Inauspicious Beginnings
Happy Valentines Day, @kirayukimuraa!
Summary: The first time Clarke laid eyes on Bellamy Blake, he was being an ass and making a scene in the middle of Wells’ dorm room.
Rating: T
No warnings apply.
The first time Clarke laid eyes on Bellamy Blake, he was being an ass and making a scene in the middle of Wells’ dorm room. They were attempting to create a new Valentine’s Day tradition where instead of just going out with significant others, the group of friends would do something as a big group. Significant others were also welcome to come along. It was a way to make sure none of them ever felt miserable about the holiday that could feel as if it was specifically invented to make you feel terrible about being single.
Siblings hadn’t been invited.
But that hadn’t stopped Octavia’s big brother, Bellamy, from showing up with a scowl and an attitude. Apparently, he didn’t approve of Octavia’s choice in boyfriend and was vocally expressing this not only to Octavia but the group at large.
Clarke rolled her eyes at the alpha male, over protective, big brother shtick, passed her bag to Raven and joined the fray, just as Octavia screamed at him that she wasn’t a kid anymore and stormed out. It was probably not her place, but she’d never had very good impulse control. Besides, she was the one who introduced Octavia to Lincoln and, yes, he was several years older than Octavia and looked hugely intimidating, but that wasn’t who Lincoln was. Besides, Octavia’s brother was being a judgemental asshole.
Folding her arms and raising an eyebrow, Clarke stared him down.
“What?” Bellamy growled at her.
“You handled that well,” she remarked mockingly.
“Who asked you for your opinion, princess?”
“I thought you asked for all our opinions as you chose to have this fight in public where we could all witness it.”
He gave her a withering glare, the muscle in his jaw jumping with his irritation. She couldn’t help but feel smug that she wasn’t not letting him off the hook. That she continued to annoy him in Octavia’s stead. It felt fitting somehow.
“You know, if you bothered to actually listen to Octavia and meet Lincoln properly, then you’d see that your problem with their relationship is pathetic.”
He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her, almost studying her.
“You’re Clarke, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” she replied, popping the p with peppy vigour.
“Figures,” he muttered.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked testily.
“You look like the meddling type.”
Clarke huffed out annoyed breath. “Meddling?”
“You set O up with Lincoln despite him being eight years older and now you’re getting in my face and giving me shit even though we’ve never even met before.”
“Well, someone clearly has to,” she replied. “You need taking down a peg or two. Octavia is nineteen years old, yet you seem to think you can still run her life.”
He grimaced a little at her words and rubbed a frustrated hand over his face before looking away as if he couldn’t meet her gaze. However, Clarke refused to give him an easy way out, instead staying in front of him and tapping her foot to dispel some of the irritation she felt with him.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” he asked after a long pause.
“You know what?” she replied, gesturing to the rest of the group who were standing in obvious discomfort at the Blake Sibling drama they’d just witness. “We all do. You can show yourself out.
Gesturing to the others, she tossed her head a little and walked out of Wells’ room without a backward glance.
She wasn’t going to waste any more of her time arguing with an overprotective dick who didn’t know when it was time to let go.
————-
The first time Clarke managed to actually put her animosity aside and work with Bellamy Blake, it was a year later. This time, instead of going out for a meal and then hitting a bar with their group of friends, Monty was hosting a board game themed Valentine’s Day bash.
It was primarily so he could invite Bellamy’s friend Miller, who had come along to a couple of gatherings Octavia had organised over the past year and included her brother in. As quick as a summer storm, the arguing between them had been over much to Clarke’s bemusement. Perhaps that was because she was an only child. Plus she was a grudge holder. It was a petty character trait, but she’d come to terms with who she was a long time ago. However, the Blakes apparently weren’t able to keep an argument going indefinitely and couldn’t be out of each other’s lives for too long.
Octavia had made Bellamy promise to give Lincoln a chance, which he’d done with little grace. However, even an over protective older brother could not hate a boyfriend, no matter how much older, who treated Octavia as well as Lincoln did – not matter how hard he tried.
Once their differences had been ironed out, Bellamy had been around a little more. Coming along to drinks that Octavia organised to celebrate something or another. His animosity towards Lincoln may have dissipated, but he and Clarke still disliked each other. They would snipe at each other at every meeting, which would inevitably lead to an argument and glares. Luckily, each meeting was few and far between.
However, tonight, she was going to have to put up with Bellamy’s presence.
“Okay,” Raven said, passing Miller’s beanie around. “Put your name in here and we’ll draw out game partners.”
Clarke caught the subtle wink Raven sent Monty’s way, which meant she’d worked out a way to rig the draw so he’d get to partner Miller.
Apparently, she’d not thought to rig the draw so that Clarke and Bellamy would not be drawn as partners.
Their names were called out together much to the amusement of the rest of the table. Jasper swapped chairs with Bellamy so that they could sit together.
“Just leave this to me, princess,” Bellamy said cockily. “Risk is my forte.”
Clarke snorted in derision. “Risk demands an ability to strategize and no disrespect, Bellamy, but I’ve seen how well you plan things. I suggest you sit back and let me take charge.”
