Bellamy Blake knew all about the soulmates mirror rules since he was a child. They all had learned about it in school, although no one had really ever figured out how it had come to be. It simple was. The rules were simple.
First, both you and your soulmate had to be 18. Nothing would happen until both of you had reached that special number. Personally, Bellamy had been more excited about being able to buy his cigarettes without a fake ID than the prospect of his soulmate.
Second, you both had to be present in front of your respective mirrors in order to hear anything. As long as both you and your soulmate were looking into your mirrors, you could talk to each other. Otherwise, your mirror would simply flash between your own reflection, and the reflection of their mirror.
Third, and most horribly in Bellamy's opinion, it had to be your bathroom mirror. Why, oh why did it have to be a bathroom mirror? He didn't have a clue.
But he did, however, know the rules of soulmate mirrors. Therefore, he really didn't need his little sister going on and on about it right now. Honestly he was trying to eat breakfast before he had to rush to work.
He should cut her some slack though, she did just see her soulmate for the first time.
"Oh my god Bell, he's perfect! He loves to draw, and he's a personal trainer! And he's got these eyes that you just get lost in!" Octavia squealed.
"If I ever get lost in his eyes please just kill me." Bellamy teased, trying to walk past his over excited sister.
"Bell! Focus! As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I just walked in this morning and there he was! He saw me and was like 'Eight years but worth the wait!' Isn't that just the sweetest?" Octavia whole body was radiating joy, as she practically danced from one foot to the other in their kitchen.
Secretly, Bellamy had never been so happy that soulmate mirror existed. If you asked him, Octavia deserved every good thing this world could offer. He hadn't been able to give her everything growing up, even less after their mother passed. He had been dreading her 18th birthday. Worried that she might wake up to an empty mirror, like so many horror stories you heard.
The system wasn't perfect, some people had soulmate and some didn't. Some people's mirrors never changed from their own reflection. Even worse some people could see and hear their soulmate, but would start to talk to them only to realize that their soulmate couldn't even see them. An unrequited match. The thought of that happening to his baby sister had filled him with dread.
He didn't have to worry now though. Now she had Lincoln.
"Wait," Bellamy said interrupting Octavia's description of the color of Lincoln's bathroom walls. "Eight years? How old is this guy?"
"26, duh. That's what 18 plus 8 is." Octavia teased, about to launch back into her gushing.
"What is all the noise?" Bellamy silently thanked any gods that might be listening. Clarke had just walked in, effectively freeing Bellamy from what he was sure was going to be a 20 minuet lecture on why Lincoln's shower curtain was superior to all the rest.
"Clarke! I met him! I met him!" With that, Octavia drug Clarke to the living room sofa to tell her all the details that Bellamy had no real desire to hear again. He managed to slip passed the talking girls to the front door of the apartment. Seeing the smile on his sister's face though, that put one on his.
Bellamy made it to police station in record time that day. And when his coworkers asked why, telling them that Octavia had seen her soulmate that morning was enough of an answer as to why he needed to leave the apartment.
It had stopped being "his" apartment the day his mother had died. It then became "their" apartment. His and Octavia's. There little castle among the ruin that was left of their lives. He stopped referring to it as "their" apartment two months after Clarke's father had died.
He still remembered everything about that day. He had promised Octavia that he would drive her over to her best friend's house for a sleep over. Octavia had just turned 15 and she wanted to celebrate with Clarke. Bellamy had only briefly met his sister's best friend before that day. Most only seen her in passing picking up Octavia from school. He remembered pulling up to the large house that Dr. Abigail Griffin had called home. He remembered how the rain was powering down in sheets and the gray overcast sky hung heavy. Mostly though, he remembered watching tears pour down Clarke's cheeks as she screamed at her mother. As she begged her to say something. Anything. But she didn't. Whatever had happened that day, the day that Jake had died in the crash, had broken Abigail. Bellamy always thought she had blamed herself, and hearing Clarke that day, yelling for a mother who wouldn't answer, he knew some small part of her blamed her too.
Not that Clarke would ever say such as thing. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone. But Abigail was the one driving, and that seemed to be enough.
It was then that Clarke left that large house. That she left Abigail. They had all thought that she would call. That she would demand Clarke come home from Octavia's and Bellamy's. But two weeks passed. And then five months. After a year they stopped waiting. Abigail was never coming to get her daughter. And in Bellamy's mind it became "the" apartment.
In a way, it was their rescue, their salvation. It was Bellamy's first place after leaving home and going to school. It was cheap and affordable with the two roommates he had. Jasper had left when Octavia moved in, preferring to move in with his new girlfriends Maya. Monty had moved out slightly before Clarke came. He was worried for a minute, money got tighter when Jasper had left, and now that Monty had moved in with Miller he knew that he needed a better paying job. Lucky enough, he got hired a couple weeks into Clarke's stay at the police station.
"Blake." A sarcastic voice reached his ears. "What have we mere peasants done to be granted the presence of the King so early in the morning?" Murphy was an asshole, personally Bellamy couldn't barely tolerate him.
"Murphy." Bellamy grunted back, looking over the latest case that his boss, Officer Kane had left on his desk.
