A/N: I only got around to watching Pitch Perfect this past July (very late, I know) and I immediately fell in love with Jesse and Beca (especially Jesse). After reading nearly all of the amazing fic in this fandom, I've decided to contribute my own. This is intended to be set completely within the movie-verse, all canon events apply. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I've got a pretty big chunk of this story already written so updates shouldn't be too far and in between. :)

Chapter One

Jesse Swanson believed in fate. He believed in love at first sight. And he believed that you could spend the rest of your life happily with one person.

He was aware that he was possibly one of the only eighteen year old boys in the world to believe in such things. Some might call him a hopeless romantic, others a fool. Jesse thought he was probably a little of both and he had no problem with it.

When he turned his head in the backseat of his parent's car and saw a girl with an amazingly scary ear spike, darkly lined eyes, and huge ass headphones wrapped around her neck, he was infatuated. He sang to her, complete with air guitar riff, and he didn't care how much of a dork he must have looked like to her.

It was a whim that had made him sign up for the internship at the radio station. Benji had gone back to their room to practice more magic tricks to impress Bumper with, but Jesse stayed behind to check out some of the other clubs. Nothing caught his eye, although he did laugh at some crazy Australian chick harassing two overwhelmed looking deaf Jews. Being Jewish himself (but not deaf), he kept a wide berth from that booth. He stumbled onto the internship booth and figured that he could use a job, but he didn't want anything that would take too much time from his studies and rehearsals with the Treblemakers (if he hopefully made it in), so an on campus internship seemed perfect. He looked over the listings and listened to the guy manning the booth try to sell him on becoming a test subject for the effects of marijuana on a person's appetite, when his eyes landed on the radio station internship. He lived and breathed music and well, no one could accuse of him not liking the sound of his own voice, so it was a no brainer for him. He signed his name down, noticing that there was only one other name on the paper. A Rebeca Mitchell, his future co-worker it would seem. He wondered what she would be like but didn't dwell on it.

In a classic romantic comedy twist, it turns out that Rebeca Mitchell a.k.a Beca (not Becky) is the very girl that Jesse had serenaded from his parent's car. It was fate, it had to be.

She was apathetic, surly, and seemed to speak in only monosyllables. In short, the exact opposite of Jesse, personality-wise. But that was okay because as Jesse had learned from the many many movies he had watched, opposites attract. Beca was a mystery, a puzzle, a nut with no visible cracks. And that intrigued Jesse. He was determined that by the end of the semester, he and Beca would be friends. He knew lovers was reaching far beyond the realms of possibility, even before Beca had told him as much, but best friends was definitely a goal that he could set for himself.

X

Jesse reminded Beca of an overexcited puppy. He was always smiling, he took great joy in finding inane things among the records, like a Billie Holiday record that he hadn't listened to in ages; and he could carry on entire conversations by himself with only a few nods and an occasional "Hm..." from her. Nothing ever seemed to bring him down; Not her silence and eye rolls, not becoming Luke's official lunch errand boy. Jesse was the deepest well of energy and optimism that Beca had ever seen.

It was exhausting at first. But as the days went on, Beca found herself getting used to it. She hadn't even realized that she was getting used to it until he didn't arrive for his shift one day. At first she figured that he was late, which wasn't that unusual much to Luke's irritation. But when thirty minutes had passed, she started to get a little worried. After forty-five minutes the silence in the station was starting to grate on Beca's nerves. It was never this quiet when Jesse was around and the silence seemed to highlight his absence acutely. It made Beca realize how big the station actually was, with its two floors of hopelessly disorganized records. She never realized how much space Jesse took up with his general presence and almost overwhelming energy. She wondered where he was.

After an hour and a fifteen minute internal debate with herself, Beca decided to ask Luke. She signaled for his attention through the window and he met her at the door.

"Hey, um, do you know where Jesse is?"

"Dunno. He called in and said he had some personal emergency. He offered to come in Friday night to make up for it so I'm not complaining."

"Oh," Beca said, fighting off the worry she could feel bubbling inside of her. Personal emergency? That didn't sound good. "He...didn't say what the emergency was?"

"Nope. I wouldn't have cared if he did. What you guys do on your own time is your own business. That it?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Luke nodded and disappeared back into the booth. It looked like Beca was facing the next three hours of stacking alone. A week ago this wouldn't have bothered her. But now, she was suddenly aware of how lonely the station could be.

