A Soccer Love Story

@OctaviaBlake: Training with @LexaWoods today! She has agreed to treat me to breakfast if I beat her in sprints. Wish me luck, folks. #OperationFreeWaffles

@OctaviaBlake: Update on #OperationFreeWaffles: @LexaWoods is still faster than me, and I’m still hungry. #ineedfood

@LexaWoods: You’re never getting those free waffles, friend. But it was quite the valiant effort. #nowgetbacktotraining

@ClarkeGriffin: @OctaviaBlake @LexaWoods Come home! @RavenReyes said she’ll make us waffles!

@RavenReyes: @ClarkeGriffin @OctaviaBlake @LexaWoods I said no such thing! You sit on a throne of lies, Griffin!

@ClarkeGriffin: @OctaviaBlake @RavenReyes @LexaWoods need I remind you who the current holder of The Cape is?

@RavenReyes: @ClarkeGriffin @OctaviaBlake @LexaWoods GLOAT ALL YOU WANT CLARKE BUT THE CAPE WILL SOON BE MINE

@LexaWoods: @OctaviaBlake @RavenReyes @ClarkeGriffin …The Cape?

@OctaviaBlake: @LexaWoods @RavenReyes @ClarkeGriffin we’ll explain later. So…there will be waffles when I get home, right?

* *

“Ready? Last one. Three, two, one!”

Lexa took off, sprinting hard across the pitch. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Octavia was even with her, and she kicked it up one more notch, beating Octavia over the sideline by a few steps.

“Whew!” Octavia said, flopping onto the ground.

Lexa straightened up and put her arms above her head, catching her breath as Octavia sat up, grabbing her water and taking a drink. “I almost got you on that last one,” she said, grinning. “Next time for sure.”

Lexa snorted. “Good luck with that,” she responded, though she was grinning.

She found Octavia’s work ethic refreshing—the young forward had the same type of drive that she saw in herself when she had first been called up, wanting to prove that she belonged with the senior national team. It was the third time they had met to workout, and Lexa found that Octavia was a great workout partner. She was also coachable, which is something Lexa was thankful for—too often younger players would nod their head, but refused to turn words into action. Octavia knew how to receive constructive criticism, and she wasn’t afraid to ask questions when she had one.

“Good job today,” Lexa said, vocalizing her happiness at the potential Octavia showed. “If you continue to work hard you have a good shot at the Olympic roster.”

“You think?” Octavia asked happily. She wiped her face on her shirt before untying her laces. “God, I hope so. That would be a dream come true.”

Lexa nodded her head, sitting down to take off her boots. “Just keep working hard, and good things will come,” she said, pulling on her sweater.

“I really appreciate you working with me,” Octavia continued. “What else have you been up to during the break?”

Lexa shrugged, standing up and throwing the soccer ball up into the air, catching it on her foot before starting to juggle. “Not much. Just spending time with my grandparents,” she said. She frowned slightly. “My grandma made me paint their kitchen.”

Octavia laughed, standing up and putting her jacket on. “Well if you feel like hanging out with people your age, you’re welcome to swing by my place,” she said. “Actually, you should come over! Clarke is making Raven make waffles.”

Lexa’s heart jumped at Clarke’s name.

She had been in Seattle for a few days now, and Lexa wasn’t sure how to go about making concrete plans after the vague “Let’s get together sometime” she and Clarke had agreed to the last time they had talked. Since then she hadn’t been able to get the doctor off of her mind, and being in the same city certainly didn’t help.

Lexa frowned, thinking about her schedule for the day. “I actually told my grandma that I’d take her shopping after my workout,” she said regretfully.

“Well you should swing by for dinner then!” Octavia continued. “It’s Clarke’s turn to cook.”

“I—” Lexa started, pausing. She knew she wanted to go but—she was nervous.

She got along with Octavia really well (which surprised her at first, because yes, she was best friends with her teammates, but Octavia was relatively new and it usually took awhile for Lexa to shed her Commander façade in front of new people until she was sure she could be comfortable around them), and Raven had always been nice to Lexa (minus the sarcasm, but Lexa appreciated it because it matched her dry wit well). But her reluctance to admit her crush meant that she hadn’t really spent any time with Clarke.

