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Clarke loved her job, really. She loved being a doctor, loved being able to help people. She’d been working at the hospital for almost a year now, so was even getting used to the long shifts. Todays shift had been a good one, too, even if it was 15 hours. She didn’t lose anyone, and was able to tell her nine year old patient that she could go home after months of being in the hospital. She was ridiculously happy at how the day went, so no, hating her job wasn't the reason she was practically buzzing at the thought of going home.
It was what was waiting for her at home that made her excited. A bottle of her favourite wine, leftover homemade cheesecake (she mentally thanked herself for picking a boyfriend that could bake so well), her warm, comfortable bed and the Netflix series she was dying to start. The cherry on top of what was already looking to be an amazing homecoming was knowing that she had the next 36 hours off.
Logically, she knew that after over 15 hours on her feet, she would make it through maybe half a glass of the wine and an episode of the show before exhaustion overcame her and she fell asleep. But still, it was the thought of all of it that made her frantically pack up the stuff in her locker. She contemplated changing out of her scrubs in the locker room, but ultimately decided against it. I’ve only had them on for like, 7 hours, that’s fine. (A patient had thrown up on her after hitting the 8th hour of her shift and she had to change whilst simultaneously trying not to throw up herself. It was a delicate form of art.)
The only way the night - wait, morning, she realised, glancing at her phone that told her it was 1:36am - would be better was if Bellamy was waiting for her in bed, ready to cuddle her (and possibly feed her cake if her arms were too tired to work). But that plan was scrapped 6 hours ago, when she got a text in the middle of her shift.
Babe, I’m at TonDC with Miller
tonight, so probably just going
to crash at mine tonight.
That’s fine, Bell. Probably won’t
be leaving here until 2 anyway,
and I don’t want to wake you
coming home so late.
Clarke realised it was Friday night, which meant that TonDC had 2-for-1 shots and cheap beer on tap.
On second thought, I don’t want
you to wake me, drunky. Be safe
and talk tomorrow. Love you xx
Me? Drunk? Never.
Have a good shift, babe. I love you.
She tried not to be disappointed, but she was sad knowing he wouldn’t be waiting for her. They had been together for almost two years now, and he spent more time at her place than his. They were waiting for his lease to finish before they moved in together. It was only two months away, but on nights like this, it was two months too long.
Clarke was leaving the hospital and heading to her car when her phone lit up with a photo of Bellamy. Hair wild, eyes bright and a goofy grin on his face — she smiled at the picture before answering. She heard chatter in the background, and knew he was still out for the night.
“Bell? You there?”
“Babe,” he slurred, and she could hear the smile in his voice, “baaaaabe,” drawing out the word. Clarke sighed. Of course her boyfriend was drunk calling her when it was almost 2am, the promise of her bed so so close.
“I’m here, Bell. Are you alright?”
“Nah, yeah, I’m fine.” She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t, apparently happy with his answer.
“Alright, well do you wanna let me know why you’re calling?” She didn’t mean for irritation to show in her voice, but she was pretty exhausted by this point, and her boyfriend was kind of difficult to communicate with when he was drunk.
“I missed the last train,” he said, and Clarke could hear the guilt in his voice at the obvious follow up question. She smiled at the thought of him- he was probably pouting. God, she couldn’t even be angry at him for more than a second, she loved him too damn much. Before she could respond to put him out of his misery (she knew it would make the whole process quicker), she heard Bellamy’s muffled voice, talking to someone else. He laughed before he returned his focus to her.
“Babe, Miller wants to talk to you.” The muffled sound of the phone being exchanged (and possibly dropped) and a subsequent “Jesus, Bellamy” sounded through her phone as she got into the driver’s seat of her car. She didn’t start it up to head home, because TonDC was in the exact opposite direction of her apartment (of fucking course), and she knew where this conversation was heading.
“Clarke.”
“Nathan.”
“Jesus, it’s Miller. Come on.” Clarke sighed.
“Alright, Miller- get to the point, will you,” she teased.
“Well, as you probably noticed, Bellamy is drunk.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to miss the slur.”
“And he missed the last train. Murphy was meant to go with him to drop him at his apartment, but he ended up getting a call from Emori and basically ditched us right before we were all meant to leave, and I didn’t really want Bellamy trying to get home by himself.”
“Smart choice,” she said, cursing Murphy in her head.
“Yeah, I don’t think I could handle you or O if you knew I let him leave by himself in this state. Anyway, he missed the last train and Monty is legit about to fall asleep on my shoulder and we really want to just get a cab home, but we don’t want to leave Bellamy by himself - ”
“Bell can’t get a cab with you?”
“I’m going to Monty’s, so not the same way. And normally I would just put him in his own cab, but I don’t think it’s a good idea tonight. He is in one of his more adventurous moods,” he stressed the word adventurous, “and even if I physically put him in a cab, told it where to go and paid for it myself, I’m still not certain he would make it to his bed.”
