A/N: So, "Black Mirror." It's on Netflix. Have you ever watched it? You should. But it's rarely for the faint of heart. There are few bright spots, and generally, it highlights and exaggerates the worst aspects of humanity and its values.

Dating fucking sucks.

She knows she's only 25 and she knows that's still technically young and she has plenty of time to meet someone.

But dating fucking sucks.

If she swipes right on one more person who turns out to be a total asshole, she's going to swear off romance altogether.

Which is why she decides to go for it - why not, right? What's she got to lose? The advertisements guarantee The System will find your perfect match. And a guarantee is a guarantee…

A car has dropped her off at the foot of a path, a massive, brightly lit mansion visible at the other end.

"Coach?" she says into her handheld device. It was an odd little thing. Not much more than a disc with a screen which responded to voice and touch commands. Kind of like a round phone, she'd figured when it arrived in her mailbox last week after subscribing.

"Yes, Beca?"

"Where do I go?"

"Proceed to The Hub," the melodic and almost non-robotic female voice responds.

With a deep breath, she starts walking.

The Hub is massive, and that is an inaccuracy of gross proportions. It's not a mansion. It's like if a mansion was actually the Mall of America.

She now understands why she was picked up at 6:00 pm. for a date scheduled for 7:45 pm. It took an hour to arrive and nearly an hour to walk (with the assistance of moving sidewalks, elevators, and escalators) to the restaurant where her date is to take place.

When she finds the maître d', she awkwardly holds up her device "Hey, uh...I'm…"

"Beca," the man says with a smile. "Right this way."

"Umm, right…" she says and follows him after rocking on her heels a few times.

The restaurant is filled with nothing but tables and booths for two. Every single one of them is occupied by a couple and it is obvious they are all dates and not there for a business dinner or two friends catching up over a glass of wine.

The only reason you're at The Hub is to date.

She's ushered into the only open booth in the place, the second from the entrance and she slides in on the side that lets her watch the door. She hopes her charcoal slacks and sleeveless black button-down are nice enough, but not too nice.

And then she sees her.

It's hard not to notice her.

Not that she knew who to expect; these first dates were the blindest of blind dates.

But Beca knew that's who she was there to meet.

She's hesitating in the entry; no maître d' is escorting her, and she's speaking at her device and then looking unsure at the response.

It makes Beca anxious because that means she just asked something about Beca and her reaction to the answer was questionable at best. She probably asked about her previous dating life or her family health history or criminal record.

None of those would have great results.

But then the girl takes a deep breath, scans the room, and Beca feels the floor drop out from under her when their eyes meet.

She crosses the room quickly and Beca, going into panic mode, jerks out of the booth to stand and greet her politely and in doing so manages to throw a fork across the room right as she arrives.

She rushes to grab it and by the time she's upright, the girl's in front of her with a slightly stiff smile.

"Sorry, fork," she says, holding it up as if it wasn't obvious.

"Chloe," the girl says with a wave.

Oh, God. "No, no my name's not Fork." Oh God, Beca.

"I didn't think it was."

"It's Beca. Um, do you want to sit down?" She gestures at the booth she nearly upended in her rush to stand. Anything to immediately erase what just happened from being the topic of potential conversation.

"Either that or we stand, right?" Chloe laughs but it's a nervous laughter and that makes Beca feel a little better.

But not much.

"Okay. Well, after you," she says stepping out of the way and Chloe takes a seat - right where Beca had been sitting.

"Oh that's - that's my side." She wants to punch herself as soon as she says it.

She makes to stand up. "Do you want to trade?"

"No, no. It doesn't matter. Sorry." Jesus. "I'm...I'm really fucking nervous." She smiles and hopes it's not too terrifying. "This is my first time using The System."

Chloe's eyes go wide. "Me, too!"

"Really?!" There's no way this girl is nervous about a date. Literally. No way. Not possible.

"Yeah, I'm...I could shit myself."

A bark of laughter escapes Beca and it surprises both of them. She hadn't expected the very picture of "Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice" to kick things off with that kind of language. But maybe that's what the spice was

"Yeah, you do look terrified."

Chloe gasps and Beca thinks it's unfair that someone who is so nervous can be so attractive. But there she is across from her with her wavy red hair and her killer blue eyes and her little black dress doing exactly that. "I do?!"

"You're shaking in your boots, dude."

Chloe sobers and squints."Or maybe trembling with revulsion?" She's teasing. This girl is teasing Beca.

"Well, at least you didn't shit yourself."

"Are you sure about that?"

Beca laughs again. "Okay, new topic. No more shit."

"Yeah, no more of that. Food instead?"

"Definitely."

"How do we…" Chloe looks around the table and discovers what Beca had when she arrived; no menus.

Beca pulls her disc out of her purse. "Maybe we use these?"

Except when she asks it for a menu, it responds with, "Menu choice already established."

"Oh. Well. Just like magic."

And just like magic, a waiter arrives with said choices.

