ACROSS THE UNIVERSE - A Petrigrof AU! (Simon Petrikov x Betty Grof)

Used To Be

Today was different.

That seemed to be the case a lot lately for Simon, different had become his new normal, so was it really different?

Today was different, because Simon actually felt okay, which was surprising, even to him. Getting rid of his past Betty's pictures just might've been the push he needed to start moving on. He even managed to get himself a job at the karaoke club he'd gone to with Betty on his first date. He was officially a barista now, starting on Monday.

One thing was off, though. He hadn't gotten a call from Betty. But he wasn't too worried about that, he figured he'd just call her after lunch if he didn't hear from her by then. But now, he wanted to enjoy some of his time alone. He decided to go for a walk. Not only that, but he decided to go casual, in a t-shirt and jeans. He had no one to impress.

As he went to open the door, he heard a knock from the other side of it. "Why does this always happen to me..." he said under his breath, not being too loud so the person on the other side of the door wouldn't hear. He let go of the doorknob slowly, counted to 20, then opened it to see Babette standing on the other side.

"May I come in?" Babette said, not waiting for an answer before letting herself in. She looked around with Simon following close behind her. "You got a nice place, Simon. I didn't really notice last time I was here. Cute place." Her eyes found a single photo of Simon and Betty taped to the fridge and she squinted at it, then looked over to Simon, then back at the picture.

"Yes, right... um, how can I help you, Babette? Not that you're not welcome... in my house..." Simon's voice cracked, because honestly, this woman made him nervous. They've never really had a good interaction, and he knew he never made a good impression on her.

But what he didn't quite know was why Babette so apprehensive of him. He figured it was just because of Betty's past experiences with her crazy exes. So much talk of having her organs harvested...

Babette took a seat on Simon's couch and patted the spot next to her for him to sit. "We need to talk."

This caused Simon's heart to rush. He hadn't heard from Betty all day, and now her friend shows up to his apartment? What if something happened to her? So he did as he was told, sitting down next to Babette.

On the other side of the couch.

"Is it about Betty?" Simon asked right away, fearing the worse. What if she was hurt? Or worse, what if she was leaving him? "No," Babette started, interrupting Simon's train of thought. "well, maybe not in the way you're thinking. You see..." Babette turned to face Simon. Her shoes were on the couch now, but Simon wasn't worried about that at the moment. "Betty is a lesbian."

"Wait, wait, wait. Betty is a lesbian?!" Simon asked.

"Uh, yeah. She's a lesbian. But she likes guys too."

"Oh, you mean she's..." Simon stopped himself from correcting her. "...Okay, I get it!"

"No, but that's not all..." Babette stopped herself, this was none of Simon's business. He didn't need to know... but he did, right? It was what she came here for.

"We used to date." She continued. "But then her manager found out about us, and long story short... he didn't like it. Not one bit. He forced Betty to choose between me or her career, and she made... the right choice..."

Simon opened his mouth to say something, but Babette immediately shushed him. "Shhhh! I'm not finished."

"What I was going to say is, I still love her. I have ever since she made her decision. At first we still dated in secret, but after a while, things faded out. I didn't really notice until she started bringing guys over to her place when I was around, I was to blinded by..." Her words trailed off, and she looked at Simon, who was looking back at her with a sympathetic frown. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything!" Simon said, putting his hands up.

"It's that look. You're judging me for liking girls, aren't you?"

"No! No, It's not like that. I—"

"You think you're better than me?!" Babette stood up and flipped a small table which Simon hadn't even noticed was there until she did.

"No! By all means, we are equals, Babette."

"Are you being condescending???" She shouted, flipping yet another table. Simon stood up and took her hands in his in order to stop her from flipping more tables.

"No! I'm being sincere. I know what it's like to have loved and lost someone dear to you, trust me."

"What do you know?" Babette asked, pulling her hands away. After a second, she added, "Of course you do. You're old!"

The two stood in silence, then Babette looked at the tables she'd flipped. She looked back at Simon, then to the tables. She flipped them back over and put them back in their rightful places. "I'm sorry... I just get all worked up. I don't know what's wrong with me. I swear I didn't come here for this."

"It's fine, I understand. I'm no stranger to acting rashly under extreme stress or pressure." Simon went to pat Babette's shoulder but stopped short, not wanting to push her boundaries. "And, Babette, I know we both started off on the wrong foot, but I'd like to be your friend. You and I have a lot more in common than you might think."

Babette's hard expression softened, but just slightly. "Yeah, okay." She crossed her arms and a slight smile formed on her face.

"After all, fans gotta stick together, right? Betty's music is totally... the best..!" Simon said, spoken like an old man trying to relate to a younger generation, which was technically what was going on.

Babette's smile disappeared. "I change my mind." She made her way to the door, picking up both of the small tables she had flipped over and bringing them with her. They were hers now.

It was passed lunch time now, but Betty still hadn't called, and Simon still hadn't gone on his walk. He decided to go on his walk and call her both at once, but when he dialed her number she didn't answer, so he texted her. 'I miss you, hope everything is going well.' He shut off his phone and put it in his pocket before heading out for his walk, this time uninterrupted. Something told him that everything would be alright.

Oh how wrong he was...