Clarke groaned at this. “Is Lincoln working tonight by any chance?”
“Yeah, he’s actually the one that got the speech tonight. Why?”
“He knows about how Bell can get in these moods.”
Lincoln was a new addition to the group. After dating Octavia for a few months, he had heard a few of the stories Jasper liked to collectively call The Adventures of a Drunk Bellamy Blake.
“He just gets into these moods,” Jasper explained to Lincoln a few months ago. “I don’t know what it is, but it started a bit over a year ago, right Clarke?”
“Yep. It was just after we started dating,” she agreed.
“So, what? He just gets drunk and goes on adventures? And you don’t know when it’s going to happen?”
“Well,” Jasper started, “we’ve figured out two things. The first, is that he has to be in a really good mood before he drinks. Like really good. The second is that he has to drink quite a bit. But other than that, we don’t know! It seems completely random!”
“He goes through, like, three stages though. So we never know whether we will get Adventurous Bell or if he will stay at the stage under it.” Clarke explained.
“Yeah,” Monty agreed, “You never know what you’ll get until he’s gone missing.”
“Gone missing?” Lincoln exclaimed. Clarke, Jasper and Monty just laughed.
“The first time it happened, he went missing at one of our group gatherings,” Clarke said, trying to contain her laughter. “He had gone through the usual happy Bellamy drunk stages, and then he just went missing. We didn’t realise for like, what, 20 minutes?” The boys hummed in agreement. “So we split up to look for him. Octavia and I found him at the park down the road from his place. He was climbing on the monkey bars and when he saw us he was so so happy. It was ridiculous.” She giggled at the memory. It wasn’t particularly funny at the time, because they were all worried out of their minds, but after multiple retellings of the story, she couldn’t help but just laugh.
“So he went missing? And then what?”
“O and I finally got him down from the monkey bars. It literally took like, 10 minutes or something to get him down. And then he looked at us so so seriously, like, complete deadpan and went ‘gather up the gang, girls, we’re going on an adventure,” she mimicked his deep voice before bursting out laughing again. “Hence why we call him Adventurous Bellamy Blake.”
“But this doesn’t happen every time he drinks, does it? That has to get exhausting.”
“Nah, not every time,” Monty said, “it only happens occasionally, and he doesn’t go missing very much. Just tries to talk people into going on adventures with him. It’s weird, but hilarious none the less.”
“Okay, so you talked about stages. What does it take to get an Adventurous Bellamy Blake?”
“Okay, so, first stage, he is just extremely affectionate,” Jasper explained, “like, confessing-his-love-to-people affectionate. He hugs and kisses everyone and normally gives at least one pep talk.”
“They’re more like speeches, really,” Clarke interrupted. “For some reason he gets it into his head that people need to be psyched up, and he gives them these motivational speeches. They’re sort of legendary now, honestly.”
“He gave one to me that first night,” Jasper remembered. “The first night of Adventurous Bellamy Blake he told me, and I quote, that I was a beautiful human being and fucking hilarious. It was amazing,” he wiped away fake tears, grinning, “I’ll never forget it.” They all laughed at him.
“Then in the second stage he just feels the need to dance and sing,” Clarke began.
“Bellamy Blake; dancing and singing?” Lincoln asked, incredulous.
“Seriously!” Clarke laughed, “they become the most crucial things on earth for him. He ends up making small gatherings into full-blown raves, or tries to get everyone the reenact musical numbers.”
“Les Mis and High School Musical are some of his favourites,” Monty chimed in, “but the best is when he tries to sing Bohemian Rhapsody solo.” They all laugh together. “Back to the first night,” he continued, “so there we were, at a house party he was throwing, and he was going through all the normal things. He gave Jasper and Monroe one of his speeches, then made everyone start dancing. We caught him serenading Clarke to ‘Stick To The Status Quo’ - ”
“It was hilarious!” Jasper cut in, barely able to contain his laughter, “they were slow dancing and he was trying to sing to her. About fucking high school politics!” He looked over to Clarke, “But, god, Clarke, you looked so happy,” and then back to Lincoln, “she just kept kissing him and then started singing with him. It would’ve been disgustingly cute if it wasn’t so damn funny.”
“And then, 20 minutes later, BAM!” Monty exclaimed, emphasising the BAM by smacking his hand on the table, “he went missing. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
“Okay, so, sometimes it never goes to the adventurous point? You just get the affectionate Bellamy and then the dancing/singing Bellamy?”
“Exactly,” Jasper said. “Sometimes he’s just a normal drunk person, sometimes he goes through the first two stages, and others he goes full-out Adventurous Bellamy Blake.”
“And you have no idea what triggered it?” Clarke, Monty and Jasper shook their heads. “Well what happened the first night? Why was he in such a good mood in the first place?”
“We have no idea!” Jasper exclaimed.
But Clarke knew. As soon as Lincoln said it she knew. She had just never made the connection before.
