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"You're Bellamy, right?"
Bellamy glances up at the sound of the girl's voice, gives her a smile when he recognizes. She's a semi-regular, comes in for Wednesday trivia with a bunch of guys he thinks are her coworkers and sometimes other nights. "I'm Bellamy, yeah. Raven, right?"
"Yup." She looks him up and down, nods. "You doing anything after this?"
"After what?"
"Your shift."
"Sleeping, probably. Why?"
"You want to do me instead?"
It's not the first time Bellamy's been hit on at work, but Raven is hot and apparently sober, so he doesn't feel bad for thinking about it. There's no rule that says he can't sleep with a hot girl if he wants to. And he kind of wants to. It's been a while.
"Any particular reason?" he asks, and Raven snorts.
"You need a reason?"
"Curious. You come in here a lot, you've never asked me to fuck you before. I assume there's a reason. Someone dare you?"
She sizes him up, but apparently she wants to fuck him enough to talk it through. Which is a good sign, globally speaking. It makes him feel better about potentially agreeing.
"I just broke up with my boyfriend," she says. "Need some hot, meaningless sex. No offense, but you look like you'd be good for it."
"Why would I be offended by that?" he asks, amused. "What happened with the ex?"
"Infidelity. His."
"Asshole. First drink's on the house."
"Yeah?"
He shrugs. "Personal policy. Cheating exes are good for one free drink. Up to ten dollar value."
It makes her smile. "I could be BSing you."
"It's not like you knew about the policy before you told me that."
"True. Give me a gin and tonic."
He slides her the drink, and she sips it in silence for a minute. Bellamy goes to help other people, but he keeps one eye on her, and once everyone else is dealt with, he goes back, even though her drink isn't empty yet.
He wouldn't mind getting laid. Sue him.
"So, do I need to find someone else to hook up with tonight, or you in?" Raven asks him, eyebrows raised.
"I'm in," he says. "Shift's over at midnight."
She raises her glass. "Awesome. Cheers."
*
Bellamy texts Clarke to let her know he won't be home until late, if at all, and she sends him some eggplant emoji, which is encouraging. She's dealing with her own stupid breakup drama, but she didn't have much time to get invested before finding out the guy was an asshole, so she's not in that bad shape about it. Mostly, she's annoyed at the douchebag.
So he's not surprised she supports his getting laid, but it's still a relief. He's been a little worried.
"Cool?" Raven asks. She's only had two drinks, so Bellamy isn't worried about her ability to consent, and she's gorgeous, so he's all for it.
"Cool," he says. "So, where do you live?"
"Couple blocks away." She's quiet as they walk for a while, and then she asks, "You do this often?"
"What?"
"Take girls home."
He smirks. "This was your idea. You picked me up, you're taking me home. I didn't have to do anything."
"Fine. You get taken home a lot?"
"Not a ton." He considers. "You're the first person to successfully pick me up at work."
"Yeah?"
"Most people don't try until they're wasted, so I just call them a cab so I won't feel like a dick. You were sober when you asked, so I figure I'm good on the consent front."
"You do look like you'd be pretty irresistible to drunk girls."
"I try." He glances at her. "What about you? You do this often?"
"First time."
"We don't have to," he says. "If you change your mind, that's cool. Rebounding sometimes seems better in theory."
She raises her eyebrows. "You trying to talk me out of this?"
"Just letting you know," he says. "You stop wanting to do this, we'll stop. But as long as you want to, I'm good."
"Cool," she says, and jerks her head to a building. "This is me."
"Cool."
She unlocks the door, and Bellamy watches her. Her hands are fairly steady, but there's tension all up her back. He believes her that she thinks this will help, that she wants it to help, but he remembers a few years of trying to fuck feelings away when his mother was dying in high school. It always seems like a good idea, but it never is, not really. Not how it feels like it should be.
