I'm currently working on another fic called "The Blessed Unrest," but felt the need to write something short and fluffy. You should definitely check out that Bechloe story, too!
EDIT: This WAS going to only be a few chapters, but I'm enjoying myself too much.
XXX
It's the Thursday during the week of fall semester midterms. Tired of her studying, Chloe has decided to take a lap around the library, which thankfully stays open until two in the morning during exams for students who need to cram.
It's not that she's waited until the last minute to study, but on top of physician shadowing, volunteering at the hospital, her unofficial job at a local coffee shop, and co-captaining the Bellas, late at night seems to be the only time she has to devote entirely to her coursework. That, and Aubrey had been having an absolute meltdown over a tape of the Bellas' last performance when Chloe had stopped in at their apartment following her evening hospital shift. Acutely criticizing their a cappella group seemed to be how Aubrey chose to take a break from her own studying, and while Chloe loved her best friend dearly, the redhead wasn't sure her caffeine addled brain could handle hearing "The Sign" many more times before she snapped.
Chloe was admiring how eerily empty and silent the library was when one of the silent study rooms caught her attention. People frequently used the rooms, but not at night, when the atmosphere of the very large, very old building shifted from studious to spectral. When students came to study late at night, they usually chose to do so near the circulation desk, where they were at least in the presence of other people.
Obviously, being Chloe Beale and in need of some form of entertainment, she quickly crossed to the door, standing on the tips of her toes to look in through the small, glass window just above eye level.
She absolutely beamed when she saw who was making use of the study room. Quickly settling back to normal height, she straightened out her hair and rubbed at her tired eyes before opening to door.
Beca's head immediately snapped up from her laptop at the sudden movement in the room. Chloe couldn't help but notice how glazed and teary the other girl's eyes were.
"Hey Chlo," the brunette rasped, removing her headphones to hang them around her neck. "What are you doing here?" she questioned softly, before dissolving into a fit of loud, hacking coughs. Chloe winced, taking a seat across from the brunette.
"Didn't I tell you to get that cold checked out a few days ago?" Chloe asked, brow furrowing in concern at the younger girl. Beca waved a hand noncommittally and then all of a sudden buried her face in the crook of her arm, coughing with even more force than before. "Oh, Beca!" the redhead sighed, taking in her companion's look of utter exhaustion and flushed cheeks.
"I haven't had time!" the brunette replied defensively, gesturing to the piles of books and paper surrounding her laptop. "I had my philosophy exam this afternoon, then I came here to finish my paper, apparently my being sick was interfering with Kimmy Jin and her fucking study party. If I cough when she's trying to sleep she just keeps me up with her complaining," Beca growled, slumping forward to rest her chin on a pile of books. After a moment, she pulled herself upright to wrap her arms around herself, teeth chattering slightly. "Plus, I drank a ton of coffee so I could finish my last paper on time and now I'm done and I've just been sitting in here listening to music for two hours. I can't sleep because I'm like, dying, and every time I manage to drift off, I wake myself up coughing. I haven't slept all week." Beca complained, a hint of tearful frustration creeping into her tone. Chloe was almost overwhelmed by an urge to gather her upset, sickly friend into her arms, but resisted long enough to stand and begin piling Beca's things together. Beca shot her a confused, weary look.
"Look, you're done with your midterms and I'm done studying, so if Kimmy Jin is going to be a dick, you're going to come back and crash at my place," Chloe said forcefully, shoving the newly shut textbooks and notebooks into Beca's messenger bag. After a moment of skeptical contemplation, Beca shut her laptop and handed it to Chloe, who promptly added it to the bag. "If you can't sleep, we can keep watching Rizzoli and Isles!" Chloe tempted.
The two had begun watching the show a few weeks after Beca had started hanging out with Chloe outside of Bellas rehearsals, proclaiming it to be the only show that had the ability to hold her interest. Mostly it was just because the coroner, Maura, reminded her so much of Chloe. Beca found herself dumbly smiling in remembrance at the connection she had drawn almost immediately. She had a working theory that Chloe masked her own awkwardness through her bubbliness and constant tendency to invade personal space. There was no question that the budding medical professional who was Chloe Beale was insanely smart, either.