“It was the first night I told you I loved you,” she told Bellamy later in the evening.
“What?”
“When you went missing and Adventurous Bellamy Blake became a thing. Earlier that day I told you I loved you for the first time.”
He blushed. They had been together for a year and a half and he was fucking blushing at her. She grinned.
“It was the first time I felt like anything was possible,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed to be telling her this. “I don’t know, really. It was just… freeing or something. I never thought I would be that lucky - to have somebody, let alone you, say they loved me - and I don’t know, I guess in my drunk mind that feeling was translated into wanting to go on an adventure.” He chuckled.
“That is simultaneously the dumbest and best thing I have ever heard.” He grinned at her before she kissed him.
“Can you ask him to keep an eye on Bell until I get there?”
“Yep, will do. Again, I’m really sorry.”
“It’s alright, really, I’d rather make sure he’s safe. Can you put him on for me?”
“Sure, Clarke. I’ll see you Tuesday? And can you text me so I know he’s home alright?”
“Yep, of course, Nate.
“Thanks, Clarke. Alright, here’s Bellamy,” he said, before passing the phone over.
“Babe!” He drawled out. “You’re back!”
“Yeah, Bell, I’m back!” She tried to put on her happy, excited voice that drunk Bellamy responded to best. “I’m gonna come pick you up, alright?”
“Aw, babe, you’re the best!”
“I know. I’ll be about 20 minutes, but I need you to stay with Lincoln for me, okay? Nate and Monty are gonna go home.”
“But, Claaaaaarke,” he whined, “I wanna wait outside!”
“Bell, baby, it’s the middle of winter, I don’t want you getting a cold, okay?” Plus, you’ll probably end up wandering off instead of waiting for me, she thought.
“You’re gonna have to give me more than that,” he said, an almost suggestive hint in his voice. “Come on, convince me.” And yep, that was definitely suggestive.
“Alright, how about this: you wait inside for me and I’ll let you stay at mine tonight instead of hauling your ass to your own place to sleep alone?”
“You drive a hard bargain, princess,” he slurred, “but I will accept these terms.”
“Good. 20 minutes, okay? I’ll come inside to get you, so don’t leave. Stay where Lincoln can see you.”
“I will,” he drawled out, sighing. “Love you, babe, see you soon.”
“Love you too, Bell. 20 minutes.”
She hung up and sighed. Clarke started her car and made her way to TonDC. It would probably take at least an hour to get home now. Adventurous Bellamy Blake could be hard to deal with. The group likened this side of him to a 5 year old kid at Disneyland. Didn’t know what they wanted, just ran from place to place, trying to absorb everything at once. It was a nice side of him, and it made for some fantastic stories, but Clarke was just so ready to go home. At least he’ll be staying over, though, she thought. Maybe I can convince him to give me a back rub. But she wasn’t sure how good it would be in his current state.
She pulled into a car park close to the bar, and made her way over. She got in just after 2am, and there were still a fair few people scattered around the bar. There were Christmas decorations half-heartedly placed around the room and cut-out paper snowflakes she recognised from Octavia’s apartment. She spotted Bellamy at the far end of the bar, talking to Lincoln. He was making big hand gestures and talking animatedly, while Lincoln just looked like he was amusing him with lots of nods and mmmms. She smiled at her drunk idiot of a boyfriend before Lincoln caught her gaze. He pointed to Clarke, and Bellamy snapped his head to her, grinning like an idiot when he saw her. She walked over to them and he scrambled off the bar stool.
“Baby, you made it!” He exclaimed. He enveloped her in a big hug and she laughed, mouthing a thank you to Lincoln behind the bar.
“I cut him off a while ago, so he’s sobering up a bit. He can speak coherently, which is good, but it was difficult to keep him in here.” Lincoln told Clarke. She smiled at him apologetically.
“Thanks, Lincoln, really, you’re a life saver.” She looked back at Bellamy, who was smiling happily at the pair. “You ready to get outta here?”
“I haven’t seen you since Wednesday, and you’re straight to business?” He pouted, but it looked ridiculous and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Bell, I’ve been working for 15 hours!”
“Aw, baby, I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He started placing chaste kisses all over the face. “I’m so sorry you had to come get me.” He pulled back from her and looked so earnest.
“It’s alright, babe. Better I know you’re safe, yeah?”
“I’m so proud of you, you know that right?” She smiled and nodded. “And you look so beautiful.” That made her scrawl her face up.
“Bell, I’m literally wearing scrubs right now. I haven’t slept in like 17 hours. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I know I look like shit.”
Bellamy narrowed his eyes at her, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, then shifted to a smirk, eyes screaming mischief. “My girlfriend, Clarke Griffin, is the most beautiful scrubs-wearing doctor in the whole wide world!” He shouted, loud enough for the whole bar to hear.
“Bell!” she exclaimed, smacking him lightly in the shoulder, embarrassed at the glances she received from the other patrons.
