The little hole in the wall bar was the perfect location for Chloe Beale's night. She needed a night to herself, a night with zero thoughts of the start of school and everything that her last official year at Barden University could mean. Aubrey had been on her about getting things read for the Bellas, making sure they would come back from last year. Though the blonde was her best friend and she understood her woes about their performance last year, she really wished Aubrey would start to move past it so they could enjoy their final real year as Bellas. It was the night before the freshman and transfer students moved into the dorms so tomorrow they would start handing out fliers for the Bellas and would continue to do so the entire week until classes started. They had a month or so before actual try-outs but with the need for everyone having the same song when wanting to go for it, they needed to be prepared. This was her own personal prep.
The red head could only take so much real life, she just needed a night of loud music and nothing else. The bar was perfect and had quickly become her own little music hide-away when she needed it. It was a bar but it felt more like a very relaxed coffee shop, couches littered the floor instead of personal chairs and tables and the stage was right off the bar which made it nearly impossible to ever miss any bands. It was a little misleading to many, though, since most bands that played there were pretty intense. Not always but there were usually some pretty intensely loud nights. Chloe loved it, the small space was comforting and the music reverberated through her completely. She loved to dance but sometimes she just needed to get lost in the space. Though some nights she completely let go and joined the bodies jumping in the spaced between the bar and the couches.
This night seemed prepped to be good, the bartender grinning at her as soon as she walked in the door. She was early and knew no one would be playing for another hour but she just couldn't wait any longer. Taking a seat, she watched the prep work for the bands and sipped at a water. The Hole, aptly named if you asked her, would be filled soon if the name of the band playing that night was any indication. It stuck her because the band name was nothing. There was no name, simply identifying art and the picture of a black X plastered over a skeleton mouth. The flyer on the bar didn't name the band either, just that art again but this time in all kinds of colors. It was a little confusing but it was also something Chloe really enjoyed.
Any band that would do that kind of thing was already pretty cool in her eyes. Plus the members were setting their own equipment up and they seemed to be a nice bunch. She recognized a few of them, realizing they were incredibly local a few moments later. These were Barden people. The realization normally would have made her pout a little, not even able to escape the school here, until one of them turned around and smiled right at her.
Chloe was transfixed almost immediately. The ripped jeans, the boots, the tank top and flannel pairing, the jewelry that sparkled against her skin. Brunette hair rippled down and out from a black that Chloe's hands suddenly itched to touch. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment and she swore the air was sucked from the room. Lips quirked up before she turned around again and she felt as thought she regained control of her lungs. That girl was gorgeous but not someone she'd ever seen at Barden, she would have remembered her. Settling a hand over her heart, Chloe slid out of her seat and walked over to the bar to get a drink and possibly a glance at that girl.
"Kori... Who is that?" The bartender looked up at the red head and grinned, she knew immediately that Chloe would lock onto that damn singer. Ever since she'd started working at the bar, thanks in part to Chloe, Kori had been looking out for the red head and they'd become pretty quick friends. As soon as the band walked in and she saw that girl, she knew Chloe would be in deep before she even realized it.
"Tonight, she is Beca Mitchell." The confusion must have been extremely apparent on Chloe's face because Kori was quick to continue. "She sometimes goes by Bec and prefers to be called he. Not all the time though." That didn't seem to help things and so Kori tugged one of the flyers down for her to point out the little name under Beca's picture. "Really, she doesn't care for either pro-noun but, to make things easier on her fans, she just picks one per show. Depends on how she's feeling that day really, I suppose."
Chloe had her head tilted slightly, brow furrowed as she processed this. The Hole had opened her world view a lot, as well as her time in Barden, but this was something slightly new. "So she's... a-gender?"
Kori's resulting laughter from that statement caused the confusion to dissipate and a pout to form instead. "You really don't know these guys? They're The Invisibles. The guys formed together when they couldn't seem to get noticed anywhere in High School and Beca joined them sometime after. The band is pretty big around here since they kind of just showed up awesome and Beca is so openly gender-queer." Chloe figured Kori knew so much about these things being bi-sexual herself, the bartender was also always big on digging up info on every band that came by.