"I guess I'm a pasta girl," Chloe says with a nod at her plate.

"And I'm…" Beca looks at her own. "Crab cake?" She'd never entered any type of food preferences into The System when she subscribed; she didn't need to. That thing was just in her brain.

With a shrug Chloe's digging in, so Beca follows suit. "It's good," Chloe says with a tight-lipped smile around her bite.

"Mine, too. Can I, uh...can I try yours?" She was starving and honestly - one crab cake? What the hell, System?

Chloe glances around the restaurant. "Are we allowed to do that?"

Beca looks, too, and there is a Watcher at the entrance. Doing that. Just watching. Paying them and Chloe's pasta no mind.

"You know what? Fuck it." Chloe stabs a sauce-covered shell onto her fork and reaches across the table. "Open."

"Fuck it," Beca says with a grin as she lets Chloe feed her right off her own fork. "Ugh, that is so good; I'm jealous." She's still chewing as she looks around the restaurant to make sure they didn't really do anything wrong, and apparently...they've earned the Watcher's attention.

She turns back around with a gulp and focuses on Chloe instead.

"So we're both first-timers!"

Beca nods as she chews and tries to dial back her panic. For a first date, other than her horrific first impression and a disapproving glare, this date is going pretty well, considering.

"Should we check our expiration date?" Chloe asks.

Their expiration date. How long their relationship will last, factoring in all known but mostly unknown variables. It was fascinating, really. "Yeah, let's try it."

They both pull out their discs and she stares at hers, unsure of what to do next. She hadn't bothered to read the instructions when she received it. So she watches Chloe swipe at hers.

"It's under 'Info.' Yeah, we have to tap to reveal it at the same time," she says as she reads. "Okay, so, on three?"

"Wait - on three or after three?"

"Like, three, two, one, tap."

"Got it." Beca swipes to her reveal screen and nods.

"Sooo...three, two, one!" Chloe counts down and they both tap at their discs.

Beca holds her breath. It'd be great if it said like, six months, a year, even a few weeks. From the moment she saw her walk in, Beca felt like something was right with this girl. She watches the screen load to say -

"12 hours," Chloe says with what sounds like disappointment.

"Yeah."

Chloe puts down her disc and picks up her wine. "Okay."

"It's a little…"

"Yeah."

"A little short."

"It's a little short, isn't it?" Chloe asks, leaning forward earnestly.

She looks at her device again and the 12 hours is now an actual clock counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until they will part ways forever.

"I didn't realize it would count down like that. That's so sad."

Beca's throat felt tight. Her eyes felt hot. This was bullshit. "Maybe we should eat quickly?" she cracks, hoping to lighten the mood a little so she doesn't do something super embarrassing like cry in front of a girl she met 20 minutes ago.

The thing about The System is that it is, well, a system.

The restaurant was chosen, menu planned, transportation arranged - all by it. And, true to form, a vehicle is waiting for them outside when they leave.

"So, this takes us to the place?" Chloe asks as she peers into the driverless car.

"I guess? I didn't really read the fine print. Um, after you?" She steps aside to let Chloe enter before walking around to get in on the other side.

The ride is quiet. She wants to say something but feels like anything she does say will be the wrong thing. The one thing she does manage is commenting on the size of the wall along which they are driving, which only receives a hum of agreement from Chloe.

Their car takes them to a quaint house with a porch swing. Number 473.

The car departs as soon as they exit it; The System's plan is for them to spend the night here.

"So...do you want to open it? Or should I?" Beca points at the scanner next to the door.

"Go ahead," Chloe says with a smile.

Beca's nervous again - or rather, more nervous than she's been all night, because apparently, she's about to spend the night with this girl who, by simply existing, also makes her nervous. "Okay," she says as she reaches and she hopes her trembling hand isn't too obvious -

"Ha! Too slow!"

The outburst makes her jump and she sees Chloe's palm against the scanner and then sees Chloe grinning at her.

That helps. Chloe's good at breaking tension; much better than Beca is. She feels like she can breathe a little again and she leans back to push open the door after hearing it click. "Oh, God. It's a fucking crackhouse."

Chloe's face falls. "You're kidding."

"I am." She tries to smirk and not look like a psycho.

Chloe's smile returns and she pushes past Beca into the house.

It's the opposite of a crackhouse. Modern, but not cold. It's an open floor plan but a decorative privacy wall with an inlaid fireplace separates the sitting area from what Beca can recognize as a bedroom. The lights are low, preset for them by The System. She watches Chloe move through the space with a quiet energy, turning in a slow circle as she checks it all out.

"It's nice," Chloe says and then clears her throat. "I...like that lamp." She points at a relatively unimpressive lamp on a table behind Beca.

"Yeah that's...that's a great lamp."

Chloe giggles and Beca's relieved she knew she was teasing. "Shut up."

They're both slowly migrating closer to the bedroom and she can feel the awkward energy bouncing between them because they both know why they're there tonight, what they are welcomed, almost expected to do.

