Sorry for the delay, everyone. I think we can all agree that finals week sucks!
Disclaimer: I do not own any familiar movies, characters, locations, etc. that I mention below.
On the ninth day of Christmas my weirdo gave to me...
Nine Packages of Candy
Beca loves candy. So when Jesse bought not just one, but nine packages of sugary goodness, she could hardly contain herself.
It wasn't until after she came sprinting over after Bellas practice that he thought he'd tell her it was for a gingerbread house.
"A gingerbread house? Why can't we just eat the candy by itself?" She grabs for the sour gummy worms (her favorite), but ends up being too slow. He pushes it away from her.
"Because this isn't just some average gingerbread house." He smirks, a bad sign that he was up to no good, "It'll be the most epic, most accurate miniature replica of Hogwarts ever built out of gingerbread walls and candy."
"How old are you? Six?"
He rolls his eyes. "Add fourteen."
"Thirteen, you dumbass." She bursts out laughing at an embarrassed Jesse, who ducks his head and counts with his fingers to make sure.
"Shit, you're right." His hand goes to his eyes, unamused at Beca's laughter. She takes this opportunity to snatch the package of gummy worms and runs out of the kitchen, only to have him follow suit. Her short legs fail her as he swoops her up and over his shoulder. Her fists thump repeatedly onto his back, demanding for him to put her down.
"For the record, Harry Potter is for all ages. You're just a little old Grinch." He says as he sets her down. She glares at him and pinches his upper arm. "Ow! Okay, how about 'You're a beautiful, fantastically talented, little old Grinch?' Better?"
She rolls her eyes. "Not really."
Suddenly, he grabs her waist and kisses her, taking Beca by surprise. Determined to not let him win, she doesn't kiss back. He pulls back and pouts.
God dammit. She was a sucker for that puppy dog face. It was her one and only weakness when it came to Jesse.
"How about, 'You're a beautiful, fantastically talented, remarkably small and relatively youthful Grinch'. Bonus points for being a great kisser," He pauses, "Well, not with that kiss. But still." He shrugs innocently, giving her another one of his stupid puppy faces.
Her eyes glint with amusement as she turns away from him, unwilling to give in. She decides to change the subject. "You know, I bet you that if I built a gingerbread house, mine would totally win. It's," She gives him a sly smirk, "inevitable."
His jaw unhinges slightly. "What?! First of all, that's my line," She faces him, her lips pulling into a wry smile, "And second, you totally would not. I, Jesse Swanson, am the master of all things, including gingerbread house making."
"Ugh, you're such a loser. I don't even know why I like you."
"It's inevitable, Beca. You just gotta accept it. Just accept that I will totally crush, no, annihilate, your gingerbread house." He sticks out his tongue at her, making her roll her eyes again.
"Alright then, if I make the better gingerbread house, then you have to do whatever I say, whatever I want. Deal?"
He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Okay, deal. This is only applies to the next twenty-four hours after the bet, right?"
Just then, all the guys barge into the house, startling Beca. They see the candy and charge straight for them, not stopping to ask whether they could have any whatsoever. Each Treble takes a package. Unicycle reaches for her gummy worms, but the death glare she gives him tells him otherwise. Jesse yells at everyone to stop, but they ignore him and retreat to their respective spots in the house. "Seriously? I just bought those. Guess we'll have to go back to the store." He sighs, rubbing his temples with the pad of his thumbs. He grabs his jacket and pulls his shoes while Beca does the same. They drive to the grocery store a couple of minutes away from the Treble house, where they head straight to the candy aisle. Immediately, Beca throws in four bags of sour gummy worms (which may or not be for her own enjoyment), a bag of peppermints, gum drops, M&M's, and marshmallows. She waits for him to pick out his own candy before they're stopped by two girls, maybe around sixteen, flailing at the sight of them.
"Oh. My. God." The girl in the striped sweater gasps as she spots the two and their embarrassingly full baskets of candy. Beca exchanges a glance with Jesse, who gives her a confused look.
"You're the leaders of the Barden Bellas and the Treblemakers! I cannot believe this. Can we get your autographs?" The other girl, a blonde with a single braid down her back, asks, her eyes big as she stares at them.
Beca bites her lip. "Um, sure?" The sweater girl digs into her purse and finds a pen and something to write on. The other girl keeps glancing at Beca's hand, seemingly searching for something, which makes Beca uncomfortable. Finally, the girl gives up and hands Jesse a sharpie and the back of her phone case, while the other does the same to Beca. Jesse flashes a smile and signs their phone cases, then gives the sharpie over to Beca, who does the same. She gives their phones back, giving them a small smile.
"Oh thank you! We love a cappella, like, in love. We saw the Trebles win semi-finals last year." The sweater girl says, a smile plastered on her pale face. "You know, what you did was really cool but it's too bad you didn't tell the other Bellas. Aubrey looked pissed."
Beca rolls her eyes at the memory of Aubrey's temper tantrum afterwards, then frowns remembering how she treated Jesse at that same moment. "Yeah. She was really mad, and it pissed me off so I quit." The girls gasp at the sudden information being shared. "But she came crawling back to me once we learned that we could go to ICCA finals." She smirks.
The blonde continues to stare at her hand. "So... The rumors aren't true?" She frowns. Sweater girl hits her friend for some reason unknown to the two.