“She’s also the best doctor in all of Ark” He continued, still loud, but slurring his words. “If you’re ever in need of a doctor, make sure you get this one.” He started pointing his fingers at her, and she saw people around the bar laughing. She reached out to grab his hands in hers, lowering them to his sides.
“Alright, babe, you’ve made your point. Now do you wanna leave? It’s getting pretty late, yeah? You must be getting tired.” She gave her best soothing yet happy voice, trying to coax him out of his excited state.
He gave her a goofy grin and his eyes crinkled. “Yeah, alright,” he slurred, “let’s go home.”
Clarke called out to say goodbye to Lincoln, sent a quick text to Nathan, then turned back to Bellamy. “Got your wallet, phone and keys?” He gave a nod in affirmation and she took one of his hands, placed a kiss on his palm before she tugged him towards the door.
The cold December weather nipped at her skin as soon as she stepped outside. She felt Bellamy shiver behind her and she turned around and sighed. He had taken his coat off. For whatever reason, she had no clue.
“Bell, baby, you wanna put your coat back on? It’s pretty cold out here, don’t you think?”
“Clarke, I can’t!” He exclaimed.
“And why’s that?” He looked at her like she was stupid. Maybe she was. She was beginning to feel stupid.
“If I put my coat on then I won’ t be able to give you a piggy back ride!” He stated, like it was completely obvious.
Clarke didn’t know whether to be thankful that his thoughts were coherent enough to know he couldn’t give her a piggy back in that particular coat (they had tried and failed before - many times) or bemused at the fact that he thought one was required.
“Baby, we’re only walking to the car park - it’s less than a minute away. You don’t need to give me a piggy back ride.”
“But I waaaaant to,” he whined. She sighed. It was already taking longer to get him home than expected.
“How about I give you a piggy back ride, instead,” she teased. His eyes widened and his mouth opened.
“Clarke!” He exclaimed, completely serious. “I would crush you! You could never carry me!” She couldn’t hold in her laughter. He was just so ridiculous and serious.
“I know, baby, I was just kidding. How about I let you give me two tomorrow? Is that a fair deal?”
He frowned, pouted, then murmured an agreement before taking her hand again.
“So, you wanna tell me what put you in such a good mood?” He grinned at her, eyes bright and crinkling.
“We were celebrating!” He exclaimed, sounding very happy.
“Celebrating what exactly?” He put his pointer and thumb to his lips and pulled them from one side to the other.
“Can’t tell you that, princess. It’s a secret!”
“A secret, huh?” She chuckled. “I reckon I can get it out of you by the end of the night.” She squeezed his had and winked at him.
“You’ll never get it outta me, princess! I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m an excellent secret-keeper.”
“You’re not as good as you think you are, Bell. Plus you’re drunk off your ass. By the time we’re home, I’ll know whatever it is you’re hiding.”
“First of all,” he paused for a moment and Clarke waited patiently for him to continue. “First of all, I am an excellent secret-keeper. Do any of our friends know that thing you like? The one where I — ”
“Stop talking, Bell,” Clarke interrupted, barely able to stifle a laugh.
“Exactly!” He shouted before quieting to an almost-whisper. “And second of all, this secret is part of a mission. Can’t have you messing that up, princess, no matter how cute you are.”
Clarke laughed as they arrived at her car. She helped Bellamy into the passenger seat, then hopped into the drivers seat, putting the heater and radio on. Music started drifting through the car and Bellamy began singing All I Want For Christmas Is You to Clarke. It was one of his better performances, honestly. She drove back past the hospital and noted that she could’ve been home by this point, but didn’t really give a damn. She hadn’t seen Bellamy for a few days, and even in his drunk state, it was nice just being with him. She found herself not feeling all that tired anymore.
“Baaaabe.”
“Yeah, Bell?”
“I’m hunnnggrryyyyyy,” he whined. “Do you have food at home?”
Crap. She didn’t have much of anything. Being a doctor was kind of owning her life at the moment, and she only had some ramen noodles and some of that cheesecake at home. She planned to go to the supermarket tomorrow (well, today), not expecting to be looking after her drunko.
“I don’t have much, babe. You wanna stop at the supermarket for a few minutes and I can grab a few things?” He grinned at her, eyes sparkling mischievously.
“That’s the best plan I’ve heard all night.”
“Of course it is,” she sighed.
Clarke drove to a 24 hour supermarket a few blocks from her apartment and parked as close to the entrance as she could. Bellamy was apparently having trouble with the locks, and she rolled her eyes at his attempt to open his door. She leaned over at him to unlock the door and he hummed his thanks, smiling down at her. They hopped out of the car and he ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close while she tried to walk; tried being the operative word.
