Author's Note: So I read the Gadge fic, Like Lovers Do by miserella and couldn't resist writing a Bellarke AU for this scenario. Based on that first kiss video that had tumblr swooning a year or so ago.
Thanks to HawthorneWhisperer for her help in answering my many questions about university in the US. Please excuse any mistakes as I went to uni in the UK.
"Come on, Bellamy. You get to kiss a chick for art, how can you want to turn this down?" Miller said.
Bellamy raised an eyebrow and kept his arms folded. He wasn't some kind of performing monkey to put in front of a camera and then made to kiss some strange girl he'd never seen before.
"It's not as if this would be your first time kissing a complete stranger," Miller said with a sly grin.
"There's a difference between kissing some random girl at a bar to making out on a video."
"Yeah, one is something you do that benefits no one, whereas this would actually help Monty."
Bellamy wasn't sure just what he had to deserve to have Miller chasing him around the corridors of the college where he worked. Bellamy had liked Miller from the start. He wasn't one of those snooty college kids who usually failed to notice Bellamy was there – or worse, one of those who thought it was oh so hilarious to deliberately spill their coffee all over the floor as he was passing by so he would have to clean it up.
Miller was in one of Bellamy's ancient history classes, and had not done the usual thing his classmates did when they saw him working his job, which was pretend they hadn't seen him. He'd come up and chatted about the latest essay Professor Kane had assigned, despite the fact that Bellamy had been wearing his dark blue jumpsuit and picking up trash from the steps that lead from the Poli-Sci faculty.
The only reason Bellamy had stuck this job out for as long as he had was so he could continue to take advantage of the cheap classes he got as a perk of working as a janitor at the college. It had been the idea of one of the deans, some rich liberal do-gooder, who wanted to 'give back'. Such ideas usually made Bellamy roll his eyes, but this one was actually pretty good. It gave him an opportunity to get a college education, even if he was taking him a crazy amount of time to graduate, and meant that he could still support Octavia so she wouldn't be stuck in some dead-end job.
"Yeah, because helping Monty is a prime concern of mine."
Miller shot him a glare. "That's not fair and you know it. Monty's never been a brat to you."
Bellamy rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Whilst some of the art kids were a pain in the ass, it wasn't something you could level at Monty Green. He even helped Bellamy clean up the studios if he was still there when Bellamy came by to make sure they were ready for the next day.
"Octavia's doing it," Miller said with a knowing look.
"What?!"
"Yep, one of the first to sign up actually."
"She's not even in college!"
Bellamy hated how Octavia had fallen in with Monty Green and Jasper Jordan, meeting them during one of the times she had visited him on campus, bringing him a packed lunch from home, knowing that he wouldn't spend any of their precious money on buying something filling and nutritious. Somehow, whilst waiting for him on the green outside the Art Faculty, she had struck up a conversation with Monty and Jasper, declared them better than any of the jerks at her High School, and taken to hanging out with them.
Miller shrugged, unconcerned, and Bellamy narrowed his eyes. He knew there was no point in getting Octavia to see that she was far too young to participate in something like this. However, it meant there was only one thing for him to do. He was going to have to sign up to keep an eye on her.
"Don't think I'm not aware of why you told me that," Bellamy said, but he grabbed the clipboard off Miller and scrawled his name on the list before he slammed it back into Miller's hands.
Miller just gave him a shit-eating grin and scampered off before Bellamy could change his mind with a breezy, "Monty'll give you a call later this week."
It wasn't until Clarke got to the studio where they would be filming this that she started to have second thoughts. It wasn't that she didn't support Monty's idea. No, she did wholeheartedly. It was just she had never done anything like this before. She hadn't even hooked up with a stranger in a bar, too concerned over the potential diseases the person could be carrying. It didn't help matters that when she'd said she would do it, all her friends had burst out laughing, and then asked if she was serious.
They might not think it but she was fun.
It was just that juggling a pre-Med degree, her interest in art, and her volunteering at the College's walk-in health clinic meant that she didn't have time to goof off with the others, but it didn't mean that she was not fun.
She was fun.
But now that she was here, about to lock lips with someone she had never met before, Clarke was questioning her life choices.
"Clarke, you came!" Monty said, strolling over, looking as if this was nothing more than a routine day for him.
She could not help but wonder if he ever got stressed? This was the big day for him, if this project failed then it would result in him failing this course, and he looked so calm.
"I said I would."
"And you are ever a woman of your word," Monty said. "So got any requests?"
