FIC : 'Prison Break' (Pitch Perfect)
Title: Prison Break
Fandom: Pitch Perfect
Characters: Jesse, Professor Mitchell, Lilly, Bumper, various Trebles
Word Count: 1782
Rating: PG
Spoilers: The movie!
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.
Summary: Jesse doesn't want Beca to go to prison for him, so he makes a tough call.
Prison Break
Jesse watched the cop clamping handcuffs on Beca’s hands with a mounting sense of panic. The Bellas didn’t look like they were doing anything. Aubrey in fact looked kind of smug, as if she’d seen this coming all along.
How the hell had it come to this point? Jesse just vaguely recalled some older dude he didn’t know trying to take the Regionals trophy from him and then Beca swooping in like an avenging angel and whaling the guy in the jaw. He might even have been a little turned on by her badassery if she wasn’t getting manhandled into the back of a cop car.
With the commotion dying down, the Bellas sans Fat Amy were regrouping and heading towards the door. Jesse didn’t see Chloe or Aubrey, so he grabbed the arm of the nearest Bella he could. “What’re you going to do about Beca?” he asked.
The quiet girl with the bangs, he thought her name was Lilly, stared at him in surprise. She murmured something he couldn’t make out.
“What?”
She whispered something again, or something else, who could tell?
“We have to do something,” he insisted. “This looks seriously bad.”
Lilly nodded, looking serious. Jesse leaned in closer, but still couldn’t understand what the hell she was saying.
“Lilly, are you coming?” someone yelled from outside.
Lilly nodded again, then touched Jesse’s arm and said something else completely indecipherable. She might have been trying to reassure him. Or threatening to kill him. He really had no way of knowing. But then she was out the door.
Jesse paced a few steps, a panic starting to bloom in his gut, as he cycled through old episodes of Law & Order in his mind. All right, so maybe he was on his own for the whole ‘rescuing Beca’ thing. How bad was the damage? Was the civic center going to press charges? It was an accident, Jesse would testify. Was she going to be tried as an adult? She was eighteen, right? Wait, why would she be tried? What was she even being arrested for? “Oh, screw it,” he said, and fumbled for his phone.
“Do any of you guys know Professor Mitchell?” he asked. “I think he teaches English or something.”
“Mitchell? Yeah, I have him for lit,” said Colin. “What’s up, you thinking about your schedule for next year already?”
“No, I just want to get his number, if you have it.” He’d met Beca’s dad once; he seemed like the kind of ’cool’ professor that gave out contact info to his students and insisted they call him for anything. “I think he can help.”
“Are you trying to rescue that Bella girl?” sneered Bumper.
“Her name is Beca,” said Jesse.
“Whatever. Man, why bother? Have you seen her? She was pretty much destined for prison, why delay the inevitable? Look on the bright side, maybe this’ll get those bitches disqualified or something.”
Jesse had never really liked Bumper, not since he hurt Benji’s feelings on the quad day one. The guy was an ass. A talented ass, yeah, but the kind of person who thought that because he was talented he was owed everything, and who blamed everyone else when things didn’t go his way. Also, his name was Bumper, something on one ever called him on. It was nothing resembling a real name. It was a fake car. Jesse put up with him because the rest of the Trebles were okay guys and decent to hang out with, but at the moment he was seconds away from pulling a Beca and just decking the guy.
“Hey, man, shut up,” said Dave. “She’s Jesse’s girlfriend.“ Jesse decided not to argue nomenclature, if it was going to be helpful.
Bumper’s face changed. He didn’t understand girlfriends. He understood getting laid, not that he got laid. Jesse had seen him in his room once, going through a thesaurus to find different words for ‘handsome.’ He was pretty sure Bumper wrote his own fan mail.
Jesse had no idea what could be going through Bumper’s mind. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to know. Bumper appraised him with a cool look and a cooler, “Whatever, I’m gonna go see about getting our trophy fixed. Maybe Jesse can get his girlfriend to pay for that, too.”
“Just ignore him, man,” said Colin. “He’s just being a dick. I’ll see if I can talk him down. Here’s Mitchell’s number.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Beca’s dad picked up on the fifth ring, just enough time for Jesse’s heart to stop. “Just so you know, I’m not currently holding office hours.”
“Mister-- uh, Professor. Professor Mitchell? It’s Jesse. Beca’s friend?”
“Oh, hey, Jesse.” Beca’s dad sounded slightly more relaxed than his professor voice, but definitely with a note of Concerned Dad. “What’s up?”
In the back of his mind, Jesse had a vague notion that Beca might not appreciate the gesture. But her wrath was probably better than her doing jail time. Probably.
