This is a prompt from tiptaptop: Chloe and Aubrey both like Beca and they fight for her but Beca ends up with Stacie.
Stacie sighs as she watches Beca leaving the house with Chloe. She almost doesn't notice Aubrey sulking in the corner on the other side of the living room. Stacie is vaguely concerned as to what's bothering the uptight blonde, but then again, it could be any number of things so she doesn't really pay her much attention. What she DOES pay attention to, is the fact that Beca has gone out more times in the last 14 days than she did for pretty much the past 4 months.
Lately Stacie has noticed, that Beca is spending a lot of time with their two co-captains. Both individually and as a trio. When Stacie points it out, Beca says its because they want to spend time with her before they graduate. 'Funny' Stacie thinks. 'They don't seem to want to do that with any of the rest of us…'
As time goes on, Stacie becomes even more aware and focused on the little things that the two senior girls were doing. During rehearsals Chloe and Aubrey are always quietly arguing with each other and constantly asking Beca's opinion on seemingly random matters. When Beca agrees with one of them, their expressions look as if Beca was handing out Olympic medals. One proudly standing victorious over the other. It's been like this for the past 2 and a half weeks, and frankly, Stacie is sick of it. It's throwing off the rest of the group and to be truthful, very annoying.
The thing that makes her the most sick, is Beca herself. Poor, oblivious, awkward Beca, who needs things explained to her like a child first learning to do things independently. Beca doesn't seem to see what Stacie sees. But Stacie isn't stupid. She knows that predatory look in both of her co-captains eyes. They're fighting alright. But not over the Bellas. No. They're fighting over Beca.
Stacie and Beca are catching up on the quad one Friday afternoon. It's a warm and sunny day, but not too hot, with the occasional slight breeze. They're talking quietly and secretly judging their classmates as they walk past their spot on the blanket.
Stacie is propped up against a tree, and Beca's head is resting on Stacie's long, tanned legs. Stacie is absentmindedly running her hand through Beca's hair and for once, Beca doesn't seem to be complaining. She of course has her headphones with her, but they're not on her head for a change, instead hanging loosely around her neck. The faint sound of Beca's mixes can be heard pouring through the cups of the headphones, but that's not the main focus at the moment. Between daily Bellas rehearsals, Beca constantly working at the radio station and making mixes, and Stacie devoting pretty much all of her free time in the science lab, they haven't really gotten a chance to just spend time together in quite a while. Beca got the chance to rant about everything she hated in life, and Stacie in return told her all about what was happening in hers. They didn't have to say much, they just got it.
Out of all of the Bellas, Stacie was the closest thing she had to a best friend. Not even Chloe knew her story as well as Stacie. Chloe was the popular girl, and one Beca never thought she'd ever be friends with. They understood each other in a way Beca had never really had with a friend before. Stacie had been there from the beginning of Beca's career at Barden, and they had gone through a lot together over the time they had known each other. Stacie had been there when Beca had broken up with Jesse, and when she failed her philosophy test and thought her dad would kill her. Stacie knew how Beca dreamed of eventually going to LA, but how her dreams had changed slightly and how she now wanted to finish at Barden before going off on her own to fake being an adult trying to break into the music business.
"This is really quite nice actually…" Stacie began. "It's nice to spend time with you."
"Dude, you spend time with me every day," scoffs Beca, not understanding what Stacie meant. "We even live together, you nerd."
"Yeah, but I never see you anymore. I feel like I don't even know you or what you've been doing lately."
"Seriously Stace? I literally just told you. Were you not listening to anything I just said? I've been doing the same as always," Beca replied, "Work, school, Bellas and trying to not kill my father and the stepmonster every time I have to go over there. The only new thing is that I'm spending some extra time learning what to do when I take over for the Bellas next year."
"Yeah, I've been listening. And don't think I've noticed that you've been seeing a lot of Aubrey and Chloe lately," teased Stacie, as a way of trying to keep her jealousy in check. "I thought you couldn't stand Aubrey. She totally doesn't get your humor or listen to the same kind of music you do. She's like, eternally stuck in the previous century."
"She's not that bad when she's not running Bellas practices. But I mean yeah, taking over the Bellas is going to be a challenge, and I guess I do have a lot to learn. They said they really want to prepare me for being in charge of the Bellas once they graduate," Beca stated.
"Oh yeah?" Stacie said. "What do you guys do?"
"We go to get coffee or eat lunch together between classes. And other times we just chill out and talk in Chloe's or Aubrey's room. When one of them can't make it, we just do whatever we want. It's kinda fun, if I'm being honest," Beca said. "Like, we haven't done much stuff actually related to the Bellas, but they said the first part to becoming a Bella captain is to bond with the past captains."
"Bellas bonding time my ass," Stacie said with a slight edge to her voice as she sat up a bit straighter, accidentally jostling Beca a bit in her lap. "I call bullshit. If it was Bellas bonding time we'd all be there."
"Stacie, what's your problem? They're just being nice," Beca said, suddenly getting defensive.
By this point, Stacie had had enough. "Beca. You know they're just trying to get in your pants, right?" she said firmly, her voice filled with malice.
"What? Dude. No way. That's—" Beca sputtered sitting up as well. "You're wrong. They don't…"
"Really? You don't believe me? Becs, I'm your best friend. Trust me when I say they are both fighting over you," Stacie said.
"I can't believe you'd say that," Beca said, finally, after sitting quietly for a few moments. "That is ridiculous. I can't even begin to explain how insane you sound right now."
"Beca, come on, don't be like this," Stacie said, getting frustrated.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were jealous of how much time I'm spending with them and not you," Beca shot back.
When Stacie looked down and didn't say anything for a while, Beca gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Wait… What?" Beca looked conflicted.
"Surprise," said Stacie weakly. "Now you know."
When Beca still didn't respond, Stacie sighed and stood up. "I- I'm sorry. I have to go."
As Stacie quickly walked past the people in the crowd, a lone tear streaked its way down her cheek.
A distant shout of something that sounded like her name could be heard, but Stacie didn't care.
"Holy shit," came an out of breath voice. "Dude, if you were any shorter, I would've lost you in the crowd."
"Yeah, well, that was kind of the point."
Beca just sighed, as she tried to regain her breathing. "Damn. Remind me to take those cardio sessions more seriously." Stacie just looked at her.
"What are you doing here, Beca?" asked Stacie finally. "Go home."
"You know what? No. I chased you all the way from the quad after I asked you to stay. So no. Not without you."
"Well, I'm not going home for a while, so you'll just have to wait then."
Beca shook her head and smiled. "I've been waiting to hear you say that ever since our Bellas initiation."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to, but didn't know how."
"Really?" asked Stacie, a hint of a smile reappearing on her face. "You mean that?"
"Yeah. I do. And just to make myself clear if I didn't before. I'm not going home. I'm going big."
"Huh?"
"Go big or go home, right?" Beca asked, right before standing on her tiptoes to kiss her best friend.
"Mmmm. Yeah. Definitely don't go home," Stacie muttered against Beca's lips. "Or at least not without me."
A/N: I usually don't write Steca, but I'll try to do it justice. Obviously, this is an AU that is not from the SWY24 universe. I did pull another little bit from another T Swift song, but that's just because I love her music so much. Hope you enjoy it!