Bellarke prompt: new year, new me
+ anonymous said: “best friends to lovers prompt”
Bellamy was used to coming back to the apartment that he shared with Clarke and finding some of their friends hanging out there. Usually it was Raven or Wells, occasionally Monty, and on the rare day when Clarke was in A Mood, it was Murphy. That was just…Clarke. Having people around comforted her, and as her best friend, he understood that, just like she understood he might only wave hello and then retreat into his room, because he sometimes found their friends exhausting.
What Bellamy was not used to, however, was coming back to the apartment to find Raven and Harper hanging out and whistling at Clarke who stood in the middle of the living room...undressed.
Well, not entirely undressed, he realized as he stood frozen in the doorway, keys dangling from his hand.
Jeans, she was wearing jeans, he noticed, that sat low on her hips. No shirt, just a bra that seemed to be made entirely of very very sheer black lace.
Having lived together for several years, he had certainly seen Clarke in various states of undress, but never quite like this. He also had had many types of reactions to seeing Clarke in such various states of undress, but never has the desire to spill his guts and tell her that he’s in love with her been quite like this, either.
He has loved her for a while. He might have always loved her. Her laugh, her stubbornness, her ability to never not get paint on her clothes, her unstoppable desire to do protect her loved ones–and now this view–make him constantly ache with the weight of that unspoken truth.
Bellamy swallowed tightly as she swiveled from side to side, giving her friends a good look. Him too, he thought dazedly. He was getting a pretty good look too.
At the sound of her voice, his gaze snapped up to meet her eyes. His cheeks turned red as she looked at him in amusement. She casually tousled her hair, then asked, “What do you think?”
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “Looks good.”
“Told you it was fine,” Harper laughed.
Clarke rolled her eyes and reached for a shirt. Belatedly, Bellamy averted his gaze, muttering, “Sorry, sorry.”
“You’ve seen me in a bathing suit, Bellamy,” Clarke said. “Basically the same.”
Bellamy stifled the strangled noise that threatened to leave his throat, instead nodding, because that seemed like a reasonable thing to do. After a beat, he glanced over quickly. The coast was clear. She was fully clothed and grinning as she plopped down on the couch next to Raven.
“Got off my shift early, so I went to the mall,” she explained as Raven turned on the television.
He managed to hum in acknowledgement as he focused on not falling over while taking off his shoes.
She continued, “I know it’s cliché, but since New Years I’ve been thinking about reactivating my Tinder–”
“Finally,” Raven interrupted as Harper cheered in approval. Bellamy just turned and headed for his room, trying to keep the slight panic from his face.
“–and figured I’d start getting my head in the game with a wardrobe shake up. New year, new me, I guess.” Clarke laughed, and Bellamy couldn’t do anything but nod and clench his fist tighter around the strap of his messenger bag.
“Good plan,” he managed to say, forcing a smile while avoiding looking her way. “You’ll knock ‘em dead.”
Bellamy swiftly walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Then he leaned back against it with his eyes closed, breathed deeply, and, very quietly, said, “Fuck.”
Two weeks later, Bellamy walked slowly back into his moonlit bedroom after getting some water and found Clarke sitting up in his bed. She had been asleep when he’d left, but now she was facing the door, swathed in his sheets and glaring at him accusatorially. Her black lace bra was dangling from her fingertips.
“I thought you liked this,” she said archly.
“I do,” he said with a hint of a smile. He walked to the edge of the bed, reaching up to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. “I like it very much.”
“You ripped it,” she deadpanned.
“I was in a hurry, and as much as I do like it on you, I like it off of you a lot better.”
As he was expecting, the bra hit him square in the face.
“This was expensive, dumbass!”
“I’ll replace it,” he promised with a laugh.
“You’d better,” Clarke muttered, gently snapping the waistband of his boxers. “Otherwise I might have to rethink this whole dating you thing.”
“I’ll buy you a dozen,” he murmured, tipping her face up as he leaned down. “As long as I get to see you in every single one.”
“Though just the one was enough, apparently,” she replied with a knowing grin.
He raised his eyebrows, and she raised hers back.
He leaned over her, bracing his hands on the mattress on either side of her criss-crossed legs. “One was enough, huh?”
“If I’d left it up to you alone, we wouldn’t be here now, would we?”
Considering her comment, Bellamy slowly realized that the moment in the living room a few weeks ago hadn’t been random. Rather, it had been quite purposeful, judging by her currently very smug smile.
He dropped his head and let out a huffing laugh. “A little elaborate, don’t you think?”
“Maybe, but it worked, didn’t it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it definitely worked.”
Then he kissed her, firmly, deeply. As Clarke kissed him hungrily back and pulled him down onto the bed, Bellamy smiled, because he was in love with his best friend, and by some miracle, she was in love with him too.
a/n: just filling out old prompts, not taking any more at the moment!