And so she was nervous.

The only thing she knew about Clarke so far are what other people have told her (after the whole twitter exchange that wasn’t really an exchange and more of a brief interaction where her name was mentioned, she had gotten a text from Ashlyn reminding her that Clarke loves dogs, which turned into an hour long phone conversation with the goal keeper’s daughter about possible dog names and because Lexa was completely whipped by Hallie Blaire Harris-Krieger, she enthusiastically debated the merits of naming a dog Stitch versus Simba, and another from Alex letting Lexa know that Clarke had updated her favorite movie list to include the Star Wars trilogy, and Anya had asked if she had woman’ed up and asked the doctor out yet, which what the hell, how could her teammates be simultaneously the best and the worst she would never know), and while they were little tidbits and details, Lexa still doesn’t know Clarke.

It was time that changed.

She took another deep breath. “I would really like to join you guys for dinner, actually,” Lexa said, and smiled as Octavia’s face broke out into a wide grin.

“Great! I’ll text you the address,” Octavia said happily. “Now come over here and take a selfie with me. The twitterverse has demanded proof that we’re actually friends.”

Lexa rolled her eyes, but begrudgingly scooted closer to Octavia. While she wasn’t super active on social media, she knew that it played a large role in allowing her and the rest of her teammates connect with the fans. Lexa had gained a bunch of followers on her twitter and instagram since she had rocketed to stardom after her first Olympics, and her agent was always encouraging her to post more once her follower count had reached one million. It’s not that she didn’t like it—Lexa did love how the platform allowed her to interact with her fans, it’s just that she had a tendency to forget to post anything in the moment.

“Smile!” Octavia said as she slung her arm over Lexa’s shoulders and pulled her closer. Lexa put on her best Commander face, a stoic look as she stared down the camera until the telltale signs of the camera click went off.

“Oh my god, why does this picture represent us perfectly?” Octavia asked, and laughed before typing on her phone. “Alright, I’ll text you the address. See you later tonight!” Octavia said, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

She smiled and waved, and Lexa returned it. She gathered the rest of her stuff as Octavia walked towards the parking lot to her car, before heading to the parking lot herself and getting in her car.

Lexa unlocked her phone and opened her instagram, seeing that Octavia’s picture already had over 100 likes. It featured a grinning Octavia and a stoic looking Lexa, and the caption made her laugh, thankful once again how well she got along with her teammates.

@OctaviaBlake: She loves me. Workout days with @LexaWoods are my favorite kinds of days! #workhardplayhard #newfriends

She smiled and shook her head, liking the picture before putting her phone back in her bag and starting her car to head back to her grandparent’s house.

She hummed along to the song on the radio, thinking about her next move to get to know Clarke better. She just needed to remember that Clarke was just a person (with a perfect smile and beautiful eyes and hair that shined in the sun and gave Lexa butterflies and was super smart and also liked soccer which was just a really wonderful bonus and holy crap Lexa had a crush on this girl), and she had successfully interacted with people before, obviously.

The last time Lexa talked to her cousin, Anya had (not so helpfully) pointed out that Lexa had already made a fool of herself in front of the doctor before, so things could only go up from here. And while that made Lexa groan at the thought of her first encounter with Clarke, she realized that Anya had a point. She just needed to be herself. So she didn’t know how to act now that she had a crush—so what? Lexa wanted Clarke to get to know the real Lexa, anyways.

She didn’t want Clarke to think the Commander was all she was—Lexa and the Commander overlapped, but (as her teammates pointed out) the former was a dork who had Disney marathons with her teammates’ kids and liked to lounge around the house in her pajama pants and glasses, and the latter commanded the field with a strong presence and accuracy, taking the fight to the opponents and picking apart their defenses with precision.

Lexa pulled into her grandparent’s driveway, letting out a sigh. Maybe doing some work for her grandparents would help her calm down and not stress about the impending dinner (it was just dinner, and it wasn’t even a one-on-one thing, and she was already friends with Octavia and Raven so she wasn’t sure why she was nervous but that was a lie because it’s been awhile since she attempted to make new friends).

