Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect.

Summary: Benji Applebaum wasn't her type. In fact, he was the complete opposite of her type - geeky, awkward, lover of all things weird - and yet Aubrey Posen found herself drawn to him all the same. BenjiAubrey, oneshot

Aaand another fic for the Pitch Perfect fandom. I just can't help myself, it seems. I don't know why I find this pair so interesting, but I do. So I decided to write a little something else for them. This one has been in the works for quite some time and follows the course of the events of the movie, and is surprisingly long compared to my recent fanfics. Anyway! I hope that y'all enjoy!

A Belief in Magic

Aubrey didn't remember when she first set eyes on him - and really, wasn't that a shame? Most great romances, when told years later, usually end up starting with, "I remember the first time I saw him/her and knew that he/she was the one for me."

The blonde thought she might have glimpsed him for the first time at Club Day on campus. Although she had been very determined to recruit more Bellas, she clearly remembered him as he passed their stand, talking animatedly with a boy with dark hair.

She remembered noting how he talked with his hands, how his eyes lit up, how he moved his hand behind the other boy's ear and brought out a small, brightly colored, orange ball. The dark-haired boy had looked at him with a reluctant astonishment and Aubrey felt a smile on her face as she scoffed.

Although she had tried to not give him another thought, she found her eyes following him until he was out of sight.

And then she saw him at auditions.

Aubrey sat through audition after audition after audition, trying hard not to feel the weight of the Bellas before her and the weight of her mess up and the weight of all the stares on her back. She needed this to go well, she needed to find people to help her raise the Bellas to greatness, she needed -

"Hi, I'm Benji Applebaum..."

The boy from before stood in front of them, the one with the magic tricks and the crooked smile and the sweet - albeit dorky - disposition. Aubrey was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but really -

The boy named Benji started singing.

Suddenly, the one thing that mattered was him standing in front of her, belting out this song so earnestly and so well. It was something she had not expected, not from someone who seemed more into magic and that dragon and dungeon game and not into the world of a capella. A smile overtook her face, and a pleased gasp escaped her.

She had been surprised as he hit that last note, staring in disbelief as he stood there, eyes closed and voice echoing off the walls around them. Aubrey could not take her eyes off of him, not even if she tried, and then - as the ending note faded out - she found herself clapping frantically, a stupid grin on her face, as he gave a breathless laugh.

Looking back, Aubrey thinks that may have been the catalyst for what was to come.

For some odd reason, she looked for him at the mixer afterwards. Certainly the Treblemakers weren't so idiotic as to not allow him into their group.

But she didn't see him, and Bumper was Bumper and she figured that things just never really changed.

Though, strangely enough and despite all logic, she still looked for him, even after it was confirmed that he was not going to be there.

Aubrey kind of lived for the Riff Off.

It was one of her favorite things about being in the Bellas. Each year, finding something to counter the other teams, rendering them speechless...it was enough to get her heart thrumming in her chest. She thrived on the competition - the spontaneity, though, that was where her weakness showed through. She liked things planned to perfection, and she had always struggled when things went off script.

Pushing that from her mind, Aubrey walked to the bottom of the pool, shoulders back, a smile on her face, confidence in her stride.

And she spotted him.

Perched precariously on the edge of the pool, swinging his feet back and forth, was the boy she had only recently learned the name of - Benji Applebaum.

Then, strangely, her heart kicked into a furious beat, even before the festivities began.

"Ouch! Watch where - "

Aubrey paused in the middle of her outburst, staring at the boy who had just ran into her - or, really, the boy who she had just ran into. She had the grace to flush and at the moment she decided to bend over to pick up the boy's fallen books, he did the same, and their hands brushed. The blonde almost let out a snicker at how cliché it was.

"S-Sorry..." Benji voiced, awkwardly adjusting the books in his hands. "I didn't mean - "

"No," Aubrey interrupted automatically, equally as awkward with her words as he was with his motions. "Sorry. I bumped into you...I was just...having a bad day and had to blame someone else..."

She trailed off, because he was staring at her as if he had never seen her before. Aubrey immediately felt self-conscious as she never had before. "...what?"

Benji shook his head, a sad smile on his face. "Nothing...I guess I'm just not used to having people apologize to me."

He left her, then, with a strange sense of longing set deep in her chest.

