Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“No. Mom. I’m not talking to you about this again.” Clarke said as she stood in the middle of her tiny kitchen, raking her free hand through her hair in frustration and rolling her eyes as her mom just kept talking. She needed to end this phone call. Now. Before she ended up saying something she’d regret. “Mom, I have to go. I have a paper due tomorrow. Bye.” She said, speaking over her mother’s protests and tapping the end call button exasperatedly. So technically the paper thing was a lie, but what her Mom didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

Grabbing her leftover Thai food from the microwave Clarke settled herself on the couch with a sigh. It had been a long day, she’d spent most of it painting in one of the college studio’s, the evidence left behind on her skin in smudges of blue and yellow on the backs of her hands and up past her wrists. Opening Skype on her laptop, she ate a few forkfuls of pad thai as she waited for Octavia’s name to flash up on her screen.

Nightly video calls were something they’d started doing in high school, and it had just carried over to their first year of college. They being Clarke, Octavia, and Clarke’s now roommate Raven.

The shrill tone of the incoming Skype call startled Clarke a little as she clicked accept, grinning widely when her friends face filled her laptop screen. Technically they all saw each other every day, and were always texting, but the Skype calls were a ritual.

“Hi.” Clarke beamed, waving her fork in greeting. “Sorry, I’m eating.” She added guiltily.

Octavia rolled her eyes fondly. “When aren’t you eating, Clarke?”

“Hey! You just have a habit of contacting me right when I’m in the middle of consuming delicious food.” She exclaimed, poking her tongue out at the screen and taking another bite of her dinner and eating it with exaggerated moaning sounds.

A deep rumble of laughter came through the speakers followed by a distinctly male voice that Clarke would recognize anywhere as Octavia’s laptop was shifted slightly to squeeze her older brother into the frame. “That must be some really good take-out if it has you moaning like that, Princess.” He said with a smirk

‘Shit. That’s embarrassing.’ Clarke thought as she hoped he couldn’t see the blush creeping up her neck and over her cheeks. Deciding to try to play it cool, she shrugged as casually as she could.

The crush she’d developed recently on her friend’s older brother was slightly disturbing to say the least. He’d seen her going through all sorts of awkward phases, including the tail end of braces, a black hair dye experiment, a Fall Out Boy obsession, and seen her emotionally wrecked when her parent’s marriage had crumbled. Clarke knew she shouldn’t be attracted to him, at all, especially not after knowing him for so long. He should be like her brother, after all, she was like a sister to him, practically family, right?

“Oh my god. Go away.” Octavia said, shoving Bellamy’s face out of the shot. “Sorry about the Neanderthal. So, how was your day?”

Clarke smiled, thankful for the change in subject. “It was okay, long. I got a fair bit done on that landscape piece I was telling you about. And then I got a call from my mom when I got home.”

“I bet that went really well.” Octavia said sarcastically as she made a face.

“Oh yeah, as usual.” Clarke rolled her eyes before slipping into her practiced imitation of her mother. “Clarke, you should be doing Medicine. Art is a waste of time and won’t get you anywhere in life. I just want what’s best for you.”

Octavia scoffed and pushed a piece of her lavender hair behind her ear. “Yeah, right. She just wants you to be Abby version 2.0, she doesn’t actually care if you’re happy or not.”

“I know!” Clarke exclaimed, gesticulating wildly with her fork. “I just want to paint and draw, I don’t want to be a doctor. I only wanted to study medicine because it was what she wanted.” She huffed before changing the subject. “Anyway, enough about me, how was your day?”

Clarke smiled softly as her friend started talking about her day and her classes, taking the opportunity to have a few more bites of her food as she listened.

“Oh, and a really cute guy came into work this afternoon.” Octavia said with a huge grin. “Tall, handsome, dark skin. Really yummy.”

“Did you really just call a guy ‘yummy’?” Clarke raised her eyebrows, her friend was a sucker for cute guys. Always had been, and probably always would be.

“What? He was really hot!” Octavia said with a shrug. “Definitely deserved being called ‘yummy’.”

Clarke just laughed at that. “If you say so, O.”

Sighing she glanced at the clock in the kitchen. It was 9:30pm and she has study to do for her 20th Century Art History class tomorrow and a life drawing session at 8:30am. “I have so much work to do, I’d better go. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Clarke asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Octavia nodded. “You can count on it. Say hi to Raven for me when she gets back from the bar, okay? And tell her I missed talking to her.”

“I will.” Clarke smiled.

Raven had recently gotten a job bar-tending a few blocks from their apartment, and Clarke had to admit that she missed the engineering student on the nights she was working. It was way too quiet without The Sex Pistols or whatever other punk band Raven was into that day blaring from their shared iPhone speaker system.

