"So, Mrs. Baker said you were cheating on me" Beca says conversationally one evening while Chloe is at a late tutoring session, trying not to laugh as she sees Aubrey's face go slack in shock. The blonde obviously has no idea how to respond to that, and this is turning out to be far more amusing than she thought it would.
"What on earth would make her think that?" Aubrey finally manages to ask after spluttering incoherently for a few seconds. "Because there's no way I'd ever cheat on you, no reason for me to even consider it." She's genuinely baffled and Beca almost wants to drop the charade and reassure her, but there's still a little enjoyment to be had.
"She said she saw you with someone on one of my late nights at the station" she continues instead, keeping her face and tone carefully blank to avoid giving her amusement away. It also helps it seem like she's hiding hurt or another similar emotion, which helps sell the act she has going on.
Aubrey immediately starts denying anything and everything she can think of, and Beca finally can't hold back her laughter. It's enough to stop Aubrey mid denial, the blonde's eyes narrowing in suspicion as Beca only laughs harder. "Beca, what the hell?" she asks with an edge to her voice when the brunette finally calms. "How is this funny? You accused me of cheating on you!"
"No, I said Mrs. Baker accused you of cheating" Beca clarifies, and has to fight to keep from laughing again when Aubrey just looks confused. "She said she saw you with some redhead, acting all cozy in the hallway the other week. Said she'd been debating telling me since then, because apparently it's clear I'm crazy in love with you and she didn't want me to get hurt."
"Wait, you mean Chloe?" Aubrey asks in confusion before she gets it. "Oh, you bitch. You had me worried for a minute there."
"Don't worry babe, I know you would never cheat on us. I just couldn't resist." Beca knows she's probably pushing her luck a little right now, but she can't manage to wipe the grin off her face at how well she'd managed to trick the blonde.
"How does she not realize it's all three of us?" Aubrey asks after a moment, and Beca just shrugs. "I mean I guess Chloe did have that thing at home the week we moved in, but it's not like she sneaks in every day."
"Who knows. I was surprised too, the way Mrs. Baker watches everything she could possibly gossip about later, I would have bet my mixing board she realized the three of us lived together" Beca says, trying to figure out how the woman could have missed Chloe's existence completely.
"I guess it doesn't really matter" Aubrey says after a moment, clearly having run through the same thought process Beca had. "What did you end up telling her?"
"That I'd talk to you about it tonight" Beca says with a smirk, dodging the smack Aubrey half-heartedly sends her way. "What, I wasn't about to get into a serious discussion with the woman on my own, you know that's dangerous any time, let alone on a serious topic."
"You're lucky I know you're right" Aubrey reluctantly concedes, and Beca's smirk deepens. "That doesn't mean you can antagonize her, if I get drawn into some accusing conversation where she goes on about how I'm betraying your trust or whatever, I'm dragging you down there so you can apologize, and then I'll leave you there."
The tone of her voice tells Beca her girlfriend is completely serious, and Beca doesn't doubt for a second that she'll do exactly that. "Fine, you've made your point" Beca says, shooting for reluctance rather than a little honest fear of their neighbor's potential anger.
Besides, she knows Chloe will get a kick out of it later.
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"Apparently Josh from across the hall thinks I'm cheating on you" Chloe says to Beca about a week later, and the brunette has to raise an eyebrow at that one.
"Why am I always the one getting cheated on in these scenarios?" she asks, earning a laugh from Chloe. "No, seriously dude, Mrs. Baker thought Aubrey was cheating on me, Josh thinks you're cheating on me, why am I always the clueless lover?"
"Maybe they think you're just too cute to cheat on anyone" Chloe teases, and Beca has to resist the urge to fall for that trap and insist she's totally not cute, given the subject this time. "If it makes you feel any better he actually congratulated me on 'banging two totally hot chicks' so I don't think he finds you cute."
"Ugh, I knew I didn't like him" Beca says with a roll of her eyes. "And not just because he blares god awful music while I'm trying to mix. The dude is a tool."
"Well at least he finds both my girlfriends hot" Chloe says with a wink. "Clearly he has good taste in something."
"Chloe, the guy probably thinks boobs are the bare minimum for hotness" Beca says disparagingly. She really shouldn't care what someone like him thinks anyway, so she tries to keep from getting upset. It had been easier with Mrs. Baker, the older woman was so interested in knowing everything that went on in the building that it was humorous to think she'd missed something as obvious as three women living together for so long. Josh though, he just annoys her.
"Oh Beca, just relax and take it as a compliment" Chloe laughs, and Beca does her best to shrug it off. "I wonder how many other people in the building think we're cheating on each other?" she continues, and Beca manages to laugh as she imagines it.
"Dude, I kind of want to make it worse, but I think Aubrey would kill us if we put her through that" Beca says, the mental image finally shaking the annoyance at Josh so she can be amused by the situation again. "Like seriously, imagine if we never appear in the hallways as the three of us, only alone or in groups of two. How long do you think it would take before everyone was confused and convinced we're all horrible people?"
