Anon prompt from Tumblr: Four times Beca found Chloe crying, and one time Chloe found Beca crying
1.
The first time it happens is after the SBT mixer. All the other girls fall into line after Aubrey, marching back to the rehearsal space, but Beca falls behind. Part of it is just to piss off Aubrey a little more (it's not like it's a MANDATORY practice), but the other part is Chloe. Chloe doesn't move even when all the girls disappear from sight, so Beca strides over to her slowly.
"Hey," Beca says gently, placing a tentative hand on Chloe's lower back. It isn't until she feels the shudder in the other girl's body that she realizes she is crying. "Hey, don't cry."
Beca's pretty terrible at this part of friendship. Genuinely terrible. She figures she must have skipped out on Friendship 101 in grade school or something because her friendships involve witty banter and sarcasm, not emotional crying and comfort sessions. But still, it's Chloe and Beca's been stepping out of her comfort zone for Chloe since day one.
"Sorry," Chloe says, sniffing loudly as she turns and wipes the tears from her eyes.
Beca frowns when she sees Chloe's face, her brow wrinkling in confusion. Even through tears, with puffy, red-rimmed eyes and mascara tracks on her cheeks, Chloe's the most beautiful girl Beca has ever seen.
"Don't cry," she says again, and she redirects the hand about to brush Chloe's tears away to her shoulder, where she squeezes gently.
"This sucks," Chloe says with a sigh, looking down at the ground.
Beca, unsure of her next move, blurts the first thing that comes to mind. "Let's get some ice cream. My treat."
The smile she is rewarded with makes Beca feel like maybe she isn't so terrible at this after all.
2.
Beca knows Chloe's nodes are bothering her. She sees it in the way she holds her throat when Aubrey's talking. She hears it in the way she can't quite reach those high notes.
When practice ends and Beca sees the tears forming in Chloe's eyes as she takes the smallest sips of water, she walks over and waits by her until all the other girls are gone. It's becoming a thing, Beca supposes, for her to notice the little things that the other girls don't and stick around to fix them. She tries not to think of what that means.
Chloe wipes the tears from the corners of her eyes and Beca jams her hands in her pockets awkwardly from reaching out to touch her.
"You okay?" she asks, even though she knows the answer.
"Sure," Chloe confirms with a nod. "I guess I'm okay."
"C'mon," Beca says, shouldering Chloe's bag opposite of her own. "I have a place I want to show you. It's my hideout when I don't want anyone else to find me."
She tries not to think of what that means either.
3.
"I can't believe I'm failing Organic Chem," Chloe sighs, dropping her bag full of books on the ground next to Beca.
"What?" Beca asks, slipping her headphones down around her neck. If her red eyes are anything to go by, Chloe's been crying - or at least struggling not to - and Beca needs to know her best plan of attack. For someone who failed at emotional interaction so spectacularly at the beginning of the school year, she's developing a knack for Chloe with ease.
"Failing Organic Chem," Chloe repeats, handing over her midterm that's marked with a giant red 79.
"79 isn't failing, Chlo. It's on the high side of average, even!" Beca exclaims positively.
"I am not average," Chloe insists, crossing her arms over her chest, and the look on her face is so heartbreaking that Beca can't even bring herself to snicker.
"Of course you're not," Beca agrees, smiling genuinely. Average isn't even close to a word Beca would ever use to describe Chloe. "C'mere."
"New mix?" Chloe asks, scooting closer to Beca as she hands her headphones over.
"Yeah," Beca says slowly, wondering if she should add in that she made it with Chloe in mind. One look at the smile threatening to break out on her face already tells Beca she can leave that bit of info for another day.
Maybe when it's finished.
4.
Beca jumps when she hears the knock on her door. Her knee collides with the edge of her desk painfully and she swears under her breath, cursing whoever startled her and her own clumsiness. She catches sight of the clock as she goes to answer the door and instantly knows it could only be one of two people at this hour; selfishly, she hopes for one over the other.
When she opens the door, Beca realizes she has never been quite so disappointed in getting what she hoped for. Chloe's standing there, drenched from the torrential downpour outside, but Beca knows the signs well enough to know that the smudged makeup isn't just from the rain. She watches Chloe for a minute; notes the way her fingers twitch at her sides - fists clenching and unclenching like she needs something to cling to - and the way her eyes never leave Beca's face.
"Come in," she says quietly, thankful for Kimmy Jin's absence. She holds her arms open for the hug she knows Chloe needs and is wrapped into a bone crushing hug, like Chloe is never going to see her again.
"I'm sorry," Chloe finally says when she pulls away, giving Beca room to breathe. "I got you all wet."
Beca snickers, which causes Chloe to smile at the innuendo as well. "I can change. And we should get you out of those wet clothes, too," Beca teases as she moves to search through her closet for something to wear. "Are you staying?"
"Can I?" Chloe asks hesitantly.
"Always," Beca says tossing her a pair of sweats and the hoodie she seems to steal on a regular basis anyway. "I mean it."
5.
Semis are a fucking disaster.
When Beca storms off, eyes stinging with unshed tears, her anger has less to do with Aubrey than Chloe. She hears Benji call after her but doesn't bother to turn around, just continues to push her way through fire door after fire door until she is outside and collapsing on the edge of a fountain. She presses the heels of her palms roughly against her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying, but is unsuccessful as she feels the warm tears run down her wrists. With her eyes closed, all she can see is the hurt in Chloe's eyes - the way her face fell, the way her mouth snapped shut when Beca snapped at her - and it makes the tears come on stronger.
Lost in her own thoughts, she doesn't hear the click of heels approaching or feel the person sitting next to her until they touch her arm gently.
"Hey," Chloe says softly, fingers wrapping around Beca's wrist to pull her hands away from her face.
They sit there for long moments, Chloe lacing her fingers with Beca's, their joined hands resting in Chloe's lap as her free hand traces shapes over the back of Beca's palm. Beca, for her part, refuses to look at Chloe until she knows the threat of tears are gone. She shudders at Chloe's ministrations, reveling in the sweet torture of her soft touch.
"Hey," Chloe says again, bringing her free hand up to cup Beca's cheek. "Look at me?"
"What?" Beca asks, sniffing back the last of her tears. She studies Chloe's face intently, searching her eyes to find something she's never seen before; something she can't quite identify.
"You're already mad at me, so I'm going to do something stupid right now," Chloe says, voice just above a whisper and cracking gently at the end of her statement. (Beca can't help but wonder if it's the nodes or something else.) She doesn't move for a moment and Beca wonders if she's changed her mind, but before she can decide, Chloe's leaning in and connecting their lips.
Beca almost jerks back in surprise but the hand on her cheek somehow snaked to the back of her neck without her noticing, so she leans into the kiss, leans into the feelings she's been trying so hard to ignore for the last six months. It's not sudden sparks or fireworks she feels when their lips meet, but it's better. It's a long, slow build, like a fire slowly warming under her skin; like something worthwhile and lasting rather than something only there for the briefest of moments.
"Not stupid," she mumbles breathlessly against Chloe's mouth when she feels the other girl tongue sneak out against her bottom lip.
Not stupid at all.