I'm a Believer- Smash Mouth

He'd heard all the stupid fairy tales. Who hadn't on the Ark? It was like some stupid promise. When you least expected it, you'd walk around a corner and your true love would be right there. They'd trip into you and you'd catch them. They'd reach for the same food at the same time as you. They'd make you jealous when you didn't know why. You'd go crazy trying to protect them. They'd turn out to be your best friend. They'd make you madder than you'd ever been in your life. You'd want to tell them every secret you'd never told anybody. They'd make you feel safe and loved and you'd feel good about yourself for the first time in your life.

Fairy tales and romance were for the rich and the people who didn't have their little sister hidden under the floor in their apartment. Romance was for the people who had the time to thrive, not just survive. Romance and fairy tales were not for Bellamy Blake and he was convinced that he didn't have a true love. It was a myth made to make people on the Ark feel better about not having enough food. But then, that damn blonde started hanging around Spacewalker and it felt like his chest was constricting.

He didn't realize that anything was wrong at first. He hadn't liked Finn from the beginning. He was reckless and unapologetic. He thought his crime was above the crime of everybody else. His sister had only been born. She hadn't had a choice in her crime. Yet Finn thought that wasting oxygen that could have kept somebody alive for a week was better than being born. The Spacewalker made his blood boil, and Clarke didn't see that. Of course she didn't. The Princess didn't value human life unless she controlled it. She was allowed to keep people alive but she couldn't see that people were killing each other. She painted the world in gold, just like her hair.

Until Bellamy watched her run that knife across Atom's throat while she hummed her death song. She took Bellamy's burden from him, not because she had to, but because she was an angel of mercy while Bellamy was only a demon from hell pretending to be a ruler. After that, he hated it when Finn grinned at her. Raven had made a death trip for him and he couldn't respect that Clarke wanted nothing to do with him. Bellamy wanted to break his jaw, but he didn't, because that would have pissed Clarke off, which he only wanted to do when he was right, and when he could fix it. He knew that he wasn't right to break the Spacewalker's jaw.

And it wasn't just that she didn't see that Finn was all wrong. It was that she was everywhere. Just like in those damn stories where the boy and girl couldn't walk around a corner without running into one another, Clarke was everywhere in the camp. The first time, he was on his way out of his tent, looking over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and she was on her way into his tent to make sure that they were still going harvesting that day. Her head was turned so she could shout a warning to Jasper, and they collided, her head whipping around just in time to smack dead into his sternum. He'd never realized how short she was until she was pressed against him with her face in the middle of his t-shirt and his arms on her shoulders to steady her.

"Sorry, Bellamy, I was just…" she started but he cut her off with, "Watch where you're walking, Princess. The whole world doesn't belong to you."

It ended with her shouting, "Go float yourself, Bellamy Blake" before she stormed across the tent, scaring everybody out of her path. But it got worse from there. He'd turn the corner into the drop ship, just to knock an armful of plants out of her grasp. She turn around the wall just to collide with him as he was trying to haul a deer in. They'd stumble out into the dark when there was a shout, and collide with each other. It got to the point where Clarke just reached out to grab his arm and stood there for a second until she was sure they each knew where the other was going. He never got used to it. He always reached for her to steady himself.

Then, they were always grabbing for the same thing. When they were going over the map with Raven, Jasper, Monty, and Finn, they'd reach for the same pile of rocks and their fingers would brush against each other, leaving a tingling spreading up his arm. They'd reach for the same stick to stoke the fire and his hand would wrap around hers before he realized what she was doing. They reached for the same kid at the same time, scaring the hell out of the person in their attempts to call the person's attention. It was driving him crazy, all the accidental touching. His skin was constantly on fire, waiting for the next time she'd bump into him. He felt like he had to douse himself with water eighteen times a day and he couldn't even put out the fire with another girl. They were too boring, too steady, too flirty, too not brunette, too brown eyed, too compliant.

Finally, he took to avoiding her. It was the only way. He had to make sure that she couldn't run into him, so he took to the wall, to building it and making it better. Not just to protect her though. Not just to make sure that she and Octavia were safe. But to make sure that the entire camp was safe. Then, he'd build a place for Clarke and himself and Octavia. Separate places for himself and Octavia- away from Clarke's place. Even though Octavia would probably stay with Clarke a lot. She liked Clarke. She liked the way that Clarke would play with her hair when she asked and the way Clarke kept peppermint leaves in the drop ship that she would let Octavia suck on when she was feeling sad. It was too weird that his sister liked the girl who wouldn't stop pulling fairy tales on him.

He grew to expect the clichés. He dodged her at the campfire drinking games, knowing better than to play Spin the Bottle if she was in the circle. He avoided being alone in tents with her. Damn it, if he had to speak to her, he made sure that Raven or Jasper were present. Not Finn though. He couldn't watch Finn make puppy dog eyes at Clarke while she had blood on her cheek. And he definitely couldn't stand to be alone with her- just in case he had to wipe the blood off her cheek. He avoided every cliché except for one- the damsel in distress. He just never expected himself to be the damsel.

He was standing tall on the rocks, looking over the area to make sure that it was clear while Clarke, Jasper, Monty, and a few of the other kids gathered seaweed and whatever else Clarke picked out. It was also the perfect vantage point to watch her blonde head bob in the sun. The scalp pinkened where the sun touched it and he wanted to shout down for her to put something on her damn head so she wouldn't get sunburnt. But he turned so he wouldn't have to look at her and his feet slipped. The last thing he remembered was the sharp crack that sounded like it came from inside his body.

He woke up to a mermaid's kiss and a harsh compression on his chest, all accentuated by the roar of an angel. "Breathe, you idiot! Spit out the water and breathe! If you don't start breathing, I'm telling Octavia that it was your own stupidity that got you killed."

Then the lips were back on his, forcing air down his throat and forcing water up. He rolled onto his side and coughed hard, spraying out fire water and gagging on whatever else came up. From behind him, a rough hand smacked at his back, pushing the water up further. Clarke ordered, "That's it. Spit it all out so I can get you back and take care of your head, you idiot."

When it felt like everything was up, Bellamy rolled onto his back and stared up at Clarke. Her blonde hair hung in soaking ringlets around her face. He said dumbly, "You're wet."

"Yeah, that's because I had to go into the water and drag you out. We all heard your thick skull hit the rock. Damn it, Bellamy! You're lucky I was here! Everybody in this fucking camp is going to learn CPR. Do you understand me? Everybody!"

"Princess, my head hurts and I think my mouth tastes like vomit, but I'm going to kiss you anyway," he warned her of it seconds before he grabbed her neck and dragged her down to kiss her soundly. She let him for a second before she shoved him away.

"Bellamy, you can kiss me when you've chewed at least ten of those damn peppermint leaves. And after I check your brain. I doubt anything is messed up but I think it would be hard to mess up your head more than it is so I'm going to look anyway. You're not going to be allowed to sleep for at least twelve hours. God, I'm going to have to keep you awake. You're such an asshole, Bellamy Blake."

"I can kiss you when I've chewed peppermint?" It was the only part of all of it that she'd heard.

"Yes, Bellamy," she sighed, not even staggered by his kiss. "But all the peppermint is back at the drop ship so you're going to have to wait."

"I can kiss you again?" he repeated, still dumbfounded.

Her eyes softened when she stopped examining his hair line and met his eyes again. She smiled and said quietly, "Yeah, you can kiss me again."