Work Text:
Of Candles and Soap
Living in Polis had been a whirlwind so far. After living on her own for three months most people would have thought the first thing Clarke would have done upon returning to civilization was seek out the comfort of a warm bath. To be honest, between being overwhelmed with emotion from an unexpected reunion and working to save her people, there hadn’t been time for a proper bath. Was it embarrassing? Sure, but Clarke has had other more pressing issues to attend to for her people.
But now Clarke found herself alone with Lexa, in a moment of calm, sharing a meal together for one of the first times in Polis. Sitting across from Lexa, she was paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, watching Lexa as she ate. “Who the hell watches someone as they eat?” Truth be told, Clarke should have known by now, it’s not about when or what she watches Lexa do, it’s simply about observing her, and the beauty that she exudes. Constantly it seems. Ever-glowing Lexa, whether behind her war paint or bare-faced as she was now in front of her. She was still pondering this when Lexa’s voice brought her back to the present.
“Clarke, I asked you a question. Are you feeling okay?” Lexa seemed genuinely concerned, as though she was ready to jump out of her seat to come to Clarke’s aid.
Shaking her head slightly, “Sorry, I’m fine. I was just… thinking. What did you ask, Lexa?”
“Well, I had asked what your plans were for the evening, now that our council meetings are finished.”
“Oh, fair enough. I suppose I could spend some time finishing up those sketches.” Clarke thought of how she was still trying to capture all of Lexa’s beauty and grace within the strokes of her pencils and charcoals. “I don’t know that I can ever do her justice on paper.”
“Oh, is that what you were planning?” Lexa raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
Clarke implied a bit more from Lexa’s tone, “Why, were you thinking of posing for me again? Or would you rather be engaged in more… sordid activities this evening, Heda?”
This caused a guard in the corner of the dining room to choke, receiving a harsh glare from the Commander and causing a devilish grin to spread across Clarke’s face. It really was fun to see how often and how well those guards were listening in on things.
“Actually Clarke, I had something entirely different in mind.” Lexa pushed herself away from the table, and walked around it to take Clarke’s hand.
Clarke agreed silently, nodding her head and placing her hand in Lexa’s. Although as Lexa helped her to stand and move towards the door, she found herself looking around the room at the guards. Some of them seemed to be stifling giggles. “I know they’re the source of the gossip in this damn tower all the time. I’m onto you!”
Lexa seemed to be dragging Clarke back to her room. Just over halfway there, Lexa stopped suddenly and pushed Clarke into the wall. Pressing a passionate kiss to her lips, Lexa took Clarke’s breath away. Lexa’s hands dropped from Clarke’s cheeks down over her breasts, only teasing for a moment before finding her waist and pulling herself into Clarke tighter still. Their kiss deepened, taking the time to explore each other’s mouths before Lexa pulled away, biting her lip.
Clarke rushed to find her breath, “Lexa, I thought you said you had something else in mind.”
Lexa chuckled, almost maniacally. “I do, Clarke. As much as I love kissing you,” She brought Clarke to her bedroom door, opening it wide. “I find myself believing I’d enjoy it more, if you weren’t covered head to toe in grime.”
Clarke stared, mouth gaping open at the sight in her room. She recognized a few of Lexa’s handmaidens running around the room. A huge tub sat in the middle of the room, a fire was warming large quantities of water across the room. She looked at Lexa, “Are you kidding me? Are you trying to tell me I smell, because I find that rather insulting. You know it’s been…”
“Yes, Clarke. You smell. It’s about time you do something about it. The scented candles can’t cover it up anymore. They’re here to help you. And if you don’t go willingly, the girls have been instructed to force you into the bath. They’ll be burning the clothes you’re wearing.”
Clarke was in such a state of disbelief, she barely comprehended Lexa telling her handmaidens to go ahead and get started. The water was splashed into the tub, filling it to the brim. “No, don’t add the oil yet, it’s going to take a few water changes to get this grime off.” Clarke thought she heard one of the girls say. “Oh no, how bad am I?”
One of the girls knelt to start unlacing Clarke’s boots. She was so preoccupied by the chaos, she stopped keeping tabs on where Lexa had moved in the room. If she had been, Clarke would have seen Lexa taking a moment at the door, chuckling to herself at the sight. She quietly slipped out of the room, leaving Clarke in what she knew to be very capable hands.
After her boots were removed, but before the girls could do it for her, Clarke began to take off her clothing. The steaming tub was looking very inviting after all. One of the girls carefully collected the bits of clothing as they fell to the ground, following Clarke to pick them up as she approached the tub. As Clarke gingerly stepped into the tub, she watched as in fact, her clothes were thrown on the fire. “Lexa wasn’t kidding. Oh great. Eh, I should know better by now.”
