Chapter VII
It's one of those windy days in early Fall, not stormy, just... windy. The trees are still green for the most part and the fallen leaves on the ground are not many but they're beautiful, not yet rotten brown, but yellow and red and such.
It's the recipe of any typical September day, really, even today is a typical Sunday too.
Clarke and Lexa spend it on their bench in the park. Lexa studies sign charts and practices while Clarke draws Fall landscapes and fallen leaves twirling in the air and when she's not concentrating on her sketchbook, she studies Lexa practicing. Clarke loves Lexa's hands. She loves how elegantly they move as Lexa plays the piano, or practices signs, or runs those fingers across her naked skin. Clarke has spent countless of hours studying Lexa's hands and then she's spent countless of hours drawing them.
To think that it's only been seven months since she sat down on a bench next to a stranger, to think that that very same stranger turned out to be this amazing woman who against all odds has opened up her heart again and brought love back into her life. To think that it's only been seven months. It feels like so much longer, like she's known Lexa for years, decades, lifetimes even.
Clarke closes her eyes and smiles against the wind letting it cool off her cheeks. She hums softly when Lexa leans in to steal a kiss from her lips, feeling Lexa's smile against her own.
It's like gravity.
It's like a law of nature defining that Clarke and Lexa always will be pulled towards each other like apples falling towards the ground and if they were to bounce off of each other for a moment in time, they'll always find each other again.
Always.
Clarke's phone buzzes in her pocket and wakes her from this peaceful moment. She sees the sender's name and narrows her eyes in frustration.
"It's Bellamy," Clarke shares and Lexa copies Clarke's frustration.
Bellamy:
Hey Clarke. I feel terrible about the things I said. I want to make it up to you. Can we meet up and talk? Octavia's birthday is on Saturday and both you and she deserves that things don't get weird...
Clarke stares at her phone until Lexa slides her tiny notebook in front of her.
'Are you okay?'
Clarke blinks a few times as she comes to terms with the anger in her lungs.
"Yeah... Yes, I'm okay. I'm just... I'm still angry at him. How about you, I mean, are you okay going to Octavia's party with him there?" Clarke twists on the bench to face Lexa and she watches Lexa's long eyelashes as they flutter shut a few times. Clarke has been drawing those countless of times as well.
'I'm not totally comfortable with him, but I want to be there for Octavia. I've got you, I'll be okay.' She writes.
"Are you sure?"
Lexa nods and steals another kiss from Clarke's lips. Because gravity.
"Okay." Clarke closes her eyes to drink in this moment. Ever since Lexa stole her sight at the concert hall Clarke has been doing this more often, closing her eyes to be more present in her own body. It helps her to understand her own emotions better.
She sighs heavily before texting Bellamy back.
Clarke:
There's nothing to talk about, Bellamy. Just show Lexa the respect she deserves and it won't get weird. I'll see you Saturday.
*
Saturday happens and it's weird, not a lot, but enough to make things awkward. Bellamy tries to act normally around Clarke and Lexa. He tries, at least. He's got Octavia, Raven and Anya all shooting him daggers the second he looks at Clarke for too long or the wrong way. It eventually gets so intense that he flees out on their balcony watching the sunset with a heavy heart.
He knows he has a tendency to speak before thinking things through which is exactly what got him in this mess. He knows Clarke doesn't return his feelings, he's known for years, and really, all he wants is for her to be happy, to be treated right. And he knows he didn't give Lexa the chance she deserves to prove herself worthy of Clarke's heart.
He questioned Clarke's judgment in an accusatory manner. Yeah, he fucked up royally this time.
Lexa is the only one noticing Bellamy fleeing out on to the balcony. There's a part of her that feels sorry for him because she can tell he's trying to make amends and Lexa believes in second chances, so she joins him on the balcony with her notebook ready.
'How about we start over?'
Bellamy looks her with wide eyes, clearly surprised to see Lexa of all people there.
And for the first time, Lexa sees the broken man that is Bellamy. It's like looking in a mirror, the pain that leaves you mute, even just for a moment.
Bellamy nods cautiously. He knows he doesn't deserve a second chance, but here it is and he won't take it for granted. He might be hot-headed at times, but he certainly isn't a fool.
Lexa holds up the next prepared message with a smile on her lips.
'I've heard many great things about you, Bellamy. It's nice to finally meet you.'
He chuckles as he reads the message and then looks up at her, his face drawn in the most humble of ways.
"Uh, thank you, Lexa. I'm sorry about the impression I gave you the last time. I honestly don't know what came over me and to be frank, I'm deeply ashamed about it because I'm usually not like that."
And Lexa believes him.
So she writes a new note.
'Apology accepted.'
"I don't think I deserve it that easily. I will make up for it, Lexa. I promise," he says.
And Lexa still believes him.
"So, Lexa, tell me, how did you and Clarke meet?"
Lexa spends the next half hour talking to Bellamy on the balcony. Lexa tells him about how she met Clarke and Bellamy tells her stories about his childhood growing up along Clarke and Raven and they realize that they share one great passion, classical music. Bellamy doesn't play any instrument himself, apart from a few bonfire classics on the guitar, but he loves and admires the art nonetheless.