"That's not much of an answer." Murphy snorted, seating himself in his own desk beside Bellamy's.
"My sister just saw her soulmate for the first time." He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't give up until he got his answer.
"And you ran out of the house and left the princess to deal with it? Not very royal like." And there is was. The only reason that Bellamy had demanded to have his partner switched to someone other than the sass sitting next to him. Clarke.
For reasons Bellamy couldn't quite understand, Clarke and Murphy adored each other. Murphy had taken an instant shire to the younger girl when she had come in to the station with Octavia a year or so back. By the end of the day Murphy had taken to using Bellamy's nickname for Clarke, and Clarke had declared him her honorary older brother for life. The two threw sassy comments back and forth but never seemed to actually argue. Bellamy still couldn't understand why those two had become the friends they were.
"Clarke is much better equipped to deal with meeting soulmates than me." Bellamy argued.
"My my has our dear King still not seen the one? Well you're certainly going to have an age gap aren't you?" Murphy smirked.
"Not as big as Octavia's" Bellamy grumbled to himself.
"What? Oh that must be driving you crazy. How much older is he?" Murphy seemed delighted by Bellamy's strife.
"He's 26." Okay even Bellamy had to admit he probably didn't hate this guy as much as he claimed to if he was willing to tell him all of this. Or maybe he just wanted someone to complain to.
Murphy was dying laughing.
"Shut up." Bellamy grumbled again.
"Never."
Clarke was going to kill him. She knew that Bellamy didn't have to be to work for another hour and a half. The little shit had run the first second he could and now she was trapped. Octavia was so happy though, and Clarke couldn't begrudge that for long.
"Clarke he's just so perfect!" Octavia sighed happily.
"Well isn't he supposed to be? He is your soulmate after all." Clarke laughed.
"Yeah, I guess so." Octavia said, joining her laughing. "I'm just so freaking happy I finally met him! I mean, I was terrified that I would wake up and see someone and they couldn't see me. Or not see anyone at all!"
Clarke's smile faltered for a moment before she plastered it back on. She wasn't quite quick enough though.
"Oh, Clarke, I'm- I'm sorry. That's not what I meant." Octavia said quickly, hoping to erase her last sentence.
"It's fine." Clarke said just as quickly.
"Your soulmates probably just younger than you." Octavia offered.
"You're probably right." Clarke said for a peace offering. "Now why exactly is his shower curtain the best?" Clarke asked hoping to distract her. It worked, and Octavia launched back into her hyper mode.
Clarke knew deep down she was wrong though. He father had always said that she had been born an old soul. She knew that she would never actually feel happy with someone younger than herself. She had spent the first 15 years of her life chasing after her father, trying to stop him from doing one crazy thing after the next. When he died, she spent the next two months taking care of her mother. Slowly trying to put the broken woman back together. But she had been broken to. Her father had died and her heart had shattered. She wasn't strong enough to hold herself and her mother together. And eventually she crumbled. She cried and begged and screamed for her mother. For the woman that was supposed to be taking care of her child who had just lost a parent. She wasn't supposed to take away Clarke's last bit of family. She was supposed to be strong. Be there. But she wasn't. And Clarke was tired of taking care of everyone else.
Her first couple days at Octavia were like she had never imagined. Octavia tried to be bubbly and supportive of Clarke. She had helped her feel better. It was Bellamy though, that surprised Clarke the most. Although he shouldn't have. Clarke knew that he had been taking care of Octavia his whole life, it shouldn't have been such a shock that he would pull her into his protection to. But it did, and for the first time in her life Clarke had someone that put her first. That looked out for her and took care of her. And a large part of her loved him for it.
Not that she would ever tell him that. No, she was going away to university soon. And besides, Bellamy probably had a soulmate about to turn 18 for him. Unlike Clarke. She was okay with that though. At least that's what she told herself.
It was late when Bellamy finally got home from his shift. He wandered slowly into his bedroom to collect his clothes before walking into the bathroom. While the apartment was nice, and held three bedrooms, it only had one bathroom. A fact which he was sure would hinder his schedule once Octavia started using it more as a cell phone to her soulmate than an actual bathroom.
Setting his clothes on the counter, Bellamy looked into the mirror. He studied his reflection. Maybe Murphy was wrong. May be he wasn't going to have an age gap between his soulmate and himself. Maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe he just didn't have a soulmate. He tried to shake the thought.
It wasn't that he felt he really needed one per say. He had Octavia. He had a great job. He had friends. He had Clarke. His younger sister's funny, beautiful, and amazing best friend who would probably wake up tomorrow or next week and see her soulmate starring back at her from this very mirror. She would smile that glowing smile of hers just like Octavia had. And he would be happy for her. Just like he was for his sister. Maybe not just as happy, and small voice in his head told him. He promptly ignored it. Quickly changing and brushing his teeth before fleeing the bathroom.
Octavia moved in with Lincoln at the end of the summer. Bellamy was against it, but in the end Clarke reminded him that Lincoln's apartment was closer to the college campus anyway. And at least Octavia would have someone looking out for her. Not that Clarke would. No she moved into campus housing a week after helping Octavia move. The only difference was that Bellamy left her room the way it was. He knew Octavia wasn't going to be moving back. The title "their" would never again be applied to this apartment. She was with her soulmate now.