Clarke gazed around the room of milling strangers. She saw Wells wave and make his way over. "Just not Wells, okay?"
Monty gave her a strange look but said, "Got it. That would defeat the purpose of this project anyway as it's all about first kisses."
"Hey, Wells and I have not ki-"
But Clarke was talking to thin air as Monty has disappeared off, greeting the next person to arrive with his clipboard in hand.
"You still want to go through with this?" Wells asked, as he handed her a paper cup of water.
"Too late to back out now, right?"
"We could both pull out together. Two people it would still keep the numbers even for Monty."
The idea was tempting but then Clarke knew she'd have to face the knowing grins of her friends. Ducking out at the last minute was totally what was expected of her. She stiffened her spine. What was the worst that could go wrong? She'd probably end up kissing some guy in a fedora who'd try and convince her he was a Nice Guy™, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. If Finn and Lexa had taught her anything then it was to be a little more ruthless.
As soon as she laid eyes on him, Clarke knew that she had underestimated just how wrong this could go. The clothes might have been understated, a worn pair of jeans and a faded t-shirt, but it did nothing to take away from his almost obnoxious good looks. The tousled black hair could have been the product of hours in the bathroom mirror, but Clarke didn't think so. It lay so naturally that she bet it looked like that when he first woke up. Then there were the freckles that spread charmingly down from his nose to scatter across his olive toned skin, but by far the worst aspect was the arrogant smirk on his face. He knew he was attractive.
Clarke shot a small pleading look at Monty, who was manning the camera, who did nothing but give her two thumbs up. Of course, he thought he was doing her a favour.
Once they stood opposite each other, Monty informed them that the video camera was about to start rolling and that they should 'go for it'. Clarke shot him a glare that had him quickly disappearing behind the lens.
Monty had already briefed them that this wasn't a social thing, so they didn't have to make small talk unless they wanted to. Clarke definitely appreciated that, wanting nothing more than to get this over and done with. She straightened her shoulders, ignoring the small sounds of Monty and Miller shuffling around, and stepped up, involuntarily licking her lips before she looked up at him.
"Ready, Princess?" he asked.
Their eyes locked and Clarke's breath hitched in her throat. He had the most beautiful dark brown eyes, so deep that she could almost feel herself falling in and drowning. His hands reached out and entangled with hers, bringing her close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his chest. He quirked an eyebrow as if testing her willingness and she gave a small nod of agreement.
Clarke had never been one of those girls who got swept away with the idea of romance or true love's kiss. Whilst her friends has swooned over how romantic old black and white movies made kissing, she'd just thought it looked uncomfortable. The woman always seemed to be squashed by the dashing hero, his lips pressing down hard whilst his arms crushed the heroine closer. The angles looked awkward and had Clarke's fingers itching to massage the poor leading lady's neck.
This kiss had nothing to do with those swept-away-by-the-violence-of-their-feelings portrayals but the passion took Clarke aback. It started off slowly, a series of feather soft touches that became more drawn out and had her yearning for more. She inched up onto her toes to deepen the contact, her fingers letting go of his and clutching at his shoulders for support as she pressed her lips against his with more urgency. His arms swept around her, his hands splayed warmly across her back. She sighed in response and his tongue darted to sweep across her lips and into her mouth.
The touch of his tongue to hers had the background fading into obscurity. Every fibre of Clarke was focused on where her lips fused with his. She felt engulfed in heat as his hands slipped under the fabric of her top to touch her bare skin, pulling her closer to him. Her body melded itself against his, needing to be as close as physically possible whilst her hands crept up from his shoulders to link around his neck, her fingers threading into his hair.
Time lost all meaning and it wasn't until a discrete cough impinged on her senses that Clarke was able to drag herself away. Her body mourned the heat of his as she stepped away, her hands pressed against her overheated cheeks as the reality of just how lost she'd become in that kiss dawned on her. She struggled to make eye contact with him, sure the cocky smile would be back. When she finally managed to raise her eyes to his, there was no sign of his previous arrogance, just a serious look on his face as if he was surprised about something.
Embarrassment caught up with her and she looked away, turning towards Monty. "That's it, right?"
"Er…yeah, you're free to go," Monty said, a disbelieving look on his face.
Miller coughed something that sounded suspiciously like, "And hook up somewhere more private."
It made Clarke flush even more and with a brief glance at the stranger she'd just passionately made out with, she fled the room as quickly as she could whilst retaining some shred of dignity. She could feel the eyes of the stranger all the way across the room.