Chloe

"Relax!" Chloe cried, laughing a little as Aubrey was shoved this way and that. "It's like the ocean, just move with the crowd!"

"This isn't a crowd! This is a mob, Chloe! There is a difference!"

Aubrey wasn't entirely wrong. Normally where they were standing was the middle of an intersection, the intersection of St Charles and Terpsichore but the street had been transformed from it's plain day setup to the night magic of the holiday. Lines, well maybe more like mobs, of people ten deep closed all passage onto Terpsichore, not that anyone was coming down St Charles to try. That street had been blocked off by police so the floats could pass by. Someone pressed into Chloe's back, jerking her forward hard, his hand waving in her face trying desperately to catch some of the beads that the float was tossing out.

Aubrey let out a little scream as a handful of green, purple and gold beads came flying at her. The scream was pointless though as, with a shove at the guy against her back, Chloe reached out at the last second and snatched them from the air. She smirked around her. She had evaded the twenty hands all reaching for the same thing with the skill of a professional. "Oh yeah!" She cried, punking the asshole behind her. "Who dat steelin' dem beads! Don't mess with a local, baby!"

He rolled his eyes and drunkenly pushed away, moving a few more people down. Aubrey just blinked, stunned at Chloe's level of enthusiasm as well as, Chloe had to assume, her ninja bead catching skills. Chloe smirked at her and carefully put them around Aubrey's neck, giving her jaw a kiss as she did it.

This was amazing. The noise had reach cacophony level, each float mixing with the next, mixing with people screaming or drunkenly fighting, or doing whatever the party and the night pushed them to do.

"Fuck man! No fair!" Another man behind her bellowed. "You're like two feet tall!"

"You just gotta be quick on your feet."

"Bitch." He mumbled, turning to look at the next krewe coming through.

"Excuse me?" Aubrey bellowed, just drunk enough to be willing to fight for Chloe's virtue.

"Bree! Let's move!" She glared at him. "This spot smells bad anyway. Come on."

The problem with moving anywhere during Mardi Gras was that it was pretty much impossible.

"EXCUSE US!" She bellowed over the parade of steel drums passing down St Charles, big huge shooting star puppets on poles floating in the air above them while people in painted faces danced and moved them from the ground. "EXCUSE – US!"

She pushed through the crowd and broke through the sea of stubborn people. It wasn't a lot of relief though because while a walkway down St. Charles was still there, it was about ten inches wide and constantly shifting as the sea of people moved.

"When is Beca's krewe?" Aubrey yelled as Chloe pushed and prodded her way through the crowd, past people selling food and beer, and use of their portapotties, past grand St Charles houses where parties were being held, or with BBQ's grilling up on their second story patios.

"I think she said Nyx is after the Druids!"

"When is that?"

"I don't know! But if you see a float with people in white masks then tell me!"

"What?"

Chloe just shook her head, knowing it was far too loud for this conversation.

A drunk man fell across her feet, nearly taking her down to Aubrey's knees. Chloe just laughed and stepped over him.

It took them twenty minutes to push and shove their way down on city block to Euterpe and by the time they got there they were breathless. There was nowhere good to stand so they just shoved their way in, displacing other people who either swore or were too drunk to notice.

"Oh! Bree!" Chloe gave a yank to her hand and pointed down the street. "Look."

Aubrey let out a small scream, "No, I don't like that!"

"You're much more screamy when you're drunk." Chloe noted and then hearing her own words she waggled her eyebrows, looking forward to finding out exactly how true that would be later that night.

Aubrey missed her thick innuendo though, still staring apprehensively at the next float.

Coming very slowly up the street was a clown head, easily two stories high, giant and leering on the front of the float. It's eyes were twisted and it's devilish grin not quite able to hide the vampire like canines. Aubrey shrank away but Chloe pulled her back.

"It's the druids!" And indeed, behind the monstrous head on the float itself were white faced men in long cloaks. "Lift me up!" She turned abruptly to Aubrey, laughing at the look on her face.

"What?"

"Come on, lift me up and I'll see if I can see Nyx behind them at all."

"Chloe!" Aubrey rolled her eyes with an exasperation that was oh so familiar. "I can't pick you up!"

"Sure you can! You did before!" She smirked, her hand sliding up Aubrey's arm at the memory.

"I-" Aubrey stammered, her cheeks going pink. Chloe bit her lip to hide her giggle. "That had been - that was different - I had - motivation!"

"You mean I was naked."

