Chapter Text
It was her favorite time of the night. In the moments right before it became too late to share a bed, Chloe would turn off the lamp, putting whatever textbook she was reading on the floor to flip over and face Beca. Then, lying there, she would put a hesitant hand on the other girl’s hip, squeezing it lightly.
The interaction lasted a total of two minutes, if that, and then Chloe would slip out of the bed, pulling the covers up on Beca. “Get some sleep,” she would say, “Insomniacs make terriblebest friends.” To which Beca would respond with a snort and some semi-sarcastic commentary on the struggles of being so deeply neurotypical.
Only tonight when Chloe put her hand on Beca’s hip, Beca put away her computer and snuggled down into the pillow, meeting Chloe’s eyes and smiling softly. She reached out slowly, her hand lingering in the space between them for just a little too long, to curl a red hair around her index finger. “Chloe,” she said quietly, biting her lip and looking at her friend. “What’s your favorite thing about me?”
“Oh,” Chloe smiled, wiggling her head, “I didn’t know we were on a dock here, but you seem to be real good at fishing for compliments.” Beca slapped her lightly on the arm, letting her hand rest there to soften the blow. The touch was enough to still her, and Chloe met her stare once more. “Okayyyy,” she said slowly, “Well. I like your eyes. And your music. And the way your voice is when you think no one can hear you singing.”
“Stalker,” Beca mumbled under her breath, earning a prompt but equal slap from Chloe.
“And I like that when you yell, your voice goes up so many octaves that only dogs can hear it,” Chloe added, getting a scowl from Beca. It was like a victory to her, so she bit her lip, trying to think of more.
It’s not that it was hard, necessarily, to think of all of her favorite things about Beca Mitchell. Putting them into words, though - and words that were…friendship-appropriate, to say the least - was the challenge.
“And, of course, I like your flabbergasties,” Chloe said, eyes darting down briefly to Beca’s chest and pointedly back at her face again. Beca raised her eyebrows, pulling her head back to inspect the redhead.
“My…” she said, turning her head slightly to the side, “My…what?”
“Flabbergasties,” Chloe chirped, turning so that she was on her back. There were glow stars on Beca’s ceiling - ones she’d stuck there at the beginning of the school year - and she counted them as she watched Beca stare at her in confusion.
“Yeah, okay, are you going to tell me what the fuck that means?” Beca asked, turning to face the ceiling with a huff as well. Chloe smiled again, loving that she could predict Beca’s movements through their conversation but still never felt like they were following a preconceived script.
“Sure,” she sighed, gearing up for her story. “But it involves exposition.”
“Then….exposite away.”
“Beautiful,” Chloe said, propping her head on her arm for a pillow. “’Twas the summer of my tenth year, and my parents decided the family was old enough to ‘appreciate the culture’ of some European culture.”
“Naturally,” Beca quipped, and Chloe laughed.
“They wanted a second honeymoon and didn’t want to pay a nanny,” Chloe explained, which made Beca chuckle and nod. “Anyway, being who they are, we somehow ended up ‘accidentally’ going to a topless beach.”
“Your story arches are wildly predictable,” Beca commented, which earned a mockingly frustrated punch in the shoulder from Chloe.
“No more interruptions, Goof,” she said, continuing, “Well, anyway, apparently ten year old me was much less…chill…than present-day me is.”
“I wouldn’t exactly describe you as ch–Okay. Sorry. Continue.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said, the smile on her face rising, “So, yeah, as the story goes, I was appropriately astonished by all the…bosoms. The…bare bosoms. Because…well…it was abeach full of them.”
“Of course,” Beca nodded, “The natural reaction for a ten year old girl at a topless beach is glee.”
“For some,” Chloe hummed. “For me, I guess. So, yeah, my parents had said something about how quote unquote ‘flabbergasted’ I was. Apparently my reaction face was quite amusing.”
“I’ll bet.” Chloe sighed contentedly, grinning at the pressure of Beca’s eyes against her cheek. The other girl had turned again, using her hands as pillows as she watched Chloe tell the story.
“Not knowing what the heck that word meant, I assumed it was some euphemism or something. So when I asked my mom a few months later when I would get ‘flabbergasties’, the term just kinda stuck.”
When she finished, she hazarded a glance at Beca, only slightly uncomfortable by the silence that stretched between them. The other girl was staring at her with some mix of shock and absolute joy, the look spreading down to her mouth, which was opened wide but curving up around the edges. Chloe’s smile spread in response, and she turned so that the girls were nose to nose.
“Oh,” Beca started, holding a hand up to her lips. Chloe thought she could predict the exact tone with which Beca would say the next words - a slight raise in pitch each time. “My. God.”
“Yep,” Chloe said, popping the ‘p’.
“Okay, let me first say thank you for sharing this heavenly story with me,” Beca said, her grin impossibly wide, “Because I am forever changed for the better, and you will never ever hear the end of the that.”
“I suspected as much,” Chloe said with a shrug, not thinking when she put a hand back on Beca’s hip.
“And second,” Beca started again, “You are the weirdest effin’ person I know.”
Chloe smiled wider, “I know. But you love me.”
Beca hummed, her eyes skirting upwards for a second as she pursed her lips. “I guess I have to,” she quipped, her eyes returning to Chloe’s as she bit her lip for the suspense of her next line, “You can’t not love a girl who appreciates your flabbergasties. I mean, I’m not acaveman, Chlo.”
“I hate you,” Chloe said quickly, reaching under the hem of Beca’s shirt to pinch her lightly, which the other girl squirmed and squeaked to get away. For a second, they were a giggling pile of limbs, and then Beca sobered up, looking down at Chloe from where she was balancing on her elbows.
“So,” she said, raising an eyebrow, “You really like my flabbergasties?”
Chloe bit her lip, nodding. “They’re the best thing about you, Babe.”