She turned up the volume to the music outside of the booth and resumed her work, trying to ignore the niggling voice in the back of her head that was wondering if Jesse was okay.

The next day when she walked into the station, Beca felt something release inside of her chest when she saw Jesse casually perched on the desk, sorting through a box of CDs.

He looked up at her entrance. "Hey, miss me?"

"Darn, I was hoping you wouldn't be here again." She set her backpack on the desk and pulled another box towards herself.

Jesse grinned. "I know you missed me. Don't deny it. Luke said you asked about me."

She glared in the direction of the booth where the back of Luke's head was visible through the window. Traitor.

"He said, and I quote, 'Your girlfriend was asking about you, next time don't make me your messenger bird.'"

"So where were you?" Beca asked, choosing to ignore his poor imitation of Luke's British accent and the words that their boss had apparently said.

Jesse scratched the back of his neck and looked faintly embarrassed. Now Beca was intrigued. It wasn't like Jesse to get embarrassed over things, he always had such an air of confidence about him. Even when he was doing or saying the dorkiest things, he fully committed to it.

"Did an all-nighter for a paper?" She guessed.

"It's the third week of school," Jesse laughed. "I assure you I'm not that much of an overachiever."

"Hungover?"

"Nah, not really big on the drinking. Unless there's an occasion for it."

"Date?"

He grinned and leaned towards her. "Are you asking?"

Beca rolled her eyes.

"Did you go to some nerd convention?"

"Nope."

She sighed. "Seriously, Jesse?"

"Hey, I think this is the longest two-sided conversation we've ever had. I'm enjoying this."

"Are you really not going to tell me?"

"Will you stop talking to me if I do?"

She squinted at him.

"Alright. I just had to help out my roommate, Benji. He had a minor hamster emergency."

"Hamster emergency," Beca repeated.

"Yeah." Jesse carried a stack of CDs to the shelf behind Beca.

"Did it die?"

"What? No." Jesse looked at her through the shelf. "See, he had a boy hamster and a girl hamster and um, apparently nature took over and the girl had a bunch of baby hamsters. But Benji didn't know this until yesterday when the baby hamsters started walking and they all came out from under his bed and got loose in the hallways. People thought they were tiny rats and it caused a mild panic...so yeah."

Beca looked at him, trying to judge whether he was lying or not. "Dude, if you don't want to tell me..."

"I swear I'm not lying. Come on, run away hamster babies? Would I make this up?"

She bit back a smile and shook her head.

"It was an interesting afternoon, at least," he said.

"Lucky you. It was boring as hell here."

"Aww...See, I knew you missed me!" Jesse grinned widely at her. He started following her around the shelves as she stacked her armful of CDs. "Did you miss the dulcet tones of my voice? My many movie and pop culture references? My wit and humor? My dashing charm?"

"Dude! Stop!" She shoved her remaining CDs onto his chest. She could see the laughter dancing in his eyes and she stalked back to the table, beyond annoyed with him.

Except...there was something in his presence across the room that somehow made Beca feel not so alone in this place. And she found she couldn't hold onto her annoyance for very long.

X

Jesse was nervous. He knew that he could sing and that he could sing well. He had been in his school choir, had done school and community theatre pretty much all of his life. Growing up, he had often been roped into singing at family Bar Mitzvahs and weddings, and he'd (unsuccesfully) tried to start a band in high school. Music is and always has been the biggest part of his life. But Barden was still new and unfamiliar territory for Jesse. Benji had shown him the Youtube videos of the Treblemaker's performances. They were really good. And also pretty exclusive as far as the school's a capella groups go. They only took in two or three new members per year. Jesse desperately hoped that he and Benji would be those two.

"Here's the thing, we started out friends. It was cool but it was all pretend. Yeah yeah, since you've been gone. You dedicated, you took the time. Wasn't long til I called you mine. Yeah yeah, since you've been gone. And why don't I ever you say I just wanna be with you. How come I never hear you say...Since you've been gone. I can breathe for the first time. I'm so moving on. Yeah yeah. Thanks to you, I get what I want. Since you've been gone..."

"I didn't peg you for a Kelly Clarkson fan."

Jesse jumped about a foot in the air. The CDs he was holding went crashing to the ground. He turned to see a smirking Beca looking back at him.

"What. Are you doing?"

"I think I should ask you that, Kelly."

He could feel his face heat up. He wondered how long she'd been standing there. He came up to the second floor so that he could get some practice in while he worked. He didn't think he'd been singing that loud.