"So gender-queer... got it." She was obviously still a little lost so Kori shook her head and gave her a vodka sour.
"Why don't you just ask her and find out about it yourself. Maybe not at once though, the band lives in town. Why not ask her on a date." Chloe's eyes widened at that and Kori's laughter was back in action, though she shot the redhead a wink when she rolled her eyes and walked back to her couch.
Ask her on a date, seriously? She just barely looked at the girl and she wanted her to ask her on a date. Instead, Chloe chose to spend the remaining time before the band went on just watching them put up the equipment and goof around. Each time Beca's laughter rang out or she heard a little bit of a soft tune coming from the stage, Chloe's eyes would immediately lock onto the girl's face as she took in her expressions. She quickly realized that the more people there were, the more serious Beca got.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Chloe sat forward in her seat as the band got prepared. She didn't know what to expect but her jaw dropped when she saw a boy she recognized as a Treble Maker take the microphone next to Beca. They seemed to smirk at the same time only Beca's eyes seemed to seek Chloe out once more, that smirk turning into something a little nervous when she smiled at her.
The music sank in immediately and Chloe was blown away when the Treble started to scream lyrics into the mic. It wasn't what she expected from them but definitely what she expected from The Hole. She had to admit she liked it from the get go, not that she would let Aubrey let on that she liked an immense amount of music the blonde rolled her eyes at. Then Beca opened her mouth to sing the other parts and Chloe knew she was a goner. The voice that came from her was amazing.
"Keep me close, keep me close,
Keep my head above water,
I need to hear your voice,
I can't do this on my own.."
The first song ended way to quickly for Chloe's liking and for the rest of the night she was locked onto that damn brunette, her voice sliding around her and keeping her hostage. They went from that intense first song to something a little easier and by the end of the night, they were into a mixture of intense and calming songs. It wasn't a set list she was used to but she loved it and found herself hoping they would be back soon.
Being three vodka sours down by the end of the set list, and how own courage ever present in these situations, Chloe marched right up to the stage as they were cleaning up equipment and went straight to Beca. Most of the other patrons had already left, leaving the band alone with Chloe, Kori, and three other random stragglers. Sticking her hand out for the brunette, Chloe had to smile at the nervous and almost shocked look on her face. "Hi! You guys were awesome! Do you always do set lists like that? Please, tell me you do because it was really something amazing! I hope you guys come back here more, I'd really like to see more of you.. And the band too." The stunned look she was getting from Beca made her realize she forgot something. "Oh! My name's Chloe, Chloe Beale. I go to Barden University and kind of live here when I'm not stuck over there."
That seemed to snap Beca out of it, a little smile quirking the corner of her lips even though her eyes were still a little wide. "Beca Mitchell. Lucky you, I just transferred to Barden. Though don't expect to see me around a lot, I'm really just going there because my dad is paying for all of it and he said he'd help the band out if I attended university." The words just seemed to blurt out from Beca and even her band mates seemed shocked she let out that much information in one go. "I uh.. We're going to play here pretty often since it's so close and it's really nice here." Chloe got a shrug there but she was still a little taken by that voice, just speaking Beca's voice was as amazing as it was when she was singing.
"Oh please, I'll see you around!" Chloe tugged on Beca's hand when she realized she hadn't actually let it go after the initial hand shake, the fact that Beca didn't either giving her a pleasant warm sensation in her chest. The brunette stumbled a little closer and it was Chloe's turn to smirk as she leaned in close to her ear and whispered. "I think we're going to become very close friends."
this prompt was submitted to me for a gender-queer Beca with a band and not much else! I loved the idea though so this AU! is going to be BeChloe and it's going to be in one-shots most likely, though they will obviously form a story for them. If you want to send me any prompts for this universe, please do! It would be great to know what you would want.
The song used is The Sinner by Memphis May Fire
also, I want to add in a little note here that I myself am gender-queer. I am in no way a gender expert but I do tend to go with what I explained up there when dealing with pro-nouns. I don't care either way, I tend to be fairly androgynous in the way I dress and only really use the he or she pro-noun for simplicity when working with other people so that's how I'm going to write her since that's my experience.