Sinking in the tub, Clarke relished in the warmth as it soothed muscles she didn’t know were sore. But her reprieve didn’t last long, as the girls began scrubbing away at dirt that might very well have been 3 months old. The soap smelled earthy, but flowery, and Clarke realized it was how Lexa smelled. She breathed in the scent, letting herself be surrounded in it. But it wasn’t easy, Clarke kind of felt like they were scrubbing her skin off.
Clarke took a moment to look down, and saw the water had turned dark. She was trying to figure out how this was going to work when she was helped to her feet. A large towel was wrapped around her quickly and she stepped out of the tub. “At least most of the dirt is gone now. Ah crap, they haven’t washed my hair.”
The tub was wheeled, “Wait, there’s wheels on that thing?” over to the balcony and promptly dumped over the edge. “That can’t be safe.” Wheeling it back, the handmaidens quickly refilled the tub and ushered Clarke back inside. The shampooing was just as intense as the scrubbing earlier. It took three full washes to get her hair back to its old shiny gold. It felt good to finally feel like herself.
They repeated the process one more time, finally adding the scented oils to the water and leaving Clarke unattended. They tucked a towel under her head for a pillow and busied themselves with cleaning the room.
She was so relaxed, Clarke didn’t hear the door open. Lexa stepped inside, watching her handmaidens finishing up. She silently dismissed them to their other duties as she walked over to Clarke. With her back to Lexa, eyes still closed, Clarke didn’t notice Lexa approaching or the room emptying. It wasn’t until Lexa had sat down on the bench behind the tub, and leaned in to kiss Clarke’s neck softly that Clarke became aware of her surroundings.
“You know, you’re very difficult to resist when you’re clean…” Lexa whispered teasingly in her ear.
“I honestly hadn’t realized it had gotten this bad! We’ve just been so busy, things have been so hectic!” Clarke tried to find a reason, but she knew it all sounded pretty pathetic.
Lexa reached out and grabbed a clean towel, she carefully began to towel off Clarke’s hair. “Is the water getting cold yet?” She asked softly.
“Actually it is, will you help me?”
“Of course.” Lexa helped Clarke to stand, before reaching for yet another towel. Sheepishly she handed it to Clarke to wrap around herself before holding her hand as she stepped out of the tub. It was only then Clarke realized Lexa was already in her nightgown.
“There’s an entire new wardrobe full of clothing for you. I had it ordered for you, everything should fit.”
“How is it, Lexa that you can know me so well and yet still shyly look away as I wrap myself in a towel?”
Lexa’s only response was to blush, the pinkish glow washing over her face and down to her chest. Clarke smiled at her reaction and turned back to the wardrobe. She found herself a new nightgown as well and dropped her towel to slip into it quickly. There was an audible gasp and Clarke looked up just in time to see Lexa turning around to give her privacy. Shaking her head, she finished her task and walked back over to the bed.
“Hey,” Clarke brushed a hand over Lexa’s shoulder. “It’s okay, come sit with me.”
“Do you feel better?”
“Immensely.”
“I’m glad then, by the looks on the girls’ faces, it was a pretty tough job?”
“Lexa, come on. Lay off it will you?”
“I still can’t believe we slept together with you like that!”
Clarke rolled her eyes. She spotted a comb on the nightstand and picked it up handing it to Lexa. “Would you mind? I’ve always enjoyed having someone brush through and play with my hair.”
Lexa smiled the smile Clarke was beginning to realize was only for her. “Come here,” she whispered, taking the comb. She softly began to work the knots and tangles out of Clarke’s hair. She marveled at how the golden strands could glow in the candlelight.
The silence didn’t feel awkward between the two of them, so neither rushed to break it. Instead they let it fall in place, the sounds of the comb meeting tangles and the occasion gasp of slight pain from Clarke filling the room. Each gasp was met with an equal wince from Lexa from hurting Clarke.
“So why all the candles, Lexa?” Clarke had genuinely been meaning to ask her. They filled every single room. She wondered how many people were on staff in this tower simply to keep the candles lit.
“Really?” Lexa turned Clarke’s head to look at her and Clarke shrugged. “Well, I like to think of each of them as a soul we’ve lost. More than 600 now lost at the hands of Arkadia alone.” Her voice was still light, despite the intensity of the subject.
“Wow, that’s really poetic. But also, kind of creepy. Are you trying to tell me we made love in front of the souls of the people I killed in a ring of fire?” A look of horror fell over Clarke’s face.
“Well, they provide both a useful light source and heat.” Lexa shrugged casually.
“Seriously? There’s a fireplace in like every room Lexa.” She wasn’t getting out of it that easily.
“They’re also incredibly aesthetically pleasing and smell beautiful.” Lexa said with a sigh.
