"Where did you learn to do that?" was perhaps not the most appropriate question to ask as a gorgeous blonde slid her way back up your body; but Beca had never been one for appropriateness.

"Where did you learn to do that?" she asked, as Aubrey lifted herself onto her elbows, still panting lightly from her efforts.

"Mm?" Aubrey hummed, taking a moment to control her breathing. She offered Beca a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "A lady never tells, Beca." Aubrey's long fingers traced the brunette's body, drawing patterns in the folds of Beca's skin.

"I'm serious."

Aubrey's fingers stopped dancing over the brunette's breasts, but her mouth still traced a line up Beca's neck as she purred. "It's not really any of your business, Beca."

"It is my business! You're my-" Beca shut off. Technically, Aubrey wasn't anything to her; not officially, anyway.

Aubrey filled in the silence after a few seconds; the blonde's eyes flashed dangerously, although her smile stayed perfectly in place; a hard-learned trait. "Exactly. That makes it none of your business, and if you're not going to return the favor, get out. I have better things to do than post coital snuggling." Aubrey at least had the humility to appear slightly apologetic as a hurt look crossed Beca's face; if only for a second, before both cloaked their emotions behind the usual masks. And Beca slipped behind her smirk and down Aubrey's body, and murmured, "With pleasure, Captain."

"Chloe, who else has Aubrey slept with?"

Her question, predictably, took the redhead by surprise, and Beca grinned as the other girl knocked half her books off the table. Several of the library's more studious patrons glared at the noise - Chloe offering them an apology as she scrambled to pick up her books - before turning back to Beca with a reproachful look. "Beca, you're meant to be studying."

Beca shrugged. "It's only a Philosophy test. There are no right or wrong answers, I'll write about snails." Chloe shot her a glare, which Beca could barely restrain herself from snorting at - Chloe's attempts at being mad always made her look like a confused puppy.

"Tell me," Beca pleaded, turning on her own pathetic attempt at puppy eyes.

"No. Be quiet," Chloe hissed, as more students turned to look at the pair.

"Pleaseeeeeee-"

"Beca!" whispered Chloe angrily, which was such a rare sight that Beca had to commit it to memory.

"Pretty pretty please?" Beca continued, raising her voice with each word.

"Shut up!"

"I'm just going to get louder."

"Beca, I swear to the aca-gods-"

"I can't believe you got me kicked out of the library."

"Libraries are boring. I'm much more fun!" Beca quipped, exaggeratedly winking at Chloe and rolling her hips suggestively. Having been escorted from the premises by an angry librarian, the pair were now wandering the lawn, trying to find some grass unoccupied by the other students.

Despite herself, the redhead chuckled at Beca's excessive vulgarity. "Some of us actually have to study."

"No, some of us decided to spend another year in this prison of academic torture, for some crazy reason."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Some crazy reason like furthering our education? And anyway, you should be glad we did. You'd have gone mad by now otherwise, trying to run the Bellas by yourself." Beca didn't need to ask who else Chloe was referring to, and Chloe knew it. Which reminded Beca-

"So who else has Aubrey slept with?"

Chloe groaned loudly. "For the last time Beca, I'm not telling you. That's between you and her."

"But she won't tell me! I've tried!" Beca protested.

"Why do you even need to know? You two have an open relationship, if you'd even call it that." Beca shrugged again. She didn't have an actual reason for needing to know, after all. In fact, she didn't really even know herself why it was so important to her; but like all of Beca's feelings, it was pushed to the back of her mind to be dealt with later. Or never, preferably.

Chloe, apparently content with a particular patch of grass, flopped down onto the ground and began pulling out her books again.

"Ugh. I should have just hooked up with you last year instead, saved myself all the trouble," Beca sighed, ungracefully collapsing on the ground next to Chloe.

"Don't say I never gave you the chance," Chloe replied, her eyes never leaving the page she'd been reading intently for over half an hour, secreting the information away behind those blue eyes like so many hidden thoughts. "I was all over you at aca-initiation night."

"Please. You broke my aca-heart when you went off with Tom at that party," Beca joked, and Chloe laughed. "We both know I was already very drunk that night."

"Must have been all the Boone's Farm," Beca retorted lightheartedly, and Chloe grinned again.

"The kegs didn't help either, not even to drown at Aubrey's complaints about you- Oh, ignoring me now?" added Chloe, as the brunette rolled onto her side facing away from her.

"Sun's in my eyes," muttered Beca, overcome with a sudden desire to hide that she couldn't even begin to explain.

"We both know we never would have worked out, anyway," the redhead continued after a second, almost as though she was talking to herself. Maybe she was. "We were too different," she murmured, leaving Beca to wonder what the hell that made her and Aubrey.

Deciding who else to ask was made easy for her, because Stacie asked her first.

