A/N: This is honestly just a crack fic I threw together last minute to celebrate the 31st (belated) birthday of the one and only Chloe Beale. Credits to bechloe-endgame on tumblr for the inspiration of this prompt, even though what you probably had in mind when you suggested this was likely on a whole other planet of intentions and plot compared to this, and special thanks to the people involved in the screaming bechloe group chat late last night for the tossing of suggestions I totally stole in order to fill in the spaces of this story and make it not as plagiarized as I had feared it out to be. Love you guys 3
And no, this is not what it looks like. Look at the ratings and tags people, smh.
(The d in the title stands for disaster.)
Beca has a sinking but defensible inkling that the entire universe is flipping her off.
Examples include (but are most definitely not limited to): her plans moving to LA right after her first year of attending Barden University (begrudgingly) per her father's request going up in flames right after her admission (also begrudgingly, but on a whole other and embarrassingly self served scale than the other) and victory with the Barden Bellas, her relationship (?) with Jesse exploding in her face right after the realization that she is hopelessly and confusedly in love with her redheaded best friend (a couple years too late), and her brain mockingly failing on her in the one moment in her entire life in which it had been more necessary than oxygen when she had gathered up her nerve one day (after hours and hours of panicked pacing) and walked up to Chloe and tried to confess her feelings, only to faint (literally) at her feet and wake up in the campus hospital hours later with the diagnoses that she had passed out due to low blood sugar because she hadn't bothered to eat anything that entire morning and afternoon in favor of spending all her energy on how best to word her thoughts and feelings to her (assumedly straight at the time) favorite person in all of humanity.
She had foolishly believed that the universe had decided to give her a break when Chloe had giggled at her bedside after her humiliating explanation as to why she had not eaten anything that day and reached over to cup her face and shut her up with a telling kiss on her lips.
She had foolishly believed that that had been the case because not even a week later into their... thing (she and Chloe had not had the time to properly sit down and put a label to their "new" dynamic, what with them not wanting the Bellas to find out right off the bat and Beca being swarmed with people left and right day and night to either tease or chastise her to eat something lest she faints again and wastes any more time on both school and rehearsals, and with them jumping each other bones in the rare times in which they are alone to relieve the unresolved tension between them, mouths preoccupied with other activities besides talking), she had again found herself in a situation where she is convinced that if the world could be a person, it would be flashing a giant middle finger in her face.
"What?" Beca's mouth is open, but the spoon in which was supposed to go in it is suspended in midair, "Today is Chloe's birthday?"
Stacie gives her a look, "Uh, yeah. It has been her birthday for over twenty something years, two of which had been celebrated with us in this very house. You didn't know?"
Beca clangs her spoon back into her bowl and tugs at her hair, "No! I had been working at the radio station the first time and just came here on a text and just wished her a happy birthday, and last year Aubrey had just given me a heads up two days before to quickly grab something from the mall so I wouldn't be empty handed, and so I hadn't exactly paid attention to the date of her birthday!" She widens her eyes and places her elbows on the table to better pull her hair out in panic, "Oh my god, it's today?"
Stacie grimaces at her tone, and sets down her phone to lay a manicured hand sympathetically on her shoulder, "It's okay, Beca, I'm sure it wouldn't matter too much to Chloe if you didn't get her something big to celebrate. She would be over the moon if you would just give her a hug and some chocolates later on, we were all planning to go out tonight to that new bar just outside of campus anyway."
Beca shakes her head, Stacie's words barely registering in her ears as her mind spins dizzily with yet another shocking and unexpected realization that she is going to have to act fast to accommodate this new information before she positively freaks out.
None of the other Bellas besides her and Chloe knows that they have become something beyond the platonics of friendship, and Beca would rather die than be the one to break the news, especially without Chloe by her side, and so she couldn't do anything in the house to prepare for whatever idea she comes up with (if any) to celebrate her more-than-best-friend's twenty fourth anniversary on this Earth, before said more-than-best-friend returns from wherever it is that she had skipped off to early that morning.
And Beca couldn't very well ask any of her fellow Bellas for help in the picking of a gift for someone who is in her situation, without them getting suspicious.
Unless she doesn't make it out to be as if she is…
Beca suddenly looks up, smoothing out her fingers from their curled positions on the top of her head, her lips forcing into a toothy smile as her eyes blink thrice slowly to feign nonchalance, Stacie's hand falling to her arm before retreating quickly in surprise, and she hopes that she does not look too much like a maniac and that her faux demeanor is not too easy to scrutinize through, and she says, with as little tremor in her voice as she could physically make it out to be, "No, I want to get her something more besides just chocolates and a hug, to make up for the two birthdays that I had either missed out on or half-assed, especially when we had known each other for this long and when she would always make an effort to remember mine and give me something with a lot of thought. Do you know what else she would like?"