After allowing Beca to be lost in thought for a long, drawn out moment, Chloe circled around the table and pulled on her friend's arm. Blearily, Beca looked up at her, allowing herself to be helped to her feet. Chloe couldn't help but notice that the brunette was dressed in one of her own BU sweaters and while this made her smile, it was a clear sign of Beca not feeling well. For reasons Chloe could not comprehend, Beca refused to wear any sort of clothing supporting their school in public, citing that her reputation as a badass prohibited her from doing so.
"Alright, steady on, Mitchell!" Chloe laughed, gently directing the brunette towards the door. Beca acquiesced and exited the room, Chloe shutting off the lights behind them. Noticing how unsteady and unaware Beca seemed on her feet, Chloe slung the girl's bag over her own head and led them down the stairs, stopping briefly at the table she had been utilizing to gather up her minimal supplies.
"I can take my bag!" Beca insisted after a moment, seeming to realize she hadn't been carrying it. Chloe danced away from the freshman's grabbing hand, tucking her own notebook and textbooks under her arm. She tossed the lanyard with her keys over Beca's head.
"You can carry my keys," she laughed, gently swatting away Beca's hand as she made another move for her bag. "Don't even think about it, you're out of breath from walking down the stairs," Chloe admonished. She probably has pneumonia, the pre-med student thought to herself, shaking her head when Beca began to cough pathetically once more. "Think you can make it to my apartment? I can grab my car if you want-"
"I can make it three blocks, Chlo, I'm not dead yet." Beca interrupted with a grumble, following Chloe once again as the redhead made to exit the library.
Once they were outside, Beca shivered slightly in the warm night air, bringing on a coughing fit, which caused Chloe to round on her. The redhead held the back of her free hand to Beca's forehead, scrutinizing the freshman intensely. The brunette was burning up, which explained how spaced-out she had been acting earlier. After a moment, she gestured for them to continue. She really just wanted to get Beca into a bed.
Chloe sighed and threw an arm over her friend's shoulders as they began to walk, somewhat surprised when the brunette gratefully snuggled against her shoulder.
"You really don't feel well, huh?" Chloe asked softly, earning a shake of the head from Beca.
"Not at all, patch me up, doc!" she jested weakly, her voice barely audible.
When they finally made it to the apartment Chloe shared with Aubrey, having been forced to stop so Beca could make an attempt at hacking up her lungs several times along the way, the redhead quietly let them in.
Beca's teeth were now chattering loudly, though the sheen of sweat Chloe could barely see in the dim light of the foyer told her that Beca wasn't actually cold. The pair entered the kitchen, where Chloe deposited her books and Beca's messenger bag. Beca, on the other hand, clambered into a bar stool, breathing more heavily than she ever would on a normal day from the short walk.
"Are you allergic to any medications?" Chloe asked after a moment, earning a quizzical and confused look from Beca, who eventually shook her head. Chloe beamed and clapped her hands together, turning to the cupboard where she and Aubrey kept first aid supplies. "I won't tell if you won't," Chloe winked, beginning to measure out a liquid medicine. "I had bronchitis at the start of the year, there just happens to be a little codeine cough syrup left." She said conspiratorially to Beca, who raised an eyebrow in amusement, but took the offered remedy nonetheless.
Beca fully intended to make some joke about Chloe poisoning her, but was completely at a loss, for once, for something witty to say. Instead, she gazed unblinkingly at the redhead, thinking how pretty Chloe looked, even with her hair piled messily into a bun and wicked bags under her eyes. She knew how hard the girl worked and just how thin she stretched herself. Although she would probably never admit, except under extreme duress, it made Beca feel all warm and fuzzy that Chloe had decided to spend time with her, rather than engage in something more worthy of her attention.
She hadn't even noticed Chloe was back at her side until the redhead gently grabbed her by the chin, turning Beca to face her. Beca's eyes grew wide as one thought crossed her mind: What the hell?!
"Can I take your temperature?" Chloe queried gently, inspecting Beca's face with great care. The brunette swallowed thickly and accepted the thermometer, placing it obediently under her own tongue, as she felt a more intense blush creep across her already flushed face.
