss them into bed.

I wanted to take a shot at drawing Bellas Squared because I absolutely adore Nowish by @chloes-yellow-cup. That story was my gateway into poly Bellas and I have no regrets.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14622168/chapters/33792543

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Nowish - Part 4

Bechloe. Staubrey. Bellas Squared/Stechlobree.

A story in which I convinced myself by accident that this could work. Let me try and convince you too.

Nowish Master Post  - Everything on one page.

A Shared Lifetime - All my fics

Recommended Mood Music on Spotify. Artistic license taken with song release years.

Note on the links: The ones about music lead to YouTube vids for fun. Rest are GIFs or links to whatever gift idea I have.

Stacie and Beca have coffee and Bechloe have an anniversary. Fluff alert. Friendship and relationship goals.

~S~

Saturday, April 15th, 2017

Stacie closed the front door behind her and made her way to the living room, finding Aubrey reading through some contracts on their couch and singing ‘Still Falling For You’ very softly under her breath. She dropped down, smiling as Aubrey immediately raised her arms so Stacie could stretch her legs over Aubrey’s. She joined her for part of the chorus.

No one can lift me, catch me the way that you do Still falling for you

Aubrey let the song fade and smiled at her. “How was coffee with Beca?”

Stacie shrugged. “It was good. She was telling me about this potential up and coming artist that she gets to work with next week. She’s really excited about being able to work with someone that she scouted herself.”

“I bet. I know she loves working with the established guys, but… This would be a massive boost for her at the label.” Aubrey let her hand rest on Stacie’s leg and squeezed gently. “She’ll kill it.”

“I think so too.” Stacie leaned back against the arm of the couch and pursed her lips.

“What else, I can hear you thinking.” Aubrey put her paperwork down on the table and gave Stacie her full attention. “Must be good, if you’re thinking about it instead of just saying it.”

“Wellllllllll...” She smiled when Aubrey pinched her calf. “Remember last weekend when I convinced you to let me ravage you after breakfast as an early birthday present?” Aubrey nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. “Well… we may have rushed upstairs. And Beca may have come over for some milk.” Aubrey’s eyes widened again. “And we may have forgotten about the door.”

“Holy shit.” Aubrey let her hands drop to the couch as her mouth fell open.

“Yup.” Stacie popped the ‘p’ at the end, a habit picked up from their friends.  She kept her legs firmly in place when she felt Aubrey shift as if she was going to stand up to pace or fidget.

“She… just… brought it up?” Aubrey’s hand went up to touch her throat gently.

“Yeah, it was actually kind of adorable.” Stacie snickered at the memory. She tried to keep it light so Aubrey wouldn’t completely freak out. “After we talked about her work, her face kinda went blank – you know how it does when she’s trying to not get embarrassed?” She waited until Aubrey nodded, smiling a little, before she continued. “Except her RBF was a little marred by the flush slowly creeping up her neck, her fingers were drumming away and she couldn’t look me in the eye. Basically every tell she has about being nervous.” Aubrey smiled, but remained silent, waiting. “And then she started doing that thing with her hands, the flailing thing. She just wanted me to know, because it was the - wait for it - gentlemanly thing to do."

Aubrey's laugh was sudden. "That's just so Beca."

"Isn't it?" Stacie grinned.

 ~

When Beca had started drumming her fingers on the table, obviously nervous, Stacie just sipped her coffee and waited her out.

"So – a week ago, I came over to get some milk," When she didn't continue, Stacie just raised her eyebrow, not that Beca could see it from her intense study of the table. "And... uh... youguysdidn'tlockthebackdoor."

Stacie took a bit longer to parse that out, but when she did she just shrugged. "Oops." She winked when Beca’s eyes shot up to hers. “Hope you enjoyed the show.” She really did love teasing Beca whenever she got the chance; it was so easy to do.

“Ha. Ha.” Beca took a sip from her coffee as the flush darkened.

“Why are you telling me this?” Stacie watched as Beca’s hands came up, almost as if she was trying to pull words out of the air. ‘Flustered Beca is just as fun as embarrassed Beca,’ Stacie thought as she sipped her coffee.

“Because… I felt… you should know? Like – that’s, just… I dunno. That’s not… that’s a ‘you guys’ thing, and it shouldn’t be…” Her hands dropped back to the table. “It’s like, the… gentlemanly?...  thing to do?”

“Gentlemanly? Seriously, Becs? Are you from the 18th century all of the sudden?” Stacie grinned, a whole new realm of teasing opening up. “Like, should we be alone having coffee right now? Does one of us need a chaperone? Which would totally be you, because I’m the kind of girl your mother warns you about. Just ask Bree’s mom.”

“Dude, no. Just... Shut up.” Beca dropped her forehead into her palm.

Stacie sipped her coffee again, waiting until it looked like Beca had relaxed some. “So… whatever it was you heard… did you like it?” She tried not to let on how much she really kind of wanted to know the answer.

“DUDE!” Beca's eyes darted around the shop to see if anyone was close enough to overhear.

"Not that you've told me what, or I guess 'who', you heard." Stacie cocked her head to the side, considering.

"Holy fuck." Beca’s eyes closed in dismay and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Stacie leaned forward. "If memory serves, it certainly felt like it at the time."

"DUDE!" Beca hissed even as she facepalmed. "Oh my god."

"Might as well tell me the story before I just start making up my own version."

"I... god. There’s nothing really to tell. I walked into the kitchen, heard things that should be private, then left.” Beca’s fingers were slowly shredding a napkin.

“What’d you hear, exactly?” Stacie didn’t really care, it was more to see if Beca would continue to babble or not. It was beyond adorable. And, ok, she really wanted to know what was going on in that music filled head. Stacie was still very curious about Beca’s comments last March.

“I… I… It was... Aubrey?" Beca's face now would have matched the shade of Chloe's hair if she'd been there.

“Oh? You know her voice well enough to be able to figure that out… from the kitchen?” Stacie leaned forward again. “Beca, is there something you need to tell me about freshman year?” She knew there wasn’t, but this was like Christmas come early.

“NO!” Beca lowered her voice when she realized that was much louder than she’d intended. Again. “Oh my god. No.” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “I just... Ok, I don’t actually know. It was just moaning and maybe some cursing. Maybe it was you…”

“Oh, no, it was definitely her. My mouth was otherwise occupied.” Beca’s own mouth dropped open and Stacie admitted that the pleasure she took in the expression warping Beca’s face was probably more than a bit sadistic. “Breathe, Beca. Chloe will kill me if I have to take you to the hospital because you passed out and hit your head.” She also felt that there was maybe more than just shock and embarrassment to Beca at that moment. There had been a flash of something too quick to identify after that last jab. She’d have to mull it over on the drive home.

“I hate you so much right now.” Beca let her head drop to the table. “Why do you do this to me?”

“Because it’s fun, Becs.” She smiled teasingly as Beca looked up. “And I haven’t actually done anything to you. Imagine what it’d be like if we were –“

“Do not finish that sentence, Conrad.” Beca pointed at her.

“Alright, Mitchell.” And before Beca could take another breath, she slipped in, “But you know you love it.”

And the middle finger she got in return was the answer she’d expected as Beca sipped her coffee.

  ~

"And... was that it?" Aubrey’s voice was entirely too casual.

"Mostly." Stacie winced as Aubrey pinched her leg again. "I may have asked her if she'd liked what she'd overheard. To get a rise out of her. Which turned out to be you, by the way." She watched Aubrey carefully.

"Stacie!" Aubrey’s cheeks went scarlet.

"Interesting. She had the same reaction." Stacie grinned wickedly, inwardly just relieved that it hadn’t invoked outright horror.

"Oh." Aubrey fell silent even as she blushed harder.

"What're you thinking, babe. I can feel it this time." But, and this was the part Stacie found curious, it wasn’t a negative feeling she was getting from Aubrey.

"Oh." Aubrey's fingers once again touched her throat. "Uh. Just-"

Stacie sat up and swung her legs to the floor so she could sit right against her wife. "You know you can tell me anything." She reached over and took Aubrey’s free hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I... I'm not sure, actually." Aubrey’s voice was soft, thoughtful.

"About what?" Stacie tightened her fingers reassuringly. She wasn’t sure where she was expecting this conversation to go, honestly, but after all the jokes she’d made, and then Beca… They’d have to discuss it at some point. If only to put it away once and for all. She just wasn’t sure if today was that day.

"How any of that makes me feel. Like, do I feel... well, not violated. Cause, I don’t... just no. Never.” She shook her head, smiling. “But... I’m not sure what I am feeling. If that makes sense."

"I mean, technically it's probably just her turn, considering you walked in on them last year." Stacie brushed her thumb across the back of Aubrey's hand. “While I don’t think I, or even Chloe, would have it cross our minds to tell each other – you and Beca are obviously two peas in a pod, since you told them.”

"I guess that's one way to look at it." Aubrey sighed.

“Should I not have told you?” Stacie had debated it the whole drive home. Between bouts of chuckles at ‘gentlemanly’ and the look she imagined on Beca’s face before she’d run out of the kitchen like a scared rabbit.

“No, that’s – it’s fine.” Aubrey squeezed their fingers together this time.

“Are you embarrassed?” This was the key point, Stacie thought, the main reason she’d considered not saying anything.

Aubrey was silent for a few minutes, thinking it over. “No. I don’t think I am. Maybe a bit annoyed at myself for forgetting. But…” She sighed. “No, I’m not embarrassed. Just… uncertain, if any of that makes sense.” She turned to Stacie. “How did Beca feel about it? I mean, ultimately?”

“Same as you do. Flustered, obviously. Embarrassed. But it’s not like that’s going to change anything. It didn’t last year for you, and remember: she – they - were totally normal at dinner.” Aubrey’s eyes drifted to the mantle and its display case, nodding a bit. Stacie paused and stared toward the kitchen until she felt Aubrey’s eyes back on her. “There was something I couldn’t put my finger on. Something behind her RBF that she was careful to keep hidden.” Aubrey’s brow furrowed. “And, ok, this could just be my ego talking –“

“Usually is.” When Stacie’s mouth opened to protest, Aubrey continued. “Well deserved ego, it may be.”

“Better. Anyway – honestly? Part of me wants to say part of her was intrigued. Like, she protested maybe a bit too much? But, I could just be reading into things. Especially after that comment she made last month.” She watched Aubrey carefully again as this was the first time it had been brought up directly by either of them.

“Oh.” There was a pause. “Oh.” Aubrey’s hand went back up to her throat but dropped down to toy with her watch instead. “Did… that come up?”

Stacie shook her head. “No. I’m not sure if I’m right, so I wasn’t going to bring it up at Starbucks.”

‘Or without talking to you first.’ She thought to herself.

Stacie let her head rest against the back of the couch as she played with Aubrey’s fingers. “I let it drop. I just thanked her for being a ‘gentleman’ and asked about their anniversary plans.”

She offered Aubrey an out, deciding now was maybe not the time for a full discussion. It was enough, for now, and she knew Aubrey would think about it, even if it was subconsciously. So she could wait until Bree was ready. Or let it fall away if she never was. Making Beca blush would continue to be harmless and hysterical fun. The four of them would always be close, no matter what. Stacie really was satisfied with how things were. Aubrey was all she needed in the world. She just couldn’t help that she sometimes wondered about what could be. They were all hot and fun and the trust they shared was off the chart.

“Oh!” Aubrey said again, and Stacie knew she was right when she felt Aubrey latch onto the change in topic. “What are they doing? Chloe would only say that they’re going to dinner and then exchanging gifts. Not that she told me what her gift was.” Aubrey’s lips formed a small pout.

“Well that’s about all I know, honestly. Beca wouldn’t tell me what she got Chloe either. But they’ve got reservations to that restaurant Chloe loves, and Beca arranged for a limo, to and from.” She watched as Aubrey’s face changed as she considered. Stacie absolutely loved how expressive Aubrey’s face was when she was deep in thought.

“I’ve got an idea.” She turned to Stacie and kissed her. “How about we pay for dinner and the limo? I know it’s their anniversary, but… I wouldn’t feel right not doing something.”

Stacie nodded. “That’s a great plan, Bree. Maybe before they get home, we could sneak over, cover their room in candles and leave them some nice champagne on ice with our gift.”

“No candles.” Aubrey’s tone was firm. “We don’t know when they’ll be home. Are you trying to burn the house down?”

“Oh.” Stacie’s lips twisted. “Shoot. I didn’t think of that.”

“But, maybe – I’ll go get a box of those electronic candles. They should last a few hours, and I know they won’t be home for at least 2 hours, so if we sneak in 90 minutes after they leave we should have plenty of time.”

Stacie leaned forward and kissed her wife softly. “You, my dear, are a genius.” She pressed forward again, her lips a bit more firm as her free hand crept down to Aubrey’s thigh.

Aubrey pulled back. “Why don’t you go lock the back door and I’ll write myself a note to call the restaurant and limo company tomorrow. And maybe another surprise if it can be done in time.”

“Why, Mrs. Posen, are you suggesting we have day sex? Again?” Stacie placed her hand over her heart. “Whatever will the neighbors say if they knew.”

“Oh, I think it's obvious they already know.”

Stacie gave her one last kiss in promise before heading for the back door.

  ~C~

Saturday, April 22nd , 2017

Chloe loved the map that Beca had given her and knew exactly where they would hang it in the living room. She couldn’t wait to uncover all the places she and Beca had already been together and would go in their lives.  She’d also loved dinner and especially the making out in the limo before and after. But now she was nervous as she presented her own gift to Beca.

Beca unwrapped it eagerly and spent a long time looking at the two frames within. So long that Chloe felt the first hint of panic climbing up her back. She shifted a bit on the couch. “I… I know it’s kind of…”

And that’s when Beca looked up at her with glassy eyes. “No. It’s…” She had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Chloe, they’re amazing.”

Chloe had gotten Beca two Metallic Sound Wave prints. One of them was of ‘Titanium’ and Chloe hoped Beca would want to hang it in their room as Chloe had been picturing it above their bed since she first heard of the idea. The second was of ‘Flashlight’ and was meant to be hung in Beca’s office at work.

“Yeah?” Chloe felt tears threatening to spill free though she didn’t know why. She knew, logically, that Beca would like them. But to see just how much Beca loved them struck deeper than she’d expected.

“Yeah.” Beca leaned over and kissed her. “These songs changed my life. This is… incredible, thank you. For putting this together. For loving me.” She clicked her tongue. “For barging into my shower the second time we met just so you could see me naked.”

“Sweet talker.” Chloe forced back the urge to cry as she took the frames from Beca and gently laid them on the coffee table before she straddled Beca’s lap. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get into my pants.”

Beca untucked Chloe’s top from her slacks. “More like get you out of your pants and into my bed.” She danced her fingertips up Chloe’s spine.

“I think that can be arranged.” Chloe captured her lips while her hands threaded through Beca’s hair. She settled herself more firmly on Beca’s lap, pressing them together even as she slipped her tongue between Beca’s already parted lips.

The kiss started out slow and languid, a slow caress of tongues that moved back and forth between them. Chloe would pull back just enough to get a sip of air before she moved back in, changing the angle of her head to get a different sensation, pull a different reaction from Beca. She felt hands stroke upward, one deftly unhooking her bra, allowing unrestricted access to the nails that gently scratched the entire length of her back. Chloe groaned and pulled away, bowing into the touch as her hands clutched at the back of Beca’s neck.

She felt Beca’s nose nudge against her jaw, insistent until Chloe tilted her head away. Her hips began to shift, rocking just a little, as lips kissed their way from her mouth to where her neck disappeared under her shirt, lingering on her pulse point. When Beca began to suck lightly then harder, Chloe light out a sigh of contentment and ground herself just a little bit harder while Beca’s hands slid to pull her hips down and tighter against her.

Chloe watched affectionately as Beca pulled back and eyed her handiwork, eyes twinkling when she looked up. “Does it meet your requirements? Whatever those may be?”

“That one does. I’ve a few more in mind.” Her smirk sent a thrill through Chloe. “But you’re wearing too many clothes for those.”

Chloe stood up and held out her hand. “Then let’s go upstairs so you can finish unwrapping your present.”  Before she realized what was happening, Beca had stood and swept Chloe up into her arms and she couldn’t help the squeal that escaped. “What are you doing!?”

Beca strode easily through the living room. “Carrying my wife to bed.”