Since she was 18-years-old, her best friends had all been on the national team with her. With all of the fame and lack of privacy that came with being one of the faces of National Team, Lexa hadn’t really ventured out of her comfort zone of her teammates and her cousin in terms of friends. And these were people she spent more time with than anyone—Lexa felt like she had to relearn how to interact with people outside of her soccer family, and that was the main source of her nerves. Most of her teammates’ successful romantic relationships happened before they were called up to the national team (or their teammates fell in love with one another because they did have an unusual amount of couples on their team but it was fine because Lexa thought their families were literally the cutest and her most favorite families to spend time with), and so Lexa didn’t really have an example to look to in terms of how she should go about doing this.

She jumped in her seat as she heard a tap on her car window, startling her out of her thoughts (which was just as well, because she was getting way ahead of herself and it was literally just dinner she was going to with a few friends).

“What are you doing, child?” her grandma asked, peering down at her through the window. “Get inside the house. Your grandpa made cookies.”

Lexa grinned, unbuckling her seat and opening the door as her grandma stepped back, following the older woman into the house. She closed the door behind them, the scent of cookies wafting from the kitchen. Lexa took in the pictures along the walls, as she always did—pictures of herself and her cousins, her parents and aunts and uncles. She entered the kitchen, and her eyes automatically settled on the fridge, the one that was overflowing with clippings of articles and magazines and pictures of Lexa and Anya and their soccer journey. There was the picture from Lexa’s first ever soccer game at the mere age of five, the one of her during her middle school years, and her first varsity game her freshman year, Anya and Lexa standing arm in arm in their UNC jerseys, receiving their Olympic medals, and another of Lexa standing on the podium, hoisting the World Cup trophy, medal around her neck.

It was clear that Lexa’s grandparents were her biggest fans.

She turned her attention back to the stove, where her grandma was scolding her grandpa about something, though there was a hint of a smile on her grandma’s face and her grandpa had a wide grin on his. The scene made Lexa grin as well—it was a familiar sight, watching her grandparent’s in the kitchen, bickering lightly over something.

While Lexa’s grandparents were her biggest fans, Indra and Gustus Woods were Lexa’s favorite people in the world (though if Anya asked, Lexa would always say it was her cousin).

Her grandmother was a formidable woman—a no-nonsense, unusually strong for a 70-year-old, most badass woman Lexa had ever known (she had once called her grandma while she was away at camp and Indra had casually dropped that someone tried to mug her earlier in the day, and before Lexa could freak out and run as fast as she could to find Anya, her grandma had then mentioned that the mugger was currently in the hospital from the injuries he sustained once Indra unleashed what she had learned at the karate class she was taking at the Y). Her grandma usually had a stoic look on her face that intimidated her neighbors and kept the kids off of her lawn, and frankly, her bite was as bad as her bark (see aforementioned story of mugger being hospitalized)—she was the original Commander, and Lexa made sure to credit her grandma Indra for the famous cool gaze that Lexa maintained on the field.

But Indra had always had a soft spot for Lexa (and Anya, and their cousin Lincoln, though the three of them often argued over who was the very favorite). The three of them visited most often, and it was perhaps Lexa’s most favorite place in the world besides the pitch. But her grandma shared the title of most favorite person with another—her grandpa, Gustus.

While Indra was the original Commander, all serious and strong, Gustus was basically a giant teddy bear. He was a large man, who always made Lexa feel simultaneously safe and small when he wrapped his arms around her. She was dwarfed by her grandpa, and had to look up when she talked to him, but he always had a smile on his face. Gustus was the first one she went to whenever she needed advice—the place she ran to when she had torn her ACL right before her freshman year at UNC, who she went to when Costia broke her heart, and the first one she celebrated with when she had gotten called up to the senior national team.

Her grandparents seemed like the exact opposites in personality, but Lexa knew that they loved each other—growing up, she loved spending the night at her grandparent’s house. It was filled with love and warmth and everything else Lexa cherished, and some of her best soccer memories happened in their backyard, kicking the ball with her grandpa, or the park ten minutes away, where her and Anya and Lincoln would go and she would take shots at Anya in the goal while Lincoln cheered them both on.

