I do not own The 100 or any of its characters. I also do not own Snapchat.
Clarke hated working retail. She hated the monotony of each shift, the silly contests she had to devise for her coworkers, and the snotty people she had to deal with on a daily basis. But most of all, she hated working with her co-supervisor, Bellamy.
Bellamy and Clarke had been hired around the same time two years back and she had taken a disliking to him almost immediately. They had been taking a tour of the store when Bellamy had asked where she had worked before this. She had told him that this was her first job and he had snorted and called her a "princess." In the beginning she disliked him because he had assumed that she was privileged because she had never worked before, but the dislike grew the longer they worked together.
Within the first few months of working together it became apparent that the store liked to have competitions among their employees to see who could sign up the most guests for their customer loyalty cards. Clarke asked each person who came through her line if they would like to sign up for a card and with each negative response she got increasingly frustrated. The problem was that since she began working there she hadn't gotten any, but Bellamy had gotten four. And it irked her that every time he got one he would look over at her, quirk an eyebrow, and give her the most infuriating smirk. It was when Bellamy got his fifth one that she decided it was personal. She was determined to show him up, and this was how the competition between Bellamy and Clarke began.
They competed for everything, loyalty cards, fastest checking times, best sales records, even who could make the lanes cleaner at the end of the night. Their coworkers found it hilarious and their store manager, Jaha, saw no problem with the competition as long as they were getting their work done. Monty and Jasper, two of the other cashiers, thought it was hilarious and would create betting pools on each of their little competitions. Raven, from the salesfloor, would make jokes about how long it would take the two to get together, and Octavia, Bellamy's little sister who visited the store from time to time, would just role her eyes and pretend like the competition wasn't happening.
On a particularly miserable Tuesday where the store was preparing for a visit from corporate, Bellamy and Clarke were charged with organizing the one dollar area of the store. Naturally they made it a competition to see who could finish their half faster. For the longest time they worked in silence until Clarke saw Bellamy smirking at her out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" She grumbled as she moved some stickers out of the bouncy ball area. Bellamy laughed.
"Oh nothing. Just thinking about how fun it will be in a couple of weeks when I'm your boss."
Clarke's jaw dropped. She had heard rumors that they were going to be promoting a new manager for the front of the store, but she hadn't considered that they would choose from the current cashiers. She snapped out of it when Bellamy started to laugh.
"You should see your face princess," he wheezed as he tried to catch his breath.
Clarke felt her world collapsing in around her. She couldn't imagine having Bellamy as her boss; it would be torture. She spent the rest of the afternoon in a bad mood. It made sense that they would promote Bellamy. He seemed intimidating at first, but he was the kind of person who got to know each of his coworkers and genuinely enjoyed being around them. He was also excellent at dealing with rude customers. He kept his composure in situations where Clarke knew she would be fired for punching the person. But just because it made sense didn't mean that she had to like it.
She was pleasantly surprised when the first month of Bellamy being a supervisor went by uneventfully, but she would deny vehemently whenever anyone (Raven) suggested that she actually like working with him. Whenever they worked together, Bellamy put Clarke behind the customer service counter and pretty much left her alone unless she needed him, and Clarke liked having the independence. They fell into a tentative truce on the day that Bellamy got worked up over a guest who was rude to her. The interaction had started out innocently enough. The man had asked to return an air mattress that he had purchased at the store a week before. Clarke had calmly explained to him that store policy dictates that after an air mattress has been opened it is exchange only. The man had become irate yelling that he wanted to speak with her manager. Bellamy, overhearing the conversation, came over and addressed the man.
"Hello sir. I'm a manager, what can I help you with?" The man turned to him.
"Finally, someone who has a bit of respect around here. I came in to return this mattress, which I don't need anymore, and this girl denied me for no good reason." Bellamy looked the man in the eye and responded in an even tone.