“No chance,” he hit back.
It took them nearly being wiped out before they got into a rhythm with each other. Bellamy making the short-term decisions, whilst Clarke weighed up the board and mapped out an endgame for them to dominate. The rest of the group watched in fascinated horror as they continued to bicker but came to trust each other’s strengths long enough to crush all opposition.
“That’s how you do it!” Bellamy crowed, as Raven and Wells were finally vanquished, holding his hand out for Clarke to hi-five.
They grinned at each, satisfied and flushed with their success, before they realised that they were actually meant to dislike each other. Looking away quickly, they both got up from the table in a rush and moved to opposite ends of the room.
They avoided each other for the rest of the night, but Clarke went home and realised that she didn’t actually dislike Bellamy anymore. She still found him annoying and horribly smug at times, but the rush of anger she used to get when she saw him was no longer present.
———–
The first time Bellamy Blake was a friend to Clarke was the following year. However, that Valentine’s Day, Bellamy was not the one causing a scene, Clarke was. Albeit, a very quiet one, on her own, sitting at the end of Octavia’s bed crying.
When Bellamy first ducked his head around the door, seemingly drawn to her inability to stifle her sobs effectively, he drew back a little, as if caught in two minds about whether to come in or not. His not very apparent kinder side won out and he lowered himself onto the bed next to her.
He didn’t say anything straight away, just sat there quietly, not touching her, but she could feel the warmth from his body slightly, and it felt nice in a quiet, undemanding yet supportive way.
“Sorry,” she said, wiping her cheeks with her fingers and swallowing back the sobs that were clawing their way up her throat.
“What are you sorry for?” he asked gruffly.
Clarke shrugged a little and replied, “For being a mess at a party. I feel like a cliché right now.”
“O told me you broke up with your girlfriend.”
Her shoulders shook a little when she thought of Lexa, of how she thought everything was great and then all of sudden it wasn’t. Lexa walking away had come out the blue and just knocked the breath from her lungs.
“It was over a month ago. You think I’d be over it by now.”
“Valentine’s Day is pretty good at making you feel like a romantic failure even when you aren’t.”
Clarke lifted her head and studied him curiously. “Is that what you feel like?”
It was Bellamy’s turn to shrug. “Everyone keeps reminding me that my little sister is engaged and my last serious relationship was years ago. It’s starts to grate after a while and that’s without everyone assuming that I take every girl I meet at a bar home to fuck.”
Bellamy did have a bit of a reputation amongst their social circle. Jasper was in awe of it and was constantly nagging Bellamy to take him out to bars so he could hook up. She had never realised it was something that annoyed Bellamy. He always took their teasing with good grace, but she realised that she’d never seen him actually leave with a random girl from the bar. He was always busy getting them all cabs and basically being an older brother. It was something that had annoyed her in the past for some odd reason she couldn’t quite place.
“Valentine’s Day is the worst,” Clarke said in lieu of anything better.
His lips curled up a little at that in amusement and he nodded his agreement.
“Want to hide out in here and get drunk?” she asked. “I’m not sure I want to inflict my misery on everyone else and ruin their fun.”
“O would really hate to have to stop flashing that diamond around,” he commented.
She huffed out a laugh at that, the first one she has managed all night and he nudged her shoulder companionably and asked, “Up to making a booze run to the kitchen?”
“Four hands would get us significantly more than two,” she said.
“That’s the spirit!”
They spent the rest of the night holed up in Octavia’s bedroom, getting drunk and watching stupid cat videos on their phones.
It’s not until the next morning that Clarke realised that she hadn’t thought about Lexa for the rest of the night and that she’d laughed more than she had for ages. Bellamy had managed to do what none of her other friends had; make her forget her shitty break-up and have a good time.
That afternoon, he texted her a couple of funny otter videos and she felt lighter than she had since Lexa walked out on her.
————
The first time Clarke realised that Bellamy Blake was her best friend was a year later when she arrived early at his apartment only, letting herself in with a key he’d given her a couple of months. It was his turn to host the Valentine’s Day friendship party and she’d come over to give him a hand setting up.
The apartment was dark and quiet and Clarke frowned. Usually, Bellamy’s was a hive of activity before he had the group over. He would rush to and fro as he cleaned and got everything ready. It was one of the reasons why Clarke always offered to go over and help him. She knew he wasn’t content with just a cursory tidy-up like most of them were.
However, there was no noise from the vacuum or the smell of lavender polish in the air. Instead, it sounded almost as if no one was home.
“Bellamy?” she called out.
“In the front room,” he replied.
There was something off with his tone. It was flat with none of the warmth that he usually infused in it when she first came into the apartment.
She walked down to the large living room and stopped in the frame of the door as she saw him slumped on the floor, leaning back against the sofa, “What happened?” she asked.
“Gina dumped me.”
“Oh,” she exclaimed, sliding down on the floor next to him, her hand coming out to clasp his. “Why?”
