I started this around ten o'clock this evening. I wrote 2k words. Then decided I didn't like it and threw it all out. I rewrote it. Now it's 1.15am, I am tired af but here it is! I hope you enjoy!
Based on a prompt from the tumblr bellarkeprompts.
The road is dark and wet as he makes his way down it, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his coat, his collar upturned against the cold wind, and he has all his senses sharpened for any sounds. He hears strays of thoughts, conversations and other stuff, but nothing harmful. Not to him. Not to what he was about to do.
He slips into the back of an abandoned building at 57th and Lexington, and makes his way upstairs, his senses still tingling from extended use.
"Bellamy? That you, man?" a voice comes from upstairs and he hears a mag click into place.
"Yeah, hey, it's me." he says, stopping before he comes into full view with a gun trained to his head. "C'mon, Miller, you know it's me."
"Do I?"
"Fine. Please keep your mind focused on right here, right now, instead of with your boyfriend, please. I need my partner sharp."
The gun locks again and he hears Miller let out a sharp breath. "Thank God. I've had too many run-ins with Shapeshifters lately."
Bellamy nods his understanding as he steps into full view of his partner. "You ready?"
Miller nods, too. "One last hooray, right?"
"One last hooray." Bellamy echoes, but he fears that might not be true. The ones they owe money to do not let people off easy. "Let's just get this over with. My sister's sick, and I don't want to leave her alone for long."
They move down the stairs again, and back into the rain. Their plan is plain and simple. The bank two blocks from here was lax in its guarding and had wizened locks. They're gonna get in, steal the money they owe and get out. In and out, quick and simple. Just like old times.
Except it isn't.
Because now there's so much more at stake. They found his sister. They found Miller's boyfriend. They threatened them. Now their loved ones are at stake, and they just can't afford to lose this job. Determined, Bellamy loads up his gun and tucks it in his coat pocket, where he wraps his hand around it tightly. He hopes he doesn't need it.
"Fuck." Miller murmurs, and Bellamy looks up. The bank is right in front of them.
And the door is unlocked.
Someone came there first.
Bellamy immediately pulls out his gun, unlocking the safety and moving towards the door. No way was he losing this haul. Octavia was in danger. Listening carefully, he and Miller enter the building.
Shit, shit, shit, what do I do?
He hears her in the back room, feels her panic as they edge closer and he's sure she already knows they're here. He smirks. No need to stand on ceremony then. He runs to the back, where the safe is located and kicks open the door. A gasp, and some clattering and Bellamy's pointing his gun at a beautiful, petite blonde, whose large, frightened blue eyes captivate him immediately.
"Hello there." he says, slowly walking towards her. She cocks her head at him, and suddenly her fright disappears and a smirk appears on her face.
"Bye." she says, and suddenly she's gone.
No. Not gone, just shrinking really quickly, and before he can even register what's happening, a small mouse is running between their legs for the exit. Miller is faster though, becoming a blur as he goes to follow the mouse and captures it mid-flight.
Bellamy chuckles as he follows Miller into the lobby of the bank. They're in full view, but this part of town is abandoned this time of night. They don't run high a risk of getting caught. "So, a Shapeshifter, huh?" he says, as Miller places the mouse on a desk and keeps her trapped by her tail. "You can change back now. I promise we won't hurt you, if you won't run."
You absolute dickhead, I will fucking destroy you.
As the foreign thought flashes through his head, the mouse sends him a look of deep disgust (it is honestly the funniest thing he's ever seen, a mouse with that expression) and then slowly starts to swell, it's brown fur disappearing and before they know it, the woman is sitting on the desk, her legs crossed. "Hello, then." she says, tipping her chin up defiantly.
"Hello. I'm Bellamy. This is Miller. As you might've noticed he's a Speedster."
The woman barely spares him a glance, but she rubs her back without much thought. Miller just smirks. "I'm going to hurt you." she spits at them both.