So, really, he shouldn't be offended, when he asks her after if it helped, and she says it didn't. He knew it wouldn't, not in any of the ways she would have wanted it to. It was obvious.
But it must have at least been good, right? There's no way it wasn't, at a bare minimum, good.
"Thanks anyway," she says, as he's getting dressed, and he gives her half a smile he doesn't really feel.
"Any time."
Clarke is asleep when he gets back, but awake when he gets up, so he sits down across from her at the table and asks, "Do you think I'm good in bed?"
She takes a deliberate sip of her coffee. "I know you sleep like the dead. Does that count?"
"Seriously."
"I would have assumed you were good in bed," she says. "Bad date?"
"It wasn't a date. It was a hookup."
"And it sucked?"
"No, I think it was pretty good. But--she was trying to fuck away the feelings, and it didn't work."
Clarke looks amused. "Of course it didn't work. It never works. You thought it was going to?"
"It could have helped a little."
"I don't think that's a reflection on your skills, Bellamy."
"Maybe I didn't eat her out enough."
"Yeah, that's probably it. What feelings was she trying to get rid of? It's ten minutes of cunnilingus for dead pet, twenty for dead secondary relative, half an hour for dead primary relative--did you never get the chart?"
He snorts. "Breakup, thanks."
"Oh, that's five minutes for each month of the relationship."
"I can't believe I didn't think of that."
"Rookie mistake."
He rubs his face. "I know I shouldn't feel bad about it. But--fuck, I wanted it to help."
Clarke nudges his foot with hers. "I know. I get it. You always want to save everybody. And that says good things about you. But don't take it personally, okay? I'm sure you're great in bed. I have full confidence in your skills."
"Thanks. Appreciated."
"Any time."
He does his best to listen to her advice, because he knows she's right, and he's being an idiot. It's not anything personal, he knows as well as Clarke does--and as well as Raven does--that the sex was never going to be what she needed. It's not a cure.
But when Raven's back in the bar three days later, he's still--well, he's still taking it a little personally.
"Hey," he says. "What can I get you?"
"Gin and tonic."
He slides it across the bar to her. "How are you doing?"
"Fine. You?"
"Fine."
He's trying to come up with something else to say when she rolls her eyes and gives him a smirk. "You don't have to be weird. We fucked. Not a big deal. You're not responsible for my emotional well-being."
"Never said I was. Just being polite."
"Good job."
If he was smart and actually listening to Clarke, he'd let it go. But he's kind of a stubborn asshole, and he makes bad decisions all the time, so instead he says, "I was just thinking."
Raven's eyebrows shoot up. "Yeah? Don't hurt yourself."
"If you want a round two, I'm in," he says, ignoring her. "Just, you know. If you think it'd help."
Her response is quick and sure. "I'm not looking for another relationship."
"Neither am I. But I like sex."
She still looks suspicious, and he schools his features into blankness. It's not like he's lying; he isn't looking to date her. He's not hoping to turn this into anything more than sex. And once the sex helps, he can give up on it.
"Sure," she says. "When are you done?"
He follows her home again and gets her off twice with his mouth and his fingers, and then fucks her, and she definitely gets off a lot, definitely enjoys herself, but--well, what's he expecting, anyway?
"You aren't going to fix me," she says, and her eyes drop to her leg, like that's the broken part of her that matters. She took the brace off, but he was still careful with it.
"Not trying to fix you," he says, and he thinks it's true. "Just give you some satisfying orgasms."
"They were satisfying. Don't worry, I'm not disputing your prowess or whatever."
He shouldn't say it, but he can't help it. "But you're not satisfied."
"You arguing semantics now?" she asks. He deserves the dubious tone; he can't pretend he doesn't.
"I'm just saying."
"So, what, you want to fuck me through my rebound?"
It sounds so bad when she says it. But he'll admit it's basically accurate. "And?"
"Seriously, no relationship, no fixing," she says, and he nods. "Just sex."