Jesse scratches his head, confused. "What rumors?"
"I mean, unless you're just not wearing it..."
All of a sudden, it clicks. The continuous staring at her hand all makes sense now. "What in the...? No! God no!"
Jesse, still confused, elbows the brunette, wanting to know what was going on.
"We are not engaged."
His mouth drops, finally understanding what she meant. "What?!"
"Are you two even an item? Is that a myth too? Is it all for the cameras? That's what people say on the websites, too."
"What the hell? What websites? What cameras? There aren't any cameras." Beca scoffs, already not liking these girls.
"What Beca means to say, is that, we are very much together. But we aren't, you know, that together." Jesse says, choosing his words carefully as he tries to calm the astonished brunette down.
"...Okay. Well, since we're on the topic of you two as a couple, and God, I hope this isn't weird for us to be asking these questions," The sweater girl glares at her blonde friend, who glares back, "But how long have you been together?"
Jesse immediately answers so Beca doesn't, very much sensing her irritation. "Since ICCA finals. But it was love at first sight." He grins goofily at Beca, who rolls her eyes so hard that she could see her brain. God, he was so annoying.
"Aw, that's cute. So, like, will you guys be forming a mega Bella-Treble group at Barden or something?"
"Well, if we did, we'd be called the Treble-Bellas," He chuckles as she pinches his side, making him jump, "We're collaborating for a winter concert that will happen this Saturday. It'll be in the Barden University auditorium, admission is ten dollars. You two should come, it'll be great."
"Oh, cool! Well, expect us there." Blonde girl smiles flirtatiously, as sweater girl clears her throat.
"Er, yeah. It was nice meeting you two! Bye, thank you!" Sweater girl drags her friend away, but they were still in earshot when Beca hears the blonde start talking.
"I bet you they won't last, Kat, She was a total bitch, especially to him. She doesn't deserve him."
"You're just a fucking idiot, Jenny."
Beca mentally high-fives sweater girl for being a rational human being, and mentally strangles blondie. She crosses her arms as they walk towards the line of cashiers. Jesse notices her annoyance and wraps an arm around her, trying to comfort her.
"That was really weird. I've never been recognized in public." He says, hoping to ease her into a state of comfort. She nods and lets herself sink into his side, ignoring the judgemental stares they were getting. They stroll around the store, looking at various food displays and festive desserts. He decides to grab a tub of ice cream, their favorite flavor, and a container of sprinkles before paying for their items. Once they're in the car, she finally talks.
"I hate people."
"Well of course, you are the Grinch."
She glares at him. "You know, you aren't exactly on the nice list right now, either."
"Oh? How so?"
"Treble-Bellas? Seriously."
"That's it?"
"Pretty much."
"Something in me senses that that wasn't the only thing that annoyed you today."
"Well, yeah. Those girls were insane. I'm just super paranoid now. People think we're actually engaged." She shifts uncomfortably in her seat, letting out a long breath. "I can't believe there are actual rumors about a cappella nerds outside of the a cappella community— I still can't believe there are actual, completely real fans of a cappella."
"Benji was one before college."
"Yeah, well it's weird."
"There are weirder things, Becs."
"Timer starts... NOW!"
Benji stares as the two hurriedly put together their walls of their houses with frosting. Beca chooses to take the slow route, while Jesse does everything fast paced. She carefully places each gumdrop neatly onto the roof of her house, while he busily throws on candy with a messy hand. By the time their two hours are up, Beca's looks like a masterpiece compared to his. But she chooses not to tell him, instead having the guys judge.
"Beca's for sure."
"Beca's makes yours look like trash, bro."
"What the fuck is that, Jesse?"
"I think it's a train? A laundromat? Are washing washing machines supposed to have that many buttons?"
"IT'S HOGWARTS! See, the four towers, the courtyard... THE QUIDDITCH HOOP?!"
Beca cackles as they continue their commentary, all the while being praised on such her cute creation. "If it makes you feel any better, I could text the girls a few pictures of the houses and ask them to judge. Maybe the guys aren't the best judges." She says once they all retreat back to their rooms, a sly grin on her face.
"No thanks, you win. I quit." He says, defeated.
"Aw, my poor baby." She pouts and dips a finger into the last can of frosting, poking him on the nose. She gives him a kiss on the lips, loving how his frown gradually turns into a smile. His nose crashes into hers, smearing the frosting over both of their noses. She pulls away and crinkles her nose, not liking the cold goop on her skin. As she reaches for a napkin, he slathers more of the frosting onto her cheek, and then to her chest, making her gasp. She shoves her small hand into the tub of frosting and shoves it up his shirt, and soon enough they're both covered in the smooth sweetness.
It was amazing how carefree she felt with him, and how crazy it felt to be happy. His laugh was infectious and the way his face looked, covered in a ridiculous amount of frosting, only fueled her own laughter. They're sitting on the kitchen tile, kissing and laughing and smiling happily. Suddenly, Beca remembers a very important piece of information she ought to share.
"So, my servant, your first order of business is to clean me up."
He groans, but that big, goofy grin is still on his face. "Yes, my master." He gives her a quick kiss before picking her up over his shoulder and sprinting to his bedroom like an excited puppy, not caring about the amount of frosting that was sticking to his skin.
Please review! Questions will be answered... eventually... :)