Lexa thinks that maybe, if Clarke can forgive Bellamy, they could become friends too. She'd like that.
None of them notices how Clarke has been watching them through the balcony door. She saw Lexa sneak out onto the balcony earlier, she saw her iniate a conversation with Bellamy, and when she realized that Lexa had this under control she went back to celebrate Octavia with a tequila shot or two. When Anya started telling Raven stories about her childhood, stories including Lexa, she decided she was missing Lexa a bit too much which is the reason she's now back observing Lexa and Bellamy through the balcony door.
Clarke is absolutely awestruck.
This woman.
And then gravity happens.
Lexa's smile is bright and affectious and Clarke walks subconsciously through the balcony door and slides up next to Lexa, a hand on the small of her back and a kiss to her cheek.
"There you are," she breathes and Lexa glows.
"Clarke," Bellamy greets her with a humble nod and Clarke knows that he's made peace with Lexa and the fact that they're together, so she pulls him into a hug saying, "Thank you, Bellamy."
"No, Clarke. I'm sorry, I really am. I was just telling Lexa here that I'm going to make it up to you. Somehow. That's a promise. Now please excuse me, I've got a couple more individuals I need to apologize to. Lexa, it was nice talking to you," he says, his confident smile back in place for the first time tonight as he walks back inside.
Then Lexa snakes an arm around Clarke's waist pulling her gently into her as Clarke's arms find their home around Lexa's neck.
"I love you," Clarke murmurs against her lips before kissing her softly. "But I don't understand how you were able to stand out here for so long, it's freezing," she whines.
And under the starlit night sky Lexa chuckles and it melts Clarke's heart and the cold is forgotten as Lexa pulls her in even closer, rubbing her hands over her back to keep her warm.
*
They leave the party early.
Because Octavia is happily drunk on tequila shots and Lincoln says she won't remember anyways.
Because Clarke has plans for Lexa and she can't wait any longer.
Because gravity.
Back in her room, Clarke walks up behind Lexa. "Do you trust me?" she whispers close to her ear. Lexa nods, her throat dry with anticipation as Clarke runs a finger purposefully down Lexa's spine.
Clarke then pulls a blue silk from her pocket. "I found this the other day and thought we could finally put it to good use," she husks as she carefully blindfolds Lexa. She runs the palm of her hands from Lexa's shoulders down her back and around her waist pulling her softly closer until her lips are against her neck.
"I'm stealing your sight," she whispers playfully and Lexa smiles remembering that night at the concert hall.
Clarke takes a step back and Lexa frowns already missing Clarke's touch. Clarke slowly walks in front of Lexa and smiles when she sees Lexa pouting.
"Turn that frown upside down," Clarke whispers as she pulls her own shirt over her head.
If anything, Lexa has incredible hearing. She hears the shirt fall to the ground and she feels the smallest puff of air from the impact against her ankle. She hears Clarke unbuckle her belt and unzipping her jeans. Clarke watches Lexa's lips turn into a smile as she unclasps her bra because she knows Lexa can hear the snap and she wonders what kind of images Lexa has in her head right now. She leaves her panties on, those are for Lexa to deal with.
Clarke takes a step closer and begins the task of unbuttoning Lexa's shirt. Every button undone is a teasing kiss to Lexa's jaw, neck, collarbone, chest... and Lexa is blissfully paralyzed by the intensity. Clarke slides Lexa's jeans off with a kiss right below her navel. And once Lexa is freed from all her clothes, Clarke steps even closer and pulls her into a hug and they stand like that, hands on hips and lips on shoulders and eyes closed and beating hearts until Lexa picks Clarke up, Clarke gasping from the surprise as she wraps her legs around Lexa's waist and her arms around Lexa's shoulders.
"I hope you took notice of where the bed is, I'm not helping you." Clarke leans in to kiss Lexa, entangling fingers in her hair and Lexa smirks against her lips as she turns ninety degrees to the left, takes three confident steps and lowers Clarke effortlessly to the bed as if Clarke was weightless, as if she'd done this a million times before.
And then gravity again.
Lexa lowers her head to leave a kiss on Clarke's scar above her heart and this she has done a million times, at least it feels like it, and it leaves Clarke breathless every time.
It's inevitable.
There are infinite stars dancing on the clear sky tonight and although Lexa is blindfolded, she sees them all behind her eyelids as she melts into Clarke. Lips on skin, lips on lips, skin against skin. She feels them burn in her veins as Clarke gasps underneath her. It's a sound that vibrates through her body and she aches to hear it again. Always.
"I was... You were... Damn it, Lexa!" Clarke whines breathlessly because the plan was to seduce Lexa, not the other way around, but when Lexa kisses her like that she only knows how to obey whatever Lexa commands.
Because gravity.
Lexa smiles against her hipbone as she hooks a finger around the hem of her panties, before she helps Clarke see the stars too.