Stacie considers her, her eyebrow rising conspicuously into her forehead and her nails tapping absently on the thin back casing of her phone, and Beca holds her breath and tries not to visibly twitch in nerves until the moment passes, "Well, I got her the lingerie set that she gushed to me the other day about"- Beca's heart lodges itself oh so conveniently in her throat- "And Fat Amy said that she was gonna give her some… additions… to her set"- Beca recrosses her legs and shifts minimally at the sly smirk unfurling across Stacie's face- "But other than that, I think everyone else is going to just give her some gift cards or jewelry or clothes or something, since again, we were all planning to drag her out there later tonight and pitch in for cakes and drinks."
Beca tries not to scream in frustration at the non-answer; she wants to know what she could do and give to Chloe, damn it, not what everyone else is doing, "Yeah yeah, anything else?"
Something gleams in Stacie's eyes and an unsettling feeling of being caught chills down Beca's spine, which she pointedly ignores, because if she doesn't acknowledge it it may not be true, "I hear that she likes to spend some time outside on her birthday, and that she likes to watch the sunset and have lunch with someone while doing it."
It was practically spelled out for her but Beca still manages to hold on to her last shred of dignity, even as she can feel herself flushing at having been found out, "Thanks, Stace."
"Where are we going?" Chloe asks her as Beca tugs her by the hand to her car, her voice filled with curiosity and amusement as she slips down the steps of the Bella House behind the small but hurrying brunette.
"Nowhere," Beca answers automatically, quickly unlocking her doors and opening the passenger side and gently nudging Chloe in, rolling her eyes at the teasing smirk thrown her way at the "charismatic" gesture. "Shut up," she mumbles, feeling her cheeks go hot in slight embarrassment as she closes the door behind Chloe and hurries to the other side. She glances briefly into the rearview mirror to make sure everything is still there in the backseat before fastening on her seatbelt and turning to the side to fix Chloe's, since her long hair somehow always gets stuck on the extendable handles if its down and she always takes a long second or two to detangle the strands. Beca sighs as she playfully bats Chloe's hands away and detangles the small mess herself, taking care to be as gentle and considerate as possible as she moves the red curls out of the opening of the seatbelt clip and tugs the strand over her chest, leaning down to properly click the safety procedure into place.
Chloe's breath is short and hitched. "Thanks, Bec."
Beca glances up, and blinks once in surprise at their sudden proximity. Chloe's biting her lip. "Um," she swallows, briefly, as her eyes involuntarily and magnetically land there, "You're welcome."
They meet halfway, and the kiss is hot and electric and soft as Chloe sighs into her mouth. Beca's nose grazes against hers and then nuzzles into her cheek momentarily before she pulls away altogether, because it's Chloe's birthday and they have somewhere to be and if she allows her more-than-best-friend to slip her tongue into her mouth, as it was so clearly trying to do, they are done for. "Sorry Chlo, but we have to go."
Even in her peripheral vision Beca can clearly see Choe's pout. "But-"
Beca is glad to have something to do with her hands and attention because if she were to fully face the very persuasive redhead, she would have tripped and fell into the depths of her puppy eye charm. "Not now, Chloe."
Chloe huffs and grumbles something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like "it's my birthday, I can do whatever I want" and crosses her arms, twisting her neck to glare irritatingly out the window. Beca grins secretively, proud of herself for not giving in, and starts the engine, the vehicle purring to life and smoothly taking off.
The music blares from the radio, and it isn't long before Chloe loosens and twists back around, probing her to harmonize with the lyrics in her adorably pleading but once again cheerful voice.
Beca laughs, because she would rather have the universe flip her off on every second of every day than refuse the chance to sing with her more-than-best-friend, not now, not after everything, not when Chloe has successfully gotten her to join the Barden Bellas and change her plans and break up with Jesse, not when they are alone and their voices can and will sound so amazing together.
She complies, happily.
As it turns out, would you rather games are a joke, because even when Beca had spent the entire ride over to their destination bassing her heart out to the admittedly decent pop songs on the radio, the universe is still shoving its gigantic middle finger up her ass.
"What the fuck?!" Beca curses at the seagull who squawks at her in contempt and belittlement as it flaps away with Flo's basket (that was supposedly given to her by her chicken selling brother) in its beak. "Give that the fuck back!"