“But…” She stopped as they reached the stairs and Beca let Chloe back down to stand beside her. Honestly, she shouldn’t be surprised that Beca had carried her. She’d done it when they’d moved into the house for the first time.

“Except I’m not foolish enough to try and climb these while doing it. I don’t want to spend this night in the ER.” Then, almost as an afterthought, “Plus I think Aubrey would kill me if I damage you in any way.”

Chloe tugged her up the stairs, laughing. “Probably.”  She kept tugging them down the hall, before Beca got a chance to sweep her off her feet again. Only she stopped short in the doorway, hearing Beca’s soft grunt as she ran into her from behind.

“Wha-? Is everything ok?” Beca peered over her shoulder. “Holy shit.”

The room was filled with soft flickering light as every available surface that wasn’t the bed was covered in tiny electric candles. Chloe stepped in and over to the TV tray set up at the end of their bed. On it was a nice, expensive, bottle of champagne, chilling on ice, with two beautiful flutes etched with what looked like a stylized Bella B. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized what it said and had to actually sit on the end of the bed as she started to laugh.

“Chlo?” Beca approached the table and picked one up. “Sonofa…” and she let out an honest to god giggle. She looked a bit mortified, but couldn’t stop them as she continued to laugh. “Those beautiful bitches. I love them so fucking much.” What Chloe had taken for a Bella B was actually the start of a different word. Entirely.

Bloe 1st Anniversary

Still giggling, Beca set the glass back down and looked at the rest of the tray. It had a selection of fruit, including chocolate covered strawberries and pineapple, as well as a note. Beca snorted after she read it, handing it to Chloe who recognized the handwriting as Stacie’s.

  Bloe,

Bree and I wanted to wish you a happy 1st anniversary. Since she wouldn’t let me give myself as a present, we’ve left you a snack to bring with you into The Expanse. I can’t imagine that you don’t actually get hungry climbing in and out of that thing.

All of our love, Staubrey

  Chloe traced the writing while Beca picked up the bottle to open it. “We’re going to have to start thinking of how to repay them.” She shook her head. “Dinner, the limo... now this.”

Beca picked up the bottle and whistled. “Yeah we are.” She removed the foil and wire from the bottle and took a deep breath. “Here’s to not losing an eye in our bedroom.”  She turned away from Chloe, and hopefully any breakable items in their room.

Chloe watched as Beca thought for a minute, her fingers ready to push the cork. Aubrey had showed them the ‘proper’ way to open a bottle when you didn’t want any mess. Beca had found it handy on occasion at an office party. But she had far more fun with popping the cork and letting it fly where it may. Apparently their bedroom didn’t offer enough room for her to risk it as she grabbed the towel sitting on the tray. She placed it over the top of the bottle and, with her hand firmly wrapped around the cork within it, turned the bottle by the other hand on the base. She kept her face turned away, wincing involuntarily as the cork finally eased free. Chloe thought it was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.

She rose and stood behind Beca, who looked over her shoulder in grinning triumph. “You’ve always been so good with your hands.” She slipped her arms around Beca’s waist. “It’s one of things I love most about you.”

“Oh yeah?” Beca turned back to the tray, pouring an inch into each glass and waiting till the bubbles subsided, just like Aubrey always suggested. Once they had, she filled the glasses and set the bottle back in the ice. She picked both up and turned carefully in the circle of Chloe’s arms.

“Yup.” As Chloe took the flute she looked down as their chests brushed together. “And there are two more.” She looked up and winked.

“Well, you’ve seen them naked, so…” She clinked their glasses together.

“And I’m looking forward to seeing them naked again. Soon.” She smiled, their banter tugging at all the right strings in her heart and other places as she drank. Once their glasses were lowered, Chloe swooped in for a kiss, both of their mouths cool and flavored with champagne. “Happy Anniversary, Becs.” She watched as a kind of awe spread across Beca’s face, the words hitting home all over again. Chloe understood, she’d had the same feeling on and off all night.

“Happy Anniversary, Chlo.” Beca leaned in and they kissed again, slowly. When they pulled back, she smirked. “Who could have predicted this would happen when a redheaded senior with no sense of boundaries invaded the shower of a freshman.” Beca took another sip. “Borderline indecent.”

“I don’t think there’s any borderline about it.” Chloe drained her glass and licked her lips, much more lasciviously than required. “Your own fault for having a voice like that. I didn’t even realize until later that the body was just as hot.”

“Yeah?” Beca finished her flute and took Chloe’s, twisting to set them back on the tray.

“Yeah.” Chloe nodded, her fingers beginning to strip her wife from her clothes. “Totes.” Desire was slipping back to the forefront of her mind, thoughts of Beca naked never failed to make her pulse beat faster. “Then I thought about it a lot. While listening to my jam.” She grinned. “My lady jam.”

Beca smirked. “That will totally get me out of my pants.” Her hands were already helping Chloe pull at their clothes.

Chloe beamed. “Mission accomplished.”

They fell naked and laughing onto the bed, limbs tangling as they slid together in all the right places. 

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Nowish - Part 2

Bechloe. Staubrey. Bellas Squared/Stechlobree.

A story in which I convinced myself by accident that this could work. Let me try and convince you too.

Nowish Master Post  - Everything on one page.

A Shared Lifetime  - All my fics

Recommended Mood Music on Spotify. Artistic license taken with song release years.

Note on the links: The ones about music lead to YouTube vids for fun. Rest are GIFs or links to whatever gift idea I have.

Some reflection and a flashback.

~C~

Saturday, March 11th, 2017

Chloe was up first the next morning and she eased gently out of bed to avoid waking Beca. She took a quick shower and pulled on her robe to go downstairs to start breakfast. As she tried to decide between making something or just cereal with some fruit, she replayed the end of the evening over in her mind while starting a pot of coffee.

It wasn’t really anything unusual; there had always been sexual innuendos and jokes between the four of them. But normally it was anyone but Beca making them. Aubrey was far more inclined to play along, mostly because she loved to fluster the living hell out of Beca. Which Chloe always found amusing because Beca was far dirtier than the rest of them knew, she was just uncomfortable letting it out in front of anyone but Chloe. Well, at least until now.

But last night… It had sounded like Beca had propositioned Stacie. In a quasi-serious way. And Chloe was extremely intrigued by that, especially since Beca knew it was a package deal, no matter who the words were actually spoken to.

Chloe settled on cereal and fruit, pulling out a bowl and a box of Special K. Setting them on the counter, she retrieved the milk from the fridge and grabbed a banana from the dish on the center island. She hummed idly as prepped her cereal and sliced the banana over it. Finally she added the milk and put it away.  Looking out the window she decided to eat by the pool because it was such a lovely morning. She poured herself a large mug of coffee and grabbed a spoon from the drawer before taking everything outside. Settling at one of unshaded tables they had set up, she took the first sip from her mug before starting on her cereal to the sound of birds in the trees around her.

Chloe had always been an open person. She had by no means been easy, despite her lack of boundaries when it came to the personal space of a certain brunette college freshman. She was always very careful with whom she was intimate and she thoroughly enjoyed her time with them. And while she’d never actually had sex with more than one person at a time, it wasn’t something she’d have turned her nose up at with the right people involved. So her first instinct was not jealousy at the thought that Beca may have been serious last night.

It wasn’t as if Chloe hadn’t briefly thought of it back when they had first moved to LA and Stacie had joked about sleeping together. Though ‘joke’ wasn’t really the right word, as if all parties had actually agreed, she was sure they’d have been in bed two minutes later. So of course Chloe had thought about it. It may also have circled her brain whenever she realized it was about time for one of Stacie’s quarterly nudges, and it may have gotten a bit more detailed as the four of them had become closer than she’d have thought possible prior to the move. But she’d never actually, really, sat down and thought about it before.

She knew that she and Beca were secure in their relationship after all they’d been through the last five years. Their time at Barden had created a very solid and deep foundation, despite their occasional rocky moments. The time in LA plus the almost full year as a married couple made for a sturdy and safe space.

While she also felt almost as close to Aubrey and Stacie, they would never be quite as important to her as Beca. But sitting in the morning sun in their might-as-well-be-shared back yards, she let herself consciously think of all of them in a bed together. Living with all of them at one time or another, she knew all too well what the other couple looked like naked, making it easy to envision when she opened that closed door in her mind. Still, the quickness of the wash of heat that prickled her skin took her a bit by surprise.  She quickly shut the door again, but not before half a dozen images pushed past and rolled around behind her eyes.

‘Alright, mission accomplished. I guess I know how I feel about the idea at a purely physical level.’

She forced herself to concentrate on her breathing until she was able to push the visuals away. For a minute she’d been afraid she’d have to jump in the pool to cool down. But, gradually, the peace of the morning helped her determination to look at it from a logical perspective. She finished her cereal and leaned back to sip her coffee, staring into the clear waters of their pool.

If she were willing to let anyone into their bed, it most definitely wouldn’t be some stranger. It couldn’t be anyone that Chloe and Beca didn’t trust implicitly. It also had to be someone that wouldn’t try to come between them – not that any of their friends and acquaintances would or a stranger could. ‘Bloe is real’ as Amy had said at their wedding.

And, to Chloe, it made sense to have it be another couple. Someone who would also be in it just for the fun and experience. Someone as devoted to their partner as much as Beca and Chloe were to each other. And, if that’s the ‘rule’ she was setting, that really did leave only Aubrey and Stacie.

Chloe smiled to herself, glad her friends had found each other, though it had been difficult for the longest time. Stacie was actually a year younger than the rest of the Bellas, having graduated from high school a year early. While Aubrey had been intrigued by the confident, yet gropey, girl in auditions, she’d shut down when she’d realized that Stacie was only 17. Chloe would bring up, every chance she got, that Stacie was obviously very smart and extremely mature for her age, more so than most of the freshmen on campus.

It was a conversation they’d had almost as much as the one they’d had every time Aubrey threatened to kick Beca out of the Bellas. Chloe had never been so happy to have someone’s birthday so soon after Christmas, because then Aubrey no longer had the ‘But she’s underage, Chloe!’ argument to use once January 9th rolled around. But, Aubrey’s own insecurities stacked with Stacie’s admittedly adamant desire to refer to her vagina as the Hunter and let ‘him’ roam free across campus. So Aubrey graduated and left without ever actually saying anything to Stacie about her feelings. Feelings that Stacie was not immune to, just not entirely prepared for.

Then they had reconnected at the retreat.

  After the rest of the girls had left the campfire, Chloe had promised Beca she’d be right in, but she needed to talk to Aubrey for a second. Once all the girls were out of sight, she’d turned back to Aubrey. “Sooooooooooooo…” Aubrey narrowed her eyes, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Are you ever going to date someone seriously?”

Aubrey’s response was instant. “I date!”

“I said seriously.” Chloe held up her hand when Aubrey opened her mouth. “You literally ran away to hide in the woods so you don’t have to really date anyone serious because you can’t, or won’t, date Stacie.” She hated using a drunken confession to make her point, but she just wanted Aubrey to be happier than Chloe knew she was.

“You don’t play fair.” Aubrey stared into the fire, a faint blush covering her cheeks. “Ok. I don’t date.” She sighed. “And now… it’s too late.”

A voice out of the darkness made them both jump. “I wouldn’t say that.” Stacie walked back out of shadows. “Maybe it’s time we talk, yeah?”

Chloe reined in her natural desire to clap with joy and stood up. “I’ll just…” and she pointed toward the direction of the tent before she patted Aubrey on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

She didn’t know what they’d talked about for the longest time and it had killed Chloe to not share it with Beca, but it wasn’t her story to tell. And it wasn’t until Aubrey had come to visit them just before Worlds that Chloe found out they’d been texting. Often. She felt silly about it later, as while she’d noticed that Stacie was staying in and not going on her dates, she hadn’t put together what it meant. She found out later that Beca had also given Aubrey a kick while the rest of the Bellas were getting ready at Worlds.

Beca had found Aubrey staring after Stacie as the brunette helped everyone with their makeup. Beca had nudged her former captain and told her to go get the girl. “Emily just kissed Benji, you should totally just go lay one on her while she’s got her makeup handy to fix whatever you muss up.”

“I… I don’t know, Beca. What if being with me isn’t enough?” Aubrey was characteristically anxious and uncertain. Beca had told Chloe it had made her sad that Aubrey didn’t see herself the way the rest of them did.

Beca captured her gaze. “Posen. Get your head out of your ass. It’s not a hat.” She grinned cheekily when Aubrey actually growled at her, and then grew serious again. “Seriously, Bree. Don’t fuck this up. Make it real already. We need you both.”

When they’d run off the stage as World freaking Champions, Aubrey had been waiting. And ready. She’d swept Stacie into her arms and kissed her. The rest of the girls had gone crazy, their already loud cheers hitting decibels that would leave them a bit hoarse the next day.

  Chloe smiled to herself, the echoes of “Staubrey Lives” floating through her mind. So, yes – the two women living behind them were closer to her than anyone but her wife and she loved them both very much. They were literally the only people that she would accept if she and Beca decided to try this adventure. She just wasn’t fully certain how to broach the subject with her sometimes still prickly wife, but knew she’d have to find the right time.

“What are you smiling about?”

Chloe looked up as the voice interrupted her train of thought. “Morning, Bree.” She pushed the chair next to her a little bit with her foot, her robe riding high up her thigh, but still keeping things modest. “Nothing, just enjoying the morning.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” Aubrey settled into the chair with her own coffee.

“Maybe because it’s a lie.” But Chloe wasn’t ready to talk about this with anyone but Beca yet. “I was just remembering Worlds. And the events right after.” Her lips twisted in a teasing smile.

Aubrey smiled back. “I’m so glad you guys both kicked my ass into gear. Best decision of my life.”

“You mean, after joining the Bellas.” Chloe corrected. Aubrey nodded and raised her Bella mug slightly in agreement. “I forget, did you guys have any plans for the weekend?”

The two friends fell into easy conversation until their wives stumbled out groggily to join them, almost in sync, having woken up lonely in bed.

   ~B~

Saturday, August 5th, 2016

Ever since the ‘couple time’ rule had gone into effect, Stacie had casually, here and there, tried to work Aubrey up to the point where Aubrey, of all people, forgot to put up the equivalent of a sock on the door. Beca was almost positive it was more to see if Stacie could instead of just trying to ‘give Bloe a show’ as Cynthia Rose had once said.

The Bellas had all come to visit a few weeks before the Posen-Conrad wedding and had spread across both houses. They’d almost emptied the local liquor store by the time they left, but they had greatly enjoyed themselves and spent the days wandering between kitchens, pool and hot tub. Where they slept depended on how drunk they were at the end of the day and if they could walk from one house to the other without falling in the pool.

One night, Ashley had leaned over the edge of the pool chair and asked, “Ok, but how often do you guys walk in on each other because you never lock the door?”

“Oh, it gets locked when… that… happens.” Aubrey took another drink of her beer.

“Yeah, now.” Stacie replied. When Ashley twirled her finger for more information, she continued. “Aubrey almost walked in on Bloe getting wild in their living room a few weeks after we moved in.” The rest of the girls hooted, holding up their drinks in salute. Beca just bowed her head and waved her hand regally through the air. “So Bree declared the rule.”

Beca snorted. “Besides, if Stacie’s super determined, she’d just pick the lock.”

Stacie shrugged. “Eh.”

Flo asked, “But do you always remember?”

“Aubrey does.” Chloe looked over at her friend. “But, I admit, Beca and I may forget once or twice.”

“Chloe!” Aubrey looked scandalized.

“Sorry Bree, but sometimes things go a little fast and the next thing I know, I’m completely naked on the stairs.” Chloe shrugged helplessly.

“Oh my god.” Aubrey covered her eyes as laughter surrounded them. “Why would you try and put that in my head.”

“Well, shit. I can’t let Beca outsex me. That’s like a direct challenge to the Hunter.” Stacie looked over at Aubrey, considering. “I may have to step up my game.” And though Aubrey tried to look displeased, it’s not like the thought of more sex with her fiancé was ever going to be a bad thing.

“Yeah, sure, you just wanna give Bloe a show.” Cynthia Rose looked slyly at Stacie. “We heard about all them orgy jokes you make, girl.”

“Hey, in all fairness, they’re totally hot and Beca ordered The Expanse.” Stacie ignored Aubrey’s swatting hand. “What else am I supposed to think about?”

