Chapter Text
***************************************************************
Once the Bell’s Been Rung…
Clarke was gathering moss with Octavia when she heard it - at first she thought someone was injured - there was panting, a sigh…injury made perfect sense, until… - a long feminine moan, almost gutteral and then, a plea - ”Bellamy, please!"
Octavia made a face. "Ewww gross. My brother the man-whore strikes again."
Clarke blushed as her mind flooded with images of a naked Bellamy (yes she could imagine it, conditions were such in the camp that she’d pretty much seen everyone naked, including Jasper) - so yes a very naked Bellamy, arched over someone, his long lean body tight with tension, every muscle delineated and defined, a light sheen of perspiration adding a glow to his olive skin and….WHOAH, Clarke! Stop right there. Better not to ever get that idea in her head.
That thought was punctuated by another feminine cry, this one louder and more desperate. "Please!" This time, Clarke thought she recognized the female voice - thought she recognized Tanya from Farm Station. Tanya was a sweet girl, one whom Clarke had thought was developing a crush on Monty - but…well, obviously she was mistaken. In the meantime, she Clarke heard a masculine grunt and a chuckle, and her mind was flooded again, with even more detailed images as she could see his smirk and his cocky grin as he teased Tanya, maybe with his hand, or his tongue and ….STOP IT! She needed to block the images from her brain.
"Octavia...maybe we should" Clarke let it trail off. Octavia looked up with an eyebrow quirk that was very much like her brother's.
"Maybe we should...what?" Octavia was being deliberately obtuse. Clarke cleared her throat.
"Maybe we should find another place to search." Octavia rolled her eyes.
“Because of Bellamy? I’ll take care of it." Octavia shrugged and turned around, lifting one hand up to her mouth to amplify. "FINISH UP, BELL! YOU'RE CREEPING OUT CLARKE!"
It was a sinking feeling, like falling down a big hill or how she’d felt that first time Finn had pulled her into the water. She’d never realized that pure embarrassment could be so active a feeling. She felt a ball of heat, start around the top of her diaphragm and expand outward, washing over every inch of exposed skin.
Octavia watched with interest. “Are you embarrassed? You're all red"
She tried to look serious but holy crap, the Blakes were insane, and Octavia - seriously she should’ve reminded herself that the younger Blake had absolutely no filter, zero and now - she flushed with humiliation as she heard distinctly un-sexy sighs and the tussle of clothes being readjusted. “I just said we should move our search!”
“Why should we? There’s loads of moss right here” The younger girl shrugged. “Why are you embarrassed? I thought you and Finn were doing it every night, now?” Of course, at that precise moment, the bushes behind her rustled and she heard a set of a pair of footsteps stop behind her.
Amazing. Even without turning around she could feel Bellamy’s smirk. Both Blake siblings were blessed with a serious set of laser eyes, and as always she could feel that gaze, especially when it was planted squarely on her back. She would’ve preferred to ignore it, of course, hell - she would’ve preferred to walk across the bridge with Grounders shooting at her, than turn around and look him in the eye. That being said, she was a Griffin, and Griffins weren’t cowards, dammit - so she turned around to face her nemesis/ally. It was as horrible as she thought. He was not at all embarrassed that he was shirtless and barely tucked into his jeans - his wide grin indicated he was actually enjoying the situation, and that Clarke was clearly uncomfortable.
“Yeah, Clarke, I thought you and Finn were doing it every night now? Bellamy smirked at her. Tanya was a little more awkward, because she was a normal person - not a certifiable member of the Blake family, and she had a faint pink tinge to her cheeks.
“Tanya” Clarke nodded. She felt like she was in one of the old TV comedies her mother used to watch. It was all too surreal, especially as Tanya perked up at that and gave her a friendly wave.
“Hi Clarke!” Unable to process, she turned to Bellamy who was laughing outright, now.
“You didn’t answer the question, Princess”
“Look my sex life, or lack thereof - ”
“Lack? Sorry Princess” Bellamy gave her a mockingly sympathetic look. “Is Finn okay - no lingering effects from Lincoln’s herbs?”
Octavia stood up, genuinely puzzled.
“Why would he move into your tent if you guys weren’t gonna do it?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.” She shrugged and went back to gathering moss.
“Look, we’re building a relationship. Sometimes its worth it to take your time, to really get to know someone.” Clarke explained, not intending to make it sound like a lecture, but obviously her conscience had another idea, because that second sentence was pointedly aimed at Bellamy.
She couldn’t help it. She couldn’t do what Bellamy did. She wanted a relationship. Like her parents. Like she’d seen on the old television shows. She wanted a romance. She knew it was old-fashioned. It wasn’t how things were done, not on the Arc or down here, but it was what she wanted.
Long ago, the rulers of the Arc had realized that if they had tried to ban teen sexual activity, or any sexual activity, it would’ve just made it more appealing. So they'd decided to be practical and had developed an immunization protocol that functioned as a contraceptive. All arc citizens were given the injection as soon as they hit puberty. After that they were free to do whatever and whomever they wished. It was designed to fade around age 22 at which time the leadership expected all citizens to be responsible members of society and take control of their own procreation. And if the protocol happened to cause 20 percent of the to lose their ability to procreate, well, that was just the luck of the draw (and incredibly helpful to their overpopulation problem).
Clarke figured they had a window of about three years before they had to start worrying about conception. By then, hopefully people would’ve settled into some sort of order and structured relationships. Granted, it looked like Bellamy’s intention was to build a structured relationship modeled after an old school harem.
“That’s really sweet, Clarke, really nice. You and Finn are building a relationship -” Bellamy’s sneer was scathing. “But you’re forgetting we have the Grounders, and we have Winter and now, the Mountain Men, whatever that means. Things can change in a heartbeat. We don’t necessarily have the luxury of time.” He brusquely pulled on his shirt, (thank god, she may’ve muttered in her head as he morphed from dissolute and sexy, back to ruthless warrior).
“Whatever we want, whenever we want, is that what you’re saying?” Clarke couldn’t help challenging him. He stepped into her space and faced her directly.
“Maybe. We could die at any second, Clarke - and I don’t see what’s wrong with taking a little bit of happiness and relief whenever we can get it.” He was so close to her, she felt his breath as he talked, and she could see that his eyes weren’t just brown, there were highlights of gold and deep chocolate low lights, like the candies they would distribute on Unity Day. She must’ve been staring because he flushed a little himself, then stepped back. “Well, the one good thing is that Finn will have loads of extra energy, extra stress to work off. He just might be in the mood for a hunting run.”
Bellamy strode off towards the camp. Octavia watched him for a moment and then turned to back to them.
“Weird. That was weird, wasn’t it?” She shook her head as she watched after her brother.
“He’s your brother, you know best.” Clarke shrugged.
“Yeah, but - you’re his best friend.” That hit Clarke like a lightning bolt. Best friend?
Tanya stepped forward. “Let me help.”
“Sure.” Octavia nodded. “Might as well be useful since you’re here” she said brusquely. This time it was Tanya’s turn to blush. Clarke gave her a sympathetic look.
“Um, Clarke” Tanya asked tentatively. “Would you…could you…please not tell Monty?” She looked at her hands. “Bellamy and I were just…well we were just playing around. I don’t want Monty to get upset.”
“but why go with Bellamy, then?” Clarke asked. The other girl laughed.
“Haven’t you heard? He’s, like - the best in the camp!” She grinned confidingly. “I figured Monty’s not as experienced, so I thought I’d get some ideas and show them to him, later.” Clarke felt a little offended on Bellamy’s part, but Octavia didn’t seem to be bothered.
“Man-whore” she repeated sagely and went back to work.