Eventually, they made their way into the foyer of the shopping centre. A giant Christmas tree sat before the entrance to the supermarket. Silver, gold and aqua decorations were placed meticulously, and there were fairy lights wrapped around that made the whole tree glow a faint yellow. Dozens of presents wrapped in patterns of reindeer, christmas trees and Santas sat at the bottom, and a large red chair with gold trimming to the side. A green fence enclosed it all, though it was short enough to easily climb over.
Bellamy untangled himself from Clarke, and instead took her hand, tugging her to the locked gate of the fence.
“Babe, look at all the presents,” he said, voice full of amazement.
“I know, Bell. They look pretty good, don’t they?” He turned to her, eyes wide.
“They’re amazing, Clarke!” She smiled at him and he looked back at the area, beaming.
“Come on, let’s go get some food. We can come back another day, yeah?”
“You reckon we can get a picture with Santa?” She grinned at her boyfriend, such a genuine smile on his face.
“Of course, baby. Whatever you want.”
They walked into the supermarket and she made a mental list of what she would get: pasta, pasta sauce, eggs, bread, cereal, milk and a block of chocolate (sue her, she just worked 15 hours). Once they were inside, Bellamy was making the meant-to-be-quick trip into a much, much longer one.
“Clarke! We gotta get this,” he said as he held up a child’s bowl set to show her. It had prints of Peter Rabbit on it and it definitely did not make her heart swell.
“Bell, nobody we know needs that. Come on- we’re just getting some essentials so we don’t starve. We can do a proper shop tomorrow.”
“You’re right. Sorry, babe,” he sighed and put it back. A pause, “babe! Shit, we need this, though!” He pulled up a stuffed toy elephant.
Clarke could tell this would continue and make a 5 minute shop turn into a 30 minute one. She knew what she had to do, so she turned to face him and put on her most serious expression.
“Bellamy Blake, you are needed for a very important task.”
“Oh my god, Clarke, what is it?” He asked without a trace of humour.
“I need you to grab me some things and then meet me at the checkout in 5 minutes. Whattaya say?” He stood slightly straighter and Clarke couldn’t help but grin.
“Anything for the princess.”
“Okay, can you grab me some… toothpaste, wrapping paper - ugh - choc-chip ice cream and pizza bases.”
“Roger that, princess. Meet you in 5.”
She wasn’t worried that he would wander off this time. She knew that in this mind set he would follow through on whatever task he was given. She walked through the supermarket and picked up the stuff from her list. They passed each other once on her way to get the chocolate and he smacked her on the bum. She glared at him and he laughed at her.
When she had gotten everything needed to survive the next 12 hours, she made her way to the checkouts and found Bellamy facing away from her,talking to three young women who looked incredibly amused.
“…so after years of denying that she liked me, she finally realised and confessed her feelings and asked me out. And I, being the gracious person I am, accepted.”
“Bellamy Blake,” he snapped his head around to Clarke and grinned, “if you’re going to abuse these nice girls by making them listen to your ridiculous story, then at least tell it correctly.”
“It’s how I remember it, princess.”
“Yeah, well you’ve been drinking since 8, so I don’t really trust your memory.” The women laughed at the bickering pair.
“Mr. Blake’s drunk, I assume?” One of them asked.
“Mr. Blake?” Clarke asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, baby, this is one of my TAs, Maddison,” he said, pointing to the woman who spoke. “She’s from my Ancient Rome class. And the other two are her friends, I’m assuming.” The three of them nodded.
“Oh, jesus, Bell,” she sighed. “You seriously think your students want to talk to you when you’re drunk? Let alone hear the story,” she looked at the women, “which is completely false, by the way,” and back to Bellamy, “of how you met your girlfriend?”
“It’s a good story!” He exclaimed.
“I am so sorry,” she said, regarding the women once again. “Please don’t think any less of him as a professor. He just gets a little… excited sometimes… when he has a bit to drink.”
“It’s fine!” Maddison said. “It’s normally weird running into professors outside of uni, but they’re normally, like, 50 years old or something, so this is a nice change.”
“See, Clarke! They love my story!”
“That’s not what she said and your story wasn’t even true!” She exclaimed and the women laughed again. He put his hands up in surrender.
“Alright, alright. Whatever you say princess.” He said, smirking.
“You are insufferable. Now, did you complete the task or not?” He grinned and picked up the shopping basket from the floor. She turned to the women and mouthed an I’m so sorry to them. They just grinned and giggled.
“Wrapping paper, pizza bases, toothpaste and choc-chip ice cream.” He stated. “Among other things.” Clarke tried to look into the basket, but he put it behind his back. “No way, princess,” he said, smiling smugly. “Well, we better be going. Have a good weekend girls. I’ll see you Monday, Maddison!”
“Bye, Mr. Blake,” Maddison drawled. “Hope you’re not too hungover tomorrow!”
Clarke and Bellamy walked to the free checkout and heard the girls burst into laughter behind them. Bellamy hid his purchases from Clarke and insisted on paying.
“Bell, they’re not your groceries, they’re mine! Let me pay.”