“What’s ‘The Expanse?’”  It took several tries before they heard what Lilly was asking.

“Oh, that’s what I call Beca’s GIANT fucking bed.” Stacie’s eyes widened dramatically as her arms stretched out their full length. “You’ve seen it. It’s fucking huge.”

Beca interrupted. “Hey, I didn’t get the biggest size they had... Just the second. It’s only 9 feet across and like, two and a halfish high.”

Chloe shook her head. “Don’t let her fool you, it wouldn’t fit in the bedroom or we’d totes have a 12 foot bed.”

Beca shrugged. “Got me there.”

“Damn it, now that’s going to show up in my mind when I least expect it.” Jessica shook her head. “Not that I’m really complaining.” When the others all stared at her, she got defensive. “What? It’s kinda hot! You can’t tell me it isn’t!”

Ashley nodded from beside her, smiling. “You’re not wrong.” She winked at Chloe who returned it. “They’re totally hot.”

Beca chimed in for the first time. “Can we talk about something other than my sex life?”

“Oh, so wait – now it’s actually part of your sex life? I thought you guys hadn’t done the dirty yet?” Amy made a show of widening her eyes. “Shawshank, I thought you told me everything!”

Beca stuttered out, “That’s not… we haven’t…”

Chloe’s teasing voice came from behind her. “Why, Beca. What does Amy mean she thought we hadn’t ‘yet’? What are you telling her that I don’t know?”

Beca blushed furiously. “I… that’s… no. I… I’m getting a beer.” She made her way to her kitchen instead of the cooler on the patio, smiling to herself at how much she missed these girls even when they made her crazy. 

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Nowish - Part 6

Bechloe. Staubrey. Bellas Squared/Stechlobree.

A story in which I convinced myself by accident that this could work. Let me try and convince you too.

Nowish Master Post  - Everything on one page.

A Shared Lifetime - All my fics

Recommended Mood Music on Spotify. Artistic license taken with song release years.

Note on the links: The ones about music lead to YouTube vids for fun. Rest are GIFs or links to whatever gift idea I have.

Chloe’s Birthday and an accidental live sex show.

Only a tiny bit of smut in this one, but it’s there!

~B~

Wednesday, June 7th, 2017

Beca worked quietly in the hallway outside her room, trying to arrange her surprise while it was still hot and not wake up the sleeping birthday girl. Per her self-created birthday tradition, she was serving Chloe breakfast in bed and after last year’s almost debacle bringing things up the stairs, she’d decided to carry them up in stages and put it together out here. Currently she was arranging a covered plate, glass of orange juice and a single rose in a small vase on the tray for Chloe. Carefully she lifted it and nudged the bedroom door open with her foot, smiling as she saw Chloe buried in a huddle of blankets and pillows.

Setting the tray down on the dresser, she stealth crawled her way up until she was propped up on her right arm next to her sleeping wife. Slowly she leaned down and pressed feather light kisses all over Chloe’s face until she stirred, then captured her lips to ease her gently awake.

Chloe’s arms slid from the blankets and around Beca’s neck, humming in approval. “Mmm… Morning.”

The kiss broke as Chloe gave a sleepy stretch and Beca whispered softly into her ear. “Happy Birthday, Chlo.” She ran the back of her fingers across Chloe’s cheek, watching as those gorgeous cerulean eyes blinked open. She wasn’t sure how she could be more in love with this woman every day, but she was. Even though she’d been falling since that first day at the activities fair, she never took it for granted.

Chloe nuzzled under Beca’s chin and placed a kiss on her neck. “Thanks, love.” She pulled Beca down tight against her body. “Are you my present?” Her hand ran down Beca’s side until her fingertips slid under the elastic of Beca’s shorts and nails scraped lightly at her hips.

Beca moaned softly, pushing her body even closer. “I mean, I do consider myself a gift to mankind…” She hissed as teeth nipped at her neck. “But I did make you breakfast.”

“What if I want you for my breakfast?” Chloe’s hand moved to rest against her stomach, dipping further under her shorts and stroking lightly just above the juncture between her legs.

“Ungh… Breakfast…” Beca briefly wondered how many times she’d squeaked that word in the time since she’d met Chloe. It seemed like a lot. She swallowed. “I would consider… Sweet baby Jesus, Chlo… myself more of a dessert.” Against her will she found herself angling her body to give Chloe better access as her hand slipped lower.  She could always just remake breakfast, right? Then Chloe’s hand stopped.

“Do I smell bacon?” Chloe sniffed the air. “Did you actually make me bacon?”

“What?” Beca blinked. “I… Yes.” She swallowed and tried to refocus again. “Do you… should I get…” She twitched a thumb over her shoulder. “Tray?” Words were complex when the blood was rushing elsewhere.

Chloe laughed as she kissed her one more time. “I love that you make me breakfast in bed, Becs.” She pulled her hand out of Beca’s shorts. “Huh. That’s… well that’s a phrase with two meanings.” Chloe giggled wickedly.

Beca rolled her way off the bed and groaned, sticking with the original intent of Chloe’s words. “I love that you all finally taught me how to cook things without burning the place down.” Beca had always been horrible in the kitchen; it was a long standing joke that all she was good for was coffee. But she had wanted to contribute more to the cooking while they were in college, for reasons she still wasn’t sure she understood, so the Bellas had taken turns teaching her one breakfast food throughout that first year in the house.

 Chloe had taught her to make bacon after several weeks and false fire alarms. Beca still flinched every time it popped, grease screen or not. The day she discovered there was a company that made actually good microwavable bacon in a pouch, she was set for life. Unless it was something special, like for Chloe’s birthday, then she did it the traditional way.

Stacie had taught her how to make eggs, scrambled, fried and over easy, as well as bacon and cheese omelets, which had become Beca’s signature go to. She still wasn’t sure about adding milk to it, it went against everything she’d seen growing up, but she did it rather than face her wrath. Plus, they were eggcellent, if she said so herself. Which she did, often, to the groans of the others.

Jessica and Ashley had taught her pancakes, though they never turned out a perfect circle. Chloe said that just meant they were unique, like Beca.

Flo had taught her how to make Huevos rancheros, which sounded intimidating until she was told it basically eggs and a few other things mixed with chorizo, which also intimidated her until she found out it was essentially a spicy sausage.

Cynthia Rose had tried to teach her waffles, but after several failed attempts, Beca stuck with Eggos. Once in a while she’d help Chloe make them, but she’d accepted it was never going to be something she did well.

Amy said she would teach Beca a food from her homeland, but that just turned out to be the fact that she put the milk in the bowl before the cereal. “What kind of monster does that, Amy?”

No one could understand what Lilly was trying to teach, but when she pulled out a steak knife, most of them evacuated the kitchen, including Beca.

When they first moved into the condos, Aubrey had offered to teach Beca how to make French toast. Hesitantly, mostly out of PTSD from Bellas training, Beca had agreed. She had been more than pleasantly surprised to find that Aubrey was a patient teacher in the kitchen. She took her ability to break down a routine and used it to make the steps easy to remember. Beca didn’t do it that often, her slices turned out soggy more often than not, but on several occasions where Stacie would travel with Chloe, Beca would surprise Aubrey with French toast for breakfast. Beca always tucked away the shy, pleased smiles whenever Aubrey would come out and find a plate being loaded for her.

 As Chloe sat up and arranged their mass of pillows as a backrest, Beca paused as she admired how that put her wife’s naked form on display. Since Beca had taken the day off, she had woken Chloe up just after midnight with a whispered “Happy Birthday on Hump Day.”  Chloe had let out a sleepy laugh and let Beca thoroughly make love to her until they passed out in a warm mass in the center of their bed. That was another tradition Beca hoped to be able to continue and her favorite so far.

Beca brought the tray over to the bed and set it down as far as her arms could reach. “Wait!” She stopped Chloe from grabbing it. Beca climbed carefully on the bed and shuffled on her knees until she was able to lift it and set it gently over Chloe’s lap. She took the cloth napkin and flicked it open, draping it across her chest like a bib. “There.” When Chloe arched her eyebrow Beca shrugged. “Gotta protect the girls from any spillage.”

“Our hero.” Chloe deadpanned as she rolled her eyes.

“Breakfast is served.” Beca lifted the lid off the plate with a flourish. She’d made Aubrey’s French toast recipe, taking extra care to avoid her sometimes soggy results, with a couple scrambled eggs and a side of bacon. Sitting beside the plate was a small container of syrup and the tiny salt and pepper shakers they’d stolen from their many hotel stays.

“Becs, that’s real bacon. Not your microwavable pouch bacon.” Chloe’s eyes sparkled. “You do love me!”  She poured syrup over her pre-buttered – Beca had the amount memorized at this point – French toast with a small pool to dip her bacon in.

“Until my last breath and probably beyond.” Beca smiled and leaned down for a kiss. She watched as Chloe took her first bite and moaned appreciatively. “I’ll be right back.” She scuttled off the bed and to the hall table where she’d left her own tray. She came back in, repeating the process to settle on Chloe’s left. Her own plate held her normal omelet and she applied the salt and pepper liberally.

“So, what do you want to do today, birthday girl?” Beca watched as Chloe thoughtfully finished her bite of food.

“You mean other than you?” Chloe wiggled her eyebrows. “That joke never gets old, by the way.”

“I hope not.” Beca’s voice was scandalized. “And yes, other than me.”

Chloe dunked some bacon in syrup and ate it. “I didn’t actually have anything in mind this year.”

“Chlo, you’re too young to be treating this as ‘just another day’ like my grandma.”

“I know. But. I just feel like things are perfect. I can’t think of anything I want to add. I do wish I’d have thought about a day trip to Disney earlier, it might not be so bad this early in June on a weekday.”

Beca’s mouth dropped open. “Oh man! Disney on Hump Day? That… I’m so disappointed in myself for not thinking of that!”

“Stacie would kill us if we went without them, especially on my birthday. I didn’t think of it until yesterday, way too late for either of them to arrange the day off.”

Beca nodded, her mind filing the idea away for future celebrations. “Alright. So. If you have no plans… Let’s spend a leisurely morning here, and I’ll take you out to lunch. Then we have dinner with the girls.”

“Sounds like a perfect day to me.” Chloe reached over and took Beca’s right hand, bringing it up to her mouth for a kiss. “Thank you, love.”

As Beca went to respond, Chloe’s phone started to ring. Beca pushed Chloe’s tray down so she could pull her legs free and gingerly roll to the side of the bed to grab it. Beca swallowed, helpless to stop her eyes from roving over the view as Chloe pushed to her hands and knees to reach her phone. Beca’s pulse beat harder and desire stood up and started waving to get her attention, which was already firmly on Chloe’s ass.

“It’s Emily!” Chloe bounced a little and Beca’s mouth went dry.

“Chlo, you can’t FaceTime – you’re naked.” Beca was still trying to wrestle with her desire to ravish her wife again.

“Oh, yeah.” She tossed the phone to Beca. “Answer, I’ll put on a shirt.” She slid off the bed and pulled a drawer open on their dresser.

Beca nodded absently, eyes still distracted by smooth skin. “Yeah, sure.” She looked down and hit answer before it went to voice mail. “Yo, Legacy.”

Emily’s smiling face filled the screen before her eyebrows furrowed. Her mouth was open, probably to sing ‘Happy Birthday.’ “You’re not Chloe.”

“I’m so glad college is helping train that sharp brain of yours.” Beca forked up another small bite of her food.

“Shut up.”  Emily stuck out her tongue.

“She’s getting dressed.” Beca’s tone was sly. “She wasn’t camera ready.” She loved watching that disconcerted look cross Emily’s face. She waited, knowing what was coming. It was one of her favorite things about Emily and Beca loved to provoke her into saying it.

“Gross.”  But Emily was smiling, her tone affectionate.

“Beca, don’t scar Emily with that sex talk.” Chloe said as she crawled back onto the bed, grabbing a stand for the phone as she did so.

“Aca-mom 2, you can’t say sex when I know you’re naked!” Now Emily sounded, and looked, to Beca’s amusement, scandalized.

Chloe settled back in, pushing her tray against Beca’s. She balanced the phone in the stand so it sat on both trays and they could both see Emily and she them.

“Happy Birthday, Chloe!” Emily waved at her.

“Thanks, sweetie!” And she devoted her attention to the phone when Emily began to sing to her.

Beca waited half a heartbeat before she joined in. It had been too long since she’d sung with Emily, the girl – young woman, she corrected herself – she’d taken under her wing her senior year. Well, eventually. It was more accurate to say ‘when Beca finally got her shit together after the retreat’. She smiled at Emily’s excited grin as their voices blended. She heard a sniffle and looked over as Chloe wiped a few tears from her eyes.

“I love you guys.” Chloe smiled. “I don’t know how much more perfect this day can get, and it’s barely started.”

Beca squeezed her hand and went back to eating, letting them catch up. After a bit, she heard Chloe ask something she’d been wondering at for a while.

“How come I’m ‘Aca-mom 2’?”

“Well…” Emily’s voice trailed off and she squinted a bit.

“Spit it out, Legacy.” Beca nodded. “You know she’ll get it out of you anyway.”

Emily took a deep breath. “You kinda scared me my first year, Chlo.”

Beca interjected. “Because of the crazy eyes she’d get over Worlds and DSM?”

Chloe still looked a little mortified every time it came up. “I’m so sorry about trying to kill you with my eyes after the riff-off! I never really wanted you to crawl under a rock and die.”

Emily still flushed faintly at the memory. “I know, Chloe. It’s… I forgave you a long time ago. Like the next day when you made me cupcakes.” She grinned. “Though, you were still always nice to me…  Beca kept running out of practice before the retreat. Maybe I’ve had it backwards this whole time.”

“You can’t just choose who your aca-moms are, Legacy.” Beca’s expression was stern, though her lips twitched.

“But, Beca. I technically met Chloe first. So really…”

Beca sighed. “You’re probably right. Plus, she is older. So I guess it-“ Chloe’s hand hitting her in the stomach stopped her words with a gasp. “Though she doesn’t look a day older than when we first met.” Beca said quickly.

Emily beamed at them, her happiness actually radiating through the screen to bathe them both in its warmth.

They spent the next half hour catching up while Beca and Chloe finished their breakfasts, before Emily finally had to go for class.

“I can’t wait to see you guys at the Reunion. And in October!” Emily bounced in her seat. “I miss you guys so much.”

“You miss Disneyland, you mean.” Beca pointed at her. “That’s ok. I get it. We’re second on your list.”

“Shut up.  Disney is just like, a bonus to seeing all of you.”

“Don’t let her fool you; she’s bummed because we didn’t think about a day trip to Disney for today.” Chloe leaned her head onto Beca’s shoulder, careful not to bump the trays.

Emily’s eyes widened. “Oh. Em. Aca. Gee! That would have been amazing.” Her eyes darted over to Beca who nodded slightly. She knew Emily was thinking of next year just like Beca. They really were an aca-family. “I love you, Aca-Moms! Happy Birthday, again, Chloe! Tell my Aca-Aunts I said hello for me! I’ll call them this weekend.”

“Wouldn’t Aubrey be more of your aca-grandmother?” Beca pondered out loud before she could stop herself.

“I am not calling her that!” Emily gasped, shocked. “She’d make me do cardio or something!”  Her voice dropped into a whisper. “For life!”

“Besides, she’s as old as me. What’re you trying to say Beca? Again, I might add.” Chloe’s voice purred in her ear.

“Uh…” Beca swallowed. “It’s cause she gradua-… firs… Heh-” and she trailed off as Chloe’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Uh huh. Keep going.”

“No, I think I’m good just dropping this here. Aca-Aunts it is.”

“Probably best.” Chloe looked back at Emily. “Love you, Em!” She blew her a kiss.

“Make good choices, Legacy.” Beca grunted at the elbow in her side. “What? She knows that’s how I say ‘I love you’!” Emily laughed, nodding.

“Beca.” Something in her voice made Beca meet her eyes and she saw Chloe’s eyebrow wing its way up. “You said that to me on your first Hood Night. Like, literally the fourth day we ever saw each other.” Her tone was almost shy and definitely quietly pleased.

Beca stopped, aware that Emily’s face shot had shot closer to her phone. She ran through that night in her mind, her lips twisting slightly as she hit that moment. “I… Oh. I did. Huh. Right after that whole jiggle juice thing.” Beca grinned as Chloe blushed. “I was so fucking stupid.”  Chloe’s soft look was starting doing things to her insides, pulling and tugging, demanding she get closer.