We're at Regionals. We're at Regionals. We're at Regionals.

The words were pounding through her head, not giving her a moment's peace. Aubrey adjusted the collar of her Bella uniform and turned to look at each of her fellow aca-people just before they made their way on stage.

Just make it through without barfing, she thought, and yet even that thought itself was enough to make the bile rise in her throat. Stubbornly, she wrinkled her nose and forced it back down. She couldn't let herself be embarrassed again, not now, not when there's so much at stake for their season, not when -

The site of Benji sitting in the audience gave her pause.

He didn't seem to be paying attention at all, but then his eyes glimpsed upon the stage.

And he smiled at her - it was a little thing, hardly noticeable, but it was there, soothing her ruffled feathers.

Slinging her travel bag over her shoulder and ready to head to the hotel, Aubrey paused as she felt a light touch on her shoulder, one that elicited a chain reaction of goosebumps along her arm.

"You did great," Benji said, his smile so genuine it made her chest tighten.

She could only beam in response.

"Five minutes, Bellas," Benji whispered, so suddenly that she didn't have time to react, only turn and nod. Her heart was hammering and she wanted to believe it was for their upcoming set and not for the way his voice was quiet and hushed, nervously forming the words before speeding off, leaving her feeling strangely without.

They're at the semi-finals. The ICCA semi-finals. And Aubrey just couldn't grasp it. Not just yet.

She tried to hold on to some semblance of normalcy by finding his retreating figure and following it with her eyes.

It helped more than she would have liked to admit.

"What the hell, Beca?" The words were out of her mouth before she could even think of the repercussions.

Then they're fighting. It wasn't a knock-down-drag-out fight or anything, but it might as well have been. Beca's eyes were stormy and unforgiving, defiant even then, and Aubrey found that she just couldn't stand it, continuing on with her tirade, even bringing her little Treble boy into the mix just to make it hurt worse.

And then he appeared, behind her, addressing the Treblemakers about their performance, and the worst part about it was that he'd seen her at her worst and oh she feels like she's going to be sick...

But that was nothing compared to the feeling of watching Benji race after Beca as she made her exit.

After the whole ordeal, Aubrey just sat down and put her head in her hands, hating herself, hating everyone, hating everything...

She could feel the contents of her stomach threaten to come up her throat, but she stamped them down. She would not do that tonight. That would not be the cherry on top of the humiliation sundae she had been served on this night. Running a hand over her hair, she tried to figure out what her problem was, what Beca's problem was, what Benji's problem was...

Really, she knew that the two of them hadn't had that many moments together, but they seemed like a whole lot more than what he and Beca had shared. And yet he went after her, while Aubrey just stood there like a chump, wishing that he would just come back so she could explain...

It's not like he's your boyfriend or anything... But even that thought provided her with a kind of thrill, and then it was followed by a strange, unbelievable sadness that she just couldn't get a hold of.

The other Bellas had left her there, consumed by a feeling of disappointment that she just couldn't shake. Even Chloe had gone with the others, leaving her alone. Even though they had vouched for her when she attacked Beca for inserting Bulletproof into their set, they had left her all the same...they had...

"Aubrey?"

She knew that voice, all too well. If she were to be honest with herself, her heart jolted a bit when she heard it, but she also was a bit angry. And a bit sad. And a bit...whatever this feeling was. "Hey, Benji," she settled for saying, instead of accusing him of leaving her, just like they all did.

"Sorry," he said, quietly, "sorry I couldn't get her before she left."

Aubrey looked at him, her eyes widening slightly. "You..."

She couldn't form words. He was standing there, clipboard still in hand, looking every bit the professional - and, angrily, Aubrey thought that he should have been on that stage instead. He belonged there. But his words surprised her, more than they should have.

"Why...you..."

"She bolted," Benji said, still so very quiet, "and I wanted to get her so you two could maybe...still...work things out."

Suddenly, with the earnest expression and that look in his eyes - as if he'd seen something that could change everything - Aubrey forgave him when she didn't even realize she'd condemned him.

Since losing - the word was a bitter pill she had yet to swallow - Aubrey threw herself into her work out routine.

Her routine was fierce. Wake up at five o'clock, yoga, light yogurt for breakfast, hour-long run, followed by a fifteen minute water break, then another thirty minutes of running, then lunch, then wrap up the day with two hours of weights and various other strength training.