“Here you go, Alexandria,” Gustus said, turning around and holding a plate of cookies in his hand. “Take a cookie.”

“Take more than one cookie,” Indra added. “You’re too skinny.”

Lexa grinned, taking two off of the plate and biting into one.

“Your Gramps and I are going to bingo tonight,” her grandma continued. “I will leave you money for pizza.”

Lexa chuckled, shaking her head. Even at the age of 26, her grandmother was still trying to give her pizza money. “Nona, it’s ok, I have money,” she said. She hopped up onto the counter, leaning against the cabinets. “But I’m actually going to my friend Octavia’s house for dinner.”

“That new forward that scored against Brazil last game?” Gustus asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Lexa nodded her head, humming a bit as the chocolate melted in her mouth. Her grandpa was the best baker.

“I like her. She has spunk,” Indra said. “You’ve been training with her, yes?”

“Yeah,” Lexa confirmed. “And she invited me to have dinner with her and Raven, you know the team nutritionist? And the new team doctor, Clarke. I guess they’re best friends and grew up here, and they all came home during the break.”

“You’re close with these girls?” Indra asked, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and pouring Lexa some milk. She handed her the cup and Lexa dutifully drank from the glass.

“Well we’re new friends,” Lexa continued after washing her cookies down with the milk. “Raven I sort of knew before, and she’s always been friendly. And Clarke seems to know her soccer. And they’re all really nice.” She sighed, and her grandpa handed her another cookie. “Clarke especially. There was this moment after the game when Kellan—you know, Alex and Tobin’s little girl? She fell down and I thought I was about to have a crying toddler on my hands, but then Clarke came out of nowhere and patched her up and gave her a lollipop. It was really sweet.”

She finished her milk and looked back up at her grandparents, who were staring at her. “What?” she asked, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

“You like this Clarke girl,” Indra said bluntly.

“What? What makes you—”

“Your eyes lit up and you’re telling us about her even though we never asked,” Gustus pointed out.

“I don’t—”

“I need to meet this girl if you’re going to date her,” Indra continued, and Lexa felt a blush cover her cheeks as she scowled at her grandpa, who was stifling his laughter behind her grandmother.

“Nona, I’m not dating her,” Lexa said quickly.

“But you want to,” Gustus teased, this time chuckling.

Lexa scowled again.

“Take me to the grocery store now,” Indra said, standing up. “You can tell me more about Clarke on the way there.” She walked out of the kitchen, and Lexa heard her grandma gathering her jacket and keys.

“There’s nothing—” Lexa began, slapping her grandpa lightly on the arm.

“Now, Alexandria!” her grandmother said, cutting her off.

With a sigh, Lexa stuck her tongue out at her grandpa and grabbed her jacket and car keys and followed her grandma outside, opening the passenger door for her before closing it and walking around the car to slide into her own seat.

“So, what kind of doctor is Clarke?” Indra asked, and Lexa took a minute to let her head hit her steering wheel.

It was going to be a long few hours before dinner.

* *

“You look stupid.”

“You’re only saying that because it’s mine this month.”

“You won on a technicality.”

“I straight up beat you.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

“I’ll—”

“Honey, I’m home!”

Clarke and Raven stopped their bickering and looked up to see Octavia enter the house, training gear still on and a bag slung over her shoulder. The soccer player paused at the threshold of the kitchen, taking in the sight before her.

Clarke was currently standing with her hands on her hip, a blue and gold cape fastened around her neck and tumbling down her back. Raven had a scowl on her face, arms crossed as she gripped a spatula in her hand. The two were hanging out at the Blake’s house while Abby was doing an overnight shift at the hospital and Aurora had work before going to Bellamy’s for dinner.

Octavia let her bag drop to the ground before entering the room. “Why is the cape out? What are you making Raven do now?”

“The waffles!” Clarke exclaimed. “She’s being difficult.”

“I curse the day we thought of The Cape,” Raven scowled.

“You’re only saying that because you don’t have it this month,” Octavia pointed out, grabbing one of the strawberries from the cutting board in front of Clarke and popping it into her mouth.