“Uh, so we just finished Regionals, for a capella? But, um, there was an… incident, in the lobby, and sir, you have to know, it wasn’t Beca’s fault, it really wasn’t, it was a total accident and really, some very shoddy craftsmanship, but--”
“Jesse, this sounds serious, so please get to the point.”
“Beca was arrested, sir. I don’t know what to do.”
There was a moment of silence and Jesse wondered if he’d been hung up on.
Beca’s dad sighed. “I’m on the way.”
“Thank you, sir,” sighed Jesse with relief.
+++
It was not the most relaxed car ride of all time. The tenured professor and the college freshman, going off to bail a girl outta jail. Jesse had told the whole story as best he could, trying to minimize the part about assault, but Beca’s dad didn’t seem exactly surprised about that, just resigned. Jesse’s duty now done, the two of them lapsed into a funereal silence.
“Are you dating Beca?”
Jesse froze and was pretty sure he might have died for half a second or so. He missed the silence immediately. “Um, no, sir. We aren’t.”
Beca’s dad nodded to himself. “You work at the radio station, right?”
“I intern there, yeah. That’s how we met. We stack CDs.”
“A very productive use of one’s time.”
Jesse didn’t say anything. He didn’t know if he was supposed to, really. He had no idea if Beca’s dad was joking. He didn’t even know if Beca’s dad liked him. He was essentially in a blind panic.
Beca’s dad pulled into the police station parking lot. “I’m going to go talk to the officers and post bail,” he said. “You can wait for Beca to come out. I don’t think mine should be the first face my daughter sees after she gets out of jail. And conversely, if I see her, I’m likely to ground her for life, which isn’t all that different from prison and I don’t think I’m allowed to do anymore, since she’s technically an adult.”
“You seem mad,” said Jesse helpfully.
“I am pretty mad, Jesse, yes.”
“For what it’s worth, sir, it wasn’t her fault. The guy came after me and she was just trying to get him off me. She was trying to get the trophy away from Amy when it broke. It really wasn’t her fault, I swear.”
Beca’s dad sighed. “I know you mean well, Jesse. And I believe you. I do. But be that as it may, I was kind of hoping Beca would make it at least until graduation before doing a turn in prison, and here it is still her first semester. They don’t exactly make ‘proud parent’ bumper stickers for this.”
“I understand.” Jesse tried to hide lower in the passenger seat.
There was a pause, then Professor Mitchell said, “She’s going to be mad that you called me, you know.”
“She might not. It’s not like I have the money to bail her out. Someone had to do something.”
“She won’t see it that way. Beca doesn’t like it when people help her. She’s a lot like her mother that way.” He sighed. Jesse didn’t know enough about the divorce to say anything, not that he would’ve. “Jesse, I’m not blind. I know you have feelings for my daughter. The fact that you’re even here speaks a lot to that, not to mention a lot to your character. I can’t think there are that many guys out there who are willing to do what you did tonight.”
“Um, thanks.” Was this a punishment? “Do I need to ask for your permission or something?”
Beca’s dad laughed. “Mine? No. My approval doesn’t mean anything to her, I know. And while I’d like to give a nice fatherly speech about breaking your legs if you break her heart, frankly, I don’t foresee that happening.”
Well, that was insubstantial. He didn’t foresee the lecture? He didn’t foresee breaking legs? He didn’t foresee Jesse breaking Beca’s heart?
Probably because he didn't see Beca letting Jesse in enough to do that.
Professor Mitchell sighed. “It’s a good thing it’s a free education, because this is probably going to cost me.” He got out of the car, leaving Jesse alone with his thoughts, all of which sucked. He figured it would’ve been better if Beca’s dad had flat-out forbade him to be around Beca. The implications of this particular conversation were worse: you’d be an okay boyfriend and that won’t ever matter.
Jesse got out of the car and paced in front of the building entrance, waiting for Beca. The metaphor did not pass him by. Processor Mitchell flicked a wave in Jesse’s direction as he headed to the car to wait (and presumably fume). Jesse could only assume it meant the bailing out had worked.
Now that the crisis seemed to be over, Jesse relaxed a little bit and his mind wandered. Beca had punched a weird old dude in the face for him. That had to mean something, right? It wasn’t exactly a promise ring, but it wasn’t a meaningless gesture, either. Unless of course she just went around punching everyone, but Jesse didn’t really see that being a thing. She was reticent, not psychotic. It seemed, if nothing else, like she was worried about him, like she cared.
Jesse decided that ultimately, it probably didn’t matter what Beca’s dad said. You didn’t punch a stranger in the face for the honor of someone who wasn’t at least a friend. And you couldn’t really, truly be mad at someone who was bailing you out of prison, no matter the means to that end. Jesse was pretty sure that they’d be okay.
