Chapter Text
Madi shuffled across the studio's floor, making sure to click her metal taps against the wood floors. A small smile as she tapped out an imaginary beat. Once she reached the row of cubicles, instead of removing her shoes like the other girls in her class, Madi attempted two clumsy double wings. Flopping to the ground, he watched as she brought her foot towards her face. One hand gripping her toes, the other gripping her heel and yanking as opposed to pulling off the velcro strap. She got that from Murphy.
"Bellamy!" Madi cheered, rushing out of the studio. Her hair escaping from the confines of its ponytail. "I did both wings today!"
One of the mothers on the far side of the waiting room glanced his way. Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she tried to understand why Madi addressed him by his first name. People did it all the time. He's been called the manny, her mother's boyfriend, the step-father, the family friend to name a few. Their faces shifting every time Madi happily stated he's her honorary dad. There were the few under the impression "honorary dad" meant "step-father" in Madi's eyes. Too young to understand step-parents. That after their split, Clarke and Murphy found him and Miller. Until the four living together came into discussion. What couple lived with an ex and their significant other?
He's heard it all.
Bellamy never understood people's indifference to their scenario. Harsh sneers whispered behind their backs. Disgusted glances poorly hidden. Honestly, people blew their situation out of proportion: four roommates platonically loving and raising a five-year-old together. Well, after two of said roommates conceived the said child during a weekend tryst. Hardly anything scandalous about that. He witnessed stranger growing up. At least they provided Madi with a stable home environment, as opposed to the revolving door of partners his mother exposed him and his sister to. But the moment Madi proudly boasted her three fathers, you would think the child brought about the apocalypse.
A few parents boldly confronted Clarke on her "brazenness." Parading their "polygamist sex cult" around impressionable children. His personal favorite insult, he laughed in the woman's face for a solid five minutes before telling her no and walking away. Yet, Madi's classmates never showed any issues with their family. Well, maybe a few showing contempt at the fact Madi had three fathers while they had typically one or two.
As a pre-teen, his sister watched reruns of Full House religiously on Nick at Nite. While the show never appealed to him, the sitcom happened to be the most similar in design to the structure of their family. Three male adults, and later Aunt Becky, living under one roof loving and caring for five children. What made their situation so different? That Madi preferred to call them her dads?
Madi had four people who care for her and love her. He hadn't been lucky enough to have one.
"Ready to go?" He asked, tossing the strap of her dance bag over her shoulder.
"Mommy's making dinner tonight," Madi said, hopping her way towards the door, "that means we're ordering pizza."
Entering into their brownstone, Madi dropped her backpack onto the floor. She tossed her lunchbox onto the floor beside her - the stalks of celery Murphy packed more than likely untouched in their plastic container. She flung her math workbook to the floor, which was soon followed by her alphabet book. She proudly displayed her purple folder, where she kept her drawings. Gripping three pieces of paper from the folder, she stood on her tippy toes to shove the drawings in his face. One of five people standing outside of a house smaller than them; the second of six lopsided yellow circles making up the neighbor's golden retriever Madi insisted wanted to live with them; and the third of her imaginary friend Jordan.
"These look great Mads, wanna put them on the fridge?" He asked.
The surface of the appliance already covered with Madi's illustrations and Madi's homework assignments. Madi dragged the children's stool across the kitchen floor, faint scratches echoing as the wood scraped against the tile.
At eighteen, he never thought this would be his life. He designed a plan after his high school graduation to gain some control over his life. Earn a college degree, get decent-paying job, find a spouse, have a few kids. But plans never go as intended. At nineteen, he fought his mother for custody of his emotionally distraught thirteen-year-old sister. Online college courses wedged between three jobs to afford their barely up to code apartment. The decent paying job came at twenty-two. Around eleven pm, he sat in a laundromat around the corner from their apartment building awaiting the dryer to finish. The only other patron an elderly women folding her clothes on the other end of the table. One minute the lady loaded a small stack of sweaters into her bin, the next she laid sprawled on the ground clutching her chest. Bellamy doing sets of compressions until the fire engine and ambulance arrived on scene the scene. Watching the FDNY responders work sparked something in him. A week later he applied to the academy and now he's a captain.