“Stupid cape,” Raven grumbled, turning back to her waffle batter.

Ahh, The Cape.

A wonderful concept—or so they thought when they first came up with it.

It started back in their freshman year of college, when the three of them couldn’t decide what movies to watch during their marathon movie night. They argued well into the night (and that’s not an exaggeration because movie night was serious business, and one wrong movie choice could really make or break the rest of the night) until finally Octavia suggested that they have a dart competition with the board hanging on their dorm door. The winner got to pick the movie, and because the three of them were competitive little shits, the winner would get to pick the movie for every movie marathon they held that month.

Raven had scoffed at the idea, knowing she was the worst at darts—until Clarke had pulled out a blanket from under her bed and silently sat down, grabbing her scissors and cutting the edges. She went to her closet and pulled out a pair of overalls, cut the clasps off of them, and rummaged through her desk, pulling out a thread and needle and quickly sewed the clasps onto the ends of the blanket. When she was finally finished, she held up the blanket, announced that the winner would get it and wear it around their shoulders like a cape, which signified the holder’s dominance over the other two for a month. The other two’s eyes widened at the prospect of that (and because all of their childhood dreams consisted of being a superhero who wears a cape so hell yes they were going to compete).

And thus, The Cape was born.

Was it a weird tradition?

Sort of.

Was it slightly ridiculous that three grown women wore a cape every once in a while?

Well frankly—yes.

But it was tradition nonetheless, and so a new kind of competition occurred every other month, with the winner taking home The Cape. Over the years, new rules had been added in order to provide guidelines for the holder of The Cape (after a power trip by Raven where Clarke was forced to do her biology homework for an entire month) once the three decided there would be limitations to its power.

Unfortunately for Raven, making breakfast for the other two was not on the restrictions list.

Which is why Raven was currently in the kitchen making waffles while Clarke and Octavia happily waited at the breakfast bar.

“Oh, don’t complain Raven,” Clarke said happily. “I told you I would make fish tacos for dinner tonight.”

“Don’t try to butter me up by cooking my favorite, Griffin,” Raven scowled, though there was a hint of a smile on her face as she poured the batter into the waffle maker.

Clarke smiled and turned to Octavia, who was happily eating more fruit as she listened to her two best friend’s banter.

“How was your workout, O?” Clarke asked, reaching for a strawberry.

“Good,” Octavia replied, humming slightly. “Oh, by the way. I invited Lexa over for dinner so you should probably make more tacos than usual.”

Clarke suddenly started coughing, choking on the strawberry she had just put in her mouth. Octavia whacked her on the back a few times, dislodging the fruit and Raven was suddenly next to them, putting a glass of water in Clarke’s hand.

“Jesus, Clarke! Are you ok?” Raven asked, concerned. Octavia had switched from hitting Clarke on the back to rubbing circles, and Clarke just nodded, her eyes watering.

“Sorry,” Clarke gasped slightly after she had taken a few gulps of water. “Did you just say Lexa was coming to dinner?”

Octavia raised an eyebrow, turning to share a look with Raven. “Yes…” she replied slowly.

“Here? Tonight?” Clarke asked.

“For fish tacos,” Octavia confirmed.

“Lexa is come here tonight to eat fish tacos? With us?” Clarke asked.

Raven sighed and turned Clarke’s stool until she was facing her and placed her hands on Clarke’s shoulders. “Griffin, pull yourself together. Lexa is coming here tonight to eat your bomb ass fish tacos. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Wha—no! No,” Clarke said hurriedly, taking another few gulps of her water. “I was just—it just surprised me. But it’s—I’m—it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Octavia asked, a smirk on her face. “Because you sort of just majorly spazzed out when I told you.”

“Like literally choked on your food,” Raven added.

Clarke scowled at her two best friends, shooing Raven away as the other girl returned to the waffle maker. Octavia gave a slight laugh before turning her attention back to the cutting board, popping another strawberry into her mouth.

Lexa was coming over for dinner.

Here.

For dinner.

For…fish tacos?