It was one of the rare rehearsals that neither Abrey or Chloe could make because of their exam schedules, and as such, the entire thing was a shambles. Most of the Bellas had sneakily slipped out by this point - although Amy had loudly announced she was going for hot dogs, and Lily might have said something before she left, but Beca couldn't really tell. Only Stacie and Beca were left, as Beca ineptly tried to correct the other girl's choreography.

"No, it's your left leg - no, your other left- okay, that's not even your leg. Hang on, I'll show you," Beca sighed. She could barely follow the choreography herself on a good day. Awkwardly, she tried to position herself behind Stacie, a feat not helped by their incredible height difference.

"What's going on between you and Blondie?" Stacie asked, and Beca froze, her elbows still locked at the awkward angle she'd been attempting to teach Stacie.

"Who, Aubrey? Nothing. Well, we're friends now, kind of," Beca all but stammered.

Stacie didn't look convinced. "You sure? Because I know raging sexual tension when I see it, Beca, considering I'm usually the contributing factor. And you two could light a fire with that heat. Whew."

Beca attempted to look passive, in a performance about as effective as her dance instruction. "She's pretty hot, I guess," she said, the very opposite of nonchalant.

"Damn straight. Those angry girls get me every time. A lot of pent-up tension in that one."

Beca had a bad feeling somewhere near her navel about the answer to her next question. "Why are you asking, huh?" she asked anyway, turning away from the lanky girl to begin packing up.

"I wouldn't mind hooking up with her again. Well, she seems a lot less angry nowadays, so it would probably be less hot, but my usual chick's out of town, and I'm in the rare mood for some ladyloving." Stacie slid off her dancing clothes with her usual lack of modesty, but Beca was too stunned to even acknowledge the sudden display of breasts.

"Ah," replied Beca simply. She was still rooted to the spot when Stacie skipped from the hall a minute later, with a wave and a "Thanks!"

"You slept with Stacie?" Beca demanded, as the last of the Bellas trickled from the next rehearsal, Stacie departing with a very overt wink at the blonde. Aubrey paused from where she had been sorting their sheet music, although she made no other sign of surprise at Beca's question.

"Everyone's slept with Stacie," replied Aubrey passively, without a single hint of malice or judgement in her tone. "You should ask Chloe."

Beca didn't even want to think about redhead had missed today's rehearsal on account of a promising job interview, one of the few things that passed Aubrey's test for acceptable reasons to miss a rehearsal. "When?"

"Aca-initiation night. Why do you think I was so sure she hadn't been Trebleboned?"

"Because you- I don't know, BellaBoned her?"

"In a crude manner of speaking, yes." Beca didn't really know how to respond, so she merely blinked a few times. Aubrey sighed. "May I remind you once more that this is none of your business?"

"Noted."

"Good."

"So that's where you learnt it, then?"

"God, no. Stacie's awful at cunnilingus. Very enthusiastic, though; made up for it," Aubrey replied nonchalantly. Beca's open-jawed expression seemed to amuse the blonde, because she laughed before continuing. "You seriously thought I lost my virginity last year? Beca, I'm almost twenty three."

"So I'm being reminded," said the brunette, through barely gritted teeth.

"Geez, you sure know how to make a girl feel special, Beca." Beca opened her mouth - to retort or apologize, she hadn't decide yet - but Aubrey continued before she could decide, silencing the brunette with a wave of her hand. "Now are you done being melodramatic, so can I fuck you against the piano again?" Aubrey posed matter-of-factly, as though this was the most normal way to the end the conversation.

"Well if you put it that way… I guess I can put it aside for now," Beca grinned, as the blonde hooked her fingers into the waistband of Beca's jeans and pulled her flush against her own body. Beca responded by sliding her hands under Aubrey's tight shirt with a smirk.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" breathed Aubrey.

"Not in the slightest."

"Alice wants to observe a rehearsal next week. I assume you're fine with that, Beca?" Aubrey said suddenly, pulling her fingers from between Beca's legs and causing the other girl to whimper. Beca's confusion must have shown, because Aubrey sighed impatiently before adding, "Alice, previous captain of the Bellas? She sent us that muffin basket after the win last year, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. That was the most fucking insulting 'congratulations' card ever. And the muffins were out of date," replied Beca, her eyes following Aubrey's hypnotically long fingers as the blonde traced her lip absentmindedly.

"It's the thought that counts," reprimanded Aubrey, narrowing her eyes at the younger girl.

Beca rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and somehow, I don't think 'good work, yay team' was what she was thinking."

And then Aubrey's fingers were back between her legs, punctuating her next words with excruciatingly slow thrusts. "I'll take that as a yes then, Beca?"

"Fine, yes. Go faster."

"I didn't catch that, Beca. Was that a yes?"