“She wanted us to move in together and I said no,” he said and he must have caught her wince out of the corner of his eye because he added, “It took me by surprise, but I knew I wasn’t ready for that. She said it was obvious that we wanted different things and that I-”
He cut himself off and shook his head slightly as if to get rid of the words that had been about to spill out of his mouth.
“And that you what?” Clarke asked.
“Nothing,” he said quickly.
She knew that he was lying, that it was definitely more than nothing, but she wasn’t going to push him. There was nothing worse than someone trying to make you open up when you didn’t want to. It was one of the reasons why she and Bellamy worked so well together – they never pushed each other like that. Their friendship was easy, despite its rocky beginnings. She could be herself with him and sometimes that meant holding things deep inside her and he was the same.
A silence fell between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Then he squeezed her hand lightly and said, “Thanks, Clarke. You’re my best friend, you know that, right?”
Warmth spread through her at his words. She’d known this deep down, just as she knew he was her best friend, but it was the first time either of them had said.
“Yeah. You, too,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
———-
The first time Bellamy Blake kissed Clarke Griffin, they’d been living together as room-mates for six months. The lease to her apartment had run out and her landlady had wanted to sell, so she’d been looking with increasing desperation for somewhere to live that she could afford. Indra had appreciated having a steady tenant in a block of apartments that was renowned for being student rentals and so she’d kept the rent down for Clarke, knowing that she wouldn’t have to completely renovate the place at the end of each academic year.
In the meantime, the rents around her had skyrocketed and Clarke didn’t want to move too far out as it would mean a long commute in to work. So Bellamy had suggested that she take his spare room. She had only hesitated for a split second before accepting. There had been the usual teasing from their friends the day they’d all helped Clarke move in, with Octavia declaring that she’d thought she would never see the day.
However, it was nice. They worked well together, which would’ve come as a surprise to her four years ago, but was nothing more than she expected now. Living together proved to be no exception.
The only downside was Clarke’s increasing awareness of her attraction to Bellamy. It had been steadily increasing, ever since that day a year ago, when they’d held hands in the gloom of his living room and he’d called her his best friend. It had been easy to ignore when they weren’t living together, but had started to become a real problem since she’d moved in.
Luckily, only Wells had noticed so far. She put it down to him knowing her since birth and because he’d caught her ogling Bellamy’s back as he perused the contents of the fridge while shirtless. A loyal friend, Wells had said nothing to anyone, not even to Raven, but he would make pointed comments to Clarke every now and again about how she didn’t want to waste her life pining.
She hadn’t imagined her feelings coming to head on that day, although it felt a little fateful that it had.
The group of friends had decided that they wanted a ‘grown-up’ Valentines this year and so had booked a swanky restaurant that required them to dress up.
She twisted as she tried once more to yank the zipper on the back of her dress up, but to no avail. It was useless to keep attempting to do it on her own. She needed another pair of hands.
“Bellamy!” Clarke yelled out. “I need your help.”
She gulped as he walked into her room with just his slacks on, his broad chest still glistening damply from his shower.
“What’s up?” he asked before he caught sight of her and trailed off, his eyes tracking down her.
Clarke was aware that she’d deliberately chosen to wear her best formal dress – one that made her breasts look amazing. She hadn’t admitted to herself that she’d wanted to get a reaction out of Bellamy, but as his eyes rested on her cleavage, she couldn’t lie to herself any more. She’d totally wanted him to be speechless.
“I need help zipping this up,” she said, her voice going a couple of octaves deeper than it usually was.
“Uh…yeah…sure,” he replied distractedly and it was a couple of seconds before he realised that he actually need to move.
A slight flush mounted his cheeks as he came to stand behind her and gently pulled the fabric of her dress together. His flustered air emboldened Clarke to finally make a move and she pushed back slightly against him, her ass coming to rest against his groin as he began to zip the dress up far more slowly than was actually required. His breath hissed out of his mouth and one hand gripped her hips, it heat searing through her dress as she rolled her hips teasingly once more.
“You’re playing with fire, Clarke,” he whispered against the shell of her ear.
Arching her back slightly so her neck was at a tempting angle for his mouth, she said, “What are you going to do about it?”
Letting loose a little groan, Bellamy dipped his head pressed his lips hotly to a spot just below her ear that had her shivering in delight. He sucked on the pressure point for a second before Clarke whirled around, tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him up for a deep kiss.
———-
The first time Clarke realised that Bellamy was it for her it was a couple of hours later. They’d missed the appetisers at the expensive restaurant, sheepishly wandering in an hour late and holding hands.
Their friends whistled and jeered good naturedly at them, Raven waggling her eyebrows at Clarke and Miller teasing Bellamy about his swollen lips.
“About time,” Octavia grumbled. “But I don’t ever want to hear anything about it.”
“I do!” Raven jumped in immediately. “I want all the details!”
“Ugh,” Octavia said but the little smile that played at the corners of her mouth as she looked fondly at her older brother gave away that she was pleased.
Once the fuss their appearance caused died down, Clarke’s hand met his under the table once more and she knew without any doubt that this was how it was meant to be between them.