"Well it does seem that this item has been opened and store policy says that once an air mattress has been opened we can only exchange it for a product of the same type and of equal or greater value." The man rolled his eyes.
"You clearly know about as much as she does! The pair of you should really think about educating yourself on how to give proper customer service! This is ridiculous!" At this point many people, customers and employees alike, were listening to the exchange. Clarke could tell that Bellamy was getting irritated because he was standing straight and was trying to hide his clenched fists from view.
"Sir, if you cannot calm down and speak to us in a reasonable manner, I am going to have to ask you to leave the store." At this point Clarke moved to help another guest so as to keep the line moving, but apparently the man did not like that.
"And where do you think you're going bitch? Think you can sneak away without doing my return?" Clarke was about to respond when she heard Bellamy speak.
"Sir, I'm afraid that we are not going to be able to do anything for you here. You may take your mattress and leave, or I can call security and have them remove you. Go now." She had never heard Bellamy's voice so icy and smooth. It was scary. She watched him stare the other man down, and watched as the man collected his air mattress and walk out the door mumbling curse words under his breath. Clarke looked at Bellamy curiously. It took him a minute to snap out of his stance and look over at her. He cleared his throat,
"Uh, do you think you could handle the lanes for a couple minutes?" She nodded her head, stunned, and watched him walk away. When he came back fifteen minutes later, it was like nothing had happened. After that things were different. They still teased and competed, but it was friendlier. Clarke knew that Bellamy had her back, and she hoped he knew that she had his.
It was three months later when Jaha approached her about promoting to the same level as Bellamy.
"One of the other supervisors just put in their two weeks' notice and we'd like you to take their place," he explained as she sat in his office.
"Of course! I'd love to train for the position," she had been hoping when she hear rumors that Anya was leaving that she would be a candidate for the position.
"Excellent. We typically try to train leadership at one of our other stores in the district, but due to the proximity to the holidays we were hoping you would be willing to train here with Bellamy."
It wasn't Clarke's favourite idea, mostly because she and Bellamy had just gotten used to this new friendship and she didn't want to put him in a position of even more authority over her, but it was only for a week, so it couldn't hurt. So she agreed.
On her first day of training Bellamy explained to her that she already knew most of the skills already. She could process returns, get cash from the cash box for cashiers, and keep track of breaks and lunches. There were just a few things she didn't know, opening and closing the store and writing the schedule. He told her that she should just shadow him for the first day and then throughout the week he would slowly back off and let her do the work. Clarke liked the idea.
By the end of the second day of training she realized that she liked Bellamy. And not just as a coworker. Shadowing him so closely allowed her to see the little details of how he interacted with people. She supposed she had realized it before, but it struck her in the face as she watched him converse with Harper, asking her how the baby was doing. Harper smiled at him, placing her hand on her stomach and telling him that she had just found out the baby would be a girl and she and her boyfriend were thrilled. Bellamy smiled and told her to keep him updated. Clarke had known in the back of her mind that Harper was pregnant, but had never thought to ask her about her personal life. As she watched through the rest of the day, Bellamy had similar conversations with pretty much all of the cashiers. Clarke tucked this tidbit into the ever growing box in the back of her mind labeled "Bellamy Blake."
By the end of the week Clarke had a full blown crush on the guy. He was patient with her as she learned how to do his, and now her, job. When he did critique what she was doing it was always followed by a word of encouragement, and he still teased her, but it felt a lot more like flirting than she was willing to admit. As they walked out of the store together on Saturday night he turned to her and said,
"Well I guess you're all trained now princess." She laughed,
"Thank you, kind sir. Your instruction has been much appreciated." They were silent for a moment before he said,
"Look, a couple people from work are going bowling tonight. Do you maybe want to join us?" He looks so uncertain at that moment, rubbing the back of his neck, that she almost laughs, but catches herself just in time.
"It sounds like fun but I'm pretty exhausted. I think I'm going to go home and go to bed. Besides, I open in the morning." He looks disappointed for a moment but shakes it off.