"Deal."
*
The next day, he tells Clarke, "I need feedback."
"Your hair is getting kind of long, but it's not a bad look for you."
"Not on that."
"You should know better than to give me blanket permission for criticism."
"That really wasn't what I was going for, but whatever." He exhales. "I need sex feedback."
"Huh," she says. "How were you picturing this going?"
It's weirdly reassuring, as responses go. She's not kicking his ass now, so she probably won't start. "Honestly? I eat you out and you tell me I'm good at it."
The pause is longer this time, and Bellamy doesn't let himself freak out. He's cool. This is fine.
"Do you still think you're bad at sex? Is that still an issue?"
"I'm not bad at sex. But it's never bad to get a second opinion, right?" She still looks unimpressed, so he gives up. "So, uh, I'm still fucking that girl."
"Yeah, I figured. She told you what you were bad at?"
"No. She just said I could keep fucking her through her rebound."
"Bellamy--"
"You don't have to tell me this is stupid and incoherent," he says, and gives her half a smile. "Trust me, I noticed. I'm way ahead of you."
"Okay, before we do anything else, you're going to talk me through--everything. What's your goal here?"
"Awesome sex."
"But we're all on the same page here, right? You can't fuck a breakup out of someone. Her or me."
Bellamy winces, because that wasn't really his plan, for either of them. But Clarke's also been having trouble with her love life, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't thinking she might appreciate some orgasms too. Orgasms are always good, right?
"I can help speed up the process."
"Are you into her?"
"With my dick, yeah." She groans and elbows him, and he grins. "No, I don't have ulterior motives. I just want my dick to be actual magic."
"Or your tongue, since you want to eat me out for feedback."
"I'll fuck you for feedback too," he offers, and that sobers her up.
"The weirdest thing about this is that I actually believe you just want to do this out of some weird sense of personal pride."
"Why is that weird?"
"I'm pretty sure most people would be doing it to get laid as much as possible."
Bellamy pauses, gives this all due consideration, and then a little more consideration, just to be on the safe side. "I think just fucking one girl would do that. Seriously, I just want a second opinion that I'm doing everything right."
"Now?"
He shrugs. "Whenever. No rush."
Clarke sits up straighter, studying him. "If you want to be scientific, you should do exactly what you did with her. Just with me. That way I can tell you what works and what doesn't."
"Yeah, that's true." He swallows, scoots a little closer. It's stranger to start making out with Clarke than it was to start making out with a virtual stranger, but it's not like Clarke doesn't like making out. And he's done it with plenty of people. But he can't help asking, "Kissing first okay?"
Just to be sure.
She rolls her eyes and tugs on his shirt. "Why am I not surprised you're into foreplay?"
"What's wrong with being into foreplay?" he grumbles. "Foreplay is awesome."
"I never said there was anything wrong with it," she teases. "Just--very you, Bellamy."
"Shut up," he says, and kisses her.
It's not as weird as he thought it would be, making out with Clarke, and she's receptive under his hands, enthusiastic when he moves his mouth down her neck and lower, and then it's just--sex. With his best friend, but that's not a bug, it's a feature. He likes making Clarke feel good.
"Thoughts?" he asks, once they're done, and she's breathless on his bed, looking sated and happy.
"You're good. This girl is working through emotions, Bellamy. It's not about you."
"So, absolutely nothing I can improve on?"
She doesn't respond for long enough that it's obvious she has an answer and just doesn't want to give it, so he rolls over and pokes her in the side, making her laugh. "What?"
"There's something. Tell me."
"Okay, well, the entire experiment is flawed," she says.
"Good start."
"I was going to say, I was really liking you playing with my breasts, you could do that more, but I don't know if the other girl is into that." She pauses. "Also, tell her you fucked another girl. I don't care if you think you're being explicit in not being into her, it's just polite to tell people you're fucking other people. Regardless of all other circumstances."