"Oh come one now." Bellamy smirked, putting his gun away to both the woman's and Miller's surprise. "Let me see," He places his hands on both side of her, bringing his face closer to hers, making her a bit uncomfortable. "Shapeshifter, blonde hair, blue eyes, three birthmarks in the shape of a shooting star – " He taps her collarbone that's exposed with her low cut grey shirt " – you're from the Griffin clan, aren't you?" The girl's eyes widen, surprised at how fast he got that. He chuckles. "I used to work for them, you know? Security. Now, I seem to remember talk of a nuisance of a girl, one who wouldn't abide by the rules, who would run off with Aerials, Speedsters and even Normals. You're Clarke Griffin."
She presses her tongue against the inside of her cheek in annoyance. "So? What's it to you?"
"How did you end up here, Princess?"
Suddenly, her face hardens and she pushes him back, jumping from the desk. Miller immediately has his gun trained on her. "I am not a Princess."
"Sure you are." Bellamy says, a glint in his eyes at having found her pressure point. "You're born into the great Griffin Family. You're the daughter of Abby and late Jake Griffin. That makes you a princess."
Miller groans. "Abby and Jake? Bellamy, are you kidding me? Abby will kill us slowly for just fucking talking to their daughter."
Bellamy looks at Clarke, pursing his lips in thought and she looks back defiantly. He likes her fire, that's for sure. Her thoughts are wild jumbles of hatred and intrigue, and he can see her eyes darting up and down his body. He can even find tatters of thoughts in her head that admit that he is not badly looking. He smirks again. "They won't. They won't even know. Because you're not in touch with them anymore, are you, Griffin?"
Clarke grinds her teeth before shaking her head. "No." she says stiffly.
"So tell me, Princess. What were you doing here in the dead of night?"
"Robbing a bank, same as you." she bites out.
"I don't think that's the whole story, in fact, I know it isn't." He looks intently at her and catches her thoughts.
I can't tell him, I can't tell anyone, they'll hurt her, they'll hurt her.
Bellamy decides just to be upfront about everything, now that he knows pretty much everything about her that there is to know. "Hurt who?"
Clarke takes a step back, shock on her face. It immediately shuts her brain down. She's been well versed in shielding her thoughts from people like him. "You're a Mind Reader."
"That I am." he says, trying his hardest to get through her shield. She doesn't budge.
"Get away from me." she says, pushing hard against his chest, but it's his turn to not budge. "Please, get away from me!" Panic grabs her voice, making it tight, every trace of hatred and cockiness disappeared. "If they find out you know...!"
"Relax, Princess, I don't know anything." he tells her, placing his hands on her arms, because what else is he to do? "You are very skilled at keeping me out. Just like the rest of your clan. Now tell me, who will they hurt?" He is very aware of Miller gaping at him in disbelieve. And he doesn't blame the guy. This isn't the Bellamy either of them know, not when on a job.
"They'll kill my best friend." she whispers. "She's disabled, and needs help. I stole plans for a prototype brace for her bad leg, and they found me. Said they'd kill her if I didn't pay for that brace – because she'd already converted it into a working prototype. And since I left the clan, I can't pay. Please, I need the money." Her blue eyes bore into his imploringly, and he can even feel her shield dropping a bit.
Please, I'm desperate. She's the only one I got left in this world.
"Well, we do have a small problem. We're here to save our loved ones, too. We're in debt with the Jaha clan."
She groans. "And they found your loved ones and threatened to kill them if you didn't pay it back?" Bellamy nods in assent. "Yeah, they do that. That's how my dad died." She sounds bitter all of the sudden. "Okay, here's how this is going to work. We'll take everything. We split it. You go your way, I go mine. We don't ever have to see each other again."
"Sounds good to me." Bellamy agrees. "Miller, lower your gun." Miller shoots him an 'are-you-taking-a-fucking-piss' look and Bellamy rolls his eyes. "Honestly, you're faster than anything she can become. If she tries anything, you'll catch her. But she won't. I know it, I trust her."
Clarke smiles at him, her first real smiles since they met. "Thank you, Bellamy."