Clarke hadn’t talked to Lexa since their encounter on the last day of camp, when Lexa had asked her to get together sometime for coffee. Since then, Clarke had convinced herself that Lexa asking to hang out wasn’t the same as Lexa asking Clarke on a date (despite her friends and her mom and Mama B teasing her that it was a hint at a date)—the other girl was probably just being friendly, and trying to reach out and get to know the new team doctor as her other teammates seemed to have taken the initiative of doing. Clarke would say it was embarrassing at how eagerly she jumped at the chance to get to know more about Lexa, but all she could really think about was how excited she was.

In the short time she had known the star soccer player since their first meeting a few weeks ago, Clarke felt like she had seen a bunch of different sides to Lexa and she was really looking forward to learning more.

She had seen the stoic and straight faced Commander, who controlled the pace of the game and helped crank out a win against Brazil.

She had seen the teasing and smirking Lexa, who appeared when surrounded by her teammates.

She had seen the unabridged joy and childlike behavior of Auntie Lexa, who allowed herself to be scored on by five-year-olds and lost in a race against a seven-year-old, laughing and shrieking along with the children the whole time.

She had also seem the clumsy, cute Lexa who tripped over her own two feet and cursed at the floor.

Clarke couldn’t help but wonder what else she would see when Lexa was actually willing to open up and offer information about herself.

Frankly, Clarke couldn’t wait.

“Raven and I will go grocery shopping after we finish breakfast then,” Clarke said.

Octavia grinned and nodded. “Fish tacos,” she said happily.

Clarke just shook her head.

“Here you go, loves,” Raven said in an exaggerated posh accent. She placed a plate piled high with waffles in front of Clarke and one in front of Octavia, before hopping up onto the breakfast bar and grabbing her own plate.

“Raven, I love you so much and I want to marry you,” Octavia said, grinning before cutting into her waffle and taking a large bite.

Clarke laughed, shaking her head before pouring syrup on her stack and taking a bite. “Ugh, no. Raven, I love you more and you should marry me,” Clarke groaned, taking another bite of her waffles.

Raven just winked at the two of them before happily digging into her own stack, as Octavia continued to fill them in on her morning workout.

* *

“How about this?” Raven asked, holding up a can of ravioli.

Clarke shook her head, looking at the item Raven was holding in her hand. The two of them were at the grocery store getting ingredients for their dinner, and it was taking twice as long as it normally would because Raven kept insisting on adding things to the cart (but Clarke, I need this mac and cheese, they’re literally shaped like rocket ships and I am an actual rocket scientist, to which Clarke scoffed and said Raven worked as a nutritionist, to which Raven argued that it didn’t negate the aerospace engineering degree she had tucked in her back pocket and the multiple offers from NASA she’d been fielding, so Clarke threw the mac and cheese into their cart) even though Clarke reminded Raven that they had already done grocery shopping a few days earlier and were only there to get stuff for the fish tacos.

“So are you nervous?”

“Hmm?” Clarke hummed, scanning the aisle for tortillas.

“Are you nervous about the Commander coming over tonight?” Raven asked again.

Clarke grabbed the tortillas from the shelf and moved on to the produce section, looking for cabbage.

“Kind of,” she responded as Raven followed behind her. “More excited than nervous though.” Clarke paused, scanning the vegetables. “There’s just…there’s something about her, you know? Something that draws me to her.”

“It’s those eyes,” Raven said, grabbing a couple of apples and putting them in the cart.

“Oh my god, those green eyes,” Clarke agreed, pushing their cart around the corner.

“And the legs?”

“Those soccer shorts…they just do her legs so much justice,” Clarke groaned. “But it’s not just that she’s freaking gorgeous.” She sighed, stopping in front of the drinks and grabbing some beers and sodas. “She’s sort of…adorable? Like, I get the feeling that she’s kind of a major dork.”

Raven snorted. “The Commander? A dork?”

Clarke shrugged. “I don’t know. She…” Clarke trailed off as she spotted an older woman trying to reach a bottle of juice on the top shelf. She quickly walked over until she was next to the woman. “Here, let me help you,” Clarke said, reaching up and grabbing the offered item.

The woman had a scowl on her face, though Clarke could see her eyes were shining. “Thank you,” she said. “Damn juice should be put in a more reachable place. This is my granddaughter’s favorite.”