When Chloe's eyes light up Beca realizes the idea might have been a mistake, she'd meant it as a joke but Chloe loves pulling stunts like this. "No, but that would be amazing" she starts, gears clearly turning in her head as she imagines it. "We could even get Stacie or some of the Bellas in on it and really mess with people."
"You do realize Aubrey will kill us" Beca points out dryly, though she's starting to see the potential for humor in the situation. Still, bringing the Bellas into this would only make it worse, and she does have to live here for at least the remaining ten months of their lease. She'd prefer to not dodge judgmental glances the entire time.
"She'd never kill us" Chloe says with a dismissive wave of her hand, and Beca wishes she could be as confident in that fact as her girlfriend clearly is.
"Even if she doesn't kill us, she can still make things very uncomfortable for us for a very long time" Beca argues, knowing she's won when Chloe reluctantly nods.
"Fine, no Bellas" the redhead concedes, and Beca can't hold back a smile at how disappointed she sounds. "But I still think it'd be fun to only appear in pairs for a while, see who we fool." Beca still can't see that ending well, but it does seem like it could be amusing anyway.
"Fine, but if Aubrey catches on you're the one who gets to explain" she says, unprepared for how excited Chloe gets at the concession.
No, this will not end well at all.
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"Mr. Tabor just all but accused me of cheating on you" Aubrey says to Beca a few days later, and Beca has to bite back a smirk before Aubrey can catch on to what her girlfriends have been doing. "He didn't directly say anything, but he asked how you were doing and then made a really pointed comment about how being honest in a relationship is the key to making it through anything." The blonde is clearly confused, and somehow Beca manages to keep a look of bemusement on her own face, rather than bursting into laughter. She's just glad Chloe is running a little late, she isn't sure the redhead could keep from giving them away.
She ends up taking a minute to text Chloe before the redhead can get home, already anticipating that the topic will come up again and wanting her to be warned so she can keep her composure. Because if Aubrey knows what they're doing she'll probably put an end to it, and Beca is turning out to be far more amused by the reactions of their neighbors than she'd thought she would be.
Aubrey does end up bringing it up over dinner, but with Beca's warning is able to act as if she's only mildly amused and still clueless as to why people would be thinking such a thing about them.
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They end up being approached by several more of their neighbors over the course of the next two weeks, and finally it gets to the point that Beca and Chloe can't hold back their laughter when Aubrey brings up the latest accusation.
"Okay, what do you two know about this?" she asks with narrowed eyes as they lean into each other laughing, and Beca pokes Chloe in the side to remind her she's the one who has to explain. They're both still going to be in trouble, but at least she won't have to come up with anything that sounds halfway reasonable to defend their actions.
"We wanted to see how many of our neighbors we could convince that we were cheating on each other" Chloe says without attempting to deny anything, and Beca rolls her eyes. Maybe it would have been better if she did the talking after all. At least she wouldn't have thrown them under the bus quite so fast.
"You mean you two have been doing this on purpose?" Aubrey asks, warning note clear in her voice. "You guys, we have to live here for months still! We have to face these people every day, and right now half of them are convinced I'm some cheating ass, and the other half think Chloe is!"
"Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing where I'm always the one being cheated on" Beca brings up again, ignoring Aubrey's annoyed glare at the distraction. "I mean, I'd never cheat on either of you and it's nice that they get that. But I also know you two would never cheat on me and I don't get why they all assume you would but I wouldn't."
"That isn't the point!" Aubrey snaps, and Beca realizes she'd been right, they really are in trouble this time. "The point is that they think we're cheating, who they think is doing the cheating is irrelevant. I mean come on you guys, they're dismissing our relationship. Don't you hate that?"
Beca hadn't really thought about it that way, and from the way Chloe freezes next to her realizes the redhead hadn't either. They'd been so caught up in the humor they'd found in the situation that they hadn't really thought past that.
"We didn't think of that" Chloe admits in a small voice, and Beca nods in agreement, seeing Aubrey soften as she looks at them. They're still obviously in trouble, but no one can stay mad at Chloe for long when she uses that tone, the one that makes anyone who hears want to hug her until she isn't sad anymore.
"Well they are, and I hate that. And I know you do too, so now we need to fix it." Beca hadn't been expecting this either, the determined look on Aubrey's face is a familiar one but not what she'd expected to see in this situation. It means the blonde has a plan, and Beca has a sinking suspicion she isn't going to like it.
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She doesn't like it. She really, really doesn't like it. She hates talking to people on a good day, hates talking to relative strangers even more. Hell, if it wasn't for Chloe's honest friendliness and Aubrey's insistence on the importance of networking she wouldn't know half the people in their building at all. But now she has to talk to every single one of them, because Aubrey won't let them take the easy way out.
"You two got us into this mess, but we're all going to get us out" she'd said when they'd both protested the plan, Beca far more than Chloe. "And we're going to do it right, because it's our relationship we're talking about here. They think the worst of us right now, and we have to convince them otherwise, which means putting actual effort into it."