"After you, Princess." he says, gesturing to the safe.
They take everything. The trip back to the abandoned building block is a lot harder, even though Miller jumps ahead with a couple of bags every so often. They can't be seen, and three are a lot easier to see than two. Clarke changes into a bulky man that can lift four filled bags of gold, and Bellamy can't help but laugh at how ridiculous it looks, a small girl turning into a large man.
"Shut up." she (he?) whispers again as they enter the building at last, and Bellamy burst into laughter again. She (he?) lowers the bags and instantly changes back to her petite, blonde self. And then they wait for Miller with the last bags.
"So." Bellamy says, resting his arms on his knees. "Is this your true form? Or don't Shapeshifters have true form?" Now that they have the chance, he wants to learn as much as he can about her kind. They've always fascinated him.
She drops down beside him and sighs. "Yeah, this is the form I was born with. Well, not this, I was obviously born as a baby, but I mean...this is my true form." She yawns and closes her eyes.
"Wow. I know a lot about Mind Readers, Aerials and Speedsters, but I know so little about Shapeshifters. You are a private lot, you Shapeshifters."
"Yeah. That's why I left. I was so done with every move being laid out before me. Every decision already made for me. All for the sake of me not getting in touch with the 'others'. I fell in a love with an Aerial. Turns out he was a douchebag. He was stringing me and this other girl along, a Normal. She became my best friend, though." She smiles softly, her head lolling to the side on Bellamy's shoulder. Next moment, she's gone, her breathing evened out.
Bellamy remains seated until Miller returns and even then he only moves to flip Miller off who is pointing meaningfully at the two of them. "She's just tired." he says softly, but Miller looks unconvinced.
"Let's just take our cut and get out when the sun comes up. We need to get this money to Jaha before noon."
Bellamy nods and takes a bag to start counting. They've got way too much, even for her cut, and so they pocket half of the excess and put her cut plus the extra in a separate bag. All the while she sleeps. At dawn, he kneels in front of her, shaking her awake. The nightmare that disturbed him almost as much as it did her, has made her hair turn bright red in her sleep, but it regains its own colour the moment she opens her eyes. "Hey. We split the money. There was some excess, you got half of that. We need to go now."
Clarke nods, rubbing her eyes and standing up. "Thank you, Bellamy. You saved my friend's life with your kindness." She surprises him by hugging him tightly. A moment of hesitation, but then he hugs her too, wrapping his arms around her small waist. She fits in his hold precisely, and he has to smile at it.
"Goodbye, Princess." he says, as he picks up one of the duffel bags and moves to the door, following Miller out.
"Bellamy!" Her voice halts him in the doorway. She stands there, looking uncertain, but with a glint in her eyes. "If I wanted to see you again, could I?"
Please, I want to see you again.
He smirks. "Sure." Then he's gone, leaving her behind and with a spring in his step.
-BC-
Two months later, Bellamy wakes from a knock on his door. He groans, looking at his alarm clock and sighing. Who the hell would knock at such an ungodly hour? He slips into a pair of sweats, but doesn't bother with a shirt. Bleary-eyed, he moves through his new apartment to the door and pulls it open.
What he sees wakes him up immediately. "Clarke?" he says, astounded. He honestly never expected to see her again after the first month of hearing absolutely nothing.
She looks nervous, but the smile on her face is hopeful. "Hi. Sorry I'm late."
Bellamy breaks into a grin. "That's two months, Princess."
"Yeah. Better late than never, right?" she says, blue eyes burning bright fire. I'm sorry.
He doesn't say anything, but opens his arms in invitation. Laughing, Clarke launches himself into them, and they hug tightly.
The two of them should never have happened. By all accounts, he should've killed her when he found her in that bank. And yet, as he kicked the door shut and led her into his apartment that he could afford thanks to her kindness, he knew that this has always been his destiny. He and Clarke had been destined to be together long before either of them were born. Perhaps, maybe, they would even change the world together.
But that was for another time to discover.
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