Clarke smiled at the older woman. “That’s so nice of you.”

“She—”

“Nona! I couldn’t find the whole milk, but they did have two percent and I assume—Clarke,” a familiar voice said, rounding the corner and cutting off the older woman. Clarke took in Lexa’s appearance, eyes wide in surprise as she took in Clarke and the older woman standing next to one another. “Oh. Hi—umm, hi Clarke,” Lexa said, placing the milk in the older woman’s cart.

“This is your Clarke?” the older woman asked, looking between Clarke and Lexa.

Clarke looked to Lexa, seeing the soccer player’s ears turn a slight shade of pink, something that was becoming a somewhat familiar sight when it came to interactions between the two.

Lexa cleared her throat, before gesturing towards Clarke with her head. “Nona, this is Dr. Griffin, the new team doctor.” She saw the familiar smirk on Raven’s face as she stood behind Clarke. “This is Raven, the team’s nutritionist. Clarke, Raven, this is my grandmother, Indra.”

“Hi!” Clarke said, sticking her hand out. Indra smirked at Lexa, who could only look on as she recognized the mischievous glint in her grandmother’s eyes despite her mouth being in a straight line. And then Lexa was slapping a hand to her face and groaning as her grandmother looked at Clarke’s offered hand and promptly gave it a slap.

Clarke blinked, staring for a second.

Lexa’s grandma just high fived her.

And then Clarke couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing.

The corners of Indra’s mouth twitched up.

Raven was laughing so hard she was leaning on her cane.

Lexa groaned again, ducking her head slightly as if she could disappear behind the collar of her jacket.

Lexa was going to kill Anya (because she knows her cousin had something to do with this—she had probably told their grandmother about the high-fived handshake that same night while she was on the phone with Indra).

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Clarke said once she finally caught her breath.

Indra gave her a slight nod. “You as well, Dr. Griffin.”

Clarke waved her hand. “Please, call me Clarke,” she said.

Raven scoffed from next to her. “If I went to medical school for four years I would make everyone call me Doctor all the time. You earned that shit…take mushrooms,” she said, finishing her sentence sheepishly as she glanced at Lexa’s grandma. “Anyways, are you ready for fish tacos Lex?”

Lexa quirked her eyebrow at the shortening of her name from the other girl, but nonetheless felt slightly touched that Raven felt comfortable enough with her that she did. She nodded her head at Raven’s question.

“No—Lex,” Raven continued. “Are you ready for fish tacos?”

“I—yes?” Lexa answered. She looked at Clarke hoping to gain a clue about why Raven was being so intense, but found her in a conversation with her grandmother.

“—the most damage you could do—”

“—use my elbow to—”

Lexa quickly turned her attention back to Raven’s intense gaze, deciding she absolutely did not want to know what her grandmother was asking Clarke (probably about the effectiveness of something she learned in her karate class, and Lexa really didn’t want to get in the middle of that because her grandma would get these really intense eyes when she talked about the class and then insist on demonstrating, and Lexa had been forced to buy a new coffee table for her grandparents after Indra had broken their old one impressively with one strike).

“Yes, I’m ready for fish tacos,” Lexa confirmed.

“Good, because Clarke’s fish tacos are literally the best thing on this entire planet,” Raven said, leaning on her cane in order to lean closer to Lexa. “The secret is in the sauce. It’s a secret sauce.”

Lexa grinned. “Well now I’m really ready for dinner tonight,” she said.

“Atta’ girl,” Raven said, nodding her head decisively. The two turned back to where Indra was now thrusting her arm out in front of her while asking Clarke something, and Lexa definitely recognized the look in her grandma’s eyes and decided she should probably step in before something happened (like her grandma breaking the bottles of very expensive alcohol directly behind her with one misplaced back swing).

“Umm, excuse me?”

The small voice stopped Lexa before she could say something to her grandma, and it caught the attention of Clarke, Indra and Raven as well. She turned and saw a little girl about seven-years-old standing in front of her, wearing soccer shorts and a Lexa Woods jersey.