“Clarke, they’re our groceries.” And that made her shut up quickly because she was too busy hiding a smile.
They made their way out of the supermarket and back to the foyer of the shopping centre. When they passed the Christmas tree, Bellamy grabbed Clarke’s hand and pulled her back to it.
“We gotta get over there, Clarke,” he said pointing to the chair solemnly. She was seriously getting whiplash from his serious-to-silly mood swings.
“If only there was a way to get over this fence,” she teased. He glared at her, but without any heat.
“I wanna take a picture in the chair, princess.”
“Bell, come on. It’s like half past 2. Don’t you wanna just head home?” He shook him head.
“Nope, I wanna take a picture in the chair.”
“Well, I wanna head home.”
“I reckon you’re just chicken,” he stated, smirking at her. And god damn it, because despite being drunk, Bellamy Blake still knew how to press her buttons.
“Chicken? Fine, then. I guess we’re taking a damn picture.” He grinned at her and they stepped over the small fence.
Clarke sat in the chair and Bellamy searched the shopping bags before letting out a triumphant aha! He pulled out a Santa hat and a pair of reindeer ears to display to Clarke.
“You’re the one that’s whipped, so I reckon you should be reindeer,” he told her. Clarke shoved him as he laughed and pointedly took the Santa hat. “I wanted to be the reindeer the entire time,” he said, winking. “Now, get up, you’re sitting on my lap.”
Clarke sighed, but got up to let Bellamy sit down. He sat with his back against the arm rest and Clarke hopped onto his lap. The chair was relatively big, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable, and it was angled so that the Christmas tree could be seen behind the arm rest that Bellamy was against. They put on their respective costumes and Bellamy got his phone out to take a selfie.
Bellamy grinned, eyes closed, and Clarke feigned annoyance. She saw a security guard behind them in the phone as the photo was taken and she snapped her head around to look at the man approaching the chair.
“Come on, guys. You aren’t meant to be in here. There’s a fence and everything.” He didn’t sound annoyed, just tired, and Clarke wondered how many times he had to tell people off at 2 in the morning. She stood up and pulled Bellamy off the chair while he groaned.
“But we didn’t get a good photo,” he whined.
“Baby, he’s just doing his job. Sorry, sir,” she said to the older man.
“Wait!” Bellamy perked up, “this is perfect!” The security guard raised an eyebrow. “Can you take a picture of us in front of the Christmas tree?” He turned to Clarke, “this is so much better than a picture in the chair, Clarke. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before!”
She shot the man an apologetic look as he studied the couple. He sighed at them before holding out his hand.
“Alright guys, if all you want is a picture.” Bellamy grinned and handed his phone over. He pulled Clarke to the front of the tree.
“Now you gotta let me give you a piggy back,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. She huffed out a laugh.
“Why not,” she sighed.
She hopped up onto his back. Bellamy swayed a little, but was able to keep them both upright in the time it took to get a few different photos. Surprisingly, the security guard got into it. He told them to smile first, then to make serious faces, then silly ones. By the end of it they were all laughing.
“Alright, all done, you two.” Clarke slid off Bellamy’s back. “Now, don’t let me catch you in there again, alright?”
“You won’t,” Bellamy said, holding onto Clarke’s hand.
She moved to pick up the shopping bags, but Bellamy kept ahold of her hand and gave it a tug. He pulled her into his chest, brought his hand up to cup her cheek and dipped in to kiss her. It was a slow kiss. Sweet and lingering. He tasted like whiskey and she tasted like peppermint and it was so very perfect for Christmas. They were interrupted by a flash of light and broke apart to see a the guard holding out the phone once again.
“Sorry. It was kinda a perfect shot. Didn’t realise the flash was on.” The security guard looked embarrassed and Bellamy burst out laughing. Clarke couldn’t help but chuckle as well.
“It’s alright,” Bellamy told him, taking his phone back.
“Promise we won’t come back and break any more rules!” Clarke smiled. “Thanks for all your help!”
“No worries, you two. Have a good night. Get home safe and happy holidays!”
“Thanks, you too!” Clarke called out to him as he walked away.
They looked at the photos on Bellamy’s phone. The first one showed Bellamy grinning goofily, eyes closed in his reindeer ears and Clarke side-eying him with furrowed eyebrows and a Santa hat. The security guard was a few metres behind them, just in front of the Christmas tree, holding one of his arms out in protest. Clarke and Bellamy burst into laughter looking at it. Epic timing would be the term the group would later use to describe it.
The next few were sweet and funny, but didn’t compare to the last one. Clarke and Bellamy stood pressed against each other. One of his hands cupped her face while the other held her hand between them. He was leaning down and she was on the tips of her toes. Their eyes were closed, their cheeks were flushed and they were wearing those ridiculous hats. The Christmas tree behind them cast them in glowing light. They looked in love. It was easily the best shot.