Emily’s squeal would have made Ashley proud. “You guys are perfect.”

“Bye, Legacy. I’m about to do something that would scandalize you completely.” Beca’s hand reached blindly for the phone. She turned in time to see Emily’s face change, caught between horror and delight.

“Oh, GROS-“ The laughter cut off as Beca ended the call.

“Why, Mrs. Mitchell…” Chloe ran her hand down Beca’s arm as Beca handed her the phone. “Whatever could you have in mind?” She set it out of the way.

Beca was silent for a moment, as she moved out from under her tray and scooted to the edge of the bed, tugging it after her. “I’m going to make last night look like a warm up to the main event.”

“Oh. My.” Chloe bit her lip, her eyes darkening. “That’s a mighty big claim.” She lifted her tray to the side as Beca came around to get it after setting her own on the dresser. Setting Chloe’s next to it, she faced the bed.

“You’ll have to grade me later.” Beca moved closer and stripped out of her clothes, feeling Chloe’s eyes on her. “Let me know if I lived up to your expectations.” She stalked across The Expanse as Chloe pulled her shirt back off.

“You usually do.” She tugged Beca over until she was straddling Chloe’s leg.

Beca lowered herself slowly, savoring the pressure sliding between her thighs. “Usually?”

“Oh yeah.” Chloe pulled their bodies together. “Okay, maybe more like, all the time.”

Beca leaned her head down, stopping to whisper against her lips. “Happy Birthday, Chlo.”

 ~C~

 Chloe sighed happily as she leaned back in the passenger seat of Beca’s convertible. After a completely wonderful breakfast in bed, a conversation with her aca-child and a second bout of birthday sex, she really couldn’t have planned the day any better than this. She smiled to herself. She was going to have to do some thinking about how to celebrate Beca’s. Beca did need a new laptop, but... It was on a Saturday this year, so maybe… She’d think on that a bit longer, maybe talk it over with Aubrey and Stacie.

She stretched a bit, all the right muscles just a little bit sore; Beca certainly had made good on her promise after breakfast. She’d never admit it, but Chloe kind of needed a nap after all that. Especially after the lunch they’d just eaten. So it was with surprise that she noticed they were driving past their exit. “Is this a kidnapping?”

“Maybe.” Beca kept her eyes on the road but turned down Lauv’s ‘I Like Me Better’ that she’d been singing with. “Maybe I’m taking you to my secret lair.”

Chloe leaned on the arm rest between them. “Beca, the only places you’d call your lair is your studio at work or at home.”

“Rats. This is true.” Beca snapped her fingers. “Curses, foiled again.”

Chloe settled back against the seat, eyes closed as the sun warmed her while the breeze blew over them. Beca had gotten the BMW 4 series convertible – in black sapphire metallic, of course – when she’d gotten promoted to full time producer last year. The bonus she’d gotten had made the perfect down payment. Originally she wanted to get something more practical for them, but Chloe had insisted they get something fitting for Beca’s new title. She was perfectly happy with the car they’d gotten upon reaching LA. It’s not like she had to impress artists or anything, just haul around a bunch of singing teenagers to their dance competitions or for pizza and ice cream.

They had fun picking out the bells and whistles – the M sport design, executive package, night blue Dakota leather upholstery, aluminum dark carbon trim, the driving assistance package that Beca thought ridiculously unnecessary – and literally every single option the car came with.

Chloe opened her eyes as they slowed to make a turn. “What…” She looked at Beca. “Why are we in a Cadillac dealership?”

Beca parked her car. “Sec.” She got out and moved around the back to Chloe’s side. “Madame.” She opened the door and held out her hand.

“Becs?” Chloe felt excitement beginning to bubble up.

Beca stepped back until the whole of the lot was behind her. She held out her arms. “Pick one.”

“What?” Chloe was sure she’d heard wrong. “Did you just say…”

“Pick one. Happy Birthday!” Beca rocked back on her heels, clearly pleased with herself.

Chloe had to whisper it. “For serious?”

Beca whispered back. “Dixie Chicks serious.”

Chloe squealed and launched herself forward, almost bringing them both to the pavement. She dropped kisses all over Beca’s face before planting several very thorough ones on her lips.

Beca laughed and spun her around. “Seriously though… Pick one. Whatever catches your eye. Whatever you want to put in it. On it, whatever.”

“Careful, Mitchell. I’ll take you up on that.” Chloe stepped back and tilted her head.

Beca leaned forward. “Dare you.”

And Chloe had taken her up on it, boy had she.

Once she settled on the Escalade, the salesman had finally come over after Beca had waved him off the first time.  He kept showing her different options, and she kept adding them and Beca kept smiling. At the end of it, what she’d come up with was a 4WD Platinum trim (which seemed to be just a super luxury package) Escalade in Crystal White. She’d selected every option like they’d done with Beca’s, including a 4 bike carrier that could added to their trailer hitch, as well as innumerable roof carriers for whatever was required for Chloe’s competition trips and hauling her kids and their outfits. She may also have been envisioning various road trips the four of them could take when she added the ski carrier.

When they were all done, and she saw the price, she’d barely kept her gasp contained. She fully expected Beca to laugh and tell her ‘ok, funny joke, let’s get real now.’ But what Beca had said was…

“We’ll take it.”

Chloe had had been unable to speak, her ears filling with white noise for a second as the world faded out. “Becs..?”  There was no way –

But the salesman was already shaking hands with her wife. “We actually have a fully loaded one on the lot, in that color. It won’t take long to get the carriers together; we can load them in the cargo area for you.”

The world came back in an instant. “Wait. That’s – Beca. How can we?”

Beca reached over and took her hand. “Yes. We can. Joel Cain signed with the label Monday. I got a bonus. This one’s for you. But I’d have done it anyway without it.”

Chloe barely restrained from throwing herself in Beca’s lap out of excitement. The news that Beca had actually gotten Joel to sign with the label was aca-mazing and she was so proud of her. The prospect of a new car was just a cherry on top.

She turned around. “So, wait.” The salesman looked up from gathering the paperwork. “You have one of these, with all this.” She pointed at all the checkmarks she’d made on a list. “In stock. Now. On this lot.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled at her. “You’ll get to drive it out of here once we get the paperwork done.” He stood. “I’ll go work with the finance guys. I’ll be back.”

Beca nodded. “Thanks, Barry.”

Chloe was up the second he was out of the office and pulling Beca to her feet. She hugged her tightly before pulling back to look her in the eyes. “Are you-“

Beca shut her up with a kiss. “Positive. We got this, love.”

Chloe let out another squeal and pulled her into another tight hug.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

~B~

Stopping at home to drop off Beca’s car, the two of them were going to go for a drive in Chloe’s new car. Beca took advantage of it and ran up to their room to brush her teeth. Midway she wandered over to her closet, thinking about changing to a lighter top, and as she turned around, she happened to look out her window, thinking she’d get Stacie to help her take out all the carriers and store them in the garage.

Her head slowly tilted, the brush idly held in her mouth. “Huh. So. Aubrey’s a boob woman. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

She continued to watch, without really thinking about it, as across the way a topless Stacie was standing at the foot of their bed, head thrown back, while an equally topless Aubrey nuzzled at her breasts. Beca noted the way Aubrey would pull back a little before swooping back in and –

“HOLY FUCK! WHAT AM I DOING?!” Beca’s eyes shot wide in panic, the toothbrush angled out of one corner of her mouth, forgotten. “WhatdoIdoohgod.”

Beca, was in full prudish panic mode, and spun to look back into her own room. This was something she should not be seeing right now. Though, really, to be more honest, this was something she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to see… yet. That was a different animal all together and one she didn’t really have time to work out right then thanks to her current level of freak out.

Cautiously, she closed her eyes and turned around, fumbling for the string to close the blinds. She finally found it by blind luck and started to close them. Until it jerked to a halt. “Oh of COURSE you get stuck right now. Jesus Christ.” Beca jerked at the cords in her frustration. “Goddamned…. Blinds… fuckery… always happens… when it’s least convenient. Which is always.” The blinds snapped all the way up with a crash. “Fucking…”

Beca opened her eyes in frustration, momentarily forgetting why she had closed them. Until a vivid reminder sprang into view as Aubrey’s arm looked like it was moving back and forth, hand below Beca’s line of sight, and Stacie had wound her own hand into the back of Bree’s hair, pulling her head back, bringing Aubrey’s chest into sharp relief.  “Oh my God. They’re totally sexing in front of my eyes.”  She frantically tried to get the blinds down, but every time they got halfway they would stick and she would have to rake them to the top and start again.

She was so caught up in her curse laden and ongoing battle with the window treatments that it took her a minute to realize something had changed. Against her will, she looked across their yards before she could stop herself.

Aubrey and Stacie, still TOPLESS for fucks sake, were standing in the window, watching her. Beca watched as Aubrey’s hand came up, but it felt like everything was moving in slow motion like some film about an existential crisis Jesse had made her watch in college. The hand waved back and forth and Beca’s eyes shifted over as Stacie started laughing. Beca didn’t think her eyes could get wider as the panic mixed with mortification at being caught and, well yes, hello there lust. She swallowed as Stacie stepped behind Aubrey, her hands coming up to cover Aubrey’s breasts until Aubrey grabbed one, pushing it down over her stomach. And lower. Aubrey’s head leaned back against Stacie’s shoulder and that’s about when Beca mentally slapped herself. Repeatedly.

Completely unsure which emotion swirling through was stronger, though mortification was tying with too-rapidly-rising lust, she flattened herself against the wall like a cat burglar caught in the act. A high pitched hysterical giggle filled the room. “Maybe... yeah, no... Maybe they didn’t see me… Maybe?”

“Becs?” She could hear Chloe’s voice coming up the stairs. “Are you ok, babe?”

“Yes! Yeah. Yep. Everything is fine. Here. In our room. Nothing. Uh. Nothing is going on across the way. Nope.”  Beca’s eyes darted around the room even though she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Maybe just an escape from the moment.

“I…” Chloe stopped in the doorway. Beca knew how she must look, pressed into the wall. Her eyes felt wide and probably crazy and, oh yeah, she had been brushing her teeth, so she probably looked rabid on top of it.

‘Fuck, I totally look like a rabid fucking cat burglar right now.’

“What’s all this?” Chloe’s finger wiggled at her. “This is new.” She walked into the room.

Beca waved her back as she hissed, “No, they’ll see you!”

“Who?” Chloe moved over and looked through the window. “And why are you whispering?”

“Aubrey and Stacie! They’re –” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, unable to say the words. Chloe just stared at her, waiting. “TheyarehavingthesexandIthinktheysawmelooking.”

Chloe looked at her like she’d just grown horns. “Did you just say ‘having the sex’ like an old person?”

Had she? “Oh my god. Maybe?”

Chloe said, slowly. “I thought you were interested in this kinda thing. Isn’t that why we had our big talk?”

“We had our talk. I don’t know if they did! I don’t know if we’re allowed!” Beca flailed her arms. “This is like - sacred stuff if you’re not allowed!”

“Well – Oh.” Chloe stopped, her inflection changing to greatly intrigued as she leaned toward the window. “Are they naked?” She didn’t sound scandalized, like Beca thought she should, but this was Chloe and she was always more open with the ‘sex stuff’ as Beca had once called it.

“OH MY GOD. DON’T LOOK. Close the blinds, they’re not working for me again!”

Chloe stepped closer to the window.  “Oh. Why, yes they are. Aubrey just turned her back to us and pushed Stacie down on her knees.” She sounded curious, more than anything, and Beca couldn’t believe she was standing their calmly like she was describing a golf game. “And… OK. Bree obviously keeps up her training more than I thought. I didn’t know that her leg could go that far to the side. Maybe Stacie’s been working with her on her splits.” After a pause, Chloe cracked up at her own statement. “In more ways than one.”

Beca felt trapped between two very strong emotions. She still firmly believed that she wasn’t allowed to see any of that because the four of them haven’t had a talk about it. But, ok, yeah. She kinda wanted to look.

Instead she just looked up as Chloe asked her, “Do you think we should get a notepad and offer scores on the most difficult positions? Or take notes, in case, you know.”

Beca eyes slipped closed. “Oh. My. God.”

“Like, I feel I should get popcorn and take the drive later.” Chloe snickered. “We’ll just watch Stacie take Bree for a drive.”

“Dude! Privacy!”

Chloe scoffed. “Hey, they’re the ones that didn’t close the blinds once they realized you were ogling them.”

Beca’s response was instant and indignant. “I was not ogling!” Except she was fully aware that was a lie. She totally had been. And, if she were to start being honest with herself, maybe wanted to do again.

“Then?”

“We’re not allowed yet!” But, Bree had been standing there, letting Stacie touch her, knowing Beca was watching. Maybe they were allowed. Curiosity was now rising beside the other emotions clamoring for her attention.

“Yet?” Chloe turned to look at her, one hip resting against the window sill.

“IF EVER. Oh my god.” Beca idly wondered how many times had she said ‘oh my god’ in the last five minutes alone.

Chloe’s eyes turned back to the window and widened. “Oh, my.”

Beca couldn’t fight it anymore, she had to look. She was only human after all. She leaned forward and peeked around the window frame. The window across the way was empty. She turned her eyes to Chloe, who quickly stepped back out of range, laughing.

“You should see your face right now.” Chloe’s eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

“You’re lucky it’s your birthday.” Beca paused and had to take a deep breath as Chloe’s smile widened. “And still that pretty.” She closed her eyes and took another breath. “I can’t believe you punked me like that.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Most of it was true.”

“What?” Beca blinked at her, feeling like she was still running a few steps behind.

“Yeah, no. They dropped to their bed just before you looked. But everything else totes happened.”

“So. They’re totally having sex. Right now. While we’re talking about it.” Beca said it slowly, as if she were processing at half speed. “Just… out of sight.

Chloe was already nodding. “Oh, totes. If we got the step stool we’d probably be able to look over and down onto the bed. We could always ask them to move it in front of the window for next time.”

Beca stared at her. “You… can’t be serious?”

Chloe stepped up to her and gently took the toothbrush that Beca had forgotten about out of her mouth. “Can’t I?” She placed a kiss to the corner of Beca’s mouth and put the toothbrush in her hand. “Why don’t you finish that up and we’ll go for a ride, yeah?” She spun on her heel and sashayed out the door, with far more hip sway than was necessary outside of a strip tease or catwalk.

“Uh…” Beca felt what was left of her brain melt and settle between her thighs.  She called after her, “I mean… we could always give a return show…?”  She ignored the quiver the thought of the others watching her and Chloe sent through her. There was already too much going on in her head to add that to the mix.

But Chloe was already downstairs, leaving Beca alone with her toothbrush and the knowledge of what was going on in the house behind her.

“Maybe I have time for a cold shower before we leave.” Beca muttered to herself as she went back in the bathroom to rinse out her mouth.

 ~A~

 Aubrey pushed her chair back from her dining room table and stretched her legs out. “I can’t eat another bite.”

“Dinner was amazing, Bree, thank you.” Chloe reached over and squeezed her hand.

“Anything for the birthday girl.” Aubrey smiled at her before cutting a look at Beca. “Nice ride you got your girl.”

Beca jumped, a guilty look flashing over her face. “What?”

“The Caddy.” Stacie let out a whistle. “That is one nice looking tank you picked, Chloe.”

Beca leaned on the table. “I couldn’t tell you liked it, what with the lying on the hood like you were at a car show. Again.”

Chloe snorted with laughter but ignored her. “I know, right? Totally over the top. But… The ride was so smooth.” Chloe winked as Stacie leered at her. “But, it’ll keep me and the kids safe in the event that something stupid happens.” She sat up in her chair. “Plus, we can totally take all our gear in one car now, including our bikes, when we want to torture Beca with nature.”

Beca’s face morphed into a frown. “I don’t mind nature.” She scratched her nose. “I like sitting by the pool. It’s the ‘peddling through heat’ thing that gets me.”

“Cardio is good for you, Becs.” Stacie leaned over to ruffle her hair but Beca ducked out of the way.

“Why am I always saying ‘why cardio’ to you people?” Beca huffed and drank the last of her wine.