Saying their goodbyes, they both ended the video call. Getting up and putting her now empty bowl in the sink, Clarke poured herself a glass of wine and sat back on the couch with her laptop to start some serious study.

Chapter Text

Bellamy POV
Bellamy sighed heavily as he parked his car in front of the small building he and O lived in. Work had been hellish to say the least, and he wasn’t even on the dinner shift today.

‘Poor Miller.’ Bellamy thought with a chuckle. Unless the chefs sorted out their issues and the patrons somehow became less entitled, tonight was going to suck. But hey, not his problem.

The sky was already darkening, the light grey of dusk giving way to the deeper inky blues. Craning his neck back he could see lights on in his apartment, which meant that O was home. Locking his car, he went inside and up the stairs to the third floor. Opening his door he was greeted by the familiar sight of his sister and her friends camped out in his living room, and various forms of hellos which he returned. His eyes sweeping over Clarke’s form once where she was stretched out on his couch, all legs in her Ramones shirt and denim cut offs before he looked away and excused himself to his room to change.

Once his door was safely shut behind him, he cursed himself. Subtle, Blake, real fucking subtle.’ He thought as he roughly unbuttoned his white collared shirt and balled it up with a little more force than necessary and threw it into his hamper.

Sitting on the end of his bed he allowed his head to drop into his hands. Since when was he attracted to Clarke Griffin, his little sisters best friend? Since about a month ago apparently. his brain supplied unhelpfully as he carded his hands through his hair, loosening the curls from the gel that had kept them slicked back.

It had been a while since he’d been in a relationship, sure he’s had his share of one night stands and no strings things. But this felt different to Bellamy, like he actually cared about Clarke more than just wanting a quick fling. And that was more than mildly terrifying for Bellamy.

He’s just kicked his slacks in to the corner near his hamper when he hears his sister’s voice through the door. “Hey, loser. We’re watching a movie if you want in?” It’s been a long day, and just relaxing with his sister and her friends sounds pretty damn good right now. As long as he can keep his thoughts away from Clarke. “Yeah. I’ll be right out.” He calls back as he scrounges up a pair of shorts and a reasonably clean t-shirt.

Clarke’s POV
Clarke frowned at Bellamy’s retreating form as she sat up from where she was sprawled on his couch. He’d barely even acknowledged her at all when he came home, it was weird, seeing as he’d usually been at least civil to her for the past few years. “What the hell was that about?” She asked the two other girls who were debating movie preferences in front of the DVD player.

“He’s probably just had a really bad day.” Octavia answered, barely looking up from the small stack of DVDs in her lap. Raven just nodded in agreement as she took another swig of her beer and placed it back on the coffee table with a dull clunk.

Clarke felt her frown deepen as she reached for her own beer bottle and took a drink. Maybe they we right, maybe it was just a bad day at work and nothing at all to do with her.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Raven repeatedly snapping her fingers in front of her face. “Earth to Clarke?” the latina said, an amused look on her face as Clarke blinked rapidly before focusng on her. “‘The Zodiac’ or ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’?” When Clarke hummed thoughtfully the other girl deposited the DVD cases in her lap and pulled Octavia off the floor. “You decide, we’re going to get snacks.”

Bellamy’s POV
They’re about halfway through The Zodiac when Raven hits pause and declares they need more drinks. Octavia looks between him and Clarke satisfied when he holds up his second beer, which is still half full and Clarke shakes her head from the opposite end of the couch. The now empty space feels like an abyss between them now.

He’d cunningly chosen the opposite end of the couch to her when he’d come out of his room, trying to put as much space between them as possible. It had worked pretty well, he thought. Until now.

With the rest of the seat empty Clarke had quickly scooted over until she was next to him, her bare thigh pressing against his denim clad one. It was distracting, having her so close. He could smell her perfume and her shampoo, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in her sea of blonde waves and stay there forever.
It wasn’t until she poked him sharply in the ribs that he realised she’d been talking to him and he’d completely zoned out on her. Blinking rapidly, he frowned. “Sorry, what did you say?” He asked, shaking his head sheepishly.

“I just wanted to know if you were okay.” She said apprehensively as she watched his face. “You were kind of grumpy when you came home.”

“I-Yeah. I’m fine, princess.” He replied, the nickname slipping out before he could stop it. “Just a long day at work.” He added, trying to cover up the fact that what he really wanted to say was ’I really like you, in a way that I shouldn’t. And I feel really bad about it.’

He let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding when she nodded slightly, accepting his answer as the truth. He half expected her to move back to the other side of the couch when his sister and Raven returned, but she didn’t and he was doomed to spend the rest of the movie with the burning presence of her so close yet so far away.