(It ended up in a photo frame on their bedside table.)
Bellamy squeezed Clarke’s shoulder and kissed her temple.
“Ready to go home, baby?” She asked. Bellamy smiled at her.
“Yeah, princess. Ready.”
They walked back to the car and made it home in another 5 minutes. Quarter to 3, she thought, not too bad. She unpacked the groceries and put everything except for the pasta and pasta sauce away. Bellamy sat on a stool at the kitchen bench as she got a pot out and started to boil some water. As she prepared the meal he told her about his day and she told him about hers. She noted how he avoided talking about going to the bar, and anything to do with what made him so happy.
“So, you’re really not gonna tell me?” She asked him as they finished off their food.
“Tell you what?” He asked, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes.
“You know good and well what I’m talking about. It wasn’t even a big deal but now you won’t tell me and I wanna know!”
“Can’t I just be happy and not have a reason, Clarke?”
“Bellamy Blake, I know you, and I know that when you get into your little adventurous moods, you have a reason to be happy.” He stared at her for a moment, studying her.
“You do know me, don’t you,” he said, thoughtful.
“I do,” she replied. He grinned at her and kissed her quickly on the cheek.
“How ‘bout I make you a deal?” Clarke raised her eyebrow at him. “I’ll tell you why I was so happy tonight in the next - say - three months.” She nodded at him, smiling. “But,” he paused, “when I do you have to go on an adventure with me. No drinking or anything. But whatever I say, you have to say yes.” Clarke narrowed her eyes at his, eyebrows furrowed.
“Alright,” she said, hesitant. “As long as it doesn’t endanger my life, I guess I can agree to those terms.” Bellamy grinned at her.
“Awesome. Three months and you’ll know. Promise. Bed time?” She sighed a relieved breath.
“Bed time,” she agreed.
They made their way to her room and changed into pyjamas. Clarke crawled into bed and felt her whole body relax. No wine, cheesecake or Netflix, but at least she still had her bed. And Bellamy. Bellamy slid in next to her and wrapped an arm around her middle, kissing her neck.
She started drifting off to sleep before his voice startled her awake again. He sounded half-dead himself, and she didn’t know whether his slur was from alcohol or sleep.
“Baby?”
“Yeah, Bell?”
“You remember when you said we didn’t need to get those bowls.”
“Yeah, I remember, Bell,” she said, smiling into the pillow.
“We’ll need them one day, yeah?” He asked, and the hope in his voice made her body melt. They had talked about kids before, but not really in the context of their kids.
“Yeah, Bell. We’ll need them one day.”
“Cool,” was all he said, but she could feel him grinning into her shoulder. She brought up one of his hands and kissed it and he pulled her in closer to him. A few minutes later he spoke again. “Baby?”
“Yeah, Bell?”
“Can I be the little spoon?” She silently huffed out a laugh.
“Of course, baby,” she said, and you could hear the smile in her voice.
He untangled his arms from her body and they both turned around. She put one of her arms and one of her legs around him and pulled him close against her chest. He was bigger and taller than her, so she felt a bit like a back-pack, but she didn’t care. She kissed his shoulder and he sighed.
“Love you, princess.”
“Love you, too, Bell.”
A little over two months later, the gang was at Clarke’s house eating pizza and drinking beer. It was the day that Bellamy finally moved into her place, and everybody was recruited in the moving process, with the promise of food and alcohol at the end of the day. Unpacked boxes were still scattered around the house, but at 5pm everybody had called it a day and started drinking.
Bellamy was happy. He was so incredibly happy to finally be moving in with Clarke. She was wearing a pair of leggings, a tank top and a flanny over the top. Her hair was up in a messy bun with more pieces out than in, her mascara had mostly worn off from the days work and she had some pizza sauce on her cheek. She was beautiful. He looked at her and he knew tonight was the night.
Octavia and Lincoln were the last to leave, just past 9. Clarke began collecting the pizza boxes and beer bottles and he ducked into her room - their room - and grabbed the little velvet box from his messenger bag and put it in his back pocket.
When he came back into the kitchen she looked up and beamed at him.
“I can’t believe it’s finally happened, Bell!” She said it like she truly couldn’t believe it, and honestly he was almost pinching himself to make sure it wasn’t a dream, too. He enveloped her into a hug and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Me either, princess.” She leaned back to look into his eyes.
“I love you, Bellamy Blake.” He grinned at her.
“I love you, Clarke Griffin,” he replied and she laughed at him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. It reminded him of the one in front of the Christmas tree: slow, sweet and lingering. It was kind of fitting for the day. When they pulled apart she was still smiling at him. She turned away from him to finish clearing the kitchen counter.
“How lame - out of 10 - would it be if we went to bed at 9?”
“Depends what you mean by bed, princess,” he smirked. She turned around and smirked right back at him.
“Play your cards right, Blake, and you don’t know what could happen tonight,” she said with a wink.