“Because you love us.” Aubrey said it simply. It was a fact that could still surprise her once in a while.

“Touché.” Beca shrugged. “Fine, we’ll take a trip soon. And I won’t even bitch about it. Much.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Stacie leaned one elbow on the table. Aubrey recognized the look on her face and tried to keep hers expressionless. Stacie had already talked to her about what was going to happen next. Aubrey was kind of looking forward to it. “Speaking of seeing.” Beca froze in the act of picking up the wine bottle to pour them all a bit more. Chloe reached over and took it, doing it for her.

“I don’t suppose we could all agree to never speak of this?” Beca’s face was turning an interesting shade of red that Aubrey hadn’t seen before.

“Isn’t the phrase ‘never speak of this again’.” Aubrey nodded her thanks at Chloe and picked up her refilled glass.

“No, ‘again’. Period. I would really like to not…”

Stacie interrupted. “Talk about how you totally were getting off on-“

“I WAS NOT.” Beca looked embarrassed. “I didn’t even mean… It was an accident… The blinds wouldn’t close…”

Aubrey started to laugh. “That’s what gave you away, by the way.” Chloe looked at her quizzically as she sat down. “The blinds were just going up and down.”

Stacie snickered. “It was like some sort of fucked up Morse code and went on for like - ever.”

“Oh god, please let me die right now.” Beca slumped forward and put her head in her hands.

“Aww.” Chloe reached over and rubbed her arm. “It’s ok, Becs. We’re all friends here. Very close friends apparently.” Beca just groaned again.

Aubrey took pity on her. “Beca.” Her tone pulled Beca’s eyes up immediately. “It’s ok.” The echo to her conversation with Stacie wasn’t lost on her. “I’m not mad. I mean, obviously. We waved at you.” She decided to leave it unspoken that they just as obviously were putting on a show.

“Me either, if anyone cares.” Stacie waved at the table.

“I’ve seen you parade through the Bella house when you forgot a towel,” Beca said dryly.

Stacie waved her hand across the table. “Like Aubrey said. We’re not mad.” And her voice changed at the last word, making Aubrey narrow her eyes. “It was ridiculously hot, actually.”

Aubrey laughed as Beca took a huge gulp of wine. “Stace,” she chided, though she thought it was obvious she didn’t mind.

Stacie held up her hands. “What?! It was!” 

Stacie was absolutely right, and it still greatly surprised Aubrey that she had felt the same way. It was hot enough that Aubrey didn’t even think about pulling away or closing their blinds, which was what she would have done before her talk with Stacie the month before. But today… and she didn’t really know what all Beca had seen before they saw her, though she could guess. The thought that Beca might have been watching when Aubrey had slid her fingers into Stacie – well that was enough to cause more than a little arousal even all these hours later. It had made her bold enough to stand there, proudly. Agree to let Stacie cup her breast from behind, to push Stacie’s hand down between her legs to see how long Beca would watch them. To wonder how it had made Beca feel to watch it. If she… enjoyed it and was affected as strongly as Aubrey was by knowing Beca was there.

Aubrey smiled to herself. Though even in that moment, she had known that Beca’s top emotion was going to be panic. So it didn’t surprise her when Beca had quickly darted out of view, but it may have disappointed her just a little, which did surprise her a bit. And while they had chuckled over it, it hadn’t changed what they were doing. Not even when Chloe took Beca’s place. Though, she admitted, she had turned her back, not quite ready to be that open. Literally, considering what Stacie was doing with her mouth at the time.

‘Lord, we really all need to talk about this soon. There are too many different ways this could fall apart if we don’t.’ Aubrey shifted in her chair, both hating and enjoying the frission of desire stretching its claws down her spine. ‘Not tonight, but soon.’

Chloe traced the rim of her glass. “You guys were just celebrating the holiday.”

All of them looked at her, confused, but it was Beca who asked it. “What holiday?”

Chloe shrugged. “Hump Day.”

As the others cracked up, Chloe simply sipped her wine, looking beyond pleased with herself.

Beca wiped a tear from her eye. “I walked right into that.”

Chloe nodded. “Both eyes. Wide open.”

Aubrey stood up. “Alright, I’ll clean the table, you guys go sit on the couch.”

Beca stood and stretched. “I’ll help.” She waved her hand dismissively when Aubrey tried to stop her. “Whatever, it’ll get done faster. Besides, it’s not like the Bella house days, you guys have a dishwasher. I just gotta rinse and throw them in.”

Aubrey shook her head but relented. With Beca’s help they were done quickly, which Aubrey kind of wished they weren’t. She and Beca didn’t get to spend quiet time like this together very often. Maybe that needed to be another thing that happened soon. Find some reason to send their wives out to play while she and Beca… Well, she wasn’t sure yet, exactly, but she had a half image of Beca working on music while Aubrey read over contracts on the couch in Beca’s studio. It was a warmly domestic image that she usually associated with Stacie or, back in their college days, studying with Chloe. It helped tamp down the lingering desire into simple contentment.

The thought made Aubrey smile as she walked back into the living room and found Stacie braiding Chloe’s hair. She settled on the other side of the sectional with Beca. “Birthday braids. Good choice.” She’d just leaned back when she remembered that they still had to give their gifts. “Oh! I’ll be right back.” She set down the wine glass she’d brought in with her and went upstairs to her office. She had to lift a few folders until she found what she was looking for.

She laughed as she came back down. “We almost forgot.” Aubrey set the two envelopes on Chloe’s lap before sitting down again. “Happy birthday, Chlo.” She sat back down beside Beca who handed her the wine glass again. “Thanks, B.”

Chloe ran her fingers over them. “Aw, you guys. You didn’t have to.”

Beca snorted into her glass. “She’s on this ‘it’s just another day’ kick today.”

“Except it wasn’t just another day. You guys have all made it kind of perfect. I need to find a word better than ‘perfect.’” Chloe smiled. “Guess I haven’t reached Grandma Stage after all.”

Aubrey was indignant. “I certainly hope not. I don’t like to think what that’d say about me.”

“That you’re old.” Beca deadpanned beside her before grinning impishly as Aubrey’s jaw dropped. “Which you most definitely are not.”

“Nice save.” Aubrey raised her glass slightly before turning back to Chloe expectantly. “Well?”

“Hold on, just gotta do the ends.” Stacie finished her braid and sat back to admire her handiwork. “There. Perfect.” She nodded. “Go on.”

Chloe picked up the first envelope, her name in Aubrey’s neat handwriting, and opened it eagerly. “Ooh. A spa day before the reunion?!” She looked up at Aubrey, eyes dancing. “I love you!”

Aubrey laughed. “Glad you like it. I wasn’t sure-“

“Are you kidding? A day being pampered with my bestie? What’s not to love?” Chloe looked back down at the reservation and ran her fingertips across it. “Seriously Bree, I can’t wait.” She folded the paper and put it back in the envelope before turning to the other, unlabeled, envelope in her lap.

Beca nudged Aubrey. “You did good. The timing on that is perfect. She always worries, though she won’t admit it, about the reunion.”

“That’s cause of Alice.” Aubrey’s lip curled. She wasn’t always as thrilled about her reunions as she once thought she would be. There was always that bit of tension when they walked in, waiting to see if she’d hear ‘Oh, it’s you slut bags’ from the side. It hadn’t happened yet, which made the rest of the night more enjoyable. Well, and that and all the rest of her Bellas, new and old. She was learning to just enjoy watching Beca scan the area before leading them in and stop letting it get to her. Once the pressure was off, they always had a good time.

“You mean That Whore Alice™.” Beca’s lip curled to match.

“Let’s… not think of her now.” With Beca nodding, Aubrey turned back as Chloe started laughing and threw her arms around Stacie.

 “You’re welcome.”

Beca looked confused as Stacie’s words were directed at her instead of Chloe. “What?” She looked from her wife to her friend as Chloe continued to giggle helplessly. “I’m missing something.”

Her words caused Chloe to laugh harder and Aubrey couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Chlo, you’ll have to show her.”

Chloe handed over the card she’d opened. Aubrey watched Beca scan the flowery and sentiment laden Hallmark moment.

“Yeah?” Beca shook her head. “I don’t get it.” She took the paper that Chloe then handed over.

The font for the first two lines was huge, Stacie was just obviously trying to fill the entire page in landscape mode. The rest of the lines were in slightly smaller print below.

 One IOU for Chloe Beale Sex Toy Shopping Sextravaganza And some lunch if we work up an appetite being hot. Which, let’s face it. We will. Because we’re hot. From Stacie Conrad

 “Oh for the love of…” Beca began to laugh helplessly, leaning on Aubrey.

Stacie beamed as she patted Chloe’s back and pulled away. “Exactly, B. For the love.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Making.”

They were interrupted by Chloe’s phone, and they knew it was hers because “Makeba – Dirty Ridin’ Remix” was the ringtone blasting from the kitchen. Beca had made it for her last month and Chloe hadn’t gotten bored yet. She wiped her eyes as she got up, kissing Stacie once before heading into the other room to answer it.

“Are you saying you think I need help in bed, Stacie?” Beca mock glared.

Aubrey’s eyes widened. “Oh Beca, I don’t think you wanna start…” but Stacie grinned wickedly.

“I dunno, B. Yet.”

“Oh… Jesus.” Beca’s face instantly turned red. “I… Yeah, nope. I surrender. Right now.”

Whatever else they might have said was interrupted by a loud squeal of joy from the kitchen. “You are!? WHEN!” Chloe rushed out into the living room. “Guys! It’s Jessica and Ashley, they’re moving to LA!”

“That’s aca-mazing!” Aubrey clapped once and echoed Chloe, “When!?” while Stacie and Beca let out a cheer at the same time.

Chloe just waved her hand. “Shhh. Uh huh… Yeah… No. Oh totes!” She was nodding and smiling like a bobblehead; it always made Aubrey happy to see Chloe so excited. “Definitely. I’ll call you tomorrow when I find his card.” A short pause, then, “No, we’re at Staubrey’s having dinner.” She looked back at the rest of them who were watching her with various degrees of affection.

Aubrey felt her heart thump at the nickname. It may have started as a joke but she loved how it tied her to Stacie. Beca, of all people, said she felt the same way about Bloe, even though it had come up at one of the lowest points of their relationship.

Chloe was nodding, “Sure, one sec. Girls, Jessley wants to say hi.” That was another Amy nickname that had stuck. She often joked that her nicknames had the power to make couples, and with a 3 out of 4 success rate, she might be on to something. She’d tried to make “LillyRose” a thing in college and while everyone had known that was doomed to failure, they were all not-so-secretly happy it had crashed before it left the gate.

Chloe switched from a voice call to FaceTime and Jessica and Ashley appeared on the screen as she turned it toward the couch. Their faces were pressed together as they yelled, “We love you guys! We won’t have to miss you anymore!”

Aubrey, Beca and Stacie yelled “We love you!” at the phone, trying to see who could be louder.

Beca threw herself at Stacie and tried to cover her mouth. “No fair, your lungs are bigger because you’re taller and they have to support your giant boobs!”

“That’s not how bodies work, Beca!” Stacie pushed her back and they fell into an impromptu wrestling match on the couch. It seemed to be more tickling and squealing than headlocks. Aubrey watched them, smiling with affection.

Aubrey heard Ashley ask, “Do they do that often?”

“Unfortunately.” Chloe mock sighed. “They’re like teenagers sometimes.”

“What, like all horny all the time? What, ow, stop hitting me Jessica. It’s a legit question for those two!” Ashley rubbed her arm.

“Perv.” Jessica wrapped her arm around Ashley’s head from behind and covered her mouth. “Sorry about her.”

“It’s not like she’s wrong.” Chloe turned the phone around and winked.

“Ha.” Ashely pulled the hand away from her mouth. “But we’ll let you guys get back to your after dinner wrestling whatever. Happy Birthday again, Chloe.”

“Wait! We have to sing! Chloe, go sit with the girls.” Jessica cleared her throat.

“When did you get so bossy?” Beca asked as she waved Aubrey over to the couch on the other side of Stacie as she flopped breathlessly back into her spot.

Aubrey rose and went were directed. “Hi. Would you like to be pot or kettle?” She laughed as Beca stuck out her tongue when Chloe sat down between Beca and Stacie. “Shall I count us down for old time’s sake?”

“Thanks, Bree.” Ashley said as Jessica smiled widely.

Aubrey switched her gaze from the screen to her best friend.

She counted, softly, “1, 2, 3, 4.”

By the end of the beautifully, if she said so herself, harmonized rendition of “Happy Birthday” Chloe was a sniffling mess. Aubrey reached behind Stacie to give a soft tug on Chloe’s braid and got a watery smile in response.

As they all wished Jessley a good night, Aubrey once again thanked the Universe for putting these women in her life. She couldn’t imagine anything different or anything that could make her life more complete.

“What was that about finding a card?” Beca ran her knuckles down Chloe’s cheek,  smiling when Chloe captured it in her own and brought it to her lips.

“Oh. Uh.” She sniffed once, clearing her throat. “They’re moving. Like, soon. End of July soon. So they wanted to know if there was any housing here.”

“Oh there’s totally empty houses!” Aubrey sat up on the couch. “That would be aca-awesome.”

“Totes, right? I’m going to call them tomorrow when I find that guys number.”

“Oh I have it in my rolodex! I’ll give it to you before you head home for the night.”

“Of course you still have a rolodex.” Beca rolled her eyes.

“That’s saved your bacon once or twice, DJ Titanium. Like when you lost the number for AND forgot the name of the client you were supposed to show around the office last year?”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” Beca shrugged. “One of us has to be an adult, I suppose.”

Stacie asked, “I really like adult things, does that count?”

Beca answered, “No” at the same time Chloe and Aubrey said, “Yes.”

Stacie was smug. “You’re outvoted, B.”

“Yeah yeah. I’m getting used to it.” Beca rubbed at the side of her nose with her middle finger.

“Real mature.” Aubrey raised an eyebrow.

“You still love me.”

Aubrey sighed. “Unfortunately.”

“Ha.” Beca sat back against the couch. “I win.”

Aubrey grinned to herself as Stacie spoke up, not-so-subtly redirecting the conversation. “Hey, Chloe. Are you getting a personalized license plate?”

“Oh man.” Beca leaned forward again. “This is going to require alcohol.” She leaned over and grabbed her glass from the other side of the table. “For the record, I still think ACA AWES would be fine.”

Aubrey laughed looked at her quizzically and back at Chloe, who perked up. “That does sound like you, so what else could you be thinking of?”

“I’m just having problems deciding between two.” Aubrey just twirled her finger, asking her to keep going. “OK, here they are. I-M-T-H-T-T-S.” She watched as they tried to put it together.

After a second of silence, Beca offered. “I’m the tits.”

Aubrey choked out a laugh. “Chloe!”

Chloe giggled and waved a hand. “No wait. There’s one more. W-R-T-H-T-T-S.”

“’We are the tits’?” Stacie laughed. “That’s actually more perfect than ACA AWES, Becs.”

“Bingo!” Chloe laughed. “I lean more toward the second, because of the whole ‘we’ thing. That could be my team or my wife, and it’s always going to mean the Bellas. Or all of the above.”

Aubrey winced. “But, Chlo… What will your kids’ parents think?”

Beca pointed at her. “See? Adult.”

Chloe’s face fell and Aubrey felt bad. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

“Who cares?” They all looked at Stacie. “They’re not paying for it. And she’s already established herself as a responsible, and trophy winning I might add, instructor. That suddenly won’t change cause she quasi has ‘tits’ on her license plate.” Chloe’s smile was getting wider by the second. “They’re not the ones in her bed. Who cares what they think?”

“What does the bed have to do with anything?” Beca asked but now Aubrey was nodding.

“All good points, hon.”

Stacie waited the slightest fraction of a beat. “No, those are on her chest.”

It was just long enough that both Aubrey and Beca were taking a drink and it caused them to simultaneously snort and almost shoot wine out through their nose.

Chloe looked coyly at Stacie and smiled. “Thanks.”

Stacie just leaned back and smiled smugly.

Chloe bounced in place. “So, Bree. What all does this spa have?”

Aubrey jumped up and grabbed her hand. “Oh! I forgot to include the brochure in the card. C’mere, it’s upstairs. I can get you that number too.” She tugged until Chloe got to her feet. “We’ll be back. Behave while we’re gone, will you?”