This fic and more can be found at my AO3 archive!
Fandom: Pitch Perfect
Characters: Jesse, Professor Mitchell, Lilly, Bumper, various Trebles
Word Count: 1782
Rating: PG
Spoilers: The movie!
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.
Summary: Jesse doesn't want Beca to go to prison for him, so he makes a tough call.
Prison Break
Jesse watched the cop clamping handcuffs on Beca’s hands with a mounting sense of panic. The Bellas didn’t look like they were doing anything. Aubrey in fact looked kind of smug, as if she’d seen this coming all along.
How the hell had it come to this point? Jesse just vaguely recalled some older dude he didn’t know trying to take the Regionals trophy from him and then Beca swooping in like an avenging angel and whaling the guy in the jaw. He might even have been a little turned on by her badassery if she wasn’t getting manhandled into the back of a cop car.
With the commotion dying down, the Bellas sans Fat Amy were regrouping and heading towards the door. Jesse didn’t see Chloe or Aubrey, so he grabbed the arm of the nearest Bella he could. “What’re you going to do about Beca?” he asked.
The quiet girl with the bangs, he thought her name was Lilly, stared at him in surprise. She murmured something he couldn’t make out.
“What?”
She whispered something again, or something else, who could tell?
“We have to do something,” he insisted. “This looks seriously bad.”
Lilly nodded, looking serious. Jesse leaned in closer, but still couldn’t understand what the hell she was saying.
“Lilly, are you coming?” someone yelled from outside.
Lilly nodded again, then touched Jesse’s arm and said something else completely indecipherable. She might have been trying to reassure him. Or threatening to kill him. He really had no way of knowing. But then she was out the door.
Jesse paced a few steps, a panic starting to bloom in his gut, as he cycled through old episodes of Law & Order in his mind. All right, so maybe he was on his own for the whole ‘rescuing Beca’ thing. How bad was the damage? Was the civic center going to press charges? It was an accident, Jesse would testify. Was she going to be tried as an adult? She was eighteen, right? Wait, why would she be tried? What was she even being arrested for? “Oh, screw it,” he said, and fumbled for his phone.
“Do any of you guys know Professor Mitchell?” he asked. “I think he teaches English or something.”
“Mitchell? Yeah, I have him for lit,” said Colin. “What’s up, you thinking about your schedule for next year already?”
“No, I just want to get his number, if you have it.” He’d met Beca’s dad once; he seemed like the kind of ’cool’ professor that gave out contact info to his students and insisted they call him for anything. “I think he can help.”
“Are you trying to rescue that Bella girl?” sneered Bumper.
“Her name is Beca,” said Jesse.
“Whatever. Man, why bother? Have you seen her? She was pretty much destined for prison, why delay the inevitable? Look on the bright side, maybe this’ll get those bitches disqualified or something.”
Jesse had never really liked Bumper, not since he hurt Benji’s feelings on the quad day one. The guy was an ass. A talented ass, yeah, but the kind of person who thought that because he was talented he was owed everything, and who blamed everyone else when things didn’t go his way. Also, his name was Bumper, something on one ever called him on. It was nothing resembling a real name. It was a fake car. Jesse put up with him because the rest of the Trebles were okay guys and decent to hang out with, but at the moment he was seconds away from pulling a Beca and just decking the guy.
“Hey, man, shut up,” said Dave. “She’s Jesse’s girlfriend.“ Jesse decided not to argue nomenclature, if it was going to be helpful.
Bumper’s face changed. He didn’t understand girlfriends. He understood getting laid, not that he got laid. Jesse had seen him in his room once, going through a thesaurus to find different words for ‘handsome.’ He was pretty sure Bumper wrote his own fan mail.
Jesse had no idea what could be going through Bumper’s mind. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to know. Bumper appraised him with a cool look and a cooler, “Whatever, I’m gonna go see about getting our trophy fixed. Maybe Jesse can get his girlfriend to pay for that, too.”
“Just ignore him, man,” said Colin. “He’s just being a dick. I’ll see if I can talk him down. Here’s Mitchell’s number.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Beca’s dad picked up on the fifth ring, just enough time for Jesse’s heart to stop. “Just so you know, I’m not currently holding office hours.”
“Mister-- uh, Professor. Professor Mitchell? It’s Jesse. Beca’s friend?”
“Oh, hey, Jesse.” Beca’s dad sounded slightly more relaxed than his professor voice, but definitely with a note of Concerned Dad. “What’s up?”
In the back of his mind, Jesse had a vague notion that Beca might not appreciate the gesture. But her wrath was probably better than her doing jail time. Probably.