He kisses her shoulder, out of a general sense of gratitude. Clarke is the best. "I didn't think she was super into the breast stuff, so I was doing it less for her. But if I fuck you again, I'll keep that in mind. And I'll tell her, yeah."
"Cool. You dick is gigantic, by the way."
"Thanks for letting me know."
"Just, you know. In case any of this is about some sort of weird penis insecurity. You're set. You have a more than adequate dick. That shouldn't be an issue."
"It wasn't really about that," he says. "But I appreciate hearing it anyway."
"Good luck with your weird plan." She yawns. "Do I have to go back to my bed, or can I crash here?"
"Your call," he says, and he can't say he's upset when she curls into his side.
"Turn off the light, Bellamy," she says, and he does.
*
"You don't care that I'm fucking other people, right?" he asks Raven.
She raises her eyebrows. "How many other people?"
"Just one, right now. Not that I'm, uh, looking for more, or anything. But I figured if I found someone else I wanted to fuck, you wouldn't care."
"The other person know?" she asks, sharp, and he has to smile.
"She told me to make sure you knew, yeah. Everyone's informed and consenting. Assuming you don't care."
"You fucking her through a broken heart too?" Raven asks, sizing him up.
"Something like that, yeah."
"Do you have business cards or what?" she finally asks, and he has to smile.
"I'll see about getting some printed."
*
A week later, between kisses, Clarke points out, "You know, it might make more sense if you did what you were planning to do with her to me. Better to--fuck--get that feedback before. Pre-mortem, not post-mortem."
"Huh. That does make more sense. This is a still good place to start though, right?"
"Great place to start. You're an awesome kisser."
"Cool."
It's a good idea, but Clarke feels it's fundamentally flawed, because she doesn't know what his other girl likes. Which, Bellamy has to admit, is a fair point. And he and Raven don't really have the kind of relationship where they chat about that, which honestly doesn't even make sense, because they don't have feelings or anything, and it's just fucking, so Raven should be telling him exactly what she likes so he can do it, but she's not. And, weirdly, he doesn't exactly want her to, because that feels like quitting. He's going to figure this out. He's going to crack it.
"No part of this is rational or logical," Clarke tells him, when he explains that to her, and he grins.
"Believe me, I know."
But Clarke is the kind of person who worries about things like this, and who wants to help, so he really shouldn't be surprised when she shows up at the bar on a Raven night.
"What are you doing here?" he hisses. Raven isn't around yet, but the idea of her and Clarke in the same place makes him feel antsy, even though he's not doing anything wrong. Clarke knows about Raven; Raven knows about Clarke. Everyone's on the same page.
"I want to talk to her."
"Why?"
"Because I can't help if I don't know about her," she says, prim.
"So, what, your plan is to get to know the other girl I'm fucking so you can ask her what she likes in bed?"
"You're not doing it. Besides, I'm kind of curious."
"About Raven," he says, and Clarke actually startles.
"Raven?"
"The other girl I'm fucking," he confirms.
"You're fucking Raven."
"You know her?" He pauses, and then swears. "Fuck, tell me now, she just came in."
"We're trying to get over the same guy."
He'd been watching Raven, but that gets his attention to jerk to Clarke. "What?"
"Her ex was cheating on her with me."
"Holy shit."
"Hey, Clarke," Raven says, and Bellamy knows her well enough by now that he recognizes the slight tension in her shoulders, the way she's acting like she doesn't care, instead of really not caring. "Bellamy," she adds, with a nod his way.
"Gin and tonic," he says, sliding her the drink. "On the house."
"That bad, huh?"
"Apparently Bellamy's been trying to fuck the Finn out of both of us," says Clarke, and Bellamy chokes on literally nothing.
"Jesus, you couldn't have built to that?"
"Like tearing off a band-aid," she says, and offers Raven a smile. "Sorry if that's weird. I just found out too."