Beca groaned as they headed upstairs. “You know that just makes Stacie think inappropriate things, Bree.”

 ~S~

After she watched them head out of the room, Stacie looked back and smirked as Beca eyed her narrowly. “It’s like you expect me to jump your bones immediately or something.”

“I ain’t givin’ you no ideas.” Beca sipped from her glass and Stacie saw something shifting behind her eyes. “So, that party that I stupidly suggested we throw.”

Stacie scooted back until she could lean on the arm of the couch. “Yeesss. Not one of your smartest moves, inviting all our offices.”

Beca groaned. “I know. I was in a good mood. Or drunk. Or in a good mood while drunk, I don’t know. Whatever. I think we need to plan better this time, though.”

“What do you mean?”

Beca ticked them off on her fingers. “Last time we ran out of chips before the sun even went down. There was an emergency ice delivery that had to be made by 8. We almost ran out of beer. The last person didn’t Uber their ass out until like 3 in the morning.” That last was said just a little too casually, but Stacie couldn’t find anything in it that felt like it needed to be hidden.

She tilted her head. “You think they’ll be here late again?”

“The party is bigger.” Beca shrugged. “I mean, the invite said to be ready to Uber, no exceptions.” Beca rolled her eyes. “But in a more… office politics correct way. Thanks to Bree and her lawyer-ese.”

Stacie laughed. “You gotta admit it does come in handy sometimes.”

“Whatever. But…” And her eyes did that shifting again. “Yeah. I think it’s going to be really late before we get the last one out the door.” She cleared her throat. “Thankfully we have both Sunday and Monday to recover. I had one mother of a hangover last year.”

Stacie thought she was starting to see what Beca might be getting at peeking around the edges. It had crossed her mind that the party was a perfect time to see if they were all ready to maybe do this thing. Or start the actual talk about it. And, if the past few weeks had been any indication – hell, today alone was like a giant signal fire - it really was just a matter of time. But Beca had a point. They were all super drunk last year. Stacie actually didn’t remember the last person leaving or going to bed. She had woken up in her party outfit, makeup smeared all over her pillow like a cheap whore on a bender. Even Aubrey, while she’d managed to wash off her makeup and change into pj’s, took at least another hour to wake up after Stacie had crawled her way to hug their toilet.

Maybe… this was Beca’s way of telling her to wait. That the answer would be ‘yes’. Eventually.

Or Stacie was totally full of shit and reading things that weren’t there.

She decided to ignore it for tonight and focus on what she could answer without asking potentially awkward questions. “You’re right. Ok, so how about this year…” She thought a minute while Beca waited. “I know Bree has that full list of food and drink. I’ll look at it and see if she accounted for those random outages. Knowing her, she probably did, but I’ll check.” Stacie suddenly grinned. “Have you gotten the playlist ready?”

Beca groaned. “No! Chloe keeps adding things and now Aubrey keeps texting me her ideas.”

Stacie laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. Is this too much for you, DJ Titanium?” And for once she didn’t mean any of the underlying things that could, and usually did, mean.

Beca glared at her. “Don’t insult my honor, Legs.”

Stacie dodged the decorative pillow thrown at her, laughing easily.

[chloes-yellow-cup]

I love this gif so much.

Also, I’m starting to think there might be more interest if I add in (super tiny bits of) BDSM in some aspects of my Stechlobree than I originally thought.

And it’s literally all the fault of Masks that it’s even in my head.

Food for thought.

(Anyone know if the Author is on tumblr so we can tag appropriately and give many thanks?)

Cartier Love Bracelet

“Unlike traditional bracelets, which are either wide enough to slip them over the hand onto the wrist or can readily be opened in order to put them on, the Love bracelet is designed to be opened only using a special screwdriver that is supplied with every bracelet. The screwdriver is also available in the form of a necklace, allowing the bracelet to be “locked” onto one person while the “key” is kept around the neck of another as a symbol for their commitment to their relationship.”

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Mini writing update

Thanks to my beta for her almost-always accurate conversation starters! 

Those of you who have heard me whining that all these talks are kicking my ass will be pleased to know that I’ve got the Staubrey talk done. Sure, there will be revising, but the core of it is done!

Woohoo!

Only two more to go! *Laugh/Cries*

When I post part 11, I swear it’s going to have to be in 2 tumblr parts. At the end of the Staubrey talk, I’m sitting at about 24 pages. I have however long the Bechloe talk will be, a 4 page between scene (3 talks in a row seems excessive, so I decided to break it up a bit) and then the final Stechlobree talk. Then, because I don’t want to end it with JUST the talks - I gotta figure out how to cap it off. Don’t tell me more smut, I already know that’s what most of you people want, lol. I’ve just been telling myself not to let them get naked in this part. It’ll never end then. Seriously, my brain is already like, ‘CAP IT OFF WITH A PART 12! You can keep it short!’ Like it isn’t already trying to undermine me by making it another 30 pages.

But, really, those 2 talks and revising is all that’s needed before I post.

I will say that I feel the cute factor has skyrocketed in part 11 and it’s kind of awesome.

Sorry for the ramble, it’s been a weird weekend and I probs need to sleep.

Thanks for sticking around!

[chloes-yellow-cup]

Nowish - Part 8

Bechloe. Staubrey. Bellas Squared/Stechlobree.

A story in which I convinced myself by accident that this could work. Let me try and convince you too.

Nowish Master Post  - Everything on one page.

A Shared Lifetime - All my fics

Recommended Mood Music on Spotify. Artistic license taken with song release years.

Note on the links: The ones about music lead to YouTube vids for fun. Rest are GIFs or links to whatever gift idea I have.

The Party and the Aftermath.

~B~

Saturday, July 1st, 2017

Beca looked around and grinned.

Their backyards were full of people.

Music makers mixed with science nerds mixed with lawyers mixed with dance teachers.

The party had started at noon and showed no sign of stopping. There was so much laughter and yelling over the music that she was surprised her head wasn’t pounding as it usually did in crowds.  But the day was so far – and she knocked on the wood of the bench she was sitting on – nothing but net. She frowned, not sure where she’d heard that phrase or why her brain dredged it up now. She was sure it had to do with sports. One of them. Whatever, she was having fun in a crowd for once.

A flash of red caught her eye when Chloe turned around and looked at her as the music changed.

Ok, so maybe Beca was having a lot of fun. In fact, this may have been the third time in the past five hours that “It Was Always You” by Maroon 5 had come up in her playlist. The first time, none of the key people had thought anything of it. The second time, Chloe had given her a ‘look.’ Similar to the one she was giving right now. But now… Now Chloe’s eyes twinkled at her, somehow full of something knowing. Beca could see that she’d figured out it was intentional and what it might possibly mean.  Beca winked and could hear Chloe’s laugh over the music.

Today was a great day.

~

The next time it played, which if Beca was still able to count after everything she’d been drinking, made the fourth time it had come up.

“You must like this song.”

Beca turned around slowly, having learned if she did it quickly, her head felt like it flew fifty feet to the side before settling back on her neck. “What?”

Aubrey shrugged, almost spilling her drink. “I know you have enough music that I could listen to it twenty-four-hours-a-day, for thiiiiiiirty years and not hear a repeat. But I’ve heard this one already today.”

Beca just blinked at her, hoping she looked innocent. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.”

“I swear, this is like the third time I’ve heard it.” Aubrey closed one eye, peering at her. “Are you drunk?”

“No, you’re just blurry.” Beca cracked up but with her balance gone, she fell to the ground. That was literally the best joke that Jesse had ever said and she loved when she got the chance to use it.

Aubrey closed the other eye and opened it again. “Were you always on the ground?”

“Nope. Help me up.” Beca shot her hand up and wiggled her fingers. Aubrey carefully took it and tugged but Beca overestimated her own force as she pulled herself up and they collided. “Oops.”

“Hey, no mashing of my wife without me.” Stacie frowned playfully as she came over. “Rude.”

“Beca fell over. I helped her up.” Aubrey added helpfully.

“Ah. Water for both of you then.” Stacie stepped over to one of the many coolers sweating around the lawn. She pulled out four bottles and handed them each one. “I’m gonna go find Chlo. She’s usually more sensible… but sometimes not.”

“She’s so smart.” Aubrey sighed as she watched Stacie walk away. “And pretty. Don’t you think she’s pretty, Becs?.”

“Oh yeah. I mean – All of that. And handy to have around.” Beca opened the bottle and downed half of it in one go. She wasn’t sure water had ever tasted so good. “I’m gonna go find out if Jeff’s finished making the burgers. I need to eat.”

“Oooh.” Aubrey’s eyes lit up.

“C’mon, Blurry.” Beca took her hand and they headed for the giant BBQ – once again Beca’s insistence that size matters - that normally no one but Stacie ever used throughout the year.

~

By the time their guests started yelling for them to bust out the Karaoke machine, Beca – and the rest of her girls, she assumed – had sobered up considerably. She was still drunk, but she wasn’t falling down anymore. Her lips twitched in a lopsided smile as she thought that she’d have to thank Stacie for that one day.

She stepped back once the machine was set up and turned to the group. “First up, my beautiful wife.”

Chloe stepped forward, “Why thank you.” She pushed Beca toward a chair. “I got it. Go sit.”

Beca went willingly to where she’d set her beer while she arranged the machine and settled into one of the lawn chairs littering the area.

Chloe tapped on the microphone to test it then smiled widely. “First I would like to say thank you for everyone who braved the heat to be with us today.” The audience cheered at her. “You guys have all made the 2nd annual Posen-Conrad/Beale-Mitchell – boy that’s a mouthful – 4th of July bash even better than the first.” She leaned over and pushed the button to start the music she’d selected and Beca had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.

She’d already been snickering at ‘mouthful’ because she was mentally 16 and lived in the gutter when she was drunk. But at the first few notes, she’d started chanting to herself. ‘Don’t look at Aubrey, don’t look at Aubrey.’ She knew she would lose it if she did. She rolled her lips together, trying to hold it together.

Because of course, the first song Chloe decided to sing was ‘It Was Always You.’

  Woke up sweating from a dream With a different kind of feeling, oh All day long my heart was beating Searching for the meaning, oh

  Then, to Beca’s amusement, delight and, she could finally admit to herself, a thrill of something close to desire, Stacie jumped up next to Chloe for the chorus.

  Hazel eyes, I was so color blind We were just wasting time, uh uh babe For my whole life, we never crossed the line Only friends in my mind, but now I realize

It was always you Can't believe I could not see it all this time All this time It was always you

Now I know why my heart wasn't satisfied Satisfied It was always you, you

No more guessing who Looking back now I know it was always you Always you

  Beca was looking around to see who else might be paying attention to any special meaning in the lyrics when she caught sight of Aubrey. She had her ‘considering face’ on as Beca’s eyes skated over her, and it caused another bubble of laughter to rise up so she moved on quickly. Which meant she missed it when Aubrey joined the other girls until her voice came through the speakers.

All my hidden desires finally came alive No, I never told lies to you so why would I start tonight

  Beca’s eyes jerked back to their impromptu stage, her pulse beginning to race. Chloe stood in the middle, Aubrey and Stacie flanking with an arm around her, using the one microphone. Beca swallowed thickly and fell back on a hopefully less ‘bitch’ variation of her Resting Bitch Face to try and remain calm and cool on the surface.

But underneath… It felt like lightning was flashing up and down her body and she was afraid if she moved, she’d break the spell. Or leap into the middle of them and kiss… someone. Or all of them.

The thought slid slowly through her mind, almost as if her own brain didn’t want to startle her. ‘This may… be too on the nose for such a public space.’

Then she noticed that while Chloe sang directly to her, which was normal as her wife, Stacie and Aubrey appeared to be singing directly to each other. Beca didn’t think the rest of the cheering, and completely trashed, crowd noticed how often the two of them split their attention between her and Chloe as well as each other. Or what their eyes seemed to be promising her when she met them.

But Beca did.

And the way they all looked at her during the last chorus made her feel like she was getting the most public, secret, no-touching lap dance in the world. Her thighs clenched involuntarily and she rubbed her suddenly sweating palms on them. Arousal swept through her, making her breath catch and quicken.

As the song came to an end, she snapped out of her daze and whistled her appreciation while the crowd around them clapped and stopped their feet.

Maybe she should drink a little more after all. 

The three of them took their bows and stepped toward her wearing matching mischievous smiles.

Yeah. Yeah, she should definitely drink more. 

~B~

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

Beca groaned and tried to close her mouth; everything hurt, even her jaw and especially her head. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was as dry as her father’s humor. Her body felt like it was under a heavy weight and her limbs didn’t want to move when she tried stretching. She realized why her mouth was parched when her cheek hit the giant drool spot on her pillow.

“Here.” A soft voice said from above her.

Beca felt her hand taken and pills were placed in it. Her fingers curled around them. She’d be grateful if she had any energy.

“Down the hatch. I’ve got water.”

Beca whimpered her thanks and slowly moved her hand and head toward each other until she could scoop the pills in her mouth.

“This is going to be trickier unless you want me to just pour it on your face and hope you get some in your mouth.” The voice sounded amused.

Beca nodded, but she held her hand out and felt a cool plastic bottle settle against her palm. She lifted her head off the pillow and pushed up enough to swallow some blissfully cool water while someone gently helped steady her.  She’d been wrong yesterday; this was the best tasting water she’d ever had.

She drained the water and let her head fall back to the bed as the guiding hand took the bottle back. She tried to speak but all that came out was a croak.

“If that was thank you, you’re welcome.” A hand ran lightly over her hair, soothing, as lips pressed to her temple.

Beca nodded and fell back into sleep. She hoped she’d feel better when she woke up again. She’d figure out who the voice belonged to then. They were kind of awesome.

~

When Beca woke the second time, she felt much better, not hurting as much as before. She experimentally tried to stretch but her body still felt weighted down. She put a bit more force into it and that’s when she realized she was naked and not alone.

‘Ok, that’s not unusual.’

She flexed her legs from her hips to her toes to wake them up, then her arms from shoulder to fingers.

That’s about the time she realized Chloe was lying naked across her back. That also wasn’t unusual. She smiled sleepily as one hand twitched back to awkwardly caress a bare hip.

“Morning sleepyhead.”

Beca frowned, her eyes still closed. That was Chloe’s voice alright. But it didn’t come from above her.

She forced her eyes open and met the twinkling blue ones she loved more than music. Chloe was on the other side of the bed, lying on her side, one hand propping up her head. Fully dressed.

Except that shouldn’t be possible, because someone was definitely draped across her back. Naked. She could feel them breathing. She knew were naked, because she could feel two -

She managed to croak out a quiet “Oh god.” Chloe winked at her.

Then, to make matters truly worse, she heard Aubrey’s dry tone from behind her by the door. “Dirty bird.”

There was a voice in her ear. “Shhh.” A long arm stretched down and pushed its way between Beca and the mattress. “Sleep time, Bree.” Stacie wiggled around until she was on her side and used both her arms to scoop Beca into her chest to spoon her tightly under the sheet.

Beca’s eyes were wide open now, locked on her wife’s, who just smiled wider.

‘We’re both fucking naked. In The Expanse.’ Beca felt her word tip sideways and all she could do was stare at Chloe as she slipped into full panic. ‘Chloe is dressed. Bree is also probably dressed. Oh god. What did we do?’

“If you and my wife feel like it, I’ve got food over at our place.” Despite the pain in her head, Beca craned her neck around to try and look at Aubrey, but the angle was wrong. “That is, if you guys don’t want to have round two this morning.”

Beca’s mouth dropped and stayed there until she felt Chloe slide off the bed. “I got out clothes for you guys, they’re sitting on the dresser. There’s more water on your table.”  She headed out the door with Aubrey.

Stacie’s arm tightened. “So much noise. Why so much talking.” She buried her face in Beca’s hair as she shifted her hips closer and tighter into Beca’s ass. “Wha… wait.” Beca felt Stacie lift her head and could only assume she was looking around. “Bree?”

Beca let her head fall back to her pillow and met Stacie’s still dazed and confused eyes. “Surprise?”

Moving slowly, Stacie unwound her arm from around Beca’s waist and pushed the sheets up enough to look down at their bodies. “Beca?”

“Yup. Heh.” Beca used the moment to slide to the edge of the bed.

“Why are we naked.”  Stacie spoke slowly.