She knew it probably wasn't healthy, she knew that she could probably end up killing herself at some point if she didn't slow down, but she kept on, fueled by her fire - It fuels my hate-fire, Fat Amy's voice echoed in the back of her mind, and she smiled despite herself.

She was in the middle of guzzling down her second bottle of water in as many minutes, it seemed, when she felt the tell-tale buzz of her phone in her pocket. Against her will, she looked at it, and smiled at what she saw.

"Hey. I was just seeing how you were. I hope you're doing well... Um...yeah, I've always found texting to be slightly awkward, and it probably shows here, but... I hope things are going well."

Aubrey tossed back her head and laughed, the sound unfamiliar in the weeks since their loss, and then typed back a response that was really too short to express just what she was feeling.

"I'm fine, now, Benji. Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Benji!"

She grabbed his shoulders and turned him around to face her. Benji looked frightened, almost, his eyes wide in his face, but as soon as he realized it was her, he smiled. "Oh, um, hey, Aubrey - "

"We got back in!" she interrupted, shouting. It was too much to keep it all in and she couldn't help but want to scream it to everyone that passed on the street, even people who had no idea what was going on.

Benji did, however, and he smiled, "I know." His fingers reached up tentatively to brush against the skin of her upper arm. "I know. You deserve it. Congratulations."

There was a moment between the two of them, one in which Aubrey had the strangest urge to press her lips to his.

But she stamped that down, like she did everything else.

The ICCA Finals.

Aubrey could hardly believe they were back here, ready to take the crown that she knew was rightfully theirs. She was filled with a confidence that she couldn't remember ever having earlier in the year - and she knew it was all because of the fact that she and Beca had finally connected, and the fact that Benji was there for her when she wasn't even there for herself.

The Treblemakers are performing, and they are good - as they always are. The lack of Bumper was somewhat jarring, considering he had been a staple of the team for as long as she could remember.

The music quieted, a sweet kind of interlude, and then...

And then...

Quiet footsteps made their way across the stage, silence all around as the lights focused on one figure, brandishing a microphone and singing with the sweetest voice, the voice that she hadn't heard in use since the auditions.

Benji was on stage, and her heart soared.

Being on stage with the Bellas that one last time was one of the best moments Aubrey had ever experienced.

Everything was on point. She felt alive.

The audience was loving it, gasping in awe and smiling and clapping along as their set continued. It was probably one of the best moments of Aubrey's life.

She twirled on stage, nailing every note, on point with all of the choreography, mic in hand and a smile on her face.

And eyes on Benji, despite herself.

They won.

They won and it was the sweetest thing Aubrey had ever tasted.

She cheered and shouted and embraced each of the Bellas tightly. They were sisters, as cheesy as that sounded, they were sisters and they deserved this more than anyone else in that room that night.

As she made her way down into the crowd, Aubrey locked eyes with Benji.

The responding smile he gave her was breathtaking.

It seemed like something from one of those clichéd movies. The boy and the girl find each other after the climax of the movie, the boy and the girl kiss, the boy and the girl live happily ever after. Beca and Jesse seemed to be having their own moment exactly like that - Aubrey looked over at the two of them, kissing so passionately it kind of made her heart ache for that particular brand of closeness.

She wasn't sure who she was looking for, and only when his voice pierced her subconscious did she realize that it was him she was searching for all along.

"Aubrey!" his voice was bright despite the loss.

She turned around, heart thrumming painfully in her chest.

Benji looked at her, as if he were seeing the universe for the first time - it was a sense of wonder, of amazement, of utter and complete enrapturement.

"You were amazing," he said, breathless, his voice barely heard over the roar of the audience.

The smile that came over Aubrey's face was one that she had no control over - it was wild, free. In relation to the Cheshire-like grin, Aubrey's corresponding action was enough to give her the label of being a madwoman.

The blonde reached out and took Benji's hand, twining her fingers with his own. Benji let out a shocked little breath, but otherwise did nothing to deter her from the action. After a few minutes, his fingers squeezed hers, and her chest tightened.

It was a simple gesture, one lacking the fire and passion of the other couple, but it was them and it was all that Aubrey could ask for.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

And she meant it, more than anything in this world.

End.