"I was just practicing," he said as he bent down to pick up the fallen CDs. Surprisingly, Beca came over to help him.

"For what? American Idol?"

"Haha. No, a capella auditions are today. I'm going to be a Treblemaker, remember?"

"Ah." She nodded. "Well, good luck with that." She stood up and handed him her stack of CDs.

"That's it?" He asked when she turned away. "No cutting comments about how lame a capella is?"

She looked at him carefully, her brow wrinkling in a way that Jesse couldn't help but think was adorable. "What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

Jesse tried to laugh but even he knew what a pathetic attempt it was as a very hollow sounding chuckle came out. "Me nervous? Nah. I mean, I've totally got this."

Beca's smile widened. "You're practically sweating."

He turned back to the shelf and resumed his task of putting the CDs into their rightful places on the shelves.

Beca wasn't going to let him ignore her, however, and she came over to stand beside him.

"Now this is new. Overconfident, super cocky Jesse Swanson is actually nervous about something? This is one for the books."

He nodded his head. "Yeah yeah, have your fun. The Treblemakers only accept two or three new members per year. My roommate Benji is like their biggest fan. He really wants to get in and he definitely has the voice for it. The thing is, Benji is kind of..." He glanced at her. "Unique. I mean, he's totally awesome but he's not that great with people. And the leader Bumper has a reputation for being kind of an ass. So if Benji were to get in...Well, I just think it'd be better if it was the two of us. So there'd be someone to keep Bumper off his back."

Beca frowned. "Wait, do you actually want to join the Treblemakers? Or are you just doing it to protect your roommate?"

"Yeah, I want to do it. Organized nerd singing? Totally my thing. Plus the Trebles are the reigning ICCA champions. They're really good. It's just, Benji introduced me to it all. If he hadn't been my roommate I don't know if I'd even be auditioning."

Beca looked at him in a way that made something twist in Jesse's stomach. Right in that moment, as she stared into his eyes and gave him all of her undivided attention, he felt...exposed.

"You're really good, you know. From what I just heard anyway. I mean, you have a nice voice. I think you'll probably get in, for what it's worth. And I guess it's pretty cool that you want to do this for your roommate."

He grinned. "Did Beca Mitchell just give me a compliment?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it."

"I think you just gave me a lot of compliments."

"Don't let it go to your head, nerd." She walked over to a box of CDs and began to alphabetize them. Jesse followed her, abandoning his own stacking.

"I'm leaving a little early to meet Benji so that we can head to the auditorium together. Hey, do you want to come? I mean, I know you think this stuff is totally lame. But you could come as moral support. Be my little cheerleader? You don't need pom poms but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing you in a tiny skirt." Off Beca's glare. "No? That's a no. Okay."

He backed away from her with his hands up. "Just thought I'd ask."

Jesse couldn't wipe the huge grin off his face as he went back to his sorting. He made sure to keep his back to Beca so that she wouldn't see and think he was a complete idiot. Well, more of an idiot.

X

"You're a Barden Bella."

"Stop saying that."

"You, Ms. Mitchell. Ms. Alternative. Ms. Broody and Mysterious. Ms. Scary ear spike girl belong to an a cappella group."

"Seriously, dude. Shut up."

Beca looked at him and wanted to punch that huge ass grin off his smug face.

"I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this. Why didn't you tell me you were going to audition?"

"I didn't know I was going to," she answered honestly.

"So did you just stumble into the auditorium while looking for the knitting club and thought 'What the hey? Since I'm here...'"

Beca sighed. "How are you even conscious right now? You were pretty wasted last night."

"I took my brother's miracle hangover cure when I woke up this morning. The most disgusting thing you'll ever taste but surprisingly effective. Thank you, by the way, for getting me home. Benji said you took care of me."

"He exaggerates. Besides, someone had to take your drunk ass home before you passed out on one of the cement benches."

"I didn't know you cared so much." Jesse grinned widely.

Beca rolled her eyes and shoved her remaining handful of CDs onto his chest. "I'm out. I told Luke I'm ditching early today."

"Why?" Jesse looked adorably confused for a moment until his expression cleared and his eyes brightened. "You have practice, don't you?"

She shrugged her backpack on and refused to answer him.

"Already? Wow, they said Aubrey was...um, strict...but practice the day after Hood Night?"

"Gotta get the torture over with," Beca said. "See ya nerd."

"Good luck!" Jesse calls after her retreating back.