Chloe cackles- actually fucking cackles- on their blanket on the sand. An arm is clutched protectively across her stomach as her head tilts back in laughter, and Beca is not amused at all as she watches her red hair spill down her arched back and her free hand wipe at her teary blues. "Oh my god, Beca," Chloe breathes, having apparently run out of the ability to speak coherently with a steady voice in the past five minutes in which they had been fighting with the seagull over the possession of their makeshift picnic basket. Well, Beca is, anyway, Chloe had just given up after the initial one and a half minutes and doubled over in laughter over having a front row seat to the ferocious tug of war between Beca and the Seagull. "Oh my god, that seagull is really in it with you, huh."
Beca glares, heatedly, her fingers digging into the sides of her hips as she stomps over temperamentally across the heaps of sand separating her from her more-than-best-friend. Her toes dig into the soft beigeness with every step. "You were of no help, Beale," she grumbles, but both could tell that there was no actual malice in her words. Only petulance. Still, she has to keep up appearances, and that stupid seagull did take the rest of their food. Food that she had painstakingly put together (okay, ran to the grocery store) for Chloe's picnic on the beach birthday present. She reaches the edge of the blanket and sits sulkily down, her feet tucking into her thighs like a pretzel. "Now all our food's gone, and it's partly your fault."
Chloe swipes the last of the mirth from her eyes and lets out a sigh of contentment. "Not all of it, Beca," she says, drawing out the last syllable of her name to poke even more fun at her as she nods towards the fruit and sandwiches that the seagull hadn't mugged. "We still have some stuff here."
It pains her to let the barbaric animal win, but Beca eventually manages to rein it in and scoot closer to the warmth that is the embodiment of Chloe Beale and engage in an exchange of pleasant lunch and light conversation ("The limes were for the drinks that were in the basket, Chlo," Beca replied, when the redhead had pointed out why there were several limes tied up in a plastic bag, "They're useless now."), that is, until the first drop of rain lands on their respective unsuspecting heads.
"Oh, come on! Really?" Beca's exasperation at the world and her luck is immensely palpable, and she kicks her feet blindly in frustration before catching herself, opting instead to release a low growl of indignation at the fact that at the one time with which she is able to provide a legitimate birthday gift to her favorite and only person in her life that she would impulsively put the thought and effort in for (well, technically it's Stacie's idea, but that is insignificant), the universal middle finger just had to show its face and ruin her plans. "Really? You really have to rain now?"
Chloe furrows her brows. The hand that had been tracing lazy circles on Beca's thighs all throughout their easy flow and serenity that afternoon ceases to move. "Now?" She repeats the emphasis. "Was there a better time for it to rain?"
Beca wrenches her gaze from the darkening sky to stare at her, the droplets falling from the clouds above starting to splotch her face with increasing intensity. Beca refuses to give the middle finger the satisfaction of wiping them away. "Actually, yeah. Like after the sun fucking sets."
Chloe's auburn lashes catch the precipitation like a net. Her eyes are so blue. And beautiful. So damn beautiful. "You wanted to watch the sunset with me?"
The question is filled with surprise. Wonder. Breathlessness.
And repressed emotion.
Beca immediately has the urge to look away and play with the hem of her shirt, but she doesn't give in, because it has been almost three years and the universe is against her and if she doesn't act now, who knows what will happen next to make her panic and adjust everything that she had ever known once again? "Yeah, I did. I heard that you liked to watch the sunset and have lunch with someone while doing it, so I just thought that, you know," she shrugs, trying to make it seem as if it wasn't a big deal, despite her mini temper tantrum seconds prior, "I just thought that for your birthday we could do something like that. Together."
Chloe's laugh is reflective of the watery sustenance continuing to rain down their foreheads. Beca kisses away the wetness, because the universe can hate her all it wants, but Chloe is beautiful, Chloe doesn't deserve it. Chloe is the exception, and she deserves all the love in the world. I love you. "Together, together?"
Beca chuckles, because it sounds an awful lot like a teenager ambling up to their crush and confessing to them that he or she or they like like the other, and it's the simplicity of the concept and innocence of the question and naivety of the complications that attaches to those two little words that makes Beca brush her lips over Chloe's eyelids and let go of any form of resentment against the world, because even if it is mean and unfair and unlucky to her sometimes, the rest of those times, the inches and vasts of space between them, are worth the injustice.
Chloe is worth the injustice.
She wants those inches of space to last till the time of time.
"Yeah. Together, together. Forever."
Chloe cries, her face now growing even more wet, salty but happy tears intermixing with the fresh and soft ones of the universe, and Beca crawls into her lap, holding her more-than-best-friend-more-than-girlfriend safely in her arms.
She shakes, and Beca just holds her tighter.
"I love you, Beca."
Beca cries as well, burying her nose into her red red hair. "I love you too, Chloe. Happy birthday."
They didn't need to see the sunset, because it is right there.