Anon prompt - Omg! I have a Spidermanau prompt or headcanon for you, whichever works. After Spidey gets all famous and stuff, Chloe forces Beca to celebrate her birthday with other people for once in her life. Then, in front of everyone, she gifts Beca with some Spider-Man themed undies
A/N: In celebration of Beca Mitchell's Birthday!
Beca doesn't do birthdays. Not her own. She's totally fine with other people's, she'll buy gifts - but doesn't wrap them anymore because Chloe inevitably takes it right out of her hands and re-wraps the "shambles" Beca had been prepared to declare "good enough" - and she'll attend parties. She'll even sing Happy Birthday when they bring the cake out, though Chloe usually has to elbow her to get her to start. The thing about other people's is that it's only connected to her by a thin thread. There's very little emotional baggage attached to someone else's birthday.
Her own have been kind of a downer ever since her Mom died. She remembers what they used to be like; the day lives on in screaming technicolour in her mind up until her sixth year on this planet. She remembers balloon animals and brightly patterned wrapping paper, she remembers messy kitchens and cakes in the shapes of animals. She remembers her Mom's smile and the sound of her voice as she'd sing.
Her Dad had tried but he's never not been distant and when compared with her Mother, the difference between them felt like an ice age. Birthdays aren't happy and warm for Beca anymore, and it's fine. It's just how it is. She doesn't celebrate and the day passes like a chilly Winter evening, and then everything goes back to normal.
"You have people who love you, who want to celebrate you, you know, being alive." But Chloe is the very opposite of a chilly Winter evening and there's not an ounce of 'normal' about her. "There's going to be presents..." And Beca wouldn't have it any other way.
She begrudgingly agrees, because Chloe's eyes are bright and the kind of sparkling blue that belongs nowhere outside of crystal clear Caribbean oceans, yet there they are in front of her. Smiling. And Chloe seems so happy, fit to burst with joy, at being allowed to do this for her that maybe, Beca thinks, this year won't be so bad after all.
Party starts at six. She'd gotten Chloe's message that afternoon and it's been there at the back of her mind ever since. Dragging her through classes and then throwing her a little harder into her swings once the educational part of her day was done. She dances between the rooftops, sweeping through the open spaces as she listens for any signs of a disturbance. The only trouble she runs across is a guy making off with a woman's purse, something she quickly puts a stop to by swinging up behind him and planting her feet into the back of his head. He sprawls face first, skidding along the pavement and cutting up his face, and she plucks the handbag from his limp grip, doing her best to ignore the camera phone flashes and gathering crowd. She jogs over to the woman who, after just being mugged, has stars in her eyes and is running a hand over her hair like she's making sure she looks presentable. It's enough to make Beca smirk behind her mask.
"I think this is yours," she says, danging the purse by the strap from her finger. The woman takes it, stumbling over her thank yous and other exclamations of gratitude, and then Beca takes off. Running towards a jump that, with the help of her web, takes her back towards the city skyline.
It's fifteen minutes before six o'clock when the cars speeds by beneath her, two skidding police cars hot on its tail.
Of course. She's sitting against the side of a building about three blocks from Chloe's apartment, body clinging to the brick as she watches the cars speed away. Of course shit has to go down now.
She doesn't even have time to send Chloe a preemptive apology text.
"You're late." Chloe's on her the second she's through the door, shoving Beca back against it with one hand against the brunette's collarbone. Beca lets out a grunt and stares at her girlfriend with wide eyes. "This is your party, Beca Mitchell, and you." She pokes a finger hard against Beca's sternum once. "Are." Twice. "Late." And finally a third time.
"I'm sorry," Beca whispers, batting the hand away, "I was literally three blocks away forty-five minutes ago and then there was a car chase and a construction site, and I was almost buried in cement." Chloe balks at that, taking a half-step back so that she can look Beca over. She doesn't look any worse for wear, which only makes Chloe wonder what kind of state her costume is going to be in, as well as the inside of the bag Beca's carrying it in.
"Are you okay?" Her voice is softer now, concerned, and she brings a hand to Beca's face.
"I'm fine." Stormy eyes flutter as Chloe's thumb brushes over her cheek and Beca leans into the touch for a few heartbeats. "Really," she adds, knowing Chloe always needs that extra assurance. "Is everyone here?" Chloe straightens, dropping her hand to grab one of Beca's, lacing their fingers together.