Aubrey glanced around but the crowd was so loud that they couldn't hear the conversation that they were screaming into one another's ear.

Still, Aubrey didn't answer and Chloe grinned. Aubrey's non-answers were her favorite answers of all.

"What if I give you a little motivation?" She asked in her ear, letting her accent flow out thick and strong, like it did while they were wrapped together. "Can you lift me up then?" She asked, letting her tongue trace the shell of her ear.

She felt Aubrey begin to stammer again, her hands clasping her hips and she smirked, pulling Aubrey in for a long deep kiss. Aubrey groaned, her fingers slipping under Chloe's shirt to the small of her back, pulling her in tighter.

Chloe let herself be pulled, loving the way that Aubrey held her like she needed her.

"Have I ever told you that I love drunk Aubrey?"

"I am not drunk!"

"Oh, baby," Chloe laughed with affection. "You're not sober."

"Shut up."

Chloe threw her head back and laughed.

"I still can't pick you up."

Chloe gave a pout, "Fine. Save it for special occasions." She sent Aubrey a wink and turning, began to scream with the other parade goers. Chloe could still feel Aubrey's hands on her hips and so she leaned back, bouncing in place, her hand in the air as everyone else's was, in hopes of a throw.

They spent a while like that, screaming and jumping and trying to catch beads, Aubrey's hands on Chloe as she danced playfully against her.

"Oh my god, Bree! Bree! Oh my god!" Chloe suddenly screamed, excitement coursing through her, "It's Nyx! It's Nyx!" She pointed down the street to the giant head of Cinderella and her glass slipper. "Come on!" She started to push.

Getting up to the front line in a parade was a little like an extreme sport; only the strongest would survive. She elbowed and pushed, pulling Aubrey along with her as she screamed, "EX-CUSE ME - OUR - GIRLFRIEND - IS - ON - THAT - FLOAT," and though she was sweating by the time she made it, she did in fact make it and with half a block of time left before the opening Nyx float was there.

Even if she hadn't known this was Beca's float, or at least the first of many, she would have been able to tell from the music. It was loud, far louder than the last had been, twisting and bopping, it was loudly feminine as it mixed 'Who Run the World' and something else that Chloe knew was an original for Beca; a perfect mix for the all-female krewe.

"That's my girlfriend's music!" Chloe announced with pride to the stranger next to her.

He either didn't care or didn't hear, but it didn't matter either way. Chloe was bubbling with pride.

The float began to approach and they started to scream, jumping and dancing as Beca's music swirled around them like a sensual caress. It sounded like her, it teased like her and Chloe found it intoxicating. The triple decker float, alright with christmas lights and flashing this and that's finally reached them and they both looked around, wild. They had no idea if they would see her.

"BECA! BECA!"

"Chloe!" Aubrey pointed and there she was, looking wildly sexy on the bottom level, dancing her heart out.

Unlike all of the other women who were in corsets and bloomers, Beca was in her usual jeans and a tank despite the coolish weather.

Aubrey and Chloe exchanged a grin and started screaming, jumping up and down and waving.

Beca looked up at her name and glanced around.

"BECA!" Chloe grinned, waving like a maniac.

They saw more than heard Beca screaming, "Oh my god!" and then she disappeared for a moment, only to reappear at the tail end of the float where they clearly attached roll away stairs.

Aubrey shrieked her hands going over her eyes when Beca, without seeming to think about the six-foot drop, jumped down.

"Shit!" Chloe yelped but then her arms were out, laughing and screaming as Beca barreled at them.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" Beca screamed, launching herself at Chloe, who caught her with a little help from Aubrey. "THAT'S MY MUSIC! THAT'S MY FUCKING MUSIC!" While the other two screamed back, "THAT'S YOUR MUSIC! BECA, THAT'S YOUR MUSIC!"

Clearly ecstatic Beca kissed Chloe thoroughly, tasting a little of mint and vodka and then she leaned over and kissed Aubrey before she grinned back at Chloe, seeming to be not at all worried that she was still in Chloe's arms. "BECA! THAT'S YOUR MUSIC! OH MY GOD! THAT'S MY GIRLFRIENDS MUSIC!" She was still shouting, all but jumping up and down.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on your dissertation, young lady?" Beca chided.

"NOPE!" Chloe squealed. "IT'S DONE! I FINISHED! IT'S GETTING SENT IN TOMORROW MORNING!"

"WHAT?" Beca screamed back, finally dropping to the ground. "YOU SAID THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN UNTIL NEXT WEEK!"