And that's how they find themselves standing awkwardly outside of apartment 1A, staring at each other as they silently debate who will be the one to ring the doorbell. Beca loses, unable to stand firm against the pointed look from Aubrey and pleading look from Chloe, and hopes this means she doesn't have to knock at every door they stop at.
"Can't we just tell Mrs. Baker, and let her tell everyone else?" Beca had tried to reason, figuring that what the woman knew sooner or later everyone knew. But Aubrey had just pointed out that if that would work people wouldn't think Chloe was dating Beca while cheating with Aubrey. Then she'd reminded them that their relationship deserved taking the time to do this right, no matter how uncomfortable it would be. That's also when she'd vetoed the idea of leaving a note on people's doors, Beca's last ditch effort to get out of this.
Mrs. Baker does end up being their first stop of the night though, and Beca smiles awkwardly when the older woman opens the door, notes the look of shock on her face when she sees Beca and Chloe both with Aubrey. "Hi Mrs. Baker, hope we aren't bothering you" she starts awkwardly, not sure how to broach the actual topic.
"So you finally confronted the redheaded interloper" the old woman says, making the internal debate unnecessary but shocking all three women into momentary silence. "And what, you wanted to thank me for bringing it to your attention?"
"Uh, not exactly" Chloe says awkwardly, stopping when the woman glares at her. Obviously she doesn't think much of Chloe, or probably Aubrey either right now, which means explaining falls to Beca.
"No ma'am, that's not exactly it" Beca tries, and gets a sharp look herself, though this one doesn't have the accusation of the glare Chloe had gotten. "Um, I probably should have just said this right away, but Aubrey wasn't cheating on me. We're all dating, the three of us are soulmates."
That seems to surprise the older woman, and she blinks at them for a second with a blank look as if she isn't sure how to respond. Then she launches into a full series of questions that all three end up answering, Chloe and Aubrey hesitantly at first until it becomes obvious that the woman has started to believe them. This is another reason they've started with Mrs. Baker, not just because she's in the first apartment of the building. She wants to know everything, and every question they'll hear tonight will probably be asked in this conversation, which gives them practice and preparation for the rest of the stops.
That doesn't mean it isn't uncomfortable standing in her doorway for half an hour explaining over and over again that yes, they are all together, that they all love each other, that they really are all soulmates. No, no one is cheating, and no one feels left out, though Beca does notice both her soulmates lean closer into her side at that question, as if wordlessly reassuring her in case she still feels like an outsider.
The woman finally lets them go when her phone starts ringing, telling them to come back sometime so she can ask a few more questions. And even though Beca has no intention of doing so, or even talking to the woman again any time soon, they all cheerfully agree before she shuts the door and presumably rushes to answer her phone.
"God that was exhausting" Beca groans as they move away from the door, and Chloe starts to laugh until Aubrey stops them both with a look.
"You two are the ones who started this" she points out, and they can't really argue with that. Right now Beca is mentally counting the number of apartments in the building and trying to figure out who will probably give them the most trouble. There are a few older residents that might keep them as long as Mrs. Baker had, but other than that she's most worried about the college age kids like Josh. She just knows he's going to have something to say after what he'd said to Chloe, and she isn't looking forward to it.
Thankfully most of the stops go fairly quickly, the biggest problem most people have is that their evenings are being interrupted to hear about someone else's relationship, though a few do look sheepish when they realize they'd made assumptions about that relationship that were completely off base. Aubrey tries to get Chloe or Beca to apologize to those people, but not even the fear of Aubrey's annoyance will get them to do that. After all, no matter how Beca and Chloe had acted, these people had jumped to conclusions, and the ones Aubrey wants them to apologize to are the ones who had been most outspoken about it.
It does make them see what they'd done though, beyond the gentle humor of the situation. More even than just realizing that they'd given a skewed image of their relationship, defending it to the people who'd dismissed it drives home the seriousness of the situation.
The only entertaining portion of the night is watching Aubrey take Josh down when he makes a comment about how 'hot' he finds the relationship, and Beca almost worries about having to hold Aubrey back to keep her from decking the guy. Not that she'd mind too much, but he's the kind of ass who would call the police on them, and they don't need that.
When they finally finish it's later than Beca had thought it would be, and they're all tired. They can tell Aubrey is still upset from it all, from the need to go literally door to door defending their relationship, so without a word Beca and Chloe settle her between them as they climb into bed.
"I'm sorry" Beca whispers eventually into the darkness of their room, knowing neither of her soulmates has fallen asleep yet. She hears Chloe echo the sentiment, and Aubrey sighs deeply. Beca hates knowing that they've let her down, that they'd let themselves down. Yeah they've fixed it, but they shouldn't have had to fix anything.
"It's okay" Aubrey says eventually, and even when Beca listens for any disappointment she can't hear any. She only hears acceptance and the ever present love, and she starts to think that the really are okay. "Just do me a favor, and if we move or see new neighbors, please don't make this into a tradition."