"Yup. They were on time." She winks at Beca, who shrugs off her backpack and dumps it in the corner of the hallway before shooting Chloe a look.
"And you almost had a life-size concrete statue for a girlfriend." Chloe wrinkles her nose and then she's pulling Beca into the living room, which erupts into a cheer of "Surprise!" the instant they enter. And Beca isn't sure what she'd been expecting – that's a lie, half of her had been worried Chloe was going to invite the whole apartment building and everyone in her address book – but there are only about a dozen people there. All faces she recognises, all people she knows and cares about, and has zero bad memories to associate them with.
It's like Chloe had known.
And, when she turns her head to look at her girlfriend, she realises that Chloe had known. Does know. She understands Beca better than anyone.
So, Beca doesn't really think about it when she gives the redhead's hand a tug, jerking her over and tugging a chuckle from her as their lips meet. There's a chorus of whoops and hollers, then Beca pulls back, blushing slightly. It darkens when she catches sight of Chloe staring at her dreamily.
As promised, there are presents. A small pile of them in fact, and once Beca has been spoken to every person there and drinks have been handed out, Chloe sits her down in the sinfully plush armchair that she and Beca had picked up at a flea market their first month in the apartment.
She gets a few new shirts, most of which are from Aubrey, which Beca can't help but feel is some sort of dig at her current wardrobe. Stacie's gift is a bottle of wine with an envelope attached to it. Inside is a birthday card and a gift certificate for a 'Couple's Session' at a spa down town. Beca thinks Chloe might be even more excited about that one than she is. Benji's present is an unassuming blank piece of paper and Beca holds it up, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. He gives her a shy smile and then reaches forward to pluck the paper from her hand. With a twist of his wrist and a flourish of his fingers, the piece of paper turns into two and when he hands them back Beca sees that they're concert tickets. She squeals at the name on them and all but throws them at Chloe in her excitement. She tells him that they've been sold out for months and demands to know how he got them. All he does is wink and tell her "magic", and she rolls his eyes as Emily, his girlfriend, laughs and kisses his cheek. Fat Amy's gift is an 'IOU' with an apology attached that reads: I bought you a vibrator as a gag gift, but Chloe wouldn't let me give it to you in front of people. So sorry, but not my fault. She's never been so thankful for the redhead in that moment.
Jesse buys her chocolate and socks, which isn't as strange as everyone else seems to think. It's sort of a thing between them. Every year she buys him a calendar with half naked women dressed as sexy orchestra conductors and a pair of boxers.
There are a handful of other gifts before Chloe sets a small package in her lap. It's squishy and light, and Beca pokes the wrapping for a good ten seconds before Chloe slaps her shoulder and tells her to get on with it. She smiles and starts to peel back the layers. When the contents is exposed, Beca's cheeks burn brightly for two reasons.
The first being the fact that she's just unwrapped underwear from her girlfriend in front of a room of people who don't need to know what she's wearing underneath her clothes. The second, well, Jesus Christ.
"Spider-Man underwear?" Beca swivels her gaze around until she's looking up at Chloe, perched on the arm of the chair, through long lashes. Chloe isn't even trying to hide her glee.
"There's more than one," she says and Beca lifts the first pair of brief-style panties to reveal a second, then a third. All of which have Beca's face or monogram on them. The last pair has Beca's face surrounded by little purple hearts.
"I didn't know you were a fan of the web-head." Cynthia Rose intones and Beca's about two seconds away from making some scathing comment to insinuate that she isn't when Chloe pipes up.
"Oh, totes. Beca's like... a big time fan." And if it weren't for the way Chloe's practically glowing with glee, Beca might consider wanting to slap her. But all she can actually think about doing is kissing her and calling her a dork. So she does that instead. "This isn't your real present, by the way," Chloe murmurs once they part. Beca narrows her eyes at her and Chloe leans in close to whisper in her ear. "Once the party's done and everyone else is gone, I'm going to go into the bedroom and get myself ready for a thorough unwrapping." She pulls back with a peck to Beca's cheek and Beca feels the air turn thin around her. "Oh, but you have to wear one of these." She tugs at the elastic of one of the pairs of underwear. "Maybe the blue and purple ones, with the insignia," she says, then lowly adds, "maybe I'll make you wear the costume too."
And by the time the night is over, late night stretching lazily toward early morning, Beca doesn't think birthdays are so bad after all.