“Uh, so we just finished Regionals, for a capella? But, um, there was an… incident, in the lobby, and sir, you have to know, it wasn’t Beca’s fault, it really wasn’t, it was a total accident and really, some very shoddy craftsmanship, but--”
“Jesse, this sounds serious, so please get to the point.”
“Beca was arrested, sir. I don’t know what to do.”
There was a moment of silence and Jesse wondered if he’d been hung up on.
Beca’s dad sighed. “I’m on the way.”
“Thank you, sir,” sighed Jesse with relief.
+++
It was not the most relaxed car ride of all time. The tenured professor and the college freshman, going off to bail a girl outta jail. Jesse had told the whole story as best he could, trying to minimize the part about assault, but Beca’s dad didn’t seem exactly surprised about that, just resigned. Jesse’s duty now done, the two of them lapsed into a funereal silence.
“Are you dating Beca?”
Jesse froze and was pretty sure he might have died for half a second or so. He missed the silence immediately. “Um, no, sir. We aren’t.”
Beca’s dad nodded to himself. “You work at the radio station, right?”
“I intern there, yeah. That’s how we met. We stack CDs.”
“A very productive use of one’s time.”
Jesse didn’t say anything. He didn’t know if he was supposed to, really. He had no idea if Beca’s dad was joking. He didn’t even know if Beca’s dad liked him. He was essentially in a blind panic.
Beca’s dad pulled into the police station parking lot. “I’m going to go talk to the officers and post bail,” he said. “You can wait for Beca to come out. I don’t think mine should be the first face my daughter sees after she gets out of jail. And conversely, if I see her, I’m likely to ground her for life, which isn’t all that different from prison and I don’t think I’m allowed to do anymore, since she’s technically an adult.”
“You seem mad,” said Jesse helpfully.
“I am pretty mad, Jesse, yes.”
“For what it’s worth, sir, it wasn’t her fault. The guy came after me and she was just trying to get him off me. She was trying to get the trophy away from Amy when it broke. It really wasn’t her fault, I swear.”
Beca’s dad sighed. “I know you mean well, Jesse. And I believe you. I do. But be that as it may, I was kind of hoping Beca would make it at least until graduation before doing a turn in prison, and here it is still her first semester. They don’t exactly make ‘proud parent’ bumper stickers for this.”
“I understand.” Jesse tried to hide lower in the passenger seat.
There was a pause, then Professor Mitchell said, “She’s going to be mad that you called me, you know.”
“She might not. It’s not like I have the money to bail her out. Someone had to do something.”
“She won’t see it that way. Beca doesn’t like it when people help her. She’s a lot like her mother that way.” He sighed. Jesse didn’t know enough about the divorce to say anything, not that he would’ve. “Jesse, I’m not blind. I know you have feelings for my daughter. The fact that you’re even here speaks a lot to that, not to mention a lot to your character. I can’t think there are that many guys out there who are willing to do what you did tonight.”
“Um, thanks.” Was this a punishment? “Do I need to ask for your permission or something?”
Beca’s dad laughed. “Mine? No. My approval doesn’t mean anything to her, I know. And while I’d like to give a nice fatherly speech about breaking your legs if you break her heart, frankly, I don’t foresee that happening.”
Well, that was insubstantial. He didn’t foresee the lecture? He didn’t foresee breaking legs? He didn’t foresee Jesse breaking Beca’s heart?
Probably because he didn't see Beca letting Jesse in enough to do that.
Professor Mitchell sighed. “It’s a good thing it’s a free education, because this is probably going to cost me.” He got out of the car, leaving Jesse alone with his thoughts, all of which sucked. He figured it would’ve been better if Beca’s dad had flat-out forbade him to be around Beca. The implications of this particular conversation were worse: you’d be an okay boyfriend and that won’t ever matter.
Jesse got out of the car and paced in front of the building entrance, waiting for Beca. The metaphor did not pass him by. Processor Mitchell flicked a wave in Jesse’s direction as he headed to the car to wait (and presumably fume). Jesse could only assume it meant the bailing out had worked.
Now that the crisis seemed to be over, Jesse relaxed a little bit and his mind wandered. Beca had punched a weird old dude in the face for him. That had to mean something, right? It wasn’t exactly a promise ring, but it wasn’t a meaningless gesture, either. Unless of course she just went around punching everyone, but Jesse didn’t really see that being a thing. She was reticent, not psychotic. It seemed, if nothing else, like she was worried about him, like she cared.
Jesse decided that ultimately, it probably didn’t matter what Beca’s dad said. You didn’t punch a stranger in the face for the honor of someone who wasn’t at least a friend. And you couldn’t really, truly be mad at someone who was bailing you out of prison, no matter the means to that end. Jesse was pretty sure that they’d be okay.
This fic and more can be found at my AO3 archive!