"Yes," moaned Beca, as Aubrey's pace sped up.

"A little louder, babe."

Apparently, Aubrey wasn't going to be satisfied until she screamed it, and Beca was more than happy to oblige.

"Beca, that was honestly terrible. Where was your head today? Alice probably thinks we're a fucking travesty."

"You fucked your captain? And then became captain? Is this some sort of secret tradition?" Beca replied accusingly as the two entered the auditorium showers, not even acknowledging Aubrey's comment.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "So instead of focusing on what I remember stressing to be a very important rehearsal, you were off in your head coming up with more of my supposed conquests."

"Am I wrong?"

Aubrey gestured indifferently. "She was helping me with vocal training for the Bellas."

"Yeah, and I bet it was the kind of vocal training that didn't involve singing."

"No, but there was a lot of mouth work," Aubrey deadpanned. She had already begun stripping off her sweaty rehearsal outfit while Beca gaped like a fish, a reaction to the confirmation of another of Aubrey's 'conquests' - and possibly also a slight response to the sudden nakedness.

"So, we could stand here arguing all day," said Aubrey, posing with her hands on her hips and no attempt at modesty, "or-"

"You could show off some more of that vocal training?" finished Beca.

Aubrey smirked, sauntering past the brunette to enter the shower first. "Only if you hurry up and get naked."

"You slept with Gail Abercrombie-McDonalds?" Beca asked incredulously less than a second after bursting through the door to Aubrey's room.

"Abernathy-McKadden, Beca," replied Aubrey, not looking up from her revision notes.

"What?"

"Her name. It's Abernathy-McKadden."

"That's not the point!"

"Are you worried about the favouritism aspect of it? Because I can assure you, it was completely above board. We were between competition seasons, and I was still a freshman. We were already on our way up, too."

"That's not why- how can you be so indifferent about this?" Beca nearly draped herself over Aubrey's desk in her attempt to get the blonde to acknowledge her, but she settled for leaning against the edge clumsily.

"Because I'm constantly reminding you that this is none of your concern? And, I don't know, because I'm a fan of having hot, extended sex with beautiful women? Or maybe that it was before I met you? Take your pick."

"That wasn't what I - Hang on, why does it even matter that it was before you met me?"

Aubrey froze, in a rare show of any personal emotion. "It doesn't," she muttered. "Next time I'm going to tell Chloe not to let you in while I'm studying," she added, pressing Beca against the desk and grinding her hips agonisingly slowly against the younger woman's body.

"Kimmy Jin's not even gay!" Beca exclaimed, throwing herself into a seat across from the blonde as she spotted her at the single cafe on the Barden campus.

Aubrey shrugged, tucking a stray hair behind her hair instead of acknowledging the brunette's arrival. "Neither were you." Beca, stunned for the upteenth time in the last few weeks, was shocked into silence once again. "Besides, I would barely call that 'sleeping with each other,' continued Aubrey, flicking through her flashcards at a constant speed.

"How many orgasms did you both have?" challenged Beca.

"Three and four, respectively," replied Aubrey, as though this was the most normal thing in the world. "And now you've made me ruin my streak." She gestured to her flashcards, annoyed.

"And you know Kimmy Jin from…"

"I was her peer guide at the student orientation last year, the one you refused to go to. How do you think I convinced her to let us all into your room after that window incident?"

"Yeah, how, exactly? Because if I recall correctly, she was still pretty fucking mad."

Aubrey shrugged. "I apologized for not calling her back. Honestly, I didn't think she'd mind that much."

"Wow. Aubrey Posen, regular heartbreaker."

"That makes two of us, then," she said, sliding her fingers up Beca's thigh under the table.

In over four years, Aubrey had never missed a single Bellas rehearsal, excepting exams and unavoidable circumstances - and those were always notified and recorded well in advance, with the captain providing written guides for the rehearsals she'd miss. Even when she had come down with the flu, she had insisted on sitting in the stands and shouting her criticisms until she'd lost her voice. So really, Beca and Chloe were both surprised when Aubrey simply didn't show for rehearsals the next day.

Rather, Chloe had immediately gone into panic mode, convinced that Aubrey had gotten into some kind of terrible accident. Beca had tried to reassure the redhead - and now, the slightly worried Bellas - by offering to call the missing blonde. She was definitely not worried herself, not in the slightest; even if she had sprinted across the room to grab her phone and dial Aubrey.

"Where are you?" Beca hissed, glaring at the other Bellas trying to not-so-subtly listen in.

"I'm sick." The following cough was the worst attempt at faking sick that Beca had ever heard, and she would know, considering had spent half her school life trying to get out of it.

"Bullshit, Bree. This is about the sex thing."

"Oh really, Beca? No, it's about the other tiny brunette contsantly pissing me off with her attempts to pry into other people's lives."