She follows Chloe up the two steps into the bedroom and stops by her side at the foot of the bed, both of them staring at it like it's a monster. And then Chloe is moving again - away from her toward a small panel on the solid wall next to the bed. "Bathroom," she says with a nervous smile as she taps the panel to slide the wall open to gain entrance.

"Yeah. Right." Beca shoves her hands in her pockets. "I'm just going to -" She jerks one back out and points behind her with her thumb. "...over there." She watches the wall close behind Chloe and then she hurries into the other room and yanks out her device to speak into it in a hushed, desperate voice. "Are we supposed to just have sex with each other?!"

It's not that she's opposed. Chloe's beautiful. Hot. Sexy. Funny. Doesn't seem to want to run away from her terrible attempts at humor. But it's their first date and...and that seems like it's too much, too fast. And they only have eight hours left together anyway, so should they even bother? What if it's terrible?

...What if it's amazing?

"Participants are not required to take any specific action."

Well, that's not very fucking helpful. "Yeah, but...we can, right? People do it even if they're only together for a little bit?"

"If that's your decision."

"It's up to us?"

"It's up to you."

She hears the panel open behind her and shoves her device in her pocket hurriedly and throws herself onto the first thing she finds - a loveseat - to make it seem like she wasn't just asking artificial intelligence whether or not she should sleep with this girl. "I can just sleep here tonight." Yeah, that's the better decision.

"Don't be silly." Chloe shakes her head. "You won't fit on that. You'll mess up your neck."

"No, actually, I'm…" she moves and lays down, easily fitting on the loveseat when she bends her knees a bit. "I'm small. It's fine."

Chloe just shakes her head again. "The bed's big. We can both fit in it."

Beca feels her pulse start to race; she'd made the decision to forego anything physical tonight, but Chloe...is inviting her to bed. "Yeah...yeah, okay," she says as she pushes herself up and off the couch.

It's dark. They're in bed, both staring at the ceiling, wearing pajamas they found in a bedroom dresser. They'd each changed in the bathroom with the door closed.

"It must have been crazy before The System," Chloe says quietly into the still air above them.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, people had to do the whole relationship thing by themselves. Figure out who they want to be with."

"Yeah that's...that was me. Asshole after asshole and I'm just supposed to pick one? How am I supposed to know which one is the right one."

"Right!" Chloe sat up a little to turn on her side to face Beca. "And if it wasn't working, you had to figure out how to break up with them."

"I hate breaking up with people," Beca says, finding herself easing into conversation more normally than when they first lay down.

"This is so much simpler."

"Way better."

"It's really weird, though…" Chloe says quietly and turns to her back again.

"Yeah...it is." Beca shifts and straightens her arm to rest by her side and feels the warmth of Chloe's a few inches away.

They lay there in the silence and Beca wonders if she should say something more or if they should try to go to sleep, and she's about to push toward sleep when she feels a hand, slow as can be, ease over her own and intertwine their fingers.

It makes Beca's heart pound more than any of their conversations did.

And that is how she falls asleep.

The House wakes them up with a gentle increase in natural light. They've both shuffled around in their sleep but Beca can feel Chloe's hand resting between her shoulder blades as she stirs, and it's warm. Just...warm.

They rise and dress with quiet smiles and Beca tries not to be sad. This is just how The System works. They aren't meant to be. Someone else out there is her perfect match, and Chloe isn't it.

Though if they were out there instead of in here, Beca's pretty sure she would never break up with this girl.

But they aren't out there.

Beca stands aside to let Chloe step out of the house first and onto the front lawn.

"Well then…" Chloe says with a smile and she's dancing around a little in place, and her steps bring her closer.

Beca watches it happen until Chloe's right in front of her. "So…"

Chloe tugs at the lapel of the blazer Beca'd worn last night to protect against the cool evening air. "Thanks for being my first."

Beca's about to make a joke when a mutual beep sounds from their pockets and they fish out their devices.

They're counting down from 20 seconds.

She frowns at it. "Oh. Yeah."

"I guess it's time."

"It was great. This was...you were nice." Nice? She should have said extraordinary; all they did was talk and she knew Chloe was extraordinary.

"So were you." Chloe looks like she's trying not to cry and it makes Beca want to scream. "If we...if we had this time again, you could totally hit this, by the way."

That jerks Beca right out of her anger and into another type of less angry-anger. "What! You...I didn't want to be...I didn't know…"

Chloe shrugs and gives her another sad smile. "Sorry."

"Yeah, well...you could hit this, too." She has literally nothing to lose at this point, so.

Chloe scrunches her nose. "We kind of messed that up, didn't we?"

Beca just sighs and pushes a hand through her hair. "Yeah. We did."

Their devices chime and she feels Chloe take her hand, giving it one last squeeze and they part, walking opposite directions to the two waiting vehicles to drive them home.

Alone.

To be continued...