“There it is, just admit it Lexa. You love candles!” Clarke chuckled, but her laughter was cut-off by yet another gasp from one last knot.
“Fine, I love candles. Happy now?” Lexa rolled her eyes behind Clarke’s head.
“Yup, that’s all I wanted to hear.” Clarke nodded, finally satisfied with Lexa’s answer. She just wished she had managed to record that clearly historical moment.
Lexa dropped the comb, Clarke’s hair was almost dry now. “I will never love them as much as I love you.”
It took a second for the words to sink in for both girls. Clarke wasn’t sure she had truly heard it and Lexa couldn’t believe the words had fallen out of her mouth.
Clarke turned to face Lexa, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” The words were barely a whisper.
Lexa swallowed hard, “I love you. I love you Clarke kom Skaikru.”
Clarke found Lexa’s lips before she could find words. She only broke the kiss when she found them. “And I love you, Lexa.”
They fell back on the bed, kissing passionately as the world melted away. This moment was not about anything other than Clarke, Lexa and their feeling towards one another. There simply wasn’t room for anything else.
Pausing to breathe, Clarke fell to one side of the bed, Lexa the other, while they stayed connected holding hands tightly. They looked fondly across the bed at each other and broke into beaming smiles simultaneously.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this.” Clarke exhaled, looking down at their hands clasped together.
“How’s that?”
“So overwhelmingly happy and yet so much like a child.”
“Like a child? I don’t follow, Clarke.” Lexa sat up on the bed sharply, her eyebrow raised with confusion written all over her face.
“Well, here we are, I just effectively had a makeover and now we’re curled up in my bed in our pajamas like a couple of kids at a sleepover.” Clarke joined Lexa, sitting up and brushing a stray hair away from Lexa’s face, tucking it behind her ear.
“Hmm, a sleepover? I’m still not sure I follow.” Lexa’s brow furrowed, her smile forming into a tight line.
“It was something in old movies we used to watch on the Ark. I think if we would have been allowed out of our station rooms at night we might have actually had them. But anyway, a bunch of girls would spend the night in someone’s house, do makeovers and each other’s hair and spend far too much time giggling for it to be entirely innocent.” As Clarke babbled on, Lexa began to catch on.
“Ah, would you like me to braid your hair, Clarke? Would you feel more like you belong in Polis then?” Lexa winked at Clarke.
“Well… maaaaaaaaybe. Okay!” Clarke turned back around settling in front of Lexa on the bed. Lexa was already laughing as she sat up on her knees to get a better view. Clarke smiled as she felt Lexa pulling on strands, twisting and braiding a design she thought had to be beautiful.
After a while, Clarke started to notice Lexa wasn’t just laughing at their conversation. It seemed like every time Lexa added a new piece of hair to her work, she was doing her best to suppress her laughter.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Lexa?”
“Of course, Clarke! Don’t worry. You’re going to love it when I’m done.” Clarke could practically hear the impish grin on Lexa’s face as she spoke.
“Alright, I’m trusting you.” Clarke said, trying to reassure herself.
“As you should, Clarke. I am after all, your Commander. You know, my life has been nothing but for my people since I became Commander. Even with Costia, I always maintained my sense of duty, even when others thought I was weak.” Clarke felt Lexa stiffen as she mentioned Costia.
“But one of my fondest memories of growing up in Polis was having people play with my hair. Feeling the braids, twists and weaving work their way into a design worthy of a Nightblood.”
Clarke felt Lexa’s hands fall away from her head, she stood up and grabbed a handheld mirror from the dressing table. She handed it to Clarke, “Now, Clarke kom Skaikru, you have one, too.”
Clarke looked at her reflection in the mirror, then stood and used the handheld mirror to see the back of her head in the large mirror over the dressing table.
“Lexa, I love you and I love you for doing this for me, but uh…”
“What is it, Clarke?” Lexa was holding her hand in front of her mouth across the room.
“Well, it’s just… I thought you said you knew what you were doing?”
“Yes, Clarke?” Lexa was now bright red from holding back her laughter.
“Well Lexa, it looks like shit!”
“Shof op, Clarke. I can’t actually ever see what those handmaidens are doing behind my head!”
Lexa and Clarke looked at each other and busted out laughing, falling together and embracing. Landing together on Clarke’s bed, they curled around each other. Foreheads touching and brushing noses, they held hands under the covers.
“But seriously, what the hell did you do to my hair and what are we going to do about it?” Clarke asked, lifting a hand to the mess of what she was sure were ACTUAL knots on the back of her head.
“Please, I’ve done worse to my own hair before. We’ll have my handmaidens fix it in the morning.” Lexa smiled before pulling Clarke impossibly close. “Now, what do you always say about us not having to talk at all?”