"What, I'm not done yet?" Beca half-joked.

Aubrey's monotone didn't change. "You missed one. The first one, actually."

"Jesus Christ. I'm coming over there now, Aubrey."

"Ask Chloe. Ask Chloe about my first." With that, Aubrey hung up, and Beca was left staring at her blank phone. With a start, she rounded on the eavesdropping redhead, pulling her firmly by the wrist to a less populated corner of the auditorium.

"Aubrey said to ask you about something," Beca started accusingly, as Chloe seemed to grow more and more nervous. "She said to ask you about her first time. Now why would she say something like that?"

"I don't matter. That's between you and her," Chloe replied, a hard look in her eyes that was too almost foreign on the redhead's face.

Beca raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Seriously? Because it seems like somehow, you're involved too, along with half the campus."

"Don't, Beca. Just let her explain, okay. She cares about you."

"Really? Because it sure doesn't-"

Chloe, sweet, happy Chloe, would never cut anyone off. Then again, it seemed like there had been a lot of unusual things lately.

"Shut up," Chloe hissed, cutting the brunette off. "Now go to Aubrey before I have to drag you there by your hair." Beca wondered briefly how all the females in her life were becoming so terrifying, before a shift in Chloe's stance sent her almost running for the door, tossing a hurried apology to the Bellas over her shoulder.

The door was unlocked, so Beca just pushed her way into the apartment - only to see Aubrey leaning against the wall opposite, waiting for her. Beca, so sure before, suddenly felt lost. "Then…" she started. "You.." she paused. "So you and Chloe-"

"When we were seventeen. And all the way through sophomore year." Aubrey looked so tired and rundown that Beca might have actually believed she was sick, under any other circumstances.

"Why?"

"Stress release, mostly," sighed the blonde. "Curiosity, at first. Loneliness. A lot of nights in close proximity and little clothing. It just happened."

"Christ, are there any chicks you haven't slept with at this place? What about Cynthia-Rose?"

Aubrey snorted. "Of course not. Poor thing's still hung up on Stacie."

"Who you also fucked," Beca spat.

Aubrey's mouth turned up into an almost feral snarl. "Yes, as you're so fond of reminding me. Are you done now? You've proven whatever you were trying to prove, okay? Yes, I slept with a lot of women. Fucking happy?" After all this time, it was almost refreshing to Beca, seeing Aubrey so mad again. It'd been over a year since the incident at the semi-finals, and Aubrey had mostly kept her cool (towards Beca, at least) since then.

"You think that I think you're- what, a slut? Is that seriously why you think I'm doing this?"

"Why are you doing this, then?"

"Because - I- I don't know! I don't fucking know, Bree! Why are you so mad?"

"Because since that first fight at the rehearsals, I haven't slept with anyone but you!" Aubrey shouted, enraged. "Have you slept with anyone else?" Beca shook her head, slightly terrified. "Have you wanted to sleep with anyone else?" Aubrey continued, angrier than ever.

Beca shook her head again. "Of course - of course not."

Aubrey seemed to release a breath that neither had realized she was holding, and she smiled sadly at the brunette. "Then what fucking part of this is an open relationship, Beca?"

Oh.

"Oh," says Beca.

"Exactly."

"So you-"

"Yes." Aubrey looked almost scared; she couldn't seem to decide where to look, but the general consensus seemed to be 'anywhere but Beca'.

Beca, too, needed to take a moment before continuing. "Then, why didn't you…" she trailed off, unsure of herself once more.

"What, why didn't I admit that there was, hypothetically, a tiny, miniscule, unthinkable chance that I might be in love with you?"

The tears that threatened to spill from Aubrey's eyes was the only part of the statement that startled Beca, really. "That's a lot of hypotheticals," she joked awkwardly.

Aubrey shook her head sadly. "The thing is, it's really not."

"Yeah," breathed Beca. And with a shrug, she walked across the apartment, grabbing Aubrey by the hand. "Only one thing for it, then. We'll do this."

The instant mix of hope and suspicion that filled Aubrey's eyes was the most heartbreaking thing Beca had ever seen. "Do what?" the blonde asked, even as she broke into a watery smile.

"Be together, date. Whatever. We'll get fucking married, if you want to." Beca was definitely not almost crying too; not at all.

"Please, Beca. We both know you're not the one who gets to propose," laughed Aubrey; actually laughed, for the first time in what felt like months; and Beca was laughing too, and the pair stayed like that for a good minute, soaking up that single feeling that comes from shifting the greatest weight off your shoulders.

Eventually sobering up, Beca began, "Aubrey, I'm s-"

"It's okay," interrupted the blonde. "It's okay. Just be here, okay?" And Beca nodded and smiled, and murmured, "With pleasure, Captain."