"I think everything about us is bound to be weird." She pauses, thinking it over. "When he said there was someone else, I kind of wondered if it was you."
"Really?" asks Clarke. She seems weirdly excited about it.
"Yeah, really?" Bellamy asks.
Raven ducks her head. "Saw you guys talking a few times. Not to be a total dick, but I figured if I was going to fuck some random guy, I might as well fuck one I thought you might like. I was pretty pissed."
"It's okay," Clarke says, sounding like she means it. "Not like you didn't get me laid too."
"Yeah, good call." Raven raises her hand. "He's hot, high five."
Clarke slaps it, and Bellamy tries very hard to look grumpy instead of kind of--well, happy. For all he's still waiting for the other shoe to drop, it's surprisingly nice to be talking to both of them together, now that he feels fairly confident they aren't going to fight him or each other. They might be his two favorite people he's not related to, and that's kind of a surprise.
He files it away for later and manages something like a glare. "I'm right here, you know."
"And you know you're hot," Clarke says. "Did he tell you he was sleeping with me for your benefit?"
Raven's eyes shoot up, and Bellamy concentrates very hard on the glass he's cleaning.
"How's that one work?" she asks.
"He was trying to perfect his technique. He figured you weren't getting through your breakup faster because he wasn't good enough in bed, so he wanted a second opinion. Mine, obviously."
"Wow. That's the weirdest pickup line I've ever heard."
"Right? It should have been so scummy, but it's Bellamy, so somehow I really want to make sure I'm having the best sex I can be having, can you help me out was actually believable."
"Seriously, I'm right here."
Raven ignores him too. "Yeah, that's kind of why I kept fucking him. I really believed him when he said he wasn't going for anything."
Clarke runs her finger around the rim of her glass, considering, and Bellamy finds he has no idea what she's going to say, but really wants to know.
And she doesn't disappoint. She meets his eyes for a second, and then looks back to Raven and says, "Yeah. It sucks, right? Not going for anything."
Raven's watching her too, and Bellamy's going to have to find out later how much they've talked, how well they know each other. He knew that the guy Clarke had been seeing turned out to be two-timing, but she hadn't wanted to talk about it much, and he hadn't wanted to push. Clarke tells him things when she's ready, and he had enough details to make her feel better. That was all he really cared about.
But it's strange, seeing her and Raven together. They haven't been hanging out as far as he knows, but Clarke hadn't known Raven was the one he'd been sleeping with for the last couple months. It's not like he and Clarke know everything about each other.
And for two people who didn't know they were both sleeping with him ten minutes ago, they seem to be remarkably on the same page.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that too," Raven says. "Trying not to get attached, but he's hot and great in bed."
"The personality isn't bad either. Kind of grumpy, but not bad grumpy. Easy to live with, once you get used to him. Just--he's the best guy, really." She catches her lip, nervous now, all of a sudden, and he has no idea what could make her nervous at this point. This is a lot, he's pretty sure. It feels like a lot. "If I'd known I could have been fucking him, I probably wouldn't have bothered with Finn."
"Yeah, I was going to say, I don't get that."
She shrugs. "Yeah, well, the guy you can have, right? But I think we're a lot better off having Bellamy than Finn."
"Definitely."
He has to swallow before he can speak. "Still here."
"You keep saying," says Clarke, and looks at him again. "I just think it's kind of stupid. I thought it was kind of stupid even before I found out Raven was the other woman."
"Which part was stupid?"
"Before Raven? I thought you should just date me. After Raven, well--I wouldn't want to fight with her over another guy. The first time already sucked. But we could--" She makes a face. "Cut out the middleman doesn't really sound right. I don't want to cut you out. But you could stop being a middleman and just start--"
"There are easier ways to ask for a threesome," he says, mostly because he needs to make sure she's saying what he thinks she is. She can't be, right? It would be too much, if this actually worked out how he wants it to.
He hadn't even realized this was how he wanted it to work out. He might have to kill Clarke for making him think about it.