He had Clarke help him paint her old room, and turned it into a library/study. He found several old book cases and a nice desk. He even found a nice easel to set up in the corner by the window. When Clarke saw it and asked him about it, he merely shrugged and said that she was going to need somewhere to stay during holidays and summer break. Her smile told him that maybe there was a new "their" label in this apartment's future.
It was the day after he drove Clarke to her dorm room that he decided to paint the bathroom. Lavender was a fine color when two thirds of the apartment was run by his girls, but he needed something new. Instead, he pick a nice shade of green and went with it. It was only after he had painted that he realized just how strange his shower curtain looked with the new walls. It was an old curtain anyway. It had most certainly seen better days, so he picked up a new one on the way home from work.
Bellamy nearly had a heart attack the first time it happened. He had just stumbled out of bed in the morning and into the bathroom when his mirror flashed. All he had seen was her hand, switching off the bathroom light. Clearly he had just walked in as she had been walking out.
He called Octavia, but by the time she had picked up he had convinced himself that it had been too fast. It was just a trick of the light. So he didn't tell her about the mirror, and simple said he just wanted to check in with her.
He was positive when it happened the next time. He had seen her leg as she disappeared in the other direction. He realized she must have a separate shower area from her actual bathroom when he heard a door close right before his mirror flashed back to his own reflection.
The next several months seemed to go by in much of the same fashion. He would catch a glimpse of her, and his mirror would flash back. It was quite frustrating. He was never fast enough to call out before the mirror slammed back. He wondered if he wasn't fast enough on purpose. He had a soulmate. She was real. He could see glimpses of her, such as her long blonde hair flashing by, or a pale handing tossing a hairbrush into the bathroom before disappearing again. He could also hear her. He heard quite humming as the door to the shower closed. He heard the thump of the hairdryer as it fell from the hook she had placed it on. He could see and hear all of this. But there was no guarantee that she could say the same.
He wondered late at night if she had ever caught flashes of him. He wondered if she ever sat in front of her mirror like him. Hoping that she would realize she forgot something and come back. And eventually giving up because he had to go to work. He also wondered what she was like.
Was she fiery like his little sister? Was she a sass like Murphy? May be she was a science nerd like Monty? Or maybe just a geek like Jasper? Was she smart like Clarke? Did she radiate warmth into every room the way the young blonde did? Did she want a soulmate? Did he?
Every glimpse he caught of her brought up that question in the next few months. Every time he saw a flash of golden hair he wondered if it actually looked that much like Clarke's or if his random phone calls back and forth with Clarke were clouding his brain.
Something changed the day Clarke came home. He no longer caught glimpses of her. He didn't hear the sound of her running shower before her pale leg disappeared. He was worried. But he was also preoccupied. Clarke was home, and he was happy. They had dinner every night, and he has to share his bathroom again. He wondered if Clarke using his bathroom had completely thrown off any chance Bellamy had of seeing her. But seeing Clarke step out of the bathroom, wet hair dripping on his hardwood floors, he found he didn't actually mind much.
The answer to his question hit Bellamy when he dropped Clarke off at her dorm after Christmas break with her and Octavia. No, he didn't want a soulmate. He wanted Clarke.
He stopped waiting to see his soulmate. He stopped hanging around after she had left the room. In fact, he was avoiding his bathroom all together. Only showering in the middle of the night, and being out for the majority of the day.
The thought crossed his mind that he was being ridicules. This was his soulmate. A perfect match. He would finally be happy the way he saw Octavia be happy with Lincoln, who despite their age difference, Bellamy had grown to like. The thought of loving someone else instead of Clarke though, that made him sick to his stomach. So he avoided his bathroom as much as possible.
He made sure to keep in touch with both Clarke and Octavia, sure that if Clarke suddenly saw her soulmate in the mirror his sister would be the first to know. He found out from Lincoln that Octavia had told him that Clarke didn't belief she had a soulmate. He knew she was wrong. The universe wouldn't make this system and then not give Clarke Griffin a soulmate. Nothing was so cruel. Not after everything she had been through.
It was that thought that made him return to his bathroom. Clarke would find her soulmate one day. And as much as he wished it were him, it wasn't. And he shouldn't try anything that might stand in her way of the happiness he knew she would one day have.
He had been working a particularly late shift when he stumbled into the bathroom later that night. His eyes were barely even staying open. While washing his face Bellamy saw Clarke standing to his left in the mirror.
"I didn't even hear you come in, how did you get home?" He asked, splashing water on his face as he did so and cringing at how much longing came out on the word home.
"Clarke?" He asked raising his eyes to meet her shocked and hopeful expression in the mirror.
It was then that he realized that she wasn't standing behind him in his bathroom. But standing in the yellow walled bathroom of his soulmate. His jaw dropped.
"Bellamy?" She asked, reaching a hand out to the mirror. Numbly, he reached his hand out to touch where her fingers met the glass on her side. He smiled at her.
Oh yeah, he definitely knew how soulmate mirrors worked.