“Wish I knew.” Beca groaned as she sat up and pushed over to swing her legs over the side. “Almost as much as I wish I knew why my head hurts so much.” She slipped down to the floor and gingerly made her way to the dresser. She pulled on her underwear and shorts first before wrestling herself into the sports bra Chloe had set out. She turned with her tank in her hands.

Stacie was sitting up in bed, the sheets pooled around her waist, obviously not worried about her current state of undress beyond ‘how had this happened.’ “Becs. What… why are we- Where are…?”

That, at least, Beca could answer. She decided to leave out the color commentary though. “They’re over at your place. Aubrey made us breakfast.” A quick glance at the clock showed her it was almost noon. “Or, brunch, I guess. She didn’t really say more than ‘food’ before she and Chloe left.”

“They were here? While we were like that?” Stacie pushed herself to the edge of the bed. “Holy fuck, The Expanse is even bigger from the fucking middle.”

Beca froze with her shirt halfway over her head before pulling it down.

Stacie actually looked abashed. “That may have been a poor choice of words, considering the situation.”

“Uh.” Beca didn’t want to admit to it, but it was driving her nuts. “Stacie. What happened?”

Stacie groaned as she pulled herself to her feet. “I don’t remember. I take it you don’t either?”

Beca shook her head and immediately regretted it. She picked up the other stack of clothes and brought them over to the bed. “Nope. Not a second. Last thing I remember was Bruce singing a bad rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You.’”

Stacie made a face. “Oh. I wish I didn’t remember that instead.” She stood and pulled on the clothes. “Why do these fit me?”

“Because we had a clothing exchange the last time I pushed you in the pool when you slept over. ‘Packing a bag’ seemed stupid when we’ve got a million drawers.” They each had their own drawer and a few hangers in the other house, as well as their own toothbrush. It was just so much easier that way.

“Oh. Right.” Stacie picked up the bottle on her side of the table. “Did you give me ibuprofen?”

“No, it was one of them. I don’t know which, but they gave me some too. It helped, a bit.” Beca walked back over and grabbed the bottle left for her. “They are never going to let us live this down,” she said idly.

“Live what down? If I’m going to get dragged for something then I’d like to remember. Especially if it involves waking up naked in bed with someone other than my wife.” Stacie drained the last of her bottle, thankfully ignoring the scarlet color Beca was sure she just turned. “Let’s go eat and get it over with.”

They took turns using the bathroom before they stood side by side at the sink to clean up. Beca frowned. Her hair was a rat nest and took far longer than it should have to comb out. It didn’t help that each tug felt like it was pulling her brain out through her scalp. That’s when she noticed the large goose egg just beyond her hairline. “What. The. Fuck. Happened.”

Stacie peered at it. “Holy crap, B. I,” she frowned. “I hope I didn’t cause that.”

Beca gingerly felt the bump. “I’ll feel better once we know what the hell happened last night. I hope.”

They felt marginally better with freshly washed faces, combed hair and brushed teeth. They also liberally used Beca’s mouthwash to try and remove the dead animal taste before they tried to eat.

Foregoing shoes, they carefully made their way down the stairs and through the house to the back yard. Beca groaned. “Oh god, they’ve already cleaned up.”

Stacie started to shake her head and stopped, one hand on her forehead. “No, we tried to stay on top of it throughout the day. I do remember that.”

“Oh, right! Thank god. This would be much worse if they’d had to clean up both yards while we were passed out together.” Beca’s teeth clicked together as she tried to bite back the last bit before it slipped out. “Uh.”

“Yeah.” Stacie frowned. “Maybe.”

They both made their way into the kitchen and stopped just past the door.

“That took less time than I anticipated, honestly.” Chloe was just setting plates down for her and Aubrey and waved at the table. “Sit, I’ll get yours.”

“Yeah, you guys look like you’re going to fall over.” Aubrey looked them over. “But still, you look better than you did before I gave you the Advil.”

“That was you?” Beca slid into the chair across from Aubrey as she nodded. “Thank you, “ she breathed out, as heartfelt as anything she’d ever said.

Stacie leaned down, somewhat hesitantly, and went to kiss Aubrey’s cheek.

“What, my lips aren’t good enough for you anymore?” Aubrey’s voice was teasing and Beca felt herself relaxing.

“I… That’s not even funny, Bree.” Stacie scrunched up her nose and kissed her properly. “Not funny at all.”

Chloe set down a plate in front of Stacie then Beca who was relieved to see it was nothing heavier than a turkey sandwich and a salad. “I don’t know. I thought it was funny.” She put her hand on Beca’s shoulder. “This one didn’t even try to kiss me at all.”

Beca’s eyes went wide but before she could leap from her chair, Chloe had leaned down in front of her and captured her lips. Beca let herself sink back again once Chloe let her go. “Oops. Sorry, Chlo.”

“I imagine you’re both still a little…” Aubrey tilted her head from side to side, searching for the right word as she ate a forkful of salad. “Muddled.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Stacie took a bite of her sandwich and groaned softly. “Just the right amount of mayo.”

Chloe smiled from where she was ladling what smelled like chicken noodle soup into bowls. “You’re welcome.”

Beca took a bite from her sandwich finding it both exactly what she needed yet hard to swallow. She kept wondering three things: what had happened, was she about to get yelled at and, overall, how she really felt if what she thought happened had happened. Ultimately, she felt a bit like a dog creeping around with her tail between her legs, waiting to get swatted despite how… unconcerned they both seemed.

Chloe brought over the soup and finally sat down on Beca’s right, her left hand automatically going to rest on Beca’s thigh, like this was any normal lunch. So Beca tried to follow their lead and focused on filling her belly and hopefully soaking up any residual alcohol. Though she didn’t think that’s all that was twisting her stomach.

Stacie finally looked up after they’d mostly finished the meal. “Ok. What happened.” All three of them looked at her. “We - I can’t remember. I’ve tried. How the hell did I end up naked and spooning Beca.”

Beca felt her head sinking into her shoulders, waiting for the yelling. But then the opposite and absolutely last thing she would have expected happened.

Chloe and Aubrey started laughing. Hard enough that tears immediately started rolling down their cheeks and they had to hold onto the table to stay upright.

Beca and Stacie looked from each other to their wives and back, identical looks of bewilderment on their faces, which caused Chloe and Aubrey to laugh harder.

“Did…” Beca cleared her throat. “Did we break them?”

Stacie’s eyes were narrowed. “I’m not sure if I’m feeling better or worse here.”

Beca ignored the laughter beside her. “What do you mean?”

“Obviously we did something that they’re not mad about. Which means…” Stacie actually growled. “That we did something that I can’t remember. We can’t have done nothing, we were naked. And that pisses me off. Not only have I been thinking about what that might be like for years, I have never gotten so drunk that I don’t remember sex.” She sounded so offended and pissed off that Beca felt her lips twitch. Plus, she was a bit flattered that Stacie was that mad that she didn’t remember sex with Beca. And that she’d been thinking about it for years.

There was a loud clatter as Aubrey fell off her chair and rolled onto her side, laughing so hard she’d gone silent.

Beca whispered. “Holy fuck. We did break Bree.”

That’s when Chloe fell out of her chair.

~

It took a good five minutes for both women to calm down enough to be able to talk. Beca and Stacie had managed to get them up, still giggling, and into the living room. Now they sat, wedged between their wives, waiting them out.

Beca was starting to feel like Stacie, so torn between the infectious giggles they were feeding each other, and being annoyed that something had happened – something she’d maybe sort of finally been thinking about herself – between them and she couldn’t. Fucking. Remember.

Finally Aubrey let out a huge gasp and relaxed against the back of the couch. “Oh my god. That was fucking amazing.”

Beca blinked. Aubrey rarely swore. Her emotions swung back to nervous.

Chloe pulled Beca over and cuddled into her. “Totes.”

Stacie interrupted. “That’s great and all, but… ” She pointed between herself and Beca, “Still in the fucking dark here.”

Aubrey patted her arm and pulled her phone out of her pocket, causing Chloe to let out a couple hysterical giggles. “Beca, can you hook this up to the AppleTV?”

“Uh. Sure.” She gingerly stood and took the phone. She could barely do this without a hangover, even though it was like, only four button pushes, but she muddled her way through and handed the phone back to Aubrey. “You just have to hit play on whatever video you’re about to torture us with.”

“Oh. My. God.” Stacie breathed out, torn between admiration and shock. “You filmed it? Us? It?”

Beca had been in the act of sitting and felt her legs give out. “Holy fuck.” She immediately regretted her choice of words.

Aubrey only nodded. “Indeed.”

Chloe cleared her throat. “So. Uh.” Her voice quavered, “Saddle up.” She was shaking as she tried not to laugh. Aubrey did it for her, high and piercing before she clamped down on it and shook her head as she mouthed ‘Sorry’. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” Chloe slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the giggles she couldn’t hold back.

Stacie threw her arm around Aubrey and started laughing. “Oh my god. What the fu… Jesus. Ok. I’m good. Lessgo.”

Beca swallowed for what felt like the twentieth time since she woke up. “Uh. What she said.” She was relaxing though. Obviously whatever it was wasn’t bad if the two of them couldn’t stop laughing. In fact, Bree had tears running down her cheeks again as she found what she wanted and hit play with another burst of hysteria.

~

The video opened to a wavering shot that Beca eventually recognized as her own living room.

Chloe’s voice came from off camera. “Hurry, you’ll miss them!”

“You can’t rush art, Chlo!” Aubrey was obviously the one filming.

“You can if you’re missing the beginning!” Chloe came into view at the entry to the hall.

The camera wavered, and Beca felt a little ill at the motion, but she found herself forgetting that as voices came from ahead. Aubrey moved into the foyer and panned up to show Beca a few steps up and Stacie standing at the foot, allowing them to be more or less level with each other.

“I… Stace. Stacie. Stace. Staaaaaaaaaaacie.” Beca watched her drunk self pat her friend on the face. “I wanna know what it’s like to be you.”

Stacie snorted. “You are so drunk.”

DrunkStacie took hold of DrunkBeca’s arms. “But.. Becs.” She shook DrunkBeca lightly.

“Ooh, no. No shaking.” DrunkBeca’s cheeks ballooned out a little. “Bad things.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” DrunkStacie nodded until she remembered her earlier thought. It lasted a good thirty seconds. “But. Becs.” She leaned forward confidentially. “You’re already hot.”

Beca laughed. “HA! I’m not the only one trashed as fuck!”

Chloe shushed her. “You guys wanted to know, you have to watch.”  Aubrey nodded. They both practically vibrated with their failed attempts to stop laughing.

Stacie and Beca looked at each other and said “Yes, dears.”

DrunkBeca shook her head then winced. “Oooh. Bad move. No no, that’s not.” She grabbed DrunkStacie’s face and pulled her close. “I wanna know what it’s like to be talllllllll.”

DrunkAubrey panned over to DrunkChloe, who was using the wall to hold herself up as she laughed. “Shhh. They might stop.”

DrunkChloe shook her head. “Oh no, when Beca’s this far gone, not much will deter her from whatever goal she has in mind.” DrunkChloe leered. “That’s usually trying to find the fastest way into my pants. I kinda like that about her.” Then she winked. “Gets my motor going. And I think you all know what I mean.” She clicked her tongue.

DrunkAubrey laughed. “That’s my line.”

DrunkChloe waved dismissively. “Yeah but you use it after you quote your dad and no one ever understands what your dad means. I just make sex jokes when I say it, so everyone does know what Iiiiiii mean.”

Stacie laughed. “She’s got you there, Babe.” Her attention jerked back to the screen when she heard her voice get louder.

“Beca, that’s… That’s so cuuuuuuuute.” The camera wavered back to the two of them. “Of course I’ll help you be tall!” DrunkStacie turned her back to DrunkBeca. “Hop on!”

Beca found she was holding her breath as she watched her drunk ass try to climb onto Stacie’s back. “There’s way too much air gap between you two, idiot.”

Chloe, who had covered her mouth again, pulled her hand away long enough to say, “Did you just call yourself an idiot?” She put her hand back, eyes wide.

Beca frowned. “What? No, I called…” She pointed at the screen. “Oh.”

She watched as DrunkStacie finally figured out that was never going to work and leaned back to make it a bit easier. DrunkChloe stepped forward, hands out and ready to catch or balance anyone if they started to totter.

Beca watched, fascinated despite the slight embarrassment she was feeling, as she basically jumped onto Stacie’s back so their heads were almost even – with this positioning, DrunkBeca was actually a bit taller. Her arms went around DrunkStacie’s shoulders while her legs went around her waist. Beca was relieved to see DrunkStacie grab underneath her knees to keep her from slipping.

DrunkBeca looked around. “Duuuuuude. Everything is so tiny from up here! How do you avoid stepping on anyone!?”

DrunkStacie took a step forward. “Like this.”

“Woah! Fuck! Slow the fuck down, Gigantor.” DrunkBeca pulled on her shoulders. “Dude. I’m not used to this. Go slow with me, fuck.”

Giggles from both DrunkAubrey and DrunkChloe echoed from off camera before DrunkAubrey’s voice very clearly said “That’s what I said the first time too.” More giggling. “Except I used ‘fuck’ more. Then I asked her to go faster. Much faster. And I’m sure you know what I mean this time.”

Beca looked at Aubrey, mouthing ‘Oh my god’ before looking back at the TV. Aubrey’s face, and Chloe’s for that matter, was contorted and red as they tried desperately to muffle their giggles.

DrunkChloe’s impressed voice layered over DrunkStacie carefully taking another step forward. “Oooh. Stacie is really rubbing off on you, Bree.”

DrunkStacie spun toward them - causing DrunkBeca to let out a screech of terror as she leaned backward with the movement like spinning the Tea Cups at Disneyland - and winked. “Every chance I get.”

DrunkBeca wrapped her arms around DrunkStacie’s head, “DUDE! WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?” She gulped for breath. “I’m dying! Help, I think I’m dying! I see spots again, oh god is it because we’re so high and there’s not enough oxygen?!”

Beca buried her face in her hands. “Oh my god. Please kill me now.”

Chloe and Aubrey gave up and covered their mouths with pillows as they continued to laugh, completely unable to stop.

Stacie shook her head. “No way. If I gotta live through this, so do you.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not watching yourself relive a bear trap.” Beca ignored the literal scream of laughter that Aubrey let out on the other side of the couch.

DrunkStacie let out a yelp, “I’m blind!” Her hands shot out like she was going to run into something while standing still.

“Oh no! What happened?!” DrunkBeca leaned forward, slipping her arms down around DrunkStacie’s neck.

“Oh. No. Must’ve just blacked out for a sec.” DrunkStacie nodded. “I’m good. You good?”

“Dude. Let’s get the show on the road!” DrunkBeca kicked her legs a bit.

“I’m not a horse, Beca.” DrunkStacie sounded insulted.

“But…” DrunkBeca waved a hand at the floor. “Legs!”

DrunkAubrey moved backward as DrunkStacie stepped forward, catching the edges of DrunkChloe standing up and following behind.

“Is it everything you imagined?” DrunkStacie turned to look over her shoulder.

DrunkBeca shrugged. “Eh. I thought you’d be taller.”

Beca let out a bark of laughter. “And Jesse said that line was never used in real life!”

Chloe fell over on her side, clutching her stomach with one hand. “Oh, I can’t. It hurts. Oh my god.”

Aubrey looked over. “And there’s so much more to go.” Her voice sounded like she was holding her breath just to get the words out.

Beca and Stacie exchanged a look before looking back to the TV in time to watch DrunkStacie bounce off the door jamb out of the living room.

DrunkBeca flipped it off. “Dude. That thing just jumped out and tried to trip you.”

DrunkStacie glared at it. “What a dick.”

“Where do you think we’re going?” Beca asked idly.

Stacie shrugged. “Hell, probably.”

DrunkAubrey followed them, and, Beca was pleased to point out, bounced off the same frame they had. DrunkChloe laughed until there was a small thud and an unbelievably adorable ‘Damnit, it got us all!’ from off camera.

Then DrunkBeca’s head bounced off the light hanging in the kitchen.

Beca winced. “Well. That explains the goose egg.”

Stacie whistled. “Shit, it was my fault. I’m sorry, B.”

Beca shrugged and pointed at the screen. “Well, drunk me obviously didn’t see it. She just apologized for running into it.”

Chloe sat up, calming slightly in her worry. “Oh, babe. I didn��t even check.”