"I was thinking a date," Clarke says.
Raven's eyebrows shoot up. "A date? Seriously? Don't you two live together?"
"Okay," Clarke grants. "Maybe date's the wrong word. I don't know what the right word is. It might be kind of weird. But I really want to know what Raven's into too. And you wouldn't mind seeing her more, right?"
Bellamy glances at Raven, and he can't read her expression. But--he thinks she's curious too.
"We're not just going to have sex," he says, firm.
"We should definitely have sex at least once," says Raven. "If nothing else works out, I want to have my first threesome."
"But you want something else to work out too?" he asks. It comes out a little hopeful.
She's not making eye contact, and he finds he knows what that means. Maybe that's the weirdest part; for all he and Raven have mostly been fucking, it's not like they don't talk too, now that he thinks about it. He knows she's in grad school, getting her PhD, that she's known her ex her whole life and he's the only other guy she's ever slept with. He knows she's smart and dedicated and not that confident about feelings, and he can relate pretty well, honestly.
He likes her. And Clarke is, well--Clarke. Clarke's his roommate and one of his best friends. Of course he adores Clarke.
He doesn't want to lose either of them. But it didn't occur to him he might be able to keep one, let alone both.
"Wouldn't be the worst thing if it did, right?" she says, and he smiles.
"Definitely not the worst thing. Not like I'm having any luck fucking you through your breakup. I probably should have tagged Clarke in sooner. I needed backup."
Raven snorts. "Don't sell yourself short. You were doing great. I just didn't want to stop."
It maybe shouldn't be a surprise, but it still makes him grin like an idiot. "Yeah?"
"Don't get a big head about it," Raven grumbles, and Clarke grins.
"Too late," she says. "He's definitely getting smug."
"Hey, apparently I've got a date with two hot girls later," he points out. "I'm pretty sure I get to be fucking smug."
Raven snorts, and Clarke ducks her head on a smile. "Yeah," she says. "I guess you do."
*
The actual relationship thing puts a pause on Bellamy's sex life for a few weeks, which is unexpected but not particularly unbearable. He had a couple months of having really an unbelievable amount of sex, in retrospect, but it's hard to be that upset about losing it, when he gets Clarke and Raven out it. The balance is a little off at first--like Raven pointed out, he and Clarke live together--but they get to know each other one-on-one and together, and it's great.
Part of him still thinks it's going to blow up in his face, because there's no way it doesn't blow up in his face. It can't be possible to accidentally start having casual sex with two girls who were both involved in the same breakup and then end up getting in a relationship with both of them. He would be getting literally all of the luck that he missed out on in his childhood all at once, and while he wouldn't mind that, he doesn't think that's how it's supposed to work.
Still, if no one else is going to mention that, he's not going to bring it up. Maybe the universe won't notice how well his life is going for a while.
It's a Thursday when he comes home from work, exhausted, and finds Clarke and Raven making out on the couch. Which is, in all honesty, the best thing ever to come home to, and if he were into instagram and also exhibitionism, he'd take a picture and caption it #blessed.
As it is, he hangs up his coat, shakes out his shoulders, and asks, "Can I join or are you guys good without me?"
Clarke tugs Raven's lip as they pull apart, and Bellamy feels his dick twitch at the sight. He is, honestly, the luckiest person in the entire galaxy.
"Obviously you should join," Clarke says.
"Yeah," Raven agrees. "We actually need your help with something."
"Is it my dick?" he asks, dry.
"Nope. Clarke and I want to see which one of you is better at oral. I'm willing to be the test subject. You in?"
It's the best thing he's heard since--well, since Clarke came up with this idea in the first place. He leans down to press a kiss to her mouth, and then one to Clarke's.
"I'm in," he says. "Just tell me where you want me."
"Everywhere," says Raven, and, never mind.
That's definitely the best thing he's heard in his life.