She had been working on it tirelessly for the last month and now, finally, it was done. And she was happy to see it go!

"She has an amazing girlfriend!" Aubrey shouted, smirking at Beca. "An amazing girlfriend who has been riding her ass all day."

Chloe grinned. Aubrey really had been amazing.

"Awe!" Beca cried, "You don't have to say that about me, Bree!"

Aubrey just laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god, I'm so proud of you!" Beca grinned while Aubrey kissed her other ear and told her for the fiftieth time that night that she was proud of her as well.

The song behind them transitioned into a new one seamlessly and Beca was screaming again. "OH MY GOD, THAT'S MY MUSIC! I WROTE THAT! GUYS, I WROTE THAT!"

"No shit!" The man next to Chloe and Aubrey shouted. "That's fucking awesome man! Cheers!" He passed over the bottle that he was drinking from and after a moment of hesitation Beca saluted him and took a large gulp, screaming and chocking when a handful of beads hit her in the side of the face.

"AMY!" Beca yelled back at the float but Amy just pretended not to hear her and instead lobbed a plastic sandwich bag at her. "SHIT!" Beca ducked and the beads instead hit the man with the bottle squarely in the chest.

He groaned, rubbing the spot. Chloe knew the feeling. Her third Mardi Gras she had been hit with a bag of beads, the float trying to empty out their stash and it had split her lip.

"Thanks man! Good deal, Lucille!" He grinned, picking it up.

"I like your beads!" Chloe grinned, pulling at the huge balls that surrounded her neck, each more than two inches across.

"Flash me and I might share." Beca grinned.

"Pictures or it didn't happen." Aubrey called back beside her.

Chloe laughed, sandwiching herself between her girls and promising that she would do plenty of flashing later.

They spent a while enjoying the night then, Beca insisting that she wasn't going to bother to get back on the float despite the fact that she was supposed to be on it all the way to the end where there was a giant ball.

They danced, they bought drinks from a passing vendor, they cheered and screamed.

It wasn't until the music from the Nyx floats began to fade into the Muses float an hour later that they decided to move.

"I hear The Pontchartrain has an amazing party and I get half off of drinks for being part of the parade. Plus, you know, I kind of want to see Chloe in these beads and nothing else so I think we need to go now," Beca had insisted.

Pushing through the crowd now was almost impossible. The ten-inch space had been closed to five, the patrons drunker and rowdier than they were before. She tried to shove her way down but people weren't moving, instead looking at her like she was strange for shoving.

"Let's maybe go in a block and then cross the street later." Beca yelled into her ear.

"Good idea, no crowds."

They pushed backward and thankful, like a drowning man, eventually broke free halfway down the street.

"Oh my god!" Aubrey cried, straightening her clothes. "That's better!"

"How did you even get her out here?" Beca asked, teasing.

"Awe," Chloe gave a friendly pout, "we wanted to hear you!"

"Of course we did." Aubrey laughed, nuzzling Beca's ear in that way that Chloe knew Beca liked.

"You sure you're not going to get in trouble for JESUS FUCK!"

Beca suddenly screamed when a man popped out of the crowd a foot away from them and grabbed Beca's arm.

Chloe swung around, ready to deck someone if she needed to and groaned.

"Chad!"

"Well if it isn't the littlest hobbit."

"Dude," Beca's hand went to her mouth, jumping away. "You reek!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Don't even hit on me right now. I'll puke."

Chad had never been great, it was true, but over the last few weeks the three of them had to admit that he had been horrible. Apparently, he couldn't cope with her girlfriend being a rockstar who could shut his ass down before they ever took one another to court. She smirked at Aubrey, proud as a parent. Aubrey had gathered enough information to blow him out of the water, complaints, mistakes, and even a customer who had wanted to sue him. Chad's lawyer had looked at the stack and had promptly advised Chad to drop it.

He had due to move back to California once all of his contracts closed.

"Pee-Bree, give me your keys."

The quickness of Aubrey's scoff made her laugh, "No way."

"Aubrey give me the keys, I have to piss!" He held his hand out like he actually expected Aubrey to put the keys to her house in his hands.

"You have a dick. Can't you pee anywhere." Beca yelled, waving her hand over her nose and coming to join Chloe.

"Uh yeah," he gave her a sarcastic eye roll, "and I did but when I was spray hosing it earlier this dick cop made me do pushups over the puddle and I fucking fell in it."

All three women took another step back.

"That explains the smell of you."

"Can I have your keys, please?" He was trying for a politer tone and it had not worked in the slightest.