Lexa smiled and knelt down so she could look the little girl in the eyes. “Well hi there, sweetie,” she said.

“Are you Lexa Woods?” the girl asked softly, eyes widening when Lexa nodded her head yes. “Do you think—would it be ok—” The little girl cut off, turning behind her to look at who Lexa assumed was her mom. The mother nodded her head, giving her an encouraging smile. The little girl turned back towards Lexa and gave a shy smile. “May I please have your autograph?” she asked, holding out a sharpie.

Lexa smiled and took the offered pen. “Well of course, cutie! What’s your name?” she asked as the little girl turned around and Lexa uncapped the pen.

“Alex,” the little girl said.

“One of my best friend’s name is Alex!” Lexa said.

“Alex Morgan?” the little girl said excitedly. “She’s my other favorite!”

“She’s a good favorite to have,” Lexa said, nodding her head as she wrote out a message. “Do you play soccer, Alex?”

“Yeah! I had a game yesterday! I got to play in the middle!” Alex said excitedly.

“Wow! Midfielder?” Lexa exclaimed, signing her name. “That’s my position!”

“I want to be just like you!” Alex said, voice rising as she became more excited.

Lexa capped the pen, and the little girl turned back around. She handed Alex the pen and smiled again at her. “Well, keep working hard Alex, and pretty soon you’ll be a better soccer player than me!”

Alex gasped, before nodding her head rapidly. She lunged forward and wrapped her tiny arms around Lexa’s neck before waving and running back to her mom, chatting excitedly as the mom laughed and gave a wave and a nod at Lexa, who returned the gesture.

She stood up and turned back around, her face flushing slightly as she took in the look on her grandma’s face—it was one of pride, and a rare smile had made it’s way onto Indra’s face.

Clarke’s eyes were shining and a soft smile was on her face, and Raven was grinning at Lexa, shooting her a thumbs up.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly, fidgeting with her jacket zipper.

“No worries,” Raven said. She elbowed Clarke, knocking the blonde out of her staring.

“What? Right. Umm—right,” Clarke said hurriedly.

“Well…” Lexa stretched out. “Umm…I guess I’ll see you guys tonight?”

Clarke smiled at her, and Lexa’s heart did a little dance in her chest. “See you tonight,” she confirmed. “Indra, it was really nice to meet you,” Clarke continued. “If you need any other pointers on the best places to hit someone, just let me know.”

Lexa’s mouth dropped open, a horrified expression on her face as Indra just nodded and patted Clarke’s shoulder solemnly.

“See ya later, Commander,” Raven said, saluting Lexa. She turned and saluted Indra too. “Commander’s grandma.”

With that, the two of them continued on down the aisle, Clarke looking back only once to meet Lexa’s eyes.

“She is pretty,” Indra said. “And informative.”

Lexa simply smiled before commandeering the cart from her grandma, humming lightly as they made their way to the checkout line.

She was so ready for fish tacos (and Clarke).

* *

Lexa was so not ready.

“Anya!” Lexa yelled into her phone as soon as her cousin had answered. “What do I wear! What the hell do you wear to a casual hang that doesn’t include all soccer players? Can I just wear my standard sweats and a shirt? Is this a jean thing? A dress-y thing?”

She heard Anya sigh, before she heard light tapping coming from the other girl’s phone. “Anya!” she yelled again as her cousin still continued to be silent.

“Just wear some jeans and a shirt, Lexa,” Anya said finally.

“What if it’s a dress-y thing?” Lexa groaned.

“It’s not,” Anya said. “I just texted Octavia. Just wear jeans and a flannel. And stop being weird. You act like you’ve never had any social interactions before.”

Lexa sighed, and after another short pep talk from Anya (which really just consisted of Anya telling Lexa not to be weird again and to not do “that thing where you make a bunch of puns to break the silence, it’s not funny it’s mostly just sad”). She double checked the address Octavia sent her and put it in her navigation, and blinked as she realized that it was only a twenty minute drive from her grandparent’s house. Putting on her pump up playlist (and she’ll never admit to anyone that she needed to use her pump up playlist from game days to go to a dinner with new friends), she pulled out of the driveway, and was on her way.