The box regarding a spouse remained unchecked. Having kids came in different form. Madi may not be his biologically, but she was his daughter in every other sense of the word. She was the best part of his day and of you asked Clarke, Miller or Murphy, they'd say the same thing.
Miller entered through the backdoor, three pizza boxes balanced in his hands. "Madi, your mom cooked."
"Haha, you're so funny Miller!" Clarke's voice carried from the small plot of grass they called a backyard.
"I would love to join you guys for dinner, but I have a date." Miller declared proudly, dropping the pizzas onto the kitchen island. "An adult sleepover date."
To avoid confusing Madi, they agreed to no overnight guests. Any overnight stays happened at the partner's home. Or that one time in the bathroom at Eligus...
Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, Miller sent Madi a wink. "Don't guilt your mom and Bellamy into staying up too late, kiddo. You know they're weak."
Clarke rolled her eyes entering into the kitchen. Fingers flying across the screen of her phone. Murphy would be home in an hour. Leaving the three of them alone for dinner.
Madi raced into the living room. Asking if they wanted to see what they did in her dance class that afternoon. Her dance bag lay abandoned near the entryway. Pulling out a tap shoe in her left hand and a ballet slipper in her right, Madi's head darted between the two. Silently debating which style of dance to demonstrate first.
"Why don't you show us your double wings?" he offered, pointing towards the tap shoe. "The living room floor needs a good scuffing."
"This is a wing," Madi explained, her voice mimicking the airiness of her instructor Mel's voice. Placing the outside of her right foot on the floor, she flicked the foot outwards. Madi then repeated the action with the left foot. "Today we did double wings," Eagerly, Madi brought both feet inwards to flick them outwards. Her arms stuck out to balance herself.
While she may not be as graceful as Mel, Madi was the only one in her class to not fall when performing the move.
Beside him, Clarke had her forearms propped against the island's cool surface. A proud smile on tugging at her lips. "That was great, baby."
Opening his Spotify app, Bellamy selected Madi's tap routine song. Hands placed on her hips, she counted sixteen beats aloud. Swinging her right foot outwards and then her left foot, Madi shuffled for another sixteen beats. The next eight counts consisted of a right wing, a left wing, and two double wings.
"Ta-da!" Madi hollered.
Miller whooped loudly, arms wrapping around Madi's waist to lift her up. "Ginger Rogers got nothing on you, kid."
Kissing her cheek, Miller put Madi back onto the floor, asking her to hold off on showing the ballet moves until he returned. Once the front door shut, Madi hopped about. Toe, toe, heel, heel. Toe, toe, heel, heel.
"Bell," Clarke started, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. An adorable crease finding its way between her brows. "Do you mind if I have a friend over for dinner?"
He knew that face. The worrying of the lip. Blue eyes hidden beneath dark lashes. The last time Clarke looked like this she invited Lexa over for dinner. Back when Madi was a year and a half. And Bellamy thought he and Clarke were hurdling towards something. She'd met someone she wanted to introduce to them. To introduce to Madi.
Her fingers hovered over her phone's screen. The next text she sent decided based on his answer. Clarke gave him the option to say no. Unknowingly sparing him from heartbreak.
"Sure. I'll set four places." He could have said no, but Clarke deserved to be happy.
"Thank you," Clarke replied, firing off a single text. "I hoped we'd all be home tonight, but I guess we'll do a dry run."
"Better to introduce them to one of us as opposed to all of us." Bellamy mumbled, his attention fixated on the cabinet's door. He began setting the table, needing something to do with his hands. Cups, plates, napkins - something to keep himself occupied.
"In a way, this is a better scenario," Clarke hopped onto the counter. Her heels bumping rhythmically against the wooden cabinets. "Miller might make Finn uncomfortable and Murphy's an actor."