“I’m hoping I play a few cards right, tonight, princess.” She raised an eyebrow at him and looked slightly confused. “Come, sit,” he said, as he pat the kitchen counter. She eyed him hesitantly, but pushed herself up onto the bench. He stood in front of her and smiled. “So,” he started.
“So,” she countered, raising an eyebrow again. He huffed out a laugh, wondering whether he should’ve rehearsed a speech for this kind of life-defining moment.
“So,” he began again, “you know a few months ago when you picked me up from the bar?” She rolled her eyes at him in a way that said obviously. “Yeah, alright,” he laughed, “well, you remember how we made a deal? I tell you why I was so happy and you agree to an adventure?” She grinned and nodded quickly at him.
“Oooooh, yep! I’ve been waiting, like, two months for this! Let’s hear it, Bell!” She was excitedly bouncing up and down on the bench.
“Well, the reason I was so happy was because I found something,” he paused and she nodded for him to continue. “I found the perfect something. Something I hadn’t really been looking for but when I saw it, I knew that it was perfect and I had to get it.” He paused again and she continued to nod, but a little slower this time. She looked confused. “And I was going to wait and do this all properly and have a nice dinner and it was definitely not meant to be after a long day of moving me in and having pizza,” he began to ramble, “but I was looking at you and you’re kind of a mess with your old top on and food on your face and I couldn’t stop thinking that you looked beautiful and you looked perfect and the night was perfect, so anyway, I thought that—”
“Bell!” Clarke interrupted, looking at him with an amused smile. “You’re rambling.” He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“Right. Okay. So, the reason I was happy and the adventure are kind of a hand-in-hand thing so I’m just going to tell you all at once, okay?” She hummed her affirmation, her face still had that amused smile. He smiled back up at her. “Okay,” he let out a big breath. “The reason I was ridiculously happy was because I found something—”
“You said that.” He huffed out a laugh.
“I know,” he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the box, letting his arm fall his side. “The thing I found was a ring.” Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. He brought the box up in front of her and opened it to reveal a ring. It was a simple silver ring with a square diamond in the middle and had delicate patterns engraved around the band - ones that reminded him of Clarke’s art. He looked up from the ring to her face. Her hands hand gone to hold the box and her eyes were glossy with tears. She wasn’t saying anything and the silence drew on and he began getting nervous. “So, anyway, I found this ring and it just made me think of you,” he began to ramble again. “Honestly, I wasn’t looking for one, or anything, but the patterns made me think of you and when I asked about it the woman told me it’s a princess cut. A princess cut, Clarke. So I was just like, well that’s it, I have to buy this, and—”
“Bellamy, ask me,” she said, and when he looked back up at her she was staring into his eyes and her smile was radiant.
“Right, yeah, ugh, sorry. So the second part of this was that if I told you why I was happy, you had to say yes to an adventure.” She huffed out a watery laughed.
“That you did,” she smiled at him, eyes still glossy.
“So the adventure is this: marry me.” Her smile turned into a full on grin.
“You do realise that you’re forcing me to marry you, right?”
“Yes, I am aware of that.”
“Well,” she said as she looped her legs around him, drawing him closer, “as long as you’re aware. I guess I have no say in the matter.” She threw her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him in to close the distance. She kissed him like she did after she told him she loved him. She kissed him like she was pouring everything she felt into it. He snaked his arms around her waist, still holding the small box. The kiss was long and deep, and when they pulled apart they were out of breath and he rested his forehead on hers.
“So just to confirm, that was a yes?” She smacked him lightly and began laughing.
“You’re such an idiot, of course that’s a yes!” She exclaimed. He grinned at her and duck in to kiss her again quickly. “Gimme the ring, you idiot!”
“Oh, right,” he laughed. He untangled his arms from her and picked up the ring. She held out her left hand for him and he slid it on to her ring finger. “Perfect fit.” She looked back up from her hand to him and they stayed like that for a few moments; just smiling stupidly at each other. She looked back to her hand and giggled.
“Moving in and engaged all in one night. You’re not gonna be able to top this one any time soon, Bell.” She looked back at him and put her arms around his neck again, playing with his hair.
“Mmmmm,” he agreed. “Dug myself a hole, didn’t I?” She schooled her expressions into a mock serious one and nodded in agreement. “But at least I played my cards right for tonight, hey princess?” She burst into laughter and rested her forehead on his shoulder.
“I guess you did,” she mumbled into his shirt. “You played all your cards right.” She wrapped her legs around him again and looked back at him. “Is it still lame to go to bed at 9:30?” He pecked her on the lips.
“Nah, princess. I doubt we’ll do a lot of sleeping anyway.” She grinned at him as he pulled her off the counter and walked her to their room.
“Bellamy Blake, I am ready for a lifetime of adventures with you,” she told him as he placed her onto their bed.
“Me too, princess,” he smiled, “me too.”
(And a lifetime of adventures they had.)