"Yeah no worries! Maybe next time?" She nods her head in assent and starts to walk towards her car.
"Night princess," He yells across the parking lot. She rolls her eyes,
"Night Bellamy."
Months later and Clarke doesn't work with Bellamy much anymore. She sees him in passing, telling him anything important that he needs to know as he starts his shift, or him telling her, depending on whose opening that day. She misses him, if she's honest. He made work interesting and it seems to be even more straining without him there.
During a particularly rough night in mid-April Clarke dealt with a guest who was yelling at her complaining that the store no longer carried her favourite flavor of potato chips. It was all Clarke could do to keep a straight face until the woman left. After her shift that night she decided to Snapchat Bellamy the story. They had had each other's snapchats for months now but had never sent each other anything, and Clarke felt oddly jittery sending him something, but was pleasantly surprised when he sent her back a selfie of him rolling his eyes two seconds later. They continued conversing until almost two in the morning when he told her he needed to sleep so he could work in the morning.
As she was getting ready for work the next day she was excited to see that he had sent her a Snapchat. She opened it to see a picture of him in gloved and an apron with the caption "Guess who gets to clean up after a kid puked all over the men's room." She giggled before sending him a picture of her with her face all scrunched up in disgust.
When she got to work Jaha announced that there would be a competition where the supervisor during whose shifts the most loyalty cards were signed up for during the next month would get to throw a pie in the face of the supervisor with the least. Clarke looked over at Bellamy only to see that he was looking back at her with that same smirk from all those months ago and she rolled her eyes. It was on.
During that month Clarke and Bellamy both begged and bribed the cashiers to get as many cards as they could during their respective shifts. The whole store found it highly amusing. After every shift Clarke would Snapchat Bellamy the number for her shift, and Bellamy would snap back his. Clarke enjoyed he competition, but it was over all too soon.
On the last day of the month Jaha tallied the results and gathered the supervisors to announce them.
"Well it was a close fight, but we do have a winner… Bellamy!" Everyone clapped and Clarke looked anywhere she could except at Bellamy's stupid smirking face. She had a bad feeling that she was about to lose.
"And the supervisor getting a pie to the face it…Clarke!" Everyone was silent for a moment before breaking out laughing. If Clarke wasn't so upset that Bellamy was going to pie her in the next couple of minutes she would have laughed as well. He was never going to let her live this down.
A few minutes later they were out behind the store and she had a garbage bag covering her work clothes so that they didn't get whipped cream all over them. Several of her coworkers were standing around her, a couple, including Jasper, were filming with their phones.
"Can we just get this over with?" Clarke groaned. Bellamy smirked over at her,
"Patience princess. All in good time. Are you ready?" Clarke refused to give him an answer and just looked at him defiantly. He laughed. She watched as Raven handed him the pie, that traitor. He walked up to her so that he was close enough to shove the pie in her face and asked,
"Any last words?" She grinned up at him innocently and said in the sweetest voice possible,
"Wanna go on a date after work?" Her question had the intended effect. Bellamy was so surprised that his grip in the pie slackened. She moved quickly, grabbing it and shoving it into his face.
Everyone was quiet for a second before Monty started to laugh, which caused a chain reaction. Clarke started to laugh so hard that she could barely stand up straight, the look on Bellamy's face was just too precious. He raised a hand to his face, like he couldn't believe what just happened and wiped a bit of the whipped cream off. He stared at it for a second before taking advantage of Clarke's laughing to wipe it on her nose. She abruptly stopped laughing.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that one Blake." He laughed at this and said in a voice only she could hear,
"How about I pay for coffee tomorrow afternoon instead." She looked up at him, searching for any sign that he was messing with her before letting a grin spread across her face.
"Sounds like a date." Before walking into the store to get cleaned up.
So yeah Clarke hated working with Bellamy Blake, until she didn't.