Bellamy's head snapped in her direction. Fingers frozen in midair.
Clarke's blue eyes widened. Her hands flailing about in front of her. "Not because of Miller's sexuality. He's cool with me being bi. It's the whole patented Miller stare that may make dinner awkward."
Madi returned from her room, sliding in with sock-clad feet. Her dance leotard and tights exchanged for the outfit she wore to school: a white sweater and jeans. Madi's workbook clutched tightly in her fists. Before she could open to the page assigned for homework, Clarke hopped down from the countertop, approaching her daughter tentatively. Madi had been too young when Clarke and Lexa began their relationship. Too young to remember the other woman and too young to remember the breakup. And Miller started dating Jackson a few months later. Neither truly having to introduce their partners to Madi for she was too young to grasp the importance. While Bellamy cared for Gina, she never met Madi. Their relationship spanning a mere two months. None of them knew how to introduce a significant other to a small child.
Gripping her daughter's hand, Clarke lowered herself to Madi's level. Teeth once more pulling at her bottom lip. "A friend of mine is joining us for dinner."
A glint reflected in Madi's blue eyes as she bounced onto the balls of her feet. "Can I have a friend over too?"
Clarke glanced at him over her shoulder. Silently pleading for his help. As a child, his mother introduced him to multiple partners. To the point where Bellamy stopped putting in the effort to learn their names. None of them wanting to be the step-father to two bratty kids. Sadly, Bellamy possessed more experience in this field than his roommates. He had been in Madi's shoes.
"You know how Miller and Jackson love each other, in a way that's different than he loves you or me?" Bellamy asked, tugging nervously at his earlobe. Madi nodded slowly in understanding. "Well, Clarke's friendship is more like Miller and Jackson's friendship than you and Reese's or you and Ethan's."
A wide smile spread across Madi's face. Her hands wrapping tightly around her mother's, "We're going on a date!"
The knock at the door pulled Bellamy from his thoughts on a different date. Preferably sans Finn. He regretted not swapping shifts with Diyoza. Who knew what he'd being doing right now if he had. Responding to a fire? An accident on the BQE? Making dinner for his fellow firefighters? At least he wouldn't be vetting Clarke's boyfriend.
At first glance this Finn guy looks like a tool. And Bellamy would know since Clarke's called both him and Murphy a tool on multiple occasions. But the guy took Madi asking if she could call him Fish instead of Finn in stride. And he promised to come by the next time Clarke cooked. Which according to Miller is taking one's life in their hands - but both Bellamy and Madi thought her food tasted fine. So maybe the guy's not a colossal tool. More of a ballpen hammer than a hacksaw.
Bellamy and Madi sat on one side of the table while Clarke and Finn sat on the other. The couples' hands resting a hair's breadth from the other. As he reached to grab the bag of garlic knots for Madi, Bellamy's attention was drawn to Finn closing the small distance. His pinkie languidly grazing the side of Clarke's hand.
He shouldn't be here. Any partner worthy of Clarke would survive the Miller Stare™; any partner worthy of Clarke could handle the dramatics of John Murphy. Either roommate better suited to vet Finn: both impartial judges.
The wine Finn brought did nothing to curb his nerves. Maybe he should have nicked one of Madi's Juicey-Juice packs instead. Towards the end of their meal, Madi asked to be excused and for Bellamy to help with her homework. He hadn't missed the frown on Clarke's face. Neither he nor Madi truly engaged Finn. Both participating in conversation when prompted. Clarke's eye pleading for him to try but what did he ask someone he hadn't known existed besides how long have you two been seeing each other?
Which he didn't ask. Felt it may upset the guy.
"It was nice meeting you Finn. Kiddo and I are going to learn how to count higher than ten," Bellamy joked in a vain attempt to mollify the awkwardness of dinner. Hand extended towards the other.
"It was nice to meet you too," Finn replied.
"Bell, Bell, Bell!" Madi sung from the living room. "Math, math, math!"
He planned to buy Madi those marshmallow cookies she loved for providing him an escape.