While the thermometer beeped away ominously, Chloe busied herself in the kitchen, rummaging around for cough drops, ibuprofen, and water, which she produced just as the thermometer signaled its readiness to be read.
Hurrying back over to the brunette, Chloe motioned for her to relinquish the thermometer, which Beca did without hesitation. The result on the screen caused Chloe pout profusely and haul Beca down from the chair, pointing the girl in the direction of her bedroom. Beca began down the hall, looking thoroughly lost, although she'd been to Chloe's room countless times. The redhead hurried after her, supplies in hand, and arrived in time to find Beca doubled over on the edge of her bed, once again coughing harshly. Chloe offered her a bottle of water once it seemed to have subsided and Beca accepted with a slight whimper, causing Chloe to frown.
"I think doctors are supposed to have a better poker face," Beca teased, catching the expression on the redhead's face. She coughed in place of laughing and ran a hand through her hair, deciding to keep the jokes to a minimum for now. Her hair was sticking irritatingly to her face and it occurred to her how hot she had become since making it indoors. "I'm super hot, any chance I could get some clothes?" she wondered, gesturing to her sweater and jeans. Chloe brightened and nodded, returning a moment later with pajama pants and a loose fitting tank top, which she tossed at the younger girl.
"So, Rizzoli and Isles or sleep?" Chloe inquired as she returned to her dresser to find a different for herself. She hastily began changing, keeping her back to the brunette. While she would normally have jumped at the chance to incur awkwardness upon her friend by stripping down boldly in front of her, Chloe decided to take pity for the evening.
"Option A, for sure," Beca said softly from behind her. "Wow, look at you, showing some common courtesy." The brunette remarked when Chloe eventually turned around, earning a poke in the side from Chloe once the redhead made her way back to her bed. Beca couldn't say she minded the senior's lack of boundaries.
"Lay down and behave, Mitchell, if you die from pneumonia I'll have to find another pain in the ass to replace you." Chloe retorted, pushing lightly on Beca's shoulders. She wasn't entirely surprised when the brunette resigned herself to her fate and allowed herself to be knocked onto the bed, slowly dragging herself up to the enormous pile of pillows that Chloe had at the top of the bed. Chloe rounded the edge of her bed, holding out two pills of ibuprofen for Beca, who took them with the water that was handed to her by the redhead shortly after.
"Pneumonia, huh?" Beca asked, watching as Chloe moved around the room, turning off lights and readying her laptop to watch their show. In the dim light of Chloe's laptop screen, she saw the redhead shrug. Though Chloe technically didn't have much to go on, Beca didn't doubt her diagnosis in the slightest. Chloe placed the laptop in front of Beca, the familiar opening music of the cop drama beginning to play.
Beca sighed happily, feeling somewhat peaceful for the first time all week, when Chloe slid into the bed behind her, wrapping an arm around Beca's waist.
Beca would never admit to being a cuddler, but something about Chloe made her crave the contact. The brunette instantly felt better once in Chloe's arms, though she could have done without her heart hammering in her chest like it was.
She sighed again, the combined effects of the soothing cough syrup and Chloe's warm, joyous presence making her feel absolutely giddy. And a million times less sickly.
"Chloe's going to be such a kickass doctor." She muttered, totally unsure if she'd actually spoken out loud. When she felt Chloe press a quick, gracious kiss to her temple, she realized the redhead had heard her.
"Aw, thank you, Becs." Chloe replied, genuinely flattered by the compliment, even if it sounded completely delirious. Beca merely hummed in affirmation of her comment, wiggling her body back against Chloe's, who obliged the signal to hold the brunette tighter.
A small giggle escaped from Beca when the redheaded coroner appeared on the screen for the first time in the episode, though she felt no need to explain. Chloe still had no idea about the parallel she'd drawn.
Rather than question Beca about the laugh, Chloe merely drew the thin top sheet up around their legs to ward off the chill.
Greatly comforted by the gesture, Beca reached for Chloe's hand that was draped across her stomach, tentatively lacing her fingers through the redhead's. When Chloe made no move to withdraw her hand, Beca grinned stupidly, then turned her attention back to what was happening on the screen.