"No, Chad! You'll take off and I won't be able to find you and then I won't be able to get into my own house."

"Whatever, you can just have a sleepover with your lezzie friends, bitch."

Chloe whirled, her anger at level ten immediately. She was so sick of Chad. God, no one liked a sore loser, literally no one. "You know wh-" but Aubrey put a hand on her shoulder. For a moment this just made her angrier. She had to stop letting Chad put her through the ringer. She was going to squash him. She was going to kill him!

"Chlo."

She groaned, turning away for a moment and taking a deep breath. She nearly gagged as the scent of Aubrey's brother washed over her again. He was scooting closer because Beca was standing with her. Beca, in turn, was scooting further behind her.

Aubrey took a deep breath, her face thoughtful, "You know what, Chad?"

His hands went to his hips, annoyed. His eyes rolled and next to him Donald laughed. "What, puke face?"

"You're right. Screw it. You're leaving. You're out of my hair."

"What? You gonna give me the keys?" His hand went back out but Aubrey just shook her head, a little condescendingly.

"You're right, Chad. That's the funny thing."

Chloe stared in disbelief.

"I am going to stay with my lezzie friends tonight."

"And? Uh, good for you, I guess?"

"And," Aubrey was advancing on her brother, towering over him with a predatory like grace. Chloe had never realized how much taller she was than him before. "While you're wandering the streets tonight with your little buddy here, smelling like urine, and looking for tree knot that you can stick it into I'll be at home, letting these two, beautiful, sexy women ride me until they see glory."

Chloe's jaw dropped, completely unable to believe what she had just heard and so - so turned on.

Beca let out a scream of laughter, as Aubrey gave him a, what could only be called very patriotic, salute. "BOOM!" Beca cried, her hand over her mouth in shock.

Aubrey was laughing, cackling wildly, in a way that Chloe had never seen. She looked so happy suddenly, free. "Oorah, shitbird!" She shouted, punking him as she had just seen Chloe do earlier in the night and giving him the middle finger.

"Oh my god!" Chloe laughed. She couldn't believe it!

Chad was just rolling his eyes, his head nodding as if to say yeah, yeah, laugh it up, "Yeah right, Bree."

Aubrey shrugged, her look somehow cool and scalding all at once. She wrapped an arm around Chloe's waist, who went to her happily, her arms closing around her as well while Aubrey pulled Beca in by the back pocket. She gave a shrug, "I guess you'll never know, will you?"

She was so stunned that she almost didn't notice Aubrey pulling them away, starting down the street.

"Yeah right!" Chad yelled back, "You're kidding, right? You're kidding? Egg head? You're kidding? Aubrey? Aubrey!"

Aubrey was hissing under her breath, almost convulsing she was laughing so hard. "Oh my god, that felt good."

The got to the corner of St Andrew, the street where they would turn if they were heading back to Aubrey's apartment and paused.

"What?" Aubrey looked at their stunned faces.

Suddenly Beca let out a squeal and jumped onto Aubrey's back, kissing her neck.

"Bree!" Chloe shouted because someone needed to say it, "Babe, you just came out to your brother! You just came out to him on like two different levels!"

Aubrey smirked, her face both terrified and elated, leaning over her shoulder so she could kiss Beca deeply and then pulling Chloe into her arms. Chloe swooned ever so slightly, wanting to crawl into the kiss she was given. "I guess I did. Shit, I guess I did!"

"He's still back there you know." she smirked. And it was true. Chad had followed them for the rest of the block, his face blank and shocked. He was standing there now, ten feet back, just staring open mouthed.

"He-" Aubrey's breath hitched as Beca began to suck lightly on her neck. Chloe watched her eyes roll and her own hands balled into fists in Aubrey's top. "He is?"

"Umhmm." She let her hand slide, running up the back of Beca's thigh, her own lips grazing Aubrey's throat. She carefully sucked there for a moment, just enough to make a little bubble of unwilling sound pop from Aubrey's lips.

She couldn't help herself. It was petty but she couldn't help it.

She leaned around Aubrey, amused to see that Chad looked like he was going to cry.

Her hand casually cupped Beca's ass, giving it a very possessive rub as she sent him a sly wink.

Aubrey laughed, her hand slipping into Chloe's. "I love you."

Chloe smirked, "Good." She leaned up and gave them both a peck.

"Is he really still there?"

"Yup."

"Well." Aubrey smiled at them both. "Who cares? Come on, ladies. Let's go home."

The end