“I can tell, drunk you just fell over laughing. You probably got bruises from all that, yourself.”

“A few.” Chloe smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.” She kissed Beca on the cheek.

“Forgiven.” Beca reached over and squeeze Chloe’s hand.

“Hey.” Beca looked up at her drunken slurring voice. “Hey! I got an idea.”

DrunkStacie came to a stop by the dining room table. “Wha’sat?”

DrunkBeca leaned down and whispered loud enough for the neighbors to hear. “I bet you can't buck me off your back like a bronco."

DrunkChloe immediately started singing "Pony" by Ginuwine and grinding her hips as she danced into the frame.

Beca sat up. This sounded… Bad. Well, not Chloe; she looked and sounded hot, as always. And while she made a mental note to have Chloe sing it for her at a future date, Beca couldn't really spare the time to think about that right now.

Stacie muttered a quiet “Oh shit.”

DrunkStacie thought about it for a whole two seconds. “Deal.”

DrunkBeca cheered. “C’mon Bucky, let’s see what you can do.”

Beca frowned. “Bucky?”

DrunkChloe broke off singing and echoed her question. “Why Bucky?” DrunkAubrey immediately picked up singing where Chloe had left off.

The way DrunkAubrey was singing was highly suggestive and made Beca shift subtly on the couch. She looked away from the screen for a second and saw that Stacie had goosebumps. Beca couldn’t stop herself from leaning a little closer to her and whispering "Is that how she sounds around you when you guys are... um... alone?"

But her voice wasn't quiet enough with the sharp ears around her and it was Aubrey who answered. "Wouldn't you like to know. Wait – hold that thought for just a second." Chloe let out another soft burst of giggles.

Stacie only winked at her as Beca frowned and looked back at the TV.

DrunkBeca shrugged. “Seems like a good horse name.”

“Oh.” DrunkStacie looked like she was ready to burst into action when DrunkAubrey’s voice froze everyone as her singing abruptly ended. Which Beca was really kind of happy about, because Stacie actually was Aubrey’s ‘pony’ which made it all the more evocative and distracting.

“WAIT!” It was a voice that had stopped many a Bella in their tracks and Beca snapped her attention back to the TV by pure reflex. “Take this outside into the grass.”

DrunkBeca swayed and pushed until DrunkStacie got the idea and turned to face the camera. “Bree.” DrunkBeca’s tone was the overly patient ‘explaining to an idiot’ that only the truly intoxicated could get. “Stacie’s not a real horse. She doesn’t eat graassss.” She paused and an extremely dirty leer passed over her face.

Beca felt herself flush. She knew that look and it meant she was thinking something truly filthy. She had half a second where she hoped she wouldn’t say it, though she knew it was futile. DrunkBeca totally had a word vomit problem and Beca hated it.

But to her surprise, DrunkAubrey was the one who finished what Beca was likely thinking. “I know that, Beca.” It was the same syrup sweet voice she’d used at the retreat. “She eats me.” The satisfaction in her tone practically dripped through the TV.

Beca fell back against the couch and laughed. “Ok, that was almost worth the price of admission.”

“Bree!” Stacie’s voice was full of laughter. “I’m so mad at myself that I don’t remember this! But I love you two so much for your drunken evil genius in filming it.”

Aubrey held up a finger. “Just wait.”

DrunkBeca’s face was still leering. “I’d like to see that.”

Beca felt all the color drain out of her face. “I… oh.”

Stacie nodded, grinning. “Oh.”

Chloe spoke up. “Wait.”

DrunkAubrey replied, “Maybe if you play your cards right.”

DrunkBeca yelled, “Hot damn!”

Beca flushed. “Oh my god.”

“Are we praying now?” Stacie’s voice was light. “Because this is like my prayers are answered.” She looked around as they all stared at her. “What?”

DrunkStacie crouched down to go through the back door that DrunkChloe had opened. But she didn’t crouch enough and DrunkBeca had gone higher instead of lower and her forehead skimmed off the edge of the frame.

“Fuck. Again?” Beca’s fingers gingerly traced the knot on her head.

“Sorry.” Stacie patted her knee.

“Me too.” Chloe kissed her cheek again.

Once everyone was in the backyard they’d decreed DrunkChloe to be the official time keeper and moved into the grass by the pool. Suddenly the camera lowered, like DrunkAubrey had fallen, and the angle was crooked.

DrunkChloe dropped her arms and looked over. “Bree. What are you doing?”

DrunkAubrey answered like the reason should be obvious. “Artistic framing, Chloe. Duh.”

Beca swallowed her giggle. “I didn’t know you had filmmaker aspirations, Bree.”

Aubrey shrugged. “Stacie keeps telling me I need a hobby.”

“Oh.” DrunkChloe turned back to the drunken rodeo. “You guys ready?”

DrunkStacie nodded, “Yup. Hold on tight, 8 Seconds!”

DrunkBeca threw both her hands in the air. “Wait!” When she started to fall backward DrunkStacie leaned forward to counter balance her. “I said WAIT, Bucky! Shit!”

DrunkChloe began to tap her foot. “Well?”

DrunkBeca started to wrestle with her shirt. “This needs to come off.”

DrunkAubrey moved to a different angle, but still low and ‘artistic’. “Why?”

“Skin to skin contact, duh.” DrunkBeca finally got her shirt off and waved it over her head. “Makes it better.” She seemed oblivious to the fact that Stacie’s shirt was still on.

DrunkChloe sounded confused. “A rodeo?”

“Everything.” DrunkBeca’s voice was dead serious as she nodded.

Beca rolled her eyes. “Oh my god.” She needed to come up with something else to say, but her brain was skipping the tracks. This was just… embarrassing. But Jesus fuck was it hysterical.

“Ok. Whatever.” DrunkChloe’s arms came up. “Ok. You ready?”

DrunkBeca waved her shirt over her head. “Ready!”

DrunkStacie braced herself. “Ok, hold on, 8 Seconds –“

DrunkBeca leaned down and whispered in her ear. “You already said that, Bucky.”

“Shut up.” DrunkStacie cleared her throat. “I’m going to give you the ride of your life that doesn’t involve… uh…”

DrunkAubrey supplied, “A bed?”

DrunkStacie nodded, “Sure, that too.”

DrunkChloe shouted “GO!”

DrunkAubrey tsked. “Not even a countdown, Chlo? It’s like you’ve forgotten everything.”

Beca watched, fascinated, as DrunkStacie took off around the yard, her arms still wrapped around DrunkBeca’s legs so there was no chance she was going to fall off anyway. As DrunkBeca continued to wave her shirt over her head, whooping and hollering, Beca knew she was going to have to apologize to the neighbors at the next meeting.

DrunkAubrey had moved to the side, continuing to find the best ‘artistic angle’ as DrunkChloe shouted encouragement to DrunkBeca. “That’s my girl, ride ‘em cowboy!”

Then the angle changed and the pool came into view.

Beca tensed, though she knew, obviously, that she hadn’t cracked her head open on the concrete.

DrunkStacie tried to cut the corner but DrunkBeca’s weight threw her normally perfect balance off.

Beca’s head tilted in sync with DrunkStacie’s entire body on the screen.

DrunkAubrey scrambled to her feet, causing the worst shaky cam in cinematic history, just as there were twin screams and a giant splash.

DrunkChloe’s voice filtered in from offscreen with a quiet, “Ah shit.”

The video went black.

Beca and Stacie sat in silence, staring at the screen. Chloe and Bree had exhausted themselves and were sprawled on the couch on either side of them like limp ragdolls.

“We didn’t have sex.” Stacie didn’t pose it as a question.

Aubrey bit her lip. “Nope.”

“Then how did we end up naked in bed together?” Beca was still running her fingers over the lump on her head.

Chloe cleared her throat and nodded at Bree. “There’s one more… tiny…”

Aubrey scrolled over and hit play.

Beca sighed. Eventually this had to end, right?

The camera started out focused on the dresser in Beca’s room. “Bree, I don’t know if I’m doing this right.” DrunkChloe was apparently filming this time.

“Kinda got my hands full here, Chlo.” DrunkAubrey’s voice sounded strained. And annoyed. “Why. Are. You. So. Squirmy!” There were some rustling sounds that Beca couldn’t quite place. “Stacie was easier to deal with and she’s all limbs!”

DrunkBeca’s voice crooned out of the speakers as the camera slowly panned over to the bed. “Bree. Aubs. Aubreeeeeeey. Breeeeeeeeeeee.” There was a drunken giggle. “You have the warmest, softest heart. I love you so much. You and Stace. Staubreeeeeeey.” She added, almost as an afterthought, “After my girl, of course.” She sighed gustily. “She’s the best.”

There was a pause before DrunkAubrey answered. “You’re sweet, Becs. But, those aren’t my heart.”

DrunkChloe stifled her giggles as the camera shook, pausing on a section of floor that looked like it had Stacie’s wet clothes and part of Beca’s on it.

DrunkStacie let out a peal of giggles. “Boooooooooooooobs. Bree has the bestest boooooobs.”

The camera finally focused on the bed where DrunkBeca’s shirt was off and DrunkAubrey looked like she was trying to wrestle off her wet skinny jeans. Beca was mortified to see she had her hands on DrunkAubrey’s chest and was smiling blissfully at her. DrunkStacie was lying in her wet underwear on the bed beside her.

DrunkBeca sighed wistfully. “Boobs. I’m a boob man.” She jiggled DrunkAubrey’s chest, paused, and then cracked up as she did it again.

DrunkStacie rolled her head to the side and reached out one hand and poked DrunkBeca in the boobs. “Booooooobs.” She poked again. “You’ve got great boobs too, B.” She turned her head the other way and looked at the camera. Or, more accurately, below. “And Chlo. You’ve got great boobs too.” She sighed lustfully. “I’m surrounded by great boobs.” She looked down and groped herself. “Including mine.”

DrunkAubrey stared blandly at her. “I’m so glad you’re amused with yourselves.”

Beca’s mouth dropped open but nothing came out. She was officially beyond speech.

DrunkAubrey looked over. “Chlo. I think I’m going to need your help getting Beca’s pants off and both of them into dry clothes.”

DrunkChloe jerked and it shook the camera. “Oh. Right.”

Once again the screen faded to black.

Beca exhaled and decided to ignore the fact that she’d full on groped Aubrey. “Actually, that didn’t answer all of it.”

“Well,” Chloe cleared her throat. “I helped Bree get you out of the rest of your wet clothes, because I was not buying a new mattress for The Expanse because your swim ruined it.”

Aubrey took over. “And by the time we’d turned around with your pj’s, Beca was scrambling up the bed like a spider monkey and worming her way under the covers, complaining that she was ‘cold now.’” Aubrey paused. “At the top of her lungs.”

Stacie just raised her eyebrow.

“You, being the good friend you are, told her you’d keep her warm. With your boobs.” Aubrey turned and smiled at Beca serenely, which Beca in no way trusted. “And you - you said she was like a furnace with breasts just before you passed out.”

 “Aw. You love me.” Beca choked on a laugh as she shoulder bumped Stacie and let out a sigh of relief. “So… there was no… uh.”

Chloe looked at her. “You should definitely be able to say ‘sex’ by now, Beca.”

“Right, whatever.” She waved her hand in the air. “That.”

Aubrey shook her head. “Nope, no sex.”

“Thank god.” Stacie exhaled loudly. When Beca’s head jerked up she raised her hands. “You have no idea how mad I was that I didn’t remember if we’d had sex.” She looked past Beca and threw a pillow at Chloe. “Jerk, you let me think I banged your wife and couldn’t remember.”

Chloe looked offended. “Just my wife?”

“She was the only one with their bare ass in my junk when I woke up, so yeah.”

Beca spoke up. “Which leads us to: What about you two? Where’d you sleep?”

Chloe shook her head. “Oh, we totally just changed and crawled into bed after you. It was like 3am by the time we all crashed. I was exhausted.”

Stacie perked up. “Oh. We made an early night of it? I mean, compared to last year."

Aubrey nodded. “We’d been up maybe an hour before you, and I gave you the ibuprofen to try and stave off the worst of the headache.” She looked over at Beca apologetically. “You might be kinda doomed, though, with your head.”

Beca shrugged. “It’s actually kind of fading. Could just be I can’t feel it under the layer of embarrassment.”  

Chloe kissed her cheek. “I still love you.”

Stacie kissed the other. “Me too.” She did it again. “Bree too.”

“Alright, alright.” Beca slapped at Stacie. “You already had your feel.”

Stacie gasped, spinning to Aubrey. “Did she do the thing?”

Aubrey sighed and made a face. “I owe you twenty yellow.”

“Yes!” Chloe pumped her arm.

“Oh god, we’re still missing something?” Beca groaned. “I can’t take much more of these reveals.”

Chloe was smug. “I bet Aubrey that Stace would ask if you did your sleep groping.”

“Oh my...” Beca closed her eyes and prayed for the couch to swallow her.

Aubrey said, “She totally did.”

“Ha!” Stacie laughed. “And I was naked this time!”

Beca threw out, “Yeah, but you don’t remember it.”

Stacie frowned. “Oh. Shit.”

Beca looked over at Aubrey. “Hey, Aubs?” Maybe she could redeem herself here…

“Yes?”

“So, is it?”

Aubrey’s entire face seemed to frown in confusion. “Is… what… what?”

Beca’s voice was completely blank. “Was that your sex voice?” She truly hoped how much she wanted to know that answer didn’t show.  If it did, it could cause her attempt to pay Aubrey back for putting them through all that to backfire.

But to her immense relief Aubrey turned bright red and thumped Stacie’s leg when the brunette opened her mouth. “Don’t encourage her, Stace.”

Stacie pouted. “Aw, but it’s fun!”

Beca sat quietly for a bit, letting the others continue to joke around her. She took careful stock of her body and decided that she actually wasn’t that bad off, it must have been the uncertainty of what had happened the night before that had really been making her feel like crap. Now that she knew nothing actually had, she felt more like herself. Which meant she was rapidly descending into the gutter where she normally lived but didn’t normally indulge in.

‘Until lately, I suppose.’ Now it seemed to be her default setting and Naked Stacie and Sex Voice Aubrey certainly hadn’t helped things this morning.

Her mind unexpectedly returned to what she’d been feeling during karaoke the night before. She had been relatively sober then so every thought, every flicker of desire was there the moment she landed on the memory.

After a few minutes, Beca felt Chloe’s eyes on her and looked over. Beca knew she had defaulted to her less severe resting bitch face of neutrality, but Chloe always was able see through it. Beca flushed when Chloe gave her a knowing grin before turning back to her conversation with Aubrey.

Beca took a deep breath as an idea thread its way through her mind.

Tuning back into the room, she realized Aubrey and Chloe were discussing what they would do for dinner, and Stacie was opting for pizza because it was easy and there were no dishes to do afterward.

“Why don’t we go back home and all of us can freshen up. I, for one, still feel like I need a shower. And maybe a short nap.” Chloe ran a hand through her hair. “We can order pizza and you guys can come over. Say like, 2 hours? 3?”

Beca cleared her throat, wondering if she dared, but what came out of her mouth was “We can watch a movie or something.” They were never going to believe she meant that. Like, at all.

The room fell silent and she could feel them all staring at her.

“Like, on demand. I’m sure there’s something I’ll wanna watch.” She hoped they didn’t notice her breath hitch in her throat when she said it. She hadn’t meant it that way, but her mind had dropped into the gutter like Stacie into the pool.

“Sounds good, B.” Stacie slapped her on the leg. “We’ll make a movie fan out of you yet.”

“I’ve been trying for yeaaaaaars.” Chloe rose to her feet. “Good luck.”

“I think I can convert her.” Stacie sounded confident, and maybe not like she was talking about movies anymore.

“Stacie can wear anyone down, eventually.” Aubrey’s gaze slipped over Beca and she knew Bree wasn’t talking about movies.

“One can only hope.” And Beca, who knew every inflection of Chloe’s voice, had the last confirmation she needed.

Or Beca was under the influence of a concussion and they were just talking about hanging out. In all their clothing.

They said their goodbyes and walked across to their house, Chloe’s hand warm and secure in her own.

‘Now time to see if I can put my money where my mouth is. Oh Beca, don’t start thinking about putting your mouth places.’

Chloe squeezed her fingers and smiled.

‘Oh boy.’